A bit of randomness

So I'm brewing my afternoon pot 'o coffee, strictly for my survival, and I started thinking (and that's where it all went wrong): "Ecky Thump! Why are the 'coffee' colors for walls more creamy and tan than brown and dark black? Coffee fresh brewed isn't blonde. You have to make it that way. How many people drink their coffee unadulterated vs. adulderated?" So yeah, those were my thoughts of about 30 minutes ago.
Plus, I was thinking that this Sumatra sure does smell like cat whiz before you brew it. It's SO good though! (Don't worry Jules, it was half off...)

Topic for discussion #87

Yes, I should be working but this is seriously the first time I've been in the office and acutally been able to stay in here for a little while without suffocating. The upstairs AC went on the fritz Friday I believe, and the guy fit us in today. It's absolutely freezing up here. Now 70 degrees isn't "freezing," but when I had gotten used to dealing with the upstairs being 87 degrees, I had to switch to pants and a sweatshirt until I get used to it again. Of course, the downstairs hasn't quit the whole time, so at least you could go downstairs to breath and it chilled off nicely Friday and Sunday evenings after the rain, so it wasn't unbearable- at least for me. Dad and I were the only ones that slept upstairs though. (My parents' room is on the first floor. He switched with Mehsha.) So, before I get to work, I'm going to blog about something that I've wanted to blog about for almost a week now.

I believe I was getting my daily dose of CNNHLN Wednesday when they ran this story about an Ohio woman who was upset about what it said on the side of her Starbucks cup. I assume most of you have seen the whole story or heard part of it, but she's a real idiot. To stop drinking Starbucks just because of a silly little quote is stupid. The quote that upset this woman read:

Why in moments of crisis do we ask God for
strength and help? As cognitive beings, why would we ask something that may well
be a figment of our imaginations for guidance? Why not search inside ourselves
for the power to overcome? After all, we are strong enough to cause most of the
catastrophes we need to endure.

It's attributed to Bill Schell, a Starbucks customer from London, Ontario. I think almost eveyone that reads this has had a cup of Starbucks coffee with one of these sayings on the side. In fact, P. June actually blogged about one that she got a while ago. This woman is all upset because of the atheistic opinions expressed on the side of the cup. She's quoted as saying:

As someone who loves God, I was so offended by that. I
don't think there needs to be religious dialogue on it. I just want coffee.

For pete's sake! If you just want a cup of coffee, buy the beans and brew it at home! And P.S.- woman there are plenty of independent coffee companies that just have plain white cups and their emblem printed on the side of the cup jacket, a la Jittery Joes (but of course, those are just an Athens thing). Just incase you haven't noticed, you're doing exactally what the purpose of those quotes on the side of the cups are supposed to do: spark discussion. It was funny because on CNNHLN they showed a clip of the PR person for Starbucks saying that the cup has done it's job, sparked discussion. Tricia Moriarty, the PR person, said that they are not the opinions of the Starbucks company. Hell-O! How could they be the opinions? They've had so many comments that are on boths sides of the issues (religious, political, etc), that's just whacked to accuse them of supporting this opinion. The Ohio offended woman (Stu Pid-Idiot) said that she wasn't going to buy Starbucks anymore. It won't stop me, and I definitely don't agree with this guy's comments, even though I know I'm paying more for all the fancy stuff written on the side of the cup, but sometimes you just gotta have a cup of Starbucks and nothing seems to compare. Yeah, they're really hurting if they lose $4 a day from one coffee drinker. I think Poly will more than make up for what she's not going to be drinking anymore.

OK, just had to rant and rave for a moment. Been holding that in. Back to work.
http://www.wnd.com/news/article.asp?ARTICLE_ID=55564
http://www.wlwt.com/family/13274910/detail.html
http://www.daytondailynews.com/r/content/oh/story/news/local/2007/05/06/ddn050607cup.html

By ecky Thump!

Get your own Flash MP3 Player

As you know, my darling White Stripes have decided to come back together, release an album, and do a little touring. I was seriously considering getting tickets to Bonaroo or a show that they are playing in Birmingham (???), AL, but I'm also seriously broke right now, so not only can I not pay for a ticket, forget about paying for the shots needed to visit each state. Naturally, I was very excited still for the album (see profile picture), and still even more excited to hear the first track "Icky Thump." When I found out, I txtd Feather, who I knew would be just as excited about the news as I was. As suspected, I was right and she also added, "Who comes up with their album names?" Obviously, they do, but still, where did this one come from? I immediately went wiki digging and found this page: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ecky_thump

There, it explains three different possibilites, the third being the album "Icky Thump." First on the list was:

• A traditional phrase By ecky-thump! (an exclamation of surprise) in Lancashire dialect, described in the article Yorkshire dialect

From there, I followed the "Yorkshire dialect" link where I furthered my investigation and wiki told me: ecky is described as being Lancashire, not Yorkshire, slang equivalents of heck, itself slang for hell, in Partridge's Dictionary of Historical Slang, Penguin 1972, entry for Heck.

Why, thank you wiki. Still though, as many websites as I folloed, I was unable to find out where the "thump" came from, but it still sounds totally cool.

Also listed on the "Ecky Thump" Wiki page is this explaination:

• "Kung Fu Kapers", an episode of the British comedy television series The Goodies involving a secret Lancashire martial art known as "Ecky-Thump", which mostly revolves around hitting unsuspecting people with black puddings

I don't know about anyone else, but that sure sounds "Monty Python"-ish to me, and I will now be looking for this episode. Laughs will ensue.

So this is definitely my new cool phrase that will make me look like a total dork, but I'm still using it.

Also on the player are covers that Damien Rice did. Very cool. Very cool indeed.