Deformed Dolphin Accepted Into New Family

Lone dolphin with spinal deformity travels among a group of sperm whales.

I don’t know about you but I was always taught that Sperm Whales kept to their own kind and that dolphins are super social.  Sperm Whales supposedly never socialized outside their own species unless they were about to kill something.  This just blew my mind.

From the article:

But the “million-dollar question,” as Wilson puts it, is why the whales accepted the lone dolphin. Among several theories presented in an upcoming paper in Aquatic Mammals describing the scientists’ observations, they propose that the dolphin may have been regarded as nonthreatening and that it was accepted by default because of the way adult sperm whales “babysit” their calves.

Sperm whales alternate their dives between group members, always leaving one adult near the surface to watch the juveniles. “What is likely is that the presence of the calves—which cannot dive very deep or for very long—allowed the dolphin to maintain contact with the group,” Wilson said.

You should really click through and read the article.  It’s just fantastic.  And, of course, the research was done off the coast of the Azores, so that made Geoff happy.

Next up on the docket, a random good deed and the fact that there is such a thing as coincidence.  (This one I’m pasting in because it’s from cafemom.com and I don’t want my mother or mother in law to have to surf past all those links to read the article.  You know what I’m talking about, people.)

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Man Anonymously Buys Couple Dinner & What Happens Next Is Unbelievable

He went back to the restaurant to eat, and the manager came up and told him that the same couple he had paid for three years ago was there again, right then. What a coincidence, right?!

The manager said he knew it was them because the “dude just got down on one knee and proposed.” When he asked them why they’d chosen that particular restaurant, he said:

The guy said they were sitting at that same table three years ago and some stranger paid for their meal and made them think about kindness and love and they’ve been talking about it ever since. They’ve incorporated it into their lives and said there was no other place he could have proposed, it was their most impactful memory.

Do you have goosebumps? I sure do. While the couple has remained anonymous themselves so far, according to Branson, they did invite Shah to their wedding.

I love this story for so many reasons. First, just the fact that they were there enjoying a meal with no expectations of anything but paying their bill when all of a sudden a kind stranger swoops in and makes it amazing. Regardless of your financial situation, that has to be such an amazing, unexpected treat. There aren’t many true (good) surprises in life once you’re an adult, and this surely has to be one of them. I so want to do this for someone sometime.

Also, there are so many unfortunate stories that happen in restaurants these days it seems. From servers calling people offensive names on their bills to patrons who refuse to tip for the jerkiest of reasons. But the fact is that while these stories make headlines, most people dine out and have perfectly lovely experiences. Maybe not as lovely as the one this couple had, but still it’s not as bad out there as it sometimes seems. In fact, it can be quite amazing.

Has anyone ever anonymously bought you a meal at a restaurant? Have you ever purchased one for someone else?

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I’m not entirely sure I believe that one since there’s no link to the purported Virgin.com blog post by Richard Branson, but a quick Google tells me that this story is true.  Here’s the blog post by Branson.

And last but absolutely NOT least, Gomer Pyle got married.

~Kelly