Free Republic

“The suspect clarified that he is the administrator of a so-called suicide group that had 32 members, all of them underage,” the spokeswoman said. “He assigned them tasks aimed at injuring themselves in order to incite suicide.” But Sidorov is not the only suicide-game “administrator” to have been arrested. Philipp Budeikin, 21, is also being held by Russian police, charged with coaxing up to 16 schoolgirls to kill themselves. The suicide game got its name from the way whales appear to beach themselves deliberately. Its popularity has spread beyond the bounds of Russia, with related suicide attempts being reported in...

A dead blue whale that is slowly rotting on the beach of the western Newfoundland community of Trout River has the community scrambling to find a way to get rid of it before it explodes. The whale's 25-metre carcass washed into Trout River just over a week ago, and has since been pushed up against the beach. "The whale is blowing up. It looks as if it's a big balloon, from a distance," said Emily Butler, Trout River's town clerk, who has been trying to find a government agency that can help dispose of the whale. Tucked inside a corner...

Town fears that huge swelling beached blue whale carcass ‘might explode’ About one week ago, the carcass of a dead blue whale washed ashore in Trout River, Newfoundland, Canada. As reported by the BBC, residents now fear that the 25-meter-long (over 82-foot-long) decomposing whale, which is filling and expanding with methane gas, could explode. The BBC notes that a sperm whale carcass that landed on the shores of the Faroe Islands exploded as a biologist tried to perform a dissection. Blue whales are the largest known animals in the world, and the carcass of the beached Trout River blue whale...

Passengers aboard the Manute'a got an eye full recently when an 80-foot blue whale surfaced alongside the boat, stole a breath and revealed its massive backside and fluke. But the best view was enjoyed by a paddleboarder who got breathtakingly close to the great leviathan (see video). This occurred last weekend off Dana Point, Calif., and the video, shot by David Anderson of Capt. Dave's Dolphin and Whale Safari, was posted this week. The paddleboarder appeared to be trying to capture underwater footage of the mammoth creature -- blue whales are the largest mammals ever to inhabit the planet --...

The Elizaphant is in Harrisburg,Pa for a LIVE event on C-Span at 3:30 PM EDT. Please Ping all her fans.

Blue whales, one of the most endangered species on Earth, appear to have begun a very gradual increase in numbers. North and South: Blues whales are increasing their numbers (Noaa) Scientists say the Antarctic population could be three times bigger than it was 25 years ago. There are also reports of some increases in northern hemisphere blue whales. But so few animals survived the harpoons that any recovery will be a very slow process. The blue whale (Balaenoptera musculus) is the great iconic whale species; it is the largest mammal, possibly the largest animal, to ever inhabit the Earth. The...

<p>The gargantuan floating carcass of a blue whale -- a beast larger than many ships -- disappeared for a while only to resurface Friday afternoon near Sausalito, renewing hopes that biologists will be able to determine how it died.</p> <p>Wednesday's discovery of the corpse near the Farallon Islands had led to a scramble between scientists eager to study the rare mammal and great white sharks wanting to eat it. The white sharks got dibs, scaring off the white smocks with a menacing display of lunging and snapping.</p>