Tell of adventures strange and rare.

I love any story with well-written, compelling characters.The fantasy genre is a favorite of mine. I'm passionate about orcas and cetaceans in general. Once an avid seaworld supporter, I am now firmly anti-captivity.

[missamericanavotesblue]

Thank you for being one of the few voices of reason on Hillary! I see so little critical (and calm) discussion of her on tumblr, so it's quite refreshing to have you. I like Bernie, but tumblr can be overwhelming in its effusive praise for him.

thanks

i completely agree. the tumblr effect with bernie is overwhelming. it’s a harmful hive mentality. 

listen, there’s a reason why bernie’s endorsements have been celebrities and teenagers on the internet and hillary’s endorsements have been political colleagues, thought leaders, and news media (as well as some celebrities and teenagers on the internet). some of that is money, some of it is corrupt money, some of it is political dynasty, and some of it is the fact that we have literally never had a more qualified candidate for president run with so much scrutiny. 

you can say she flip flops on political issues, you can say she’s moderate, you can say she’s corporate. i don’t care. some of it’s true, most of it’s not and it doesn’t particularly matter because a politician’s job is to represent their constituency. 

this woman has been first lady, a senator, and the secretary of state. geez. what more do you want? like literally, what more? her voting records are more liberal than either obama or biden, and she voted with sanders over 93% of the time. 

hillary saw that the democratic constituency was becoming progressively more liberal. her votes and views now reflect that liberalism (thanks lizzie warren for chatting with her). that’s called being a good leader, not being a fake. when you’ve played the game as long as she has you have to make concessions or NOTHING GETS DONE. no progress is made without people playing across the line. when mitt romney was a red governor of a blue state he saw that his constituency wanted socialized healthcare and marriage equality and he signed it into law. not cause he personally agreed with it, but because that’s how you fucking lead. 

and for those of you who are actively pissed about DOMA: here’s a great article about why it happened. history and context is really important if you’re gonna scream about things on the internet. as a queer person i feel really fortunate DOMA happened instead of the alternative. 

bernie sanders doesn’t support other democrats. president obama put a ban on PACs and wall street donating to the DNC and RNC. because he knew that would HURT the DNC he took it upon himself to campaign a money relief fund to support other democratic offices. hillary also took that burden on herself and raised $30 mil for democratic elections that were not hers. bernie raised $1,000 for democratic candidates that weren’t him. what does he think he’s gonna do without a democrat-led senate? house? 

bernie sanders’ policies would be great if we were not a system of checks and balances. sure, if we only had an executive branch, they’d be ace. i’d love to see money reallocated that way. guess what? with a judicial branch and legislative branch that don’t always swing your way it just means your plans and policies are unfundable. they’re going to cause shut downs. they’re going to be un-enactable. and moreover, they just don’t hold water. no economist can make them make sense. i’m so sorry because they sound great, i know they do, but they’re not sound. 

i’m a supporter of hillary. i’ve been trying to keep those opinions off tumblr, but not anymore. you’ve got questions: i’ve got answers. i worked in elections, i studied this, i got my degree in this, yeah, but moreover i don’t want people to feel shamed for voting for a candidate who is objectively much more qualified and ready for this position. 

i wasn’t gonna endorse because internet politics are wild, but eileen myles wrote this truly beautiful and provocative essay and i can’t be quiet about it anymore: you should read it.

[avocadosalad]

I have never hated the shouts of white men more than I have tonight.

[mimsically]

On the DNC Wikileaks Scandel

How exactly is “the DNC favored Hillary Clinton over Bernie Sanders and wanted her to win” news? Did someone at some point deny that? You know what else is true? The RNC desperately didn’t want Trump to win the nomination and tried to message craft against him and favor establishment candidates. He still won his primary. Sanders didn’t.

There’s no moral equivalency between Sanders and Trump, but there are situational parallels. The system is biased in favor of establishment candidates - 100% true. But Obama overcame who the DNC initially favored (same person they favored over Sanders) via broad coalition building. Trump overcame RNC opposition through fanatic demagoguery (it helps that the Republican voter base is less diverse than the Democratic voter base so he just had to appeal to a specific demo, unlike the coalition you need to build to win the Democratic primary). Sanders failed to build the coalition necessary to overcome the institutional bias against him.

ummm…. not to be too insensitive but… tough? At worst in these emails are suggestions that may rightly require certain DNC members to resign - but nothing showing electoral theft, or a reason not to vote for Clinton over Trump.

(Source: my U.S. government teacher)

[whimsical-tail-flukes]

“If Trump gets elected, don’t blame me. It’s not my fault. Blame the DNC for backing Hillary.”

 Rationalize it however you want. It won’t change the fact that anyone who votes for a third-party candidate or abstains from voting in this election will be responsible if Trump gets into office, hands the Supreme Court majority to the Republicans, and gives the green light to all the bigots in this country to be as openly terrible as they want to be to minorities and LGBTQ+ people. For gods sake, David Duke is gonna run for the Senate here in Louisiana, people! That tells you all you need to know. He knows that Trump is stoking the racist flames in this country, and he thinks he can ride his coattails to victory. 

 Let me repeat that again: The former KKK leader could possibly be elected to the Senate this year, all because Trump is telling this country that it’s okay to be as hateful as you want to be to people that are different from you.

 Trump will ensure that every progressive SCOTUS decision made during Obama’s presidency is overturned, plus Roe v. Wade. His SCOTUS nominees will have a decades-long negative impact on this country.

 I don’t care if you don’t think Hillary’s a perfect candidate. Got news for you, that’s how most presidential elections are. This is not the year for a third-party protest vote. You are not going to “shake up the two-party system” by voting for Jill Stein. You may feel nice for “voting with your conscience” when you press that vote button, but if Trump gets into office when Stein fails to win a single electoral vote and only succeeds in taking votes from Hillary, I’ve got news for you: you didn’t actually make a moral decision. 

 The people who will be most affected if Trump gets into office are people who don’t have the luxury of only voting if their candidate is “perfect.“ 

 This election will have powerful long-term ramifications, and worrying about a Trump presidency is in no way "thinking in the short term,” as some people like to claim it is. It’s just the opposite. Vote for Hillary.

[dogsaremypatronus]

People who say, “I don’t see signs of discomfort” regarding videos of animals who are in discomfort baffle me, because, of course you don’t see discomfort. You don’t study animal behavior, so you don’t see it. 

And no one is expecting you to see it. I wouldn’t expect you to know what a tumor looks like on an x-ray either if you’ve never studied medicine. But you trust your doctor when he points at the blob and says that’s what it is, right? 

In the same way, we expect you to listen when people who do study and understand animal behavior tell you that it is actually discomfort, rather than plugging your fingers in your ears screaming, “LALALALA I CAN’T HEAR YOU!” as if that will magically make the animal’s discomfort go away. 

The average dog owner wouldn’t recognize discomfort if it, quite literally, bit them in the face. But the thing about scientific fact is that it doesn’t change just because you’re too ignorant to see it. 

If multitudes of professionals are telling you that a behavior displayed in a viral video is problematic, maybe you should stop moaning about how they’re ruining your day and try to learn something instead. 

[thehorsethief]

A major part of the problem is that most people *believe* that they know what animal discomfort looks like; many people had dogs and cats as kids-very few people have been around x-rays from a young age.

Despite being around animals, many people don’t know what discomfort looks like because of disinformation; that horse isn’t in pain, it’s trying to get revenge. That dog isn’t nervous, he’s smiling, that cat isn’t bored, she’s just trying to make trouble.

Much of this comes from our parents; I would bet money that there is a direct link between how a parent views an animal behavior (like a “smiling” dog) and how their kids interpret it.

Another source of disinformation is the media; I distinctly remember being a little kid watching Cesar Milan pin a dog to the ground till it stopped struggling. Milan then explained that he had calmed the dog down by making it submit. It wasn’t for another decade that I learned the term “learned helplessness”

And finally, people don’t want to admit that they’re wrong. Not just because of pride, but because very few people want to hurt animals, and admitting that “I thought my dog was happy, but I was abusing her” is an incredibly difficult thing to think, much less say.

[b3n3aththesurfac3]

This is so important to the captivity debate I needed to share. If an expert is telling us whales and dolphins are acting inappropriately or abnormally in captivity, we should be listening. Super important. The threat displays come to mind…

[worldofwhales]

Alaskan whale sunset / Serendigity / cc

[thebabyanimals]

[whimsical-tail-flukes]

Don't ever hesitate. Reblog this. This should be in the tumblr laws. When you see it, REBLOG IT.

Depression Hotline: [phone]

Suicide Hotline: [phone]

LifeLine: 1-800-273-8255

Trevor Project: 1-866-488-7386

Sexuality Support: 1-800-246-7743

Eating Disorders Hotline: [phone]

Rape and Sexual Assault: 1-800-656-4673

Grief Support: 1-650-321-5272

Runaway: 1-800-843-5200, 1-800-843-5678, 1-800-621-4000

Exhale: After Abortion Hotline/Pro-Voice: 1-866-4394253

If you ever want to talk: My tumblr ask is always open.

[lesbianpirates-blog]

my flatmate told me that theres this cat always around at the uni campus, often in the library (it even has its own library card) 

The owner made a facebook group called Pepspotting (the cats name is Pep) where you can post pics of the cat if you see it somewhere

[porpoise-princess-deactivated20]

seems to me that the whole “rescue/rehab/conservation/research” argument was some sort of a pretend argument in favor of seaworld for many procaps. they were singing praises until seaworld said there won’t be anymore baby shamus, and now suddenly seaworld is the devil to them. rescue/rehab/conservation/research be dammed! 

[whimsical-tail-flukes]

Yep. None of them ever went to seaworld because "their ticket money contributes to the rescue/rehab of animals in need." They went there because they wanted to play with the orcas at the underwater viewing area and watch them perform tricks in shows - and they just used the rescue/rehab as a rationalization for their actions.

Now that the orcas will be phased out, the rescue and rehab element of the park holds no purpose for them.

[orcinus-ocean]

I am beyond disgusted. Cold and numb.

HOW, and WHY could they give in to the bullies?

They KNOW it’s only a fringe minority of extremists, they KNOW people are still filling the parks, filling the Shamu Stadiums, they KNOW the best for the animals is to breed and continue their pods.

They KNOW all this.

WHY would they be such complete COWARDS?

As it is now, I can no longer support SeaWorld.

And I feel like it is some kind of horrible nightmare.

[b3n3aththesurfac3]

[vagnhvalr]

[b3n3aththesurfac3]

[whimsical-tail-flukes]

So seaworld decided to give Takara a final “fuck you” on the way out the breeding-program door, I see.

Her third pregnancy in four years.

Ending the breeding program is a huge deal, but it’s hard for me to get super excited about it in light of this news.

I just hope you didn’t kill her, seaworld. And I’m not giving you any props for your decision today.

[b3n3aththesurfac3]

I know, and I’m still waiting to hear Morgan’s pregnant over at LP. I love how they keep Takara’s baby all hush hush until it’s practically full grown in the womb. As if they didn’t stick a tube in her to get her that way🙄 as if they didn’t know.

[whimsical-tail-flukes]

When I first heard him say "we have one orca who hasn't been born yet," I thought for sure he was talking about Morgan.

Is this decision going to apply to the Loro Parque whales too? Or were they rushing to get Morgan pregnant before ending the breeding program so they could say, "well this happened before we made this decision."?

[whimsical-tail-flukes]

So seaworld decided to give Takara a final “fuck you” on the way out the breeding-program door, I see.

Her third pregnancy within five years.

Ending the breeding program is a huge deal, but it’s hard for me to get super excited about it in light of this news.

I just hope you didn’t kill her, seaworld. And I’m not giving you any props for your decision today.

[sixpenceee]

Tadpoles swim through a jungle of lily stalks in Cedar Lake on Vancouver Island, Canada. (Source)

[earthlynation-blog]

Photo by georgenakamura

[whimsical-tail-flukes]

PSA: Seaworld is NOT phasing out their orca show in San Diego!

I can’t stand it when the media writes whatever headline they feel will get the most clicks, even if it’s completely wrong. Every major news outlet makes it sound like seaworld is phasing out their orca shows altogether (in California) a la Ringling Bros., when that isn’t what they’re doing AT ALL. When the CCC decision broke, the whole world thought seaworld was banned from breeding orcas outright in California - which was NOT the case. The ban would only go into effect if seaworld built the bigger tanks for their orcas - and surprise, surprise, seaworld is backtracking on their promise to build these new tanks in light of that decision. Gee, I wonder why?

As far as today’s major headline goes, no, seaworld is not ending it’s Shamu show in San Diego forever. They are just making a new “educational” show as a cheaper means of getting better PR without having to build the expensive new tanks. And knowing how “educational” seaworld’s shows have been in the past, I’m sure this new show will be full of half-truths and “safe” facts that will make guests walk away thinking that the orcas at seaworld are in a good place and are contributing to the study of wild orcas (which they aren’t, on both counts). Whatever seaworld may say, the upper management that controls these animals’ lives  doesn’t care if you walk away from their shows having gained an appreciation for wild orcas or a desire to protect them. All they want is for you to leave the show thinking that SeaWorld is a good place (and a good product) that you’ll come back to visit and pay for again and again. 

In the end, the public is just getting a new show, and the orcas are still stuck in the same boring tanks they’ve been in for decades. NOTHING is changing for the animals themselves. 

[cartoonpolitics]

[danielle-mertina]

I don’t get this because white millennials love that flag too. Have y'all seen Twitter, IG, and any other form of social media?

[mahjinbae-deactivated20151231]

young southerners are JUST as racist as their parents???

[whaticantremembernow]

Like did the ‘young southerners’ raise themselves or??

[drewdrewyou]

as a young southerner I can say that the majority of us are WAY more accepting and tolerant than our parents. 

[rinnysega]

Sometimes I wonder if these people who don’t live in the south realize there are young white southerners who fight tooth and nail with their kinfolk about this issue. As a southern white person who gets called a traitor by her family, I completely relate to this picture and fuck anyone who tries to paint us as the bigots we are trying hard to fight against!

[twinklylightslongshiftnights]

I have family in Texas- my uncle is the biggest republican I’ve ever met- anti-LGBT rights, pro-racism, pro-gun, anti-woman-but his daughter, my cousin, is the COMPLETE opposite, and she doesn’t hide it either. She spends her days in the schools gay rights group, has taken part in dozens of rallies, and regularly argues with her father about what she believes in. She is the next generation of southerner, and I HATE that she is being portrayed and generalised as a bigot.

[callmejude]

Man, tumblr is a trip. Never generalize anyone about anything unless it’s someone who isn’t you, amirite? Look, I get this shit from a lot of people. I get it from movies and television, I get it from my own friends. I’m not saying the south isn’t a shit place some of the time. It is. That’s the thing. We know it is. We’re trying to change it. This is the comment that got me:

“Like did the ‘young southerners’ raise themselves or???” 

No, and that’s literally the point. Do you see the same comic I do? That kid dragging himself out of the sinkhole? You get what that’s supposed to mean, right? We didn’t raise ourselves. He’s been living in that sinkhole up to this point, too. Because we grow up believing our parents know what they’re talking about. We all do, I know that isn’t any different up north. And it’s great that your parents weren’t racist, homophobic bigots like so many southern parents were, but the whole point the comic is trying to make is how fucking hard it is realizing your parents aren’t trustworthy people. It fucking sucks. I have to fight the man who raised me about what my own rights should be.

And the fact of the matter is, that for years, because my dad said otherwise, I didn’t think I deserved any. And it was a fucking nightmare pulling myself out of that sinkhole and coming out and being who I am today. I still struggle with a lot of issues because of things I grew up hearing from my southern stereotype father.

It’s exhausting seeing people looking shocked or frightened when I mention I’m from Texas, but even more exhausting is understanding why they have that look on their face. It’s humiliating having to explain that my roots don’t define me. But I’m not who my father is, and I’m certainly not who he wants me to be.

So yeah, I’m done having people tell me what I think. And if I’m not going to take it from my own flesh and blood you better be damn sure I’m not gonna take it from the likes of some strangers on the Internet.

[pelvicsorcery90]

Possibly worth noting more about how he still has one foot in the sinkhole, still dripping with the stink. Pretty decent political cartoon overall. It doesn’t pretend he is on a hill all daisyfresh from the crud he was born into. He is struggling out of it and still affected by his upbringing. I don’t personally know any decent Southerners, but I know people who are on their way to overcoming the racist crap they were indoctrinated with. I imagine it is similar.