[video]
Lori Marino – Dolphins are not healers -
Meanwhile, many of the parents featured in the enthusiastic testimonials return home to renewed disappointment. Their children fall back into their regular routine, and fall silent again. At first, cognitive dissonance will not allow these parents to consider the possibility that they’ve wasted their money. But later they recognise that nothing has changed, and that the initial improvement was due to the excitement of the trip, and all the personal attention their child received. Many families visit DAT facilities and end up gaining little more than they would have done from interacting with a puppy.
Equally sad are the lives of the dolphins. Hidden behind their smile, and therefore largely invisible to patients and vacationers, captive dolphins spend their lives under tremendous stress as they struggle to adapt to an environment that, physically, socially and psychologically, is drastically different from the wild. The results are devastating. Stress leads to immune system dysfunction. Often they die from gastric ulcers, infections and other stress and immune-related diseases, not helped by their sometimes being given laxatives and antidepressants that are delivered in their food.
On dolphin-assisted therapy and why it should end.
I don’t know who made this “Batman Returns His Library Books” poster, but my hat is off to you.
Brilliant and funny!
<3
(via libraryjournal)
summer reading
“In choosing to digitally enhance, hyperconnect, and constantly share our lives, we risk not living them.” — #Unplug: Baratunde Thurston Left The Internet For 25 Days, And You Should Too | Fast Company | Business Innovation
What scientists say in research papers vs. What they actually mean (via io9).
I shouldn’t be laughing this hard.
This is so great!
Why didn’t we think of this? (h/t @ellievhall)
LOL!
(I never thought I’d ever have a post with Taylor Swift as a tag!)
(via Alien-like creature is a feeding Bryde’s whale | GrindTV.com)
Amazing photographs of a Bryde’s whale feeding! The photographer, Eduardo Acevedo Fernandez, says:
I only had five to six seconds after the whale opened its mouth to eat, until it passed about three feet from me. This huge mammal was about 12 meters long.
Click through to see more photos and read the whole story!
(Note: The images look like they were shot with a fish-eye lens, leading to distortion. Just something to keep in mind while viewing.)
Here’s today’s Daily GIF!
We can’t wait for all the Neil deGrasse Tyson gifs that will surely result from his update of Carl Sagan’s ‘Cosmos’ on Fox in 2014.
(via Why No One Should Mess With The Ocean)
Ha, this is great! Everyone should love the ocean.