Driving home from work today I heard the news that an orca at Sea World Orlando had killed a trainer. The report said that while some were saying the trainer was killed in the tank in front of a live and horrified audience, the sheriff's department was investigating where the death took place because other people claimed the attacked occurred in a backstage tank. Call me crazy, but this was not a Criss Angel Mind Freak episode, so how can an entire audience not see what they think they saw. Sea World - not the Magic Kingdom.
The Animal Protective League was quoted as saying no one should go to any live animal performance because these are wild animals being kept in an unnatural environment.
My favorite quote, however, was what seemed most unnatural to me. "This is being investigated as an accidental death." And what else could it be? Did the whale plan it? Was it premeditated? Maybe a crime of passion, but I can't really imagine the whale planned it. But by the time I was close to home this shocker was being reported:
Tillikum the Killer Whale Had Violent Past Before Deadly Attack on SeaWorld Trainer
Personally, I think the whale was framed. And I bet it was the sting ray. I mean look at what ray did to poor Steve Irwin.
But prosecutors will use what this poster said in response to the Whale Had Violent Past article to stick it to the whale:
Tillikum: Born 1981 WILD into an Icelandic Pod. Brain size 4.3 times larger than a human. Spent 2 years with his mother and her family. Kidnapped in 1983. Later sold into the Seaworld/Anheuser-Busch/Blackstone "Circus." Is Tillikum angry about being ripped from his family or does he just not understand that people are not whales, that they can't hold their breath and that they break when you play too hard with them. Sad for both the large brain and small brain mammals involved.
It is going to snow tonight in South Georgia! It has already snowed about an hour from here in Albany, GA and my father-in-law called from Ellenton, GA which is about 38 miles away and it is snowing there. He was pretty excited and said the cars are all covered in snow and all the guys from Mexico who work at the farm are outside taking pictures. My husband is mad because it is only raining here. He has never seen snow before and thought this would be his big opportunity. Pobrecito!
It is almost a snub that he National Weather Service just lumps us in with North Florida and the rest of Southwest Georgia for this once in a decade event:
BAY-CALHOUN-GULF-FRANKLIN-GADSDEN-LEON-JEFFERSON-MADISON-LIBERTY-WAKULLA-GRADY-THOMAS-BROOKS-LOWNDES-LANIER-INCLUDING THE CITIES OF...PANAMA CITY
...CALLAWAY...LYNN HAVEN...UPPER GRAND LAGOON...BLOUNTSTOWN...WHITE CITY...PORT ST. JOE...WEWAHITCHKA...APALACHICOLA...CARRABELLE...QUINCY...
CHATTAHOOCHEE...TALLAHASSEE...SPRING HILL...MONTICELLO...MADISON...GREENVILLE...SWEETWATER...SOPCHOPPY...ST. MARKS...CAIRO...THOMASVILLE.
..QUITMAN...VALDOSTA...LAKELAND
528 AM EST FRI FEB 12 2010 /428 AM CST FRI FEB 12 2010/LOW PRESSURE WILL MOVE SOUTH OF THE AREA THIS AFTERNOON AND
EVENING. AHEAD OF THIS LOW A COLD RAIN WILL CONTINUE TO FALLCROSS THE AREA. THE RAIN MAY OCCASIONALLY MIX WITH SLEET OR A
FEW WET SNOWFLAKES EARLY THIS MORNING.THE LOW WILL PASS EAST OF THE REGION LATER THIS AFTERNOON AND
EARLY THIS EVENING WITH A COLDER AIRMASS RAPIDLY FILTERING INTO
THE REGION. IT IS DURING THIS TIME FRAME THAT SOME
LIGHT SNOW MAY BRIEFLY BECOME POSSIBLE...ESPECIALLY ALONG AND NORTH OF THE
INTERSTATE 10 CORRIDOR. LITTLE OR NO ACCUMULATION IS EXPECTED WITH THIS SNOW IN THE EVENING. HOWEVER...TEMPERATURES ARE EXPECTED TO
DROP BELOW FREEZING LATER IN THE EVENING...AND CERTAINLY AFTER MIDNIGHT. PATCHY ICE IS POSSIBLE WITH THESE FALLING TEMPERATURES
IF ANY WATER REMAINS ON THE ROADWAYS. MOTORISTS TRAVELING NORTH AND WEST OF TALLAHASSEE ARE ADVISED THAT WINTER STORM WARNINGS ARE IN EFFECT FOR ACCUMULATING SNOWS
ACROSS SOUTHEAST ALABAMA...INLAND PORTION OF THE FLORIDA PANHANDLE AND PORTIONS OF SOUTHWEST AND SOUTH-CENTRAL GEORGIA. ROAD
CONDITIONS ACROSS SOUTHEAST ALABAMA...THE FLORIDA PANHANDLE AND PORTIONS OF SOUTHWEST GEORGIA MAY DETERIORATE LATER TODAY.
RESIDENTS ARE URGED TO MONITOR THEIR NOAA WEATHER RADIOS OR LOCAL MEDIA FOR LATER STATEMENTS ON THISDEVELOPING WINTERWEATHER EVENT.
I love the phrase, "some light snow may briefly become possible." It better be possible because this
is all anyone around here has talked about for the entire week! Heaven know this most certainly
Today is chilly and windy. Mingus, Coltrane and I walked and I took pictures of things like water meter covers, patterns in the sand, mushrooms, leaf blossoms, and bark.
