I, of course, went with the goat.
Here’s the video — you’ll need to turn up your sound:
If you’re in Tampa, you can experience the goat, along with some really good coffee in a pleasant outdoor space, at the Seminole Heights branch of Spaddy’s Coffee.
I can’t justify spending $28K on this monster analog synth setup, but maybe you can. If you’re working on a soundtrack or sound design for a movie or game, or the next big electronica/EDM/electroacoustic masterpiece, this collection of systems assembled into three racks just might be the thing you’re looking for!
The seller’s based in Clearwater, and the lucky buyer will have to pick it up there or someplace nearby, and you’ll probably need at least an SUV with the back seats folded down to drive away with three racks’ worth of gear.
Here’s what the ad in Facebook Marketplace says:
Condition: Used — like new
Massive Eurorack setup including three Doepfer A-100 cases. Everything has black panels and has a nice aesthetic. I have extra panels for a few items that didn’t come in black. I have almost all the original manufacturer boxes.
Also will include a huge lot of organized eurorack cables, extra power cables, and misc screws and parts.
This is a truly incredible setup!
Must pickup in Clearwater or arrange for meet-up in Florida. I can drive to your or meet you – free – depending on location. Not willing to ship – way too large, heavy, and delicate.
Here’s a modular grid view of the upper case:
You can see a larger view of the upper rack here, and it contains the following:
Here’s a modular grid view of the center case:
You can see a larger view of the center rack here, and it contains the following:
And finally, here’s a modular grid view of the lower case:
You can see a larger view of the lower rack here, and it contains the following:
For those of you who aren’t familiar with synthesizers (I used to be — and still am — a synth keyboardist), this rack is a killer collection of:
The asking price is US$28,000. I can’t tell you if this is a good price or not; I’m more familiar with the more conventional synths you’ll find at Sam Ash or Guitar Center than with this sort of rig.
Maybe someone should contact Trent Reznor and see if he’d be interested in coming down to Clearwater, and maybe, you know, meet up with me for a beer or two?
To the French, bread isn’t just sustenance, but a way of life. It’s a good thing that most Parisians live within a five-minute walk from a boulangerie, as indicated by the map above.
Paris is a very walkable city, and it shouldn’t come as a surprise that they coined the term flâneur for “someone who spends their leisure time going on strolls with no particular destination in mind.”
A walkable city and the presence of flâneurs is also a strong indicator that it’s a great place in which to live. This thinking has given rise to the concept of the “15-minute city,” a term coined in 2016 that refers to a place where dwellers can get to the places for their daily routine with no more than 15 minutes of walking, or at most, 15 minutes of cycling.
A 15-minute city or neighborhood should feel like the ideal presented in Jane Jacobs’ book, The Death and Life of Great American Cities. In such a city or neighborhood, it’s reasonable to regularly walk or bike to places such as:
The idea is so catchy that when Anne Hidalgo was running for re-election as Paris’ mayor, she made turning Paris into a 15-minute city one of her campaign promises:
The idea is that communities within each arrondissement of the French capital become more ‘self-sufficient’, with grocery shops, parks, cafes, sports facilities, health centres, schools and even workplaces just a walk or bike ride away. This triennial survey of the city’s commerce shows that – in this one particular area important to French people – it already is.
In case you were wondering what a boulangerie is, it’s a kind of bakery. The French are so into baked goods that they’ve created a number of terms for different kinds of bakeries:
After finding out how easily accessible boulangeries are in Paris, I decided to see if I lived within walking or cycling distance of one. If you live in Seminole Heights like I do, you probably do!
First, there’s the Seminole Heights branch of La Segunda, which used to be Faedo Family Bakery. Faedo has been making Cuban bread for over five decades, and La Segunda’s been baking for over a century. They are truly a Tampa answer to the boulangerie.
Then there’s Gulf Coast Sourdough, who not only make excellent bread on the premises, but fantastic sandwiches, and a very good cinnamon roll.
And finally, there’s Brazilian Fun Foods, who don’t just make bread, but gluten-free bread in the style of pao de quejo, a cheese bread made from corn flour and cassava starch. Their wares cover a wide range of carby goodness, from bread to pizza dough to churros.
Seminole Heights also has a grocery, a couple of pharmacies, many restaurants, cafes and bars, riverside parks, and even a Home Depot and Walmart (this is America, after all), all within walking or cycling distance. It’s a pretty nice place, and I like it here.
Small Business Saturday (which took place yesterday) is an excellent opportunity to check out local places that I don’t usually go to, or places that I’d been meaning to go to for some time. Tiger Dust, which has been in Seminole Heights for several months, falls into the latter category.
Tiger Dust calls itself a wunderkammer, a German term meaning “wonder room” or “room of wonders.” There’s a similar term, kunstkammer, which literally means “art room” but it often interpreted in English as “cabinet of curiosities.” This is from a time when “cabinet” was used more often to refer to a room than furniture for storing things (our modern usage of the word is a sort of downsizing).
If you’re looking for a gift for an unconventional friend, Tiger Dust just might fit the bill.
Need an interesting taxidermy piece? Tiger Dust has ’em in spades.
Kitschy art? Oh yeah.
Housewarming present for a friend whose wardrobe is entirely black? They’ve got ’em.
Need the complete works of Anton LaVey or Aleister Crowley? Do what thou wilt.
I almost bought the tiger kite pictured above. I may yet return to complete the purchase. I did buy a skull ring, because it’s a key part of the accordion rock and roll lifestyle.
Tiger Dust is located at 4222 North Florida Avenue, a couple of blocks north of M.L.K. Boulevard. Their hours are listed online as 12 noon to 7:00 p.m. daily, but the sign on their door might be a little more accurate — it says they’re open noon-ish to 7-ish.
Want to know more about Tiger Dust? Check these out:
With Thanksgiving having come and gone in the U.S., we’re now in the holiday shopping season, which starts with Small Business Saturday!
Small Business Saturday is an annual event whose purpose to encourage people to support their local small businesses. Instead of going to a “big box” store or chain, we’re asked to support local businesses, either by going to their local brick-and-mortar shop or shopping online. This event takes place every November and represents a significant opportunity to increase sales for small businesses during the holiday shopping season.
I live in Tampa’s Seminole Heights neighborhood, where we’re fortunate to have a number of small businesses that do provide goods, services, and those less tangible “neighborhood-y” things that chains and big box stores can’t or won’t.
The day is young, but we’ve already picked up some goodies at Gott Glass, the local glass-blowing studio and shop.
If you’re in the area, check them out! The shop is a lovely mix of indoor and outdoor, Susan Gott and her staff are nice, and they do glass-blowing demos and even have classes (which I plan on signing up for).
I do a 10-kilometre (6.2 miles) bike ride as often as I can — typically 4 or 5 days a week:
At least once a week, I stop by the Seminole Heights branch of Spaddy’s, which is a coffee truck in an open-air courtyard:
The place is decorated with all manner of tchotchkes. Here’s the newest one:
I took a perch on the picnic table at the back of the courtyard, where I took this wide-angle shot…
…and while enjoying my Heights Cold Brew (cold brew with a dash of condensed milk), I worked on a proposal for my next article for the Auth0 developer blog. While writing, I noticed this rather cute grafitto that someone left on the table:
I need to stop by Pickford’s Sundries (2606 W Hillsborough Avenue, a half-block east of Habana) more often.
Pickford’s Sundries is a 1950s lunch counter that somehow travelled to the 2020s and somehow found a comfortable home on a typically dull stretch of Hillsborough Avenue, one of Tampa’s major “stroads”. Part “lunch counter” style restaurant, part quirky novelty gift shop, part local attraction, it’s a place I always check out whenever I’m passing through.
Pickford’s opened in 1949 and operated as a general store until the mid-2000s, and under normal circumstances, it would’ve simply vanished.
Instead, the Seminole Heights café Urban Bungalow (which used to be on Florida just south of Sligh), collaborated with Pickford’s original owners to give it an update.
The place kept its 1940s/50s furniture and vibe…
…and a lot of accoutrements from that era…
…but the menu’s been updated.
They still carry classics like the classic “eggs, bacon, fries, and toast” breakfast, the grilled cheese, steak sandwich, Chicago dog, and so on, but I’ve also see things like some interesting fried rices, as well as vegetarian and vegan options.
The “dry goods” are also definitely from this century:
I often check out this place for little gifts.
They have a killer selection of socks…
…and they have an excellent selection of prayer candles:
