Octopodial Chrome

Apparently, an unreleased Jimmy Page guitar riff is to be retrieved from secret vault to save rock and roll. Naturally this is the last, best hope of mankind.

A good op-ed over at the LA Times today on the problems faced by Starbucks and other companies which go public. It’s hard to remember now, but there was a time when Starbucks was well-loved; nowadays it’s looked down upon as the McDonald’s of coffee (for that matter, there was probably a time when McDonald’s was well-loved, too). You see these same problems time and time again: the article mentions Starbucks’ aroma-sealing packaging and Krispy Kreme’s centralised doughnut-making operations, but my own favourite example is American mega-beer. The fundamental problem is the quest for consistency: large companies want the customer’s experience to be identical at each visit. Why? One of my favourite restaurants in Denver is the definition of inconsistent: the menu changes every day. I don’t have any idea what will be served, but I do know one thing: I will love it. I realise that coffee, doughnuts and beer are all made from natural ingredients: there will be variations. Just give me quality, and I’ll be happy.

Another problem, of course, is a stock market seeking growth rather than dividends. This is why private investment can be so much healthier for a company: it is free to do well and expand slowly, rather than expand quickly and deliver poor-quality goods.

Saturday was the 231st anniversary of the Raid of Nassau, the first amphibious operation of the United States Navy and what would become the Unites States Marine Corps (they were known as the Continental Marines, first recruited at a bar known as Peggy Mullan’s Red Hot beef Steak Club at Tun Tavern—no joke).