Spain Day 86:

Christmas break. It's finally here and that means we can all kick back and relax...well unless you have to work during the holidays and for that I am sorry. The rest of us will enjoy to a higher extent to compensate. I will be journeying to a few destinations over the next few weeks. First up is a flight to England where I'll be meeting up with the ever awesome, sportswoman of the year candidate, and witty to boot, Miss. Becky Dru. I gotta give a shout out to people who invite me over for Christmas and open their home. I love Christmas meals and even more so I love not having to frantically search for hostels, hotels, etc. So it's off to England first, Wycombe to be exact, then later on I'm gonna head over to London with the hope of seeing Karen and Greg. Then shortly after NYE I'll be headed to Dublin for a week or so. Guinness will surely be had. I can't wait to get this going and ring in the new year in style. Bon Nadal everyone! 

Spain Day: 70

So as the title implies and mirrors how I feel, I do think that I've gotten used to this whole Spain thing. Sure the layout of each day is different than back home and the feel of America is pretty distant I like the setup I've got going on. Now I haven't blogged in a little bit even though I said last time I needed to get back to it, but hey sometimes life says "no time for bloggin kid, go live a little more." That's exactly what I've been doing. My workload picked up and I did some traveling recently so there has been plenty to do. I think I'll do a written weekly recap for the weeks I missed because there are some cool pictures I wouldn't be able to include in a youtube video. After that I'll get back to the videos. 

For this post I'll talk about some of the travel I did since it was a cool trip and there were many pictures to be had. The experiences during of a four day weekend are usually pretty cool. For the four day weekend that just passed I got invited by some friends to stay at a house in Logroño. It's a city about 5 hours north of Malgrat. So on Friday afternoon my friend Jaume (a fellow teacher) and his girlfriend Montse along with myself, headed off. Some other friends of theirs had already left the previous day and we were going to meet them there. 

We arrived around 7PM and walked over to the main street where all of the bars and pubs were. It was pretty cool to see how a bar street in Spain isn't like the ones I've seen in America. The street was pretty small but there were people all over the place and as we walked up we saw the rest of the group. I didn't know what I was in for but there were about 20 of us altogether. It was a mix of families and friends that have all known each other for some time and I was just along for the ride. Apparently they only get to meet up a few times a year so they make sure to have a good time when they do. It was great to see that the parents in the group not only had their kids with them but were having a good time as well. 

The house we all stayed in.

Field behind the house

Wine tasting time

Where the magic happens

My appreciation for wine definitely grew this day

The group

Face drawing

So this little one was probably the cutest kid of all the kids but unfortunately I think she was a little shell shocked to see a large black man hanging out with her family. Whenever she saw me she just said "no." No prompting just no and later when we were saying our goodbyes she just said "no." I think we bonded. Baby steps

Spain doesn't really celebrate at all when it comes to Thanksgiving. The absence of the turkey day atmosphere definitely made me think about what I'm appreciative in this world. Just want to remind everyone to take a moment to think about the good things they've got going on. Happy holidays as we move toward Christmas time. Take care and enjoy some relevant music from Avicii.

Make sure you remember who'd fight for.

Spain Day 62:

Let me just start off by saying that today was pretty great. Got up early and went for a run. Had a good breakfast. Later in the day played soccer with the fellas and got invited to a weekend trip to wine country. Things were really looking up, until I got home that is. I don't know if I've made my disdain for all things Miley Cyrus related on this forum but let I can say that the disdain level is at an all time high. Yes part of the reason for this dislike is that the 10 year old boy I currently live with likes to play her songs on repeat so there's that. I'm not saying I don't like miss Miley as a person. I'm sure, ok I'm definitely not sure, she's a decent person and is talented in some ways. Hey it takes some talent to act and sing despite popular opinion saying that her ability in those categories is lacking. Let's just say I'd take Hannah over Miley any day.

But I'm getting off topic. My day was going quite nicely until I come home to see headlines of Miley leading the running for person of the year in Time magazines annual selection process. First of all, "Time WTF" I mean come on isn't there a clause in the selection guidelines that would provide countermeasures for scenarios such as this. I'm not doubting the impact Miley has had on the world this year but unfortunately 99.999% of that impact has been negative or spawned many a hate filled retort to her twerking activities. I'm not sure if the bigger shame is her leading the voting for this distinction or that twerk and selfie were among the candidates for word of the year. Anyway you can imagine my confusion when I heard this news and I feel only an Urkle gif can accurately depict my stream of emotions.

I don't know how all of this will turn out, but given that she already has a sizable lead it most likely won;t end well. These are some trying times for Time magazine's reputation and America's to boot. I mean it's basically saying that the criteria for being person of the year in this country is twerking, making obscene gestures daily, and wagging your tongue at people for no reason. Just think for a second America, if this plays out like it probably will next year we'll be saying "Hey remember that girl who rode the wrecking ball naked and gave a fellatio to a sledgehammer? Yeah, she was the person of the entire freaking YEAR." Wonderful. Can't wait. 

Had to get that rant out of the way. The news actually set me back a few mental paces while I contemplated what was happening in the world. Life is pretty good in Spain. I can successfully differentiate between Spanish and Catalan and I'd say I'm learning at a pretty good pace. Now granted I've got a lot on my plate and no one really speaks spanish here, I'm noticing the progress. 

I realize that being a teacher is fun but grueling. You have to lesson plan and prepare for the unexpected knucklehead child messing up your plans and also performance reviews when the higher ups come to town. All of these are things that I witnessed this past week at Secondary. Luckily I'm not a fully on teacher and can learn from a far while seeing some of the hardships that teachers have to go through. I never put much thought into parent teacher conferences from the perspective of the teacher. Not fun in the least.

As I look on from the periphery and see the maelstrom that some teachers have to walk into every day I can't help but happy dance in my mind.

Next week I'll be back at primary but more on that in the Update Video. I'll leave you all with this as I once again send my thoughts to Time magazine hoping they making the right choice. Option: Choose Miley. Answer:

Well that was a drop on in blog production if I ever saw one. This past week was full of changing weather, increased workload, and an overall lack of time for genuine blogging. I'm adjusting and will roll out some posts this afternoon including the weekly recap. And mom if you're reading this I'll get the annotations up in the next youtube video, I know you like having the captions. Back on the grind I go.

I'm not professing that my life was changed after seeing that placard on the men's bathroom door at school but I will say that it reminded me how important it is to dress well. Right not it's not as important because I work at a school and the dress is pretty casual wherever you look. When I return home though, I hope to adopt a more Gentlemanly look if you will. For you people out there that see this you can hold me to my proclamation. A good suit never hurt anybody and I think a lot of guys get stuck wearing their favorite pair of nikes, sweats, and a jumper. I'm gonna do my best to resist that urge, despite having a plethora of Stanford gear. I could literally live in Stanford clothes for the rest of my days. (Karen can and will attest to that) Anyway, this is just a quick post and a digital post it for myself to step my apparel game up and remember that the art of being a gentleman is not dead. A good suit doesn't hurt either.

Spain Day 50:

I'll be putting up the week 6 and 7 video later on but I wanted to do another written post about the week prior to doing so. Those two weeks are combined because I was changing the blog around and things got a little hectic. It's all good now though.

So this past week I got to go on not one but two different field trips, or excursions as they're referred to here. I was working at the secondary school this week and wasn't expecting to go back to primary so soon but they missed me over there I guess and got to go on two days worth of field trip fun. The first trip was on Thursday and we went to Cosmocaixa, a science museum in Barcelona. If you've ever been to the Exploratorium in S.F, this place was built in the same vein.

The Entrance

Perhaps the creepiest front dest I've ever seen

Like any science museum there were plenty of exhibits about the history of man, different ecospheres, and physics. I definitely liked walking around and exploring the different exhibits. One of the perk of being an assistant is that I don't necessarily have to be with the kids all the time. They have their groups and I mostly float around taking pictures and what not. This is great because it gives me a chance to actually see what the exhibits have to offer. I do make sure to take good pictures though, I'm not there just to have fun and ignore the students. I did feel kind of bad on this occasion because though the museum is really cool, it lacks hands on activities that you might find at places like the exploratorium and for kids as young as we hand you need things like that so that aren't limited to looking from a far. Everything was really cool to look at though so it wasn't all bad, and the kids enjoyed it. What I liked the best was the entrance to the actual museum section where you had to walk down a spiraling five story walkway with a tree of life esque model in the middle.

The Tree of Life

There were plenty of wildlife displays as well and I was most interested in some of the fish we saw. Some fish that I had never even seen on the discovery channel were in the tanks we walked past. The fish were my personal highlight as we moved through the tropical rainforest/shallow water zones. 

The day went pretty smoothly and it was a nice change of pace from being in the classroom all the time. After walking around all day I still managed to be just as tired as I would've been from a day of teaching. Oh well, it was a much better path to fatigue I'd say. The physics area was really nice as well. There were exhibits about waves, momentum, wind, and centrifugal force, all favorites of mine. The groups walked around seeing the different displays and there was a lunch break in the middle. I think I'm finally adapting to having breakfast at 8 and then another "breakfast" around 10:30/11:00 at school or on field trips. After we ate we finished up with a presentation about the solar system and that was good because the children were sitting and silent. A wonderful combination. Shortly after that we packed on and hopped on the bus back home. I got to walk by that front desk featuring Einstein and some other famous person whose name I can't quite place but it was still creepy. 

Field Trip Day 2: Friday was another trip but this time with the older kids. The science museum trip was with the youngest kids, around 3-5, but Friday featured the 7-10 years age group. This time we headed off to a mountain in Mataro that was home to an animal farm and a bakery. The weather is changing as winter nears and this day was particularly cold. For one thing we were at altitude and the other because the sun took longer to get over the ridge so in the shadows it was frigid. Nonetheless, the day was a good experience for me and I had a lot of fun. There were several other schools there so several other students populated the camp with us. It was set up so there was plenty of room for the children to play after walking to each animal location and visiting the room where the bread was made.

The view from up top

The first thing my group did was walk around to see the animals. There were chickens, horses, pigs, and even some ducks along the way. I was walking around with my DSLR in one hand and the GoPro in the other trying to get some good shots for a video. I've been practicing my video editing skills as a kind of side project and I figure with my GoPro why not. I've always like programs like iMovie,  but for one thing it takes a while to learn the ins and outs and with my aging computer I can't really multitask if I decide to make a short video. I will keep trying despite these limitations.

The rabbits were a hit with the kids for some reason

We walked up the hill a little ways and there were holding pens for the pigs and horses. Nearby there was a small pond with a bunch of ducks. Apparently the ducks were doing something very entertaining because I heard a lot of clapping but I was busy taking pictures so I didn't see what the fuss was about.

Pretty nice surrounding area

 After we saw all the animals, including a cow being milked, we headed back down the hill to prepare for the break making part of the trip. Every year the kids get to make bread and then at the end of the day eat it. The break they made wasn't really to my liking because it comes out of the oven hard and quite difficult to bite through because it's covered in sugar. I like bread that's soft but it was still fun to make.

Sugar bread

One girl has celiacs so she got space age cooking materials

After the bread was prepped and put in the oven we headed down to lunch, and that pretty much concluded the day. I like the format of field trips here. We have activities for some of the day then the last two hours or so is time for the staff to pretty much chill out and let the kids run amuk as they are usually itching to do. After lunch the staff just sat down to chat and the kids played. There was coffee, there is ALWAYS coffee, but I don't drink the stuff. It was good for the others though as it got quite chilly again. I was just practicing my Spanish and helping the teachers with their English while taking some pictures as well. 

Sergio - Can't see past the shades man

Ariadna

 Once 3:30 rolled around we had to pack up and head to the buses. This trip was even more relaxing than the previous day because we got to sit down for most of it and I had a good time. Maybe in the future field trips back to back I'll try to avoid but this time it wasn't a bad time at all.

The beanie came in handy all day

The inspiration for this post. I understand that SeaWorld is a leader in wildlife rehabilitation and treatment and I believe that do plenty of positive work for the environment. Despite these truths I think that a response such as this is an admission of at least some guilt on their end for the events that have taken place in their pools. I think Seaworld needs to reevaluate some things with statements like these coming out:

SW: To promote its bias that killer whales should not be maintained in a zoological setting, the film paints a distorted picture that withholds from viewers key facts about SeaWorld -- among them, that SeaWorld is one of the world's most respected zoological institutions, that SeaWorld rescues, rehabilitates and returns to the wild hundreds of wild animals every year, and that SeaWorld commits millions of dollars annually to conservation and scientific research. Perhaps most important, the film fails to mention SeaWorld's commitment to the safety of its team members and guests and to the care and welfare of its animals, as demonstrated by the company's continual refinement and improvement to its killer whale facilities, equipment and procedures both before and after the death of Dawn Brancheau.

I'm calling BS SeaWorld.

So it's been about a week since the fallout from the CNN premiere of Blackfish has died down. I wanted to wait, gather some info, and see how the masses reacted before putting something up about it. It would make for a pretty boring read if at this point SeaWorld had already gone down in flames. Alas, it has not so there is still quite solid ground for debate on the issue of keeping orcas in captivity. This situation delves into several issues ranging from human-animal interaction, the pros and cons of captivity, and just how aware the public (and in some cases the employees themselves) is about the true function and operational practices of establishments such as SeaWorld. Now this analysis isn't an attempt to tear SeaWorld down brick by watery brick but more a chance for me to really gather some info and shed some light on what I think is a truly gripping issue. After watching Blackfish for the first time I was, as the writers had intended, yearning for a change and quite upset. Even with all that emotion swirling around and memories of Free Willy cropping up, I needed to hear both sides of the story. My inquisitive mind can only stay under the spell of directed emotion for so long.

I hope keep this at a respectable length while also broaching the topics with accuracy and proper scrutiny. I'll first speak to the events leading up to the film and the subsequent events surrounding the current controversy. The arguments from both sides have merit and despite popular opinion, SeaWorld is still afloat so they must have some legs to stand on. I'd like to include some data about what SeaWorld actually does because I'm afraid that most people, myself included, have a glazed over "ooo look at Shamoo" approach when it comes to the function of the establishment. And lastly I'll give my opinion about what I think is right as we move forward. The resolution of this predicament will likely have lasting implications for the future of animal rights and the national view of captivity practices. 

The Deep Blue Sea

"Blackfish" focuses on the capture of a one Tilikum, an above average sized male Orca, and the ensuing events that have brought us to the firestorm currently being witnessed across the nation. Whaling has been in practice for a long time, dating back as far as the early 50s. Mainly in Russia, thousands of Orcas would be captured and killed per year. Russian sailers took over 3,000 and forced that International Whaling Commission to enact a ban, however this wouldn't fully be in effect for many years. (There is currently no location on the planet where these animals can be hunted purely for sport) Enter Tilikum. Fast forward to 1983 and a then 2 year old Tilikum is captured in Iceland. He was sent off to a less than desirable location in the form of Sealand of the Pacific. Now this isn't just my opinion running rampant, many people interviewed in documentaries and news articles mention that the facility was not up to snuff. Even the owner himself, shortly after closing down the park, mentioned that he didn't think the park should remain open due to lack of space and funding for proper care. All of these things are related to the functioning and well being of the animals held within the park. This brings me to the next point, an unfortunate recurring theme in this piece, the first death in relation to Orcas being kept in Captivity. This event has been well covered, but some of the dialogue surrounding it form the core of my opinion about Orcas being held in captivity. 

Taken from Wikipedia:

"Keltie Byrne a 20-year old marine biology student and competitive swimmer, slipped into the tank of the three whales while she was working as a part-time trainer. Although Tilikum was not the orca who initially touched Byrne, he, orca Haida II and Nootka IV submerged Keltie below the water. The three whales began dragging her around the pool in their mouths, tossing her back and forth in the air, and submerging her. At one point she reached the side and tried to climb out but, as horrified visitors watched from the sidelines, the whales pulled her screaming back into the pool. The other trainers responding to her screams, throw her a life-ring, but the whales kept her away from it. She surfaced three times screaming. It was several hours before her body could be recovered from the whales. The whales had stripped the clothes off the body. 

Both females were pregnant at the time, which was not known to the trainers.

In my opinion this horrific event should have been enough to halt the development of Orca captivity programs like forever, but I guess like they say where there is a bill there is a way to make it. Several of the factors that went into this tragedy disturb me and are in my opinion inherently disturbing.

Mistake #1: Capturing the damn animal in the first place, and opening a lower quality facility such as Sealand that houses these animals in tiny spaces. This lack of free space to play and explore in could very possibly have lead to the increased aggression or dementia shown in whales such as Tilkum. I went online to discover how vast the living range of Orcas is and they are found in all oceans. To do the math I again consulted the internet and came up with something to the tune of 343,423,668,428,484,681,262  gallons.

NNo

Now that is a large amount of gallons, but considering that these animals do not dive to the deepest parts I cut the number by two thirds accounting for the fact that the average ocean depth is around 12,000 feet. This bring the number to 114,474,556,142,833,000,000 gallons.

N

Now the reported volume of the show tank at SeaWorld Orlando is only 7 million gallons so to find what percentage of the potential free range the show pool is I simply divided the numbers and I got 

.00000000000000611%.

Something tells me that housing these animals in pools this size and even smaller is a bad idea for the mental and physical health. Seeing the same set of walls day in and day out has been known to drive humans insane.

Mistake #2: The Orcas were reportedly had zero "water work" which meant they had no interaction with humans in the water and a reaction to a mishap such as a fall into the water could not have been predicted 

Mistake #3: Having a part time employee anywhere near Orcas, or any animal for that matter, with no training 

Mistake #4: Having three extremely large animals in one tank, especially when there had been clear documentation of aggression between them (I mean come on not one but three possibly agitated multi thousand animals in one tank)

Mistake #5: Apparently the two females were pregnant and the staff was unaware. I can understand being unaware for a spectator but for the people charged with the care of these animals this was unacceptable. If the trend of often aggressive behavior found in many other animal mothers carries over to orcas, hint it definitely does, that spells trouble for others entering the environment of expecting mothers 

Mistake #6: The facility itself was comically unsafe given the nature of the inhabitants. An entire post could be dedicated to the lack of safety measures in place at the time. Again I must play devil's advocate in an attempt to be fare and say that this whole idea was new at the time so the trainers and staff were learning things every day. Even with that being said just looking at the recommended additions to safety at the part in the coroner's report are mind boggling. I'll let you look for yourself

There was a definite lack of Safety Precautions

The list goes on and on but unfortunately the sequence of events that transpired that day cannot be reversed. One would hope that even though the slip was an accident the ensuing events were worthy of enough caution to never place another person in that situation again. I mean accidents happen every single day and if your accident happens around an 8,000 pound animal there's not a whole lot people can do for you if the situation goes south.

Mistake #7: Not learning from dialogue such as this

Steve Huxter was head trainer at Sealand and had worked with Tilli before. He states, "The one person here in Victoria that he (Tilikum) had an accident with, it was purely excited, play behavior". Going on to add, "Tilikum was a very well balanced and a very gentle animal. They have personalities, they have good days, they have bad days, they have emotions."

The head trainer says here that like humans these animals have emotions and with that comes days both good and bad. I'm not debating that point whatsoever, but my issue comes with the idea that knowing that these animals are highly intelligent and have shown such mood swing ability, is that a risk we are willing to take. After I first saw "Blackfish" I posted on facebook saying that I didn't care how good a swimmer you are or how long you've been a trainer, are you willing to bet your life on it when things go south between you and the animal. Part of that argument can be found in this instance because Keltie was a very good competition level swimmer. It's almost comical that the one championship swimmer had to be the victim, only to further one point that no matter how strong a swimmer you are things can change in an instant.  

Following these events Tilikum was transferred to SeaWorld in Orlando and Sealand closed down. Unfortunately this was only the beginning of a tumultuous life for Tilikum and even today he is still performing after a long life of unfortunate circumstances and being used as a breeder.

Blood in the Water 

I will briefly mention the other casualties and near death experiences leading up to the event that has sparked the most controversy, that being the death of head SeaWorld trainer Dawn Brancheau. 

It boggles my mind still that even after such a myriad of other instances including broken bones, fractures, stitches, near deaths, and deaths this practice continues. I honestly don't know how for so long the excuse of "the whale was just being curious/playful" has been sufficient. I can't speculate about the trainers loyalty to the parks they worked at or how much influence SeaWorld has in this arena but apparently its plentiful. If my life was threatened by an enormous animal in an element that I have basically zero control in I don't think "Cuddles was being playful" would be enough to get me back in the water yet alone sway people to believe that it's ok. Part of the defense for many of the incidents revolve around inexperience on the trainers part, but several of these occasions involve senior or even head trainers as in the case of Ms. Brancheau.

If you've clicked the link above about the extensive list of close calls related to Orcas and their trainers, you know that the body of evidence for dangerous scenarios is well documented. Having three highly publicized deaths is one thing, but to have this staggering yet relatively unknown number of injuries and near death situations is potentially more damaging to the industry's image. 

I won't focus on all those situations listed above as wikipedia does a fine job listing them out, but I will select a few to mention as we move onto the data analysis portion of the story. 

Incident #1: March 1987

I'm mentioning this incident as to refer to it later when addressing SeaWorld's "unaware of the risks" statement posed in response to the Brancheau incident. This occurrence involved a young SeaWorld trainer by the name of Jonathan Smith. The official report states that he was dragged to the bottom of the tank and while still bleeding brought back to the surface and "spat out." I'm not an expert in wild animal training but I do feel my common sense skills are of a commendable degree, and I believe one of your occupational hazards is "possibility of being eaten alive" there are some issues with that training field. The result in this case luckily was not another death, however Mr. Smith suffered cuts on his torso, a ruptured kidney, and a lacerated liver. These are not minor injuries and they occurred on SeaWorld property. How SeaWorld could claim negligence more than 20 years later is beyond me.

Incident #2: July 1999

The security at SeaWorld has been reported to be top notch due to the value of the park's inhabitants and the inherent danger to anyone that might find themselves in a restricted area after hours. I'm positive that the conditions were not as they were at Sealand, where posted safety placards were missing, because Seaworld is a multibillion dollar industry and I've seen them with my own eyes. This incident is telling of possible foul play because despite the man who lost life being homeless, possibly drunk, and more possibly on some sort of mind altering stimulant he managed to be in this state and bypass the state of the art (or maybe not) security at SeaWorld. The statement from staff after the fact made it clear that the man had to overcome some substantial obstacles to enter the Tank including a plexiglass barrier and some fences. I'm not doubting the hardware in this scenario, it's the human error that I'm more concerned about. According to statements from "Blackfish" there are also security cameras and guards on night watch that would undoubtedly have an eye on the park's main attraction and prized possession. I can give the benefit of the doubt to a certain extent but to tell me that this main in his condition bypassed the fences, plexiglass, cameras, and human eyes pushes me passed that point. 


Incident #3: November 2006

I'm covering this event because to be honest it was one of the most horrifying few minutes I've ever witnessed. To see someone fighting for their life and knowing there is absolutely nothing you can do about it is frightening. I believe that is an issue lying at the crux of all this discussion and debate. In the end, when things go badly with these animals, there is quite literally nothing we can do. This time at an evening show in 2006 at the SeaWorld park in Orlando, experienced trainer Kenneth Peters found himself on the brink of death. The orca in question was named Kasatka and had been involved in another terrifying incident only weeks before. Perhaps he was feeling confident is his ability to keep control of situation, as I believe trainers can and should, especially because it was Peters who helped save a fellow trainer's life weeks before when a whale heeded his call to return to a separate area. How this show went on with the same whale so close the previous incident is bewildering and more proof against the statements put forth by SeaWorld that they were unaware of potential danger to trainers. On this night Peters was grabbed and dragged to the bottom of the pool for an extended period of time. This cycle was repeated several times as trainers and audience members looked on in horror. Luckily Peters was an experienced trainer and SCUBA diver, and was able to remain calm while also remembering to purge in an effort not to pass out. After nine long minues he was released but as he swam to safety the whale was clearly chasing him. He barely escaped with his life and suffered injuries to his legs. This is perhaps the most telling incident of all prior to the Brancheau case because even with all of his training and SCUBA experience the force of nature in the water with him nearly took his life.


Incident #4: February 2010

Let me preface this by saying the think that the Dawn Brancheau incident was a tragedy first and foremost. I think that some of that is forgotten as people shift focus to revenge on SeaWorld or the ramification of her death. I do not believe SeaWorld was at fault for this particular incident and I don't think Ms. Brancheau was in the wrong to a degree. There are things that could have been more intelligently on both sides but for SeaWorld to publicly state that they place blame on the deceased Brancheau is both a backhanded and hypocritical remark for which I believe is a clear sign of attempted deflection and guilt. How dare they criticize not only one of their most beloved staff members but someone who lost their life making money for the very company she loved so much. 

This event is very complex and several factors go into what happened. The three aforementioned events are relatively more black and white, however thanks to the "Blackfish" movie we can see that things on this fateful day were not all as the should have been. First and foremost the whale in question had at this point already been involved in two other deaths so why trainers were still allowed to be in the water with him raise several questions about the ethical practices at SeaWorld. The event in question had been well rehearsed and Ms. Brancheau was a senior trainer so her experience was never in question. Some of here decisions that day however are open to interpretation and put in question her good judgement. According to the reports surrounding the incident Tilikum had begun to show diminishing levels of responsiveness to Brancheau's commands pre show as her reservoir of food was running dangerously low. The trainers use an action-reward system to accomplish the feats seen during the shows. This is where I believe that the show should have either been postponed or cancelled. If the head trainer cannot control the animal then she has no business entering the water. However, it was reported that she felt she had regained enough control by the time the show began to go on performing. I won't call into question her knowledge of the animal and the situation, but I still think that if all of the factors had been considered prior to this incident she would never have had to be there in the first place. 

The show went on and it was not until after that the events in question transpired. Apparently after the show while on a water platform Brancheau was pulled into the water by her arm. SeaWorld initially reported that she was pulled in by her hair, despite several eyewitness accounts including their own staff, saying that it was in fact her arm. Tilikum did not release her until much later on and the cause of death was reported to be drowing, however the extent of her injuries are gruesome and much more likely the cause of mortality. I can condone the actions of Brancheau because she regained control and performed the show. I do not blame her for her death because you cannot predict the behavior of these large animals even though they are "trained." What I cannot condone is the behavior by SeaWorld after the fact. From blaming the death on Brancheau and misrepresenting the facts in an attempt to deflect from the truth is disgraceful. The ensuing trial revolved around OHSA's calling out of SeaWorld for displaying a "fundamental lack of safety and understanding of safety requirements." SeaWorld also remained steadfast in saying that they "had no knowledge that working with killer whales posed a hazard to employees." I haven't heard many lies as bold faced as this. I can't bring myself to defend them on this issue. I prefaced one of the incidents in this section by saying it would provide evidence attesting to this very claim. The Jonathan Smith incident happened at SeaWorld more than 20 years prior! Furthermore there had been nationally televised depictions of the events involving Kenneth Peters, and there had been trouble with orcas at a sister park just months earlier, with an Orca born at SeaWorld. Unless the higher ups at SeaWorld claim inability to read the news or view television then their argument is supremely invalid. Even after all of this fallout and trial, SeaWorld came away with a "slap on the wrist" in the form of a $12,000. It would seem more professional for them to pay the maximum fine in a show of respect for one of their fallen staff members, however at that point the level of professionalism expected from SeaWorld in things of this matter had diminished considerably. 

What have we learned from this sampling of disastrous events? First there is a clear and present danger whenever trainers enter the water. To deny this is to lie. The trainers have reason to believe that they are safe and I completely support the effectiveness of training on these animals. The outliers/unknown variables are where the danger stems from. You can't predict how these animals will act at any given moment and you can't know when the line is crossed between playful behavior and aggression. What you do know about both of those scenarios is that both have taken human lives. We know that holding these large animals in tanks that contain We have also learned that SeaWorld is clearly at fault for not handling the situation in a clear and professional manner and will go to great lengths to ensure their image remains intact. Even with all of these incidences brought to light there are always two sides to every story. Even though the regulations and practices of SeaWorld management are very questionable, they do not represent SeaWorld as a whole. I hope to shed light on the good that SeaWorld does for the world's wildlife, that is often lost under the veil of tragedy and malpractice.


The Man Behind the Mask

It's easy to get caught up in the firestorm that is the controversy surrounding recent events, however the good and positive aspects of SeaWorld have been well documented. I'm not saying, in the least, that SeaWorld is excused of past transgressions against humans and animals alike. It's not like if the organization rescues 100 animals they get a free pass on an orca killing someone. That's just not valid argument and anyone using it should feel hefty amounts of shame. 

I wanted to to dig a little deeper and scratch some dirt off the other side of the coin because I know that SeaWorld didn't become a leader in the industry of wildlife preservation by a stroke of luck. 

I'm sure some of you are wondering who I work with. I realize I haven't spoken about them much yet but I'm on it. At least now you can know some of the faces. This picture isn't the entire staff, just a group of us that went to one staff member's housewarming.

November 12, 2013

Exhibit A: aka "Sack of potatoes"

I've always been a fan of children, well I'm a fan but I definitely have an insight into the dangers accompanying the production of your own. Sure it's all fine and dandy when you get to look after one or two or however many little monsters you've got for a few hours, this is what I imagine one of the perks of being a grandparent is, but when it's a full time gig dig in because it's gonna be a rough ride. This little aside was inspired by today's events at the shopping mall with the aforementioned sack of potatoes named Joan. Let me backtrack a bit because I'm sure some of you are wondering why I'm even a part of the potato's life.

I'm currently in Spain doing a teaching internship and my set up is with a host family in Malgrat de Mar. The host mom is awesome and she has two boys, Joan y Lluis. Lluis is 10 and Joan is 5. Both are pretty cool kids as far as I'm concerned, plus I'm the little brother so I don't know what it's like to be the eldest. The 10 year old has gotten to the point of semi independence, by which I mean no more fits about not wanting to get dressed or crying because you won't listen to their secret. My friend Louis will elaborate.

I've never had to live with a five year old before and let me tell you it's quite a show. They've reached the point where they're officially cute, not the obligatory ohhh so cute comments while secretly thinking "wow I forgot how similar babies and aliens are." As my new "little bro" has taught me, cute on the outside super condensed ball of terror on the inside.

Back to the trip to the mall. I attribute some of the upcoming nonsense to the fact that we had just finished a four hour lunch/playdate with Marga's family. It was awesome and I really appreciated how tight nit people are on this side of the world. I've seen my host family and their extended family almost every day I've been here. That's a lot of love. Off we went driving to Mataro, where the shopping center is located. Joan had fallen asleep on the way over and I was a little tired myself but being 22 allows me the luxury of not becoming a 230lb tantrum monster. Arrival. We get out of the car and head to the mall but Joan is tired and hungry and bored. The three deadly sins for a parent raising a five year old, because if not handled properly can be the end of your sanity. We get inside the mall and then the wheels begin falling off the wagon. "We thank you for your patience passengers, we'll be waiting in line until we get the go for takeoff." The potatoes hit the deck and didn't want to reanimate any time soon. Now Joan is pretty thick for being five years old. Some of the little people I work with at school I feel as though may be lost on a windy day, but not Joan he must weigh about 50 lbs. So we're standing in the mall and while the potatoes was getting acclimated to the floor Marga went off to get a shopping cart. I know what you're thinking, "Why would there be shopping carts in the mall?" But aha, here in Spain they've wonderfully combined a giant supermarket and shopping center. Talk about the American dream.

After we placed the potatoes in the child transportation area of the shopping cart we were off. Cue the next obstacle directly related to our resident preschooler. At the first store we get to, turns out you can't bring shopping cars inside. So once again we have to abandon ship and Marga says to me "Jemari, can you take the sack of potatoes out of the care please?" He's getting to the point where she risks throwing her back out trying to life this kid, so I oblige and take the mini human out. This was the beginning of rough 24 hours for me. Being the good citizen that I am and wanting to help out since I'm living in her home I decided I would carry Joan on my shoulders for a while since Marga needed to get clothes for Lluis. This was a mistake. It started out well enough but I can safely assume that parents have the best immune systems on the planet because I'm pretty sure that all children below age 7 are 24/7 disease factories waiting to give you a cold. Enter the title of this post. Joan is a fairly chill passenger on the Jemari train but on this occasion he was getting a little handsy. Before I know it my face is being massaged by little hands from whence I don't want to even imagine. We survived the shopping trip and headed home.

Fast forward to the next morning. I felt like Miley Cyrus came in like a wrecking ball straight into my back. My shoulders and neck felt like they were going to fall off. This was strange though because I had carried Joan before to no ill effect but I quickly surmised that my body was fighting off something and it was exacerbating the pain I felt from carrying the little dude. It was crazy for about 12 hours until my immune system said enough is enough. Note to self, shower after all future contact with the mini humans. On a more positive note, I'm learning oodles about the joys of parenthood. The tagline for the parenting handbook should say, "Children, pushing you towards serial killer one day at a time."

The Birth of An Intelligent Hoodlum 

This isn't him

Alrighty so most of the major overhauling is done as far as the new blog layout goes. I was frustrated with the old template I had with the HTLM not working correctly and the ads and the comments not working. The list of issues was considerable to say the least. Speaking of comments, for all you readers out there some comments would be greatly appreciated. A. So I know who is actually reading what I'm writing (or just looking at the pictures) and B. So I can get feedback and learn how to improve my writing. I would equate my current skills (roughly) with that of our beloved and brilliant Tyrone Biggums pictured above. Although, no, this change in blog layout and long overdue delve into critical writing the result of a newfound addiction to peanut butter and crack sandwiches but more me holding true to a goal I had set for myself from the beginning. I have said repeatedly that I wanted to do more posts revolving around analysis of the world around me while taking cues from my brother's work. I teetered back and forth on the notion of changing the name of the blog but I think paying homage to the reason I began all of it needs to remain. I made a few other small changes and I'm happy with it. My Travyon Martin esque about me photo has been replaced with a more meaningful photograph. My brother was JtRex and I'm JHood AKA the Intelligent Hoodlum. I realize now though that blogging is no fool's errand and takes planning, hard work, and discipline. It's oh so easy to come home and plop down to write what you think is an insightful masterpiece but like anything worth something time spent planning is a necessary prerequisite. With my current job where I'm pushed to very nearly to begin a child throwing spree combined with my desire to explore this new setting, time is often short. Or as you'll hear in the "Don't let 5 years old caress your face" post, time may be abundant but you're too tired to do anything. Even typing becomes a chore at that point. 

So what's all this hubbub really mean? I'm glad you asked. For one it means that I'm actually going to do the things I said I was before. There will still be the posts recapping my day to day life and uber cool pictures of Spain and beyond. However now I hope to cover a wider range of topics including hot button issues and cool things I find on the web. I know it's ambitious to think I'll be able to balance it all but hey I'm young, I've partied in Barcelona till 6AM (no I don't recommend doing it often) and I've got a functioning brain itching to grow and learn more about the world around me. So be on the look out in the coming days for analysis about what is likely the most talked about animal in the world right now and some other conversations about some issues on this rock hurtling through space we call earth. 

So if you couldn't already tell by the redesign and the blog looking a mess, I'm changing a few things around as I move forward. Bare with me as HTML can be a pain to edit and debug.

Spain Day 43:

Hello to all my readers. All 5, 10, 15, 0 of you I don't really know for sure, but thanks for being a part of my attempt to put coherent thoughts on screen. Just a heads up that if there is a gap in posts coming up it's due to a little change I have in mind. Stay tuned for the details.

Spain Day 40:

I'm sure all of these things don't apply to the entirety of Spain but as far as Malgrat de Mar and Barcelona go they ring true.

Number 1: People were not kidding about how things close during the day 

So from the title you're probably thinking, "You just said you knew going in that places close, so why are you surprised?" The answer is less about whether I knew or not but how much it surprises me that I really like having the option to go shopping when you need to. I'm not calling out the Spanish people saying they're lazy bums but I guess I was spoiled by the 24 this and 24 hour that back home. Walgreens and CVS are dearly missed at this point especially when you need to run to the store quickly to pick something up on the way to work or during lunch hour.

Number 2: The Eating Schedule 

Breakfast times seem to match up accordingly here but after that it's a wormhole to another dimension where there are two breakfasts and people eat dinner close to 10PM. I usually have breakfast around 8 but some people here don't eat till 10:30 or 11. Yikes. Then maybe lunch around 1:30 so that's not so bad but then dinner at 9:30 or 10PM that's a little disconcerting but hey I still get my snacks in so it's all good. 

Number 3: The Amount of Foreigners 

I was honestly surprised at the number of students and residents that are not from Spain itself. I've met kids from China, India, Germany, Holland, England and more plus many of the town residents are from Morocco or other African locales. I remember during the first week of classes I met a girl from Holland and she spoke Catalan after only being in Spain for a year. I was genuinely impressed and I figured if a seven year old could make some strides so could up. It doesn't just stop at Malgrat. The diversity I've witnessed is truly amazing and the natives I've talked to agree. My host mom remembers very clearly the first day she saw a black person in town because just a few years ago it wasn't a sight to behold. The influx of ethnicities is both good and bad but for me it's been ultimately surprising. 

Number 4: The Battle for Independence is Legit and is Affecting a lot of People

If you aren't aware England is not the only place in the world where a monarchy is the chosen governing body. Spain has a royal family that have come under increased fire in recent years. I had no idea coming into this trip that the people of Catalonia and other locations in Spain are literally fighting for the right to be called independent states. I'm still learning about the situation but it seems that the money people make is primarily being sent away in the form of taxes and people see small returns. In addition the job crisis is not helping the situation especially when people see the royal family spend exorbitant amount of money on little things. Should be interesting to see where this goes.

Number 5: I thought I would be more bummed to be living outside of Barcelona

However I kind of like the more tranquil small town vibe. Especially when I can walk to work and there's no threat of getting pick pocketed. (Literally everyone I talked to warned me of that when visiting Barcelona). Also it feels like a big family here because everyone knows everyone and it makes the day to day life seem less disconnected. With that being said I really like it here and I can get to Barcelona in less than an hour by train if I wanna spend the day there or party it up at night. 

Number 6: Winter comes very late

This year has definitely been out of the ordinary for the people of Catalonia because the weather remains in the 70s/80s even as we approach December. I heard that winter starts late here but even still it's surprising. I'm not complaining as who can whine about perfect days as we approach the new year. A few days this past week were pretty near what I would call a perfect day. Warm but not blazing hot and a light breeze off the Mediterranean, molt be. I hope it continues but as with all good things they must come to and end.

Number 7: The Food here is Amazing 

I knew the food here was going to be different but boy is it different in a good way. The portion sizes may be more defensive back than lineman and the MSG may take a backseat to olive oil but it results in an amazing collection of Mediterranean delicacies. The typical spanish breakfast of pan con tomate is actually really good. It's not a whole lot of food, you basically make toast then rub a piece of tomato on it, but it's tasty. I had forgotten all about the fast food places of home until I saw my first McDonalds a few weeks in to the trip. I mean you really can't go many places without seeing one of those. The main fast food here is Burger King and McDonalds but I've only been once so far and I prefer the home cooking of my host mom. Long live the food. 

Spanish Butifarra - delectable

Number 8: People don't Hug 

Again another American habit seems not to have carried over to this part of the world. I haven't seen anyone hug another person in 40 days. Dos besos is much more common here, the kiss on each cheek when you greet someone. In my opinion I think two kisses is a little more personal than a hug but that's how people roll around here. I mean what if you miss..

Number 9: School ending at 5PM is a travesty (in my opinion)

Now I appreciate a good siesta but I would gladly trade the two hours we have off from 1-3 for getting to end school at three. Children do not resemble children once you breach 3PM, what is known as the resistance barrier. (Yes I just made that up). As you draw nearer to this barrier teachers and staff alike must resist that urge to lash out at children that rapidly deteriorate into states of primal screams and behaviors as the clock ticks on. Now yes I am exaggerating just a little but I do think that 5PM is pushing it. Maybe one day the system will change so school ends at three and you get a nice long siesta after work. 

Kids at school live and breathe pokemon

Number 10: There are no highway patrol officers/People drift on the highway 

I don't mean Tokyo drift style but the cars I've seen on the highway to just drift in and out of lanes without signaling. I dunno if this is the norm but if it is it's a pretty dangerous way to go about things. I can honestly say that I miss driving quite often even with the danger on the highways. Also I learned that you won't get pulled over usually, maybe 1% of the time, because they rely on cameras that are mounted pretty frequently on the autopista. If you're speeding you may not even know you got a ticket until "surprise!" in the mail you have a picture of yourself cruising down the road. Don't speed