Brewed Fresh Daily

"My Mac trouble shooting and problem solving always goes smoother when I've got my shirt off and Depeche Mode cranked on the sound system. I got this helpfull advice via 1st tier apple support. Thought I'd save you a little time.

Today the Seattle Post-Intelligencer ran story announcing Starbucks plans to replace standard blurbs printed on the paper cups with inspiring messages designed to get customers to think and discuss. The 'white cup' has become a Starbucks icon. The current writing has become static. About espresso shots... About the coffee quality... However, printed with refreshed and contemporary comments, the cup may become more than just a container. A few years ago, Starbucks created a magazine called Joe that had essays, stories and articles designed to get customers to think and discuss. It only lasted three issues... Seemed it was more content than the typical customer wanted to digest. Perhaps the bite-sized ideas printed on the cups will inspire coffee talk...

he real surprise with Microsoft Windows XP Service Pack 2 isn't potential compatibility issues, but the mayhem that can occur when SP2 is downloaded onto a system. CRN Test Center engineers evaluated a release candidate two (RC2) version of SP2, and upon completion of the install on three out of five systems, the machines blue-screened. A message stated that "winserv" was missing. The blue screen occurred on both Advanced Micro Devices (AMD) and Intel platforms, and all systems were running Windows XP Pro with Service Pack 1 installed. Every possible avenue to get back into Windows failed...

"There are no secrets to success. It is the result of preparation, hard work, and learning from failure." - Colin Powell

"Christ wasn't born in the beauty of a cathedral! He was born amid the dung of an animal's stall. And he was not crucified among candlesticks, but between two thieves. I'm afraid most churches have completely forgotten this reality." - Maureen Burn

Cerulean Studios has released Trillian Pro 3.0 which is still interacting with AIM, Yahoo, MSN instant messagers with impunity. It has a cool new Instant Lookup feature which links to Wikipedia, and a serverless messaging mode using Rendezvous. The free version is now Trillian Basic 3.0.

Retiring Starbucks chief executive Orin Smith hauled in a $2.5 million bonus this year, part of an overall pay package topping $3.6 million, according to the company's proxy. Smith, who is vacating his post next March, received base pay of nearly $1.2 million to go along with the bonus. His pay jumped 44% year-over-year. Starbucks paid the same sums to chairman Howard Schultz, continuing a practice that began when Schultz stepped down as CEO. James Donald, who will replace Smith, received $2.2 million this year, including a $1.4 million bonus. That represented about a 13% increase in compensation from last year.

Ten days ago, 12,000 workers went on strike in Shenzhen at the factory of a supplier of Wal-Mart. "The hordes of young women employed here say they are required to work 11-hour days, including three hours of mandatory overtime, in order to earn a basic monthly salary of 484 yuan, or about US$58. The women say they must spend nearly half their wage on the drab company dormitories where, as migrants, they must live," the article reprinted in the IHT says. While the women are not organized in a union, contacts have improved thanks to SMS-messages. Now also a weblog has emerged, maintained by the strikers, reports blogger Isaac Mao.

According to NPD Group, notebooks are becoming more popular than TVs. During Black Friday 2004 consumer notebook sales exceeded the sales of all types of TVs. Gartner expects both US and worldwide Q4 2004 consumer notebook shipments to be up almost 22% over 2003. 76% of Americans plan to give a tech gift these holidays, according to Best Buy Holiday Trend Index.

Ellen Simonetti, aka �Queen of the Sky,� has a column today on CNet News.com. In the column, she discusses the blog she wrote as a flight attendant for Delta Airlines and how it led to her termination. Ms. Simonetti also makes reference to other female bloggers, including �Washingtonienne,� the woman who worked in Ohio Sen. Mike DeWine�s Washington office. She explains that she lost her job for inappropriately posting pictures of herself dressed in the company uniform. However, from what pictures I viewed on Ms. Simonetti�s blog, I don�t see that they could be viewed as �inappropriate� pictures. Still, I have my doubts about personal blogs. Although, as a journalist, I am an advocate for freedom of speech and open access to talk, write, sing or blog about anything you darn well choose, including work, I often wonder about personal blogs. Is there really an audience out there that wants to read the private thoughts of a flight attendant, no matter if they�re about a snotty boss, a drunken airline passenger or long flight to Rome? I suppose I could write a blog about my day at Crain�s. Here�s a sample: Today, I wrote a story about Company A. Then I edited a story about Company B. Then I posted a story about Company C. I wrote an Editor�s Choice column. Next, I�m going to clean-up the CrainsCleveland.com site. Repeat. Repeat. Repeat. Oh, and by the way, I work with people. I don�t get in their business. They don�t get in mine. Wow, that�s exciting stuff.

Pennsylvania is not the only state trying to restrict cities from rolling out broadband service. A bill to restrict municipalities from providing telecommunications services (whose definition is broad enough to include wired and wireless broadband) has been introduced in Ohio. Ironically, the bill amends an existing Ohio law that is designed to promote competitiveness in the cable and telecommunications market. I expect more states to try to pass similar bills, no doubt at the urging of existing incumbents. But perhaps the incumbents, including the cellular operators should be worried, as many people are predicting that Wi-Fi will suck revenue out of cellular services.

You don't really know any homosexuals, you just know that there are a lot of them in Lakewood. You know you don't really have an accent, the rest of the world does. You hear there are always famous people in town, but you have never seen one. You hate country music, don't know anyone that does like country music, and yet WGAR just won the music station of the year. You find it hard to believe that someone as cool as Tom Hanks made his start here. But you'd brag about it. You take credit for Cedar Point even though it is 2 hours away. You honestly believe that Cleveland is the best city in the world. You take Dead Man's Curve at 60 mph holding your breath. You know about the Eastside/Westside rivalry, but don't really understand it. Good Morning from the Buzzard Morning Zoo is a jingle you'll never forget. Your neighborhood schools went without sports because all the senior citizens refused to pass the levies. You actually know how to pronounce Cuyahoga. You can't tell Brook Park, Brooklyn, or Old Brooklyn apart. You see Christmas lights still up in July. You find yourself singing Garfield 1-2323 in the shower. You have never ridden in a taxi. You really don't know what the Warehouse District is, you just know that it's a great place to party. You know who "the Jake" really is. You hate Baltimore and you have never been there. St. Patty's Day is your number one holiday, and you aren't Irish. You're still relishing 1987 when we ALMOST made it to the Super Bowl. You counted down with the monument in Tower City to the exact second in 1999, when the Browns came back. You know Tower City isn't a city at all. Stories of Little Italy still send chills down your spine. At least half of your wardrobe is Tribe apparel. Toward the lake means north, and toward the river means south. You know what a "purple k-niff" is (hint spoken by a frequent critic of "Dorothy" and Parma.) Driving is better in the winter because the potholes are filled with snow.

"In terms of the biology of the planet, development is a euphemism for destruction." - Helen Caldicott

GameSnake is a free online service that matches players with pickup games and teams in over 80 sports. GameSnake uses a player's age, gender, location and sports preferences to match them with games and teams happening on the courts, fields and facilities in their area. GameSnake also offers team managers a suite of tools they can use to start and manage their team roster, team games and schedules. GameSnake has also added features to cater to athletes with disabilities. Athletes with disabilities can connect with other athletes and games that cater to their disabilities.

While we are at it, I think it might be a good idea to legalize prostitution. After all, is this not just another form of it? Also, I vote for changing the name of Cleveland. How about calling it Los Vegas, Knew York or Dee C. Originality and innovation are for other cities.

I have met so many people who think the Creative Class is a crock, yet they keep scratching their heads as to how to make places (i.e. Cleveland) more innovative. If they don't get it now, they never will. Innovation is not Optimization. The former involves creative people and environments, adhocracies, and a passion to change the world for the better (revolutionary). The latter is more institutionalized, mechanical and incremental, where people try to squeeze 6 cents out of a nickel (evolutionary). I will make a bold statement by even saying design and creative centric people and environments provide a much stronger foundation for business ethics. Why? Because they encourage originality and bold new direction. They are not interested in copying what has already been done. Unfortunately, those people who are of an optimization mindset, (leaner manufacturing, better financial modeling, more profits through scale) run into an evolutionary wall where the lines between corruption and creativity can get very blurry. Do companies like Worldcom and Enron come to mind? Where is your company / city? Are you blinded by Optimization optimism? You might want to rethink your direction before you run into the evolutionary wall and have to make some tough decisions to survive.

I wrestle with this question myself. I've come to think of lovingkindness as a sort of goodwill towards others, that allows you to be helpful, pleasant and gentle with them. If you compare this to anger then lovingkindness comes from a place of acceptance. Sort of like the thing about "home is where they have to take you in" because they accept you for who you are and can act kindly and lovingly towards you warts and all. Versus anger that says - I don't like this or that about you or your behavior and probably something about myself as well and nothing good's going to happen between us. If you think about it, if we could be more accepting of each other as a complete package, wouldn't we get along better and be able to do more good in the world?

Acting with lovingkindness seems to be a simple matter - but a lot of times it's hard. And in my 'book' it does seem to be borne of understanding AND knowledge. The hard part is that anger is very human and my Yoga teachers tell me anger is at times necessary. I think one of the hardest things is the discipline the self-control - but anger can be helpful too. The thing you have to try to remember is when it's OK for the anger to come out and/or when is it OK to show it ? Another Buddhist teaching/recommendation is that instead of being 'attached' so that you end up being angry - you should be indifferent - to the 'person' causing you to feel angry. But you know if you are a passionate individual (as I am) - it can be one of the most difficult lessons to learn. It's quite a quandary at times, isn't it? I agree very much with Mary Beth that there is good will involved and the more you can do to help others the more it spreads joy in the world and becomes a way for you to practice lovingkindness and karmic work at the same time.

"When I'm in my painting, I'm not aware of what I'm doing. It's only after a sort of 'get acquainted' period that I see what I have been about. I have no fears about making changes, destroying the images, etc., because the painting has a life of it's own."

[Free the Grapes] refers to the movement gaining popular support from just about everyone it seems (except wine wholesalers and state bureaucrats) to dump the outdated laws in the United States restricting the interstate shipping of wine... Professor Bainbridge has written about the laws in a Tech Central Station article, stating "[t]he justifications advanced in defense of these laws are, put bluntly, ludicrous." And "[i]t's plain and simple protectionism. Michigan, New York, and 22 other states [including Ohio] are discriminating against their own consumers so as to protect entrenched local interests." Eliminating the laws would help many small businesses, according to the SBSC. It would help the nation's 2,000 small wineries which would benefit from direct sales over the Internet. And if this site is any indication (check out the membership directory), myriads of small local restaurants, beverage drive-throughs and other wine retailers think overturning the laws would help them. Repeal would give them wider wine choices and provide more price competition, leading ultimately to lower wine prices.

Ohio only allows direct shipment of limited quantities of beer and wine if they are not available at all in the state. But Ohio's antiquated liquor policies don't stop there: though they recently chucked a 70-year ban on Sunday sale of liquor, many local communities still disallow them. And what's with only being able to buy hard liquor at state-owned and operated liquor stores? Not to mention that a state-mandated 135% markup on each bottle makes Ohio the most expensive place to buy wine.

"From a Buddhist perspective, anger comes from ignorance ... anger and loving kindness are contradictory to one another ... the more loving kindness you have, the happier you are." - Dalai Lama

Cleveland Mayor Jane Campbell outlined her priorities for next year, including moving forward on the convention center, exploring options for Burke Lakefront Airport, using tax incentives to attract companies, and advocating for state legislation to bring casino gambling to Cleveland.

Alexander Halavais, in his paper, Tracking Ideas in the Blogosphere, uses a very interesting term to refer to what is happening in the blogosphere, �discourse at the boundary between conversation and publication�... I think this represents some of the tension and power of blogs. They are public conversation, more lively and personal than normal publication, and more permanent and accessible than normal conversation. They create a global conversation through personal publication. Each participant has their platform to engage in this dialog on their own blog and in the comment fields of others.

Steve Rubel points out Heineken has jumped on board the latest and the greatest new media channel - the podcast. A podcast is a lo-fi MP3 file created on a computer (or with any audio - video will soon follow - recording device for that matter) that can be subscribed to using RSS and easily and automatically transferred to your iPod or any other MP3 device. For its first podcast (to the right of the site), Heineken interviews Thirst Resident DJ Daniele Davoli. For advertisers, this is a new and untapped medium. While early adopters are gleeful podcasts are commercial free, when everyone is carrying around their all-in-one digital device, podcasting is how they will receive media content and advertising - though hopefully in a format more interesting than the tired :60. More likely, entire podcast channels will be hosted and sponsored as a "service" to consumers as is this Heineken podcast. Be smart and check this medium out now. Don't be left playing catch up.

It somehow seems appropriate that it was while making the 350-kilometre trek from my home in Niagara Falls, Ontario to an indoor mountain biking park in Cleveland, Ohio that I drove through my first snowfall of the season. It is, after all, the nasty winter climate that made Ray Petro decide to open Ray�s Indoor MTB Park, a 66,000 square foot North Shore-style playground in an old warehouse in West Cleveland. Petro is a 38-year-old construction business owner who left a life of drinking, drugs and partying behind eight years ago in favour of a new addiction - biking. �In 1997 I was going to be 30 and I decided the life of my 20s was going to kill me, so I thought �I�ve got to find something else to do�,� he said. �I was sitting in a bar and a guy was reading Mountain Bike Action.� �That first summer, I was obsessed with it. I was the local bike shop�s best customer. I was like a kid in a candy store, but now I could afford to buy whatever I wanted. �Then fall comes and I�m flipping out. The weather turned nasty and I started getting into this funk,� he said. So Petro decided to take matters into his own hands. After years of planning, he decided to launch Ray�s Indoor MTB Park....

It should take only about 15 - 20 minutes of your time and is completely anonymous. The success of my research project, and my graduation with Honors, is dependent on your participation.

Art Mobs invites you to attend our opening event on Dec. 8. The event will feature the work of student artists from Marymount Manhattan College. The Art Mobs team, with the help of YellowArrow, will demonstrate how mobile technologies can affect the way we experience, and communicate about, urban space and art. Guests are invited to share their experience of student artworks by text messaging on their mobile phones. View the work while reading the most recent 4 text messages left by others�then leave your own message for the next guests. Guests may also download podcasts of interviews with several of the artists about their works. View the work while listening to the podcast on your iPod or other mp3 player. We hope to build an interactive database, oral/aural and textual, of shared discourse around the artworks. We are excited to be hosting this event with the Department of Communication Arts, the Department of Art, and YellowArrow. If you can't join us (or if you're not in the New York area) check back on this blog after the 8th to see pictures and video of the event!

The Cleveland-based state-funded economic development organization announced late Thursday it would invest as much as $1.2 million in five Northeast Ohio companies, including at least $80,000 into Embrace Pet Insurance, a direct-to-consumer provider of pet insurance policies.

The recent trend toward �open innovation� in corporate America is changing the way communities approach economic development policy. In fact, it�s making public policy on economic development more important than ever because prosperity emerges from the interaction. Open innovation � a term coined by Harvard professor Henry William Chesbrough � requires a more public and collaborative approach as a way of developing new products, especially in the technology sector. By placing research labs close to college campuses and sharing knowledge more openly, the idea goes, we are more likely to see successful spinoff companies, and the flow of profitable new products will accelerate...

I went to bed on Tuesday night with the 2004 election still in doubt, and woke up with that sick feeling in my stomach, the feeling that bad news awaited. And the news was bad: 48% Kerry, 51% Bush, despite the best efforts of lots of people, much of it focused in my home city of Cleveland, Ohio. After some anger, a little alcohol, and many conversations with friends, I realized that this defeat was no reason to give up. I'm offering this website to help put the election results in perspective and offer suggestions for moving forward from here.

In retail, good service is paramount for customer loyalty. But when a supplier is knocking at the back door with a delivery during business hours, sometimes a retail clerk has to momentarily neglect a customer to receive it. For the omnipresent coffeehouse chain Starbucks Corp., radio-frequency identification technology could help address those types of dilemmas. Sean Dettloff, manager for partner and asset protection at Starbucks, told attendees at the national Cargo Security Council Radio Frequency Identification conference Monday in Long Beach, Calif., that the company is considering using RFID to help with deliveries...

Earlier today I spent hours taking a final exam for a module of studies that will some day lead me to certification as a yoga teacher. One of my classmates, an Indian woman from Indianapolis, stayed at our home overnight in preparation for the exam. As I drove her back to the aiport, we spoke of the importance of destroying everything that stands in the way of true life. Suddenly I heard the THWACK of a coconut being pounded on cement. Last summer our yogic studies class went on retreat. The swami in charge broke a coconut at the end of the closing ceremony to signify breaking the bondage of the ego, a critical step in the life of the spiritual aspirant. So I gaze at the cross. In my mind's eye I also see jagged pieces of coconut lying on cement. I cast a sideways glance at the sweet old woman sitting next to me in the pew. I think of all the things that have been broken these last few years, and with sighs too deep for words, I get it once again. The coconut must be smashed. The ego must be destroyed--on a cross, in loss, in sorrow, in painful confrontation. Redemption happens, thanks be to God, swallowing up brokenness in its unpredictable embrace. But the price,at times, feels deceptively prohibitive.

The 2005 SPJ Awards will have a series of awards for independent e-publications, Web sites and blogs. Our intent is to keep the awards program state-of-the-art, and at the sametime, open to new participants. We need to get the word out to e-publications, bloggers, Web sites and internet organizations and societies beginning Jan. 1, 2005. Many thanks to Steve Fitzgerald the Lakewood Buzz for helping to develop the categories. Web sites and Web logs eligible for awards in this category must be independently published, and not affiliated with a newspaper, radio or TV organization. All entries must have been published online during 2004. Best of Show: Best General News Site � This prize will be awarded to the best overall Web site. Sites will be judged on news content, design and navigation. Submit your URL(s) to www.OhioSPJawards.org; judges will call up your site...OR submit printouts of six Web pages of your site that are representative. Best Web log � Blogs are defined as Web pages of commentary or opinion, This prize will be awarded for best single overall Blog. Entries will be judged on quality of writing. Submit your URL(s) to www.OhioSPJawards.org; judges will call up your blog. OR submit printouts of six Web pages of your blog that are representative. Best Graphic Design/Navigation � This prize will be awarded for Web site design and/or art illustration, ease of navigation and quality of links. Submit printouts of six Web pages that are representative. Best News Story � Awarded to the best story or series reflecting hard news of the day. Judges will look at quality of writing, sourcing and overall presentation. Submit entries in hardcopy only. Best Feature � Awarded to the best feature story or series. Judges will look at quality of writing, creativity and overall presentation. Submit entries in hardcopy only. Best Business/Tech Story � Awarded to the best coverage of a business or technology topic. Judges will look at quality of writing, sourcing and overall presentation. Submit entries in hardcopy only. Best Medical/Science Story � Awarded to the best coverage of a medical or science topic. Judges will look at quality of writing, sourcing and overall presentation. Submit entries in hardcopy only Best Sports Coverage � Awarded to the best sports reporting (story or single series). Judges will look at quality of writing, sourcing and overall presentation. Submit entries in hardcopy only. Best Arts/Entertainment Story � Awarded to the best coverage (story or single series) of an arts/entertainment topic. Judges will look at quality of writing, creativity and overall presentation. Submit entries in hardcopy only. Editorial Writing � Awarded to the single most persuasive editorial that addresses an inadequacy or takes a position on a state or local level issue. Submit entries in hardcopy only. Photography � Awarded to the best black-white and/or color photography online. Judges will look at technical composition, creativity and overall visual impact. Submit printouts of up to three Web pages of best photography. Headline Writing � Awarded to the best single headline or series of headlines. Judges will look for reader appeal, impact and/or humor. Submit printouts only of best Web page headlines. Cost: $25 per submission. Make check payable to SPJ. Mail entries and fees to: SPJ Awards PMB 348 8190 Beechmont Ave. Cincinnati, Ohio 45255-6117

- A news outlet that creates new content, aggregates the best outside content, and makes sense of everything, presenting it in a clear, simple format for the consumption of everyone. - A company founded on the values of serving the public and allowing the public to serve journalism by participating in all discussions of mission and direction. - A company that answers directly to its readers and consumers and doesn't talk down to them from editorial ivory towers. - A company that is focused on the value of journalism, the practice, and not only of marketing and stock dividends. - A group of like-minded people who are willing to start from scratch and build a new way of doing smart, groundbreaking citizen journalism. Not too amateur, not too professional but something in between. - A company that is flexible and knowledgeable, with people who "get it" and understand how they can tap the latest technology to improve the craft of journalism -- and help it survive. These new journalists would blend the research done online via search and databases, the production process of a content management system, the community involvement of bulletin boards and wikis, and the delivery mechanisms of RSS, blogs and mobile platforms. Rather than teach old dogs new tricks, employ techno-literate people from inception. The "everyone gets it" company. - A commitment to provide more transparency for all writers and editors, including political leanings, conflicts of interest and other details that will help readers know who they are. A balance of privacy for journalists with the public's need to know who they are and where they come from. - A staff and board of advisers of englightened media people and bloggers such as Jeff Jarvis, Jay Rosen, Elizabeth Osder, Susan Mernit, Matt Welch, Howard Owens, Robert Cox, Steve Rubel, John Battelle, James Lileks, Bob Somerby, Dan Gillmor, and many others who walk the talk. - A company where journalists follow the spirit of the rules and ethics of journalism -- and not the letter, as fundamentalists would. - A company where people realize that the Web audience is potentially global and therefore work together to create stories and packages that cross national and cultural boundaries. - A place where news will be a conversation and not a one-way lecture. Where the readers will also report, edit, fact-check and photograph the world around them.

Leadership is communicating people's worth and potential so clearly that they come to see it in themselves. Notice the words worth and potential. People must feel an intrinsic sense of worth - that is, they have intrinsic value - totally apart from being compared to others, and that they are worthy of unconditional love, regardless of behavior or performance. Then when you communicate their potential and create opportunities to develop and use it, you are building on a solid foundation. To communicate people's potential and give them a sense of extrinsic worth is a flawed foundation, and their potential will never be optimized.

We'd like to invite you to join us for some Holiday cheer at this groovy Ohio City gallery where we will showcase jewelry and accessories from 12 designers...including Hollywood film jewelry designer Dana Schneider. Susan Scaparotti of Red i Designs and BUZZ's Gina Desantis will be available to personally help you choose from their new jewelry collections as well. All of our wonderful wearables will be surrounded by BUZZ Gallery's fabulous grouping of locally created artwork at unbelievably low prices! The LINGG Accessory Showcase Friday, December 3rd 6pm -10pm at Buzz Gallery 1836 W. 25th (at Bridge Ave, between Opa and The Old Angle Tavern) THE DESIGNERS: Dana Schneider - jewelry Adia Kibur - jewelry BCTZ - Cleveland T shirts NaNa and Zebra Designs Danielle Welmond - jewelry Gai Russo - jewelry Jewels - handbags Jenny Carafa -jewelry Rebecca Norman - jewelry S. Tector Metals Great Falls Metalworks - cufflinks Red i Designs Gina DeSantis - jewelry