BLACKFISH - Killer Whales at SeaWorld Documentary

I happen to love whales & dolphins ~ fascinated might be a better word, actually. Maybe it stems from growing up in a landlocked province, wanting what you can't have? Kinda like people who live close to the Equator wishing they could have snow? I don't know, all I know is I could watch them for hours if I lived along the coast. When I take a coffee break from yard or housework, I'm often clipping over to YouTube to catch a glimpse of the Orca, videos filmed by people while whale-watching. (I love chimpanzees, too, but that's a whole other post!)

So, I saw this on YouTube's sidebar as recommended for you & gave it a click. It's a  documentary about the Orcas at Seaworld; where they came from, what day-to-day life is like for them, and the outright lies told by Seaworld's staff. I really hope this comes to Edmonton, I'll be the first in line!!

Below is a my playlist on youtube with the trailers for the movie with a fabulous interview with the filmmaker/director, Gabriela Cowperthwaite, on The Lip TV as the first video on the list. It's well worth watching the whole 39 minutes!

I am guilty of going to Sea World in Florida (and Bushe Gardens), as well as Canada's version of Seaworld, Marineland, which is in Niagara Falls. I spent the better part of one entire day in Niagara Falls at Marineland, with my hands on a Beluga Whale (they had it in a "petting tank").

I will never go again.

I'm shocked nowadays as to the "storage" of their animals, beautiful creatures locked in tiny tanks they can't swim around -- it's almost like a boathouse, just drive the whale in, close the door behind him & leave him. I didn't know back then they they were treated that way.

I also didn't know that they captured baby Orca, screaming for their mothers as they're put in carrying tarps (and mothers screaming back), and then put a bunch of them together in Seaworld that were from different family groups, thus speaking different languages.

AND I didn't know -- this part is gleaned from an older issue of National Geographic that I read a few months ago -- that there are at least 3 sub-species of Orca: regular resident pods that eat fish only; another group known as Offshores that not much is known about, since they spend their time away from the coasts; and lastly, Transients who live in very small groups, who are mammal eaters only, in fact have snapped up a moose or two having a drink of water where the freshwater rivers drain in to the Pacific along the BC coast!

All three types of Orca speak entirely different languages, if you will, and all three groups eat entirely different foods. The article actually mentions that Seaworld or another such park had captured 2 of the transient whales, continually tried to feed them fish, and one of the 2 actually died of starvation before they figured it out. Unfortunately, the article doesn't mention what happened to the second one.

The whales can be spotted as different for a few reasons: one because of the fin shape and another for the saddle patch (the white part near the dorsal fin). Resident orcas have a fin that is curved to the back, transients have a pointy fin, straight up triangle, and Offshores have smaller fins, and the white of the saddle patch is further forward than the other two. As well, residents "talk" nonstop, back & forth, they can hear each other from a fair distance. The transient only speak after they've made a kill. They did a few experiments with sea mammals that live along the BC coast, playing recordings of residents talking & the seals & otters all ignored it.
When they played recordings of the transients, all of the mammals fled to land, in terror. It mentioned that when transients are on the hunt, dolphins will fling themselves onto the rocks, even though it's a suicide run, just to escape the Transients on a hunt. Transients will bash into their prey & hold it unerwater to drown it, then eat and celebrate their success with playing & singing.

I can't tell if Tilley at Seaworld is a Transient whale, but I suspect that he is, since he has killed a number of people in his captive life. His fin has flopped over, which Seaworld says is normal, but any whale researcher will tell you that a flopped-over dorsal fin is due to stress or illness. The fact is that about 1% of Orca will have a flopped fin -- Seaworld trains their staff to use a acript that says that one quartre of all Orca have flopped fins. Hrmph. A pretty big lie, eh?

I would love to hear from you all as to what you think of whales, what you think about this & what experiences you've had at Seaworld or whale watching.

Midway...

Midway Trailer


Wow... this is just a trailer for a film called "Midway", about a little island in the Pacific, 2000 miles from any continent. No houses here, just birds.

And plastic. LOTS of plastic.

I've said for years that our dependance on plastic is going to be the end of us ... someday.
Maybe not this minute, or this week or this year, not even this decade, and probably not this century. But there will be a minute some random day in the future that might be it. It won't necessarily be something that happens in our lifetimes, but definitely will happen in the lifetime of our descendants, maybe the great-great-great-great-grandchildren of our great-great-great-grandchildren.

I'm guilty of having plastic, buying plastic things... but I'm VERY aware these days that it just isn't about recycling the stuff -- the manufacture of plastics releases toxic fumes, uses all kinds of chemicals and requires a LOT of energy to produce. So I stopped buying those little plastic toys for Emma when she was younger, and I don't buy little plastic things for myself as much as possible.
But, man oh man, thinking about all the "normal" things in use every day in my house, from shampoo to mascara to dishsoap, laundry liquids, even "enviro-friendly" cleaners, all the foods that come in plastic, parts of my vehicle that are plastic, lunchboxes, coffeecups, appliances, hair clips, pet food... oy.

The list is endless.

It's everywhere.

I'm having a difficult time thinking of anything that *isn't* plastic!

I do recycle all plastic, including beverage bottle caps, but I am going to pledge to reduce my household's dependancy on plastic things as much as possible.

Tell me what you think about plastic, this film trailer, and ideas to reduce plastic --  I'd LOVE to hear it.

*Small disclaimer -- I'm not familiar with how to embed video-- it was juuuust starting to be done when I used to blog and I had so much else going oon I never really learned how to do it -- anyone know? I'd appreciate any tips!

Question for all parents out there...

How the heck does considering one of Telus' free gifts turn into a huge family fight* ??? Oy.
How do you all get it through to your 12-y/o kids that they shouldn't be on a laptop all. the. time. on their own without ANY parental supervision? Do your kids get their own laptops in theri rooms and unlimited/unsupervised internet??

I firmly believe that kids shouldn't be online all the time, and shouldn't have unrestricted access to internet, because they can't possibly be able to figure out who is on the other end of that "kids game website" or RPG with chat availability (there are SO MANY sites out there geared to younger & tween girls, it's unbelievable!). She says I am being unreasonable.

PLEASE tell me -- how do you handle this in your homes & families?  I REALLY would like to know, because my kid says I am not being fair. Am I being unfair or unreasonable?

*It all started because Telus called me about some instability with my phone/TV/Internet services lately & I asked about changing my services to drop all the extra stuff that was added on which doubled the TV portion of the bill -- in doing so, the rep said I might get one of the promotional gifts if they change my account a certain way ... so I *might* be eligible for an XBox 360 w/ Kinect & 1-year Gold Membership, an HP Laptop, a Salaxy Tablet or a 40" lcd HD-TV... cross your fingers for me!!... the fight started because Em wants the  laptop because I restrict her time online & on devices. I want the XBox with Kinect because it was fun when we tried it in a store one day, and because I think she could have friends over to play it, and there is no way I can afford to spring for one on my own.

Work & Lack Thereof

This time of year is incredibly slow in my line of work (I'm in the Hospitality Industry ~ Banquets & Catering to be exact), so I am spending the majority of my days off right now.
It's a nice break from November & December, when I was only off on Sundays, and trying to cram everything into the one day (laundry, grocery shop, dishes, housecleaning, garbages out) so it was hardly a day off! And the 6 days I was working days were long, very busy run-off-my-feet kind of days. The ones in which you don't get home till 6-7pm, barely have energy to throw something in the microwave, feed the kid & go to sleep to do it all again the next day.

I barely saw my kid those 2 months. I got waaaayyy behind on the "sort & get-rid-of / garage sale in spring", there was just no time.

I've spent the last few years trying to have a big yard sale, and never got to do it. This last year, there was hardly a break between Christmas Season 2011 and Christmas Season 2012 -- it was just constantly busy. I'd be too tired on days off to accomplish much (I have fibromyalgia & CFS, which I will blog about at some point).
I think largely what I need to so is just do it every week -- instead of trying to have everything sorted & ready for one big weekend, because there's always more stuff to go in the pile, so I'll never be ready for just one sale.

And don't get me wrong, I'm not an un-generous person, I have given truckloads to charity. But I also feel that I should get something for the rest of it. I could use a little extra cash, you know?

(For those no in the know, I'm a widowed single mom -- there are no custody-shares or child support coming in, which is why I would like to make a few bucks.)

Because my husband & I had split up when he passed away, I had assumed that we would be splitting everything we owned -- so I bought a bunch of new stuff so that when I started over, I would have everything I needed. Then he passes away, and now I am left with multiples of things, household goods, mostly still brand-new.

I also had to go ot his house to get his belongings, as we weren't divorced yet, so I was next-of-kin... I sorted a lot of the clothing, etc, because so much was dirty I just threw it out (long story, will tell it another time). Some clothing, especially his rugby shirts that our daughter loved I have kept, as well as the sweater he wore to the hospital when I had my daughter.
There was also a ton of his stuff here at the house that he didn't come pick up, stuff that I am dreading sorting through.

I'm also a newly-ex Avon rep, so I have quite a bit of stock to get rid of, stuff that was part of big packages, special rep-specials, stuff I use regularly or things that I had clients use often, but then they moved away.

I wonder if trying to ebay anything would be worth it? I am oretty backwards when it comes to shopping online. I have never had a PayPal account, even! Maybe I ought to look at doing that for some of the new stuff?

Do you ebay? Do you have to have a store? What about Amazon? I don't know how that works, either. Does PayPal take so much that it's hardly worth it anymore? What about shipping? How do you know how much to charge for it?

Hope you are having a wonderful Saturday!

Operation Red Nose

Unbelievable Facts Website - Post on Canadian Ride Service

I know this is probably wierd, posting a link to an obscure website, but the post on it made me think that maybe other places could think about this, maybe even do it, too.


The original drive you home after having a few too many at your company's Christmas Party was called Operation Red Nose, and it was done completely with volunteers. It ran Thursdays through Saturday nights (till 4am or so).

Now, there are some private companies who do this, at least in the Edmonton area.

The idea is you drive to your party, have a great time, have a few drinks, and rather than leaving your car there (which is a big reason why people drive after drinking, they don't want anything to happen to their car), you call the ride company/organization, they send out 2 people in one car... you ride in your own car while a sober driver drives it, with the other car following behind. They're in constant contact with each other & the base through radios like the police kind).

You get home, your car is home, and the person who drove then goes with the follow-car to the next call.

If the person who's been drinking wants drive-thru on the way home, they'll go through the McDonald's or A & W for you. If you want to stop for smokes or more booze, they'll stop at a liquor store or 7-11 for you.

The best part is this: if the drinker vomits in the car -- it happens all.the.time. in cabs & friends' cars (remember The Wedding Singer?) --  well, it's his own problem in the morning.

The company that springs to mind as I write this is Reliable Ride, but I know there are others. I think they charge about $40 for it, depending on how far you're going.

I think it's a fabulous idea -- unfortunately, the stats on drinking & driving have remained fairly unchanged in the last 20 years. They're still catching the same number & sometimes even more drivers who have had a few. You don't have to be stumbling drunk to be impaired, you know? I've always just planned to either leave my vehicle, or taken a taxi to the party to begin with. Maybe as word gets out about these companies, more people will stop driving after having alcohol.

Would you use a service like this?

As a Canadian, we don't get to see the big Super Bowl commercials -- because the Canadian airing of the game has its own sponsors, often different rom those in the USA (or sometimes the same, but they don't run the commercials here, which sucks because I would watch it just for the commercials). So we have to watch them on youtube if we have time instead.

I gotta hand it to Budweiser ... I had chills and many tears when I watched the Super Bowl Ad they did just after 9/11.This one is a bit emotional, too.

Well, here's the 2013 Budweiser Super Bowl Commercial... you might wanna make sure you have a kleenex handy!

Hello, Blog World... It's Been a Long Time

Sitting here staring at a blank page... which is part of what stopped me from blogging for the better part of the last few years.
Where to start?
What to say?
Do I post pictures or do I just post a simple introduction?
Do I talk about work & what I do for a living or do I talk about what I do when I'm not working?
If I talk about what I do when I am not working, do I talk about food or gardening or travel (or lack thereof), favourite things, things I hate?

The problem with having been a very active blogger for 5 or so years, then quitting writing for almost another 5 years is this:
Posts still get written in my head ... they just get filed in the "Blog File" in one of the filing cabinets that are in the giant warehouse in my brain. The one that stores everything memory-related.
So now that particular file is VERY FULL.
So full, in fact, that new cabinets were brought in, files sub-divided, re-organized, alphabetized then re-filed ... you get the picture?

So I have a possible thousands of things I could write for my "first blog entry".

I'm sure some people would say, "But why did you stop blogging, Blue Cat?"

The answer to that is complicated ... or incredibly simple.

Facebook.

"But it can't just be facebook, Cat."

No, it is not just facebook.
Part of it is because I'm an Anti-Trendy Person. ATP's like myself tend to shy away from anything that is all the rage. And when I had my first blog, there wasn't that many of them. A few huge super-blogs, and then some smaller blogging communities (LiveJournal, Xanga) with little sub-groups, the ability to click through from one comment to that person's blog... a great way to read other people with either similar interests, or that friend of a friend thing.

I was on a smaller community, and I had people I read, and made some really good friends through the wonders of the subscribe & comment buttons.

Friends that I see all the time on facebook now. I didn't have a super-blog, but I had probably 75 subscribers, and I really enjoyed reading about their lives, and having them weight in on my life.

And my life, at the time, was mostly okay. I was a 30-something married suburban mom... then life pretty much derailed.
My "real life" friends turned out to be a bunch of assholes, my marriage was falling apart, my dad was dying, I was falling into a pit of what eventually got defined as Fibromyalgia and my husband was spiralling into alcoholism.

I NEEDED that blog, just to get it out of my head, keep track of day to day life, life when husband was home, when it was good, when it was bad, life when he was out-of-town for work.
Those readers became very dear friends to me -- I think ultimately that they just might have saved my life.
I found that being able to write it as it was happening was not only cathartic, but it was a way for me to just. be. me. No masks, no happy faces when I felt like I was dying inside, no pretends, no cover-ups, just truth, which is often harder than people realize -- we ALL have our public selves, the face we show the world, but there is so. much. more. beneath the surface.

Then facebook came along, and some of those readers (probably 15 or so) and I got to friend each other there, and facebook is a really good way of keeping up with people, staying in touch, being real friends with our real names involved, not just usernames, and it was so easy to message back & forth, post on their walls, play scrabble.

And a weird thing happened at that same time ... the internet blog world just, exploded. Suddenly everyone had a dot-com blog. Everyone was trying to make a super-blog. Everyone and their dogs and cats and kids and hobbies had a blog. And a large number of those blogs looked a lot alike, like something off Martha Stewart, the pastel colours, with cute "quippy" posts, a lot of them posting in the same "voice" or tone ... and the little blog communities started to die off.

There seemed to be a lot of competition for the Bestest Mommy type of blogs, competition for who could get the most free stuff by blogging about it, who could lure readers and comments & shares by running "contests" and giveaways (I put contests in quotes because I met a super-blogger at my daughter's school who filled me in that it was NEVER a draw, she just picked people she knew to "win").
Ugh.

The blogging community that I was on changed... more sock-puppet blogs spewing hate or Ana or Mia crap. My friends largely stopped posting, whether it was just a shift or it was that they made their own real blogs, changed everything. And I missed being able to easily read them on one page, or a few tabs, whatever. My own life changed VERY radically, and my available time just went *poof*  and I had none ... it was hard to even be on facebook for more than a half-hour in the morning, it was a pain in the ass to try to upload photos from the camera then to photobucket then to the blog, my premium membership expired, so the ability to  post "protected" so that only my subscribers would see the posts expired with it.

"So what changed now, Cat? Why start a new blog?"

Because I have always been a journaler, paper journals for most of my life except for those blog years; actually even during those years I still had a paper journal. I have always loved to write, fiction, non-fiction, editorial-style things.
Because I have REALLY missed being able to sit down and learn new things and learn about other people, make acquaintances through blogs. See what the world is up to these days, real people.
Because it's so much easier now to upload pictures from the camera (a whopping 14 seconds for 70 pictures this morning, YAY!).
Because I have found myself reading a LOT of blogs lately, and discovered that it's changing yet again -- people being more real, less trying-too-hard, people just being people, and putting up some really good, honest posts and photos. There are a lot of really great blogs out there, just real conversation, real things.
And I have found in the last 2 years or so that with the absence of a blog, I write a lot at facebook. I get messages sometimes from people, both those I know in real life and those I've met through other friends (both online or real life) saying that they get excited to see when I have written something, that they always enjoy my posts.
So maybe, just maybe, I have a thing or two to teach others. There is always another side of the coin, the other hand, the grass on the other side of the fence, and maybe my side of the penny is a different shade of copper than yours is.

"But, what type of blog is this? Is it a Gardening Blog? A Crocheting Blog? A Mommy Blog? What's with the Cat in the name, are you a Crazy Cat Lady?"

This isn't a Subject Blog... it's probably going to be all over the map when it comes to topics. If I am cooking that day, and I want to share it, that will be the post of the day (or week or month, sometimes I have less time than other times). I might ask for advice or talk about something that is bothering me... I might post just photos or I might just post text. I'll very likely be posting about my progress on certain things that I need to improve upon in my life (house, yard, garden, whatever) that aren't going to be all sunshine, roses & rainbows. But life isn't always pretty, you know?

If you think you recognize yourself in my words, I am probably NOT talking about you, haha. We ALL make mistakes in our lives, nobody's perfect so don't worry about it -- I am just as likely to discuss something stupid that I have done as I am to talk about something stupid that you have done.

And no, I'm not a Crazy Cat Lady... ;)