Rosey's Diary and Newsy Things: SDMA Winner List | Gloria Submits Revised Budget | Floods Ravage Brazil | New C-19 "FLiRT" Strain Symptoms |

Baby Langur (Taken 5.12.24)

I've been watching the Emily D Baker livestreams of the Karen Read Trial because as we inch closer to November, the news is just hard to watch. My little family has a ritual where every night we watch the monologues or features from the late night shows - Seth Meyers, Colbert, Kimmel, and Fallon - and even those are hard to watch sometimes. The coverage of TFG is just too much and the comedians' impressions of him are just as bad as seeing his stupid face and hearing his actual voice. So I've been watching this trial, or listening to the stream while I work, or while I'm walking around the zoo, and I kind of regret it because the prosecution is so bad so the case has ceased to be interesting. All of this to say, I don't really have much to post this week. With Darren on the job hunt and having more time together, I feel stretched a little thin. We did have a great time at the Waxahatchee show on Tuesday, but after I came home to get my listings going and write a work newsletter, so today I felt pretty sluggish, though I still went to visit the apes and then D and I went to a River Days event to see the future site of The River Center at Grant Park. I still feel like I have a million things to do tonight but first things first, I'm posting this, then finishing listings. They'll be up in the morning. 

Stay safe out there. 

COVID-19: CDC You're On Your Own! Good Luck! | Killer Whale Nakai Dies Of Infection At Sea World | TFG Proves Once Again To Be A Fucking Loose Canon Criminal Of The Highest Order |

 

Orca at Sea World (Taken 2.20.22)

Everytime I think I'm going to post, I get caught up with something else or some new big news drops and I just never get around to it. Over the past couple weeks, the CDC has loosened COVID-19 guidance so pretty much everyone interpreted it to mean that COVID is over and you can just resume life, when in reality, you still need to isolate if you're sick or testing positive. The end. This shouldn't be this hard. We also learned of TFG's house/resort being searched by the FBI and goddamn if he isn't the most corrupt fucking human on the planet and it is so embarrassing that I have family who are MAGA nutjobs. Whatever happens, charges need to be brought on this fucking crook so that he is never allowed to run for office in this country again. 

But what I wanted to talk about was Sea World. They lost another orca, 20 year old Nakai, apparently due to an infection. I am going to defend Sea World here. I'm not an animal expert, but some mom posted video after the death showing a couple orcas "fighting". Sea World veterinarians said this behavior is normal and called raking. If we're going to argue about the value or harm of animals in captivity altogether, then what are you even doing here? But if we can look at this is how it is and all we can do is do better for the animals, you'll notice almost all animals exhibit this behavior-- gorilla brothers Frank and Monroe wrestle and "fight" all the time and one of them recently had an enormous gash on the shoulder, from the other's teeth while roughhousing. Just yesterday, the elephant brothers were tusk in tusk and trunk to trunk "fighting" for dominance while they waited for dinner. My sibling cats wrestle all the time over balls, beds, and just to terrorize the entire household while everyone is asleep. In a perfect world, animals would live abundantly in their natural habitats, but this isn't that world. Northern White Rhinos are functionally extinct. Far too many animals in captivity have counterparts in the single or triple digits in the wild - leopards and Somali wild ass immediately come to mind -- and I support accredited wildlife facilities that are part of the AZA (Association of Zoos & Aquariums) whose goals are "promoting species conservation and animal welfare" as well as educate the public and learn from the animals in their care to help their counterparts in the wild. 

I was heartbroken when I heard another young orca died in Sea World's care, but even in captivity, animal care specialists can't 100% control conditions and outright prevent animal incidents, nor should we expect them to do so. 

Stay safe out there.   

CoViD-19: Delta Continues To Cause Concern | COVAX Encourages Equal Recognition of Vaccines | San Diego Launches "Come Play Outside" | Biden Tears Into Supreme Court Decision |

Dinnertime for Holly and Mwezi. Southern White Rhinos at San Diego Zoo Safari Park (Taken 7.1.21)

I am having major withdrawals, y'all. As of today, San Diego County will only be updating their trigger dashboard, their vaccination dashboard, and all the other daily charts on a weekly basis. I don't know if I'm ready for that. California still offers information by county level, so I may find a workaround, but the information is going to be less detailed and less current. Maybe they didn't like that I was posting the real percentages of the population and 12+ who were vaccinated instead of the percentage of their 75% goal. Whatever the case may be, my way of dealing with crises is to know as much as I possibly can about them and to me, yanking this information is too soon for me. 

Still, maybe it will free up some of my time to do more stuff, so I guess I'll have to get used to it. This weekend will certainly be a test to see how the country does in the coming weeks and whether we can truly look forward to mass events, big gatherings, and life back to a new-normal or if we've got to pull the reins. We'll keep being safe around here, and hope you take proper precautions for you and your friends and family around you. 

Today we double dipped with an afternoon at San Diego Zoo Safari Park and then raced to Sea World so Nova could ride rollercoasters for the last hour they were open. Safari Park was awesome because the tram is running again!! (although it would serve them to deep clean the seats that have been sitting unused for 9 months or so which felt like 100 Coca-Colas had been spilt on them and left to dry) and at the end of the day, one of the keepers was feeding rhinos Holly and Mwezi and saw me there alone with my camera so instead of their trough he fed them like 8 feet in front of me so I could get my shots. Very cool and can't wait to go back. Both parks still weren't very crowded but I imagine this weekend will totally suck at all the local attractions including the beaches, though sometimes you can time the Skyfari at the Zoo to see the Big Bay Boom. Maybe we'll try, maybe we'll just stay home and enjoy the backyard with some margaritas and hot links on the grill. That would be just fine with me. 

I know I've been posting all the White House newsroom links, but if you only read one, read Biden's statement on the Supreme Court decision. You almost never hear a president outright condemn a decision but this could definitely play in the dems favor of pushing to end the filibuster, expanding the court, or getting Breyer to retire at the end of this session. The 100day review should be coming in any day now. 

Stay safe out there. 

CoViD-19: Birthday Superspreaders | Delta May Dominate In Weeks | Coronado Coach Fired; CIF Should Come For The Title | Shocking To No One: McConnell Is Anti-American |

  

Orca at Sea World (Taken 6.22.21)

It's three in the morning and I'm finally wrapping up my night and I just had to pull Tikka in from her catio because it was raining! Hallelujah! It only lasted for a few minutes, but it was a beautiful and welcome sight. 

As I mentioned in my last post, I guess I'm officially off EDD as Casbah finally got their SVOG grant so I guess my pandemic sabbatical is over. I mean, technically I was always WFH anyway, but I may have to step up with more regular, normal, human-adult hours and surrender at least some of my zombie vampire nights.  

This post is kind of a combo of yesterday's news and today's. No surprise that fuckface McConnell blocked discussion on SB1, the Coronado basketball coach was fired last night, which is hopefully a first step and not the only consequence, and I included some links about some small business funds available through San Diego County, new music from Joshua James in support of suicide prevention, and a funny post about the most misspelled words in each state. No surprise "corn teen" was the top misspelling across the country. And we wonder why vaccination rates remain so low in certain parts. And then of course the good news from Monday that an appeals court put that disgusting decision by an activist judge-- that would've overturned the assault weapons ban in California-- on hold. That fight is long from over, but at least the appeal is being considered for real.

In COVID news, you could say the delta variant is going viral (har.har.) as the news channels have really stepped up their pandemic panic porn, a new study used interesting methodology to show a correlation between birthdays and spread of COVID, and I decided to play with some County data on our vaccination numbers which you can see below.   

The news was teasing upcoming changes at Sea World, but after digging, I just think they're going to roll out the calendar for the remaining Electric Ocean experiences that don't kick off until July like Electric Floating Acts, the High Voltage Brass Band, and the always-anticipated iteration of Cirque, which this year is called Cirque Neon World. Hopefully for Nova they'll have news on Tidal Twister, too, which I think has been shut down for over 2 years after people had to be rescued by SDFD in 2019. I gotta say, it was really nice to spend my afternoon there. I just watched the orcas in their pools for like an hour, saw a couple shows, watched the dolphins, and watched one of the sloths (very slowly) eating her dinner. I just kinda go into a trance and ignore the crowds around me and it was kind of awesome. I'll definitely be back soon, keeping my mask handy when gobs of people are drawn to me like a magnet. And I think we might get back into testing since we're all back in the world among unvaxxed a whole lot more than before. 

Stay safe out there. 

CoViD-19: San Diego Community Outbreaks Drop To Just 3 | Governor Plans To Rescind Pandemic EOs | Prepare For Heatwave |

Sea Turtle at Sea World (Taken 6.11.21)

We went to Sea World and it was fun and I'm gonna stop making myself feel bad about it. It is definitely far more theme park than Zoo, people are generally ruder and their kids louder and more spoiled and it all feels kinda icky, but it's also special to me. My 6th grade field trip was there with my first elementary school boyfriend. My high school's prom when I went as a date to a senior my junior year and as class president with one of my favorite people in the world in my senior year. 

It's sentimental to me in a lot of ways. Yes, very, very icky, but it's like shopping at Target, you just have to get tunnel vision and block everyone else out and do what you gotta do. Nova rode Electric Eel and Manta. I explored the Wild Arctic, the penguin encounter, the sharks, the turtles, saw the 2 toed sloths, watched the dolphins for awhile, and then got a face to face with an orca who just came over to me and we locked eyes for a solid 5-10 minutes.

I should note that their summer Electric Ocean promotion started, so they're open later, will have more frequent fireworks, and as summer proceeds, will have live music and shows and stuff. I thought the reservation and limited capacity would work in our favor, but in reality it just means the coaster lines are twice as long while they skip every other row of seats, so hopefully for Nova that eases on Tuesday. Beyond that, we'll be back, I'll drift into my own zones to see the animals, and just try to dodge the mommy militia and the multitudes of mobility scooters and just visit the place at my own pace without agenda. I promised today's data, after the jump. 

Stay safe out there. 

CoViD-19 & CA Wildfire Updates | County Below 200 New Cases | 625 Fires Rage On In California | Sea World Lays Out "Zoo Days" Reopening Plan

Strawberry's pose when she's on balcony lookout (Taken 8.19.2020)

Darren and I had a late Sunday night in the speakeasy and when we were finally coming back upstairs, I dropped my laptop. Today it won't turn on and so needless to say I'm kinda freaking out about it. I'm using my old one in the meantime, but it has a really hard time typing the letter V, needs a new battery and powercord, which I guess I should've taken care of when I wasn't desperate for a backup. Hopefully Davey can take a look at it on Tuesday and assure me that i didn't destroy it. Nova didn't go to soccer because she had her mandatory online school orientation, which means we haven't been to La Jolla Cove since last Monday. I'm currently bingeing the second season of Trinkets on Netflix, a show I'd completely forgotten I'd watched before. I don't really have anything going on at all this week, but hopefully it cools down and we can do a couple trips to the San Diego Zoo or Safari Park or some fun stuff before Nova's days become filled with school stuff again. Monday's briefing notes and some reading are after the jump. 

CoVid-19 Diary: Reopening Incumbent Upon Guideline Adherence | SD City Council Passes Mayor's Budget | Otter Named 'Nova' | Zoo Can Reopen As Early As Friday | SD Opera Lays Out 2020-2021 Season

It is unclear if Sea World can fly as an "aquarium" and reopen this week  (Taken 12.13.2019)

My sister booked a campsite in the South Bay this week and while we're still unclear if we're allowed to meet up with them because of confusing language (campsites are open; gatherings with members outside of household are not, yet restaurants can seat different households together, and bars and breweries can reopen, HUH?), I decided that we might  try to join them, if allowed. Doesn't seem impossible to share a campsite and still keep distanced and masked, even outdoors, so I made a huge Costco run. And if those hot dogs end up just being for us at home, that would be okay, too.
But what I wanted to share was that, what I imagine is just for a limited time, Costco has stopped making their sheet cakes and instead are making 12" round cakes, since obviously no gatherings, no demand for massive cakes. They're selling for $12.99 and it seemed like we had to get one since Nova got royally screwed on her birthday back in May and because, well, we.love.cake. So there's my hot tip. Also, the Mission Valley store (and I imagine all of the others) have radically shifted where things are, so beer is now in the middle section, just before the refrigerated goods instead of on the perimeter walls. I also did a driveby and Ikea is fully open again, so I'll have to investigate that in the next few weeks, too.
I like doing my errands during the last hour stores are open...they tend to be emptier and feel safer (even if that's just in my head). I realized today that I have to adjust my mindset and read all the stats, and one stuck out to me. It's slide 18/23 of the daily briefings. I keep watching the cases rise, but this one points out that while there are 8619 confirmed cases in San Diego County, 6,501 of them are considered 'recovered'. That's 2,119 active cases, a number I can much more easily wrap my head around. I don't know if they also subtract the deaths from there or if those are included in the 'recovered' count but I can at least understand why people are pushing for openings.
I've been watching Outer Banks on Netflix and didn't expect to love the Scooby-Dooness of it. And while I'm fully turning back into a 14 year old, I had to take a break from some of the heavy shit I've been reading and am exploring a YA author named Mindy McInnis. So there's that. Things that actually matter, after the jump.

CoViD-19: Sea World Does Good | Is Expired Food Really Expired | County Gets Fact-Checked | CoVid-19 Butterfly Effect | Pride & Symphony Cancel

A photo from Sea World - Taken December 2019

I decided to use this photo from Sea World today because earlier today I saw a video Sea World releasing rehabbed sea lions and a harbor seal and it brought me joy. It was a pretty rough day yesterday, I just couldn't shake the negativity, the president was more obscene than usual, the mayor released his budget with some drastic cuts, and it just felt like a lot of bad news just kept pouring in. But I turned it off for awhile, connected with my sister and nieces and a friend on HouseParty, had a 'speakeasy' night with Darren in our studio and woke up feeling in a much better mood today. Today Nova and Darren picked up some Dudley's bread that was part of her band fundraiser and we got an amazing apple berry pie for which I made fresh whipped cream. It was also really fun tuning into Seaport Sessions and though there were some technical difficulties, I have so much love for the San Diego music scene and watching with everyone chatting was a huge plus. I've got a busy Friday ahead of me so I'll put this out into the world and hope everyone is finding ways to keep their spirits up during this insane time. Lots of stuff after the jump.

Some Thoughts About Children's Pool

If my political posts haven't won me any friends in the past, I'm certainly not expecting to make any new friends now. This year I decided to buy Sea World Fun Passes for me and Darren and Nova. My sister alerted me to a "Blue Friday" special after Thanksgiving that made them $25 off the regular price per pass. We already have passes to the San Diego Zoo and bought Balboa Park passes, too, and use them quite frequently, but the Sea World passes came with some moral quibbling...we are well aware of "Blackfish" and any civilized person can feel bad that Orcas and dolphins and Pilots and Balugas and Walruses are completely out of place and made to live against their migratory nature in such small enclosures, trained to perform for humans, that the horror of The Cove really happens annually. You can weigh all of that and even still, you decide, if I was 6, I'd want to go to Sea World to learn about the animals, to see things up close I might never otherwise see in my lifetime, to hang out with other kids my age (in this case, my nieces) and to ride rollercoasters. And we have. We usually park at the Fishing Boat lot next to Sea World, ride our bikes in, ride Manta until we're ready to vomit, ride Atlantis until our clothes are soaked, check out a couple animal habitats, and call it a day.

But with all of this, we decided it's really important that Nova does learn something about the animals and nature, and the most important thing, to make up her own mind. So after spending all of Presidents' Day at Sea World, on Tuesday we decided it was time to take her to the seal rookery at Children's Pool in La Jolla. We explained that she was going to see something pretty cool and pretty rare...that there are seals on the beach and people aren't allowed close to bother them so they can have their babies, and that there are people who think they should be chased away from the beach and that it belongs to people to swim.

We try to use open language, to present both sides so Nova can make up her own mind, but the truth is, it is really hard. Growing up in San Diego, you understand many longstanding controversies in the City. You know about immigration, border fences, and Friendship Park. You know about the cross on Mount Soledad. You know about "the trust" vs people who want to let the seals have a beach. The first two are things- while I have strong opinions for my side- I can see the opposition's point of view. As for the seals, you have to be a heartless bastard or just a sicko yuppie elitist (which is worse?) to think that of all the beaches available to us in San Diego, you need this particular one free of these beautiful marine mammals. So I'm sorry if you believe that we can coexist, or that divers should get this particular beach, or that some wealthy person trusted this beach "to the children", I just can't see your side on this one.

So this was one of the many things I loved about Mayor Bob Filner. There was no question about what side he was on about this, and besides working out the seal cam and putting up the rope, this issue came back to council. Then the mayor was embroiled in scandal, the council found a way to postpone the issue, and nothing has been resolved- which is fine since the animals are currently somewhat protected. In doing a couple searches, however, I found that our timing was quite remarkable, because the issue is actually coming back to council this month! On FEBRUARY 24 at 1pm, San Diego City Council "will finally be voting on the May 17, 2010 resolution to prohibit public access to Casa Beach during the harbor seal pupping season, from December 15 to May 15 annually." Email your councilperson and let them know that you want to protect the seals.

So now let me get off my soap box and tell you what happened. We approached the seawall and found a new mom protecting her pup on the beach. She didn't like the people getting too close for photos, but she relaxed once everyone got off the beach. Then we saw more seals on rocks. And in the water. And bobbing in the waves. And it was beautiful. And we took pictures of the seals, and selfies, and pictures of the waves. We continued onto the wall, fascinated by some very pregnant seals on a rock near the wall. We smiled at the animals stretching and hobbling into the water and babies trying to get attention. And then we saw a mass of seagulls go in and realized a birth had just happened! The sand was bloodied and the seagulls were squawking and fighting and we realized they were wrestling for the placenta. We looked at the new mom, barking at others to give her space, nudging her pup, and then we watched in wonder for the next half hour...as she fought off a seal in their way, how she swatted the seagulls, and how, eventually, her pup started hobbling along the sand and into the water...waves carrying it back to shore, and eventually getting it into the pool and it rode its mom's back and it was this really incredible moment. Of all my years in San Diego, I've never seen this before. It was exciting and beautiful and amazing.

I'm sorry La Jollans, this does not belong to you.  Find a list of City Council members by district with phone number and email after the jump and let them know where you stand on this issue. To learn more about protecting the seals, click here.