This is very Achenbachian. It is not Newmanesque. I like it.

Good morning. Hi, Cassandra. Hi, Matooni.

It seems like the Gypsy moths have transformed from Catepillar to Moth and are flying around everywhere. Plenty of happy birds and bats are licking their chops.

Anyone catch the Transformer movie?

If I were not so slow at composing comments, this would be the first comment on this topic. I have never been inside a Starbucks coffee shop. But I don't need to go in there to know that Starbucks is the absolute 180 degree OPPOSITE of a porch. Achenblog, on the other hand, has many of the characteristics of a porch: an idealised, virtual porch where neighbors stop by at random, talk or don't talk, about whatever topic comes up.

Now let's see how many other speedier commenters got their two cents' worth in while I was pondering my punctuation here.

If suits by suits is the next Outlook piece this kit may be Newmanesque after all.

"[Or maybe I should follow Boswell's advice, claim I'm sick, and go watch Tiger!!]"

Oh that we could all do that.

Haven't seen Transformers yet greenwithenvy but from what I hear from my fellow nerds it should be quite the experience. I am going likely next Tuesday.

I hate Starbucks' coffee. It is burnt-tasting and bitter, top say nothing of criminally overpriced. There, I said it. I'm glad. Joel, you have my permission to sue their pants off. Have at it, sir!

I have twice worked on a fireworks crew, and it was probably the most intensive adrenaline rush I have EVER had, 40 minutes of heart-poundingly insane artillery fire. (Fireworks are basically mortar rounds lobbed into the air by makeshift mortars made out of either carboard tubes for the smaller ones (essentially, oversize Bounty paper twoel tubes), or iron pipe buried in a 55-gallon drum of sand or dirt. As for the coloration, Joel, I can tell you almost exactly what was dropping on your head:

Red: stronium chloride or strontium hydroxide
Green: Barium chloride
Blue: Copper chloride
White: antimony or aluminum dust
Yellow: Sodium hydrogen carbonate

The above are usually mixed with poitassium chlorate (a.k.a. saltpeter, which when I was a kid you could buy in any drug store because it was a common diuretic for old people) or even better, potassoium perchlorate, and a high-carbohydrate binder, such as orange shellac or dextrin.

Plus of course the black powder itself, which is the main propellant as well as explosive, and which is nothun' more than plain ol' sulphur, characoal (carbon) and potassium chlorate/saltpeter.

So there was no uranium or cadmium or Californium schmutz raining down on your head, though there probably was some magnesium (which won't hurt you and is good for you in small, nonflaming doses). Plus burn't paper and cardboard, of course.

Perfect cole slaw yesterday. Secrets seem to have included red cabbage (prettier), tomato(!), and green onion. The aroma, alone, was heavenly. Remy would approve.

Yes you should sue, all the best legal minds probably read the blog and would clearly see the wisdom that reigns here. Or is it rains?

Joel whatever you do, you should include a clause where you get a percentage of total worldwide sales in the settlement.

Yellojkt, I assume you went to the Forbidden City? Did you find the Starbucks?

SCC: why the devil did I put an apostrophe in "burnt"? Hmmmph.

Oh you should go watch Tiger too. Surely there will be something of journalistic import which the sports guys would never notice in the first place.

The first thing I thought of when I saw that Joel wants to sue Starbucks was George Harrison's "Sue Me, Sue You Blues".

You serve me
And I'll serve you
Swing your partners, all get scr*wed
Bring your lawyer
And I'll bring mine
Get together, and we could have
a bad time

Kber, I've never been in a Starbucks either. I never learned how to drink coffee, so why go? I do enjoy my tea, however. Don't tell me they have tea also, I don't care.

Our tour of the Forbidden City avoided the infamous Starbucks which seems to have some sort of iron-clad lease that prevents them from getting kicked out like the KFC from Beihai Park for desecrating cultural relics.

I did find Starbucks in the Qianhai Lake area (not surprising since that is the trendy touristy restaurant district), at the Great Wall, and in downtown Xian. And I have the photographic evidence of each.

In the cultural culinary hegemony derby, KFC is the leader with McDonald's nipping at it's heels. Pizza Hut is running a very distant third.

Bush is so bashed that further bashing is redundant. Sort of like smashing pumpkin pies, not actual pumpkins. But Hertzberg was worth reading anyway, just for the rhetorical flourishes. "Ontological authority" was good.

Having just built a porch-like patio, it's time to deploy a bench. Or at least a chair. The snob in me would want a made-in-Pennsylvania aluminun "BMW Chair." I certainly saw a lot of millitary/government aluminum chairs from the same manufacturer when I was younger. They accompanied grey steel desks.

The whole concept of Starbucks and other nationally-branded coffee shops reminds me of the song "Video Killed the Radio Star" by the Buggles.

But then I find half-caf-latte-serving coffee shops in general to be black holes of pretentiousness -- unless they also sell donuts (as in the lard-fried sugar-bomb variety). If the SUVs and minivans outnumber the semis and muddy pickups in the parking lot, I just drive on by.

Had a pretty nice 4th here, btw -- kebabs on the grill, a barely containable Bean bouncing between our yard and the neighbors', large quantities of beer I'm not supposed to be drinking (but did anyways), and a bevy of fireworks legally purchased in the state of Ohio that are illegal to set off in the state of Ohio (the state I happen to call home).

We live near the border of Ohio and Pennsylvania and both states allow the "sale" of fireworks, but you have to sign a form saying you'll take them out of the state to fire them off. Since I live on the Ohio side of the fence and bought our explosives here, I put down my hometown in PA as the location where I would set them off (which would be an illegal act). What a farce -- and further proof that tax revenue trumps everything.

Regarding 911 calls about fireworks... the police and fire departments here basically told the media to let people know NOT to call 911 with fireworks complaints unless their roof was on fire or someone just blew their hand off. Of course, they made a point of reminding the public (with a wink and nudge) that fireworks are dangerous and illegal to shoot off. Even more ironic is the fact that off-duty cops in both states work security at the fireworks stores and "check your paperwork" as you leave.

I don't usually frequent Starbucks. I can't drink coffee--it winds me up so tight I can barely function. I do occasionally go in for tea (yes, they do have tea) if I'm desperate for a caffine fix. Friend wife will hit the stores occasionally, thought like many she isn't real happy with the taste either.

Wishing I were at Congressional, but since I blew off Monday & Tuesday, work demands my attendance. Actually not a bad day, if the thundershowers hold off. Ah, well, back to the grind (staying on topic. ;-)

yellojkt, KFC was the only foreign food booth at the vast Taipei 101 food court. It's the only food court I've ever visited with an adjoining international supermarket. So you could also munch supermarket goodies right there.

In honor of Slyness and kbertooch never having been to a Starbucks, and with the muse of Hoyt Axton hanging over my shoulder, I felt the urge to compose a tender ballad

and it goes

a little something

like this:

Well I never been to Starbucks
Cuz I kinda hate their coffee
Say baristas are insane there
And they sure know how to use it
They don't abuse it, never gonna lose it
I can't refuse it

Well I never been to Starbucks
But I kinda like the WaWa
Well, I headed for the WaWa
Only made it out to Nedicks
Can you feel it, must be real it
Feels so good, oh, feels so good

Well I never been to Heaven
But I smelled coffee aroma
Well they tell me it was poured there
But I really don't remember
Coffee aroma, Live by the Foma,
What does it matter, what does it matter

Well I never been to Starbucks...

Well I never been to Heaven...

The only word better than ajure is eschew. Love that word.

Joel.. a question... I noticed that yesterday's online reports about the weather situation down on The Mall were co-written by Jay Matthews. Since he's the education guy mainly, does that mean that he was down on The Mall with his family and called in the story as an eye-witness? Or was he holding down the fort at the Post offices and the go-to guy on any breaking local story?

Also... Caribou's WiFi is free (for the first hour; after that you must spend at least $1.50 at the counter for a code to continue each hour--well worth it).

Had to comment on Martooni's piece on fireworks. I always thought it a bit crazy that there is a HUGE fireworks store on I-70 just across the Maryland-Pennsylania border (in PA). The billboards are posted tens of miles away, with about a paragraph of fine type on the bottom to the effect he noted--you can buy them here, but you can't use them here. The place was mobbed yesterday afternoon, as you might expect. Folks in our second home town outside Pittsburgh seemed not to care--Monday & Tuesday there were rockets going off, firecracker trees exploding, "pops" going off, etc. Since we didn't get home till about 4:30 yesterday, we decided not to venture forth for legal fireworks;probably just as well given the weather and the accidents at several locations.

Oh bosh! aBjure... abjure!

I've been to exactly one Starbucks one time. Went in with of friend who complained non stop about how long it was taking in line, then to get her coffee, then how crappy it was...they don't serve fountain soda, so I left empty handed. 20 minutes of my life I'll never get back. Stupid woman

Cute, Mudge! I'm honored.

Is this anti-Starbucks sentiment a cultural phenomenon? I have never heard anything like that up here.

Since I've put that tune cootie in your heads, you might as well listen to it: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YAiuY705xhM

> "The only word better than ajure is eschew"

I actually heard somebody use "lolligag" in a normal conversation yesterday while at the gas station.

I love that word.

Didn't Mudge coin it sometime around 1652?

martooni used my other favorite word! Bevy!

I hate non-municipal fireworks displays. My neighbors (who include my sister and her family) do the package of fireworks on the street in front of my house each year and I do love hearing the kids' screams. Oh yes.. just love it.

But you've never seen fireworks until you've been to Indiana. Oh my. We spent a Fourth in Ft. Wayne one year and were terrified driving down the road toward the evening's display at the local minor league ballpark.

People were shooting off HUGE fireworks that rival anything I've seen at a municipal display--from their cars! And these were landing on other cars, gas stations.. whatever! And waiting in the public park for the real display to begin was like being in a war zone.

Bill everything.. am I telling the truth?

BTW.. the best part of Ft. Wayne was Fort Wayne's Famous Coney Island hot dog restaurant. We stumbled on it and we still talk about it now, nearly 10 years later. The dogs were delicious, but the action was amazing too. They were packing chili dogs into special carryout containers and folks were streaming in and out buying them dozens at a time. Mmmm.

http://www.hollyeats.com/ConeyIsland.htm

I don't hang out at StarBucks but I doubt they deserve the derision one hears either. I just don't cotton on to ordering my coffee in Italian, and have been known to ask "well do you have any, um... coffee? Large?" On those occasions I have found the staff to be quite accommodating.

On the other hand I know people who have successfully used them as offices for years, so that's got to be worth something.

We have the same thing re. the fireworks being illegal in NJ, with people going across the border into PA to buy them. I have avoided this knowing NJ State Troopers are not stupid and are most likely conducting surveillance. Lo and behold, there's a story the other day about a whole bunch of folks looking at court dates for their PA fireworks. I mean, duh, you pull up in front of the place with Jersey tags and they take a photo. They see you drive back across the bridge. Busted.

I do wish NJ would lighten up a bit with this stuff.

Yoki, I think the anti-Starbucks is pretty widespread around here; even my boss, who is fairly conservative ex-Bushie, boycotts Starbucks because of their labor practices among beangrowers, or some such.

Me, I just don't like their java.

Incidentally, the cherry pie experiment succeeded (from a technical and execution point-of-view), but was a bit of a flop, aesthetically. Back to the drawing board.

Hi Error! How are you holding up?

'Mudge, I think the experiment was a worthy effort. I like it that you are willing to try stuff; too many people cook like it was a prescription.

Not to gloat, but our 101 year old house has a real honest-to-gosh porch right across the front of it, 35 feet wide and 8 feet deep with hanging ferns, numerous pieces of slightly scabrous wicker furniture, a porch swing, and (in season) purple finches nesting atop the capitals of the corner columns. And to top it off, we're half a block from St. Elmo's Coffee Pub, a definitely non-chain establishment sporting overstuffed chairs, wifi, live music most evenings, and a photo gallery of neighborhood dogs. OK, I gloat. I also thank Joel for quoting John Adams on the office of VPOTUS, since it leaves the way clear to quote the more recent and more trenchant 32nd Veep, John Nance Garner of Texas who famously said the the office was "not worth a bucket of warm spit" or "a pitcher of warm piss", depending on who's doing the quoting. Well, whichever it was I think we're all agreed that we've gotten a full vessel of warm something from the current occupant.

Here is the link for the fireworks place in PA near Hancock MD. I went on 2nd date with a woman and she bought like $300 worth of fireworks. I should have known then it was going to be an explosive realtionship.

http://www.fireworks.com/locations/showroom.asp?lid=5

Funny thing is the store is in PA and if your are a PA resident, you can't buy any works.

Hey there from the home of Starbucks! Some of their shops are pretty sterile, but my neighborhood one is actually a great gathering place and it DOES have a "porch"...a nice outdoor place to sit, plus a fireplace inside! AND they serve Top Pot donuts...really greasy, sugary and good! no vegan donuts and no fountain soda (sorry, go to Dunkin donuts for that). My rant is actually for Dunkin Donuts. How awful. I lived in Boston for one year and if I never see another DD again it will be too soon.

SCC- relationship

Mudge,
"live by the foma" indeed.

I never drank coffee because I dislike hot beverages. I prefer my caffeine cold which made me a Coke-in-the-morning-guy for years.

I never cottoned to Starbucks until I learned that for 55 cents extra you could add a shot of espresso to the highly-caffeinated over-priced milkshakes. I like Caribou Coffee because they have the espresso cooler right on the menu so you don't have to confuse the barista.

And the Starbucks at Beijing International sold a Mango Tea Frappuccino that was pretty tasty.

There's a wonderful little comment on the ubiquity of Starbucks in "Best in Show" when the yuppie couple with the neurotic Weimaraner are explaining to the canine psychiatrist how they first met- they spotted one another through the window at Starbucks. It later turns out that they were in two different Starbucks on opposite sides of the same street.

Ajure is a dialect of Congolese Kadara.

I've been to Starbucks 3 times. Once the power went out so I couldn't buy anything, once, I purchased and then got a call that I had to pick up mrdr, and once, I had an actual Starbucks coffee, which was not nearly as good as Tim Horton's. Which is too strong for my taste. I really am more of a Carbucks person. Besides its cheaper, and I don't have to stand in line, and I can have that in my jammies if I choose.

kurosawaguy... I'm thinking I really don't want to know what that "vessel of warm something from the current occupant" contains.

More on fireworks: After using up two Bic lighters last night (and still having a fairly large box of stuff to explode) I resorted to the propane torch.

All I can say is that I was the envy of all the non-handyman dads on our block. While they were out there fussing with lighters and matches and smoldering ropes and puffing furiously on cigarettes, I nonchalantly approached our "detonation/launch pad" with the torch and flint striker. One "chhhhick-fwooosh" later, my ordnance was ignited and I was headed back to the porch.

What was really cool was being able to light entire packs of cheap bottle rockets at once without having to tie fuses together.

Part of the general 'Bucks-bashing is their ubiquity. There is a strip mall here in HoCo that has Starbucks kiosks in the GroceryStore, the BigBoxOfBooks, and the ChainDiscountStoreThatIsNotWalMart. Dennis Miller has a joke about a Starbucks opening in the bathroom of another Starbucks. It can't be far off.

Joel, have I got an OPPORTUNITY for you--

You can sit on a porch all day long (forget Starbucks!), you can wear overalls to work (forget sue and rue!), and you can probably chow down on almonds when no one is looking. You no longer have to worry about faux Californium--you'll get the real deal, if you're open to a little relo. Some travel optional and babes optional. Perhaps your brother would be interested in rounding out the duo?

http://www.technologymarketing.com/bw/magazine/current/article_display.jsp?vnu_content_id=1003565841

(lede graf of April 2007 article)
Not only are '80s fashions back in style (note the leggings women are wearing under their skirts again), so too are Frank and Ed, the folksy duo who helped popularize Bartles & Jaymes Wine Coolers. ...

Still, Frank and Ed, who starred in Bartles & Jaymes ads from 1985-1991, will be popping up in unexpected places. To kick off the brand's new two-year plan, classic TV ads showing the original salt of the earth spokesmen sitting on their porch are now being seeded across the Web. "Ed took out a second mortgage on his house and wrote to Harvard [Princeton] for an MBA, and we're preparing to enter the wine cooler business," said Frank in one classic ad. "We will keep you posted on how it's going." Followed by the tag: "Thank you for your support." Also from the original push, Frank and Ed cardboard standees will appear at POP [points of purchase].

Moving forward, auditions to replace the first Frank (played by David Rufkhar, who died in 1996) and Ed (Dick Maugg) are now being held. "It's interesting to have 60 Frank and Eds sitting in a room, especially in the middle of Los Angeles," said Owens.

The new Frank and Ed soon will begin to appear at media-centric red carpet happenings such as movie premieres and sporting events. "We're getting them off the porch and placing them in 'fish out of water' situations where you wouldn't expect to see them," said Owens, adding that women 25-35 are the next target. New TV spots are being discussed. The Strategic Group, New York, handles.

Loomis quoted: "adding that women 25-35 are the next target".

Grumpy old men -- the new must-have accessory for your little black dress.

martooni, you may need to search around a little bit to find it, but there is a prof named Goble in the physics dept. at Purdue who has a video of himself starting a charcoal grill by pouring liquid oxygen on the lit briquettes. Dave Barry used to link to it, but I don't know if he still does. It is amazing, the shock and awe of grilling.

kurosawaguy... I'll have to check that video out -- last night re-awakened my inner child's fascination with rapid oxidization.

In the meantime, I'm off to play with electricity.

I appreciate a wide variety of coffee, but tend to prefer proletarian coffee at WaWa, Dunkin D, 711, etc. Simple. Cheap. Hot. Can be weak.

Starbucks and the neo-coffee lounge experience: Hot. Confusing. Stupid size-names. Pricey. Consistently strong. Always burnt.

I like to drink, brewed at home, canned Medaglia D'Oro Caffè Espresso. I an related by marriage to real-deal Sicilian folk who have been drinking this brand in the Pittsburgh area since about 1930. Good enough for them; well, good enough for me.

BTW, Frosti may concur. Upper Midwest Lutherans can, and often do, make very good coffee. I believe that coffee-fellowship hour is sacramental in status for this stripe of Xtians. However, the baked goods of the Northern ladies pale in front of the church lady offerings I encounter in the South.

Here's Professor Goble at work. I'm not sure the Kingsford folks actually recommend this approach.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TBLr_XrooLs

And here's a brief interview with the good professor:

http://www.ambrosiasw.com/Ambrosia_Times/September_95/2.5HowTo.html

Hi, Seattlemom - I'm in Seattle too.

I don't frequent Starbucks or other espresso places because I don't want to get addicted (because of the expense). I do treat myself once in awhile, but I scurry in and get my coffee and get out - and usually it's at a Starbucks without an actual seating area, so can't comment on that. And there are espresso stands on every corner here, and a couple other large coffee selling chains (Tully's and Seattle's Best Coffee). Starbucks is big and ubiquitous and a great target. Why, I remember when they only had one store (sort of, that was a long time ago). I think they have shade-grown coffee too - maybe they got bad publicity about the coffee farmers.

When I lived in Portland, a boutique coffee roaster settled in for a while, down the street. You could filch coffee bags from places like Papua New Guinea that were left out front. They moved on. I think the next tenant was a Stirling engine developer.

The neighborhood, a dumpy and unfashionable one, also had a fish market praised by the fish buyer for McCormick & Schmick, sushi, a city Music Center in an earthquaked antique fire house, and even the Bar at the End of the Universe, next to the Store at the End . . .

Joel I think you would have a great case, I don't associate Starbucks with a porch. Porches are laid back and easy going, Starbucks just seems "uppity and pretentious". Of course I grew up on Tim Hortons', we have a term where politicians poll the "Tim Horton's crowd". Our current PM is big on this, think he needs a new strategy.

I am always fearful of a fire at NPR... it may result in Burnt Unger.

Drive-thru coffee shops are a Pacific Northwest innovation that should be nationwide. They could be located at all those Fotomats put out of business by digital photography.

No drive-thru's yello, I could never survive there are days I feel like I just go from one Tim's drive thru to the next.

Er, I may have had something to do with some fireworks set off last night that could have been purchased up there near Breezewood (but not by me)...

bc

There's nothing like the smell that hits you when you walk into a Starbucks (or even near one). Mmmm.

And this from a woman whose list of favorite restaurants includes the Fort Wayne Famous Coney Island hot dog place.

Kits like this are why I have such a hard time finding material for the NOT Suing blog. I may be lucky to find enough material to update it annually.

I like both Caribou and Starbucks a bit too much, as well as any quirky little neighborhood coffee shop. Free wireless often tips the scale. (This is a recent development at Caribou BTW, they phased it in last summer after finding filtering software they liked to keep the porn out. According to an interview with the CEO I heard on Minnesota Public Radio.) Amazingly in both of our nearby small shopping towns we have the choice of Caribou, another smaller chain, and a neighborhood independent. Here it seems coffee shops aren't competing with each other so much as the bars. I'm thinking that's a good thing. I'd rather have teens and tweens emulating their college aged sibs and crushes by consuming too much caffeine than chugging too much beer at a gravel pit party.

CP is right about northern Lutherans and their coffee, as well as the superiority of southern baked goods (and southern food generally if anyone's asking). A congregation 90 miles to our south has opened a coffee shop called "Hallowed Grounds" as a public service/job training venture. Very nice, and more social justice than evangelizing in atmosphere. Great for us heathens.

Byoolin wrote in response to my campaign query in the last boodle "and vote in favour of a resolution denouncing free-verse poetry slams by roving gangs of teenagers." One of my major efforts as mayor has been trying to attract poetry slamming teens to town. I guess we need a coffee shop first to have a pretentious enough place to hold a slam.

TBG-yes the "we" in "we found him a place to rent" was accurate. Yet, if the crime rate went up would it be my fault? If I'm not willing to take the blame it feels too big city politics to take credit.

All this starbucks hate is giving me major jones for caffeine + 500+ calories in saturated fat, served cold.

Fortunately I moved to a town that lacks one altogether. We do have 2 cafes, though, and one serves a really nice fruit slurpee.

Wilbrodog LOVES Starbucks, I don't know why, it's not like I ever let him drink coffee. I'm very averse to the smell of starbucks coffee; I get vanillism too easily, and so much of those flavors have hazelnut or vanilla in 'em.

But sure thing, he kept pleading to go inside a Starbucks everytime we passed. I have the strong suspicion that if there was ever ground coffee on the ground, fresh and unbrewed, he'd be rolling in it. Boffo perfume! He doesn't do this for the coffee brands brewed at home.

Labs are known for being good corpse dogs; they love anything that smells bad.

But I'll take any past-life theories that involve major coffee addiction.

Liz posted my "Wonderfalls" comment on her chat. She's much nicer than that Weingarten fellow.

Frosti -- Shush! The policing wing of the Northern Ladies Hot Dish Supper and Cool Whip Desert Society already has me in their crosshairs!

Southern deserts are best. Western meals, are best, I believe. Southern food is a bit too fried for my tastes.

I would kill for for some trip tip beef, but I see no hapless Angus in sight....sigh. Brisket season on the high plains prairie is in full swing. 'Mudge, tell me again the locale of the best crab cake this side of the Eastern Shore.

Frosti: "denouncing?" I said "encouraging". The MSM, the Vast Right Wing Conspiracy, and the Left-Wing Lock have joined forces to ruin me! (Although "slam" sounds kind of violent. How about "free-verse poetry youth night"?)

Front page alert (click the "Opinions" tab). (Why anyone in this day and age is letting Charles Fording Colson write a religion column just surpassses my understanding and tolerance

Professor Goble is crazy. I prefer pure oxygen at room temperature; it does not cool off the briquets. This is what happens when firefighters spray water on the fire in the magnesium factory, by the way. Which is why I urge some experimental liquid nitrogen firefighting techniques be studied.

As well, I think Stephen Pinker should be hired as a front porch advisor. I see lots of new homes built with porches but no one ever uses most of them. Some sort of problem with the design, I'm thinking. This would have the additional benefit of keeping Pinker too busy to write about art.

I went into a Starbucks once to pick up the local alternative newspaper. I saw their prices. I left. Do they have iced coffee? I might go back. Do they have poetry slams? Do they display literature dropped off by the "impeach Bush" crowd? Yeah, right.

There used to be actual privately owned and operated coffee shops here. Such as "St. Ruby's Java Joint." Alas, St. Ruby's has been closed for so long, it's become a googleuno.

Whoopsie daisy: TRI tip.

Here is the story on that small but delectable cut of beef:
http://www.orbeef.org/New%20Tri-Tip.htm

Longing for Tri tip beef, marinated in lime and vinegar and hot pepper flakes; homemade cole slaw, hold the mayo; and a slice of Mudge Faux Sour-Cherry Pie.

On a porch, not a deck.

We were treated to the best fireworks show we have seen in 15 years at our current abode. Lovely fireworks from far enough away that no debris landed on our heads or house, from about 6 different locations, without pause for about 2 hours. It was great. There were some that were way too loud from close by, but that was my only complaint (they were like flash bangs - really loud and a too bright flash of light).

I was amazed when I moved to Seattle how many fireworks are set off in the city here - it wasn't like that in PA or anywhere else I have lived. The streets are littered with fireworks debris the day after, and usually a house or two burns down, and people are injured. Seems like a perfect opportunity for terrorists, too...We could hear the rumbles of the sanctioned fireworks last night, from 10 miles away (at least I was hoping that's what they were!).

Jumper - mmm, Frappucino.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Frappuccino

Jumper, that's why we have aqueous film forming foam (AFFF for short, said as A Triple F). (Talk about a musical phrase, I love to say it.) That's what aircraft crash/fire/rescue firefighters use on planes that fall down. It was created to be used on Class C fires (oil, metals, etc) which water won't douse. AFFF is basically industrial strength bubble bath; it smothers fires by blanketing them and cutting off oxygen.

Of course there is already a term coined for the coffee shop as place to congregate-Third Place. Here's the Wiki entry:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Third_Place

Charbucks.
Need I say more?

I'm ready to believe Seattlemom when she says her Starbucks is charming and "actually a great gathering place"--but I doubt if that is the case in most of them. To me the ubiquitous WiFi is proof that Starbucks is essentially un-porch-like. Do you remember the Opus strip a few months ago where Opus went into a Starbucks-type place and got in trouble because everyone was trying to work--everybody had a laptop and they were enforcing office etiquette; his behavior as a casual dropper-in was inappropriate. (Can one of you Google mavens find that strip online? I couldn't find it, maybe it's too old)

I just had a thought, maybe the Starbucks people were on the A-blog because they got a tip about the Carbucks article, and while they were here investigating that they came across the porch concept, and STOLE it. HMMM...

In DC, I prefer Teaism to Starbucks as a third place. More tea options, some food, and plenty of room without the grating smell of coffee (sorry TBG, but it really bothers me).

We spent the best Fourth ever. First, we went to M & S for dinner with friends, then we went to the roof of that big building on Pennsylvania Avenue between 7th and 8th sts to watch the fireworks. Seeing those beautiful fireworks exploding just behind the Washington Monument was indescribable. Later, sitting on their balcony with a glass of wine looking at the Capitol at one end and the Monument at the other made me feel as if I were in a 50s film starring, say Audrey Hepburn, and I was Audrey.

dr, re our wisdom:

When it reigns it's poor.

My family calls it Four-Bucks. A pretty good rule of thumb for budgeting purposes.

From the Wikipedia article Wilbrod linked to:

"Oldbenburg suggests these hallmarks of a true 'third place': (1)free or inexpensive; (2)food and drink, while not essential, are important; (3)highly accessible: (4)proximate for many (walking distance);(5)involve regulars - those who habitually congregate there; (6)welcoming and comfortable; (7)both new friends and old should be found there."

Church: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7
Achenblog: 1, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7
Starbucks: 2, 3, 4

TBG, can't say I've ever been up to Ft. Wayne for the fourth but have heard they take their fireworks seriously up there.

Greatest fireworks demonstration I ever saw was after the last night game in old Comiskey park before they tore that wonderful old ballpark down. Whoever was running the fireworks show apparently decided to save the demolition crew some time by burning the park down. I guess they decided to use up the rest of the stock instead of having to move it to the new park.

Schmutz (yiddish for burning fireworks embers) (I am still trying to get over the fact that Joel spelled it without a "c", oy vey) was literally raining on the crowd and the wooden (yes, wooden) seats in the ballpark. Usually the prevaining west winds blew the schmutz eastward away from the park but that night it was coming straight down on the paying public. When the show was over and they turned the lights on the smoke was so thick you couldn't see all the way across the field.

They know how to party hearty on the South Side. See also, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Disco_Demolition_Night

This boodle reminds me of a This American Life segment where they spent 24 hours in a diner. The ebb and flow of customers changed the personality of the place throughout the day and I think it's the same at Starbucks et al.

Last year, Starbucks' entry into the Seminole Heights neighborhood in Tampa was quite contentious. The historic neighborhood has been "on the cusp of trendiness" for about 20 years now and tempers ran high both for and against. In the end they adapted their store design and signage to be more sympathetic to the neighborhood and added both outdoor seating and a dog water fountain. My impression, from a position on the sidelines in another historic but not yet trendy area, is that they are pretty good corporate neighbors.

I am glad I watched this.
http://agonist.org/annex/Countdown-SpecialComment-Libby.wmv

So how much did it cost a dog to get a sip of water (a slurp grande) at the doggy water fountain? I'm guessing $2.98, minimum.

No purchase necessary to partake of the dog water Mudge. Some locals fear the free water fountain will attract homeless people.

>Why anyone in this day and age is letting Charles Fording Colson write a religion column just surpassses my understanding and tolerance

Mudge, I thought the same thing. I actually tried to read most of it but didn't have to go too deep to find out how far HIS understanding and tolerance went.

In general I find that whole "On Faith" thing a total waste.

Joel has a new boss and his last name isn't New Guy but Newman? That is too funny. It's about time, Joel. :-) I must say I don't think you take kindly anymore to being told what to do. Your irritation is rippingly felt.

Regarding my new name, I am reading "The World is Flat" 2nd edition by Thomas Friedman. While somewhat techie (aren't most things, anymore?) it reminds me how much money I could have had if I'd invested in fiber optic start-ups in the late 90's...then sold them before the big bust. Seeing the forest through the trees. Next time.

Welcome back, Flats. Give me regards to Scruggs next time you run into him.

I never knew what a frappahootchie was but I know I don't need ice cream and cake and whipped cream in my iced coffee. Next thing you know they will offer melted cheese over the top. And gravy.

I think that would make it a Poutinaccino, Jumper. Maybe the Canucks would like it like that.

Ewwww, Mudge!

Although many new homes are built with front porch-like appendages, they mostly all lack the neccessary complement to a porch, a sidewalk. All the pleasant interaction that a porch brings about depends upon a steady stream of pedestrian traffic. Nobody stops their car to to chat as they drive by, a honk and a wave are the best you can hope for. But any time I park the k-bum in the swing, kick off the sandals and take book and beverage in hand, every passerby will howdy and wave at the least and more usually stop the dog walk or the baby stroller to talk about the weather or the yard or the dogs or the kids or the Nats or whatever. On the porch you are visibly doing not much of anything and pretty much asking to be interrupted, and walkers in our society are by definition in no hurry and at leisure. A match made in heaven.

Yeah, I kinda turned my own stomach a little bit with that one, Slyness. Sorry.

Now this is an AchenKit. I seldom go to Starbucks but not out of active animus. I seldom drink coffee, except to be sociable. I do drink chai (yum) and those granita things which are like coffee slushies with milk (yum yum) and Starbucks has at least the chai. However, we have a local chain of coffeehouses which have both and are no more expensive, so if I must indulge I go there. If I'm really sleepy I get a chai with an espresso shot. Almost as good as a Vietnamese iced coffee.

There's a great article in the NYTimes about the Frugal Traveler visiting OKC for Vietnamese food. I've been to some of the places he mentions; very tasty.

Another Republican has bailed on Bush's war policy. http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/07/05/AR2007070501283.html?hpid=topnews

Darn bleeding-heart, soft-on-Wahabbi Conservatives!

Slyness, I wish the firefighting team had a few more tools in their arsenal. After watching the Kuwait oil well fires doused with liquid nitrogen, I will state my support for additional research on liquid nitrogen in civilian fires, where practicable and prudent.

When we lived in Carlisle PA there was a lively porch culture. All the houses in our neighborhood were built pre-airconditioning, and many pre-electricity and indoor plumbing. They had wide useful porches with swings, gliders, and in the absence of an HOA to prevent it, upholstered sofas serving a few more years before going to the landfill. It was a walkable neighborhood where on a summer evening it was not unusual to see shirtless old men on the porch facing the house. They were outside for the cool air, but still in control of the remote and big screen tv inside. I don't miss our rental hovel, but I do miss our lovely walkable neighborhood.

Ivansmom, have you been to the Kolache Festival in Prague (Oklahoma)? Yum!

The biggest obstacle to firefighting advances is the firefighters themselves, Jumper. For proof, check out this article from the Charleston Post and Courier:

http://charleston.net/news/2007/jul/01/tradition_risk/

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Poutine

Hmmm. Needs butter and hollandaise.

frostbitten,
I have high school friends that have been urban homesteading in Seminole Heights for a decade or so. I will have to get their opinion on the Starbucks.

In the absense of a real porch, I am trying to create porch like areas for our house, we have a garden swing nestled in the shade of a tree. We don't get the interaction with the neighbours but on a warm day it is a great place to relax. May also put a comfy bench under the trees in the front, with a corner lot it would be the perfect spot to sit and chat with those walking by.

k-guy I am very envious of your porch.

Off to enjoy my fresh home brewed coffee, in the shade - to hot in the sun today.

I'd argue for 2 to be included, Kb. How often do we talk about food and drinking here?

Reed College allegedly had a doggie drinking fountain, no doubt a response to the tendency of everyone from the surrounding neighborhood to see the campus as a convenient dog-walking venue. Since I normally circumvented the campus (going via the lettuce farm on one side and Trader Joe's on the other), I never confirmed its existence.

In terms of flatness, I remain impressed that Polynesians obtained sweet potatoes in America and left behind "moa"--chickens. Along the same lines, sugar cane spread to Spain and Hawaii pre-Columbus. And during the Tokugawa Shogunate (very roughly 1600 until the 1860s), Japan was shut off from the world, but scholars were able to obtain books from the little Dutch colony on deshima, an island in Nagasaki harbor. These works, especially on subjects like medicine, were laboriously decoded (translation makes it sound too easy). Remarkably, it was precisely the Dutch who got the "so-called scientific revolution" going in the 1600s. They were very practical, refusing to go beyond the data, refusing to speculate about First Causes and such. So maybe it's not a surprise that Japan produced a lot of works on practical matters (like agronomy) during that isolated era, and adopted "western" science very quickly once the country opened up.

http://yalepress.yale.edu/yupbooks/book.asp?isbn=9780300117967

I love Kurosawaguy's porch description. We are too far from the road to have a real porch -- no passersby here -- but have an old-fashioned patio with an extremely hardy rope hammock. This thing has been tied to a couple of oaks for at least fourteen years, in all kinds of weather, and hasn't broken yet.

By the way, "Prague" here is pronounced "Prayg", with a hard G. Just in case you were to confuse it with the European location.

Almost forgot to mention that last week was the big catfish noodling contest. It was a little dampened by too much rain; even crazy noodlers weren't willing to drown to find the fish. However, the festivities went on.

Slyness, the medical term for the Charleston firefighter situation is "testosterone toxicity". I have seen it manifested many times among motorcyclists and on whitewater rivers.

The Starbucks bashing is classic American elitism. Once something becomes insanely popular people want to denigrate it to show that they are not, you know, one of the common folk.

Personally, I have nothing against a good house-blend Venti. In fact, I believe that where I work is one of the single largest consumers of Starbucks coffee on the Eastern Seaboard. In our cafeteria there are seven or eight enormous dispensers of Starbucks that seldom have time to get cold. Plus, there is the new on-campus Starbucks Store. Forget about a strategic petroleum reserve, the really vulnerability of our national security is imported caffeine.

Of course, I also have history with Starbucks. When I was in graduate school in Seattle I used to frequently wander into the huge store where Starbucks sold their beans. (There were no retail stores in those days.) It was sort of a cult back then.

In the early 1990s I remember seeing advertisements in the Post for Starbucks' franchises. I knew they were going to be huge in this hyper-caffeinated town, but, alas, I felt investing my life savings might have been viewed as imprudent by my wife. She's always been funny that way.

And although I truly love the ash-like intensity of Starbucks, I must admit I have been recently flirting with the coffee sold by Dunkin Donuts. I think it very good.

Of course, neither of these fine establishments has an ambiance that could be called "porchlike." Yet I think it might not be prudent to press the legal aspect with too much vigor. For the owners of Starbucks might one day decide to question the originality of that popular emporium known, of course, as "Carbucks."

yello-I would very much like to read your friends' perspective on the Starbucks, and Seminole Heights development in general.

It was not Curmudgeon who grossed out everyone. It was me. I got the same feeling when I see the insanity of what folks put in their coffee at Starbucks. But it was not I who impugned the Canuckistanis.

As is well known, all Arctic dwellers crave fat. As they beat their way through -40 degree temperatures to secure their trash cans against marauding polar bears, in July, it is understood they need 10,000 calories per day just to survive. They are forgiven.

RD, I have to agree. There's also this from the link that Joel provided:
'In the mid-90s the idea of the "Third Place" began to form. Howard describes the Third Place in his book "Pour Your Heart into It: How Starbucks Built a Company One Cup at a Time" as "a comfortable, social gathering spot away from home and work, like an extension of the front porch."'

Charlie Rose interviewed Howard Schultz a few months ago, and he seems like a pretty good guy (although I think Charlie would make the devil seem like a nice guy). And there was the unfortunate tree cutting episode here in Seattle, which I can't find a link to. Not to mention the basketball team.

frostbitten,
As coincidence would have it, next week I will be sharing a suite with my Seminole Heights friends at our 25th high school reunion. Many years ago, they used to do a local access cable show on Seminole Heights history, so they have some perspective.

I never go in Starbucks, I'm a diet coke in the a.m. kind of girl, I'm sorry to say. I periodically break the habit, but then in a weak moment the fountain diet coke at a convenience store where I pick up my dead tree version of the Post issues it's siren call and I'm a goner.

I do have a neighbor who is a Starbucks addict and she tried to make my daughter one, as well. Several years ago she was ferrying our daughters around and bought the Junebug a frappucino-latte-vente something or another on several different occasions. I was aghast. I still am. Getting the kids hooked on $4 ice cream thingies? I don't think so! I mean, I'm all for the occasional slurpee treat or what have you...but that was just one more time where Mommy No had to step in and straighten the Junebug out. Sigh.

I thought you all might like this article that I remembered from long ago about just what the coffeehouse coffee will cost your average college student.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/06/17/AR2005061701226.html

Dave of the Coonties:

Very interesting observations about the flat world. Flatness of course goes way back but not the speed of today's flat world. It's incredible...those fiber optic cables and human greed gave the world so much freedom. You should read Friedman's book.

On another note, I miss my huge screened back porch from my Maryland days. We don't need them much in Colorado. I have a small front porch, though. It should be a law.

Let me get something straight here - yellojkt is talking about Seminole Heights. This is in Florida? In order to be called a "Heights", isn't there a requirement of, like, height? Altitude? Substantial distance above sea level? Do we not have a misnomer here, of modestly epic proportion?

(Please forgive my Britney-like all-question conversational style. It, like seemed appropriate? You know?)

The ScienceKids are away all week, until Saturday. The ScienceSpouse and I have barbecued, which our vegetarian offspring do not permit. Tonight, we watch The Godfather. It's been a week of parental abandon and wild living.

TBG, I was trying to say "gutsy"(?), not gusty. I wasn't sure about the spelling, and so naturally I got it wrong. As you can see, not sure about this spelling either. Anyway it was a compliment.

I have never in my life been to a Starbucks. Don't know where the nearest one is in my area. I'm sure this does not shock many of you, knowing that I live in rural America. Not really farm country, but country just the same. I do drink coffee in the morning, decaf, not the real stuff. The real thing is too, too, strong.I can only imagine Starbucks is a place that has fancy or dressed up coffee? And this would be a reasonable excuse to pay more?

Perhaps the folks at Starbuck read the Achenblog, and maybe thought they could borrow the concept of "porch" to make their customers feel warm and cozy about their coffee. Of course, knowing that Starbucks is a business, and essentially operated by business types, that assessment won't fly.

It is so hot here. The heat has returned, and it is mean.

>Getting the kids hooked on $4 ice cream thingies?

The cost of those things has been the subject of more than one retirement article. Our cafeteria has regular? StarBucks at $1.70, and that's still way too much to pay for a cup of coffee. Unfortunately the regular coffee is total swill. I'd actually prefer Dunkin Donuts.

At home I'm quite happy with Chock Full o' Nuts. Goes along with my personality.

RD... we have a new coffee shop in the neighborhood: Saxby's at University Mall. Opened by the guy who owns the cheap theater downstairs.

The coffee is good, but the going to a local shopkeeper's shop is what makes it for me. I'll always choose local over corporate if I can. And he's a huge supporter of the community in general, so I'd like to see this latest venture succeed (he also owns the indie theater in Fair City mall).

Ivansmom.. Java Daves? We went there on our trip to Grove this winter. Cute place with live entertainment. I saw lots of them while driving through the Tulsa/Grand Lake area.

Just viewing the Goreboy arrest. This guy is smearing the rep of all left wing drug boys big time. Dude, 100 MPH? Do you KNOW how bad gas mileage is at that speed? And you could have killed somebody. Bad trip, man. What are you gonna do next, Dude? Buy a SUV and embarass Pops? Get in a hot dog eating contest? Start throwing radioactive waste in with the regular trash instead of recycling? The man has a job for you, Dude: disposing of banned Chlordane by secretly dumping it in the creek. Don't do it, Dude!

Cassandra... you make me laugh. I told my son today that you may have meant gusty, as in long-winded, but probably meant gutsy, which is just as funny to me.

I'm really a weenie.

But thanks anyway. Made me feel good. (I figured it as a typo rather than a misspelling).

:-)

>Just viewing the Goreboy arrest.

Like Paris Hilton, the young Mr. Gore is ALSO rich enough to get a cab or car service and has no excuse. On the positive side, he had a fairly creative mix of stuff in there. I think he's been reading too much Hunter Thompson.

I'm hoping it's a creative plot to show the young'uns that you CAN speed in a Prius, and being green doesn't mean you have to give up your drug collection or be an insufferable prig.

Like, child psychology and all.

According to GoogleEarth, my Seminole Heights friends' house is 31 feet above sea level, which qualifies as high altitiude in Florida. My childhood home in Palma Ceia is less than ten feet.

Error Flynn,

I like Chock Full of Nuts, too. Been drinking it for years. I saved a few cans that had the World Trade Centers as part of the New York scenery on the front. I rarely go to Starbucks or the other fancy coffee houses (we have Pikes Perk here)--just not worth my hard-earned money. Although, every couple of months I do like a grande latte...with 2% milk, of course, and a shot of hazzlenut. I know, I know. It took weeks to learn that order!

Kim

I really hate to ask, but what is a "$4 thingie"? I mean you sound so bold and "don't mess with me", attitude, is this a bad thing? Is it really ice cream, just really expensive or it something only adults are suppose to use?

Bad sneakers, this morning I forgot to tell you that I am sorry about your daughter's dog. I love cats and dogs, cats being my favorite. When I had to get rid of my cats, I cried like a baby. I took them to the shelter.

Oh my, that be nosebleed country above yonder swamps!

Yeah, Starbucks is really expensive for a daily habit. I think ANY kind of daily habitual expenditure on the same thing over and over is a bad idea, anyway.

This is why I actually had the Freshman fifteen as a weight LOSS, not gain.

The food sucked, and I couldn't bear to buy chinese food just because I was hungry from dinner. I think I averaged one order once a month. (I gained it back anyway.).

That debt gain could be so easily be due to chinese food instead; all I will say is that I graduated with a little less than 5,000 in debt and paid it off in one year, saving a lot of interest, but I cut a lot of costs on the way for that.

Cassandra, the $4 ice cream thingie is some coffee mixed with ice cream concoction at Starbucks. My daughter was 9 or so when my neighbor started regularly taking her daughters to Starbucks and kind as it was of her to include the Junebug at times, I just could not wrap my mind around the getting kids treats of this kind on a regular basis. I hope I didn't put off an aura of "don't mess with me" to my neighbor (I don't think I did) but I just made it my business to not allow it to happen. Of course, that started off the whole "you're the only Mom that says no" discussion, that I think I've mentioned in the past.

Error - Chock full of nuts...sounds perfect, right up my alley.

JA, a suggestion, and no, I'm not trying to run things here, no way. Grateful that you allow me to hang around.

I've noticed that the largest comments are about books, religion, and politics. And I've also noticed that most of my friends here don't really believe in the Christian religion.

I would love to know why. I mean as children were you taught not to believe, or did you just make up your mind not to believe. Did you have religious training as children or were you brought up not to believe? Was it like Santa Claus for many of you?

I hope you don't mind me asking, JA. I just really want to know.

And if you prefer I not do that, JA, I'm sorry. Please continue with what you were talking about.

Cassandra... most of the items in this picture cost around $4 each, especially drinks like the "Raspberry Mocha Frappuccino® Blended Coffee"

http://www.starbucks.com/retail/beverages.asp

The best possible light: channelling John Edwards.

Gee, I haven't seen anyone I really know in 2 days... there I am in the mirror. Thank god for the hair. Going out for an appearance in a few... no crap on my face, is there? No... Jeez... the hair looks great. Who the heck? How come my other barbers never did this? This is great! The new stylist! Oh, this is worth some bucks! In the haze of the road, tired, I'll just schmooze my own reflection for a few, touch base with my face and get ready for the appearance.

I'm so sorry Cassandra, about your cats.

Most things at Starbucks cost 4 dollars or thereabouts. A frappucino will have very thick coffee, sugared whipped cream, and flavoring. The coffee might be frozen (trying to remember-- RD would be the better one to ask).

I've ordered iced green tea latte from starbucks which is really a lot like a milkshake made with green tea, with a lot of whipped cream on top, plus some sugary syrup. However, it delivers a strong caffeine jolt. All of those drinks do, plus so much calories that it's not funny.

Starbucks is not in the business of serving plain coffee. Espressos, cappucinos etc. are very strong coffee blends, and in Italy where they originated, they would be served in small 4 oz cups. At Starbucks, it's 12 oz and going up.

Yes, there's decaf, but a tall cup (12 oz) of regular would roughly equal drinking 3 diet cokes in the morning. And we all know that sugar and caffeine is addictive--why else would we drink soda that tastes like battery acid?

When you add fat in the mix (creme, lattes, etc.) that increases the odds of being hooked even more. Not that it happens to everybody, but it explains why they're popular enough that people will PAY 4 bucks for a cup of coffee (insane).

Myself, I prefer the iced green tea latte at Teaism. It's far better tasting and less fatty, but that's something I only have had twice in 3 years, not daily.

I've met you TBG, and you are no weenie, madam. Kind, warm and non-confrontational, also scary-smart, for sure, but no weenie.

I've answered Cassandra's question, at no doubt tedious length, in past Boodles, so this is one bullet I can dodge this time.

Speaking of the world's flatness, anyone ever been to a Starbucks in Asia? They are identical in almost all ways. And I mean, beyond the superficial things like identical store designs, color schemes, music displays and employee outfits - they even use the exact same "quirky" chalkboard messages and writing styles that are apparently scripted out of some gigantic Marketing Death Star in Seattle somewhere. The only difference? The price. The exact same $4 latte you buy here (all using the same Ethiopian beans, even), identical right down to the cup and holder, is about $1.30 a local prices. Only Americans seem to delight in paying more for it.

Cassandra, I ask myself that question a lot. I have preacher friends and all.

I think it's a matter of believing in God, but wanting to be careful about believing in somebody else's interpretion of Christ that could be wrong and harmful.

Paul said "When I was a child, I thought and spake as a child. When I became a man, I put away childish things and thought and spoke as a man."

The problem, I feel, is that there is simply not a good Sunday school for adults that continue the learning process in most major religions.

Even as a child, I was highly dissatisfied with the superficiality of the teachings by age 8. My mom gave me some better answers than my sunday school teachers did.

And I feel the same when I attend adult bible study. Too superficial for my taste.

I've had the best conversations with other seekers who self-study the bible.

I had this most charming interpreter once who told me about the obscure prophets. She was a converted Catholic, and we had some wonderful conversations. I often think of her whenever I read your writings, as she was a lovely black lady with a lot of sparkle.

It's actually very difficult to get a view of Christianity that engages your reason as well as your faith.

Here's how people might treat Deaf people:

Oh, I didn't know you were there.
You should be faith healed.
Believe in Jesus and you will be healed.
You're noble, bearing your cross so well.
What are you complaining for?

And here's how churches treat disabled people: "We're exempt from the ADA that requires us to provide accessiblity to the handicapped."

Mind you, some faiths such as catholicism have a strong clear policy of inclusion and accomodation, although interpreted services are hard to come by.

I've only seen ONE truly 100% accessible and accomodating church.

It's nearly 50-50 white and black and oriented to the deaf and deaf-blind, with voice interpretions, real-time captioning, tactile interpreters.

You would like it a lot. I've seen rich and fancy megachurches that do accomodation really well, but the feeling of being welcome and part of a community is harder to capture.

The best cup of coffee I know is what I make right here in the Martooni kitchen.

Take 5 scoops of 8 O'Clock Coffee, dump those scoops into the aluminum basket of a General Electric chrome-plated percolator with the Bakelite handle and feet (circa 1950), set the selector to "strong" and plug the thing in.

15 minutes later (about the time it takes for all the stupid Flash ads to load on the WaPo home page, even with a T1 connection)... voila. You got coffee that would make any old-timer proud, complete with floating grounds. You can also use it to loosen rusty old lug nuts and I've found it works even better than napalm on pesky weeds.

It probably tastes so good because the coffee keeps being recirculated through the grounds, but I like to think it's the "cough-cough-wheeeeeeeze-gurgle" sound the pot makes that does it.

And then there was the latte tax - 10 cents on every latte, etc, sold at a store or stand. It didn't pass.
http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/local/135603_latte19.html

Wilbrod, you are so right. At the church I attend on Sunday, accomadations aren't there. Not a one. And it's like that in many churches.

And the answers you give for those of us that are deaf, are exactly correct. I ignore them and go on.

I guess what I really want to know is, if one does not believe, why do most of the folks I know in that category, seem to hate those that do? It's almost like people that don't believe go out of their way to be unkind to believers. Cannot tolerate them. And for true believers, I don't think many of them feel that way about those that don't believe. True believers want every one to know the power and love Christ, but to show unkindness and hatred would not serve the interest of Christ, and it certainly would not draw others to Christ.

I think at least part of the appeal of Starbuck's and gourmet coffee in general is the notion of guilt-free extravagance in a PC world. Tobacco, alcohol, diamonds, fur, big car- all these things have major, major downsides. If you're not ruining your health you're exploiting someone else or killing critters or hoggin' the resources. But a $4 cup-a-Joe, while mildly addictive and patently unnecessary, cannot inspire too much true guilt. Incidentally, I haven't had a cup of coffee since I gave up my two pack a day Marlboro habit 35 years ago. Coffee made me want a smoke, so coffee had to go.

Martooni,

Those old percolators make very strong coffee indeed. What a buzz. Too strong for my blood. But I did like the whoosh sound--much more soothing than the drip sound.

I hope you are doing well. Not sure if you are counting days again or not.

BTW, I am able to blog so much for a change because it is so quiet at work this week. I'm only working today and tomorrow but how nice it is to be able to blog a bit..as opposed to just plain old work, work, work.

Martooni, I hope the exterior of that percolator is shiny chrome, and the flex has a braided asbestos-fibre cover. If it does, it is the exact model from which my latek beloved grandmother poured my first ever cup of coffee, on a sunny morning in Napanee, with waffles in the offing, when I was 16. Happy days.

TBG, that does not look like coffee I would drink. I prefer my ice cream and coffee separate. And you don't come across to me as a "weenie", not in the pictures I've seen of you. And your post on the Achenblog, don't put you in the fools category either.

Cassandra, I was baptized Catholic for the benefit of my grandmother, who was a convert. I was raised by a Methodist mother and agnostic father. I attended Sunday school as a small fry -- I don't know whether it was Catholic or Methodist. It never stuck. I never heard anything that sounded like a description of the world the way I saw it. I was raised to question my world, to try to figure things out, to try to understand what's going on around me. That is my world -- a world of endless fascination and interest. This is the world we live in. I have no great need to speculate about some other world that may come after, but about which I can know nothing in this world. If there is such a world, then the time will come for that experience. In the meantime, I am doing my best to live in this world.

Over the decades, I have thought about religion and religious faith a good deal. I have felt times of strong religiosity, but never any sense that any organized religion could provide what I was looking for. At least, no version of Christianity -- I have become quite fond of Judaism.

I do not believe that any God who cares about his creations at all would condemn some of them to eternal pain, while gratifying others, based on such trivialities as whether they believed in some particular version of the story of creation. I *do* believe in the value of having a moral and ethical code that above all accepts the principle "Do not do to others that which is hateful to yourself" (Rabbi Hillel's version of the Golden Rule). My personal spiritual view is that I will do the best I can, without any crutches for the strength or weakness of my own will and character. Either I will fail or I will succeed in living the kind of life that I deem admirable. Since perfection is impossible, I assume that if there is any grading, we will be graded on the effort. Truthfully, I don't believe there is any after-life. This is life, right here, right now. Do the best with it that you can do. If I should be proven wrong, and there is an after-life, I believe that I can face judgment with the belief that I have tried to do my best. I haven't been a saint, but I'm certainly no villain.

I rarely go to Starbucks as I am intimidated by the choices and put off by the atmosphere of the place. DD is familiar and easy although I can't say their coffee is great, but the coffee they sell you is better than that which you can make from the beans they sell, I don't know why unless they have some secret ingredient that they don't put into the beans for sale. I prefer mine stronger than DD but less burnt than Starbucks. This is why a usually make my own, I mix DD and other beans to get something more complex. I don't get the porch reference by Starbucks. When I think of a porch, I think of lemonade, or ice tea, certainly not coffee. And a porch is never soulless.  Go right ahead and sue them Joel.

The proliferation of chains in general makes me sad. Having to play to the lowest common denominator breeds blahness, whether it's food or coffee, and I fear there are many people who, because they eat at chains so much, have palates that wouldn't recognize good food or coffee. Although when travelling, there is something comforting about seeing a DD, at least I know what I'm getting, which is a caffeine fix. And someone mentioned Medaglia D'oro (sp), I agree, it's good, strong coffee and I do buy it from time to time. As for those ice cream/coffee concoctions, have you checked out the calorie count on those things, yikes!

Thanks for the kind words about my daughter's dog. It's going to be a rough period for all of us. She has found someone who will make a house call when the time comes, as the dog hates riding in the car and my daughter doesn't want the dog's last memory to be a bad one. I just hope the dog hangs on for a week or two or more as the daughter's birthday is this Sunday and I don't want her to associate that day with something bad.

I just want every one I know to go to Heaven. I want all my friends there, and all my enemies there too. If my enemies are there, that means they changed their lives for the good. But most of all, I want all my friends and enemies alike to know the power of Christ's love to mankind. How great it is, and the good thing I did for mankind. It love for man is just more than words I can tell, but then we have the action that follows the words. We get a taste of love on this earth, just a taste, to let us know the greatest love, which is that love that Christ have for each and every one.

And God loved us first, and sent His Son to be sin for us, and Christ loved us even when we did not love Him.

I'm off. I know that talk of religion goes against the grain of many, but I can't help but talk about my Beloved. Have a good night, my friends.

Not only do I want to find all my friends and family in heaven, Cassandra, I want my beloved animals to be there too. Who was it that said something like, if they don't have dogs in heaven, I don't want to go there? I picture my dad and mom walking along with my dog from childhood, who is chasing rabbits and squirrels and maybe, just maybe, finally catching one. And now my dog is up there waiting for my daughter's dog to join him.

For me, Starbucks comes under the heading *small extravagance." I rarely go there alone, and it feels like a treat because it's so freaking expensive for what you get! 99% of the time, I make and drink iced green tea.

On a tiny scale, I think it's part of the *I work hard and deserve toys* phenomenon that so many people use in buying McMansions, SUVs, over-the-top vacations--instead of looking at how they live and asking themselves if things make up for the time they lose at work. (If they ask themselves this and still want the car, fine :-)

Cassandra told us her experience was that non-believers "hate" Christian believers. I don't think that is the case. I really, truly, genuinely don't hate anybody of a religious leaning, whether Christian or Muslim or Jew or Buddhist or Shinto or animist. And I see no evidence of it here in this community, either. In fact, I see no evidence of it anywhere. What I do see is an unwillingness by (especially but not exclusively) Christians to tolerate any rational discussion of thought options. Thus the phony and politically-framed Fox News insistence on a "War on Christianity" which does not at all exist, but is useful for ratings-gains.

There are a couple of things I find intolerable; neither of them are religious fervor.

The first is being preached at. I am clear that I have studied religion, and I have thought long and hard (and this is ongoing) about it, and I am always willing to debate in respectful discourse my thoughts and conclusions (and my interlocutors'). What I experience, however, is an unwillingness, particularly among evangelical Christians, to take my word for it. There is always some sort implication that if I would just listen harder, or change my approach, that I would somehow "get it" as though "getting it" were the obvious next step, and the right thing, except that I am being bloody-minded. That is simply not the case. It is the assumption of the a priori superiority of religious faith over secular rational humanism that I dislike. How would a religious person feel/think/respond if I spent our time together insisting that they were simply deluded and unenlightened and incurious (in short, stupid)? Offended. Me too.

More than that, the thing I get really angry about is the conflation of religion and politics, whether it is the Christian or any other religion. I live in Southern Alberta, as a very far left-leaning liberal, and I can tell you that the worst sorts of mean-spiritedness, bigotry and prejudice, in every direction, that are espoused by the elected (LOL! Well done, me) are wrapped up in religious language, and are assumed to be shared by the majority of the electorate. Both of these (the bigotry and the assumption) are far from true, but are somehow sacrosanct from vigorous, vociferous criticism because they are religious expression, as well as political.

We see where this takes us in Canada (the disenfranchisement of the natives, the racism faced by my Muslim friends, the cutting off of social spending for the homeless, the addicted and the otherwise undeserving and deserving poor alike, the nearly-successful effort to roll back same-sex marriage rights, the worship, along with Christ, of material wealth, by our conservative government) and elsewhere in the world.

It is not genuine religious faith that breeds these ills, but the rigid assumption that moral superiority attends the faithful and all they do.

Simple, rational, social ethics can take us at least as far in the moral direction toward social justice advocated, but too often not practiced, by the religiously zealous.

Bad Sneakers... I'm with you on your overall point, but if the dog catches the squirrel in Heaven, wouldn't that kinda make it Hell for the squirrel?

Bad Sneakers, I was so sorry to read about your daughter's Great Dane! Losing a pet is truly heartbreaking.

My Berner/Collie mix is elderly, fragile and increasingly creaky. I like it when the "new" dog has known the "old" dog, so in a fit of madness, I've signed on for another foster lab:
http://search.petfinder.com/petnote/displaypet.cgi?petid=8690862

If he does really well with Emma and Cutter, I'll be happy to have him stay. If he doesn't, the rescue will find him a good home. . .that name, though--I can't believe the shelter named him after a serial killer movie! If he stays, the name goes.

Ack! Cassandra, come back, dear friend! It just isn't fair to put that question out there, and then turn your back on the discussion.

I'm laughing. #2 just got from a job interview with... Starbucks. So Joel, do me a favour and leave enough cash in their pocket to pay her salary until Labour Day. She's gonna need all the lucre available to her for University.

Martooni, made me laugh! Poor squirrels!

Don't worry dbG. He doesn't look like a serial killer. Just change the name and move on.

Weingarten and I engaged in a very intense email debate about changing the names of rescues/adoptees. You will remember that he was adamantly, indeed categorically against such a move, in one of his recent chats. I'm all for it. Mark the new life, don't burden the poor soul with negative associations. So long as you can be absolutely certain that no-one will use the old name, even one, in his hearing, he'll adapt within days. After all, what do dogs really pay attention to? Not words, but physical attitudes and intentions. Broc would much rather be called Broc, kindly, than Milo dismissively. And who calls a Collie Milo, anyway?

Precisely, Martooni. Dog Heaven is Squirrel Hell. Part of the Heaven/Hell duality we neo-pagans espouse! Every person's Heaven is someone else's Hell. Think of the space multipurpose eternity would save! :-)

Actually, Cassandra, I'm one of those people who attended religious school through college although I distinctly remember sitting in church in the 3rd grade thinking, "I don't believe any of this."

In my case, since I rejected everything my mother taught me as a lie, I rejected that too. I look at the religion now, and as someone who's almost Libertarian, it's just not anywhere close to who I am. Except it taught me . . . superstition, especially when it comes to keeping IT systems running.

As for disliking Christians or other religious people, it's all a matter of degree in how hard they push me to change my beliefs. Low key works.

Yoki, love it when you go on your rants - and I fully agree.

Did you see this the evolution/creation poll recently conducted, note the results for Alberta.

http://www.thestar.com/Religion/article/231974

dbG I am faithfully not looking at anymore dog pictures, just too tempting.

If Weingarten doesn't do the amount of rescue we do, well, his opinion on renaming is immaterial! :-) Until I'm sure I'm keeping him, I'll just call him *boy* or *buddy* to make it easier for his new family to name him.

I don't know if this is true for Berners, but most of my lab fosters, Mr. Brooks included, were strays tagged with some random name when they hit the shelter. They don't know the name, and while I'll sometimes try to guess their name (pretty easy, actually with chocolate labs, although 1 shelter insisted the dog's name was "Kerdiver" when I *knew* it was "Godiva"), I agree that they often are just happy to take on a new identity.

If he stays, I'm working on a list, headed by: McGyver or Jack.

Oh, I saw it, dmd. And then I wept. (Or, perhaps, wep't.)

Me too, Yoki. A few weeks, you'll see him on YouTube, smiling.

OK dbG I could resist and looked, he's adorable, and walks easily - that is something I dream about.

Yoki-wonderful comment, and very similar to what I feel.

I would add that my choice of "heathen" as self identifier is more to say "don't care" than "don't believe." The show stopper with me and religion is having to believe and worship to go to heaven, wherever and whatever that might be. If living a life trying to be the most just, responsible, loving person I can be is not enough, then God is a self aggrandizing jerk and I don't want to be in his club.

In real life I don't speak as bluntly, and work to learn about and respect all faiths I encounter. Sometimes after reading On Faith, or watching some preacher or politician on TV I wonder why I bother. At times, most believers don't seem willing or able to do the same. If the boodle is any indication though, that's a false impression foisted on us by a very vocal minority.

Cassandra, I too have commented on length about religion. I struggled with faith for a quarter of a century before concluding that faking it didn't make me a better person. For whatever reason I was not given the gift of faith. I could not force myself to believe in the kind of God I had been raised with. Yet, and this is the part some people can't believe, I live each and every day as if I do believe. I try to live a good life not out of fear of retribution, but because the alternative is ugly. And there is already too much ugliness in the world.

Therefore, I have nothing against Christians, Muslims, Jews, or Scientologists. (Well, at least not the first three.) I accept and greatly admire people of true faith. The problem I have is this. I have on many occasions been confronted by "good Christians" who imply that no matter how hard I try to be a good, loving, and kind person I am beneath contempt in their eyes as an unbeliever. As I mentioned earlier, I have even been recently made to understand that there exist some who seem motivated by the knowledge that one day smarty-pants like me will be pushed into a lake of fire.

I don't think you are one of those types, but I can't help but take this kind of attitude as something of an affront.

TBG - I like this place called "Murky Coffee." I certainly didn't mean to imply that anyone who bucks a popular trend is an elitist snob. But it does seem to me that the only thing America enjoys more than watching a struggling company become successful is tearing that same company down. To me, sometimes "corporate" just means you've done a good job.

K-guy, you got it right about firefighters and testosterone.

I believe; Lord, help my unbelief. Evangelicals drive me crazy. I have to agree with Yoki about arrogance and smugness and intolerance. That is NOT God's way. And I believe fundamentalism is a tragic perversion of truth, creating conflicts that should not exist.

The vision is not that dogs will chase squirrels in heaven. It's the lion lying down with the lamb - peace that passes our understanding. I think we all - especially Christians - will be surprised, but in a good way.

I do not believe that God made any creature to consign it to hell. Hell is a choice that humans make, and I believe God is strong enough to see that all His creatures will come to Him.

Like Cassandra, I believe that Jesus of Nazareth shows us the way to a relationship with God that gives us peace, and hope, and love for all. Life is hard. To have faith is to know that, whatever happens to you, you are loved and will be fine regardless.

Faith, hope, love abide, these three, but the greatest of them is love.

Also, I just wanted to say I defy anyone who can find a more peaceful and magical place than a good miniature golf course after dark. I refer, of course, only to high-quality courses with bright lights submerged within blue-tinted ponds and surrounded by many fiberglass dinosaurs with realistic sound effects.

Perhaps I love such courses because they remind me of my grandpa's old backyard-as I described previously. Or maybe it is because as a teenager the local miniature golf course was a popular place to go on a first date. (And in high school I went on a lot of those.) Or perhaps it is because miniature golf is a great equalizer where a preteen girl with questionable eye-hand coordination can actually do better than her big brother and both parents.

Although the victory dance was a bit much.

Hi Cassandra, who will likely read this in the early morning. Can I ask this? Do you feel concerned that being friends on the boodle will harm your faith?

Now I will say what I think about conversation here, including the spiritual and religious-affiliation threads. I hear passion about belief, unbelief, and unknowing. The discussion is lively and courteous and respectful. I love what you have to say. As Mudge says, you are the boodle chaplain. I appreciate that you pray for me and all here. I do believe that God smiles, saying that the kindness and respect here reflect what a loving God wants for all children and creatures in this beautiful and broken world.

If you feel that you must witness to us, as is the custom in some Christian communities, you already do. Your life of work, gentle humor, practical wisdom, and dead-on reading of the paper is your gift here. Your life and words, are the most effective witness.

I really do think that God touches souls in the most private and mysterious ways. I further think that we can be so presumptious to think we should interfere with this relationship. God calls and gathers. We do not have take on this responsibilty.

Boodler alert: strong theology point here. Cassandra, when boodlers here are pleasantly surprised about what happens next, just think! Some of them will say, Wow. This is what Cassandra was talking about.... Golly Gee Wiz Bang....YES!

PS: Dogs and cats, etc. are there too. I have it on good authority, from the Most Reverend Fr. Basil Slainey, OFM, who comforted me with this essential truth, when Boots, my first best dog in the world died in 1973.

I think your aggravation towards Starbucks is justified. But your lawyer won't have any options for you. Maybe you were just kidding about suing Dr. Evil anyway.

"For one million dollars"

Lack of sense of humor is what snagged me last time...

However, w/o knowing specifics of your complaint, then the following is the applicable law:

The Achenblog/WaPo must prove that the Achenblog is a franchise which is at risk to suffer financially on the basis of copyright and or trademark infringement by Starbucks.

These Achenblog trademarks and or copyrights must include every expression likely to be used to promote or organize a marketing demographic, which relates the ideas of "leisure" and "porches."

If any one of the first two conditions has not been met, then Starkbucks has not broken the law.

This may be unfair, but regardless how Evil Starbucks might seem, fairness is inconsistent with Fair Trade beans. See who you're up against?

Some argument that more print subscribers signed up because of the Achenblog is a start to make this crucial link, but it's a stretch - but one that a lawyer with the time and interest could make persuasive.

If you could produce or fabricate print distribution statistics and customer comments sufficient to demonstrate that "Porching is the backbone of this franchise," well then, you are fast on your way to a settlement.

But the Bucks' ace in the hole is disputing your primary claim that every marketing-oriented expression relating the ideas of leisure and porching are your sole intellectual property.

You'd