Free Willy! (Dolphins & Whales In Captivity)

The following is a paste of a comment I made on Facebook.  The context is a discussion on what should be done with the whale that killed a trainer at Sea World.  There’s ample reason to recognize that we’ve been making enormous mistakes, and it’s time to rectify that.

They do NOT belong in captivity, for the very simple reason that they’re marine mammals that swim 100+ miles a day, and we’re land creatures that can only provide them with a tiny bathtub that echoes in ways that would drive any cetacean at least a little insane.

Take a baby merlin (small falcon,) raise it in a shoebox, keep it in the same box that your printer came in. Don’t ever let it out, feed it dead ants, play blaring Rap, Speed Metal and Big Band at loud levels all at the same time, all of the time, and you’re coming close to the analogy. Close but not accurate, because the merlin is STILL not social, intelligent, etc. How insane would that merlin be? How cruel would that be?

There are some creatures that we just inherently cannot and should not interact with in a closed/captive environment. Dolphins are 9′ long and several hundred pounds. Orcas are a much larger variety, blown up to 7000-12000 pounds, but still crammed into that same little bathtub. We really don’t have any business capturing and keeping them that way. Time to return them to the wild, and begin recognizing the differences, and our limitations.

It’s unlikely that anyone could effectively dispute that these are sentient creatures.  They are as sovereign in the seas as we are upon land.  It’s highly questionable that we ever had the right to kill or enslave them in the first place.  Having found that what we’re doing is morally ,ethically wrong, how can we do anything less than to free them, and never seize them again?

Unemployment Blues? Stop the Insanity!

A recent N.Y. Times article bemoans the fate of the unemployed middle-class who may soon be out of some two years of unemployment benefits if Congress does not approve Obama’s extension request.  They talk about the poor woman who has gone without her blood pressure and cholesterol medications since losing her job.  Firstly, those meds are amongst the many that cost $4 per month these days, so I’m finding the story a little unlikely.  But it gets even more comical:

“She and her husband now settle their bills with only his $1,595 monthly disability check. The rent on their apartment is $1,380.

‘We’re looking at the very real possibility of being homeless,’ she said.”

No, lady, you’re just looking at the possibility of having to move into something within your means, like the  rest of the country and world always has done.  There are entire families living on that much money, which they work for at minimum wage, and no, they’re NOT in government housing.

The NY Times was seriously expecting to elicit sympathy for someone who has been paying out $1400 of their $1600 a month on rent for the past 2 years?  People support entire families on that and far less.  If you’ve been unemployed for that long, it’s long past time you started creating your own gainful employment by becoming self-employed.  Wash shop windows, cars, do laundry, mend socks, whatever… instead of sitting there waiting for the government to come to your rescue.

I see many self-proclaimed Conservatives whining about Obama.  How about putting the blame where it really belongs? President Obama was absolutely correct when, during his inaugural speech, he said the government could HELP us, but that we would have to do it for ourselves.  A true Conservative is a librtarian, doesn’t expect or want the government involved at that level.  How does that notion equate with complaints that Obama isn’t fixing all of our woes?

In this writer’s opinion, the woman featured in the article deserves nothing more than nomination for a Darwin award.  Give us one, too.   After all, we’re the ones that helped to get her that way.  I’m all for a hand up.  Hand-outs reinforce our own fears of impotency, and demean the individual.  Teach someone to fish instead — making sure it’s their own labor that affords them the pole.

iBling (Is the iPad just a bigger status symbol?)

Tags:apple, iBling, ipad, Steve Jobs.

Plenty of speculation… a habit, it seems.  Even though it is now announced, people STILL can’t get the facts right.  So here it is:

I pity the fool who doesn't get an iPad!

1) bluetooth means keyboard, and wireless at that.

2) iPod cord to USB means you CAN use USB to get in and out of it.

3) AT&T deal is for $15 a month or $30 a month for unlimited data — which should include VoIP, so you can use your Bluetooth headset to make calls or listen to music too — and unlike last time, no contract required.

4) Great resolution in native mode.  Could be a bit icky when running iPhone apps til they make resolutions for the bigger screen, since it runs those thousands of apps already.

In short, the iPad can do most everything one needs a portable device for, and will make map services a LOT easier to see and read.

5) Camera is a $30 external option.

Overall, you’ll find that things work out just fine.  What isn’t available from Apple will be gotten aftermarket… and then there’s always V2.  For my part, I’ll probably wait to get one second-hand or after the prices drop, but I will want one some day soon!

This Is It

Tags:ecology, environment, forest, Michael Jackson, ocean, planet, rain forest, This Is It.

“You, you, you… Us… We.” — Michael Jackson

We have this one planet, and we inhabit it at this one time, right now, today and maybe tomorrow.  Though this world we live upon has had many many days, for us, this is the only time.  Though the earth may continue to exist in whatever form, what we do, today and maybe tomorrow, matters.  What we do today and tomorrow will determine what that world becomes.

Will it be rich, vibrant, green and vital?  Will tremendous prisine waters flow and fall, or will they be toxic and spread that poison across land and sea?  Will the verdant, vivid colors of spring replenish the landscape time and time again as it has thusfar, or will the land turn bleak, dark and gloomy?  What we to today and tomorrow will determine whether the incredible, awesome and breathtaking beauty that is our earth continues or if it all becomes part of a memory, a history, of what once was.

Michael Jackson said that it falls upon us, each and every one of us, to decide what will be, to have a part in shaping and forming the today and tomorrow of this, our one and only chance, our one and only planet.  He said it was “up to you,” and pointed to each of us in turn,  ”and you,” and pointing again, “and you … us… we.”

This planet, the entirety of is, is Us.  It’s up to We.  Come together. Put aside the petty, insignificant differences between us and recognize our fraternity,  and all that we have in common.  Come together for a peaceful tomorrow that is rich and vivid, full of ongoing love, freedom, opportunity and prosperity for us all.

Murder in The Cove — Hundreds of Thousands Dead, More Being Killed Each Day

Tags:cetaceans, dolphins, ecology, ocean, Protect The Ocean, Ric O'Barry, sea shepherd, The Cove, toxic water, whales.

I recall hearing of several Baluga whales at the St. Lawrence Seaway with skin sloughing off of their bodies some years ago. It was attributed to toxins being put into the waterway from the manufacturing of PVC.  In the film, “The Cove”, the annual slaughter of tens of thousands of dolphins at the shores of Japan is exposed.  The brave crew of Sea Shepherd’s vessels are out  there putting themselves in harm’s way on the oceans of the world, intervening on the behalf of cetaceans (dolphins, porpoises and other larger whales.)  Surfers, divers and others are all getting involved, lending our marine brothers and sisters a human voice… and still, it’s just a drop in the bucket.

We have decades of history, proof that we’re messing up their environment and ours. All the time, there have been people expressing dismay and claiming to have been unaware… and still it continues — on and on, more and different ways of abusing every day.  Casino boats still dump their filthy toxic wastes into the ocean with impunity.  Large corporations continue to “dispose” of their toxic and radioactive waste  by using the oceans of the world as their trash cans.  The North Pacific Gyre (AKA Garbage Patch) is now twice the size of Texas — and still growing — filled with insidious photo-degrading plastics that are spreading their noxious make-up into ever smaller parts, eaten by fish and shorebirds alike.  Coral reefs, the miner’s canary of the oceans, are dead and dying all over the planet.  What more proof do we need?  What will it take for these facts to overcome our greed?

Do you still buy “dolphin-safe” tuna? The ONLY tuna that is truly safe is Albacore, but the same companies sell the other types as well. Even salmon (tastes almost the same when prepared with mayo and is better for you) is often sold and packaged by the same folks who put out so-called “dolphin-safe” tuna. It’s inexcusable to kill thousands of self-aware creatures every year for the sake of a cheaper can of tuna.

What will you do? Will you stop buying canned and packaged tuna?  Will you stop eating tuna sushi?  Will you stop going to parks that keep dolphins in captivity?  Will you bring your own shopping bags with you?  Will you share this with your friends?  Will you tell others the ugly truth about all of this?

Most people think that it doesnt’ matter to them because we live our lives and have our problems on land…but our planet is all one huge organism. Legitimate scientific predictions suggest a global collapse of the ocean within about 40 years… fisheries, everything. That’s 3/4 of our planet in terminal distress. Such a tremendous threat to our existence is not to be ignored or taken lightly.

Please, do whatever you can.  Do all you can… and don’t stop. What is slowly happening is a change in our collective consciousness.  Gradually, people are becoming aware of the horrors behind these parks and commodities.  When there are no people going to those parks, the billions of dollars will go away and the dolphins will be released, never to be captured and kept captive again. When we stop buying cheap tuna, they will stop sending out the boats after it. Isn’t paying a dollar or so for a can of Albacore instead of 60 cents for “light” tuna worth so many hundreds of thousands of dolphins’ lives?

People have devoted their lives to stopping these atrocities.  Corporations that profit from these things have KILLED people to keep the truth from getting out.  Don’t let their deaths have been in vain.

Time is always running out, for those dolphins in captivity now, and those who will be caught up in the days and months and years to come.   The ocean’s reefs are living ecosystems, taking hundreds of years to form.  They cannot be rebuilt quickly, and they spawn a third of all the marine fish on the planet.  We can’t afford to put these matters off until later, next week, or after the holidays.  Don’t wait. Make the changes within yourself, and talk to others as well.

I look forward to a day when dolphin-dangerous products are looked upon with scorn and trying to buy them is met with disgust. WE are the only ones who can make this happen.  There are billions of dollars on the line each year. Those corporations aren’t going to give up that money without a fight.  But they can’t make you buy their soiled goods.  When we stop buying their wares, and only then, will the atrocities will go away.

Do what you can. Do all you can. Please, do it now! Keep on doing it until no dolphin on this planet is held captive, and we learn to coexist harmoniously with the rest of the sentients and other life-forms on this planet. No act or gesture is too small.  Everything helps.   Thank you!

JT