People often forget this when times are tough, so I think it’s worth repeating.
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Here’s what I looked like earlier this morning before shopping at Jug & Bottle Dept., our local non-skeevy beer and wine store:
Me on May 2, 2020. Tap the photo to see it at full size.
That look would’ve worked just fine 21 years ago at Burning Man…
Me, sometime in late August/early September 1999. This is the photo at full size (480 by 640), which was decent for pocket digital cameras of that era.
…where a group of friendly pirates paid me in Tequila shots in exchange for playing Drunken Sailor and AC/DC on accordion on their playa pirate ship:
My t-shirt is also from that era — I bought it in 1998 at the HMV on Yonge Street in downtown Toronto. The design is by Frank Kozik, who did a lot of concert posters back then:
If you’ve got kids who need a little something different for their morning curriculum or if you just want to see what one of Florida’s best low-rent amusement parks is up to in these quarantined times, check out Gatorland’s “School of Croc” every Monday through Saturday morning at 10:00 a.m.!
Gatorland is located in Orlando, and it’s the perfect down-home antidote to the better-known, larger, more corporate offering of Universal Studios and Disney. As its name implies, it’s a park with lots of reptiles: over 2,000 alligators and crocodiles (there’s a difference), along with other animals suited to Central Florida’s subtropical climate. I’ve been there, and it’s fun, as has Kevin Smith:
Tap the photo to see Kevin Smith at full “Silent Bob” size.
Gatorland may be deserted while tourists are staying at home and sitting out the pandemic, but they’re still paying their full- and part-time employees to take care of the animals and maintain the place. Better still, they’re providing a virtual experience through their Facebook page in the form of a regular show called School of Croc. Today marks their 40th episode. Not only can you watch it, but you can ask their reptile experts questions, too!
See School of Croc on Gatorland’s Facebook page.
Why hasn’t a “sexy” costume based on Joe Exotic or Carole Baskin been announced yet? Usually, when a big pop culture phenomenon happens, the costume company Yandy are pretty quick to capitalize on it.
Consider the case of Ken Bone, the “real-life Ned Flanders, but with less brains and more carbs” undecided voter who rose to fame after asking some questions as an audience member in the second presidential debate in the 2016 U.S. elections. Yandy were pretty quick to turn him into a costume, and that occurrence was enough to garner its own story in Wired.
When Trevor Wallace’s “Ain’t no laws when you’re drinkin’ Claws!” turned White Claw from 21st-century Zima into a cultural happening, Yandy were also quick to put together the “Hard Outlaw” costume.
They already have a few tiger costumes, including the one above. Where are their Tiger King costumes? There’s a whole raft of characters they could turn into costumes, possibly with the exception of the life-size Chucky doll:
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Doubly true in Florida
My new goal for all my online presentations is inspired by this article in The Onion: To make them so compelling that “Zoombombers” will forget about disrupting them and choose to watch and even participate.
Speaking of online presentations, I run a couple of meetups that have gone online since the start of staying at home:
One of the meetups I run is Tampa iOS Meetup, a gathering for programmers who want to learn iOS programming. In these meetups, I walk you through a coding exercise and you code along with me — you learn by doing. Along the way, I explain what’s happening in the code you’re writing, and at the end of the session, you have a working app!
The other meetup I run is Coders, Creatives, and Craft Beer, and it’s an informal monthly event where techies and creatives get together and hang out. We’ve had many great conversations at these, people have landed jobs or got some great career advice, new friendships have been made, and we’ve even had a jam session break out!