Starbucks takes a shot

It was announced today that Starbucks took their first quarterly loss ever as a business.   Obviously the economy has something to do with it, but what about those die hard caffeine addicts needing the morning fix?   Are they buying cheaper McDonalds coffeee?   Bringing their own in the thermos?   As for me, I purchased an automatic expresso machine a couple of months ago to satisfy my cravings instead of paying 4 bucks at Starbucks.   But I think the problem for Starbucks goes deeper than just the coffee.   I recently went to a downtown coffee shop in the U street area and it was everything that Starbucks is not.   Instead of that antiseptic chain store environment, it was full of eclectic furniture and comfy places to sit.  Full of people enjoying themselves and talking to one another and a calendar full of local music appearances.  Starbucks is not the place I would like to hang out in -  on one of their hard chairs and tables overlooking shelves of merchandise instead of tasteful decorations and artwork.    They really need to recreate that comfortable environment to have more business.   After all, part of enjoying coffee out of the house is about the scene, not just the taste of the brew.

Free Bike Yo!

I have to admit it. I'm a bike and biking junky. As a kid I used to retrieve bikes from the garbage and abandoned bikes out of the woods and bring them home much to the chagrin of my parents. Just as recently as a few years ago I owned four different bikes and was working on picking up number five. Someone asked me why I needed so many kinds of bikes and the answer is always the same - each one is different, it has its own personality. Recently I have been excited to have rescued two bikes from the trash. One is a cool '80's Peugeot that someone just tossed out of the garage onto the curb and is in great condition, and the other one is a Giant aluminum frame mtb that was ridden to hell and back found by a dumpster in Georgetown, most likely an old student bike. So I have two project bikes to work on and will hopefully be fixed up soon and enjoyed by new owners instead of ending up in a landfill somewhere.

The Universal Mind

I thought of and interesting idea today. What if every individual was intelligent as the person sitting next to them at any given moment? Its not too difficult to imagine a future when wireless data speeds enable people to be permanently connected to the internet at high speed data rates. Just like you would recall facts and knowledge from your mind, lets say you would be able to recall the same facts and knowledge from the the "Universal" mind of the online world. The dissemination of knowledge would take place not through classes or talking among peers but just simply via the connection itself to the bigger model of the common brain or singular knowledge. I envision a point where this might happen - if not in my lifetime then shortly thereafter. That kind of thought intrigues me. What would people discuss if they had the same access to knowledge and recall as the person sitting next to them? What experience would be shared that would be unique or set itself apart from you could access online or would your experience simply be assimilated into the vast electronic stream of consciousness?

Why the economy is like global warming

Environmentalists speak of greenhouse gasses and the fact that even if we quit all emissions right now, the effect of what has been already introduced into the atmosphere will have consequences well into the future for climate anyway.   The same model applies to the current state of the economy and financial problems in the U.S.   We as a country have introduced policies and have been tied to programs that will place enormous financial pressures on the future generations to bear.   Entitlement programs like social security and medicare consume more and more of the budget every year and will soon be bankrupt unless taxes are raised or benefits reduced.    Pensions of citizens working for private corporations are being eliminated and frozen putting the retirement savings of the average person into the whims of the financial market and most certainly less income at retirement.   Meanwhile, government and state employees still have protected pensions which are being funded by the taxpayers who enjoy no such retirement programs because their respective companies have eliminated those programs.   In addition to entitlement programs, spending by the government for the Iraqi war is pushing the national deficit to new record levels over 9 trillion dollars.   One can only conclude that future generations of Americans will not only face a climate disaster, but a fiscal one as well.  Current and future generations most certainly will see a reduction in the quality of life that no one likes to think about.     It may mean a large part of the population will see such reduced benefits and savings that they will never even be able to consider the possibility of retirement at all and will have to work their entire lives for an ever shrinking way of life because of inflation.   

Cicadas

What is it about the cicadas in summer?  They are probably one of the most hideous insects to look at and they molt leaving their old shells stuck everywhere.   But the sound they make is pure music.  To me it is the true sound of summer.   Reminding me of barbeque cookouts with friends and family that take place on sweaty July weekends.   The sound of being out of school as a kid and biking as far as you can until you get scared you are too far away from home.   The sound that you hear that last moment after you leave the diving board at the pool and fall quickly to the inevitable belly flop on the water below.   The sound that could be the reminder of the first person you kissed on a sweet soft summer night,  or the time you got ice cream all over your shoes because it melted too fast.   Whatever memory it may bring, that ugly bug really does make my summer experience complete every time I hear it's music wafting down from the treetops.

Neighbors

Its always sort of an anxiety moving to a new neighborhood and finding out who your new neighbors are.    So when I moved in a few months ago to my new home, I was really happy to find a really cool and intelligent couple around my age living next door to me.   Unfortunately they told me they were moving to Malaysia and selling their home.   Even worse, my girlfriend and I had them over to visit for some wine and some snacks before they left and it turns out they are really engaging to talk to and it looks like we would have been really good friends if they had been staying. I guess I just hope that whoever buys the house next to me is cool or at least doesn't mind loud movie soundtracks late at night.