Unlike the popular vogue, I'm not a "Starbucks Basher". As it turns out, I go to Starbucks only rarely (once or twice per year, perhaps), but Fumie likes them, and in any case, I recognize that they're successful because they provide something people want.

Not being a Starbucks Basher doesn't mean that I can't gripe about what seems (at least to me) to be a unique Starbucksism. Today at a Starbucks, Fumie found a seat with Anthony while I went to place our order. The following conversation took place between me and the Starbucks Drone (SD)....

Me:A small mocha please, [...]
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Congratulations to my brother Mike and his wife on the birth of their first child, a daughter Grace Elizabeth Friedl (May 28). An additional joy is that its the first granddaughter on either side (and now I'm an uncle!)

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Going through some photos from my recent trip to Ohio, I came across this cute photo of a Mommy goose leading her babies to get some corn from Anthony and me. (Only six of the eleven are hers -- she stole the rest from two other couples.) This was at the lake behind my folks' place.

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This ranks right up there with tobacco subsidies for "most selfish, asinine government".

Senator Rick Santorum (R-PA) wants to prohibit the National Weather Service from releasing their weather data to the public. Note that the National Weather Service is paid for by public tax monies -- that is, paid for by the people whose access Sen. Santorum wants to block.

So, why does Sen. Santorum want to ban the public release of taxpayer-funded weather data? Quoting the senator (as seen in, among other places, an article on the issue), he says:

"NOAA's actions threaten the continued success of the commercial [...]
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