Starbucks ditches the overpriced T-mobile Wi-Fi service for free AT&T service and I couldn’t be happier. A smart decision no doubt made by once again CEO Howard Schultz. More from this Associated Press article:

SEATTLE (AP) — Starbucks Corp. and AT&T Inc. will start offering a mix of free and paid wireless Internet service in most of the global coffee retailer’s U.S. shops, beginning this spring.

The move announced Monday ends a six-year Starbucks partnership with T-Mobile, which did not include free Wi-Fi and charged higher fees than AT&T will.

Starbucks said it will give customers who use a Starbucks purchase card two hours of free wireless access per day. More time than that will cost $3.99 for a two-hour session. Monthly memberships will cost $19.99 and include access to any of AT&T’s 70,000 hot spots worldwide.

Nearly all of AT&T’s broadband Internet customers, about 12 million, will automatically have unlimited free Wi-Fi access at Starbucks, the companies said.

The deal boosts the number of AT&T hotspots in the U.S. to 17,000 — the most in the nation.

Two hours free per day. Now that’s fair. It makes sense to charge more to patrons who wish to call Starbucks their office. Freeloaders!

This is a huge blow to T-mobile. But moreover, what was Starbucks thinking? Most modern food retailers offer free Wi-Fi to entice customers into their restaurant. Starbucks was exploiting their customers. Cheers to Howie. Glad to see you back at the helm!

Also see:
Starbucks Sleeve
Jackhole goes to Starbucks
Do Starbucks corporate employees get free coffee?
Akeelah and the Bee and the Starbucks employee

Email is a necessity when it comes to communication. Here are a few of my tips from the cluebag:

If you reply to an email, don’t start a new topic without changing the subject.
Suppose you get an email titled “Meeting to determine the next meeting.” Everyone can chime in and give their two cents. Sure, maybe Bob can make it but Sally can’t. Perhaps several action items are added to the list – great! DON’T HIT REPLY AND ASK WHO IS VOLUNTEERING FOR THE UPCOMING BLOOD DRIVE WITHOUT CHANGING THE SUBJECT LINE. What’s worse is the fifteen new people who reply to this email. Every five replies a new subject is added WITH THE SAME SUBJECT LINE!

How do you expect me to find your email about the “Impending new project deadline” when you fail to CHANGE THE SUBJECT! I guess I’ll just spend 10 to 15 minutes hunting down your email. Better yet, I’ll call you on the phone and ask if you sent the email to me so I can be the fool. Oh, you say, you sent it on Tuesday at 4:39. Ah. Now I able to find it. Not because of the subject line – Meeting to determine the next meeting – but because I had to phone you and ASK YOU.

Don’t send an urgent, time sensitive email without any additional communication
Let’s suppose for a moment that I receive an email titled “Bake sale moved up one hour.” I’m knee deep in work and only periodically checking my email. The bake sale is in full swing when I receive a call asking “Where are you, the bake sale started 20 minutes ago?” I’ll tell you where I am – I’m planning on wrapping up what I’m working on because the bake sale STARTS IN 40 MINUTES! How about a friendly 8 second call letting me know about the time change. Better yet, how about taking 11 steps, passing by my office and “THE BAKE SALE TIME HAS CHANGED!”

Don’t send ridiculous jokes or chain letters
I really don’t care if a terrible plague swallows up the earth if I don’t immediately forward your email to 20 of my friends. It’s a shame too. I’m sure my friends would really enjoy reading your silly email. Also, I’m not going to send money to some joker in South Africa because of his pathetic sob story about his millions of dollars temporarily tied up. I don’t care. I use email for communication with friends and colleagues.

Roughly 10 years ago I finally had to write a “STOP SENDING ME JOKES” email to a longtime friend. I don’t think he took it too well. Even after sending that scathing email, he would occasionally send me a “THIS IS REALLY, REALLY, FUNNY” email. Unfortunately he was not always right. And that’s putting it mildly. I was forced to create a filter so I wouldn’t get sucked into reading more nonsense.

On the other hand, I do sometimes look forward to certain joke emails which actually ARE funny. I guess there is a trusted source for everything.

Come on people, time to get the clue bag. Reach deep and grab a clue! A little etiquette goes a long way. Where’s the love? How about a little consideration for your fellow neighbor.

“Look - Just watch what I do”…I love this song and can’t get it out of my head. The video has a really nice low-fi quality to it. The best part is the Bobby Brady look-a-like with the “Incredible Hulk” shirt on. That pretty much makes the video for me.

Last year, Simon said Kenneth Briggs looked like a bush baby. Kind of rough but isn’t that why we watch in the first place. Thank God Simon is really on this year. It’s nearly the only reason to watch the show. His brutal honesty and Paula’s incomprehensible speech make it worth it.

After watching yet another round of American Idol additions, there seems to be a common theme with all the rejects. Here are some ways to spot a reject before they even open their mouths.

1. Elaborate costume
2. Over the top antics
3. Super bright clothing
4. Multiple simultaneous auditions
5. Over confident

And here are the tell tale signs regarding artists:

1. Celine Dion
2. Whitney Houston
3. Aretha Franklin
4. Janis Joplin

Sure, why not attempt songs originally sung by some of the greatest voices of our time. I’m sure you’ll sound just like them. Keep on trying!

These interiors were all the rage back in 1974. Colorful, hip, modern, and cool. Yes sir, this was the cutting edge. Put on your bell bottom jeans, big collar shirt and strut through some three inch shag carpeting. Cue up your favorite 8-track tape and you are ready for some seasons in the sun Terry Jacks.

Above are a couple of photos from a visit to New Orleans back in 2003. Most of the shots were taken in and around Bourbon street.

One of my fondest memories was the dinner at Antoines. There were about twenty of us and we had the Rex room all to ourselves. The food and company were amazing. Antoines has been around since 1840. Now that’s some history.

Also see:
New Orleans 2003 Flickr set

Here’s a site that animates anything you type. It takes your type and animates via flash with the male and female sign. To see the animation again, simply mouse over. To give it a whirl, click on the mindtoss type.

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The concept is simple. The artwork is stunning.
Here’s how the sketchbook was created:

For thirty-six weeks, a sketchbook was sent in random order between four artists: two in Brooklyn, two in Belfast.

Every Wednesday, one participant would receive book. In order to maintain schedule, it was sent out the following Monday, giving each artist five days to complete a spread in response to the one that preceded it.

A small portion of each entry extends on to the following page. Beyond this, there was no communication between the artists concerning the content of book during its making.

book’s first trip across the Atlantic was on 2 June, 2003. Its final trip was on 2 February, 2004. By the time it was completed, book had traveled over sixty thousand miles.

Shortly after the book was completed in 2004, the four artists sat down in a room together to discuss what the meaning was behind each spread and how it was interpreted. They did so over a bottle of whiskey.

The artwork was was reproduced and exhibited in Belfast. Each spread was set up at it’s own viewing station. At each station were headphones to listen to the round table discussion about the book.

The book can viewed in it’s entirety at LookAtaBook.com. In addition to viewing there is an option to listen to the artists discussing each spread. It’s very moving to hear the interpretation verses the actual artists intent. I found myself laughing right along as though I were in the room with them. It would have been interesting if a documentary was made of the whole event from start to finish.

The artists:
mac premo
oliver jeffers
duke riley
rory jeffers

I recently purchased a LASKO fan for a family camping trip. On the flap of the box are these selling points:

Why Buy a Fan?

• Create a Wind Chill
• Circulate Air Conditioning
• Bring Fresh Air In
• Dispel Stale Air & Odors
• Use for Only Pennies a Day
• Get Comfortable!

WHAT? If you’re buying a fan and you’re thinking to yourself Hmmm, I’m not convinced yet and you ask yourself why you should buy a fan – chances are you probably don’t need a fan.

Today, in the United States, it’s Martin Luther King Jr. day. A day or remembrance and reflection on a man whose words are as powerful today as the day he spoke them. One year after King’s famous “I have a dream” speech [28 August 1963], he accepted the Nobel Peace Prize in Oslo, Norway on December 10, 1964. This is an excerpt from his acceptance speech:

Therefore, I must ask why this prize is awarded to a movement which is beleaguered and committed to unrelenting struggle; to a movement which has not won the very peace and brotherhood which is the essence of the Nobel Prize.

Interesting that King graciously accepts the Nobel Peace Prize and at the same time asks why the prize is awarded to a struggle which has yet won the peace and brotherhood which is what the Nobel Prize is all about in the first place. King makes a strong point without disparaging the very award he is given. He merely wants the audience to understand that the movement is ongoing until peace + brotherhood is achieved.

I refuse to accept the cynical notion that nation after nation must spiral down a militaristic stairway into the hell of thermonuclear destruction. I believe that unarmed truth and unconditional love will have the final word in reality. This is why right temporarily defeated is stronger than evil triumphant. I believe that even amid today’s motor bursts and whining bullets, there is still hope for a brighter tomorrow. I believe that wounded justice, lying prostrate on the blood-flowing streets of our nations, can be lifted from this dust of shame to reign supreme among the children of men. I have the audacity to believe that peoples everywhere can have three meals a day for their bodies, education and culture for their minds, and dignity, equality and freedom for their spirits. I believe that what self-centered men have torn down men other-centered can build up. I still believe that one day mankind will bow before the altars of God and be crowned triumphant over war and bloodshed, and nonviolent redemptive good will proclaim the rule of the land. “And the lion and the lamb shall lie down together and every man shall sit under his own vine and fig tree and none shall be afraid.” I still believe that We Shall overcome!

“I believe that what self-centered men have torn down men other-centered can build up.” This unto itself is a powerful and relevant statement for our time. Self-centered can be good or bad. It just depends on the focus. I like the positive spin he puts on self-centered. As if to say we can take that self-centered energy and focus it on something positive for all of humanity rather than the opposite. So it is on this day I reflect on King’s words and see so much relevance for today. Like all great leaders and prophets, Martin Luther King life was taken on April 4, 1968 by an assassin’s bullet in Memphis, Tennessee. He was only 39 years old.

Here is a mashup, from an earlier post, of King’s famous “Drum Major Speech.” I took the speech and added music and a female backing voice:

Yet another comic that I created over at stripgenerator.com. I like dog + pig. I think I’ll work up some more cartoons with these two characters. They look like ‘ol pals. Dog has a smug look on his face and pig just looks slightly surprised and overwhelmed. [Click the image for a larger version]

If you like this strip, click on the “bookmark” button below and Digg it or add to StumbleUpon.

Tonight, while rummaging through some of my flickr photos, it dawned on me that I snapped these photos 10 years ago! All were taken on a very early Sony digital camera. Each image, at full resolution, is a whopping 72dpi and 1024 x 768. Very primitive compared to today’s cameras. The photos were taken in and around Miami, Florida.

There is a grainy dull quality that I just love. To see all the photos from this set, click here.