"Please let it be whale vomit"

[Connonym]

From the NYT http://www.nytimes.com/2006/12/18/nyregion/18whale.html?em&ex=1166677200&en=5381ffd0c2215ccf&ei=5070 so funny that I had to share.

[mainegreen]

1. Isn't that like 100k worth of whale barf?

Crazy, man, crazy.

[eppur_se_muova]

2. Yay ambergris! I remember reading a story about a boy who found a huge ball ...

of something on the beach and thought it was ambergris. He did a test someone told him about (poke a hot wire into it, see if it produces sticky strings when you pull it out) and was sure he was rich. It turned out to be a huge ball of crude natural rubber, probably fell off a barge. :(

That thing has such an interesting shape, it belongs in a museum. It would be a shame to process it.