They’re Closing Starbucks stores now?

Starbucks is closing 600 stores nationwide. Is that a statement on the economy or just Starbucks over-expansion? More importantly, they are closing 16 stores in the Chicagoland area and 2 on the south side: One in the mall at 95th and Stony Island, that I’ve been to once, despite driving by there 3-4 times per week. And one in Beverly, on 95th and Western.

Sad.

But MY neighborhood Starbucks, at 71st and Stony Island, shall remain open for now.

Sweet.

Oh, and if you’re a smart businessperson looking to hire near any one of these stores, you’re trying to scoop up as many of these Starbucks-vetted and trained employees as you can.

 

Announcing a new feature!–The Chrishendo

A chrishendo is like a crescendo, only better, because in a chrishendo you get to hear me quote my favorite song lyrics.

In a crescendo, music you’re already listening to just gets louder.

Or some such.

Anyway, let’s get started.

“I watched television until television went off.” — Lenny Williams in ‘Cause I Love You”, explaining the kind of broken heart that just isn’t possible anymore. Technorati Tags: chrishendo lyrics

 

Jack Handey’s “My First Day In Hell”

I didn’t know that Jack Handey, of “Deep Thoughts” fame, wrote longer pieces. In fact, for a long time, I didn’t even know he was a real person. This is hysterical.

My first day in Hell is drawing to a close. They don’t really have a sunset here, but the fires seem to dim a bit, and the screaming gets more subdued. Most of the demons are asleep now, their pointy tails curled up around them. They look so innocent, it’s hard to believe that just a few hours ago they were raping and torturing us.

Go to The New Yorker to read the rest of this.

And one of my favorite one liners: “Children need encouragement. If a kid gets an answer right, tell him it was a lucky guess. That way he develops a good, lucky feeling.” LOL!

 

“Unbelievably tasteless and undeniably worthless.”–writes jtno2 on Youtube

And I must concur.  But it is also pretty funny.

There are about 5,479,824 misleading, deceptive and/or disgraceful statements in this two-minute clip.  They actually say that it is a replica of a $20 bill to commemorate 9/11.  Because 9 and 11 add up to 20.

Get it?

Thanks for the heads up on this, Hysan.

Update: Wait! A selling point is that it is authorized by the Liberian Government?! What the hell difference does that make?

 

So THAT’S why I don’t play full-time.

The poker gods have once again slapped me around like a rebellious child. Glad I’m not playing for money.

I’m going to bed…

But just let me say this! It is not right to deal me 6-4 offsuit so that I fold and then put quad 4’s on the board. And on the very next hand deal me A’s and allow a small set to crack them.

It is just. Not. Right.

 

Anyone signed up on Twitter?

Ten years after vowing to never use IM–and keeping the promise–I am trying out Twitter for an online biz I’m considering. And I like it fine.

So I’m looking for some people to “follow”. And to follow me.

I’m chris_robinson there.

 

So apparently Earth is really old

Am I the only one that struggles with the idea that Earth is 4 BILLION years old? Because that strikes me as really, really old. Whenever I read about someone worth a billion dollars I always turn to my wife and say, “Do you know how much that is? It’s $999,999,999! Plus a dollar!”

But this…I can’t wrap my head around this. Four billion years? I mean recorded history is, what, six thousand years or so?

I think I’m going to take a detour from Dawkins’ book because I want to get comfortable with “radiometric dating“–the method scientists used to come up with that date.

 

Traditional Albanian Custom of Women Living As Men Fading

The New York Times has a fascinating article about the dying tradition of women renouncing their gender to dress as, and take on the role of, men in a society where blood feuds are common:

For centuries, in the closed-off and conservative society of rural northern Albania, swapping genders was considered a practical solution for a family with a shortage of men. Her father was killed in a blood feud, and there was no male heir. By custom, Ms. Keqi, now 78, took a vow of lifetime virginity. She lived as a man, the new patriarch, with all the swagger and trappings of male authority — including the obligation to avenge her father’s death.

The associated pictures are great.

 

Reading “The Selfish Gene” as my book on evolution.

I’m reading Richard Dawkins, “The Selfish Gene“, as my book on evolution. It first went into print in 1976–I was six years old. But the general feeling is that it has held up very well. I intend to read no more than a chapter a day and to really try and think through the concepts.

Apparently, Dawkins overarching idea is that natural selection is all about assuring that genes are passed on at whatever cost. I literally am reading the preface, but Dawkins is taking pains to point out that he isn’t saying that genes are selfishly thinking, “Me, me, me, me, me.”, but rather that they behave in a way that is largely indistinguishable from your freshman year girlfriend.

 

Back to Basics–Which Books Should I Read?

So I’ve decided that I may not know as much as I think about what I think I know.

It seems to me that there are too many holes in my knowledge about subjects that many of us take for granted.

For example, I believe in evolution and I believe in democracy.

Or at least I think, I do.

But is evolution really best summed up as “survival of the fittest”?

Is democracy mostly just “one man, one vote”?

Heck, for that matter, what is “freedom”?

And how come it seems that suited cards are always taking pots from me, but so many authors claim that they are only a slight advantage over unsuited?

In the next year, I intend to pick a single book from each area and try to comprehensively understand five subjects: