Nancy Oakley authored a great summary of the influence coffee makes worldwide. Found in Delta-Sky online, Oakley provides fellow Joe lovers a bit of history, nostalgia, and how Joe stands today. It’s amazing through all the technological advances, society evolution (labor, race, and sex), kingdoms fall and rise, coffee is still on top worldwide.

Sure a cup of Joe has transformed into a bit more frothier, cooler, creamier, and a variety of containers. When it comes down to it, a cup of Joe is still enjoyed in the same way today as it was hundreds of years ago. Warm, brewed, and shared over great conversation.

Next time, when grabbing your cup of Joe, know that you are apart of a long-term tradition that transcends boundaries of all types. A cup of Joe is here to stay, forever.

American coffee nostalgic memories are wrapped in Fred Astaire in a cafe, Harriet filling Ozzy’s coffee cup, and laughing with Lucy while she fumbles in the kitchen. The mall based coffee shops isn’t apart of any of those all American moments. Simple black, grocery store shelved coffee was. No one knew the brands that where brewed behind the scenes, but American’s did know what was on Kroger’s shelves.

Year after year, I toss out bags of expensive gourmet coffee received as gifts. To all that know me, I am a coffee addict. It’s warm, acidic tastes left it’s first marks on my tongue at the age of 6. It wasn’t that named brand stuff, but just what my mom had from the store. I like my coffee plain, simple, strong, and nostalgic. For me, these well-known brands of today doesn’t fit in the mix. I didn’t grow up with enjoying select imported blends, so I don’t enjoy the taste.

The kind of coffee I do like, is your basic black coffee. Doesn’t really matter what mountain the beans came from, just that it’s packaged All-American. I wish instead of being grouped with an era of coffee that I did not grow up with, people would give me coffee of my era. An era of drive in movies, Keds shoes, Plain Joes, and black coffee.

The fresh smell of home brewed coffee mixed with fresh oven scents is great for holiday parties. The gift of coffee doesn’t need to break your pocket book, so don’t assume the high-priced flavored kind will make the best gift. Strong, delicious, plain American coffee will do the trick. Let your guest choose to spice it up with flavored creamers or keep it simple and black. So this season, pick your favorite All-American coffee and share it with those you love!

The folks at Plain Joe saw a sticker I did for Guy Kawasaki at Alltop and wanted something similar. This design has four designs on one sheet, they are kiss-cut with a steel rule die so that each design can be peeled off individually.

Get your free stickers by joining our Facebook page.. and follow us on Twitter, of course!

The WSJ gets delivered to my front door every morning by a carrier with the Dayton Daily News. About a year ago, I noticed that the mailing label in the upper right hand corner of my copy of the WSJ was not me. It was a neighbor who lived in another part of the subdivision or worked at another business. 

So, I started saving these labels. Sometimes I would get my own label, but most days, I would get someone else’s. Eventually, I reasoned, I would probably get everyone who subscribed to the WSJ on my carrier’s route. I think I am right.

Now, I have a mailing list of neighbors with whom I have something in common. When I want to refer to an article in the WSJ that I think might affect them, I can send out a cheap postcard, with a URL to my blog to the list and I know they will most likely have read the same article as me.  And, they will most likely go to my blog, read, comment and maybe pass it along.

They may wonder how I got their name, how I knew they also read the WSJ. Or, maybe not.

Or maybe, they have been getting my newspaper and tracking me the same way.

Posted by email from rufus’s posterous

Posted by email from rufus’s posterous

And, to sweeten the deal, the Baron will execute anyone who can’t make his car fly by his birthday party, a few days hence.

The truth of why Chitty Chitty Bang Bang can fly is because it is in her soul, it is who she is. It is becasue she has a great spirit of having once been great on the race track and once again, has a “family” (the Potts) who adore and cherish her, enabling her to soar. The “smart guys” fail because they start by asking “what” instead of “why.”

Barack Obama is a Chitty Chitty Bang Bang. He is able to inspire, speak with ease and eloquence, think through complex issues quickly and articulate a plan that is at once detailed, yet understandable. Faced with this “Chitty,” the Republicans immediately race to “disassemble” Obama, identify those things that make him soar and attempt to make a flying car of their own - Sarah Palin.

Palin is young, she is attractive, she is daring, she has executive experience (minimal, but we can spin that.) She is all those things that Barack Obama is; until she starts talking. Then, it becomes painfully clear that she can’t motivate a country to action, that she has not found that “soul” to inspire a nation. That she is divisive and that she just is not very bright. (ahem, sorry, intellectually curious)

But, since the smart guys assembled her and they wish not to be executed, they start yelling at the top of their lungs, “She can fly, she can.. I’ve seen it with my own eyes!” And, the people around them who have clearly seen Palin not fly repeat the chant because they too, do not want to die. They so desperately believe their own dream that they fail to see the facts in front of them.

In the end, the common folk (children) rescues Chitty Chitty Bang Bang, she spreads her wings, repels the baron and his smart guys, Grandpa is rescued and the Baron (and Baroness) are seen for what they really are. But, in an ironic twist, the Baron never understands why his car did not fly. I suspect — if the Baron were a GOP leader — he would still be trying to make a flying car from Chitty parts.

Perhaps if he tried harder. Perhaps if his smart guys were able to analyze the magic coat of paint three more layers deep. Perhaps if he believed more. Perhaps if he put on lipstick one more time and winked one more wink, he too could have a flying car.

Posted by email from rufus’s posterous

Blogging, Digg, Facebook, Technorati. I’m sure the list is much more extensive, but why would Microsoft deliberately make themselves look like old foggies?

Weird.

Posted by email from rufus’s posterous

Posted by email from rufus’s posterous