Category: Food

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Spotted this in mid-August, during the height of Back to School sales. It’s a school bus-shaped display with shelves on the sides and back. Katie’s fairly certain that the other shelves weren’t all Rice Krispies treats — they were Pop Tarts and the like.

So, yeah, send your kids to school with a ton of these. Their teachers will just love it.

<voice=”cranky old man”>Of course, back in my day, we didn’t have those pre-made Rice Krispies Treats. We had to buy the cereal and marshmallows and make them ourselves. (And frankly, without all the extra preservatives, it was probably more healthy. Or less unhealthy, in any event.)</voice>

(Yeah, still catching up on photo posts.)

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A study recently determined that organically-grown food doesn’t contain more nutrients than conventional food. Um… okaaaay… I don’t think I’ve ever seen any advocates of organic farming making that claim. I’m sure there are a few, but the major themes generally seem to be:

  • More sustainable in the long term (less negative impact on the environment).
  • Less unhealthy residue from pesticides, fertilizers, etc.
  • Better taste.

And, of course, none of these points were addressed by the study.  In short, it’s a classic straw man fallacy.  Sure, I’ve got problems with the terminology used by the organic food sector (foremost: overloading the term “organic”), but this is just missing the point.

(Hat tip to Katie for pointing this one out.)

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A couple of years ago, Starbucks bought all 30 or so company-owned Diedrich Coffee stores.  There were a couple of franchise locations left (well, kiosks, really) in Orange County, and one of the Texas stores, but that was it.  Most of them were converted or shut down, with only two keeping the Diedrich name and menu (both in Irvine, oddly enough).  The one across from UCI eventually got converted.

The Diedrich nearest where we live was always busy.  After it had been assimilated, though, we never saw it full.  People didn’t go there just because of the location, they went there because it was a Diedrich.

Now it’s on the list of stores that Starbucks is closing, along with a newer one that opened about a quarter-mile away.  (They haven’t updated the web page yet, but it’s on the PDF.)

In essence, Starbucks bought an (apparently) successful business and ran it into the ground.  I really hate when that happens.

Obviously the place, when it was a Diedrich, wasn’t taking money that would have gone to Starbucks, since their customers didn’t stick around when it was converted.  And the one store that does still have the Diedrich name and menu always has customers whenever I end up in the area — so it’s not just people avoiding the parent company. It’s people who don’t like the Starbucks coffee and atmosphere.  (And possibly the name.)

I have to wonder how that other store would have done if they’d kept it intact instead of homogenizing it.

Update: Martin Diedrich picked up the empty storefront after Starbucks left, and opened his second Kéan Coffee in March 2009. Once again, it’s always busy. Funny, that!

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So, you’re a nerd (or a geek, if you prefer). You spend your life sitting in front of your computer, your TV, or your latest book. You don’t play sports, you don’t go running, hiking or cycling, and the word gym conjures up painful memories from middle school.

And you’ve put on a bit more padding than you’d like.

The problem is, you can’t stand exercise, you don’t want to spend the next 2 months eating cardboard food, and you don’t want to record your every caloric intake with a spreadsheet (though if that idea appeals to you, go for it). What’s a geek to do?

Well, here are some tweaks you can make to your lifestyle that, with a minimum of effort, will help. They won’t take the weight off quickly, but they’ll lower it over time. And you might be able to keep it off better than someone who goes on a crash diet, because you’re changing your habits, not just making a short-term change. Continue reading →

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[Water Cooler]If you work in an office, chances are there’s a water cooler somewhere. And if there’s a water cooler, chances are there’s a stack of disposable paper cups (or possibly, even in this age, styrofoam). And chances are that most people will walk up, grab a paper cup, take it back to their desk and then throw it away.

Of course, all those paper cups end up in a landfill somewhere. And there’s the material to manufacture them (even if it’s recycled). And there’s the energy that went into manufacturing them.

So why not reuse that paper cup if you’re only using it for water? It’ll dry out between uses, so the water shouldn’t seep through the wax. If you have, say, one glass of water a day, and you use the same cup for a week, you’re cutting down your paper cup usage by 80%.

Or better yet: do you have a coffee mug? You need to wash it out anyway before you put more coffee in (unless you’re keeping it full all day long). Why not wash it out earlier, and use the mug when you want some water?

Sure, it’s less convenient than walking past the lunch room and grabbing a new paper cup. But let’s face it: you work in an office. And Americans, on the whole, don’t get enough exercise. You might as well take advantage of the extra activity for some incidental exercise.