Grande Venti Low Fat No Whip Rethinking Pt. 2

Delay of Latte
I first discussed the issue of Starbucks about a month ago (here) when former CEO and founder Howard Shultz retook the reins of the fledgling company. In what appears to be a first of many moves by the company, Starbucks closed all of its company owned stores at 5:30 p.m. local time. The goal was to rejuvenate and pump up its 135,000 baristas to serve a better cup of joe and to rekindle the Starbuckian experience that is, or was, Starbucks

I was anxious to find out if the local Starbucks stores near where I live here in the Rouge were going to be partaking in the barista training day. I had no idea if the two that are closest to me are company or franchisee stores, but I was greated with the "We are closed..." sign on the door. I was hoping there was going to be a mass gathering of barista's being nerdy over the espresso maker, but I was disappointed. Only a lonely girl mopping the floor was visible in both Starbucks. Perhaps I missed the party by arriving early, or maybe she drew the short straw while everyone else enjoyed a free three hours off on company time

I do think, if this move proves successful, in a sort of twisted way that the slowing economy could be OK for Starbucks. Granted, a slowing economy means more people will not hit up the stores everyday, but if the company is able to go back to its core values and product and deliver the experience that first brought people into the stores, it could provide the boost that it needs. The "Starbuckian Experience" was, as I mentioned in my earlier post, a place between work and home where people came to meet and share time together. If the economy continues to slow, Starbucks may again become that special escape from the everyday mundane and the onslaught of doom and gloom from the media, and not the "fast food of coffee" that many of us think of Starbucks now. After all, this is was made Starbucks famous, the escape from the crap in a can (aka Folgers) that delighted the senses with that wonderful smell of espresso being poured. Only time will tell though and we'll have to wait and see what else Mr. Shultz has up his sleeve...

Seeds of the Future
I'm a huge fan of Terminator: The Sara Conner Chronicles on Fox as I talked about here. I do not get Fox, but I'm able to watch every episode for free online the following day of the premiere of the episode. Its a great show with several intricate story lines being drawn from the first two Terminator movies. One theme though, remains the same, the apocalypse that is to come, the end of the human race. Need not worry though, if the apocalypse does come to fruition and your MacBook Air decides to go crazy on you and start knocking off your kin, there is still hope for post-apocalyptic mankind.

Norway has just opened in $9 million (US) world seed bank in the frozen mountains in the Norwegian archipelago of Svalbard. Norway's Prime Minister Jens Stoltenberg told attendees to the opening ceremony that the seed bank was "the Noah's Ark for securing biological diversity for future generations."

The first deposit into the bank was that of rice from 104 different countries. The main goal is to maintain a viable collection of plant species diversity in the even that global climate change or war destroys some crop species. Any country can deposit seeds free of charge and withdraw them as need be. The vault is designed to withstand earthquakes (tested last week) and a direct nuclear blast. It is kept at -0.4 degree F (-18 C) which, according to scientists, should keep the seeds healthy for nearly a thousand years. The facility has yet to be tested on whether or not it can withstand the onslaught of Arnold Schwarzenegger look-alikes...at least not yet!

Cheers!