Something About this Photo Seems Fishy

During the Knightly News broadcast that aired on Monday, August 11, 2014, a brief report aired on humpback whales being spotted just off the coast of Rockaway Beach.  Here is the full video.  Here is a screen cap from that report:

The full video is only 27 seconds long

This article published in The Guardian on Sunday, August 10, 2014, the day before the Knightly News piece, covers the same topic and provides more details about the origin of the whale photo used in both reports.  

Based on The Guardian article, I was able to find the source of the photo used in both the Knightly News broadcast and the article from The Guardian.  

My beef (or, salt-beef to keep up the pirate theme) with the Knightly News regarding their coverage is that it implies the photo taken near Rockaway Beach of the humpback whale with the Empire State Building in the background was taken very recently when, in fact, it was published online in September of last year.  I shared this with a few people last night.  One person replied that it appears the staff of the Knightly News got "lazy".

(chorus)

Time to finish this with a sea chantey

Please forgive rhythm, meter and rhyme

Showed my work around and consensus be

The Knightly News staff must'a got “lazy”

Implying photo taken recently

Internet research allows one to see

Whale pic taken in 2013!

Chorus:

The Knightly News staff must'a got “lazy”

Dare you to sing this at 30 Rock-ee

The Knightly News staff must'a got “lazy”

Something, something really smart aleckly

TL;DR: I make the argument that a major television news broadcast may be misleading viewers.

Yarr! It Be Me Captain Joaquin Gorrión!

Captain Joaquin Gorrión is back!  This morning I exchanged the following messages with him on my Droid phone.  His answers are in red and my questions are in black.

Arrrrrre you there, matey?  It is I Captain Joaquin Gorrión!

Q: Really, we're doing this again on the six month anniversary of International Talk like a Pirate Day?  OK.  

A: You rrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr right, matey.

Q: Now that we have gotten the fact that pirates like to roll their Rs even when typing to someone else out of the way, could you tell me what you have been up to for the last six months?  Last time you hijacked my blogger account you had just escaped from a Mexican jail and were trying to find your way back to the high seas, right?

A: I went to Singapore and am tapping out this Q and A session on a Chinese knock off of an iPhone 5 which I liberated from a shop full of counterfeit goods.

Q: I see. So, have you ever met "Cap'n Slappy" and "Ol' Chumbucket" the two guys who invented International Talk like a Pirate Day?

A: You would have to ask them.  My memory is as addled by rum as my liver has been abused by it.

Q: Gotcha.  Well, good luck to you with the whole pirating thing.  I have stuff to do myself.  

A: Until next time, limey.

A: Hey, I'm only part English.

This Post has been Hijacked, Matey!

It is I, Captain Joaquin Gorrión, recently freed from the foul confines of Piedras Negras prison in Northern Mexico (proof of my escape) just in time to celebrate my favorite holiday, International Talk Like a Pirate Day, or, as it is better known to my brethren, Talk Like Us Day!

Classic pirate sword- check.  Black Hawk-Eagle

instead of a parrot because it is native to Mexico- check.

Yep, this guy seems legit.

Roger and I did exchange several instant messages after he realized who hacked into his Blogger account in order to take over his hilarious and insightful Clean Sheets and Dirty Girls blog.  I have copied and pasted our IMs below for your amusement using this very fine MacBook Air I helped myself to from a patron at Starbucks who was kind enough to leave it laying on a table while she visited the restroom.  

Q: Let's get this question out of the way first.  What is your favorite letter of the alphabet?

A: Rrrrrrrrrr, you kidding me, you scalawag!  


Q: What do you plan to do now that you are in Texas besides hijack my blog?

I plan to secure a ship, a crew and make my way back to blue water where I can pillage and plunder to me black heart's content.  

Q: How do you plan to get there from Texas?  From what I understand the people there can be rather shooty.

A: They can never capture the infamous Joaquin Gorrión... again!

Q: What are your thoughts on the pirates off the coast of Somalia?

A: I have spent years living on the coast of Somalia, smoking qat with the locals in an abandoned lighthouse in between liberation missions off the coast.  I know the locals as well as anyone from the Americas and I can say from first hand experience that anyone living in a country where poverty is so extreme as it is in Somalia can hardly be blamed for trying to take from the wealthy.  They are the Robin Hoods of the sea, matey!  The wealthy governments of the world should spend more time trying to help the people of Somalia rather than sending their warships off its coast.

Q: Do you feel badly for hijacking the Q and A style of blog post that is used frequently on Mayor Gia's fantastic blog?

A: Pirate.

Q: Oh, right.  So what does a pirate captain such a yourself do all day?

A. We command a pirate crew with orders like batten down the hatches (hatches always need battening), square the sails, hoist the Jolly Roger, shiver me timbers, fetch more rum and so forth.

Q: OK, well I feel that you are running out of material and we have established that it's International Talk Like a Pirate Day so I think we're done here for now.

A. That's not really a question.

Q: Could you at least tell the readers about the last time I did a post about International Talk Like a Pirate Day, which they can see here.

A. I'll give you that but I prefer my eggs served they way they are famous for making them for breakfast in Portugal.

Q: Can I have my blog back?

A. Maybe.

It Be International Talk Like a Pirate Day, Matey!

Story Time:

During my days as an undergraduate, I was involved in the sport of rowing.  In order to get a jump on the competition, one of the other guys from the crew and I checked a boat out from the dockmaster at the boathouse before organized practices began.  At least we tried to check out a boat when the dockmaster interrupted us with a hearty "Arr, yee be wantin' a boat do yee?"

The eye patch let me know that the dockmaster 

took his pirate talk seriously

"Hmm, yes?" the rower I was with replied with a confused look on his face.

"It be International Talk Like a Pirate Day, it is" replied the dockmaster who had evidently been spending too much time at the boathouse.

"OK, well we just want to check out a pair to row in the marina for about an ho-"

A little waving of a plastic saber from the crazed dockmaster cut off my partner and gave me the idea that this was not going to be settled in regular English.  "We been needin' a schiff for my matey and I to paddle 'round these waters for about a one and a half turns of the hourglass" I offered.  A moment later we made our marks in the log book and were in possession of a boat to row.

Anyway, in honor of today being International Talk Like a Pirate Day I present the breakfast of pirates, which comes from here:

Man the crow's nest!

Let down those top sails!

Fry the Jolly Roger!