#? not as much

[orcinus-veterinarius]

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.

#their staff make less money than a lot of other major theme parks #the animals have great care... the people uh... #not as much #seaworld #zoos #aquariums #conservation #answered asks #anonymous

[tinogiehd]

thinking about how crazy dnf were last night. they’re so happy together and they’re so obviously boyfriends they don’t do well at hiding it tbh 😭

they aren't trying to hide it :,)

#not as much #aya asks

[manofmanymons]

Who's your favorite digi girl out of my top ten?

Boy version.

#digimon #mimi tachikawa #miyako inoue #yolei inoue #jeri katou #juri katou #rika nonaka #ruki makino #ruli tsukiyono #nokia shiramine #kyoko kuremi #miu shinonome #miyuki minase #saki kimishima #these are disproportionately from later installments #which is exactly opposite of the digiboy poll #picking so many from cs and survive makes it seem like i dont like yuuko and aoi bc they're the only ones left out #i really DO like them #just #not as much

[tariah23]

My bro just got attacked by our neighbors dog (the kid let the dog out while my bro was emptying the garbage) and there’s blood all over the house, outside on our porch and sidewalk (his hand got bitten) and blood got all over our kitten as well.

#man #it’s always something man #the kids next door were the only ones home so he was frantic because my mom was going crazy on him but my bro did get hurt and he’s autistic #and always always anxious and shit #I got attacked by a dog before so I know how it is that’s why I don’t really care for them all that much and I’m still scared of them but #not as much #rambling #there’s a hole in the gate separating our houses and my mom has been telling them to put something there to cover up the hole in the gate #ever since they moved in since their dog kept slipping into our yard but nothing was ever done about it #mom and my bro just went to the hospital via ambulance tho

[cat-scarr]

Not sure if anyone asked; how do you feel about Gwen, Kevin, Grandpa Max, Rook as characters? Do you like them, hate them, or they just meh.

I don’t dislike any of them as characters. You’re probably asking cause I mostly talk about Ben, and well…this is a Ben Stan Account so that is what you get, lol.

I think Gwen, Kevin and Rook made great team members and played off of Ben’s character well, each in their own district ways. Max was also essential to Ben’s story and added a lot of opportunity to get into the depth of what makes Ben who he is.

But as you can see, it’s hard to analyze these other characters without connecting my thoughts to my fave. Sorry not sorry.

If I have any particular bone to pick with something any of them does in story (and sometimes I do), I will point it out while I’m writing in Ben’s defence. They’re too sparse to find every point and link to them all, but I do that sometimes.

#I just #love my boy #I think about him all the time #the others? while they are also cool #not as much #but I CAN analyze them upon request #just be aware this is a Ben Stan Account lmao #ask #Ben 10 #ben tennyson

[elfecassepied]

For the love of God I'm gonna become violent.

PLEASE FUCKING STOP TO PUT UNRELATED AESTHETIC FUCKING IMAGE IN YOUR FUCKING FANFICTION/HEADCANONS POSTS ON TUMBLR.

Seriously I can't take it anymore it make me crazy! I SPECIFICALLY use the picture filter to watch FANARTS or EDITS and SPECIFICALLY NOT FANFICTIONS or HEADCANONS. I swear even with the filter 3/5 of the posts are fanfictions!

I have nothing against fanfictions, I love fanfictions. But seriously when my feed got SATURATED with fanfictions when I specifically use a filter, all of that because the authors put some band-cut-unrelated-somehow-aesthetic-or-for-some-other-shitty-reason-sakura-flowers-or-cute-dress at the top of their fanfiction that make me want to smash things.

You want your post to look cute and pretty. I get it, really. Put there is other ways that don't shoot a ball in the foot of non-interested users' experience. I don't know you can use the colors of your text or the police, I promise it will look cute enough.

In my country we say "my individual liberty stop where begin the one of my neighbor". It's mean that when we live in a society we need to respect other people's boundaries and rights. So right now your freedom of putting pictures in your fanfiction is an obstacle to my freedom of not wanting them in my feed when I use the picture filter.

Once again it wouldn't be such a deal if it was 1 or 2 on 10 posts... But it's 3 on 5.

#i'm not even joking #i'm begging #Litterally #i'm this close to crying #Or to start a slaughter I'm not quite sure yet #fanfiction author #Fanfiction post #These fucking aesthetic bands #complaining #It's my vent post #Fanfiction reader x character #I'm screaming a lot on the fanfiction post but the headcanons post do the same #Not as much #But it's still pissing me off

[whiteshipnightjar]

Zoozve, my beloved

#i cannot tell you how much this made me smile just bc it's so full of love #moon #venus #zoozve #long post #sorry about that it's very long but it's very entertaining i hope you enjoy this lil zoozve gem haha #astronomy #astrophysics #space

[koobiie]

shoutout to everyone who wants to infodump but cant string together coherent thoughts to form sentences and instead just look at you like this

#and by 'everyone' i mean me. im just hoping other people relate lmao #someone asks me about a thing i like and im just like h.................. #been thinking about The Character for a solid 6 months+ and let me tell you. expldoeing soon #this is about ffxv btw . how am i supposed to say how much it lives in my brain . i cant think #text #1k #5k #10k #15k #20k #great googly moogly #30k #40k #50k #60k #boooy what da heeel #70k #80k #90k #will this be my first ever post to hit 100k... it remains to be seen

[poorly-drawn-mdzs]

Knowledge Revenge.

#dungeon meshi #chilchuk tims #senshi #Somewhat of an unofficial sequel to the Dragon Comic. I promise I have more versatility in my jokes. I just had to take this opportunity. #Senshi is pretty much a recluse. I think he would know a few of these 'gottems' but not all. #Chilchuck would know gottems that are nearly lost to time. The deep cuts. The ones that you fall for because they are that obscure. #I would also like to take a moment to confess that after the last comic in which I posed a gottem - #I fell victim to a Mind Goblin Attack. I was thoroughly got. I will be on higher alert this time. #So NOBODY be funny in the tags. I am gullible and I like to share things with my friends. Who are *ruthless*. #I have a mild resistance to Vicious Mockery at this point but I can only take so much. #Happy Thistle Thursday Everyone! See you next week!

[pirateprincessjess]

When I was a kid my family pretended to get raptured so I would think I was left behind on earth while they all went to heaven.

I was like 8 years old and my sister and mom had gotten really into the Left Behind novels (bible fan fic about the rapture). In the books when the rapture happened the clothes that people were wearing when they got raptured were left behind in neatly folded piles.

One day when I was getting home from school my family decided that they would leave piles of neatly folded clothes around the house, and then hide in the basement.

The intended effect was that I would get home and see the clothes then, think that my family had been raptured and that I wasn’t good enough to get into heaven… or something?

The problem was that I had never read these books, and didn’t really think about the rapture very often. There was no reason that I would see some laundry on the floor and think “The rapture happened and I’ve been abandoned by God! I’ll never see my family again!! Oh nooo!!!!”

I just sat down and watched cartoons and eventually my family got bored and revealed that they were all hiding in the basement.

It’s a good thing I didn’t understand the joke, otherwise that shit would have been traumatic.

#still not really sure what part of this joke was funny? #cuz if the prank had worked #then they would have made an 8 year old think she had lost her family and been rejected by god #which isn’t really much of a joke #Christian’s are weird yall #pirateprincessjess

[hojlundaise]

the transition im crying

#this made me laugh so much i have to have it on here #looks like bruno being subbed out

[diabloku]

Lucifer: *enters the hotel*

Alastor: I cast vicious mockery 😈

An animation my sis and I made for fun

Music is Perception Check by Tom Cardy.

#hazbin hotel alastor #Hazbin hotel #Hazbin hotel Lucifer #vivziepop #Hazbin hotel fanart #Alastor #Lucifer #Perception check #“you're much shorter in real life” #Alastor has no mercy if you're under 5“2 lol #I did: the storyboard; artworks and animation #And my sis did: the coloring; animation as well and the compositing #Team work makes the dream work lol

[tariah23]

Oh…. Well, it’s over for Crunchyroll I guess

#Crunchyroll #piracy #funimation #money hungry ass streaming service #rambling #I’ve never paid for a streaming service in my life thank god #I appreciated using others accounts but I personally cannot see myself paying this much for a service if I had the funds 😭! #get back to pirating kings!!! #anime has always been one of the easiest forms of media to pirate anyway so y’all got this #CR is definitely not worth paying for though #CR is certainly not worth paying this much for even if it’s a yearly one time fee #capitalism #the fact that CR has always had pretty bad quality as a streaming service anyway #it buffers every time you pause or rewind anything

[anartificialsatellite]

The older I get the more I admire people who are earnestly, genuinely into whatever their thing is. I know it sounds like an annoying cliche but unless you're being cruel or hurtful there is really no need to be normal about things. The dude with the bad fake accent at the renaissance faire is having the time of his life. The people having photoshoots with their fashion dolls are loving it. The old lady with a yard unreasonably full of tacky ass lawn ornaments is having a blast, HOA be damned.

Don't waste your time being too cool to have fun, y'know?

#it's hard sometimes not to be embarrassed when people tell you you should be and im still working on it #but life is so much more fun that way

[sylvies-kablooie]

i do unironically think the best artists of our generation are posting to get 20 notes and 3 reblogs btw. that fanfic with like 45 kudos is some of the best stuff ever written. those OCs you carry around have some of the richest backstories and worldbuilding someone has ever seen. please do not think that reaching only a few people when you post means your art isn't worth celebrating.

#i often wonder about how many things would be considered classic or high art had they only received the marketing #how many short films that were made for class could have been the most powerful thing you'd ever seen? if you'd seen them? #“you know the greatest films of all time were never made” etc etc #but like. these works of art ARE being made. it's just enjoyed by a smaller audience with equal impact though #i think about this one furry i used to follow on insta who had the coolest worldbuilding ever. it's been years. #thought prompted by that sketch of nimona from ten years ago that was just for a character design #posted to the creator's tumblr and now it's nominated for best animated feature film at the oscars #and by the genuine emotional reaction a fan comic made me feel. how much work had gone into it. how beautiful it was to me. #idk what to tag this but i hope whoever needs to hear it does #writing #writer #fandom #fandom culture #artist

[nothazellevesque]

a man self immolated in front of the israeli embassy in washington dc yesterday. not just any man. an active member of the us air force. he live streamed his death, and said that he refused to be complicit in a genocide any longer. he said that compared to what palestinians were facing every day, setting himself alight was nothing.

let me reiterate. an active duty air force member burned himself alive because he was so disgusted by what the us government was openly supporting. he live-streamed his own suicide, so the whole world could bear witness as a man in his military uniform set himself on fire to protest his government’s complicity in the horrors that we have all been forced to watch happen in real time. he became a new horror. footage of the immolation blurs him out the moment the fire catches, but you can hear him. it is over in seconds, really, but you can hear him screaming. he shouts “free palestine” until his body physically cannot make any sounds other than guttural screams of agony. and then he falls silent. a police officer arrives and points a gun at his still burning body, shouting at him to get down on the ground. and it is over.

his name was Aaron Bushnell. he was twenty five years old. and he isn’t here anymore because the political ruling class has decided that genocide is perfectly fine as long as it preserves imperialism. in the coming days, people will try to discredit him. to say that he was mentally unstable. they will try to bury his actions to save face and defend israel’s propaganda. do not let them. aaron knew what he was doing. he knew what he was doing when he put on his military uniform, set up his twitch stream, and made his final walk up to the embassy. he knew what would happen to him when he flicked that lighter. do not let them forget. aaron’s blood is on the hands of the political ruling class.

#free palestine #free gaza #from the river to the sea palestine will be free #Aaron bushnell #aaron’s livestream likely made it so much harder to bury this like the media did to the last person who self immolated #the least we can do is not forget him #gaza strip #gaza #palestine