I’m irresponsible. I’m a cretin. I’m really totally busy.
Anyhoo, here’s the piece I did for Creative Loafing on Tampa Bay community radio station WMNF 88.5‘s annual Tropical Heatwave music festival. I’m a big supporter of WMNF, not because I love every program on the station’s roster, but because I love the fact that the station exists. They’ve got another fund drive coming up, so if you can afford to give a little, please do.
Yeah, I’m busy. Whatever. Here’s the coolest thing ever for today.
It was awesome.
The back story is here. Basically, we had an inordinately dissatisfying experience on what was supposed to have been a special occasion, and when the folks at Marchand’s got wind of it, they asked if we would consider giving them another shot.
We went back last Thursday, and enjoyed a truly exceptional evening. The service was superlative (thanks Dean!), the food was delicious (I had the frog legs and the rabbit, Becky had the prawns and the filet) and since our previous visit had been our Valentine’s Day dinner, they made us a special Valentine-themed dessert sampler.
Obviously the crew at Marchand’s went out of their way for us. I don’t expect special treatment when we go back. But we will be back; I think that was the whole point, and I appreciate their commitment to customer satisfaction.
PLUS, we found out that Chef Mark Heimann is now experimenting with a locally sourced farm-to-table menu, which we wholeheartedly support.
PLUS PLUS, our server Dean has a great, funky collectibles arcade in the Grand Central district of St. Pete called Central Oddities; you should stop by.
(via topherchris.com)
Researchers affiliated with the One Laptop Per Child initiative dropped boxes full of Motorola Xoom tablets off in two remote Ethiopian villages, pretty much just to see what would happen.
Kids of around first-grade age opened the boxes. The kids figured out how to turn the tablets on. And then the kids started learning–not just about the machines (they were soon customizing their own home-screen configurations and hacking their way around the camera restrictions), but also about music and English-language words.
All without teachers or instruction of any kind.
Read the brief but fascinating story at MIT Technology Review.
(via iheartchaos.com)