Potluck Quote of the Day: Howard Zinn on Monopoly

Greetings to those of you in Germany, Spain and Australia........as well as to those of you who might just be checking us out on your wi fi from Ozo Coffee Pearl in Boulder, Colo., where perhaps you are reading a print edition of "Boulder Weekly" or from Publik Coffee in downtown Salt Lake City, Utah...........

Tonight, we start a series of quotes from noteworthy people, both alive and dead, who made contributions to society (yes, we will not quote Charles Manson, but Marilyn Manson is a possibility).

And, we start with the late very progressive scholar Howard Zinn (1922-2010). Once you read this quip, you will understand why we went with a Monopoly game board; Scrooge McDuck was out alternative choice.

Here is the quote from Zinn:

"Capitalism has always been a failure for the lower classes. It is now beginning to fail for the middle classes."




 https://www.publikcoffee.com/#/locations

http://www.ozocoffee.com

http://www.boulderweekly.com/

 

Tax Day Tweets: Congrats to North Carolina State Senator Phil Berger Sr. for Helping the Economy of Neighboring States

It has been a while since we last blogged on March 11th, but the dubious actions by North Carolina Republicans, such as state senator Phil Berger, Sr. from Eden (pict. bottom) to pass HB-2 otherwise known as 'the bathroom bill' in Raleigh, has even made headlines in Israel. Today, the 90s rock band Pearl Jam joined Bruce Springsteen, Ringo Starr and Boston in cancelling concerts across the state.

But, comedians Louis C.K., who performed in Asheville, and Joel McHale (of "Community") in Durham, both went ahead with their performances and gave profits from the shows to North Carolina gay, lesbian and transgender rights groups.

We actually used to reside in Berger's district; it's good to now be residing in a legislative district that strongly leans Democratic.

Though we also differ with the far-left politics of Michael Moore (pict. top) who should share a burrito and margarita with Berger at the Green Burro in downtown Greensboro (imagine the photo-op), we feature a tweet from Moore, who is supporting Bernie Sanders (we prefer Hillary Clinton) for the Democratic nomination for president, in our three tweets of the day.

We also want to take a moment to congratulate University of Denver gymnast Nina McGee (pict. center) for winning the NCAA floor exercise title at the women's collegiate gymnastics championships held in Fort Worth, Tex., over the weekend.

Here are the tweets:

1) Michael Moore: Clinton and Sanders now virtually tied in new national poll (NBC); Sanders has also shaved 7 points off Clinton's lead in NY (CBS).

2) The Paris Review: 'Me gift is to take relatively simple things and contemplate them to the point of madness,' John Barth."

3) Donkey Coffee (coffee shop in Athens, Ohio): Back from our employee dinner_ we are open again, come on in!

 http://downtowngreensboro.net/

http://www.ncdp.org/

http://equalitync.org/

http://donkeycoffee.com/

Top Ten Comics from Sunday Roanoke Times: Dogs on Espressos or Turkish Coffees

Stephan Pastis, the award-winning comic strip artist who writes and draws "Pearls Before Swine" is visiting Fountain Books in Richmond, Va., on Thursday. 'Pearls' takes second place this week behind "Speed Bump," which literally illustrates what dogs would be like if they drank too much caffeine. We imagine this comic strip was liked by (mr) Shannon Wheeler, who created the independent comic book anti-hero Too Much Coffee Man, more than 20 years ago.

Dogs were also featured in "Funky Winkerbean," as therapy dogs (pictured bottom) take center stage.

As for 'Pearls,' the strip features Zebra and Crocodile talking about the ethics of using Norwegian lemmings (pictured center) in a croquet game, which arguably makes the comic strip the most surreal of mainstream comic strips with the exception of perhaps "WUMO," which is not carried by "The Roanoke Times."

One surprise this week thanks to a surprisingly funny "Hi and Lois," the strip makes our top ten as we fully understand how Millenials have taken to things we grew up with, such as typewriters and rotary phones.

Here is our top ten:

1) Speed Bump

2) Pearls Before Swine

3) Agnes

4) Garfield

5) Get Fuzzy

6) Doonesbury

7) Funky Winkerbean

8) Dilbert

9) Zits

10) Hi and Lois


http://www.fountainbookstore.com/event

http://www.roanoke.com

http://www.gocomics.com/speedbump

http://www.gocomics.com/pearlsbeforeswine

http://www.funkywinkerbean.com/

DC Week (1 of 8): A quote from Thomas Jefferson

We begin our week-long salute to Washington, DC, America's capital (hopefully, we've taught a six-year-old child in Erzincan, Turkey, something new about the United States), with a quote from Thomas Jefferson:

"Honesty is the first chapter of the book of wisdom."

There is a Thomas Jefferson Elementary School in the DC-suburb of Falls Church, Va. His historic home Monticello, located in Charlottesville, Va., is privately-owned (we believe) so tours are still open to the public.

Alas, the Jefferson Memorial in Washington, DC, is closed because of the federal government shutdown.

While in C'ville, one can also stop at Atlas Coffee; we're sure TJ would approve.

http://www.monticello.org

http://www.atlascoffeecville.com

Top Ten Even More Things To Do List

1. Catch up on "Bates Motel"

2. Send out Thank You cards

3. Follow the weekend GalataSaray-Fenerbahce Turkish soccer game on Twitter

4. Return library books

5. Buy new pair of slippers

6. Make some Seattle's Best Coffee

7. See what the weather in Ankara, Turkey, is like

8. See what the weather in Portland, Maine, is like

9. Avoid Chapel Hill, NC, at all costs (UNC is having commencement this weekend)

10. Pick up the Xanax (not actually a medication we're taking!)

The Weekly Grocery List

Here is our grocery list for the next coming week or so. We should point out that we thought of Donald Duck Orange Juice, which is either difficult to find or no longer in existence, when we came upon what we thought were Finnish Donald Duck comic books, but we now think they are actually Swedish. If you really wanna know, Donald Duck is called Kalle Anka is Swedish.

Bulgarian yogurt is a bit of an in-joke. My feeling is that if a grocer here in America put Bulgarian or Turkish yogurt beside Greek yogurt, neither would sell nearly as well even if it was the better product.

Here is our list:

1) orange juice

2) Life cereal

3) bagels

4) yogurt

5) ginger ale

6) coffee

7) stamps

8) toothpaste

9) cucumbers

10) cat food

Tweets from DNC in Charlotte_ An Empty Chair for bin Laden

Today, we continue logging tweets from the Democratic National Convention (DNC) which officially gets underway tomorrow in Charlotte, NC, but many meet and greet events, including delegation breakfast talks, have started up.

"The Washington Post" is focusing on Gov. Martin O'Malley of Maryland (pictured top) as he is one of the most -coveted speakers at the convention. Former Virginia governor Tim Kaine, who is running for an open U.S. senate seat, will also speak in Charlotte. Just so there is no confusion, O"Malley is not the governor of North Carolina, that distinction belongs to Gov. Beverly Perdue, also a Democrat, who is stepping down this year at the end of her term.

We are also using a coffee cup from the Turkish coffee Kahve Dunyasi (Coffee World) since many progressives have started the Coffee Party in opposition to the far right Tea Party movement, which has actually propelled fringe candidates, such as Sen. Mike Lee (R-Utah), into congressional representatives!

Here is a look at some of the tweets from last night, from the right, the left and the center:

1) @theobserver (Charlotte Observer): Was that George Clooney jogging down Tryon Street?

2) @DavidCornDC (David Corn, a liberal journalist with "Mother Jones"): Even Clint Eastwood said we were halfway through a comeback! That is, before he began his career as a performance activist.

3) @reason ("Reason" is a libertarian magazine): Charlotte protests already bigger than in Tampa.

4) @KyDems (Kentucky Democratic Party): Ky Democrats starting to arrive in Charlotte. KDP is finishing convention walk through.

5) @ChrisRockoz (We thought this was the real Chris Rock, but it appears to be an impersonator. Nevertheless, it is very amusing): Democrats should have an empty chair for the entire DNC and when someone asks who it belongs to, they can say Osama bin Laden.

6) @StephenFHayes (Stephen F. Hayes, a columnist for the conservative publication "The Weekly Standard"): Advice to all in #Charlotte. Avoid the Orange Cab company. An hour late for pickup. Told four times cab was 'five minutes' away.

7) @BarryHouse (Barry House is a liberal activist in Illinois): I wish just once #Democrats would be as vicious at their convention as #Republicans always are at theirs.


http://www.motherjones.com

http://www.kydemocrat.com

http://www.reason.com

http://www.weeklystandard.com

http://www.ncdp.org

http://www.mddems.org

http://www.charlotteobserver.com

Image of the Day/Week-Vanilla Latte

Today, we feature an image of something we all love at the office here in Oshkosh, Wisc., (not really where we are at), and that is the vanilla latte. We usually prefer the hot vanilla lattes when the weather is cold or in the morning, and conversely the cold version goes better when the weather is hot or in the afternoon.

A great place to have either version of the beverage for those in the Tarheel State is the Green Bean in downtown Greensboro, NC, an independent coffee shop, which actually has its own blog! (www.thegreenbeancoffeehouse.blogspot.com).

SIDEBAR: We just adored this story in today's edition of "The Onion," a satirical fake news publication which once got in trouble for a story that said American women's Olympic gymnast Shawn Johnson from Des Moines, Iowa,www.theonion.comwww.greensborobean.comwww.thegreenbeancoffeehouse.blogspot.com had died from complications due to a gymnastics accident. Of course, we should point out to anyone not reading this carefully, that Johnson is alive and well. Oh, back to what we were talking about; here is the headline: 'Human Feet Originally Used for Walking, Anthropologists Report' the story cites 'sources' from Oxford, England in its current 'story.'

Casulaties of Modern Technology (8 of 12)_ The Original Mr. Coffee

There were actually other Casualties of Modern Technology that we considered posting about including the slide projector, but since NPR reported that Samuel L. Glazer, the co-owner of the company that makes Mr. Coffee, died on March 12 at age 89 in Cleveland, Ohio, we thought it was perhaps more appropriate to go with Mr. Coffee.

The coffee-maker is actually still in existence, but it has become considerably more considerable than the ones that New York Yankees legend Joe DiMaggio (1912-1999) promoted, starting in 1973.

Today's Mister Coffee offers coffee-makers which can make lattes and frappes, which help cut down on Starbucks purchases.

Originally, Mister Coffee, which sold over one million products in 1974, was an automatic-drip kitchen appliance.

Roanoke vs. Greensboro (Entry 1 of 6)- Mill Mountain or The Green Bean

First of all, I want to express my sincerest apologies to (mr) Shannon Wheeler for using an image of his most creation Too Much Coffee Man without his expressed written permission. We are actually Faebook friends, but since times are hard for comic strip artists, he could very well sue us for ten million dollars even though we don't make one cent from this blog!

Today, I am putting myself 'in the bedroom' as I make comparisons between my beloved hometown of Roanoke, Va., and my wonderful adopted city of Greensboro, NC. Of course, using these adjectives will not change the fact that I have mortal enemies in both zip codes!

Like most communities, these two cities are very proud of their respective independent coffee shops. We should point out that while there is only one Green Bean, which is located in downtown Greensboro, there are actually six Mill Mountain coffee shops, four of which are in the Roanoke area. To make matters more confusing, apparently the Mill Mountain store in Blacksburg pulled a Kosovo and became a separate outfit though they still have the same name as the other five coffee-shops.

The coffee and specialty drinks at both places are quite good, and if there was a blind taste test between one's cappucino or latte and the other's, I could not honestly say which one was better.

However, I must profess the fact the Green Bean features live music while Mill Mountain does not makes me like the independent Greensboro coffeeshop more.

This year alone The Green Bean has featured local legend folk singer Bruce Piephoff (a personal friend) in addition to Miss Lana Rebel (pictured here), a folk singer who literally travels across America with her bandmates in a schoolbus purchased in Vancouver, Wash., through Craig's List, and Bess Rogers from Brooklyn, NY, who actually performs acoustic covers of 1980s hair band songs. (Yeah, something like "Is This Love" by Whitesnake though I don't think that's one of the songs she covers!).

Road Trip (Entry 3 of 20)- U of Kentucky to Ohio St.

Perhaps, today is the one day when I should send a 'telegram' thanking the annoying person sitting in close proximity to me at a public library in Smryna, Georgia* as I have tons of stuff to do, but we wanted to make sure we got this posted today or at least before the office zombies in Portland, Oregon, stumble upon this site as it is approximately 8:30 a.m. there as we speak.

We are continuing our look at the approximate distances between two college campuses who have to face each other in the NCAA tournament.

Today, we are looking at two places which are actually pretty close together in Ohio State (in Columbus, Ohio) and the University of Kentucky (in Lexington, Ky). Both schools have gymnastics programs and if we were pressed to find out how long "Mr. Ed" (pictured above; we thought of it because Kentucky is famous for horses) was on the air via Wikipedia, we would tell you how those respective teams are doing!

Hopefully, either a gymnast or coach from one or both of these teams can fill us in, or perhaps someone from collegegymfans.com; it would be so appreciated!

But, instead of actually going from campus to campus, we are looking at the driving distnace between Third Street Stuff, a coffee joint in Lexington, Ky., and the Northstar Cafe on N. High Street in Columbus, Ohio, (one of several establishments in what we believe to be a local chain).

Is the distance:

A) 3 hrs, 10 minutes

B) 3 hours, 25 minutes

C) 3 hours, 45 minutes

D) 3 hours, 55 minutes

Of course, we are not counting traffic congestion time!

*- We are not actually in Smyrna, Ga., which is said one of the nicer suburbs of Atlanta. That annoying person almost caused me to forget to mention this! The original Smyrna is in Turkey; the once predominantly Greek city in Ottoman times, that is now Izmir, is Turkey's third largest behind Istanbul and Ankara.

Revised Top 10 New Year's Resolutions

There were actually 50 New Year's Eve resolutions that I made; many of them will never, ever be made public--- not even if I am water-boarded (sorry, Dick Cheney!).

But, we came up with ten that are somewhat plausible or reasonable. Hopefully, we will actually get or three of these things accomplished.

And, of course, I would never resort to Pinocchio tactics to go out with an attractive woman....why is my nose growing?

Taking a cruise down the Nile River was actually number 39, but that has been removed for painfully obvious reasons, though hopefully there will be enough political stability in Egypt to go see King Tut's tomb one day.

Here is the list:

1. Go out with a cute girl you've just met for coffee (well, it will have to be someone else besides Natalie Portman!)

2. Lose about 15-20 pounds...yeah, I say this every year

3. Go to Asheville already (I live in NC, but it's still a bit of a drive from Roanoke Rapids*).

4. Eat more Turkish food, less Mexican food (sorry amigos, nothing personal, but I could go for a good steak burrito right now...)

5. Try to watch fewer bad movies

6. Volunteer for the local animal shleter or a non-profit group with no political agenda

7. Volunteer for the Democratic Party so Palinzilla does not become prez!

8. Write a memoir, a novel or a play already (this is always on the resolutions list!)

9. Figure out what the guy with the attractive girlfriend did to get her, even if it involves lying!

10. More mocha; less cappucino!

*- I don't actually live in Roanoke Rapids, NC, but I had to come up with a place to thwart potential cyberstalkers.

Things We Learned on Twitter- Greensboro Coffee Shop Closes for the Day

Today, we learned on Twitter that Greensboro Coffee, a coffee joint on State Street in Greensboro, NC, is closing for the day due to flooding from snow that grazed through the Gate City over the weekend. Here was their statement regarding the matter:

"Greensboro Coffee announces it's closing for the day because of flooding issues. We will have to close for the day. We will have it all cleaned up and be open on Tuesday at 7 a.m. Enjoy your snow."

The store's special features include a White Chocolate Frapp.

The image above is from the comic book "Too Much Coffee Man" by Shannon Wheeler, a Facebook friend of mine, that was an underground hit in the 1990s. Wheeler now lives in Portland, Oregon, at last report and his comic book was actually turned into an opera!

50 Beers from Around the World- Red Stripe (Jamaica)

"Hooray, beer!"

That is the famous catch logo for Red Stripe beer, the most famous export from Jamaica after the late Bob Marley.

The beer is named after its red stripe logo (did we really need to wiki that?), and it was first brewed in the capital Kingston on July 31, 1918.

Red Stripe was first imported to the United States in 1985, but it wasn't as popular as initially anticipated. That all changed when the brew began sponsoring reggae events and by the mid-1990s one could even find the beer in grocery stores in places like Mount Airy, NC.

There is also some interesting trivia associated with the beer. Reportedly, it was temporarily banned in America in 1989 because drug smugglers were putting cannibis in several of the brand's brown bottles.

In 2009 during the Beer Summit with Harvard professor Henry Louis Gates Jr., Cambridge, Mass., police officer Jim Crowley, President Barack Obama and Veep Joe Biden, Gates initially wanted to have a Red Stripe. But, word spread out and Boston beer lovers and perhaps right-wing hotheads like Rush Limbuagh made an issue of it, so Gates ordered a Sam Adams Light instead. Limbaugh, who is a cigar fan, has probably smoked a Cuban himself!

SIDEBAR: Shocking news out of Turkey as a company in the southeast city of Gaziantep has developed 'instant Turkish coffee' according to Yigal Schieifer with the blog Kebabistan. According to the post/news story, Semesttin Yilmaz developed the new 'Shazili' brand of instant Turkish coffee with both sweet and non-sweet versions to find a unique niche on the market. But, according to Kebabistan, the real thing should be enjoyed at the Mandabatmaz Restaurant in Istanbul. Closer to home, one can drink Turkish coffee at Tallulah's*, a Turkish joint, in Chapel Hill, NC.

*-Alas, it is not spelled correctly on our links!

Happy Birthday to the Backstreet Buzz Coffee House!

I want to wish a happy second birthday to the Backstreet Buzz Coffeehouse in Reidsville, NC, which is going to go on with scheduled activities celebrating the occasion tonight in spite of earlier concerns of inclement weather which has greatly affected communities like Rocky Mount, Va., a mere hour and a half away.

I always enjoy driving down Route 29 from Greensboro to visit Dave and Linda and their establishment which has got considerable regional recognition in the Greensboro/High Point area.

The establishment has featured musical performances from the likes of Greensboro's acclaimed folk singer Bruce Piephoff, who performed at the Backstreet Buzz in April.

Their food specialties include the white bean soup and their California Wrap. Of course, they also have plenty of coffee and tea beverages which lead to go with this image of Too Much Coffee Man from Portland, Oregon-cartoonist Shannon Wheeler (actually a man).

Though they are not celebrating an anniversary this weekend, the Chapel Hill Comics store in Chapel Hill, NC, offers a great selection of off-beat comics and graphic novels like Too Much Coffee Man.

On Feb. 21, Chapel Hill Comics will host graphic novelist Ben Towle who will sign copies of his new book "Amelia Earhardt: This Broad Ocean" from 2-4 p.m. And, they will feature a signing from Ursula Vermon who will sign copies of her latest book "Dragonbreath Attack of the Ninja Turtles."

If one is driving through Reidsville or Chapel Hill, two communities which are about 75 miles apart, they may wish to look at their web sites to see what's going on:

http://www.backstreetbuzzcoffeehouse.com

http://www.chapelhillcomics.com

Silly Image to Fill Space- Ms. Spears Drinking Starbucks

Yeah, it's a slow news day.

Top 10 Coffee Dates

Since it does NOT appear that the almighty one will grant my wish (see last entry), I have come to the conclusion that I could and should settle for coffee dates instead.

But, of course, a single guy has a Constitutional right to make a wish list of coffee dates that he would love to have even if most of the women on the list are either married or engaged or otherwise attached at the hip.

Alas, I had to cut a few names like Parker Posey and Paris Hilton from the dream list, but Bollywood star Priyanka Chopra (pictured here) and Turkish actress Nurgul Yesilcay (who is great in Fatih Akin's "The Edge of Heaven") made the list:


1. Uma Thurman

2. Scarlett Johansson

3. Jennifer Love Hewitt*

4. Natalie Portman

5. Penelope Cruz

6. Elle MacPherson**

7. Priyanka Chopra

8. Rachel Weisz

9. Sarah Silverman

10. Nurgul Yesilcay


*-I know I will get teased for this one

**-Hey, someone who is actually older than me!

Notice Mill Mountain Coffee and Tea in Roanoke, Va., on the links list. It's one of my favorite places for coffee as is the Green Bean in Greensboro, NC, but they didn't have a link!

Useful Links:

http://www.coffeegeek.com

http://www.starbucks.com

http://millmountaincoffee.com