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Thursday, November 10, 2005

Tale of flying blubber keeps bubbling up 
Saturday marks the 35th anniversary of the funniest thing that ever happened in Oregon: the exploding whale.

Like you needed reminding, right?

Let's face it, into every true Oregonian's life a little blubber must fall - and, thus, do we, each year at this time, pay tribute to the State Highway Division (now the Oregon Department of Transportation) for bringing us the laugh heard 'round the world.

Who can we thank for helping keep the spirit alive? An otherwise unassuming Eugene man, Steve Hackstadt, mastermind of the ever-popular "TheExplodingWhale.com" Web site. It receives about 10,000 hits a day from around the world, triggering all sorts of reader controversy. ("You staged this video." "Do you have any life at all?" "Would you rather rot on a beach and have people smell you until you're fully decomposed?")

And the site, naturally, has been revamped for the big 35th, now including not only the infamous KATU film footage but an interactive exploding-whale locator map for similar incidents around the world.

When I lived in Portland, in the early days of the Internet, this story was considered an urban legend until some industrious reporter dug up the tape and aired it on local television. TheExplodingWhale.com is here, with video.

posted by Prof. Hex at 9:31 PM

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