im the bug that your parents say is more scared of you than you are of me

Guar cute :) Very baby :)

05/04/2024

So... it seems I accidentally deleted an ask rather than answering it. To whoever asked "is it okay to visit SeaWorld? Does the money go to giving the orcas good care?"... here is your answer!

The SeaWorld parks, as well as Busch Gardens, Discovery Cove, and a few others, are operated by the recently renamed United Parks and Entertainment, a for-profit theme park company. Like any other corporation, their first goal is to remain profitable. Obviously, a large portion of that goes to corporate leadership and shareholders. But that's far from unique to United, or theme parks in general. It's a byproduct of the greedy world we live in. If you're willing to buy a ticket to Disney or Six Flags, then buying a ticket to a SeaWorld or Busch Gardens is no more immoral.

According to the AZA, approximately 46% of their members are for-profit. And while AZA zoos certainly vary in quality (anywhere from "acceptable" to "exceptional" in my opinion), for-profit status does not cheapen or detract from the work they do. In fact, for-profit institutions often have more financial freedom for animal care and conservation efforts than their non-profit counterparts. Non-profit zoos and aquariums are wonderful places, but believe me when I say there's a startling amount of politics in every aspect of their management. Non-profit status does not automatically make a zoo better, and for-profit status does not automatically make a zoo worse.

Now... do SeaWorld ticket sales go toward giving their orcas (and other animals) good care? Yes.

While it's certainly simplistic for parks to claim, as they do, "just by buying a ticket today you're helping save animals in the wild!"... it's not exactly a lie. Being for-profit, SeaWorld doesn't ask for donations to fund park operations or outreach endeavours. That revenue is generated by selling tickets, merchandise, food, etc. The same goes for their wildlife rescue and rehab program, Rising Tide conservation program, Coral Rescue Center, and the SeaWorld-Busch Gardens Conservation Fund, as well as partner organizations like OCEARCH and the Hubbs-SeaWorld Research Institute.

Take ticket sales away, and they can't care for their animals, or continue to fund conservation projects. While I don't know the whole story of what exactly is going on with Marineland Antibes, it appears that the park is in a dire financial situation due to plummeting attendance, to the point that they can no longer maintain their killer whale habitat and are trying to offload their animals onto an Asian aquarium or, potentially, an as-of-yet non-existent third party sea pen. While certainly well-meaning, years of boycotts against Marineland ultimately put their animals in a position where they are not being properly cared for. And it would be horrifying if the same thing happened to SeaWorld. I don't think many people, in their fervor to punish the parks for their perceived misdeeds and save the animals, thought about what the reality of driving a zoological facility into financial ruin would look like.

Don't get me wrong, SeaWorld's shift toward promoting itself as a thrill park that also does conservation rather than a marine facility that happens to have roller coasters annoys me. I would have rather they built a separate, neighboring park for the rides, or at least integrated them into the existing park less obtrusively (Disney's Animal Kingdom, for example, seemlessly integrates the theme park and zoo elements, although they have the benefit of the incredibly talented Imagineering team behind them). But as tiresome as the constant roller coaster announcements are, they are what kept the company afloat financially in the years immediately following Blackfish, drawing in a crowd that previously had no interest in the parks, and for that I'm grateful. Thankfully, SeaWorld is in a better spot nowadays. But the only way to convince them that their animals, not their roller coasters, are what people want to see... is to visit and see the animals.

In short, yes, part of your SeaWorld ticket funds care for their orcas and their many admirable projects. Now if only more of it went to giving their staff better salaries.

This is the reality of animal care under capitalism, and I don't get why people don't understand that. Especially after most of the non-profit marine rescue facilities in the U.S. have closed in the last couple of decades due to lack of funding. BY ALL MEANS support reputable non-profits when you can, but don't expect all facilities to rely on public generosity in our economy - many that did so are gone now.

The plain fact is that by being for-profit, SeaWorld can afford to care for its own animals AND fund rescue orgs and research AND offer aid to facilities around the world that have issues with their own marine mammals. They treat their employees like dirt, like every large corporation ever, and there's no point pretending they aren't just as cutthroat and exploitative - BUT if you're concerned about the animals, you should know the animals are the ones receiving top-quality care here. Because they make money. They're a source of revenue, so much of that revenue goes to keeping them healthy and happy, so they can continue earning money, and so on. That's how this works. You don't have to like it, or think it's a good system, to acknowledge that it's reality.

If you don't want to visit SeaWorld, then don't. But if you're trying to get people to boycott the park, to try and get it shut down, then no matter what you think you're doing, it isn't helping the animals. Nothing good would happen to them if SeaWorld folded. That's not a hypothetical. We've seen it happen elsewhere. We don't want it here.

We lost something as a culture when computers stopped screaming in agony as you connected them to the internet.

You would not have survived the dark ages. A webring would spell great peril. There was no search. And the dark things lurked out in the open in those days.

The computer screamed because it knew.

if it didn't torture a landline phone for the duration of the process, was it really internet?

My dad hit me with the info that there was an option to turn it off... the sound... the whole time. But he didn't want to tell me. Or to stop me from the, presumably character building, ritual of struggling to smother it to death with a pillow at 12:30am so I could be on the Forbidden Web and not wake my parents.

Busy painting. Tumblr finally letting me post more than one pic at a time! But it still had an error on 5 of them...

uses my evil sex mind control powers to make you come cuddle comfy in bed

Also, because it's Tumblr I have to spell everything out. Use your own personal definition of what constitutes a major versus a minor holiday

When you discover a cryptid you never heard of and instantly fall in love with it

The squonk has immediately become a massive favorite of mine now, right after the mothman and Jersey devil 🥺

Oh, bless it, the Squonk! I remember first reading about it in Fearsome Creatures of the Lumberwoods, With A Few Desert and Mountain Beasts. (The sad fate of one that a hunter managed to catch was most affecting.)

The book's over here, if you haven't seen it: in the Lumberwoods American Unnatural History Museum.

PA resident here! Last year, Johnstown held an inaugural Squonkapalooza, a festival for all things Squonk and celebrating our state cryptid.

It was a blast, there was even a contest for people to compliment the squonk.

They're holding another festival this year and you should totally go if you can!

— Ursula Le Guin, in The Wave in the Mind (via fortooate)

my girlfriend never misses

I'm watching a video essay about a game ive been interested in playing. The creator of the video, who has crossdressed multiple times, makes a "women arent funny" joke, and i suddenly realize ive never witnessed him acknowledge a woman in an uplifting way before.

I'm on a dating app for lgbt+ people. I've stated multiple times on my profile that i would rather lose an arm than recieve nudes without consent. I will be sent five dick pics for every 2 people i talk to that night.

I'm talking with my dad, who informs me he's been trying his best to learn about trans issues. He says the same things steven crowder brings up when trying to ridicule trans people. I gently but firmly correct my father and get told that ive been fed propaganda.

I'm on instagram, under the comments of a post ridiculing someone for being a misogynyst. Someone's left a comment saying "it must be hard being a woman on the internet" and i respond "it is." I will have every aspect of my appearance scrutinized as a reminder that no matter how well i pass, it will never be enough for someone with bad intentions.

I'm back on that dating app for lgbt+ people. I'm messaged by an attractive looking person, but i can see their partner prominently displayed in all but their main photo, oftentimes striking what im sure they thought was a very intimidating pose. Their bio says "looking for a third for our anniversary." I know that even if I did feel up to it, the gruff partner wouldnt approve of me because i don't pass.

I'm at a job interview for a clothing store. I tell the gracefully-dressed woman interviewing me that ever since i began my transition, i've discovered an interest in fashion, and that this job would allow me to dip my toes into the industry in a safe way. I'm told that i've reduced womanhood to a stereotype, and i can tell by her tone that i lost any chance at the job the minute she realized i was trans.

I'm at the same hospital i got facial feminization surgery in, trying to figure out what's wrong with my bowels. When the person behind the desk gives me a wristband with my patient info on it, i notice a single, lonely, letter M. I ask a nurse in private why it would say that despite me having changed it nearly a year prior. They say they have no clue, and bring in paperwork for me to fill out and have it re-changed again.

I'm living with my mom at the time. I'm new to transitioning, and decide to try my hand at voice training. It feels a bit off, but otherwise im feeling neutral toward the whole thing. I try speaking in this new voice to my mom and she laughs. Now, when people ask if i intend to voice train, i find speaking at all difficult for minutes after.

I didnt have some sort of grand message to convey by this. I just had a thought and then that thought spiralled into whatever the hell this became. Some, okay most, might call it complaining; they are right to do so.

the mighty gar...

(my half of an art trade with @jackalspine!)