Meanwhile, in Norway

An interesting story. In case you weren't aware, Norway were second after Japan last year in harvesting whales, against the grain of the World Council of Whaler's nearly 20-year old moratorium on whaling; along with Iceland, they're one of three nations which continue to harvest whales (the other being Iceland). I've actually long been a little suspect about the sacrity of whales, when it seems like it's open season on almost every other species on the planet; we seem to be stripping the earth raw, and focusing only on protecting certain species seems to be possibly counterproductive... Still, as an ESL teacher with many Japanese students in his class, I like to keep tabs on these things, since environmental issues sometimes come up in class. (It also is a fun excuse to segue into discussing the eating of dogs in some cultures, which is also bound to strike a sour note with some people...).