Categories
Tampa Bay The Current Situation

Stay away from Tampa Convention Center this weekend

Why? Because the right-wing student indoctrination group Turning Point USA is holding their Student Action Summit at Tampa Convention Center, and the base is coming out. And these days, with the mainstreaming of what used to be the conservative fringe, that means Nazis are showing up, and the organizers aren’t shooing them away.

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And to no one’s surprise at all, they’re DeSantis fans.

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Oh, and they’re blaming the Jews…

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For more, see. Creative Loafing’s article, Photos: Neo-Nazis gather outside Turning Point USA summit at Tampa Convention Center.

And before you say “No, this is the fringe,” let me disabuse of that false notion right now. This is the new mainstream, and it’s been part of the alt-right playbook for years now:

Categories
Slice of Life

Happy Friday!

Photo: Sign above door that reads “Be amazing today.”
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Be sure to follow the advice of this sign, which hangs above the door of St. Pete’s Chai Mixology, who make a damned good poke bowl:

Photo: Poke bowl with beer and accordion in background.
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Categories
It Happened to Me

London travel diary / Camera roll (Saturday, June 11, 2022)

Joey and Anitra on Blackfriars Bridge.
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For family, friends, and the curious, I’m posting some selections from my camera roll from last month’s trip to London.

Day 1

Our flight left Tampa on Friday evening, and we landed in London on Saturday morning, a little before 9:00 a.m. local time.

Upon deplaning, we saw a couple of Queen tributes. Here’s the first one..

Photo: Freddie Mercury pictured on the tail of a Norwegian Airlines jet.
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…and here’s the second:

Photo: Photos at Gatwick airport assembled to create two giant portraits of Queen Elizabeth II — one of her when she was crowned, and one of her today.
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We made the trip from Gatwick to London in pretty short order on the Gatwick Express, which ends at Victoria Station, and we took a cab to the hotel from there:

Photo: Main hall of Victoria Station.
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Auth0, my employer, put us up at the Sea Containers hotel, located right on the Thames’ south bank and just west of Blackfriars. Here’s the view from our hotel room.

Photo: The view from our hotel room, with 1 Blackfriars in the foreground.
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After a nice post-flight shower and change of clothes, we stepped out the hotel’s riverside doorway and took our first proper trip selfie…

Photo: Joey and Anitra posing by the Thames’ south bank, just outside Sea Containers hotel.
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…and then we worked our way east along the river…

View of the Thames from the south bank, just east of the Founder’s Arms pub.
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…then a tiny bit south…

Photo: Stonecutters Lane mural.
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…towards our goal, Flat Iron Square, for lunch.

The scene at Flat Iron Square, Southwark, London.
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It’s a fun, open-air beer garden with food stalls, tables aplenty, and a lively crowd. The South Bank seems to have no shortage of these places.

The scene at Flat Iron Square, Southwark, London.
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We got lunch from Lil’ Watan, who serve Lebanese food out of a shipping container…

Lil’ Watan’s colorful shipping container, labelled “From Beirut with Love.”
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…and drinks from the bar under one of the arches.

After lunch, we set off to explore the South Bank a little more. In my handful of trips to London, I’d stayed mostly on the north side of the Thames.

Southwark has a lot of railway bridges, and the locals have gotten pretty creative with the underpasses:

Anitra Pavka poses with against the wall of the Southwark Street tunnel in London’s Southbank.
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Joey deVilla poses with his blue accordion against the wall of the Southwark Street tunnel in London’s Southbank.
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Photo: Wall mural depicting swans.
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We passed by Crossbones Graveyard, and there were these great posters nearby:

Photo: “This is still the crossbones graveyard” poster depicting skull and crossbones with Union Jack background.
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And while we were in the area, I made sure to pass by this building on Redcross Street, which is known for its “Take Courage” ghost sign:

Photo: Brick building with “Take Courage” sign painted on its side.
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Categories
Stranger than Fiction

Yet another reminder to have someone else check your work

Again I remind you: see if you can have someone else check your work. There’s a chance they’ll catch something you might have missed because you’re a little too close to it.

Also: There’s nothing wrong with loving Jesus, but that’s quite different from looooving Jesus.

Categories
Florida

They’ve been suckering tourists from day one

Photo: Sepia photo of horse-drawn billboard that reads “Visit Orlando, Fla. - Good roads - Pure water - No insects - Rich lands”
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“Good roads” is quite a stretch, but “no insects?” I almost have to respect them for their unmitigated gall.

Categories
Stranger than Fiction The Current Situation

Stay cool, Britain…sensibly!

Newspaper clipping: “As Britain battles to stay cool in heatwave, a doctor warns DON’T PUT ICE LOLLIES UP YOUR ARSE”
Thanks to Bill Ross for the find! Tap to view at full size.

(In case you didn’t know: Ice lolly is UK English for popsicle.)

We were in London last month, and it was uncharacteristically sunny and warm. I even got a tan, and I live in Florida!

The temperature there continues to climb, and it’s expected to cross 40° C (104° F), which will be a challenge in a country that traditionally hasn’t had the need for home air conditioning.

Stay cool, Britain…sensibly!

Further reading

Categories
funny Stranger than Fiction

“Wait — that’s not what I meant…”

Photo: Market stall with sign that reads “Ethical Trade Co. - Making a difference through job creation • Human trafficking • Poverty • Exploitation”
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Photo: Close-up of proprietor of Ethical Trade Co., with a concerned expression on his face and holding up a hand
“Wait…”

It looks as though the proprietor just figured out why there’s no one visiting the stall.

Once again, consider this a reminder that when the stakes are high, get someone else to review your work before you put it out into the world.