For many, Christmas, is one of the busiest times of year. I on the other hand, have always enjoyed a laid back Christmas, consisting mostly of lazing on the couch: I am not one, who wishes for chaos on Christmas, rather serenity and relaxation.

Matt, Flickr "Labeled for reuse"

1. Wake up (usually between 8:00-10:00 - although, I usually wake up early, so feel free to adjust the timeframe)
2. Remain in bed for another half hour (I'll usually read something- usually LOTR related)
3. Finally get up, and trudge to the kitchen
4. Have a yummilicious breakfast (something along the lines of: pancakes, waffles, omelette, something a little special)
5. Walk over to the living room, and put something on the TV (try for something Christmasy) 
6. After watching for a while, begin opening presents :) 
7. If there's any present you can 'do' right now, do that.
8. Watch Deck the Halls
9. Eat snacky food throughout the day 
10. Watch LOTR
11. Eat a scrumptious dinner 
12. Fall to sleep in glee 

I am the type of person who collects things. This habit turns to misfortune, when I inevitably lose interest after a couple years. However, a less pricey, and arguably more useful, collection of mine, has been quotes. When I can remember (and be bothered to), I will record quotes from movies, tv shows, and books. Here, for your enjoyment, are a few of them (I can't be bothered to count).

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"Where is her case? Did she eat it?" BBC Sherlock Holmes

"Four suicides and a note, it must be Christmas!" BBC Sherlock Holmes

"A storm will blow the evil person away, but a good person will always be safe." Proverbs 10:25

"If I get reincarnated... I wanna become a clam." Monkey D. Luffy

"Weaklings cannot choose their way of death." Trafalgar Law

"Bring on the hardship. It's preferred in a path of carnage." Roronoa Zoro

"The best place to write is by yourself because writing then becomes an escape from the terrible boredom of your own personality." John Kenneth Galbraith

"Don't falter. If you do, then who are we supposed to believe in?" Roronoa Zoro

"An expert is one who knows more and more about less and less, until he knows absolutely everything about nothing." Nicholas Murray Butler

"'Research' is a wonderful word for writers. It serves as an excuse for EVERYTHING" Rayne Hall

"A scholar must not only be capable of hard, often totally resultless work- he must actually relish it." Richard D. Altick

"Space: the final frontier. These are the voyages of the starship Enterprise. Its five-year mission: to explore strange new worlds, to seek out new life and new civilisations, to boldly go where no man has gone before." Star Trek

"I love deadlines. I love the whooshing noise they make as they go by." Douglas Adams

"A bird does not sing because it has an answer, it sings because it has a song." Maya Angelou

"You never have to change anything you got up in the middle of the night to write." Saul Bellow

"You must stay drunk on writing so reality cannot destroy you." Ray Bradbury

"Fiction is the truth inside the lie." Stephen King

"Writing is a socially acceptable form of schizophrenia." E.L. Doctorow

"Fairy tales are more than true; not because they tell us dragons exist, but because they tell us that dragons can be beaten." G.K. Chesterton

"There are worse crimes than burning books. One of them is not reading them." Joseph Brodsky

"You can fix anything but a blank page." Nora Roberts

"You can't wait for inspiration, you have to go after it with a club." Jack London

"In the name of God, stop a moment, cease your work, look around you." Leo Tolstoy

"I try to create sympathy for my characters, then turn the monsters loose." Stephen King

"It is during our darkest moments that we must focus to see the light." Aristotle Onassis

"I like nonsense, it wakes up the brain cells. Fantasy is a necessary ingredient in living." Dr. Seuss

"The moment you doubt whether you can fly, you cease for ever to be able to do it." Peter Pan

"Fantasy. Lunacy. All revolutions are, until they happen, then they are historical inevitabilities." David Mitchell

"Into the sky to win or die." Eragon

Shall we dance, friend of my heart? 

We shall little one     -Eldest

"Life is like a box of chocolates." Forrest Gump

"Give me liberty or give me death." Patrick Henry

To read is to begin to understand, what it means to write. Only then can one attempt to weave characters from words, and stories from ideas.

I've been reading since I knew how to, however, writing has come more slowly to me. Writing and I haven't always had the best of relationships, throughout much of my early years, I didn't believe myself to be particularly good (at writing, that is). It wasn't something I found enjoyable, if anything it was a necessity. For many years this was my attitude towards the art, which at the time didn't seem to be a skill I possessed. However, as I read, and continued to begrudgingly jot down strings of words, I begun to see its beauty. The intricate branches that collided to form masterpieces, I saw that writing, like a painting, requires forethought, imagination, and determined execution.

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As I continued (and still do) to hone my craft, I finally found an outlet for the stories dancing in my head. However, now I face a new foe: editing. Having to edit 100,000 words of imagination, is no small feat, and will probably take me a while longer. My hope is, that one day I will be able to publish the book which only exists because I learned to read.

Take courage in my favourite wise words of these, more established, authors.

"If there's a book you want to read, but it hasn't been written yet, then you must write it." -Toni Morrison

"Substitute 'damn' every time you're inclined to write 'very', your editor will delete it and the writing will be just as it should be." and "The difference between the right word and the almost right word is the difference between lighting and a lightning bug." -Mark Twain

"There are three rules to for writing a novel. Unfortunately, no one knows what they are." -W. Somerset Maugham

And she walked in the darkness had heard the Elves cry that cry far back in the deeps of time, and she had not heeded it, and it did not daunt her now. 

I realise that the picture is not of a spider. Yes, I realise that this is about a spider. No I will not put a picture of a spider on my blog. Why? They are completely disturbing. The furthest I will go is a dragonfly- although, know this, I'm still not happy about it.

Shelob's description (and portrayal on screen) is, quite frankly, terrifying: and that's for someone who doesn't mind spiders. I run screaming like a headless chicken when I see a daddy-longlegs, needless to say I hope a 'Shelob' never comes to exist. Not only does she have paralysing venom, she'll use it so as to eat you alive. Wonderful.

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In the movie rendition, she is made out to be at least the size of a horse, and in the book we are also led to believe she carries quite a bulk. Thankfully, as far as we know, no such giant arachnids, or bugs for that matter, exist today. But could they? And did they before?

During the time of the Dinosaurs, fossilised Dragonflies have been found, the size of ravens. It's been said that the oxygen rich atmosphere (upwards of 30%), led to these giant terrors. Researchers believe the excess oxygen allowed them to grow to astronomical sizes, whilst still performing essential functions. However, a new study, seems to show, that it's the larvae's vulnerability to surplus that catalysed this nightmare enduring growth. The solution to their problem would be to grow larger, thus the intake of oxygen would be lessened, relative to their alarming bodies.

So rest easy, knowing that, Shelob won't be coming to eat you in your sleep anytime soon.

How Shelob came there, flying from ruin, no tale tells, for out of the Dark Years few tales have come. But still she was there, who was there before Sauron, and before the first stone of Barad-dur, and she served none but herself, drinking the blood of Elves and Men, bloated and grown fat with endless brooding on her feasts, weaving webs of shadow; for all living things were her food, and her vomit darkness.  

Deck the halls with boughs of holly 

Enough of that. I assume you're all familiar with the tune: which gets quite irritating after a few run-throughs. Anywho, I've been watching the movie Deck the Halls for at least three, probably four years. Obviously, at Christmas time.

Who moves in the middle of the night, a meth lab?    -Steve Finch

Now, I feel that Christmas movies deserve a whole other genre. It isn't really possible to compare it to a fantasy epic, or a thriller, or a horror film (incidentally, I detest this genre). Thus, I won't do so. This is bound to be one of my favourite Christmas movies, as there's nothing else quite like it, Buddy Hall's interactions with his neighbour have you laughing and fuming at the same time. Whilst you watch, you can't help being in a Christmasy mood.

If you're looking for a good Christmas movie, may I suggest Deck the Halls.

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We call it being orphaned. It's the worst fate imaginable.You're trapped inside the reflection.. forever. Got it?

This book, is certainly not one of my favourites, although, I never expected it to be- so it didn't really fail on that point. I point I have to make, the idea of the book is fantastic, although, Rix doesn't create a whole new world, he makes our world a whole heck of a lot more interesting. The issue, is more with the writing itself, it most certainly isn't bad, however, it isn't what I'm used to. The main character, for the most part, is unlikeable, and a number of side-characters are neglected. What's more I deduced the ending a couple chapters before it ended. Granted, this is much better than a lot of books, however, it does lose something when you can figure it out before-hand.

All in all, I'd recommend this book if you want a quick and fun read. If you want a book that you'll never forget, that you can submerse your mind into, may a recommend something else. If I'm ever in the need of such a book again, I might think about another one of Rix's.

Feel free to completely ignore this post, actually please do. I'm merely writing this to remind my forgetful self to change the background of Serenity in a Tea Cup, on occasion. Currently, it should be a semi-Christmasy themed one.

1. Go to template
2. Click on customise
3. Change backgrounds as you please 

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Anyone who's actually read Tolkien's original masterpiece knows that Peter Jackson has taken certain liberties. Some of them more irritating than others... I thought I'd begin with a rather minor one, but a divergence all the same. The main issue I take with this revision, is its needlessness. The original scene was changed, however, in the books (and the movie) it isn't of extreme significance, so I must ask, why change it at all?

First of, they are supposed to be black. The butterflies that is. In the movie, for one reason or another, they are blue- turquoise if you're a colour snob. This minor change, doesn't really bother me, I can imagine black butterflies, from a distance, may appear too much akin to moths.

However, take a look at this quote, spoken by Bilbo in the movie.

I can see a lake... and a river. And the lonely mountain. We're almost there! Can you hear me? I know which way to go.  - Bilbo Baggins

This is then followed by the spider scene, which actually occurs at a slightly later time in the book- but I digress.

Now look at this quote from the book.

He looked at the 'black emperors' for a long time, and enjoyed the feel of the breeze in his hair and on his face; but at length the cries of the dwarves, who were now simply stamping with impatience below, reminded him of his real business. It was no good. Gaze as much as he might, he could see no end to the trees and the leaves in any direction.

Do you see the discrepancy? In the book, Bilbo doesn't spot anything, the only thing he gets out of his climb, is the feeling of invigorating wind. In the movie, he apparently sees the Lonely Mountain, and is now planning to lead the dwarves henceforth. As the following part of the story, has nothing to do with reaching their goal, but rather getting captured by spiders and then the great Elvenking, why was it changed? It doesn't contribute to the plot, and is thus, in my mind, a completely unnecessary deviance from the book.

Before you get your hopes up, no, I didn't cry when listening to Billy Boyd's Last Goodbye, I did, however, come close to it. Which is more than, any other song has done before. There I sat in the theatre, watching what was the last journey in Middle Earth, and then this song came on. It hit all the right chords, it told the end of Bilbo's journey, but not only that, the end of our journey. Viewers of The Return of the King have already had the pleasure of listening to Pippin, who's eerie voice weaves a spell over its listeners. This was their goodbye to us, all the films are made, both Bilbo and Frodo, have accomplished what they set out to. For avid fans, like me, this was our final farewell.

Unfortunately, it is highly unlikely that Peter Jackson will get the rights to the Silmarillion, which is a downright shame. Maybe, we should start a petition: let Peter Jackson make the Silmarillion. Maybe a fool's hope, will come true: there's a first time for everything.

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Needless to say, the music video copyright is held by WarnerBros studios.

Merry Christmas world!

Spare a moment for those who suffer in this world. Those we've given no other choice. Our world, has a tendency to change, we may not notice it, but if we remain blind, when we next see, we may be facing a very different future.

Apologies, this was supposed to be a merry and Christmasy post. Well, whoops. I guess this blog will remain somber.

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Irish Elk, Flickr "labeled for reuse"

Tolkien, to me, is simply a painter of words. He is the father of epic fantasy, caretaker of the ancient races, and an inspiration to all. If you are not a subscriber to his work (which seems a word too common to describe his masterpieces), may I recommend you visit a different blog (or at least blogpost). Although, this blog is not exclusively about the world of Middle Earth and beyond, know that a fair number of posts will concern it.

I can't put in to words, the pain that pierces me, that never again will I see a work of Tolkien in theatres. I had both the joy and the tragedy of watching The Battle of the Five Armies on December 15th. I will be writing a number of posts about this movie in the future. All I wanted to talk about in this post is Thranduil's elk, who first appeared in The Unexpected Journey. 

As a rider of, horses, seeing the Elvenking ride upon a Irish Elk was fantastic. Needless to say, I now want to ride and elk. I actually did find out, that the Sami people, ride reindeer. So my wish, my not be an impossibility. If I'm not mistaken Irish Elk are extinct, however, are rather similar to the still living elk of today.

Expect more posts about this mystical creature, but for now, I've spent enough of your time, talking about elks.

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Wikipedia "labeled for reuse"

As should be rather obvious, by my blog title, I am a tee drinker. And quite an obsessive one at that. I started off drinking camomile, to make me drowsy before bed, however, I've reached my roots out into a number of different teas. Since my blog has "tea" in the title, I believe it only fitting, to have a regular column about tea. This particular one, will simply go over the teas that I am currently drinking (as I said, I drink a lot of tea).
I tend to have a cup in my general vicinity whilst, reading, writing, or watching TV, which happen to be the three activities that I am usually executing. Without further ado these are the five teas, currently in my cupboard.

Yin Hao Green Tea

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I've had this tea for a number of months now, and at first I drunk it quite regularly. The issue is, it is loose leaves. Now, I don't take issue with loose leaves, just the majority of the time I find it simpler to place a tea bag in some hot water: as opposed to measuring out the correct amount, placing it in a tea bag or strainer, and then having to throw the mess away. I'm someone who will leave the teabag in, until I'm done drinking, however, if I have a strainer in my cup, this proves to be an impossibility.
Loose tea leaves aside, this is a decent enough green tea, however, it's lacking the subtle flavour of higher quality green teas. It leaves a somewhat unpleasant aftertaste, that I wouldn't associate with tea. Thus, I will probably finish off this can, and never buy it again. What can I say, I'm a green tea snob.
Lipton's herbal infusion Camomile (pyramid bags)

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I've been drinking camomile for years, so simply smelling it brings back many fond memories. What I like about this type of tea, is the near impossibility to have a bad batch. All the camomile that I've tried, all have a very similar flavour. The only one that showed a more noticeable difference, was the completely fresh and loose flowers, that I got from a gourmet market. All this in mind, Lipton's camomile is perfectly acceptable, and I have the right mind to purchase it again.

Lipton's herbal infusion Mint (pyramid bags)

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I've never been overtly fond of mint tea, so I wasn't expecting all too much from it. I've taken to drinking it as a replacement for green tea, come night-time (green tea has a tendency to produce sleepless nights). Since I've started drinking it again, I've actually grown rather fond of it, the slightly numbing sensation it lends, is something very unique to mint teas. Mint tea will remain on my tea roster.

Lipton's tea Forest Fruit (pyramid bags)

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Before, I become a tea snob, if I ever drank tea, it was fruit tea. Since then, I've been informed, that fruit tea, is not actually tea. Proper tea only comes from one plant, which fruits do not. Ergo fruit tea is not tea. Nonetheless, I recently watched and read The Hobbit, and let's just say the lifestyle of the Woodland Elves has rather captivated me. Thus, I saw some tea labeled "Forest Fruit", and decided I must have some. Surprisingly, I really enjoyed it, and strangely enough it did remind me of the scents of a forest. Although, it isn't a favourite of mine, I can imagine having a cup or two on occasion.

Lipton's White Tea with refined floral notes (pyramid bags)

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Finally, I've found White Tea. White tea has been somewhat elusive as of recent, in other words, I couldn't find it. I haven't had it for such a while, that I had quite forgotten its taste. Needless to say, I enjoy it. I'd probably rank it second only to my staple Green Tea.

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Throughout my many journeys both in literature in film, I've come across some interesting words. In general this it true, however, more specifically, I mean names for groups of animals. I'm sure many of you have heard the term, "a party". Which can be construed as raucous festivities, or a group of people. A Party is the tip of the iceberg, I've compiled a list of interesting group names below, for your enjoyment (links to my sources are at the bottom of this post).

Drinking: A cup of The Blanc White Pyramid Tea by Lipton

A cete of badgers

A colony of bats (It's also a colony of termites incidentally)

A tower of giraffes

A romp of otters

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A pride of lions

A prickle of porcupines

A tiding of magpies

A murder of crows (why do they always get such a bad rap?)

A parliament of owls (quite fitting, wouldn't you agree?)

An unkindness of ravens

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An army of frogs

A shiver of sharks (people's fear of them is cruelly deep-rooted)

An intrusion of cockroaches (most certainly)

A congregation of alligators

A clowder of cats

A coalition of cheetahs

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A battalion of falcons

A shadow of jaguars

A conspiracy of Lemurs

A glint of goldfish


Sources:
http://www.npwrc.usgs.gov/about/faqs/animals/names.htm
http://www.buzzfeed.com/donnad/36-bizarre-group-names-for-animals#.bjopQPpnAE
http://www.writers-free-reference.com/172groupnames.htm

Welcome, once more, to Serenity in a Tea Cup. As today is Christmas day, I though nothing more fitting, than a post wishing you a magical one.
Something about Christmas brings the kid out in all the joyous folk- something it shares in common with Disney.
Christmas is a time for cozy reads by a fire, relaxing with a good movie, and most of all spending time with family (although, some would argue it's the food).
As it is, after all, Christmas, I will leave thee to your merrymaking.

Ho Ho Ho, Merry Christmas!

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Dearest Readers,
And so begins our journey. A quest thats destination is yet to be written. I implore you to join me, through reviews, recipes, stories and anything else that tickles my fancy.
Be assured that Lord of the Rings will appear frequently, as will any number of other franchises I subscribe to.

Take up arms, grab a cup of your favourite tea (for me that's green tea), curl up on a couch, and begin reading- while I'll begin writing.

In haste,

A fellow tea lover


P.S. This blog really isn't about tea- I may have a section at most, I just enjoy tea in general. Particularly, when reading, writing, or watching TV. All activities, which I frequently undertake.

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Dearest readers,
I believe my absence, lasting over a month now, warrants an apology. Well there you have it. Sorry, I'm not really one to explain myself.

Moving on.

Well, today, is Christmas eve. How the year has flown by. I have no idea how long I've had this blog, however, it seems as if it's been quite a while. Christmas has always been one of my favoritist (I realise this is not a word) times of year. My hope is people will be in a more mindful state of mind, perhaps their actions will save just one animal. Although, I'll venture, that saving the planet, may not be on many peoples' minds this time of year. It's a holiday more focused on our own species, nonetheless, the new year is on the horizon, and I hope that our destructive habits may change yet.

Wishing you all a Merry Christmas,

Concerning Kingdom Animalia

P.S.: Don't forget to leave something for the reindeer :)

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Once again, industries are demanding a change in fish quotas with increasing fish stocks. Well let's think about this proposal, shall we?

For years and years we've driven fish populations down into the ditch, then with much reluctance some countries decide to impose quotas. And guess what? They WORK. Why else would they have been suggested?!?!? Guess what industries want to do now? Increase fishing quotas. Do you understand what that will do to fish populations? Plummet them right back down to the dark ages. Why? Because more fish are being fished! Again!

I am astounded.

Save the fish y'all- yup still, no.

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Finally, drug rules are starting to be adapted. I would say that I'm happy, but it's marred by the fact that it should've been done earlier! These sorts of activities, that require an animal to participate (without choice might I add), need to put the animal's safety first. It's different for people. They consent with participating, you can have them be put in as much danger as you want, as long as they consent to it. If it's their choice I don't care. The issue with horse racing, is the horses never gave consent. They never said they wanted to endanger their life, with little in terms of gratitude. And for this reason, the least, the BARE minimum, that we must do, is provide adequate protocols to ensure their safety. For goodness, sake, if they aren't going to be allowed to make their own decisions, at least make sure they don't needlessly risk their life, every time they go out onto a track.

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Top Venezuelan racing horse Rio Negro, has been poisoned: with a dose of cortisol that could've killed him. This industry has been allowed to run rampant, to the point of threatening everyone involved in it. And the horses are suffering the blunt of it. Not only are they forced to race, to the point of death, pumped full of drugs, and generally mistreated, they are now embroiled in racing politics. This industry can no longer be considered a sport. In order to get an upper edge someone has poisoned the forerunner of upcoming Derby. Rio Negro, is now battling for his life.

When will these animals be allowed to live? Since we discovered their use, they've been under their power. When, will people decide that they've done enough? Suffered enough?

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Go on keep on emitting carbon dioxide, and eating fish.

Because who needs this?

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Or this?

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Or this (I'm aware some of you probably still don't care- it's coming, don't worry.)

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What about this?

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I'm sure you won't mind living without this.

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Finally, I'll just jump a couple of steps. What about this? You don't mind living like this- I'm sure.

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Please, think about you're giving up- and what you're forcing everyone else to give up too.
Researchers aren't telling tall tales, to get you to stop- they're telling you what will happen. This is our future. I hope you can live like this.

Well, this article appeared in my inbox today. So let me get this straight: millions of sharks are killed every year for a soup, and now they are being used as a supplement, by this joyous company. Seriously? So this species is threatening collapse, so that people can show off to their friends and now digest food quicker. Really? Are you joking me? If you want to lose weight, for goodness sake exercise! It saddens me that humanity is so chronically lazy, that instead of laying off the fast food, and actually moving around a little, they now grind up the cartilage of sharks and shove it into a pill. Are you serious?!?!

This should be their slogan: Killing sharks since 1945, to battle human laziness.

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Wikipedia (labeled for reuse)

Alright, I'm being a little unfair when I call it "hysterical", but you've got to admit that much of popular media isn't relying on scientific fact. In a previous post I talked about why I believe, in current conditions, orcas shouldn't be held in captivity, drawing upon actual scientific research (brain size etc). Now, it's time to make the less factual argument.

Since the release of Blackfish the public have been demanding change. Even, Blackfish, itself doesn't use a lot of scientific research, it tells a story. The story of Tilikum. An orca forced to live out his life in misery: alone, afraid, captive. It's hard to see an animal in such evident distress.

Did you know that there is no recorded incident of an orca attack in the wild? There are dozens, if not hundreds of (reported) incidents in captive orcas. This should tell you something about their psychological state.

The way that you get the public to support something, isn't through in-depth studies and research papers (honestly, it's quite a challenge to read some of them). To get the public to support you, you need emotion. You need them to feel anger, or sadness over a topic. Show them as a young orca is ripped away from his mother, Tilikum's ragged skin from attacks, and his dormant form in a pool. This is how the media garners support. You've got to show them something they'll understand, something they'll relate to.

This is their secret. Your welcome.

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I've been largely focusing on the overfishing of Tuna, but keep in mind there are more. Here's one. Swordfish. Experts estimate that their population is 70% below, what is should be. That my friends, is not good news. Another apex predator being driven towards extinction. Not shall we say, ideal... Remember my posts about how the disappearance of tuna might effect the oceans, add the swordfish to the picture.

Global fish stocks, are declining astronomically. The big issue with these large predatory fish, such as sharks and swordfish, is their slow maturation. Many sharks and swordfish that are caught, haven't yet reproduced, this only helps accelerate their, currently, inevitable extinction.

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Wikimedia commons (labeled for reuse)

Yesterday, I wrote about sustainable fish, and briefly alluded to this post. This is going to be about mercury. You all know about mercury? I hope. If you don't, here's all that you should know: it ISN'T good for you. That would be an ISN'T. I'm excited, because now I have a reason for people that don't care about fish to stop eating them.

Did you know that fish contain mercury? Do you know how mercury is carried along through the food chain? Mercury levels start off innocuously, then it travels up the food chain. To the bigger animals (in this case fish). What are some of the most threatened fish species? Bluefin tuna, swordfish, and sharks. Guess what? They all have the highest levels of mercury! So, STOP eating them! Is that sushi really worth getting mercury poisoning? And don't think that canned tuna is safe, just because it's skipjack tuna, according to this article (hyperlinked above), "Tuna accounts for 40% of our mercury exposure. Most of that is from canned tuna." So yeah.

I'm hoping if you don't care about fish, at least you care about yourself. So I'd advise, avoiding mercury poisoning. Not really a pleasant thing. Not really advised for your health.

I couldn't see any sharks, other than the Black Tips, when I went to check up on them. They all seemed to congregating at the far end of the pool. Not sure what they were doing, but kind of interesting, so here's the screenshots.

And the tank is still demurkified, so that's good.

Shark Webcam, courtesy of Shark Lagoon
 All the greyish blimps towards the far end are blacktips.


Where did Solomon go?

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SeaWorld has now returned a manatee back to the wild, after they rehabilitated it. This is similar to the last post, I just want to make sure that people know that orcas is not all the SeaWorld is about. For years, they've been at the forefront of marine animal rescue, saving thousands if not millions of animals. And this is not something that should be forgotten on the nigh.

Keep in mind, I'm not saying that because of these efforts this excuses the ill-treatment of the orcas- not even slightly. All I want you to know, is that we shouldn't be lumping the entire company into one big lump of, "You suck."

Another thing to realize, is that not all branches of SeaWorld keep orcas, and many of them are not affiliated with the ones that do: such as SeaWorld Gold Coast, who I also emailed.

Alrighty. I've covered the topic of shark attacks a number of times on this blog- perhaps, you're tired about hearing it, but I'm angry, so you'll have to deal with it.

It seems everyday (I actually check the news on this topic every day) a new article about a shark attack, or a beach evacuated because of sharks, hits the news. Most of the time the shark bit a surf board and swam off, increasingly it's that someone saw a shark. SAW a shark. Apparently, SEEING a shark now warrants a featured article. You'd think nothing was going on in the world *cough* Ebola *cough*. Okay, so we report every minor incident that involves a shark.

Do you know what happens to millions of sharks every year? They are slaughtered. Actually, that's a bad word to use- it's misleading. They are not slaughtered. They are hacked up- alive. And subsequently thrown into the ocean to drown to death, or get scavenged by other fish. WHY doesn't this make the news? Imagine if a shark bit off all four limbs of a person and then swam off. This would without a doubt make headline news all around the world. And what will people think? "They're man eating machines! Stay away from the ocean! Kill them all." Yeah. That's great. This is what happens to sharks every minute of every day. Do they get headline news? No. Of course not. It's deemed somewhat acceptable. I ask you, how is this just? How can we call ourselves civilized, whilst turning a blind eye to this unequivocal barbarity? If another person did this to a human being, they'd be sentenced for life. As a matter of fact, they'd probably be locked up if they did this to a panda, or a dog, or a horse. But a shark? Well that's fine. WHY??!?!?! Why do people hold sharks on a different level? I've already mentioned (in a previous post) that dogs kill more people than sharks every year, why do we treat them better than sharks? What have they done to deserve this discrimination? If anything we're the ones that are at fault. We saw the oceans we conquered, we depleted their food supply, when they make a mistake they are segregated, called a monster, beast, and driven towards extinction.

Efforts are being made to reverse this trend. Now. It should've been done YEARS AGO! This industry is barbaric.

Sharks deserve our respect. They deserve our compassion. They don't owe us anything.

Beluga Webcam, courtesy of Vancouver Aquarium

No circuiting to be seen. I'm afraid posts in this segment are getting increasing shorter. If you'd like to read more of my rambling about this series, I'd advise you to reread my earlier ones. Because, I'm quite literally just trying to record whether or not Nemo is circuiting. So to disappoint- if I have.