Horrifyingly delicious.

Today, Discovery Channel is serving up a “Best of Shark Week” marathon in order to soothe a frazzled nation’s nerves. To remind Californians, New Yorkers, Floridians and Idahoans that other terrors lurk beneath the ocean’s placid surface that are neither Corona nor Virus.

Razor sharp teeth etc.

Misanthropic, malevolent, sociopathic urges etc.

Well, viewing numbers may be down as five massive Great White sharks are amassing off the coast of North Carolina and, according to scientists, preparing to “feast on a buffet.”

I imagine that North Carolinians make up a large percentage of Discovery Channel’s viewership and taste of vinegar, pimento cheese, Cheerwine and grits. A veritable buffet feast if there ever was one but let us turn to the experts for more.

A group of five great white sharks is “stacked” off North Carolina’s southern coast, and researchers see the unique formation as proof those waters are a perfect feeding ground for large apex predators.

The sharks — ranging from 8 feet to 12 feet, 7 inches — are lined along the invisible edges of the Gulf Stream, a warm current that also contributes to the creation of the Outer Banks barrier islands.

“Positioning themselves here allows them (sharks) to access a huge range of water temperatures just by moving relatively short distances east and west,” scientists at OCEARCH said in a Monday Facebook post.

The edges of the Gulf Stream are known for hosting nutrient rich “upwellings,” where deeper cold water rises closer to the surface, attracting hungry fish, according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.

Great white sharks use these areas like a buffet, experts believe.

Maybe North Carolinians taste of hush puppies, fried green tomatoes, cigarettes and Bojangles fried chicken.

Have you ever eaten one?

Much to ponder.

"Throwing rocks, running people over with surfboards in the water, etc."

Coronavirus, Coronavirus, Coronavirus, Coronavirus, Coronavirus, Coronavirus, Coronavirus, Coronavirus, Coronavirus, Coronavirus, Coronavirus, Coronavirus, Coronavirus, Coronavirus, Coronavirus, Coronavirus, Coronavirus, Coronavirus, Coronavirus, Coronavirus, Coronavirus, Coronavirus, Coronavirus, Coronavirus, Coronavirus, but do you remember when other worries, large worries, loomed over our days and kept us awake at night?

Worries like if those who identify as non-binary had suitable bathrooms and unchecked localism at Los Angeles’s Lunada Bay?

Well, a lawsuit against the notorious “Bay Boys” is being allowed to go forward and its formerly sealed complaints have just been made public.

Should we waltz back to a simpler time when an un-permitted stone fort and name calling represented the sum of our terror?

Without further ado, I present Spencer v. Mowat.

Lunada Bay is a premier surf spot, located in Palos Verdes Estates [a rich suburb of Los Angeles, south of LAX -EV]. The Lunada Bay Boys are alleged to be a group of young and middle-aged men, local to Palos Verdes Estates, who consider themselves to be the self-appointed guardians of Lunada Bay. One of their tenets is to keep outsiders away from the surf location through threats and violence.

Plaintiffs are non-locals who have tried to surf Lunada Bay, but encountered harassment by the Bay Boys. They brought suit against the Bay Boys and more than a dozen of its individual members. Two of those members filed motions to dismiss under the anti-SLAPP law (Code Civ. Proc., § 425.16), arguing that the allegations against them were based on protected speech and petitioning activity. The trial court denied the motions, concluding that the allegations against the moving defendants were actually based on a conspiracy to commit assault and other torts. Those defendants appeal, and we affirm….

The operative complaint is the first amended complaint. The plaintiffs are two surfers, Corey Spencer and Diana Milena Smoluchowska-Miernik, and Coastal Protection Rangers, a non-profit dedicated to protecting California’s beaches and ensuring they are safe and accessible to all visitors.

The defendants are the Lunada Bay Boys, a number of its individual members, including appellants Michael Thiel and Charlie Mowat, and the City of Palos Verdes Estates. Thiel and Mowat are the only defendants who are appellants in this appeal. Our discussion of the complaint’s factual allegations will therefore focus on their conduct, although some understanding of the general allegations is necessary….

Broadly speaking, plaintiffs allege that the Lunada Bay Boys, sometimes with the tacit approval of City officials who did nothing to stop them, engaged in what is known as “localism”—a practice of keeping outsiders away from the surf site through threats and violence. {The complaint alleges more than just tacit approval on the part on the City; it alleges that the City used its discretion to enforce municipal laws in a manner that discriminates against outsiders, and ignored requests of the California Coastal Commission to make Lunada Bay more accessible to the public. As we are only concerned with the anti-SLAPP motions of Thiel and Mowat, we do not further discuss the allegations against the City.}

The complaint alleges that the Bay Boys have “blocked public access to the beaches of Palos Verdes Estates, Lunada Bay in particular, for over 40 years. In what is a multi-generational practice of extreme ‘localism,’ and using rules established by the ‘older boys,’ the Bay Boys use physical violence, threats of bodily harm, vandalism to visitor[s’] vehicles, verbal harassment and other intimidation to enforce their unwritten rule: ‘If you don’t live here, you don’t surf here.’ Indeed, members of the Bay Boys believe it is ‘disrespectful’ for outsiders to visit, use or even photograph ‘their’ beach.”

The Bay Boys, specifically including Mowat, were alleged to have built and maintained an unpermitted masonry rock and wood fort seating area, known as “Rock Fort,” near the beach. “The steep switch-backed trails that lack proper improvements act as perfect pinch points, which the Lunada Bay Boys use to block access to the shoreline. From the Rock Fort and the bluffs above, the Individual Members of the Lunada Bay Boys orchestrate illegal activity that is intended to keep the public away. Some of the more egregious tactics include: (1) physically obstructing outsiders’ access to the beach trails; (2) throwing rocks; (3) running people over with surfboards in the water; (4) punching outsiders; (5) stealing outsiders’ wallets, wetsuits and surfboards; (6) vandalizing vehicles and personal property, including slashing tires and waxing pejorative slurs onto vehicle windows; (7) levying threats against outsiders; and (8) intimidating outsiders with verbal insults, gestures, and threats of serious injury.”

Due, in part, to the local police’s claimed unwillingness to pursue complaints against the Bay Boys, the individual plaintiffs and other would-be surfers who allegedly were harassed by the Bay Boys were often unable to identify the specific individuals who harassed them. As a result, certain allegations of the complaint simply name the “Individual Defendants,” a designation which includes Thiel and Mowat. For example, the complaint alleges that, “Individual Defendants intimidate visiting beachgoers with threats and taunts, by taking photos and video of beachgoers, and by congregating near the entrances to both [trails to the beach].” The complaint also alleges a conspiracy amongst the Bay Boys: “For many years, The Bay Boys have conspired to commit wrongful acts for the purpose of keeping outsiders from coming to Lunada Bay. The agreements between the individual members of the Bay Boys are made orally, in writing, and are implied by the conduct of the parties.”

The causes of action alleged against the Bay Boys and its individual members (including Mowat and Thiel) include public nuisance, assault and battery…..

The allegations against Mowat and Thiel are that, as members of the Bay Boys and “Individual Defendants,” they participated in the conspiracy. However, thanks to discovery in a related federal action, plaintiffs obtained records of some text messages among Bay Boys, and, based on those messages, made some specific allegations regarding participation in the conspiracy.

Having fun?

Continue the terrifying saga here!

Let's stop being polite and start getting real.

When this Coronavirus first launched, some two months ago now, it was seen as a novel oddity. Difficult to comprehend. People in China made a disease/caught a disease, maybe, but China is so far away with notoriously spotty press releases. Then it raced to Europe, cut Italy away from the rest of the world and grounded many flights. Next came America where most cities are now under severe lockdown orders, a Navy hospital ship sits in New York’s harbor, albeit empty, brave SUP pilots head to jail and Joel Tudor and Ken Skindog Collins wage pitched battles.

Wow.

That all escalated very quickly.

But if you could go back in time and either stop a hungry Chinese man from eating a bat or invest in the video conferencing application Zoom which would you choose?

David Lee Scales told me that Zoom’s current valuation is higher than the entire airline industry.

True?

I don’t know.

He also told me that I fly in the face of science.

We discuss science today and surfing. Also Joel Tudor, Ken Skindog, paranoia, sensitivity, disease and fun.

You can listen here and why not? What other pressing business do you have?

But you can also answer the principle question below and cut through the noise, as it were.

Saving “millions” or making “millions”?

Also, anyone have any other investment advice?

Also much yelling at surfers from windows.

This novel Coronavirus pandemic has more twists, more turns, than a Guy Ritchie film. Each day brings some wild, unforeseen drama. Martial law put in place across the United States of America, no human being allowed within six-feet of another human being. Scientists and doctors sharpening their swords, swinging wildly at each other.

This last bit is particularly intriguing seeing as the two are usually complimentary and genteel but no longer. Not now when China’s Great Middle Finger is causing much consternation.

It began two days ago, when Kim Prather, then described as a “virus scientists” declared that surfers bashing the lip, causing spray also sent the Coronavirus far and wide.

Yesterday, Hawaii’s health director, Dr. Bruce Anderson took violent umbrage and declared, “I disagree with that.”

Unbowed, unbent Ms. Prather is back today, this time with a different title and putting her money where her mouth is and let us read directly.

Kim Prather, a leading atmospheric chemist at the Scripps Institution of Oceanography, wants to yell out her window at every surfer, runner, and biker she spots along the San Diego coast.

“I wouldn’t go in the water if you paid me $1 million right now,” she said.

Prather fears that SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes COVID-19, could enter coastal waters in similar ways and transfer back into the air along the coast.

In her research, Prather has found that the ocean churns up all kinds of particulate and microscopic pathogens, and every time the ocean sneezes with a big wave or two, it sprays these particles into the air. She believes that this new coronavirus is light enough to float through the air much farther than we think. The six-feet physical distancing rule, she said, doesn’t apply at the beach, where coastal winds can get quite strong and send viral particles soaring.

“It’s not going to kill you if you miss a few surfing sessions, but it could if you go out there and get in the wrong air,” she said.

“You can’t see the virus, you can’t smell it … It’s a real silent killer right now.”

And there we have it. Gauntlet laid etc. But a few questions, have you been yelled at by Ms. Prather?

Also, if we crowd funded $1,000,000 and gave it to her if she went for a quick surf do you think she would take or turn down?

Lastly, how will Hawaiian doctors respond?

More as the story develops.