I have heard from many people that Starbucks has decided it's time to shed their image as a giant, corporate conglomerate that's only in it for the money. This week, I gave them another second chance.

Years ago, I used to stop at Starbucks on a regular basis. There's one locally that is in the same building as a bagel shop and that worked out quite well. I didn't usually go for the coffee because I didn't like it very much, but they had Tazo Chai which, among commercial chai products, is one of my favorites. Once I discovered the coffee at Caribou (their chai isn't as good), I pretty much stopped going to Starbucks.

A couple weeks ago, I needed to get my caffeine fix in order to avoid withdrawal symptoms. I happened to be at my local, remodeled Target store where they had just installed a Starbucks. My first thought after ordering a tall mocha was disappointment that the machine was completely automatic. Many Caribou stores have been putting in automatic espresso machines and I haven't been to happy with the outcome. Anyway, I wanted to be fair, but I still didn't really like the coffee.

Fast forward to this week and Starbucks' next second chance. I'm in training this week, so it's not convenient for me to stop at my regular coffee place. I stopped at Dunn Brothers (separate blog post pending) the first day, but I noticed a Starbucks farther along my trip and planned to stop on the second day to give a non-Target store a shot.

Yesterday, I got a standard tall mocha and a sample of the Pike's Place Roast. The flavor of the mocha was pretty much identical to what I got in the Target Starbucks store. That's not too surprising since they use the same, automatic machines there. I compare the taste of their mocha to chocolate meringues from The Franklin Street Bakery on Franklin Avenue, only I like the cocoa that Franklin Street uses better. There was no detectable coffee flavor, and the chocolate was somewhere between Nestle Quick and Hershey's syrup.

The Pike's Place has been touted as being both better and worse coffee than Starbucks' normal brew. Some say it's designed to appeal to the masses by being lighter and less "robust". Some say, well, the same thing really, but in a negative way. I guess it was okay coffee, but it still didn't get around that burnt bean flavor which is the basic problem I have with Starbucks' coffee.

Today, I wanted to get basic on the tests. I ordered a tall latte and a separate shot of espresso. The shot was the most bitter espresso I had ever tasted. It had that burnt flavor and a little extra, grab-the-back-of-the-throat bitterness. Like the Pike's Place, I didn't bother finishing it.

The latte, which I'm drinking right now, tastes like it was made with whole milk. That's not a bad thing, but I'm a little confused after hearing that Starbucks was going to switch to 2% as their default milk. Maybe that machine, with it's automatic milk steaming wand, has some magic that makes 2% taste twice as fatty rich. Overall, it's not a bad latte, but it could use a little more coffee flavor. There's a burnt undertone which must be coming from the coffee, but it's hidden by the milk. That's pretty impressive considering how much flavor the straight espresso had.

Anyway, Starbucks had their second, third and fourth chances with me and, unless their the only thing I can see from where I'm standing, I'll be getting my coffee somewhere else.

-Photo of Starbucks cup by Ben Zvan Photography

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I'd like to thank all the people I see running, skating and cycling on my morning bike rides. You are the folks who keep me getting out there and exercising.

To the women in low-cut and bare-midriff shirts, shorts, bikinis and sports-bras, I thank you for providing your scenic vistas of skin and muscles. I look forward to seeing you at every opportunity. It may seem like I am just speeding past you, concentrating on the next mile, but I am so checking you out.

To the men with chiseled abs and brand new, 5 pound, carbon-fiber bikes, I thank you for giving me a goals. I look forward to passing you at every opportunity on my 40-year-old, 30 pound steel-frame Schwinn. And when I am passed I feel the thrill of competition carry me forward until you are out of sight.

To the people listening to their ear buds rather than the traffic around them, walking three abreast in the bike lane, or blindly zooming into traffic at the trail crossings, please stop. You're making it hard for the rest of us, and that last one embarrasses me every time.

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Patric Rhone had a link to this article over at Tom's Hardware that was quite informative. The linked page is kind of in the middle of the article, so click around to read all of it. The basic conclusion is one that I've been aware of for quite a while: Apple hardware is not overpriced, but their upgrades are. As long as you're willing to go to NewEgg or FirstTech to get your RAM and hard drives, there's no price-related reason not to buy Apple hardware. It seems a little ironic to me that the people who could legitimately complain about Apple's prices (for upgrades) are the people who can't install their own RAM. That's not, to my recollection, the people who complain about the cost of Apple hardware.

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I hear a lot of arguments from the few opponents of global warming like "the climate may be changing but humans didn't cause it" or just "the climate isn't changing." The former tends to use "proof" indicating that the world is just too big for people to have any affect on global climate. Well, it occurred to me this morning to think about this a new way.

Let's ignore arguments about whether humans are affecting the climate and focus on the fact that the climate is indeed getting warmer. Lets also focus on the established fact that the last time the climate was as warm as it's likely to get, there were giant lizards roaming the earth. I don't want that. Therefore, even if humans are not causing climate change, it would be beneficial to those who don't wan't to be eaten by raptors if humans attempted to stop climate change.

-Image from Dinosaur Fan Fiction

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Gizmodo has a good run-down of some possible issues the Obama campaign may have now that he's announced Biden as his running-mate. Since Gizmodo is chiefly interested in the technological impact of the next presidency, their concentration of coverage was obvious.

While Obama has looked like a very good candidate from a technology point-of-view, Biden is a Luddite. He's on-record as against BitTorrent, encryption, and net-neutrality and he's a good friend of the RIAA. Since the RIAA wants to make platform-shifting illegal under the DMCA, that raises some issues in the community.

While this isn't enough to turn my support against Obama, it definitely brings in a feeling of the lesser evil to the ticket. On the other hand, Obama has said that he wants to have multiple points-of-view in his oval office and cabinet. This could be a good way to temper any automatic pro-internet knee-jerks Obama might have. If it works, then good for him. I'd have a tendency to ignore his technology advice based on past experience.

I have a rant about net-neutrality, but that's another post.

Image from Gizmodo.com

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I suppose there are a lot of people who think this applies directly to them, but I thought I'd throw my blog into the ring. (Just replace "Starbucks" with "Caribou.")

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The ragweed has bloomed and my allergies have created an unfriendly sleeping environment. Talk about an argument against intelligent design... If we were still a hunter/gatherer society, I'd be headed for the genetic trash heap. Here's a fun video from Neil deGrasse Tyson.

And Greg Laden has a post on what you should do if you're a life sciences teacher and have kids wanting to violate the first ammendment.

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Hey everyone! I've been thinking about adding a comment function to my blog. Leave me a message in the comments and let me know what you think. I'll make a decision based on your input.

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Last week at the Olympics additional evidence was recorded that the President is a bit pervy.

Not that there's anything wrong with a good spanking, but it helps if that's what the recipient is actually expecting rather than a short lesson on volleyball playing.

And everyone should remember what happened in Germany.

Again, there's nothing wrong with massages, but its less wrong when you're not walking to your seat at the G8 summit. On Camera.

The UK, at least, has an internet-based sense of humor about the whole thing. Click through to the Guardian for more LOL bush.

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"Mike Hummer had been a private detective so long he could remember Preparation A, his hair reminded everyone of a rat who'd bitten into an electrical cord, but he could still run faster than greased owl snot when he was on a bad guy's trail, and they said his friskings were a lot like getting a vasectomy at Sears." -- Robert B. Robeson

Yes, it's time again for the annual results of the Bulwer-Lytton Fiction Contest. An attempt to pay homage through satire of classically bad literature. -- Photo by YardSale

Greg Laden brings an update on the evolution v. creationism debate from a US district court. More at Fox news and the San Francisco Chronicle. As it turns out, all that stuff Christian Colleges are teaching about "intelligent design" doesn't really count as "learning."

If you've got a jones to type xyzzy and teleport to someone's house, the iPhone may be the tool for you. Frotz, available from the iTunes App Store is a z-machine interpreter that allows you to play classic text adventure games on the iPhone and iPod Touch. This is the ultimate marriage of the inconvenience of typing on a phone and the inconvenience of a maze of twisty passages, all alike. -- Touch Archade via Kotaku

In yet another installment of Things That Herald the Coming of Our Robot Overlords, scientists have joined rat brain cells to a robot with the aid of bluetooth. Not only can the disembodied cells control the robot, they can do it at a distance, much like the Reaper program is controled through Skynet. -- too many sources to credit.

And finally, on the topic of green electronics, Samsung is releasing a phone made with bio-plastic. Cellular mulch anyone? Oh, and it's also PVC and BFR free, but hey, bio-plastic. -- via Gizmodo

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