The FatLab Music Blog
In a blank browser window, type each letter of the alphabet and record the first autofill result returned.
Mine as of June 26, 2008:
Real French people are unaware that Americans consider these things "French".
Howard Schultz Transformation Agenda Communication #3, I love you.
By the end of fiscal year 2008, discontinue warmed breakfast sandwiches at our North American stores
…We made this decision because, in short, the scent of the warmed sandwiches interferes with the coffee aroma in our stores.
If by "scent of the warmed sandwiches" you mean BURNING PAPER, then yes, it interferes. I was one of the complainers myself, thinking it would get the schmos at Waverly & 6th to fix their toaster. Turns out it wasn't just them. The sandwiches were blamed for stinky Q1 FY08 results and the mighty SBUX is dumping them in an attempt to return to their roots. The oven company, TurboChef Technologies, fell 15% after the news came out. :(
The only sandwich I dared to stomach was in a moment of desperation while stuck on Long Island. It was the unfortunately named "Reduced-Fat Turkey Bacon, Cholesterol-Free Egg, Reduced-Fat White Cheddar Oven Roasted Breakfast Sandwich" and isn't that much fun to order. (Nevermind that despite the qualifications, it's still higher in fat and calories than the unsuspecting "Spinach, Roasted Tomato, Feta & Egg Wrap".)
But relief is coming soon. I look forward to the time when Christmas Blend is next ushered in and the sandwiches are kicked OUT!
Look what appeared in my Facebook News Feed tonight:
I knew they were popular, but a whole genre? Wowie.
Btw, it's evidently just New York City. Brooklyn was over them a long time ago. Word is, Coldplay was *too* big, so it was no longer cool to like them.
I happen to still have a soft spot for Coldplay, for those quiet, introspective, brooding times. When I want a happy medium, I turn to the Thin White Duke:
Coldplay - Talk (Thin White Duke Mix)
Enjoy. Stuart's "Mr. Brightside" is also good, not to mention that little project he did with Madonna.
I'm trying out a new plugin/Facebook app combo called Wordbook to cross-post from this blog to Facebook.
So far so good!
… and Roscoe, Charlie, & Frankie too.
After receiving 23 mail-order catalogs in three days, I started hitting the customer service websites, sending a saccharine plea to help me reduce the amount of paper mail I receive, how much I love their products, but prefer to shop online.
This approach got me responses in almost every case, including a few who thanked me for sharing their concern with saving the environment.
It is however, tiring. Hardly any site offers a dedicated mailing list removal form, instead requiring writing to the Customer Service "Contact Us" people or combing their Privacy Policy for removal instructions. Exceptions are Gumps and Brookstone, which each feature the vague subject "Mailing List" as a Contact Us concern; Signals, who goes a step farther and offers "Remove from Postal List" as a subject; Lands' End, whose Privacy Policy has a whole paragraph subtitled "Removing your name from mailing lists", and Eddie Bauer, who will remove you if you write online and ask, even though their site asks you to call them or pay $1 to get on the DMA Do Not Mail list.
But then tonight, the local news introduced me to CatalogChoice.org, a free, non-profit service that has done everything exactly right. Wowie, what a great site. It's concise, cute, has fast ajaxy navigation with slick-but-not-distracting transition efx, and is really really usable.
After getting an account, you just Find Catalogs. I haven't found one yet not listed (tho if you do you can suggest it be added). When you find a catalog to decline, a Lightbox-esque form pops up where you select your name and address matching the catalog's mailing label, and enter your Customer Number, if any. Your profile can hold multiple names and multiple addresses, so I can easily pair either Mike or myself with all variations of our address that appear.
Best of all, they do all the work and notify the companies for you! All your declined catalogs are listed on one page, which is also the page where you report anyone who still sends junk after 10 weeks. Each company's name has a hotlink to their online store, so you can continue to shop at the places you love, but hate their paper waste.
