Logic vs ACTION

I've made the necessary repairs (temporary ones at least) to my damaged propeller and am fast approaching my quarry. Unfortunately I lack the equipment to detect any extra-visual or chemical trail, so I have been forced to use my particular scientific instincts for the chase-- ie. THINK LIKE A WHALE!

I've had training in this, of course-- SELF training, that is. I'm proud to say that I am self taught in EVERYTHING-- from oceanography to engineering, by books, the internet, and BEYOND (in the case of my particular brand of underwater judo/kung fu, the judo being for the smaller prey). Of course, "everything" isn't quite accurate-- many things can't be taught (such as a taste for the unknown, which is really more of a personality trait than skill, or perpetual "salty mouth" which is more of a side effect of long term work in the salt water field). Even as a child, I was often identified as "different"-- I had an unmatched thirst for adventure, and a seemingly limitless sponge of a mind that could not stop SUCKING. Indeed I was such an exceptional case I was soon forced to come up with my own means of learning the ways of the sea (as stated above) but that is neither here nor there! The topic of this post is whales, and on that it shall remain!

The main thing you have to remember when entering the mind of a whale, of WHATEVER kind, is that they are MASSIVE.

Please read the previous statement once more. It is difficult to truly "fathom" the difference in perception that this enormity creates.

Once you have this pictured, imagine your place of work. Good. Now look at your desk-- it's quite large, isn't it? YOU ARE NOT DOING IT RIGHT. Remember, these creatures are easily 50 times your mass. Refer to the text in bold face if you need more clarification on this, because it is ESSENTIAL.

I'll assume (reluctantly) that you have successfully imagined a very tiny desk. Now would you expect a whale to be hiding under it? No? Why? Because it is much too massive?

NOW you're getting it!

To track a whale we must first think of places it could go. This of course excludes any sort of confined space, and the neighboring area (because why would a whale go anywhere near any sort of crevasse? It would just make it FRUSTRATED) so what we are left with is very LARGE areas.

How many of you have read the book "Moby Dick"? Allow me to summarize: a ship was hunting whales.

Obviously the ship could not hunt whales it could not see, so we must assume the whales remained near the surface. Now, you may be wondering whether there were more whales, if not the MAJORITY of them, under this surface population. Well for this you'll have to recall something I mentioned previously-- I've added bold face to make it easier to locate (among other reasons). Yes, they are massive, and they don't like confined spaces. This rules out any areas underneath something massive (the layer of whales) as well as areas of confinement (stuck between whales and the ocean floor).

I don't want to drag you through my entire logic of a hunt (it's quite complicated), but I did want to give you a taste of what we scientists go through.

I did none of this, however-- the pursuing sharks provided an adequate heading.

Closing in-- Randy