Because the accordionist pictured above, who could easily be a stunt double for my father-in-law, is none other than Krist Novoselic, the former bassist for Nirvana, performing two years ago.

Here he is in 2023 with Geddy Lee (I would love to hang out and jam with Geddy — and hey, Krist too!):

Another pic of Krist:

By the way, it pleases me to no end that a member of Nirvana has embraced the accordion. I’m glad to be in good company.

I haven’t seen a photo of him in several years, so until today, if you mentioned his name, this picture would come to my mind:

But we all get older. In 1992, the year the photo above of young Krist was taken, this photo of young me (and the band I was in, The Dangerous Kitchen) was also taken, and I certainly don’t look like that anymore:

Here’s to getting older. It beats the alternative!

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This is a big step up: the building has three levels with a mezzanine and basement (basements are rare here) for nearly 11,000 square feet of floor space.

And yes, it has one of those classic bank vaults!

The building’s been empty for three decades, having been saved a number of times from demolition by its place as a historic building and community efforts.

It’ll take a while to get the place set up, and in the meantime, they’ll remain in their current location (1113 Central). I look forward to having one of their Flamin’ Hot chicken sandwiches in the vault room.

Readling list

• The Sourdough Co. website
• The Sourdough Co. Instagram
• The Sourdough Co. to relocate to 11,000-square-foot historic bank building in downtown St. Pete
• The Union Trust Bank: John Stadler proves new development can harmonize with history (from 2023)

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• Hollywood Reporter: ‘Forgotten Island’ Review: Dreamworks Animation’s Latest Celebrates Filipino Folklore With Dazzling Wit and Imagination
• Variety: ‘Forgotten Island’ Review: A Delightful Animated Celebration of Friendship and Filipino Culture
• Refinery29: Forgotten Island Is The Celebration Of Filipino Culture I’ve Been Searching For

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I’ll be joining Tom Hood, playing good ol’ classic rock and folk tunes — him on ukulele, me on accordion, plus various other musicians — at The Honu, a fantastic tiki bar in Dunedin at 2:30 p.m.!

My plan is to show up at least an hour or more before the show to get a loco moco and an ube colada.

If you’re in the area, drop by, say hi, have a drink or some food and enjoy some tunes!

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Both Daisy Link and Joan Depaz (Joan is pronounced like “Juan”) were held at the Turner Guilford Knight Correctional Center, with Daisy on the 4th floor and Joan on the 6th. So no, there was no (ahem) glorious congress.

They communicated by passing handwritten notes that were guided through the air ducts via a makeshift line fashioned out of their bedding. At some point, the relationship got serious enough for Depaz to wrap his semen in plastic wrap and deliver it to Link through their air duct system. I’m beyond impressed; when we first moved into our house, we had an air duct that was effectively a straight line yet could barely move air through it, never mind love notes and liquids.

The news reports don’t provide any details on how their line-through-the-air-ducts system worked, which is greatly disappointing to a techie like me. It occurred to me that since Depaz was two floors above Link, whatever he sent got a gravity assist. That’s when I started doing the math.

The velocity v of an object falling from height h when it finally hits the ground is…

…where g is acceleration due to gravity, which is 9.8 m/s² on Earth.

Assuming…

• A maximum distance scenario, where the vent in Depaz’s cell was right by the ceiling and the one in Link’s room was right by the floor, and
• the floors have a height of 3 meters (close enough to 10 feet; it’s actually 9.84 feet), and
• we’re not concerned with air resistance or air currents in the ductwork

…anything Depaz sent to Link would hit the ground at a speed of √(2 × 9.8 × 6) m/s, or a little over 10.8 meters per second. Expressed in Freedom Units, that’s 24.2 miles an hour. In this case, “splat” is an appropriate word for more than one reason; he must have wrapped up his stuff really well.

(I have theories on how they set up their ductwork communications system and how it applies to identity and networked systems, and if you meet up with me for a beer, I will happily expound.)

All this storytelling is for a purpose, and that purpose is to remind you that you shouldn’t let something deter you because it seems too difficult:

If these people can start a romance and a family in jail from two floors apart using only the material at hand, maybe you can find a solution to the problem you’re facing.

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…but sounds like a recorder or flute?

Here’s Suzuki’s official product video for the Andes 25F, and the only it could be more Japanese would be if it didn’t have English text:

(Also, I just learned that Suzuki trademarked the term “melodion”.)

It can be quirky…

It can be serious…

It can even be haunting, in a melancholic 1980s way…

Here are its innards

…and I’m thinking, “You know, with one of these, I could completely rule a Ren Faire!”

(It’s on my Amazon wishlist, in case you were wondering…)

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With songs produced by Matt Squire (credits include Panic! at the Disco, 3oh!3, All Time Low, Simple Plan and Sum 41) and featuring the following artists…

• Matty Mullins of Memphis May Fire and Anberlin
• Chloe Kinnon of Winona Fighter
• Shane Told of Silverstein
• Beau Bokan of Blessthefall, Derek DiScanio of State Champs
• Kat Leon of Holy Wars

…it’s a fun listen, and even more fun because of silly Wendy’s-related lyrics like:

• “Always fresh, never frozen,”
• “Square burgers saved my soul”
• “It’s not a phase, It’s a 10-piece.”
• “Great together, like Frosty and fries,”
• “Dipped fries, a salty sweet goodbye”
• “My Frosty’s funeral.”

Alas, I haven’t found any lyrics about the chili yet.

Anyway, the album’s a better and more fun listen than I expected. Check it out!

The songs

You can find the songs on the usual streaming music services, as well as YouTube. I’ve posted them below:

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• hot dog tiramisu
• baked bean cheesecake

How about you?

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There’s a guy who lives a short bike ride from our place who has an ongoing garage sale. It’s not on every day; just on weekends, and sometimes, the occasional weekday:His wares are set up on folding tables and shelves that seem to be set up all the time. There’s no indication that he takes them down or puts them away when he isn’t having a sale. It appears that he does cover the goods with tarps, shower curtains, and large trash bags when it rains.

The stuff is a mish-mash of household goods: mostly appliances and tools in various states of neglect or disrepair. There’s an impressive set of the rustiest drill bits I’ve ever seen. I once bought a pair of needle-nose pliers from him; they were a great deal at two bucks, and they’re hard to ruin through neglect.

And now, the condoms

Towards the back of the sale area was a set of metal shelves. Past a guitar amp that had seen better days were these items:

They they were, among a still-shrink-wrapped box of Lipton tea pages and an apparently-unopened box of face masks was an open box of Trojan condoms.

I tipped it on its side to see if it actually had condoms or something else…

Yup. Condoms. The box was half-full and appeared to have an assortment of condoms, not just the type marked on the box. Judging from the condition of the condom box and the boxes surrounding it, they’d been outside for weeks.

“Behind every item at a yard sale, there’s a story,” the saying goes. I wonder what this story was.

And because I know you’re wondering: No, I did not buy any.

He’s not the only one

Here’s a Facebook post from barely a couple of weeks ago:

Here’s one from a couple of years back:

And finally, here’s a Reddit post showcasing a vintage find:

And in case it’s not clear: Don’t buy yard sale condoms, folks.

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• The Star Trek: Deep Space Nine reference
• The news

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Any AI, no matter how well-trained, has no experience. It simply has representations of experience, derived from whatever literature, media, or data has been put into its training material.

The article is right about one thing: You need to check out Yalaha Bakery, which not just a bakery, but a deli and a biergarten with live music on the weekends!

And such good cheesy pretzel rolls, too!

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The ship will dock in Pattaya, but the photo not-too-clearly shows the Marina Bay Sands and Pan Pacific hotels, which are in Singapore.

Consider this one of my regular reminders to double-check your work before putting it out in the world.

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And yes, I’ll name the person and place: Joe Sacco, then-owner/manager of the pub Smokeless Joe on John Street.

Early August, 2002: I was sitting at the bar at Smokeless Joe, waiting to meet someone for a second date. She appeared to be running late. Fifteen minutes stretched into thirty, which stretched in forty-five. Finally, just shy of an hour after it was supposed to begin, I got a phone call. Not on my cell phone, but on the bar’s landline.

Remember, this was 2002, five years before the iPhone was even announced. Texting wasn’t easy then, and even mobile phones were still a little unusual.

Think about how I’d have to pass the time back then, before the era of the smartphone. I probably chatted with the barkeep, read the menu a couple of times, and perused the local free alt-weekly papers, Eye and Now. Smokeless Joe didn’t have a TV, which is highly unusual for a bar, even back then.

The barkeep passed me the phone, and my date told me it wasn’t going to work out.

Joe must’ve been observing, because shortly after I dejectedly returned the handset, he walked over to the barkeep and whispered something in his ear. Only a moment passed before the barkeep placed a pint of stout before me, saying “Sorry she’s not coming. Joe told me to give you a couple of these, on the house.”

I cryptically wrote about it here on August 21, 2002, which was twenty-four years ago. Just thinking about what happened that day, even though almost a quarter century has passed, brings back a flood of memories, and more importantly, the feelings that went along with them. But what I’ll remember most is that act of kindness to this day. Thank you so very much, Joe!

As I wrote at the start of this post, I have no proof that the “Gary” in the review pictured above exists or that the event took place. But I know for certain that things like this have happened and can still happen.

If the opportunity ever presents itself, be someone’s “Gary”.

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