Ulisses (sometimes spelled Ulises or Ulysses) is a male orca who currently lives at SeaWorld San Diego in California. He was captured on November 7, 1980 at Reydarfjördur, Iceland, when he was approximately 3 years old. He lived at several parks including the Sædyrasafnid Aquarium in Iceland (November/December 1980), and the Rioleón Safari (December 1980 to June 1983), and Barcelona Zoo (June 1983 to January 1994) in Catalonia, before being transported to SeaWorld in 1994.
Ulisses does waterworks with his trainers. He gets along with his fellow orcas but will try to rake an older female Corky (II). He was also dominant over Splash when he was still at the park. Ulises is recognized by his dorsal fin, which only droops halfway to his right. He is 19 feet 6 inches (5.94 m) long and weighs 9,200 pounds (4,200 kg). His nicknames are Uli, Big Dog and Uli Bear.
He sired his first offspring on March 16, 2011, when a calf was born through artificial insemination to Wikie at Marineland Antibes, France. The calf was first thought to be a female and therefore named Moana (which means ocean in Polynesian). It was later discovered that "Moana" was a male. On December 2, 2014 Kalia, his tankmate gave birth to Ulisses's second calf, Amaya, at 12:34 pm.
Cristina Branco (born 28 December 1972 in Almeirim, Ribatejo, Portugal) is a Portuguese musician.
Branco was originally drawn to jazz and forms of Portuguese music before finally opting for fado after being introduced to the music of Amália Rodrigues by her grandfather. Branco studied the poems from which major fado lyrics are taken. Branco continues to work on her fado repertory, accompanied by Custódio Castelo on guitar and as composer.
Slowly moving onwards -
Perceive the light of day
Hazy in the distance -
No need for delay
A piercing ray of sunlight -
The moring will prevail
Horizons getting clearer -
The darkness lifts her veil
A myraid of colours -
A rainbow drop of dew
Scatters iron bridges -
Of thoughts I always knew
A turbulent upheaval -
The water froths and churns
As if the cool surroundings -
Is laughing as it burns
A river flowing to the sea
No way of knowing its destiny
Skipping over stones and telling stories
Of a life carried along
The water making up a song
Settling for the motions -
Of pathways preordained
All must travel onwards -
The riverbed maintained
Delight in our confinement -
Make haste and join the fray
The stone of life is rolling -
No time to halt and play
A river flowing to the sea
No way of knowing its destiny
Skipping over stones and telling stories
Of a life carried along
The water making up a song
A space opens before me -
A journey's at an end
Pain or true salvation -
What's waiting round the bend?
Mingling with the silence -
I hear a distant roar
The end I had imagined -
Is just another door
A river flowing to the sea
No way of knowing its destiny
Skipping over stones and telling stories
Of an end that never is