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Jalek

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  1. ^ Except a dome. Oh wait, that's Long Beach DisneySea, which never got built. Thank you, Mr. Eisner for that.
  2. It's easy to think the two are connected since Discovery Communications owned Travel Channel for a decade from 1997 until 2007, when they sold the channel and some other assets to Cox Enterprises. -- Joe
  3. ^^^^Don't get me started. I look at a serious journalist like Martin Savidge and I see pain in his eyes. Why can't they release this man chained to the anchor chair from his sorrowful captivity and allow him to thrive in his natural environment - the field, as an ethical newsman? http://themedreality.wordpress.com/2013/12/21/retraction-of-sorts-of-comments-about-cnn/
  4. This statement is absolutely true. There are stories out there that all of SeaWorld's pilot whales come from drive fisheries in Japan, where dolphins and whales are slaughtered by fisherman by the hundreds and thousands. This is completely untrue. There are seven pilot whales in SeaWorld's collection: three in San Diego, four in Orlando, and none in Texas. In San Diego, Bubbles III was captured in 1966 and lived at Marineland in Los Angeles until the park closed, when she, like the other animals in the park, was transfered to San Diego. 9 Lives (Niner), formerly known as Shadow, was captured in 1982 and was one of the last marine mammals captured by SeaWorld in the wild. Argo arrived in 2012 from Kamogawa Sea World in Japan, where he lived for eight years. The Sea Shepherd Conservation Society (the Whale Wars guys) have tried for years to tie Argo's residency at Kamogawa with the fact that the park had a history of purchasing dolphins and whales from the drive fisheries. However, it's well documented that Argo was found as a calf stranded by himself on Moriya Beach in Japan. I have never seen Sea Shepherd attempt to counter that fact. In Orlando, all four pilot whales were rescued from strandings in Florida. Fredi stranded on Cudjoe Key, was rehabilitated at the Florida Keys Marine Mammal Center, and moved to SeaWorld in 2011. Piper, Ace, and Ava all stranded at Fort Pierce, went through rehabilitation at Florida Atlantic University, and arrived at SeaWorld in 2012. Not one pilot whale captured in the wild since 1982, not a single one from drive fisheries, and five of the seven are rescues.
  5. ^^^I'm an occasional contributor to MiceChat (even though I found out about the post from its author). Now I feel like Carl Rove. Thanks Robb!
  6. Micechat features an interview from a former trainer that contributed to the film and is now speaking against it.
  7. Actually, the story was broken yesterday by the Orlando Business Journal, but CNN makes money by making SeaWorld look corrupt and promoting their own film and what they've accomplished with it. They're still promoting the usual CNN crap about bands canceling performances at SeaWorld, but they've got nothing about the announcement today that Pat Benatar and Neil Giraldo have joined the lineup for Bands, Beer & BBQ at SeaWorld's Busch Gardens Tampa park. CNN really needs to examine themselves on their Reliable Sources show, where they rip out the anuses of their competitors for violating journalistic ethics. I'm done with my rant.
  8. Martin Savidge is the lead reporter covering SeaWorld and Blackfish for CNN. He turned in some pretty good, well rounded pieces on the issue right up until the film's airing, but after that it switched over to fluff pieces, like the bands cancelling and the girl getting her school to cancel the field trip. So Mr. Savidge, who I usually respect, posted this yesterday on his twitter account: Martin Savidge ‏@MartinSavidge @chrisbellows we make money from all the news we report. It's a business. Just as is SeaWorld. Then, there's this HUGE error he made (on another subject), which he and CNN had to apologize for. Ah, CNN. The network that told us there were three shooters in the Washington Navy Yard and they were all Muslim. Please bring back the integrity.
  9. Really? Employees at McDonalds and Krogers are animal rights experts? Google "McDonald's" and "animal welfare" and "Kroger's" and "animal welfare." That's the funniest, most hypocritical thing I've heard all day. Thanks Robb!
  10. Robb, There are two official accounts of Keiko's situation. According to documentation from the Keiko-Free Willy Foundation, the non-profit that sponsored his move to the Oregon Aquarium and then to wild, everything was a success, with the whale hunting on his own and being accepted into an existing family of Orcas. However, a scientific paper by a team of European and American researchers that tracked Keiko after release tells a much different story. I go into more detail here on this ThemedReality blog post. Whether or not you or anyone else agrees with other things I say in the post, this is an important fact that those pushing for freeing the orcas are either unaware of or don't want to admit. Animal rights groups have an agenda and the truth isn't always part of it.
  11. I've started a campaign to rename all marine mammals at SeaWorld as orcas. Henceforth, bottlenose dolphin shall be known as "shiny orcas" (Orcinus shineus) sea lions as "clowning orcas" (Orcinus comedicus) and manatees as "sloppy orcas" (Orcinus ACErus) I hope this sloppy orca doesn't hurt a human.
  12. I want to thank Robb for posting links to my blog post about CNN and Blackfish on ThemedReality. For the most part I am not critical of the film and it's not my intent to discredit it. I am an advocate for the humane treatment of captive animals, which is different from being an animal rights advocate. In the end, SeaWorld will do what is right and I will continue to eat meat. After reading through over a thousand postings on my blog and other websites, as well as comments on facebook and twitter, here are a few things I'd like to share about the film and its promotion: 1. Based on the large number of comments concerning content in the film that isn't actually in the film, I'm under the impression that a lot of people commenting about it haven't actually seen it. Just like a lot of people commenting about my blog post didn't take the time to read what I wrote. 2. Although Gabriela Cowperthwaite, the director of the film, claims she does not come from an animal rights background and that it was never her intent to make an animal rights film, this is indeed an animal rights film. Advocacy films tend to end with images of common people working to make a change. Blackfish ends with footage of animal rights protesters at SeaWorld's entrance. in addition, Cowperthwaite has both embraced and been embraced by peta. 3. The neurologist who features prominently in the film, Dr. Lori Marino of Emery University, is Science Director for the Nonhuman Rights Project, a fact not disclosed in the film. This organization's mission statement is "to change the common law status of at least some nonhuman animals from mere “things,”which lack the capacity to possess any legal right, to “persons,” who possess such fundamental rights as bodily integrity and bodily liberty, and those other legal rights to which evolving standards of morality, scientific discovery, and human experience entitle them." 4. There are two edits in the film that can lead to an easy misinterpretation of the facts. The first is at the end of the film, where a charity run for the Dawn Brancheau Foundation and an interview with her sister about the Foundation's work immediately follows the footage of animal rights protesters at SeaWorld's entrance. This gives the impression that the Foundation and her family support the removal of orcas from the parks, which could not be farther from the truth. The family has and continues to refuse to discuss the issues of Dawn's death and of orcas in captivity. 5. The second edit takes place near the beginning of the film. Following footage of the 1970 captures in Puget Sound, which were done for Sea World when it was owned by the partnership of Milton Shedd, Ken Norris, David Demott, and George Millay, and mention of the Orca deaths during those captures (which has been documented for decades), the film mentions that Sea World switched their capture location to Iceland. The film then immediately cuts to footage of Tilikum being captured in the North Atlantic. I have seen numerous comments about SeaWorld capturing Tilikum and how his family died during the capture. Sea World was not involved in the Tilikum capture and there is no evidence of orca deaths during that incident. The entire third chapter of David Kirby's book Death at SeaWorld dramatizes Tilikum's capture and does not mention any orca deaths. There are sites on the internet that provide the same sort of distortion. www.seaworldofhurt.com mentions in an article titled "Ten Things You Don't Know About SeaWorld" that "Orcas that were at SeaWorld before 1972 were likely kidnapped from their ocean homes. For example,Tilikum, a 32-year-old orca, was captured at the age of 2 by a marine "cowboy." Tilikum wasn't taken from his natural environment because he was injured—instead, he was torn away from his family against his will and confined to a small concrete tank for a hefty profit." The piece fails to mention that Tilikum, who was captured in 1983, resided at Sealand of the Pacific in Victoria, British Columbia until the park closed in 1992, at which time he was relocated to SeaWorld Orlando. Many of Tilikum's issues are the result of his treatment in Canada and not at SeaWorld. Note that SeaWorld of Hurt is a website owned by peta. 6. All of the performers who have cancelled gigs at SeaWorld have and continue to perform at casinos. These are institutions where large numbers of people are encouraged to perform addictive and potentially damaging acts of gambling in an enclosed environment without natural sunlight while having their judgement distorted by copious amounts of free alcohol. 7. Without CNN and now Netflix, public exposure to the film would be minimized. Theatrically, the film only showed in 99 theaters (my market not being one of them) and made just over $2 million in box office receipts. CNN continues to promote its ownership of the film. CNN.com has posted a news piece each time a band has canceled its SeaWorld performance. Each piece mentions both CNN as owning the film and having broadcast it. For instance, the piece on REO Speedwagon states: "The fans became upset after watching the CNN documentary "Blackfish," which first aired on CNN in October." CNN also has used the sensationalist headline "SeaWorld Fights for its Survival" for an on air segment about SeaWorld appealing the ban on trainer contact with whales. As evidenced by the company's recent expansions - Manta, Turtle Reef, Explorer's Cove, Aquatica in San Diego, Aquatica and its expansion in San Antonio, and TurtleTrek, Antarctica, and expansions to Discovery Cove and Aquatica in Orlando - I'm pretty sure that SeaWorld is not dependent on human interaction with orcas for its future survival. Six Flags Discovery Kingdom in Vallejo, CA also gives a good example of how a marine life/theme park can survive without orcas. 8. Although the switch from Anheuser Busch to Blackstone is discussed in the director's commentary on the DVD, ownership of SeaWorld and ownership changes are never mentioned in the film itself. This gives the impression that SeaWorld is under the same ownership and management now that it had been in the 1970's and 80's. At the time of Dawn Brancheau's death, Terry Prather was managing Water Country, a waterpark, in Virginia. Prior to that, he was with Jazzland/Six Flags New Orleans and Six Flags America. Before that, he was Managing Director of the prestigious Witte Museum in San Antonio. Now, I'll grant that Terry did work in maintenance and water quality at Sea World San Antonio from its opening in 1988 to 1997, but from knowing people in those fields at theme parks, I'm pretty sure that gave him an intensive understanding of the importance of safety. 9. If the footage of animal rights activists and Lori Marino's testimony are removed from the film, it becomes a documentary about workplace safety. 10. One thing I learned early on in the marketing of attractions is that the key to successful marketing is to target mothers - they're the ones who make all the decisions in today's modern family. And mothers feel sympathy for other mothers. The filmmakers play on this in their publicity for the film. Cowperthwaite frequently refers to herself as having been a "SeaWorld mom" who regularly took her kids to the park. The producers of the film, Judy Bart and Erica Khan are described as moms who, once their children were grown, decided to start a production company to produce films that "both inspire and entertain." (Not sure how all of Khan's children can be listed as grown, when her bio mentions them as ranging from ages 10 to 25). I've been unable to find anything about these two women. Their production company, Our Turn Productions, is registered with LA County to a nice three bedroom home in Huntington Beach owned by a lawyer. I have no desire to pursue this further, but there certainly is a question as to where these two women procured the funding for the production. Other than the two edits and the lack of labeling of Dr. Marino that I've described above, I have no issues with the film. It's a good movie and I encourage you to see it if you're interested. But it's not the definitive piece on the issue and I will continue to do research on the business, scientific, and historical fronts before I get to the point where I'm comfortable making an opinion on the matter.
  13. Regarding that press release on the scenic railway, sorry for the bad translation. When I was posting that on the InPark Magazine website, I had to deal with a crappy translation via Google Translate from the original Danish. I did some editing to make it flow better in English, but it's still not perfect. I'm a supporter of TPR and am excited whenever something I worked on finds its way onto this site. And on occasion we've used photos and video from TPR (asking Robb first and linking to the TPR website). Not to mention that it's an indispensable site for research. I just ask that as a courtesy if anyone pulls a piece from our website, that you please add a link to the original. Thanks.
  14. I'm really forward to your feedback on Universal Studios Singapore, especially now that I've seen your Genting Report. Resorts World Sentosa, which includes Universal Studios Singapore, is a subsidiary of Genting. It's very interesting just how very different the two resorts are.
  15. Turtle Trek is actually a next generation 360 dome experience from Kraftwerk and is based on the company's Dragon's Treasure installation at Macau's City of Dreams (which is 2D but uses physical props). One step beyond Turtle Trek is SEAVOLUTION, the German pavilion at Expo 2012 which opened today in Yeosu, South Korea. For their main show, Sky-Skan created a seamless 360 degree digital SPHERE with action happening not only above and around you, but below as well. http://inparknews.blogspot.com/2012/05/sky-skan-creates-360-degree-digital.html
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