Surfing into Thursday

Wombat-socho at The Other McCain steps up with "Rule 5 Sunday: Happy New Year!" Linked at Pirate's Cove in "Sorta Blogless Sunday Pinup – Happy 2017 Edition."

And Yet Another Baltimore Fish Kill

State investigates 6,000 dead fish in east Baltimore County waterways

About 6,000 fish were found to have died in eastern Baltimore County waterways, according to a Maryland Department of the Environment investigation.

Preliminary results point to algae-created toxins as the likely cause of the fish kill, which was discovered last week after dead fish were first seen in rivers that include the Gunpowder and Bird, said MDE spokesperson Jay Apperson Monday evening.

The kill has affected at least nine species: yellow perch, largemouth bass, bluegill sunfish, pumpkinseed sunfish, carp, black crappie, gizzard shad, spottail shiner and channel catfish.
. . .
The investigation has not shown any signs of pollution as a potential cause, suggesting instead that the kill is due to toxins produced by algae, he said.

"Monitoring has shown elevated cell counts of Karlodinium venifecum algae in the Gunpowder River," Apperson said. "We are awaiting results of laboratory tests for algae toxins and of fish tissue. The investigation is ongoing."

It's a little disingenuous to clear pollution of the blame, and then turn around and say that it was caused by an algae bloom. Toxic algae blooms, are generally acknowledged as being fueled by excess nutrients; in this case from the Baltimore area. If a similar bloom were to occur in a rural tributary with substantial chicken farming and crop land, I doubt if MDE would fail to point out the role of agriculture in exacerbating the problem.

To The Stars, Alice!

Chinese Test EM Drive in Space - China claims to have a working version of NASA's impossible engine orbiting the Earth - and will use it in satellites 'imminently'

Scientists in China claim they’ve created a working prototype of the ‘impossible’ reactionless engine – and they say they’re already testing it in orbit aboard the Tiangong-2 space laboratory.

The radical, fuel-free EmDrive recently stirred up controversy after a paper published by a team of NASA researchers appeared to show they’d successfully built the technology.

If the physics-defying concept is brought to reality, it’s said the engine could get humans to Mars in just 10 weeks.

But now, scientists with the China Academy of Space Technology claim NASA’s results ‘re-confirm’ what they’d already achieved, and have plans to implement it in satellites ‘as quickly as possible.’

It's kind of a shame that NASA has been converted from an agency that actually researches space-flight into one the promotes Muslim outreach into STEM and proselytizes reverting to a 19th century life style to halt "climate change", but that's where we are. Maybe The Donald will be able to change that; maybe not

Meanwhile, the Chinese are getting ready to go to the stars. Maybe those stories about Ming the Merciless, Princes Aura, and the hapless Flash Gordon will turn out to have some relevance after all.

Wombat-socho at The Other McCain steps up with "Rule 5 Sunday: Happy New Year!"

How About Some Paint for Wednesday?

Wombat-socho at The Other McCain steps up with "Rule 5 Sunday: Happy New Year!"

RIP: Princess Leia

Aka, Carrie Fisher

Carrie Fisher, the actress best known as Star Wars‘ Princess Leia Organa, has died after suffering a heart attack. She was 60.

Family spokesman Simon Halls released a statement to PEOPLE on behalf of Fisher’s daughter, Billie Lourd:

“It is with a very deep sadness that Billie Lourd confirms that her beloved mother Carrie Fisher passed away at 8:55 this morning,” reads the statement.

“She was loved by the world and she will be missed profoundly,” says Lourd, 24. “Our entire family thanks you for your thoughts and prayers.”

Fisher was flying from London to Los Angeles on Friday, Dec. 23, when she went into cardiac arrest. Paramedics removed her from the flight and rushed her to a nearby hospital, where she was treated for a heart attack. She later died in the hospital.

The daughter of renowned entertainers Debbie Reynolds and Eddie Fisher, Fisher was brought up in the sometimes tumultuous world of film, theater and television.

Too young.

Wombat-socho at The Other McCain steps up with "Rule 5 Sunday: Happy New Year!" and "FMJRA 2.0: Grand Finale."

I Went Speckled Trout Fishing Today

But all those pesky little Striped Bass kept grabbing my lure instead:

However, Ron caught this nice 21 inch Speck:

It was a really remarkable day for Dec.,  with the high temperature reaching 62 F. A stiff 20kt WSW breeze dropped to nothing when we went out.

¡ Cómo el Grinch robó la Navidad !

Socialism continues to work it's usual magic in Venezuela as The Dictator Who Stole Christmas

Stealing Christmas is not easy. It takes practice, and the Venezuelan government has gotten good at it.

This time around the task was in the hands of a sad little man called William Contreras, superintendent of the Venezuelan price control authority (Sundde for its acronym in Spanish). As a staggering 784.5 percent annual inflation was eating away at Venezuelan salaries, Mr. Contreras led a government-enforced Black Friday, where store owners were ordered to reduce prices (by 30-50 percent) under the threat of being sent to jail if they didn’t.

This sort of December crackdown on businesses has become customary since a few years ago when President Nicolás Maduro ordered appliance chain stores to lower their prices so Venezuelans could shop at discounts which, of course, don’t answer to inflation and other economic nuisances. The measure obviously drove more than one business owner into bankruptcy.

But the breaking point of this year’s measure, the moment of the big, bad, beautiful headline would be December 10, when Mr. Contreras and a band of National Guards seized 3.8 million toys from the Kreisel toy distributing company. A family-run business that has been selling toys in Venezuela for well over 20 years. Contreras’s toy police confiscated dolls, board games, robots and the like, now to be distributed and sold at “fair prices” by the government distribution network “Clap.”

Which means they probably won't be around next year to steal the toys from. But that's OK, because the way it's going, there may be a lack of children to give toys to in the next few years because Venezuelan women’s response to the country’s economic crisis is to Get sterilized

In crisis-hit Venezuela, where raising a family is an increasingly grueling and expensive task, a growing number of young women are choosing to be sterilized.

With inflation spiraling out of control, food and medicine supplies dwindling and violent crimes on the rise, women as young as 27 are seeking out surgeons to avoid unwanted pregnancies.

A study by PLAFAM, the biggest family planning clinic in the country, estimates that about 23 percent more Venezuelan women are being sterilized today as compared to four years ago, said the clinic’s director, Enrique Abache. “The financial crisis is one of the main causes for this,” he explained.

My guess is, that unlike in "The Grinch Who Stole Christmas", the situation in Venezuela will not end happily ever after.

Mrs. Stephanopoulos!

Mrs. Stephanopoulos Flashes Breasts on Jimmy Kimmel Live

Wentworth appeared with Kimmel to promote her new book “Happily Ali After” and said she decided to flash the audience after she saw Miley Cyrus do the same in the previous segment. Stephanopoulos’ wife described how she and Cyrus “just bumped into each other” and they both exposed their breasts.

Wentworth then joked “I cannot wait until George Stephanopoulos sees this on “Pop News” tomorrow morning on GMA tomorrow morning” but claimed she had done “far worse” than exposing her breasts on national television.

Rather than discuss her husband’s recent conflict of interest regarding donations he made to the Clinton Foundation, Stephanopoulos’ ABC colleague spent the entire segment promoting Wentworth’s book.

Kimmel’s friendly interview with Wentworth comes on the heels of the more than six minutes Good Morning America devoted to shilling Mrs. Stephanopoulos’ book back in June. Prior to her GMA interview, Stephanopoulos canceled interviews promoting her book at the same time details about her husband’s Clinton Foundation donations came to light.

Well, now that Hillary has lost the election, and will never become president, Ali's boobs are a lot more interesting than anything George has to say.

Wombat-socho at The Other McCain steps up with "Rule 5 Sunday: Happy New Year!"

Liberals Suddenly Rediscover Freedom of Association

In Wake of Trump, Democrats Suddenly Discover Freedom of Association

Thursday, Madison Square Garden Company boss James Dolan announced that the Radio City Rockettes had to perform at the Trump inauguration. And the Rockettes went off their rockers. One Rockette wrote:

I usually don’t use social media to make a political stand but I feel overwhelmed with emotion. Finding out that it has been decided for us that Rockettes will be performing at the Presidential inauguration makes me feel embarrassed and disappointed. The women I work with are intelligent and are full of love and the decision of performing for a man that stands for everything we’re against is appalling. I am speaking for just myself but please know that after we found out this news, we have been performing with tears in our eyes and heavy hearts. We will not be forced! #notmypresident

George Takei, an ardent Trump opponent, tweeted in their support. . .

Meanwhile, Anthony Bourdain has announced that he won’t eat at any restaurant hosted at Trump Tower; fashion icon Andre Leon Talley has said he won’t dress Melania anymore; artists whose products hang in Ivanka Trump’s apartment have asked her to remove their art.

Well, well.

Suddenly, it seems, the left has discovered freedom of association. After years of telling religious people that they had a moral and legal obligation to throw out their religion and serve same-sex weddings, provide contraception, and fund abortion, the left now realizes that the ability to pick and choose those to whom you give your services is actually rather vital.

Don’t expect it to last.

More to the point, don't expect them to adopt a consistent position on this. If it weren't for double standards, they would have none at all.

Also Heed @KurtSchlichter–The Godless Commies Hate You: "Sorry, But Our Fight Against Liberal Fascism Has Only Just Begun"

I wish I could tell you that, having dodged the naggy bullet that was Felonia Milhous von Pantsuit, we can now spend the next four years being left alone. But that’s not in the cards. Liberals won’t – because they can’t – pause to reflect on how they should stop being such insufferable jerks and live with us normals in peace and mutual respect. Instead, they are doubling down on their gambit for unrestrained power over every aspect of our lives, fueled by a hatred for Donald Trump that is, in reality, a hatred for us.

Remember, they really do hate us. Just ask them.

Just watch what they do. They will always side against us – even when a professional scammer stages a fake “hate crime” on an airplane. They will side with the hoaxer even though every single “Trump-inspired hate crime” – and almost all others – turns out to be a hoax. Every. Single. One.
. . .
We must keep fighting. We must never give an inch, never back down, never give up. We must respond to every attack upon us, large or small, with overwhelming firepower. But defense is not enough – we must go on offense, seize the initiative, and aggressively destroy anything that will aid liberals in their long-term goal of rendering us silenced and subservient.

The Democratic Party? Smash it.

The mainstream media? Crush it.

Academia? Nuke it ‘til it glows, preferably from orbit. It’s the only way to be sure.
. . .
Oh, and some spazz starts shrieking at you and your kids? Use appropriate force within the bounds of the self-defense laws in your state, of course, to protect yourself and your family.

Remember: Liberals are fearful because they know the kind of oppression they absolutely intended to inflict upon us if they had won, and they worry that we will do to them what they wanted to do to us. Well, I say let’s make their fears come true by demolishing their cultural edifice of hate and tyranny. Let them rule over the smoldering ruins of their dreams of power.

As Stacy says "You can’t stand the watch 24/7. But you do need to devote a random percentage of your time and effort to defending our values in some way."

California Man Charged with DUI for Caffeine

California man fights DUI charge for driving under influence of caffeine

After being pulled over on 5 August 2015, Schwab was charged by the Solano County district attorney with misdemeanor driving under the influence of a drug.

Almost 18 months later, Schwab is preparing to go to trial. The only evidence the DA has provided of his intoxication is a blood test showing the presence of caffeine.

Shcwab was driving home from work when he was pulled over by an agent from the California department of alcoholic beverage control, who was driving an unmarked vehicle. The agent said Schwab had cut her off and was driving erratically.

The 36-year-old union glazier was given a breathalyzer test which showed a 0.00% blood alcohol level, his attorney said. He was booked into county jail and had his blood drawn, but the resulting toxicology report came back negative for benzodiazepines, cocaine, opiates, THC, carisoprodol (a muscle relaxant), methamphetamine/MDMA, oxycodone, and zolpidem.

So, if you can't charge him the DUI, just charge the reckless driving. Shouldn't that be sufficient? Apparently not.

The sample was screened a second time by a laboratory in Pennsylvania, according to documents provided to the Guardian, where the sole positive result was for caffeine – a substance likely coursing through the veins of many drivers on the road at any given time.

 Amen, if it's a crime, I committed it already today.

 Barrett has filed a motion for the case to be dismissed because the charges were not brought until June 2016 – nearly 10 months after incident. If that motion is denied, Schwab will take his case to a jury on 11 January.

Sharon Henry, chief deputy district attorney for Solano County, said in a statement that her office was “conducting further investigation in this matter”.

“The charge of driving under the influence is not based upon the presence of caffeine in his system,” she added.

Barrett counters that if the prosecution has evidence of a different drug in her client’s system, it should have to provided that to her, based on the rules governing criminal proceedings.

This has the smell of a personal vendetta.

Wombat-socho at The Other McCain steps up with "Rule 5 Sunday: Happy New Year!"

Happy Boxing Day!

It's Not Exactly Hell Freezing Over . . .

But it's still pretty amazing: Snow falls in Sahara Desert – first time in 37 years

We know the northern hemisphere has been getting colder, for example we reported earlier this week that the USA was colder than any time last year with an average temperature of 16 degrees F. It isn’t just the USA, in northern Africa, reports suggest that it is only the second time in living memory that snow has fallen on the Sahara desert. The last record is for February 18, 1979, when the snow storm lasted just half an hour.

Snow falling on the Saharan mountain ranges is very rare, let alone on the sandy dunes of the continent’s largest desert.

Photo by Karim Bouchetata of Meteo Algerie

No, weather is not climate, but climate is the long term average of weather.

Merry Christmas

I hope you got the presents you deserve.

Wombat-socho at The Other McCain steps up with "Rule 5 Sunday: Happy New Year!" and "FMJRA 2.0: Grand Finale."

Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas!

A few left over Christmas carol videos:



Wombat-socho at The Other McCain steps up with "Rule 5 Sunday: Happy New Year!"

I, For One, Welcome Our New Overlords

After all, how much worse than our politicians can they be? Sex robots would give us only what we think we want, and not what we truly desire

Nothing says Christmas like a conference called “Love and Sex with Robots”. While many spent the week contemplating the birth of a baby two millennia ago, Goldsmiths University played host to the second international congress on congress with machines. One of the team said drily that it was great to see such a large number of journalists at a specialist academic gathering.
. . .
What’s missing from this conversation, of course, is the extraordinary complexity of human desire; the fact it takes a lifetime to uncover your own true yearnings. So much of what we say we want in a partner, especially when young, is peer-approved twaddle: a naif daydream about someone who looks like a model, is always lucratively employed and charms everyone they meet. A few years on, you meet and fall for a geek in an anorak, whose livelihood is precarious and manner offhand – yet you would cross Siberian wastelands to be with him. Once uncovered, our cravings often evolve, or change, because our desires are at the core of all that motivates us; once we’re sated we need a new horizon to run towards. Observation of friends and family generally informs you that most humans don’t like love to be simple. Lust is so often piqued and swelled by frustration and denial.

Key to all this is the desire to be chosen. We want the elusive beloved to say of their own free will “Yes, it is you I want,” against all our previous expectation. This is the miracle most of us seek – not a pre-programmed machine. Indeed, when you consider the perverse and somewhat torturous nature of human longing, the best question (as posed by one woman at the conference) is: why would a robot want to marry a human?

The title assumption here is not immediately obvious to me. If robots equipped with AI were given sufficient information, why shouldn't they be able to be more objective about determining what people really desire, as opposed to us self centered, highly biased biological systems? Of course the general assumption is that more men than women would choose robots for sex, but the evidence suggests that both sexes find some solace in mechanical partners: 'We don't hurt anybody, we are just happy': Woman reveals she has fallen in love with a ROBOT and wants to marry it.

Lilly’s partner is a robot called InMoovator, who she 3D-printed herself and has been living with for a year. On her Twitter page, where she goes by ‘Lilly InMoovator,’ she says: ‘I'm a proud robosexual, we don't hurt anybody, we are just happy.’

Now, Lilly is reportedly engaged to the robot and says they will marry when human-robot marriage is legalised in France. Lilly said she realised she was sexually attracted to robots at the age of 19 because she dislikes physical contact with people, news.com.au reported.

'The first marriage will be before, not after 2050,' best-selling author and robot expert Dr David Levy said during the Love and Sex with Robots conference at Goldsmiths University, London.

She insisted the idea is not ‘ridiculous’ or ‘bad’ but simply an alternative lifestyle. ‘I’m really and only attracted by the robots,’ she said.

However, she declined to say whether she and InMoovator have a sexual relationship.
‘My only two relationships have confirmed my love orientation, because I dislike really physical contact with human flesh.’

I can see where that might be a problem with most men. Other women found other benefits to the robotic partner:  Male sex robots with 'bionic penis' to offer ultimate pleasure experience

Real women can’t wait to wrap their arms around the cyborg lovers, sex experts claim.

Robot blokes will be armed with batteries and eventually will be able to be electrically charged to keep them going for as long as they are needed, top CEO of luxury sex doll company Matt McMullen revealed.

Verbal cues will be built into the cyborg so he can “respond” to her desires – such as “faster”, “slower” and “keep doing that”.

Speaking exclusively to Daily Star Online, the sex robot pioneer said: “We’re going to be working into equation the ability to plug the robot in.

“If it’s got power and you’ve got it plugged in it will go as long as you want.”

Conversation and back stories are also vital for giving women the sexual experience they want in the bedroom, Matt added.

The robots will come in all shapes and sizes – with only the “sky as your limit”.

And this differs from a vibrator and a novel on tape exactly how?

Wombat-socho at The Other McCain steps up with "Rule 5 Sunday: Happy New Year!"

Rule 5 Saturday - Santa's Little Helpers

Just a little celebration of Santa's Little Helpers.

This week GOODSTUFFs BLOGGING MAGAZINE 273rd Issue tremendous meta blog post is celebrating the Winter Solstice with Natalie Portman, who is more than just teensy weensy boobs. Plus, at no extra cost, free entertainment. Pirate's Cove links in with "Sorta Blogless Sunday Pinup – Christmas 2016 Edition" and links.

Somewhere Today on Chesapeake Bay

I paid Pete back for one of many fishing trips today with a short trip on my boat. Ungratefully, he caught the biggest fish of the day, about 30 inches (yeah, I know it looks bigger). It was cooler today than yesterday, but not very windy, so fishing wasn't too hard

Here he is holding my biggest of the day, unmeasured, but certainly an upper 20 inch fish.

Corwin got his first today, a small one, for sure, but a fish! Also, he didn't lose a single jig, unlike both Pete and I.

Sunset. Just before we came home.

Calvin's Christmas Cosplay

Just a few of the many Christmas cosplay girls from Calvin, of Calvin's Canadian Cave of Cool.

First a scary one, who may be Krampus's girl.

Ivanka Trump Has Bad Taste in Art and Artists

Artists Demanding Ivanka Trump Remove Their Artwork From Her Home

A group of artists have come together demanding that Ivanka Trump remove their artwork from her New York City apartment.

According to Bloomberg, the artists, who formed the Halt Action Group, have initiated the "Dear Ivanka" Instagram campaign as a way to protest President-elect Donald Trump through his daughter.

Many of Ivanka Trump's Instagram photos show her posing in front of pieces of artwork in her apartment.

Last I heard, once you sold a piece of art, you were no longer in control of it. That's kind of what the exchange of money was all about.

These guys and gals (and probably everything in between) certainly are working hard to get the Donald re-elected.

And speaking  of  gay liberal assholes, Ivanka Trump Accosted by Passenger on Jetblue Flight.

Ivanka was on a JetBlue flight leaving JFK Thursday morning with her family when a passenger started screaming, "Your father is ruining the country." The guy went on, "Why is she on our flight? She should be flying private." The guy had his kid in his arms as he went on the tirade.

But then, if she flew on a private plane, liberals would accuse her of being elitist. But then, she is an elite.

A passenger on the flight tells TMZ Ivanka ignored the guy and tried distracting her kids with crayons.

JetBlue personnel escorted the unruly passenger off the flight. As he was removed he screamed, "You're kicking me off for expressing my opinion?!!"

No, they're kicking you off for harassing a paying customer.

The husband of the unruly passenger tweeted an hour before the plane took off, "Ivanka and Jared at JFK T5, flying commercial. My husband chasing them down to harass them."

But you have to bake wedding cakes for them.

BTW ... Ivanka, her family and bunch of cousins were all in coach.

I hope The Donald has his sights set on the NEA, too.

First Rockfish of the "Catch and Release" Season

Yesterday was the end of the recreational Striped Bass (or as we call them in Maryland, Rockfish) season. However, you can still catch 'em and throw 'em back. I went out with my son Corwin late this afternoon for a trial at the rips. I caught two fish, and he lost two jigs. Seems like a fair trade. Both fish were in the low to mid 20 inch range; I didn't even measure them.

When we left the dock, the bay was nearly still. In the 3/4 of an hour we were out the wind rose from almost nothing to about 20 NNW, and I decided to pull the plug after the third drift and run home through the building chop.