My Sick Mind

In the midst of what most people refer to as "this economy," I saw the news today that Eastman-Kodak, Boeing and Starbucks were letting thousands of people go. In Kodak's case, they're the victim of the digital age, and it's been a struggle for them over the past 10 years, but times change and if companies don't change, bad things happen. In the case of Starbucks, they're closing 600 shops - which should drop them down to about 15,500. According to their web site, "The stores identified for closure are spread across all major U.S. markets with approximately 70 percent of them opened since the beginning of fiscal 2006." The people running Starbucks are supposed to be a lot smarter than you or I (at least I) and I'd assume that they've heard all the jokes about a Starbucks being across the street from another Starbucks. I'm sure they have because they embrace the policy, saying that their customers prefer "same side of the stree...

SERENDIPITY I was late tuning in the Phillies game tonight. I had just gotten in from one of my bike-to-gym runs and I flipped on the TV in the bottom of the second inning. That's when it happened. Phils broadcaster Chris Wheeler, said, "For those of you just tuning in..." Wow. I'm just tuning in. So many times I've heard that statement, and I've told the TV, "I've been watching for an hour." I used to wonder to whom they were talking. Now I know. It's me, that's whom. I COULDA TOLD YOU. LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - Starbucks Corporation said on Tuesday it plans to close 600 underperforming U.S. stores and cut up to 12,000 full and part-time positions, (about 8 percent of its workforce) as it copes with an economic downturn and increasing competition . For years, comedians and regular people have been making jokes about too many Starbucks. Lewis Black does ten minutes on being in Houston and standing next to a Starbucks and turning around ...

Schadenfreude is enjoyment taken from the misfortune of someone else. German philosopher and sociologist Theodor Adorno defined it as "the largely unanticipated delight in the suffering of another which is cognized as trivial and/or appropriate " . The Chinese call it xìngzāi lèhuò, or 幸災樂禍 - an old idiom that directly translates to " enjoying other's calamity and laughing at other's misfortune ". Yesterday , we discussed (well, I discussed) the opportunity in power tools brought about by the newfound gas-siphoning habit. Now, we will discuss ( I will discuss) another opportunity to take advantage of the coming apocalypse. Spam. It's more than junk e-mail. Hormel foods . What? What's a Hormel, you may ask. Hormel makes Spam, a breakfast treat enjoyed by millions of people who don't otherwise care about what they're putting into their body. So, why not take advantage of others' hardships and make some dough on that pasty meat-f...