Categories
Accordion, Instrument of the Gods It Happened to Me

Playing accordion at ng-conf’s first karaoke night

Joey deVilla plays accordion while a karaoke DJ points two microphones at him
Tap to view at full size.

Here’s a photo of Yours Truly playing AC/DC’s You Shook Me All Night Long at the first karaoke night for the ng-conf programming conference in Salt Lake City. They didn’t have mic stands on the first karaoke night, but Brady from Rock the Mic Karaoke helped out by playing “human mic stand.”

Categories
funny

It’s a fact: Dinosaurs did NOT rule the earth!

Illustration of dinosaurs with the caption: “The dinosaurs didn’t ‘rule the earth,’ they were just alive. Stop giving them credit for administrative skills they almost certainly did not have.”

Categories
funny Geek

My new favorite scientific insult

“You’re a 10, but it’s on the pH scale.”

Categories
Filipino Food Tampa Bay

Amazing ube ice cream sandwiches at Mata’s Philippine Cuisine

Ube ice cream sandwich — purple ice cream between two “rice krispies squares” dyed purple.
Tap to view the purple deliciousness at full size.

If you’re looking for a different kind of dessert, check out the ube ice cream sandwiches at Mata’s Philippine Cuisine in Tampa (on West Waters, a quick drive west of Dale Mabry)!

Ube (pronounced “OOO-beh”) is a sweet purple yam from the Philippines. It has a flavor that I describe as a mild mix of vanilla, white chocolate, and hazelnuts. It’s been a Filipino sweets staple for centuries, but only in the past decade has it become popular in North America. That’s a shame, because you’ve been missing out on some amazing, colorful dishes as a result!

They put the ice cream between “krispy treats” made out of sticky puffed rice (which often gets called pinipig in the Philippines, but that isn’t accurate). Just think of it as ube ice cream between Filipino rice krispies treats and enjoy the flavor.

Joey deVilla smiles with his ube ice cream sandwich.

It was great, and I’m coming back for more!

We also left with dinuguan, chicken adobo, pinakbet, and ginataang bilo-bilo.

Mata’s Philippine Cuisine’s storefront.

Mata’s Philippine Cuisine is in Tampa at 4350 West Waters Avenue — east of the Veterans Expressway, west of Dale Mabry.

Categories
funny

The “international community” you always hear about

Map: “The ‘international community’ you always hear about,“ featuring a map of the world that shows on Europe, North America, Japan, and Australia/New Zealand.
Found via Ian Bremmer.
Categories
America The Current Situation

Jerry’s gonna Jerry

The problem is that Jerry’s going to keep on Jerrying, because voting for Trump — or probable future presidential candidate Ron DeSantis, who’s basically Trump with an attention span and malevolent competence — is actual identity politics, and the simple proof is all the merchandise that they buy, their performative parading about, and their willingness to pour money into the scam.

Remember that the Republican Party didn’t bother to come up with a platform in the last election because they didn’t need one. It’s more than enough for them to be the vessel for the grievances of people who were promised that they’d be at the top of the pecking order and promise to be the cudgel to beat those who they believe usurped them from that spot.

In the end, as Adam Serwer observed in the Atlantic article that grew into a book, The Cruelty is the Point.

Categories
Music

August 27th is “Play Music on the Porch Day!”

So I just found out that this is a thing…

Poster: What if for one day we all just listened to the music? / International Play Music on the Porch Day / Always the last Saturday in August / playmusicontheporchday.comFor more, see PlayMusicOnThePorchDay.com.