After a summer hiatus, Tom Hood and the Tropical Sons (of which I am a member) are playing gigs again — this time on the third Tuesday of the month at Jollimons Island in Clearwater from 6 to 9 p.m.
We’re part of their Tuesday “Raw Talent Nights,” where the stage is open to musicians who want to join in on the open mic fun.
If you’re down Clearwater way, join us, whether you want to hop onstage and play, or sit back and enjoy the music!
This Tuesday, September 19th at JolliMons Island in Clearwater, I’ll be onstage with the accordion and playing with Tom Hood and the Tropical Sons. Come on down and enjoy some good food, drink, and live music!
This postcard appeared in our mailbox this morning — here’s the front…
…and here’s the back:
Note that there’s no postmark, which means that it was delivered by hand. How oddly and delightfully analog!
The link takes you to a simply but nicely designed page that makes the standard Bitcoin pitch that’s been around for years, with the usual talking points such as the expanding money supply and inflation, the fixed supply of Bitcoin, “it’s digital money and a computer network!”, and a couple of bits about how Bitcoin “isn’t volatile” and that “Bitcoin help stabilize the Texas energy grid through mining.” I’m not sure how that last one can possibly be true.
Later, just before 2:00 p.m., I got a text message from an unrecognized number: “When is your birthday?”
Just for kicks, I turned it into a conversation:
In case you were wondering, Nguyet Anh Duong is known in US defense circles as “The Bomb Lady” for her work on developing a thermobaric weapon.
Here’s the last bit of our conversation:
Blame my inner 14-year-old: the town name “Mianus” will always be funny to me.
This is most likely a “pig butchering” style scam. It takes its name from the fact that you fatten up a pig before killing it for its meat. The term comes from the land of delicious char siu pork, China, where it originated. It’s now practiced here in North America to great effect: recently, a woman who matched up with a scammer on Hinge ended up losing $300,000 and a man lost $1 million.
Sometimes it starts via a dating or social media app, but another common approach is the text from a stranger with an attractive profile picture. The initial text messages make it look like they’re texting a wrong number, and after some seemingly-embarrassed apologies, the scammer strikes up a conversation. Then, as they gain your confidence, they start steering you towards some kind of questionable online investment, preferably one that makes the money hard to track once it’s gone.
Chances are that whoever’s supervising the texter playing “Tina” saw my responses and said “Stop wasting your time; this guy’s just yanking your chain,” which is exactly the case.
There’s an episode of the Jordan Harbinger Show on the topic of pig butchering — you can either listen to it or watch it below:
Seen on Central Avenue in Seminole Heights during my daily bike ride.
I’ve already filled up our portable tanks for our generator with ethanol-free gasoline, in case the power goes out. The gas lines near me were only a little longer than usual, but that was at 10:30 a.m., which isn’t a terribly busy time. If you need gas for your car or generator, get it as soon as possible, because the crowds will get worse as the day progresses, and by tomorrow, all the gas stations are going to be like the old Mad Max movies.
This morning, ethanol-free gas was selling at the Wawa at Florida and Waters (which has 4 pumps that dispense it) for US$4.49 a gallon (CDN$1.62 per litre for my Canadian friends and family).
Gasoline has a limited lifetime — 3 to 6 months — and ethanol-infused gasoline lasts half as long. My typical approach is to stock up on eth-free gas in late August (a little before the hurricanes typically come) and, if I don’t use it in the generator, pour it into the car’s gas tank in December, after the end of hurricane season.
In honor of Sinéad O’Connor, who died too damn young, one of my favorite tracks from her repertoire.
Back when I was a DJ at Crazy Go Nuts University’s engineering pub, Clark Hall Pub, I knew that this lesser-known version of Sinéad O’Connor’s single The Emperor’s New Clothes was a sure-fire way to get people on the dance floor. I got a lot of mileage of out it back then, and I still do, so here it is:
This is the Hank Shocklee mix, named after its remixer, who among other things co-founded Public Enemy and the music production group The Bomb Squad.
Requiescat in pace, Sinéad.
It’s a lovely day — or at least, it’s a lovely day here in Tampa. Get outside!