The Great Yoga Pants Panic

Women rush to protect yoga pants from the not-so-imminent threat of having yoga pants outlawed.

Fear, Loathing, And The Great American Yoga Pants Panic

I’m going to come right out and say it: I am a person who wears yoga pants. I wear them on hikes. I wear them to Starbucks. I wear them to the grocery store. I even wore them to my last meeting with the Illuminati, which was conveniently held at the secretive, exclusive, and redwood-lined Bohemian Grove.

Ha, ha, just kidding! Women aren’t allowed at the Bohemian Grove! This is unfortunate, because its woodsy, back-to-nature atmosphere would be perfect for yoga pants. It’s sad, really, but I always manage to assure myself that if I were a man, I would be at the top of their invite list. But, then again, if I were a man, I wouldn’t have the pleasure of being bashed for the simple act of wearing a pair of comfortable and practical pants.

J Law wears yoga pants

Yoga pants, you see, are under fire. Last week, a Montana state legislator, in sponsoring a now-failed bill against “indecent” clothing, set the Internet ablaze with his suggestion that “yoga pants should be illegal in public.” The alleged oppressor in question, a Rep. David Moore, later told the press that his comment was a poorly timed, offhand joke. Perhaps this is true; perhaps not. The fact remains that the Great Yoga Pants Moral Panic is nothing new.

This Isn’t an Isolated Incident

Kaley Cuoco wears yoga pants

In January, Christian blogger Veronica Patridge issued her own gentle fatwa against yoga pants, claiming that they—together with their ’80s-inspired sister, the legging—were leading men astray. Form-fitting pants, Patridge wrote, unfairly “enticed” men, inspiring lustful thoughts. “I asked my husband his thoughts on the matter,” she wrote. “I appreciated his honesty when he told me, “Yeah, when I walk into a place and there are women wearing yoga pants everywhere, it’s hard to not look. I try not to, but it’s not easy.”

For crying out loud, people. Where’s my burka?

Some women even do yoga in them

Patridge’s post went viral, inspiring earnest discussion on Christian websites, scorned derision at places like the Huffington Post, and even an appearance on “Good Morning America.” “Though it may be difficult to find an outfit at times,” Patridge wrote,” my conscience is clear and I feel I am honoring God and my husband in the way I dress.” On the photo linking to this post, it should be noted, the very attractive Patridge is wearing a pair of tight jeans and a shirt with the top button—rather suggestively, if you were to ask, say, Jonathan Edwards of “Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God” fame—undone.

Seriously? Where do we draw the line? Skirts? High heels? Swimsuits? For crying out loud, people. Where’s my burka? Where’s the Tylenol?

or enjoy nature in them

Here, in short, is why women, particularly moms, wear yoga pants:

1. They are comfortable, and they do not wrinkle.
2. The black ones match with everything.
3. If you have small children, here is what you do throughout the day: Pick kids up, wipe noses, field incoming tackles like a professional wrestler, kneel on the ground in highly uncomfortable positions, cram your legs into weird tiny playground trains, get sat on, and otherwise emulate a very comprehensive high-end yoga workout, but with really weird props.
4. Using the guidelines of rational choice theory, it can be safely stated that it is a poor use of time to plan a real outfit that would not be remotely suitable for any of the activities above. That outfit can be saved for dinner.

Lots of women seem to take selfies in yoga pants

Ironically, whenever I wear yoga pants, I feel like a bit of a high-end hobo, not an alluring, heretical temptress—and I suspect the hordes of harried moms who join me at preschool drop-off feel the same way. Trust me, there are many ways that attractive women dress that could be construed as unfairly “enticing.” The solution would be to get over it.

I, for one, find the yoga pants epidemic to be a wonderful development , and promise to help resist any attempts to ban them in my little section of the world.

Wombat-Sochi has the main Rule 5 post "Rule 5 Monday: Winter Pinups" up at The Other McCain.

Good Old Joe

New SecDef Can’t Even Defend His Wife From Joe Biden

Tuesday, at Defense Sec. Ash Carter‘s swearing-in ceremony, Biden got all touchy feely with Carter’s wife, Stephanie. From the pictures, it looks like he’s whispering sweet nothings into her right ear. He’s also getting a good whiff of her shampoo.

Let’s give him the benefit of the doubt: Perhaps he was trying to be comforting after her spill on the ice at the Pentagon this morning while she was accompanying her husband on his first day on the job.

She looks so thrilled. . .

A lot of liberals excuse him on the pretext that he's just an old guy with old fashioned manners. But I really don't remember those kind of manners being common. Maybe it's a Delaware thing.

Obamacare Schadenfreude in the Snow

That was quick. I just cleaned the refrigerator yesterday, and now it's bulging with Obamacare Schadenfreude again.

Uh oh: Democrats want an Obamacare enrollment extension

Buried in the fifth paragraph of a Fiscal Times story surrounding Healthcare.gov’s persistent inability to function is the costs that taxpayers are expected to shoulder for this debacle. The construction of the ACA’s federal web portal and the subsequent repairs this site required have to date cost the country… wait for it… $2.2 billion. For a website. As recently as last summer, Healthcare.gov had only cost the government $840 million. Apparently, the costs associated with maintaining this site have nearly tripled.
. . .
Those users who were faced with a “glitch” in the system will be allowed a special extended enrollment period despite the fact that open enrollment officially ended on Sunday.

But some congressional Democrats are lobbying the White House to extend the enrollment period for all uninsured taxpayers. Why? This year, millions of uninsured will face a series of tax penalties for failing to purchase health insurance for the first time.

“The three are Michigan’s Sander Levin, the ranking Democrat on the Ways and Means Committee, and Democratic Reps. Jim McDermott of Washington, and Lloyd Doggett of Texas,” a Fox News report read. “All worked to help steer Obama’s law through rancorous congressional debates from 2009-2010.”

They need to keep extending it because it's working so well, right? Democrats seek relief from health law penalties

"Open enrollment period ended before many Americans filed their taxes," the three lawmakers said in a statement. "Without a special enrollment period, many people (who will be paying fines) will not have another opportunity to get health coverage this year.

"A special enrollment period will not only help many Americans avoid making an even larger payment next year, but, more importantly, it will help them gain quality health insurance for 2015," the lawmakers added.

So far, administration officials have deflected questions about whether an extension will be granted. Health and Human Services Secretary Sylvia M. Burwell has authority to grant special enrollment periods under certain circumstances.

Supporters of the law say an extension would mainly help low- to middle-income uninsured people, the same group that Obama's coverage expansion was intended to serve. But Republicans may criticize it as another tweak to what they see as unworkable "Obamacare."

And it's not just the Feds, problems keep arising with the state market places too. Covered California Sends Out Nearly 100,000 Tax Forms Containing Errors, Others Deal With Missing Forms

Tens of thousands of people who buy their health insurance through Covered California will get an unpleasant surprise when they file taxes this year.

Stacy Scoggins gets plenty of mail from Covered California, but the one tax form the agency was required to send her by February 2nd still hasn’t arrived. “After being on hold for 59 minutes, they told me that the 1095-A was never generated,” Scoggins told KPIX 5 ConsumerWatch.

She’s talking about the 1095-A form, a document required for enrollees to file their tax returns. It’s a problem, for the recent widow who desperately needs to file now.

“I need my tax refund,” Scoggins said.

And she’s far from the only Covered California enrollee with 1095 problems. About 100,000 or 12 percent of the forms generated by Covered California have inaccuracies.
. . .
“There are some of these that are going to need reconciliation,” Howard said.
But he said Covered California sent them out anyway, to beat the February 2nd deadline.

CORNELL, MEET OBAMACARE’S COUSIN: STUDENTS REVOLT OVER NEW $350 HEALTH FEE

Unless they have the university health plan, students are on the hook for a ‘sustainable model’

Students at Cornell University are feeling the after-effects of Obamacare: a new $350 student health fee if they opt out of the university health plan, even if they have separate insurance plans.

Announced last week by President David Skorton, the news spurred a series of rallies on campus, the Twitter hashtag #FightTheFee and an accompanying Twitter handle, which encouraged students to “pack” Thursday’s Student Assembly meeting.

The new health fee would “impact approximately 70 percent of undergraduates, 30 percent of professional and 10 percent of graduate students,” Skorton said in a Feb. 5 statement.

In light of the rise of health services costs, Cornell is restructuring the finances of its Student Health Insurance Plan, or SHIP.

Students who do not opt in to the $2,352 plan will get hit with the $350 fee, which “most likely” won’t be covered by financial aid, according to The Cornell Review. The newspaper said the university plan is run through Aetna, whose CEO is a Cornell MBA grad.

Good, get 'em used to the idea of irrational taxes.

I have to pay back my Obamacare subsidy

The Los Angeles resident had applied for Obamacare in late 2013, when she was unemployed. She qualified for a hefty subsidy of $470 a month, leaving her with a monthly premium of $1 for the cheapest plan available.

Riddle landed a job in early 2014 at a life insurance agency, but since her new employer didn't offer health benefits, she kept her Obamacare plan. However, she didn't update her income with the California exchange, which she acknowledges was her mistake.

Now, she has to pay back the entire subsidy, which is forcing her to dip into her savings.

"I was blindsided that the subsidy has to be paid back," said Riddle, adding she didn't even use the coverage, which she had until she qualified for Medicare in October. "I'm in shock...but I have no choice. Do I want to argue with the IRS or the Obama administration?"

What were ya thinkin'? Getting a job?

We Survived Winter Storm Octavia

It started to snow about noon yesterday, very softly at first, but working its way up to a pretty good rate by sundown. It was still snowing at a good clip at 11 PM when we went to bed.

According to our standardized deck table, we have approximately 6 1/2 inches of snow this morning, under gray skies.  The storm seriously under-performed expectations, which had been 8-12 inches here. I don't mind, I'm still not looking forward to digging out the driveway; I expect it's just a little too thick and sticky for the leaf blower.

Despite the fact that the roads have already been plowed, the Washington Post didn't manage to deliver, but when I went out to the street to find it, I saw this Pileated Woodpecker on an Oak Tree up the street. . .

And these neighbor girls testing the snow for snowball potential (it's not very good, light, and not very sticky). The schools are closed, as is the Federal government.

The plow came by again as I was going back to the house to widen the street again.

UPDATE: The driveway is dug out, with the help of our next door neighbor and her son (Thanks Theresa and Noah) and the sun is out. It's still only in the 20s, but the sun is melting any ice left on the blacktop and street.

Saving Man's Best Friend

OK, that's pretty heroic.

Midnite Music - In Honor of Winter Storm Octavia

Stormy Weather:



Wombat-Sochi has the main Rule 5 post "Rule 5 Monday: Winter Pinups" up at The Other McCain.

Shelby Lynne:

The New York Times Needs an Eraser

Pretty much classic New York Times, going with their feelings, instead of the facts:

Gail Collins Can’t Erase The Irony

Instapundit misses the bigger gag:

THIS MORNING I MENTIONED THAT GAIL COLLINS STILL HADN’T CORRECTED HER COLUMN. Now it bears this update:

An earlier version of this column incorrectly stated that teacher layoffs in Milwaukee in 2010 happened because Gov. Scott Walker “cut state aid to education.” The layoffs were made by the city’s school system because of a budget shortfall, before Mr. Walker took office in 2011.

So basically, it’s now an Emily Litella column. Never mind!I’d love it if Greg Gutfeld or someone would do a Gail Collins as Emily Litella skit with this. . . .

What was the title of the column, though?

Scott Walker Needs an Eraser

If I were Governor Walker, I’d do a fundraiser selling commemorative Nebbishes Yearning for Truth (NYT) erasers. You could no more make this stuff up than you could shame the NYT into journalistic integrity. But he might as well turn their sloppiness into some campaign cash against the day Her Majesty and JEBush get around to making their aristocratic decrees about why you peasants should elect them in lieu of Walker.

 I can't decide whether to go with the irony meter:

Or Emily Litella:

Obamacare Schadenfreude While Waiting for the Snow

It's no fun out of doors today, so it's a good day to clean out the residual Obamacare Schadenfreude from the digital fridge before it turns green and fuzzy:

The Skull Beneath the Skin of the ‘Affordable Care Act’

And now we can see it for what it really is: a vicious assault on free enterprise, a whopping tax increase on the middle class, a new way to get the Internal Revenue Service involved in the most personal aspects of our lives, the addition of another layer of complexity to the citizens’ interactions with the federal government and, most of all, a way to break the public’s will to resist further intrusions by the Leftist fascist state of Obama’s dreams. All masquerading under the guise of “health care.” It is the greatest scam in American history, and every single Democrat who voted for this fundamentally un-American monstrosity should be tarred, feathered, and run out of town on a rail, beginning with former Speaker Maerose Prizzi and Sen. Pat Geary.

Now the house organ of the Obama administration, the New York Times, is belatedly discovering that, hey, just because you might be forcibly “insured”under the Patient Deflection and Unaffordable Care Act, that doesn’t mean you’re actually “covered” in any meaningful sense, thanks to the zillion pages of bureaucratic regulations that attend the ACA. Suckers! . . .

Insured, but not covered

. . . by endorsing and expanding the complex new policies promoted by the health care industry, the law may in some ways be undermining its signature promise: health care that is accessible and affordable for all.

“I’m always curious when I read this ‘good news’ that health costs are moderating, because my health care costs go up significantly each year, and I think that’s a common experience,” said Mark Rukavina, president of Community Health Advisors in Massachusetts.

While much of the focus in the past has been on keeping premiums manageable, “premiums now tell only a part of the story,” Mr. Rukavina said, adding: “A big part of the way they’ve kept premiums down is to shift costs to patients in the form of co-pays and deductibles and other types of out-of-pocket expenses. And that can leave patients very vulnerable.”

Such policies desperately need improvement, patients and professionals like Mr. Rukavina say. But with the Republicans attacking the Affordable Care Act at all turns, even political supporters seem reluctant to acknowledge that it has some flaws. The narrative has been cast in black or white: It’s working, or it’s a failure. The reality, of course, is gray.

Take this example from WeirdDave, a co-blogger at Ace's whose day job is insurance agent in Maryland: Obamacare follies

Today is the last day of open enrollment for Obamacare. I am an insurance agent. This afternoon I got a call from a client with questions about his enrollment. He was on Maryland healthcare website. Talking to him, it seemed that he was right in the sweet spot for Obamacare plans. Based upon his income, he qualified for a subsidized silver plan with a $2500 deductible for $67/month. (All of ya'll who are paying many times that for a much crappier policy because you work for a living are reaching for a sharp object to commit seppuku right now. Hold on, it gets worse, you're going to want to use a dull object instead)

I said he was in the sweet spot, which is a MAGI* of 138-250% of the federal poverty level. that means that he's also eligible for "cost sharing" which will cover 80-95% of his out of pocket costs. Call it 90%, and he's paying $67/month for a plan with a $250 deductible and an out of pocket max of $2250/year (told ya you'd want a dull object). Government employees don't even have plans that generous.

And we're all paying for it. Take a bow, everyone.

So I told him what to do and why and went grocery shopping, and when I got home there was a message on my phone from him saying "I was going through the enrollment and I noticed a "young adult" plan that was only $2/month so I chose that one."

$2/month is cheap, sure, but Bronze level plans are not eligible for cost sharing, so now he has a $6350 deductible to meet before anything except his annual check-up is covered.

Look, you can get a schadenboner if you like, but I'm more bemused than anything. He's a nice young man, and he didn't make the system that exists, but I have to wonder. I'm a professional with almost 20 years experience in the field. I'm helping him out pro bono**(I don't make shit on Obamacare plans. Really, $0), on a Sunday no less, and I told him in NO UNCERTAIN TERMS where he would be best served, and he went and did something else, and now he's screwed. What's the point of consulting an expert if you ignore their advice?

Which is all well and good if the young adult knew he was facing a 6 grand deductible. It's probably a rational choice for a young person with the opportunity to benefit from outside support, say a parent willing to cover the 6k should the need arise.

But it does illustrate an important point about Obamacare. With it's goal of covering everyone, it's dragging in a lot of people without any experience in health insurance, which many of us got for years from our employers, who had made some sort of rational assortment of plans based on coverage and price. Many of the new ones haven't thought about it very much, and without some guidance are likely to make some unfortunate choices.

And after Obama snidely announce that the website worked flawlessly now: Snag affecting health law sign-ups gets a fix

A technical problem that had been interfering with sign-ups for President Barack Obama's health care law has been fixed, officials say. Any consumer whose enrollment was hampered by the glitch will be provided with a special enrollment period.

The problem popped up the day before a Sunday deadline to sign up for subsidized private health insurance. It had been intermittent, meaning some people were able to complete their applications and submit them, Health and Human Service Department spokeswoman Katie Hill said.

By Saturday night, the problem had been resolved, Hill said in a statement. Consumers affected by the problem should log in to their Marketplace account and click on their 2015 application to finish it and complete their enrollment for health coverage, she said.

Some people trying to get coverage hadn't been able to get their income information electronically verified. That's crucial because the amount of financial assistance to help pay premiums is based on people's income.

That's all for now, folks. According to the radar, the snow should be here; it's probably snowing up high and evaporating before it hits the ground, but sometime soon. . .

4.7!

Degrees F here this morning according to the deck thermometer. According to last night's forecast, Southern Maryland is in the bulls zone for the next winter storm, already affecting Virginia, West Virginia and points east. We're told to expect 8-12 inches of light, dry snow between tonight (Monday) and Tuesday morning. Our first significant snow. Oh goody!

The Weather Channel has named this one Octavia:

Winter storm OCTAVIA will put down a long swath of wintry precipitation from Oklahoma through the Mid-Mississippi and Tennessee Valley, the Carolinas, Mid-Atlantic and finally up along the Northeast Coast in the Sunday night through Wednesday morning time frame. This system has a very different personality than the last couple named winter storms that have impacted the Northeast since it will feature several types of wintry precipitation.

Along the northern edge of the swath of precipitation double digit snowfalls are likely as moisture if lifted over a deep layer of very cold air. Along the southern edge, a mix of sleet and freezing rain is likely. Recent model runs have trended northward with the wintry precipitation so that areas that we earlier expected to be all snow events like Nashville have trended toward a wintry mix and highest snowfall now displaced across Kentucky. Farther south, cities such as Atlanta may be out of the higher impact wintry precipitation as temperatures rise to near 40 during Monday, though early Monday morning the combination of temperatures below 32 degrees and light rain or drizzle could ice up roadways.

The storm will move to the east coast where cold air damming will support freezing rain in places like Charlotte to Raleigh Monday night into Tuesday morning. Farther north significant snow could fall from Richmond to in Washington DC and Baltimore for the Tuesday morning rush hour. As much as 5-8" of snow in Washington DC would eclipse their entire seasonal snowfall which sits just below 4". Finally several inches of snow are also possible from New York City to snow weary coastal New England as OCTAVIA turns northeast up the Atlantic Coast.

Below are the GFC weather forecasts for snowfall and ice issued Sunday afternoon for OCTAVIA. Please be aware that due to slight shifts in the track of the Low these forecasts of precipitation type could change as well.

Quitting Sugar

A couple Aussie birds decide to quit sugar.



Swiped from Althouse.

Wombat-Sochi has the main Rule 5 post "Rule 5 Monday: Winter Pinups" up at The Other McCain.

Tuna!

Have you ever watched "Wicked Tune"? Those guys would kill for a day like this.



In this one, a couple of Cape Codders wrestle a little one onto shore.

Tom Steyer Linked to Oregon Governor's Resignation

Tom Steyer’s Deep Ties to Oregon Corruption Scandal

Cylvia Hayes and ex-Gov. Kitzhaber

Top advisers to the billionaire environmentalist Tom Steyer helped run a green group, financed in part by Steyer himself, that is at the center of a corruption scandal that could force the Democratic governor of Oregon to resign.

An executive at one of Steyer’s nonprofit groups and a political vendor who has received hundreds of thousands of dollars from the hedge fund manager’s political operations helped run the group, which is accused of influencing state energy policy through undisclosed payments to Oregon’s first lady.

Baby's got back!

 Money, as the plumber said about shit, don't flow up hill.

The controversy centers on Gov. John Kitzhaber’s fiancée, Cylvia Hayes. She was paid $118,000 by the Clean Economy Development Center (CEDC) to advocate for environmentalist policies in Oregon. Hayes never disclosed those payments, despite acting as an informal adviser to the governor as he pushed a low-carbon fuel standard for the state.

Pretty sweet gig; get a hundred and twenty grand grand in addition to sleeping in the Governor's mansion, and whisper your benefactor's energy policy into the Governor's ears at night. Although I doubt he really needed the persuasion.

Dan Carol, then a strategic adviser to CEDC, helped Hayes land the position. He was given a $165,000-per-year job in the Kitzhaber administration.

As we saw back on Friday, Kitzhaber announced his resignation, effective Feb. 18, still denying any wrong doing.

Hayes was reportedly a fellow at the CEDC in 2011 and 2012, but as of late as August of last year, she was still listed on a since-deleted page of its website.

It's just so hard to eliminate all the digital footprints.

Also listed on that page was Kate Gordon, a member of the CEDC’s board. Gordon leads the energy and climate division of Next Generation, an environmental nonprofit group founded by Steyer.

Can you imagine the kind of coverage a story involving the Koch brothers sub rosa funding a Republican first lady to approve a pipeline would get?

One of the common complaints you hear from green weenies and climate activists is that their opposition is bought and paid for by energy interests. As is so often the case, their complaints are pure projection.

Wombat-Sochi has the main Rule 5 post "Rule 5 Monday: Winter Pinups" up at The Other McCain.

In Which Stacy Applauds a Feminist

Stacy McCain, who has been on a tear about feminists attacking "the patriarchy", has found a "feminist" worthy of praise for her stand against sexual assault: A Woman’s Most Important Right

Is her right to defend her own life and property:

A Van Zandt County, Texas woman fatally shot a convicted sex offender as he was trying to break into a side door of her rural home Tuesday morning, an act of self-defense the local sheriff praised in light of an understaffed police force.
Christopher Ray Foster, 37, died at the scene after the unidentified woman shot him at her home near Canton, Texas. She called 911 at around 4:30 a.m.
Foster, who had an extensive criminal history, was recently released on a personal recognizance bond from Van Zandt County jail for failure to register as a sex offender, KLTV reported. Police also believed Foster was the prime suspect in an arson which occurred on Monday.

Scratch one name from the sex offender registry.

Don’t expect feminists to notice this success story for women’s rights. Feminists only care about “rape culture” when they’re persecuting a college boy because a girl he hooked up with got mad.

I suspect most feminists will not find her a sympathetic character.

Big Bottom Babes Make Better Babies

Fat found in women's bottoms helps to build babies' brains: Scientists say curvy girls produce more intelligent children

The age-old riddle of why women are fatter than men may have been solved – they need curvy thighs, hips and buttocks to make their babies intelligent, a study claims.

These ‘fat banks’ play a vital role in fuelling the development of newborns’ brains via breast-feeding, say the academics.

Professor Will Lassek, a public-health epidemiologist at Pittsburgh University, Pennsylvania, who led the research, explained: ‘The fat in these areas is a depot for building a baby’s brain.

‘You need lots of fat to make a nervous system, and the fats in these areas are also enriched in DHA (docosahexaenoic acid), which is a particularly important component in the human brain.

I just wore the "b" off the keyboard. It's a good thing I'm a semi-touch typist.

‘It looks as if women have evolved to accumulate these fats and hold on to them – until a baby arrives.’

It has long been a mystery why women have so much body fat – typically 30 per cent of their total weight.

Professor Lassek said: ‘This is similar to the levels seen in bears going into hibernation or whales living in cold Arctic seas.

However, it would be unwise to make such comparisons in the the presence of wives or girlfriends.

‘Women have traded muscle for fat, so they are about a third as strong.’ Men’s bodies are made up of just five to 10 per cent body fat, and they have a much more linear shape as a result.

Women’s extra fat is lost during breast-feeding, when it is needed for their baby’s brain, according to Professor Lassek, who has published his research in the book Why Women Need Fat.

Mothers who breast-feed typically lose one pound of fat (half a kilo) a month, he added.

Over the past five million years, the average human brain has trebled in volume from 400ml to 1,200ml. It could therefore follow that women have had to become fatter to keep up with the growing demands of babies’ brains.

So it's all for the children.

Linked at Pirate's Cove in the weekly "Sorta Blogless Sunday Pinup" and links. Wombat-Sochi has the main Rule 5 post "Rule 5 Monday: Winter Pinups" up at The Other McCain.

Tangentially related, I ran into this video on the historical evolution of the ideal body type for women. Although it starts in ancient Egypt, it seems a little centered on the recent past:








Hey, at least I didn't feature Kim Kardashian, like the Daily Mail.


Big Bottom from Faelan Blair on Vimeo.

Big Fish Poaching Bust in Virginia

Virginia Marine Police arrest two accused of poaching thousands of protected fish

A Virginia Marine Police sting early Saturday morning netted two suspects accused of poaching hundreds, or possibly thousands, of protected fish from a Hampton Roads waterway.

Marine police have had numerous complaints about poaching in the southern branch of the Elizabeth River over the last two weeks, according to Marine Police Officer Bill Thompson. Marine police had found many untended, illegal and hidden nets that had trapped and killed between 4,000 and 5,000 pounds of protected fish species in that waterway recently.

On Friday, the marine police were notified of some suspicious activity in an area known as The Cove on the Elizabeth River, so they set up a sting operation around noon on Friday.

Around midnight, the police caught their first suspect as he returned to the dock. His boat was filled to the brim with hundreds of red drum and speckled trout — both protected trophy fish with stringent rules about the size and number you can catch and keep. The small 12-foot boat was so full that some officers were surprised it was still afloat.

"Of these hundreds of fish, almost all of them, about 98 percent of them, are over the legal size limit," Thompson said. "This was a complete disregard for the species and for the fisheries. This was poaching on a large scale."

After they had arrested and processed the first suspect, they saw a second small boat sliding across the water. Police came up on the boat and a second suspect as the man was hauling in the fish.

Both Yuan Li of Chesapeake and Bi Chen of Norfolk have been charged with several Class 1 misdemeanors and there are several felony charges still pending, according to Thompson. The men will likely face jail time and fines, but how much was not clear on Saturday.
. . .
"They're claiming it was for recreational use to celebrate the Chinese New Year, but they've got to have a market they've been selling to," Thompson said, citing the size of the haul from just Friday night — hundreds of fish weighing around 3,000 pounds, orders of magnitude above the legal weight limit for catching the fish.

Thousands of pounds for personal use? Must be a big family.

Can Science Kill the Common Cold?

Scientists crack virus code

Researchers at the Universities of Leeds and York have identified a previously unknown code contained within the strands of genetic material in rhinoviruses, the most frequent cause of the common cold.

Using a computer-based model, the researchers worked out not only how to read the messages hidden within the sequence of a virus's ribonucleic acid (RNA), but also how to "jam" the messages and stop the virus from deploying.

Dr Roman Tuma, from the University of Leeds, told the Daily Telegraph: "We have understood for decades that the RNA carries the genetic messages that create viral proteins, but we didn't know that, hidden within the stream of letters we use to denote the genetic information, is a second code governing virus assembly.

"It is like finding a secret message within an ordinary news report and then being able to crack the whole coding system behind it."

I'd like a little better explanation than that, but I wouldn't trust the average reporter to convey the information

 But don't expect a general "cold vaccine" to appear at the pharmacy any time soon.

The discovery – published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences Early Edition – is still at a theoretical stage, with trials on animal viruses required before scientists are able to develop a drug for humans.

Given that the cold is such a mild disease, more an annoyance than a threat to anyone but the sickest and oldest of us, a vaccine will have to be virtually flawless, with no or minimal side effects to be acceptable for the public.

But I sure hope to see it in my lifetime. I hate colds, it seems like they linger for weeks. Georgia came down with one a couple of days ago, and is suffering through a runny nose and cough. It seems inevitable that I'll get it, although we're trying hard to avoid it.

Silver Spoon Leaves a Bad Taste in the Mouth

How your posh silverware makes food taste bad

Determined to make the "best spoon in the world," Dr Zoe Laughlin, director of the Institute of Making, led a study to reveal which material made the best spoon for dining.

Speaking to The Guardian, Laughlin said: "We realised there hasn’t been much research into the taste of different metals, but it really affects how food tastes. If a metal makes something taste sweeter, or richer, then there’s potential to reduce the sugar content in the food itself.”

Coating seven spoons in different metals - copper, chrome, zinc, tin, stainless steel, gold, and silver - volunteers were asked to suck each spoon and give their verdict on the taste. Repeating the test, sweet, salty, and acidic foods were added onto the spoons to test if the material would affect the flavour.

The results revealed gold spoons produced the tastiest results, with or without food. During a BBC Breakfast interview, Laughlin attributed gold's success to its lack of metallic taste: "This is eating as it should be - you just taste the flavour of the food and nothing else. You haven't lived till you've eaten with gold."

Stainless steel produced the second best results whilst silver ranked lowest due to its strong metallic flavour. Laughlin described silver as not being at all pleasant for eating as it reacts badly to acids in fruits and sulphur in eggs.

For sweet foods, copper and zinc coated spoons are the best to use, though avoid cod with zinc spoons as Laughlin's previous study revealed it to be a highly unpleasant mix.

Most metals, even stainless steel, dissolve slightly, especially in acidic solutions; hence the metallic taste. Gold, platinum, and palladium however, are essentially inert to all but the mixture of strong hydrochloric and nitric acids that make up aqua regia.  So if you want a silvery looking spoon that doesn't add that metallic taste, get your silverware made from platinum or palladium. On the bright side, they are both currently cheaper than gold, platinum selling for $1205/oz and palladium for $790 compared to $1228 for gold.

When Georgia and I got married back in 1973, we rejected the idea of the traditional set of silver as a requested wedding gift, and went with a more contemporary set of fancy stainless steel.  Having worn out our original set of utensils (although a few sad specimens remain), we have set the stainless into use as our day to day set. Having silver would have been cool, however, as the price of silver has skyrocketed since 1973, when it was approximately $2/oz, and silver coins were still in common circulation. It is currently at $17/oz, down from a high of $48 in 2011.

However, since platinum and palladium spoons are not commonly made, except as labware for it's exceptional inertness, if you really must have the flavorless spoon, you can find gold-plated spoons here for less than a full arm and a leg.

Rule 5 Saturday - Coco Rocha Dishes Out the Truth on Modelling

I ran across this article on Five Myths About Modeling  by fashion model Coco Rocha in the Post during the last week. I normally pass by the "Five Myths" articles, as my experience has been that they are propaganda, but I took a chance, and I'm happy I did:

1. Models make a lot of money. . . the median yearly wage for models in the United States, based on 2012 census data, is a mere $18,750, and fashion’s main event is unlikely to contribute much to that balance. Hundreds of relatively unknown models will fly to New York hoping to book a coveted spot in a runway show, which can pay $250 to $1,000 depending on the show and the model — a stipend that’s unlikely to cover what the model spent on travel and accommodations. Some Fashion Week hopefuls won’t walk in any shows at all, and others will end up in the red, even after walking in several shows. . .After my second year of runway work, walking for almost every major fashion house, I was $30,000 in debt.

Rise up! All you have to lose is your clothes!

2. Models are glorified clothes hangers. - Runway girls are often compared to “human coat hangers.” In other words: Models are just modes of transportation for garments. Even Twiggy used the phrase to dismiss her groundbreaking career, declaring when she retired: “You can’t be a clothes hanger for your entire life!”

But as long as there have been models, there have been muses. A model was the reason the painter picked up a brush, the sculptor a chisel. Just as not every actress is Meryl Streep, models are not all equally skilled or gifted. The best are translators, a visual representation of the story the designer wants to tell.

 Alas, Coco has a strict non-NSFW policy.

3. Models are catty with one another - Certainly some successful models are divas, and the field is competitive. But in my experience, the models who have endured for a decade or more are thoughtful, hardworking and humble. Most models start working at age 14 or 15 and go through a form of “fashion high school,” living in cramped close quarters. The sleepover-like atmosphere produces some squabbles, sure, but everyone grows up.

Models frequently collaborate on projects off the runway and are quick to help one another. In 2011, Caroline Trentini and the legendary Iman gave up a day’s work to pose in the campaign for my jewelry collection with the charity Senhoa, which supports victims of human trafficking in Cambodia.

A whole day!

4. You get to keep the clothes you model. . . However, models almost never get to keep the clothes they wear on the runway. The garments are usually one-of-a-kind samples created days and hours before the show and have to be immediately packed up and presented to international buyers. A model is more likely to be accused of stealing clothes (we’re always the first suspected) than to be given clothing after a show. When a pair of shoes from a show I walked in went missing, the designer’s team called my agency to see if I had “accidentally” taken off with them.

From what I've seen, most of the clothes for the runways are pretty impractical anyway; I'd never wear them fishing, say for example.

5. Models don’t eat - Eating disorders are real, and they do affect the modeling industry. In 2006, Brazilian model Ana Carolina Reston died at age 21, weighing just 80 pounds. A former British model told the Telegraph in 2013, “My modelling career lasted for three years and . . . I’ve had anorexia for eight.” . . . Like many women outside the industry, models do watch their diets, but they enjoy food as much as anyone — take a look at Chrissy Teigen’s food-centric blog. When I go to events and finish my plate, people often comment about how “amazed” they are that I eat, as if I could live, work and keep up a crazy schedule traveling the world on zero calories a day. At various points in my career, I’ve been called both too thin and too fat — so I will eat that hamburger, thanks.

Some more pictures of Coco Rocha below, to judge for yourself.

For his 177th Blogging Magazine edition, GOODSTUFF is featuring an old Rule 5 special, the Queen of Freckles, Cintia Dicker. Linked at Pirate's Cove in the weekly "Sorta Blogless Sunday Pinup" and links. Wombat-socho brings the goods on Monday with "Rule 5 Monday: Snow Bunnies."

Happy Valentine's Day

Hope it's better for you than it was for Saint Valentine:

Saint Valentine (Latin: Valentinius) is a widely recognized third-century Roman saint commemorated on February 14 and associated since the High Middle Ages with a tradition of courtly love.

All that is reliably known of the saint commemorated on February 14 is his name and that he was martyred and buried at a cemetery on the Via Flaminia close to the Milvian bridge to the north of Rome on that day. It is uncertain whether St. Valentine is to be identified as one saint or the conflation of two saints of the same name. Several different martyrologies have been added to later hagiographies that are unreliable.

Because so little is known of him, in 1969 the Roman Catholic Church removed his name from the General Roman Calendar, leaving his liturgical celebration to local calendars. The Roman Catholic Church continues to recognize him as a saint, listing him as such in the February 14 entry in the Roman Martyrology, and authorizing liturgical veneration of him on February 14 in any place where that day is not devoted to some other obligatory celebration in accordance with the rule that on such a day the Mass may be that of any saint listed in the Martyrology for that day.

So not really up there with the big boys.

Wombat-socho brings the goods on Monday with "Rule 5 Monday: Snow Bunnies."

Maryland Blue Crabs in Trouble, Again

To save their depleted species, female blue crabs go the extra mile to spawn in the bay

As females go, so go blue crabs. Last year, scientists estimated that there were only 68.5 million females old enough to spawn, far below the 215 million that officials say are needed to overcome natural threats such as predators and cold — and human threats such as commercial overfishing — without depleting the population. This year’s count is underway by Maryland and Virginia scientists at 1,500 locations.

The blue crab, Maryland’s state crustacean and a symbol of pride for the region as much as a resource, is more threatened now than at any time since biologists started to record numbers in the late 1940s. Both watermen and state officials are deeply worried about blue crabs’ future. Sixty years ago, the Chesapeake Bay yielded 75 percent of the crabs harvested in the United States; now the withered stock yields about 35 percent, according to a report by the Maryland’s natural resources department.

Some watermen say the steps taken by Virginia, Maryland and the Potomac River Fisheries Commission to rescue crabs after the population’s free fall in 2008 haven’t worked. The states cut the number of females that can be fished by about 30 percent. When the stock rose only to fall hard again last year, Virginia cut the number of females that could be fished by an additional 10 percent during the spawning run.

Smithsonian scientists worry that efforts to save females might produce a serious side effect: overfishing males. When male crabs decline, those remaining mate more often, and sometimes can’t regenerate their sperm supply quickly enough, according to a study by the Smithsonian Environmental Research Center.

That's a problem, when the males are overtired from too much sex. Overfishing of males has been going on for years.

“I don’t believe it’s going to get better, doing what we’re doing,” said Bill Mullis, chair of the Virginia Blue Crab Industry Panel of commercial fishermen and owner of B&C Seafood, based in Newport News, Va. “We’ve been doing this eight years and the stock is the same as it was when it was declared a disaster. It’s like disaster has become the status quo.”

Virginia Marine Resources Commissioner John Bull disagreed, saying regulations worked. The population rose over four years to a 21-year high of 765 million in 2012, then dropped like a stone the next two years.

Crab populations are notoriously variable, with bad years following good years with no apparent reason (other than weather, perhaps) since the fishery has been recorded.

“We’re not happy with the status of the crab stock,” Bull said. “But fishery managers are stunned by the curveball Mother Nature has thrown at us.”

Bull said female crabs and their offspring were hit by forces managers couldn’t control in the past two years. A plague of red drum fish that prey heavily on juvenile crabs decimated them in 2013. At the same time, grasses that conceal juveniles diminished.

Although red fish do like their crabs but I have a hard time believing there were enough of them in that year to make much of a dent in the crabs, even if they were having a hard time for other reasons. Croakers and Striped Bass also eat plenty of small crabs, and their populations have been declining over the period.

“Baby crabs didn’t have a place to hide, and they were dinner,” Bull said. The next year, things got worse. Managers worked successfully to reduce the red drum by fishing them out, but another problem came out of nowhere.

A harsh and sudden winter wiped out nearly 30 percent of adult crabs, marine scientists in Maryland and Virginia said, ending any hope for a fast rebound. The total weight of crabs watermen harvested in 2014 was 37 million pounds, the lowest ever recorded.

Yeah, blame Global Cooling, Global Warming, Climate Change, or going back to the nice cool olden days.

It's Wombat Friday Again!

The Wombat has been a little busy lately, but he did find the time to put out a fresh "Live at Five: 02.13.15"

Federal Judge Orders Alabama County To Wed Gay Couples  - Aw, who cares anymore, the Supremes are going to decide for us all in a few months anyway. I don't care about gay marriage much, but I don't think imposition by judicial fiat is the correct method.

ISIS On the Doorstep?: Jihadis seize town near Marines at al-Asad air base - It's like Obama doesn't even pretend to care anymore.

Hannah Davis: Sports Illustrated Backlash “Silly”: “I’ve been hearing it’s degrading. I think the people who are saying that aren’t feminists…” - Please ignore the ugly girls and keep doing what you're doing.

Homeland Security To Be Put In Charge Of Cybersecurity Info Sharing?: Because they do everything else so well, apparently. Homeland Security is the Department that never should have been created, and needs to be uncreated as soon as possible.

Obama Student Loan Forgiveness Program Swells By $22 Billion - And the higher education bubble gets a little pussier.


Liv Tyler, It’s A Boy! - Another hot Hollywood actress for Social Security stability!

Majority Of NJ Voters View Christie Unfavorably - But a majority of voters hold an unfavorable view of New Jersey, so it's kind of a wash. Christie ain't my guy, but he has a few good points.

SPLC Apologizes To Ben Carson, Takes Him Off “Extremist” List - But will they put themselves on the list? They have prompted two more hate crimes than Ben Carson. Ben Carson ain't my guy either, but he might make a decent #2.

US Commander Wants Greater Flexibility On Afghanistan Drawdown - Remember the good old days when we agreed you should listen to your commanders in the field?

Back when the tide was in

Pam Anderson Files For Third Divorce From Rick Salomon - She's getting a little long in the tooth, but she's available again, boys! I see the tide has ebbed.

FBI Chief: “Everyone’s A Little Bit Racist” -Al Sharpton's influence prevails. Of course it's true in a trivial sense, no one is color blind, and the administration is working furiously to see that continues.

FBI Investigating Fraudulent Tax Returns Filed Through TurboTax - Scary stuff, as long time users of TurboTax. The Feds need to string up a few more hackers to make the point.

Asian Crude Drops Again: WTI $51.08, Brent $59.11 - The Saudi war on fracking, Iran, and Russia continues, with Venezuela as a not so innocent by stander. I'm still OK with keeping our oil in the ground a while longer.

Little Joey Rule 5

Katie Holmes On “Dawson’s Creek” Reunion: “Get Jimmy Fallon On The Phone!” - Never saw the show. Don't care.

Eight Ukrainian Servicemen Killed In Last 24 Hours Despite Peace Deal - Hey Hillary, how's that reset going? Blue Screen of Death?

Pope Francis: “The Choice Not To Have Children Is Selfish” - Yep, somebody has to pay our Social Security, and I don't trust the Mexicans

Norks Release Hundreds Of Bizarre Propaganda Slogans - And how does that differ from any other day?

Violence Flares In Venezuela On Anniversary Of 2014 Deaths - I Credit the Saudis.

Nigeria Relying On Poorer Chad To Fight Boko Haram - Leading from behind? I wonder where they learned that.

Bloggy Stuff:

EBL: Hannah Davis, Tool Of The Patriarchy - A notable Rule 5 practitioner.
American Power: The Dangerous Lie That “Bush Lied” - Yep, it's a liberal "go to" argument.
Jammie Wearing Fools: Media, Having Shown No Interest In Obama’s Mysterious College Years, Already Combing Through Scott Walker’s College Days - I wonder why.
Joe For America: Pennsylvania Judge Slaps Down Muslim Wanting To Swear On Koran Instead Of Bible - I don't know. People are going to lie, Holy Book or not. Let 'em use the one that matters to them.
Pamela Geller: One In Four Ballots In UK’s Muslim Dominated Tower Hamlets Ward Completed By Same Person - Soon to be true in Texas and California if we don't take steps.
STUMP: Obamacare Tax Watch – Mess To Come Was Noted Years Ago - Yep
The Gateway Pundit: Feds Explore Regulating Blogs And Websites - So we're going to need a code.
Weasel Zippers: Gay Democrat State Senator Wants To Replace Statue Of Catholic Missionary Saint With Lesbian Astronaut - I Wouldn't deny her a statue just because she's a lesbian. You can have both.
Megan McArdle: Who Needs A Diploma To Be President? - Can we impeach Truman in hindsight?

Wombat-socho brings the goods on Monday with "Rule 5 Monday: Snow Bunnies."

The Gore Effect Strikes Again

Too Cold To Protest Global Warming at Yale

Yale anti-fossil fuel campaigners have indefinitely postponed a protest that was set for this weekend due to “unfavorable weather conditions and other logistical issues.”

Fossil Free Yale, a group pushing the university to divest itself from fossil fuels, told the Yale Daily News that frigid, snowy weather set for this weekend will mean their global warming protest will have to be postponed.

FFY’s Mitch Barrow said that “unfavorable weather conditions and other logistical issues, including some cancellations from speakers and performance groups” would mean they would not be able to rally on Global Divestment Day — a day where environmental groups urge institutions like Yale to divest from fossil fuels, like coal, natural gas and oil.

As this reporter writes this article, the weather in New Haven, Connecticut where Yale is located stands at -9 degrees Fahrenheit with wind chill. Saturday is expected to have weather in the low 30s with snow and Sunday will be 20 degrees with snow and rain, according to the Weather Channel.

This happens every year. You'd think that they'd eventually get smart and protest warming in the dog days of summer; but that might interfere with their beach vacations and travels to tropical paradises.

The Gore Effect is an informal and satirical term which alleges a causal relationship between unseasonable cold weather phenomena and global warming activism,with particular emphasis on events attended by former Vice President of the United States and Nobel Peace Prize recipient Al Gore. Usage started when a speech of Al Gore on a global warming rally held in New York City met extremely cold winter weather in January 2004  and according Andrew Bolt after another Gore speech took place on a strikingly cold day in Boston in the same year.

Scott Walker is So Conservative . . .

#ScottWalkerIsSoConservativeThat Like Washington & Lincoln, He Doesn’t Consider Degreelessness Disqualifying

See the rest.

The story of the week is that Scott Walker waffled on support of evolution in a question from a British reporter.  Here are some questions that journalists would be asking democratic politicians if they were really interested in the answers:

What is evolution?
Does human life begin at conception?
Is a 20-week-old unborn child a human being?
Do you believe there are too many people on Earth?
Do you believe GMOs are safe?
Do your chromosomes have anything to do with determining sex? What role do they play in a person’s gender, if any?
Do you believe carbon dioxide is detrimental to human existence?
Do you believe a slight variation in the climate over a century is unique to contemporary times?
What was the average surface temperature of the earth last year?
Is certain birth control correlated with brain cancer?
What is a stem cell, and what are the differences between adult and embryonic stem cells?
Do you ever question settled science?

I've seen another list with some even better question (damned brain is like sieve some days), but since the chance of any of them being asked is negligible, this set will do.