CALIFORNIANS: do you want to go to sea world?

Seaworld always makes me very upset for my fishy friends. :(

Brandi has fishy friends?

ah Sea World, the only place where you can openly harass star fish

@MP: End of July!

hokay. well, I suppose I could go. maybe.

wow, you guys are surprisingly sucky on this subject.

fine, i will go without you.

but we're still gonna have to do something when jubilee is around, so PREPARE THE TARPS.

You're kidding -- not everybody's jumping at the chance to dish out $59 bucks to stare at fish and whales?

I think they have dolphins too, Art.

@Brandi - I'd assume Sea World is a lot better on it's inhabitants than a zoo... the fish get to swim around in huge tanks... I DON'T SEE A JUNGLE FOR THE LIONS TO HANG OUT IN.

And don't forget the penguins!

@Art - oh, right, water birds. like people care about water birds. COME ON.

I'd buy an otter if I had somewhere to put it.

ooh, otters.

:< . Well, you should DEFINITELY still bring Jubilee down to San Diego anyway! What weekend is that going to be, btw?

jubilee will be here the weekend of july 19. i was thinking maybe we could do a hangout friday night? would you be willing to come up to LA wilbur?

what's that face for? johnny, someone will pick you up. we'll have to go somewhere non-21.

@Art: You're absolutely ridiculous. SeaWorld rocks!

@Brandi: Sorry, but you're just WAY fucking wrong here. SeaWorld is one of the largest marine biology research centers in the world and have been responsible for the rescue and rehabilitation of countless whales, dolphins, seals, sea lions, and other sea life including the largest manatee rescue program in the world. They rescue around 20-25 manatees a year, with most of them being released back into the wild after rehabilitation (only those with serious injuries that would prevent them from surviving in the open are kept at their facilities). Without that program, the entire population of manatee would probably be gone. The research that is done has given us a vastly greater knowledge of marine life, how they interact, and how we affect them. NONE of the animals in their facilities have ever been tortured, in even the shallowest sense of the word. While some organizations like WSPA and WDCS claim that any whale or dolphin held in captivity is cruel, the facts are that Sea World does far more than most of those organizations combined to help preserve and protect the world's population of whales, dolphins, and other marine life. Since 1995, they no longer capture dolphins or whales from the wild (except as part of rescue and rehabilitation). And in San Diego, SeaWorld is responsible for filtering and cleaning millions of gallons of polluted sea water from Mission Bay every month. Your facts are not facts, but rather pure bullshit. You don't have to like SeaWorld, but before you continue to spew your rhetoric, maybe you should take the time to learn something about what you're talking about.

and THEN I was like oonts oonts oonts oonts oonts

I feel differently about zoos and regular aquariums than I do about Seaworld, actually. (Except that dolphins should NEVER be in captivity.) It's the show that upsets me so much.

Anyone who has any grievances about Seaworld can file them with the Seaworld grievance coordinator.

END OF DISCUSSION.

@ss: Sorry about my tone - I was a bit pissed. But you DID say that Sea World tortures its animals. While, in your opinion it may be wrong, it does not even come close to any definition of torture and to equate it to that makes light of REAL animal cruelty, not to mention real torture. The trainers love and care for those animals more than anyone on this planet, and are far more knowledgeable about their environment and concerned for their well-being than any FEMA fuckwads on the planet.

Choose your words more wisely next time, please.

I resent that pointing out that splurging on this ticket might be a bit more than some folks here in $4.60-a-gallon land might be willing to do these days is dismissed as "pretentious," especially when it seems to be coupled with a presumption that we were all gonna hop on this bandwagon. Go, have fun, really, do. I get that it's a good family place. But don't get all snippy when it's not some sort of landslide super-convoy. After all, millions of people don't have the same kinds of opportunities and education that we do.

@seemingly douchetanic: I am not trying to change your mind in any way. Like I said, it is your prerogative to dislike Sea World for whatever reasons you want. But to claim that they their treatment of animals is equivalent of torture is ludicrous, even *IF* the idea that their captivity could be considered cruel was substantiated by any kind of evidence. But it's not.

You know I respect you, and it's because of that I will call you out when I think you're wrong. I agree with you about the environments of the animals in most zoo's, though I will not will not go so far as to say the animals are being tortured. But I have been to Sea World many times, including "backstage" where most of the scientists are doing their research, and I don't believe they fit into the same category. The habitats they provide are absolutely top notch (thanks, in large part, to the consumption of large quantities of Budweiser by people like you).

Personally, I am far more concerned about the effects of global climate change on ALL the species on this planet, and the seeming unwillingness on the part of the human race to do anything to curtail it. Hopefully, when large species start dying off because of the destruction of their natural habitats, the research gain at places like Sea World might actually help to save some of them, though my optimism is waning with each passing day.

@Art: Sorry dude, but you weren't simply saying you wouldn't go because of the cost alone - you were being snarky. Maybe not pretentious, but definitely snarky. That's part of your charm. But don't pretend to be innocent.

pardon.

@Moses: Never mind - I figured it out again.

Same.