Coffee Connoisseur

Today, I fell in love with a tv series just to find that the first season only has 4 episodes and the second season is nowhere in sight. My heart was ripped out, thrown into the dirt and fucking spat on.

This is what happens when I open myself up, leave myself unguarded.. I am betrayed..

Affogato: (Italian for “drowned”) is a coffee-based beverage or dessert. “Affogato style”, which refers to the act of topping a drink or dessert with espresso, may also incorporate caramel sauce or chocolate sauce

Baltimore: Beverage which is an equal mix of decaffeinated and caffeinated brewed coffee

Black Eye: A Black Eye is dripped coffee with a double shot of espresso. It has a strong taste

Black Tie: A traditional Thai Iced Tea, which is a spicy and sweet mixture of chilled black tea, orange blossom water, star anise, crushed tamarind, sugar and condensed milk or cream, with a double shot of espresso

Breve: Beverage made with steamed half & half cream

Caffè Americano: Caffè Americano or simply Americano (the name is also spelled with varying capitalization and use of diacritics: e.g. Café Americano, Cafe Americano, etc.) is a style of coffee prepared by adding hot water to espresso, giving a similar strength to but different flavour from regular drip coffee. The strength of an Americano varies with the number of shots of espresso added

Warning, do not read around anything both extremely valuable and breakable.

It was announced today (14/April/2013) that SeaWorld are set to face allegations regarding the bullying and rough treatment of their sea creatures. It is believed that this cruelty is the primary reason as to why one of their Orcas has become a dangerous killer.

Tilikum the Killer Whale was captured while he was very young. He was then sent to SeaWorld in order to be trained as a show-Orca. While in captivity the Killer Whales were becoming more and more traumatized by their horrific treatment.

When they are not humoring children and adults during their shows, these Orcas and Dolphins are kept in very tight containers (shown above), fed antidepressants and treated harshly by their trainers in order to ‘perfect their moves’ faster. If the Orcas are caught too young, they are also seen to be bullied by their elders.

Tilikum is thought to have been mentally scarred by these experiences, and due to his aggression, confusion and depression has caused the deaths of two of his trainers, and one civilian who sneaked into the show-tank with the Orca after SeaWorld had closed for the night.

A writer named Cowperthwaite interviewed former staff members at SeaWorld who expressed concerns regarding keeping the animals in captivity. 11 theme parks are in SeaWorld’s possession, and together they earned an estimated $1.4bn in revenue last year roughly 24 million visitors. SeaWorld is keen to avoid any bad publicity.

I have created this online petition to call on the US government to do something about the appalling conditions that Sea World and other marine parks and aquariums force on captured (not bred) marine mammals like dolphins and whales. These are intelligent, feeling, family oriented creatures who are abused in favor of petty tricks. They are forced to live in tanks far too small for such large animals (orca whales swim upwards of a hundred miles a day and no tank comes close to this!), their lives are reduced to decades lower than their average lifespan in the wild, and when whales show aggression it is covered up (injuries under reported, problem animals moved to different parks, incidents hushed up with settlements out of court and non-disclosure agreements). Even some zoos have participated in the heinous act of trapping wild animals, separating them from their families, and facilitating an industry that cares not for the well-being of the animals but only in making money off of them. This appalling desecration of the natural animal population needs to be stopped and these marine mammals need to stop being exploited in ways that are harming and ultimately killing them. Rehabilitate whales like Tilikum into the wild before they kill again and if these whales and dolphins must be maintained in captivity then at least give them the space and good health that they deserve.

If documentaries like A Fall From Freedom and The Cove are not enough then look at the tragic death of Dawn Brancheau and think, "What would have happened if Tilikum was left alone in his natural habitat in his natural family grouping with other whales?" The answer is that possibly it still would have happened it just wouldn't have been Tilikum. Wild animals are called "wild" for a reason as Roy Horn (the Roy of the famous Siegfried and Roy) found out in a tiger attack in 2003. We must learn to treat nature with respect, because only then does everyone get what they deserve; a long standing appreciation of these magnificent marine mammals and safety and security for the health and well-being of all involved. 

A Call For the Regulation of Marine Mammals to the Benefit of their Health and Well-Being in “Marine Parks” and Zoos.