SeaWorld announces end to orca breeding

I wonder how accurate they are as well. If I ask you if you would be more likely to come to Sea World if we stop the the live show in which we club a baby seal to death I would imagine that your response would be "Yes". But that does not mean that you will come to Sea World.

Surveys and the resultant analysis aren't much use in predicting what a person will do, but awfully useful in predicting what a lot of people will do.

(Being an SF geek, I'm reminded of Asimov's pyschohistory from the Foundation novels.)

Depending on what you are surveying and how you are surveying it and how you analyze the resulting data, the results/conclusions will be more or less useful in predicting what some number of people may do.

Best part about it is there are rarely any test cases. Your surveying/analysis may well predict that doing X will result in n% increase in attendance. But you aren't doing just X this year but Y and Z as well. And your competitors are doing A, B and C. And the overall economy in your customer's/potential customer's world in changing in a host of ways. Then there are societal and governmental changes. So when your attendance increases by n- or n+, you (marketing firm doing the survey/analysis) doesn't conclude the survey/analysis was invalid/off/inaccurate. It was all those other things. Had you just done X and none of the other changes happened (test case that pretty much never exists), your attendance would have gone up by n%. And there is no way to disprove that.

Are you suggesting that the research is a waste of money? I don't think you give the people who do it for a living enough credit.

No. And I think you give such folks too much credit.

I don't think I do. I've learned a great deal from "such folks" for the purpose of applying their methods to various kinds of software and machine learning. The resulting data suggests that what they do works if you respond to it.

If you thought you were giving them too much credit you presumably would start giving them less credit. So that you don't think you are goes without saying. And as I noted, I am not saying I think all these types of surveys/research are worthless or that certain ones aren't quite valuable. So your experience isn't inconsistent with my views or my experience with the industry.

Jeff said:
You think I worked on their web site? You have no idea what the scope of my responsibility was.

I've often wondered about what exactly you did at Sea World. Not that it changes my view on Blackfish vs cap ex, or anything else. But only because it's been brought up several times. Are you at liberty to say what you did for them (not expecting specific details) or is there a non-disclosure agreement involved?

If he told you, he'd have to kill you.

Mommy, where do baby orcas come from?

Well, son, when a panda really loves a great white shark.... ;~P

Interesting regarding impact of Blackfish. http://www.thedodo.com/new-finding-dory-trailer-anti-captivity-1762173979.html

I'm really curious how Disney is going to pull off the anti-captivity message without shooting themselves in the foot. They own a zoo, and the Finding Nemo attraction at Epcot is part of a giant aquarium. I remember rumors from long ago that they were going for some "animals can stay or go as they please" middle-ground ending, but I doubt that nuance will stop people from accusing them of hypocrisy.

"Groundbreaking documentary?" Doesn't it have to be based on fact to be a documentary?

I have to think that Disney would tread lightly here, seeing as how they run a 500+ acre zoo.

What's interesting about a blog with a strong anti-Sea World lean believing that Blackfish had a negative impact on Sea World?

What's interesting is that the Blackfish impact is allegedly making its way into pop culture. Ellen DeGeneres already confirmed last year that the movie would be based on anti-captivity. Is that because of Blackfish? Who knows. But reportedly they admit to rewriting the movie after Blackfish was released.

Maybe it needs to be based on fact to be a documentary, but apparently it doesn't in order to creep into pop culture. I think that's interesting.

I'm of the mindset that Sea World gave up too soon...and didn't do a good job of changing the dialogue. Until man stops destroying habitat...including the oceans...there will be a need for zoos and aquariums in my mind. How many orcas in the wild are safer as a result of man's introduction to them via Sea World?

Do they need to do jumps, toss trainers out of the water, etc? No. But, if they could created some large areas to allow them to be on display but not necessarily on stage...I think it could be a good thing. I prefer the dolphins in the Dolphin Cove exhibit to the ones in the show, for instance.

I don't know...I just think there will always be a mission for zoos and aquariums.

Ugh.

Think SeaWorld's turnaround satisfied animal-rights activists? Think again

And this is why those asshats are a bunch of, uh, asshats. The science is pretty straight forward, if you Free Willy, Willy is going to die. That's the worst possible plan for those animals. Morons.

That Peta wants more shouldn't come as a surprise to anyone. Its not like they have been only lobbying for the end of breeding orcas in captivity. They don't want the orcas or any other animals held in captivity. They don't want us to eat animals. So the expectation was that once SeaWorld announced the end of breeding orcas Peta folks would give SeaWorld two thumbs up and then move on to another cause? Wasn't going to happen. And as they have the ear of SeaWorld management (or at least the outward appearance of it), I would expect to see them double down.

Its what activists groups do. Does their passion lead them to take arsehat positions? No doubt. Same is true of just about every other activist group know.

Wow... Why is only SeaWorld in their crosshairs? What about MarineLand in Niagara Falls, Camada? Didn't they have some controversy recently about their animals being kept in deplorable conditions? I've been to both MarineLand and SeaWorld Orlando and there is no comparison between the two parks and how they care for the animals. What other parks are there that keep marine mammals? SFDK? Any others?