Local Starbucks Fights the Ghetto Latte

Now that it’s getting cold outside hot coffee is starting to sound good to me again.  I usually only drink hot drinks in the winter while preferring cold any other time.  I’ve enjoyed iced coffee all summer since its easy to make using a concentrate I get at the local store.

meh_coffeeRemembering I had some money on my Starbucks account I stopped at the location near my office.  It’s been a while since I’ve been in here because the service is well below average.  They seem to dedicate all of their staff activity to the drive-thru and, even today, they were serving 3-4 people in the drive-thru to every one person in the store.

After I ordered my plain coffee & walked over to the condiment bar for a splash of half-and-half.  Wait a minute, the stainless steel thermos is missing!  The guy standing next to me saw what I was looking for and said “you have to ask them for it”.

So back to the pickup counter I go and I waited to get someone’s attention.  The employees were too busy tripping over each other to get the orders out the little window to notice me standing there.  After a few moments I got one of the worker bees attention.  “Cream?” I asked.  She was already reading my mind and grabbed a little paper cup and proceeded to pour out a couple of ounces of the heavy moo juice.   I asked, “do you have one you’d like me to put out on the station”, thinking I would be a nice guy and do them a favor.  “No” she said.  “We keep it back here now so it doesn’t run out as fast”.

Then it hit me.  The Ghetto Latte has gotten so bad they have to ration out the dairy to keep people from cheating the system.  I assure you this is a real thing.  I’ve seen it time and time again where people turn a couple of shots of espresso over ice into one (or in some cases when they ask for an extra cup) two Lattes saving themselves a few dollars in the process.

cheap_coffeeWay to stick it to the man cheap skate.  I’d be willing to bet that’s your idling car parked crooked in the handicapped spot too.  Bonus points if you’re talking on your speaker phone while oblivious to everyones personal space the entire time you’re in the store.

So once again, those who take advantage of things make it inconvenient for others who go with the flow.  Say what you want about Starbucks.  I know it’s over priced and there are better options out there.  In this case it was a choice between office coffee (usually empty), a small Keurig we have in our area (meh, I don’t get the pod thing), or something slightly better.

I’m curious if this practice of keeping the half-and-half behind the counter is a isolated thing at this particular Starbucks or if this is a common practice at other coffee shops too.  Anyone else witness a Ghetto Latte in the making?  I’d love to hear your stories!

“Among the Hidden” Book Series

How does this book sound to you?

In a futuristic society the world is controlled by a new government and “The Population Police” who have decreed that no family shall have more than two children. These laws having been brought on supposedly by overpopulation, severe famine and death. Any child being born third or after in a family is a “shadow child” not to be seen by anyone or they will be taken away and killed along with their family and anyone who harbors them. – Book synopsis from Wikipedia

Sounds like a scary scenario right?  Here’s the kicker.  My son was assigned this book to read in 6th grade!  Doesn’t that seem a little dark for pre-teen kids?  I’m not alone according to some of the reviews on Amazon.

When I asked him about the Diary of Anne Frank he’d never heard of it.  This “Among the Hidden” book has a similar premise of hiding form the outside but at least Frank’s tale is true & discusses an important part of world history.

Not sure what to think of this…

U.S. Chemical Weapons Stockpile and Destruction Sites

While Catching up on my Conspiracy Theory blogs I came across the following videos showing how the U.S. is still in the process of destroying its chemical weapon stockpile from the 50’s.  It’s interesting to see how the two locations are using different processes to accomplish the same task.  With all the Syria talk in the news its interesting to see that the U.S. still has these types of banned weapons available should they choose to use them.  Although I would not put a lot of faith in a 60-year-old munition even working.

Fukushima’s Operator Claims Radiation Was Not the Cause of Death

343927-fukushima-reactorThe man who led Fukushima’s meltdown battle has died. Masao Yoshida, who selflessly stayed to direct staff at the Japanese nuclear facility in the aftermath of the earthquake and tsunami, succumbed to cancer at age 58. Fukushima’s operator claimed that radiation was not the cause.

Um, yeah…  Right…

First it Was Cell Phones, Now This?

 

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U.S. Postal Service Logging All Mail for Law Enforcement [Link to NY Times article]

Cell phones are tracked, Internet usage is tracked, Cars are tracked, now we find out Snail Mail is tracked…  These must be some unbelievably big databases and data centers to store this kind of information.

Guess it’s time for me to pull the shades, break out the frequency counter, and start looking for the bugs around the house…  I have nothing to hide & this still scares the hell out of me!  Anyone have a cabin in the woods they’re looking to sell?

Happy “Independence” Day everyone!

The Impossible “Literacy” Test Louisiana Used to Give Black Voters

I read this in Slate the other day & it’s been really hard to forget…

Back in the early 60’s this test (PDF FILE) was given to anyone in Louisiana that could not prove at least a 5th grade education and wanted to vote.  Test takers had 10 minutes to complete the test and ONE wrong answer would result in an immediate failure of the test.

Take a look at the test & let me know how you think YOU would do!

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Original Slate Article Here

BP Oil Spill Aftermath

Remember the Gulf Oil Spill in 2010?  Well, all of those dispersants and solvents used to break up the oil are now possibly linked to some serious genetic defects being found in the area sea life.  Pretty scary stuff!

From Gizmodo: Al Jazeera just published an astonishing report on the after-effects of the BP oil disaster, and it’s not pretty. There are an alarming number of deformities in sea creatures: mutated shrimp, fish with sores and lesions, eyeless crabs and more. It’s unlike anything local fisherman have ever seen.

25 Hottest Urban Legends – In (semi) Real Time!

The online fact checking and rumor busting site called Snopes has a real-time (as in updated daily) list of the latest Urban Legends.

Snopes is one of those sites on the internet that can become a real time suck if you’re not careful.  I use it as a reference when someone forwards me an email about some odd warning/hoax, etc.  You can usually get the truth about it and I’ve been known to reply with a link to the site (in the hopes they might do some research before blindly passing on bogus info).