What up, Starbuck?

If you look closely at the picture you will see a revised, more retro logo. They are testing the look in San Diego. Nevermind, that some folks are making a fuss of the bare-breasted maiden, which I think is kind of silly considering the world we live in; what bothers me is the messing with one of the most recognizable logos in the world. Coke, Pepsi, McDonalds, and somewhere up there near them is Starbucks. Plus, they changed the color from green to brown. I wonder about the "corporate boys" sometimes. Who gets these ideas? Imagine UPS changing their colors to Green or IBM to red?

The Starbucks growth story is one of the late 20th century's eight wonders of the world. Along with Google and Apple recently, they kind of represent business in a post-50's world. But in my view, every decision they are making right now is bad, including the Pike Valley Blend, introduced with much celebrity, but which is just not very good.

No company can continue to grow as Starbucks has. Something always comes along to change the dynamic that fed the growth -- a bad economy, a tired concept, or competition catching up -- and all of these are hurting Starbucks.

Will they come back? I think so, China Starbucks is booming at a 20% clip, but the first step in the USA is plain and simple, get the coffee right again.

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Final personal comment: the wife and daughter are, for the first time in 10 years, choosing to go to McDonalds for coffee. It tastes good, it's cheaper and the grandkids can play in he playground. They are boycotting the absence of Sumatra at Starbucks.

Honoring the Normal Guy.

picture from Library of Congress via pingnews



It is Memorial Day. The day we commemorate American war veterans, and particularly the men and women who died in service to their country. Today, family and friends, and maybe a church or neighborhood, will say things like, "remember how he loved football, or how nervous she was on her first date, or how he always fell asleep in church." That is the how we remember our sons and daughters, in public anyway, our more cherished memories we tend to keep to ourselves. No one will author a book, or direct a movie in the name of the soldier we know. They were, one day, normal teenagers, the next in boot camp, then a battle field, and then . . .

This soldier lived a normal life made heroic by an act of duty, or a sense of adventure, or just because he didn't know what else to do, it matters not, he was there in battle. What does matter is his or her acceptance of an obligation to be just a soldier, not a fashionable sensibility in these days of entitlement. No one is little anymore. No one is uncertain. The soldier who dies in service is anachronistic to an age where everything is supposed to be "mutually beneficial."

So here's to the normal soldier, today the rest of us, with admiration, join your small circle of friends.

Solemnity - Most Holy Body and Blood of Christ

Rogier van der Weyden 1400 – 1464

From the Gospel of Saint John
Jesus said to the Jewish crowds:
"I am the living bread that came down from heaven;
whoever eats this bread will live forever;
and the bread that I will give
is my flesh for the life of the world."

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Following text from Art and the Bible. http://www.artbible.info/art/

Centre panel of the Braque triptych. The work was a turning-point in art north of the Alps. It was one of the first times that saints were depicted in this manner: midway up high, against a background of a worldly landscape, suggesting the universal scope of Christ's message. The legend over Christ's head reads: "ego sum panis vivus", or "I am the living bread". The legend over Mary's head reads: "Magnificat anima mea Dominum: Et exultavit spiritus meus in Deo salutari meo", or in English "My soul proclaims the greatness of the Lord, my spirit rejoices in God my Saviour". It is a line from the Song of Mary (Luke 1:46-55). Above John it reads: "Et Verbum caro factum est Et habitavit in nobis", in English: "And the Word was made flesh, And dwelt among us". That text is from the Angelus.

Closed left wing: John the Baptist
Centre panel: Mary, Jesus, John the Evangelist
Right wing: Mary Magdalene