Good things for the day:
Starbucks’ existential crisis. Big Money looks at Starbucks’ efforts to rebrand themselves as a “value” company in the new economy. It’s a hard sell in the US, where people were still happy with filter coffee only a few years ago (and also, apparently, a country where the author thinks $3 is a ‘pricey’ cup of coffee. Hah.)
Border patrol. So The Guardian has this story about Aussie pub-goers watching webcams of the Texas-Mexico border for people trying to sneak over the border — BUT! These ‘border patrol’ sites have actually been around for years, and when I was in uni, my housemates and I would watch them for cheap thrills (just add cask wine and Mee Goreng noodles) and cheer on the Mexicans. Get with the times, Guardian!
Who hasn’t met Björk? Vanity Fair has this article on Iceland’s economy, which is interesting and all, but here’s the really good bit so you don’t have to read all seven pages:
Because Iceland is really just one big family, it’s simply annoying to go around asking Icelanders if they’ve met Björk. Of course they’ve met Björk; who hasn’t met Björk? Who, for that matter, didn’t know Björk when she was two? “Yes, I know Björk,” a professor of finance at the University of Iceland says in reply to my question, in a weary tone. “She can’t sing, and I know her mother from childhood, and they were both crazy. That she is so well known outside of Iceland tells me more about the world than it does about Björk.”
Aliens and Christianity: together at last. 5 July this year will see the world’s first Christian symposium on aliens. Topics covered include “Why an Extra-Terrestrial God Appeals to Today’s Culture”, “Alien Intrusion: UFOs and the Evolution Connection” and “Bible Physics & The Abilities of Fallen Angels”.
