Coffee War Brewing

Think of some of the great coffees you've enjoyed. Has it included instant?

After 20 years of R&D Starbucks has rolled out VIA with the biggest product launch ever for the company. It includes national TV ads, highly visible in store marketing, and guerilla marketing tactics.

Consider the connotative language:
- Full Starbucks flavour in an instant
- Never be without great coffee
- Starbucks VIA can change your life
- It's made with the highest quality ethically sources 100% arabica beans
-The magic is in a proprietary process that we spent years perfecting. We microgrind the beans in a way that preserves all of their essential oils and flavors. No other coffee company takes this step, and it makes all the difference.

Of course, Nestle cannot ignore this full frontal assault on the $21 billion instant coffee market in which it has the leading Taster's Choice line. Marketers are out roaming the streets of selected cities like San Francisco handing out samples. On the back of the envelope: 'A lot of hype or a lot of flavour. Taste for yourself.'

At the same time in southern Ontario McDonald's is currently handing out FREE cups of its Premium Roast from November 16-29. ('Free' automatically transforms the taste.)

Then there's Tim Horton's which has an iron vice grip over the hearts of java drinkers in Canada. (Many take life or death oaths for their morning caffeine fix from Timmy's.)

Care to share a coffee passion?

Meet Paul Cornies of Quoteflections

After almost two years of blogging, over 700 blog posts, (my online journal) and a following of 140 RSS readers (thank you for subscribing), I formally introduce myself. Paul Cornies lives in Leamington, Ontario Canada. Many of you know my signature on blog comments as Paul C.

I have been a little tentative on the Internet, not sure how much of myself to reveal. And, yet, my regular readers know quite a bit about my personality, interests, and perspectives.

Many of you know I retired from teaching last year, am currently teaching ESL and spending time with a newly arrived refugee family from the Middle East with landed immigrant status. The topics close to my heart include education, the environment, media, social justice, current events, values, and the general swirl of ideas. Learning and sharing are still vital personal goals.

I have admired my blogging acquaintances like Doug Johnson, Doug Peterson, Ken Allan, Diane Cordell, Sue Waters, Fred Schlegel, Noah Fleming, Carol Ross, David Warlick, Joanna Young, Ari Herzog, Daniel H. Pink, Maria Schneider, Cathy Nelson , Will Richardson and a host of others who have been direct about their names as bloggers. Indeed, it's highly recommended by website strategists to use your name authentically as you develop your brand. Thus, after building a tenuous foundation for myself, here I am.

Yesterday, I updated my Google Profile and provided many more details about my background and interests. (I will probably refine this inventory moving forward.) In the all knowing world of Google I can now find people who share some of my interests:
- Leamington - 135 other bloggers
- Canada - 2,500,000 bloggers
- retired - 1,520,000
- biking interest - 85,700
- cats - 670,000
- folk music - 116,000
- Groundhog Day movie - 54,000
- The Razor's Edge movie - 437
- Transformers movie - 962,000
- Who Has Seen the Wind? novel - 81
- The Lorax - 2,100

- I also performed a Google Search and discovered to my amazement that I am on a 14 second You Tube video. It was filmed two years ago when Dr. David Suzuki, Canadian environmentalist, toured the country speaking and asking people, what would you do for the environment if you were prime minister? (Another vivid example that what you reveal online can easily be retrieved by a Search.)

Coincidentally John Spencer wrote a kind tribute to my site today. He said, 'Bottom line: he's a thinker without getting condescending, a bit of a poet without making it inaccessible and a geek in all the best ways possible.' Thanks John.

Finally, so much about myself. (I normally try to avoid the spot light.) I recognize that the most important consideration in a blog is You, the reader. I will continue to try hard to keep my readers in my mind as I write posts around 'a regular eclectic mind fix.'

I'm always open to your suggestions and input.

Sports Stadium Sells for Price of Condominium

The Pontiac Silverdome in Michigan was an icon of its time. It was built in 1975 for $55 million and sold this week to Canadian investors for $583,000, 1% of its initial value.

The Silverdome hosted a rich legacy:
- the Detroit Lions of the NFL from 75-2001
- the Detroit Pistons of the NBA from 1978-88
- first round games of the 1994 FIFA World Cup soccer
- 1979 NBA All Star Game
- Super Bowl XVI on Jan. 24, 1982 when the San Francisco 49ers defeated the Cincinnati Bengals 26-21 before a crowd of 81,270
- Wrestle Mania III in 1987 with an attendance record of 93,000
- 1994 the English rock band Pink Floyd performed their classic album The Dark Side of the Moon

The sale is a reflection of the dire economic conditions in the area 30 minutes from Detroit. With the collapse of the manufacturing base and real estate prices, the city of Pontiac struggles to relieve itself of debt. The emergency financial manager said, "You could say Pontiac is in a depression, not just a recession."

Of course, the new owners will face the annual maintenance costs of well over a million dollars, but they plan to host a number of sporting events like major league soccer.

In 2009 dollars a stadium of this size would cost $220 million. The New York Giants and the New York Jets will play next year in a new stadium estimated to cost $1.6 billion.

The sale epitomizes the boom and bust cycles which can devastate businesses and communities.

I have vivid memories of visiting the sports shrine several times.

Boreal Biome: Precious Resource

Canada's vast boreal forest which stretches from Newfoundland to the Yukon holds a staggering 208 billion tons of carbon, or the equivalent of 26 years of the world's carbon emissions that spew into the atmosphere by burning fossil fuels.

The report, The Carbon the World Forgot, says, "Future climate change protocols must be better suited to motivate stewardship of the massive quantity of carbon stored in forest and peatland ecosystems."

Interestingly, North America's boreal forests, contain nearly twice as much carbon per hectare as tropical forests. The carbon has been "vastly underestimated" in the past, in part because most of it is not in trees, shrubs and plants but below ground in often metres-deep soils and peats, some thousands of years old.

While federal, provincial and aboriginal leaders are moving to protect the boreal many leading scientists are saying that much more can be done.

One wonders with the final frontiers of the world being developed, if governments are doing enough. One area, for example, is the Athabasca Oil Sands currently being developed in northern Alberta which contains about 170 billion barrels of oil spread over 140,000 square kilometers. This extensive razing of boreal biome is staggering in its scope.

Photo Credit and related Nature Canada Blog.

Sex-ed Teen Texting

Sex-ed in 160 characters? Several text messaging initiatives are reaching out to inquiring teens.

Scarleteen recently began a text message service for its roughly 10,000 American visitors a day and will soon expand to Canada.

"With teenagers, texting is just huge," said Scarleteen founder, Heather Corinna, who's a former kindergarten teacher. Scarleteen is run by 15 trained volunteers, many of whom are studying in a health related field. They answer text messages through the use of a computer program.

A similiar initiative is The Birds and Bees Text Line, opened out of the Adolescent Pregnancy Prevention Campaign of North Carolina.

Most teens traditionally get their sex education from each other which is rife with inaccuracies.

"We want to give them a tool that they can use that's effective with reliable information."

However, some argue that texting should never replace less abbreviated forms of sexual education from health professionals.

Indeed, parents would like to be there to help with sex issues but teens know that simply asking parents might automatically get them in trouble for wondering.

WISE: The Future of Global Education

Education is rarely discussed within a global framework. The World Innovation Summit for Education (WISE) begins today in Doha, Qatar and is sponsored by the Qatar Foundation.

The three day forum brings together 1000 renowned educational experts and decision makers from all sectors of society to shape education models for the 21st century.

'By offering an ideal platform for debate and actions, WISE will focus on finding both new ways of addressing major educational challenges and solid ways of implementing sustainable solutions, tools, and practices.'

It's interesting that the conference gathers academics, governments, private sector, grassroots movements, scientists and artists.

The list of speakers is impressive and provides links to their background and perspective.

Follow the conference on Twitter.

5 Germiest World Attractions

Trip Advisor highlights five tourist sites destined to enthrall and... engulf you with germs.

In these days of H1N1 precautions, of sanitizing and protecting yourself from harbouring bacteria, the following sites may turn some a bit squeamish:

- Blarney Stone, Blarney Ireland: Legend says those who kiss the Blarney Stone, are rewarded with eloquent speech. Up to 400,000 mouths each year meet the stone while bending over backwards.

- Wall of Gum, Seattle Washington: A bizarre tradition at Market Theatre has turned into a giant wall of gum while waiting in line.

- Oscar Wilde's Tomb, Paris: His tomb in Pere-Lachaise cemetery is famously covered in lipstick prints of countless female literary admirers.

- St. Mark's Square in Venice, Italy is famed for its historic beauty and its thousands of hungry pigeons which tourists love to touch and even hold if possible.

- Grauman's Chinese Theatre, Hollywood: This landmark features hand and footprints of some of the biggest media stars. Does one think about bringing gloves and sanitizer before comparing your own paws to those of the greats?

Most people are other people. Their thoughts are someone else's opinions, their lives a mimicry, their passions a quotation. ~Oscar Wilde, De Profundis, 1905

Creativity Springs Eternal

Fred H. Schlegel at Frog Blog connected with me immediately with his post on 'Creative Launch Pad.' A childhood building project initiated by his father resulted in vivid memories. Fred also posits three basic sources of creativity: needed, structured, and serendipitous.

When my daughters were about ten (close to twenty years ago) they and their two cousins spent several summer days decorating their club atop our garden shed with vivid animals and nature scenes. Their cause was 'Save the Earth' and my wife and I made sure they had the water colour paints, brushes, and plywood to create their paintings. To this day, their art works decorate the four walls of the second storey playroom.

Those days were special because their creative energies were let loose. They talked and planned and painted and they were self actualized. It was wonderful.

Creativity is a wonderful state of mind to encourage in children, students, adults, employees, spouses, siblings, senior citizens... Caregivers, employers, teachers need to cultivate it whenever possible. I can think of five important dynamics:

- encouragement. Provide the mindset that all are capable.
- environment. Surround them with the right conditions of support and nurture.
- materials. Make sure they have the materials necessary to work their magic.
- collaboration. Creativity invites discussion and sharing.
- recognition. Provide a positive reinforcement of the product.

I believe in the imagination. What I cannot see is infinitely more important than what I can see. ~Duane Michals, Real Dreams

When patterns are broken, new worlds emerge. ~Tuli Kupferberg

What creative projects do you vividly remember?