Posts by Sam F
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As for its shittiness, is it really that bad? Am I led to believe that SB's global dominance has been based on selling crud?
Many of Starbucks' products seem tailored for people who like their coffee to taste as little like coffee as possible. It's like alcopops, whose popularity is based upon getting you really smashed, but with a sweet rather than alcoholic taste. They have a place in the market, and shouldn't be denied to those who really like them; but I bridle at being called a snob for preferring to taste the vodka in my vodka, and I don't expect to pay 42 Below prices for Smirnoff Red quality.
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I don't see how SB has made coffee 'accessible' any more than I can understand how terrifying it is for ordinary people to go in to cafe?
In much the same way as McDonalds democratised our local burger market, freeing those poor souls who trembled at the snobbish fascism of lunch bars and fish and chipperies.
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What's the real reaon behind the hatred of Starbucks? I suggest that its democratization of coffee opened access to gourmet coffee for the rabble, not the shitty coffee itself. As if the boycotters of SB really care about exposing another evil brand. What it's really about is old-fashioned coffee snobbism.
I think most coffee lovers would probably be ecstatic if Starbucks really did deliver gourmet coffee to the "rabble". Imagine that river of quality beans flowing into the country, bringing decent java to every shopping mall and block of shops in the nation. The sheer power of that market demand! And there'd still be independent places dealing in more exotic varieties, as the bar for 'connoisseur' status rose over time.
Of course, what Starbucks actually delivers is the shitty coffee you mentioned about six words later, so any argument about snobbism versus true coffee-loving is pretty academic. And hey, it seems the filthy proles are finding that they can get a slightly more drinkable cup of coffee at far lower prices at McCafe, rather than paying outrageous amounts for product even they know is hugely inferior. Who woulda thunk it?
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Starbucks in NZ is run as a franchise by Restaurant Brands. It accounts for about 10% of their revenue but almost none of their profit (those high profile locations don't come cheap).
Indeed they wouldn't. Particularly not the Starbucks on Parnell Road, sandwiched between about four spectacularly good cafes. Who they think they're fooling there, I have no idea... or maybe I do, since we went for brunch in Parnell recently with two complete coffee greenhorns, and had to actively persuade them not to choose the Starbucks.
We succeeded, went to Dunk next door, and our guests weren't sorry; but you have to wonder how many other suckers blithely wander in under that familiar logo, with no idea what they're missing a few strides away.
And it's not even that cheap, for goodness' sake.
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The file is damaged and could not be repaired.
Oh noes!
In the unlikely event that this isn't a stuffup on my end, is there any other source for the PNAC doc?
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Bumping, because the NBR has just set a new standard for Kiwiblog rightism in hitherto respectable print media.
The guy seems fairly sane in recent columns. Is he just having a Redbaiter moment?
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Herald today is reporting that the parachute can deploy from as low as thirty meters - say, ten stories up. So assuming that you could survive a two-metre fall without injury (with 100kg of petrol engine and propellors on your back), that's a 28-metre risk zone.
I prescribe quick takeoffs and landings, and extremely bloody conscientious maintenance when you're on the ground.
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Garth George sticks his oar in, in the context of a column so typically Georgian in its cranky idiocy that it's almost self parody, from the title onwards.
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A primary-school teacher treated us to Under the Mountain read out loud over a couple of weeks or so. The highlight was a reading on the summit of Rangitoto to coincide with a school trip. You could say it was a formative experience. Doubt I'd bother revisiting that territory, though.
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Bloody hell, Che.
I am astonished and shocked and moved. What hope for the rest of us writerly schmucks to make a difference if you can't with words and ideas like these?
Thank you.