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Bathing in a Burger King sink, what some airlines are doing to our troops and China's Olympic chicanery

There are three stories today that just deserve some Front Page editorial attention from us.

Story One
If you're like a lot of us here at [: neon :], you frequent Burger King restaurants more than any other and if you're as OCD (Obsessive Compulsive) as our own Head Geek has been described, you watch every employee's every move to make sure a sneeze is covered, that food isn't handled without gloves and that gloves aren't worn to handle cash and then return to handling food.

Well, since this past Monday, a video has been making the rounds via MySpace where some employees at a Burger King in Xenia, Ohio apparently/allegedly watched as one of their fellow employees actually took a Bubble Bath - - - in the kitchen sink.

XENIA, Ohio (WDTN) - Some workers at a Greene County restaurant are in hot water with the health department, after an employee took a bubble bath in a store sink . . . A four-minute video posted on MySpace captured the employee, self-described as Mr. Unstable, bathing nude in a large stainless steel sink as several other employees and a store manager looked on.

Taking a bath at work when there is neither a shower nor bathtub is one thing, taking a public bath is another - but videotaping the event and then posting it on MySpace is just beyond comprehension for why anyone would be that (you fill in the adjective).

UPDATE: Wanted to ask but then forgot to ask this question in our original post. The article indicated that the utensils were all thrown out . . .
so why didn't they also throw out and replace the sink? I'm sorry, but no matter how many times they say they've sanitized that thing, would you feel comfortable knowing it was still there, still being used? Ewwwww!

Story Two
For our troops taking regular commercial flights, catch what some airlines are doing to them:

American Airlines is charging troops for their extra baggage, a practice that forces soldiers heading for a war zone in Iraq to try to get reimbursement from the military. American, which recently charged two soldiers from Texas $100 and $300 for their extra duffel bags, said it gives the military a break on the cost for excess luggage and that the soldiers who incur the fees are reimbursed . . . "Because the soldiers don't pay a dime, our waiver of the fees amounts to a discount to the military, not a discount to soldiers," said Tim Wagner, spokesman for American Airlines. "Soldiers should not have to pay a penny of it."

Rather than putting the responsibility on our soldiers to pay the cash up front and then file for reimbursement, the ATA (Air Transport Association) and the Pentagon should make the arrangements for payment between them. Our men and women in uniform have enough to worry about these days.

Story Three
How sad is this story, another not surprising bit of chicanery from Communist China, one of the biggest and boldest con artists on the planet outside of Russia's Putin, Cuba's Castro and Venezuela's Chavez:

The cute little girl whose sweet-voiced rendition of one of China’s favourite revolutionary anthems started off the Olympic opening ceremony performance may not have been all that she seemed. Little Lin Miaoke, it has been revealed, was only lip-synching.

Officials have now admitted that the voice that rang out through the vast Bird’s Nest stadium was really that of seven-year-old Yang Peiyi, who may have had the voice of an angel but whose crooked teeth made her unsuitable for the opening ceremony's top spot.

And NBC, while counting its reportedly mammoth ad revenue from this Olympics, should nevertheless start worrying about how its professional image may have suffered in light of how they've handled - let alone allowed - what many have said is China's less than clear full-disclosure and too many sleight-of-hand displays from host China.

In defense of Starbucks

EDITORIAL

What prompted this post was an article by Ellen Wolfhorst from Reuters published today - Some coffee fans get grim delight in Starbucks woes - which raised some questions with us as to what motivated Ms. Wolfhorst and/or Reuters to write such a story with that kind of an angle, one that clearly seemed to find far more anti-Starbucks people than supporters.

So, we take it upon ourselves to offer a different perspective.

We begin by saying that we are huge Starbucks supporters, daily consumers (often multiple times daily) of the brand who intentionally seek out their locations wherever we go. Admired them for years for how they revolutionized the approach to not only brewing quality coffee but even more for creating a new leisure and lifestyle paradigm that transformed the coffee-only experience.

From strictly a former New Yorker and New Jersey-boy perspective, thanks to Starbucks, gone was the dominance of the traditional Burger/Coffee Shop and American Diner (as opposed to local espresso/coffee houses dedicated to brewing quality coffee) that, at least within New York's tri-state region - always discouraged their patrons from sitting around just buying coffee, always forced them to buy food in order to stay, always hired too many worthless servers whose bad attitudes erupted into unprofessional conduct because you were only ordering coffee and weren't spending $40 or $50 in their too-often rat-infested dives - and who always pressured you to then move on to make room for the next group.

Some Burger/Coffee Shops & Diners we know of on Madison Avenue, for example, from the 50s to the 90s in Midtown Manhattan, actually put wooden plaques at each table specifying (1) the minimum number of patrons allowed to sit in a booth, (2) how long they could stay and (3) what their minimum bill had to be. Even in a City of 10 million plus people, and considering the hundreds of these locations throughout that City, that's still not good business, just total greed and the manipulative signs of a fascist monopoly.

Now, don't get us wrong, we fully, actively and regularly support small businesses in our communities, like the multi-location place on Newbury Street in Boston called Espresso Royale and another throughout Boston's South Shore called Coffee Break Cafe, both with outstanding espresso and regular coffee. 

But there's an additional issue we've considered. Too often, at too many places here in Boston but most especially throughout New York City, they have also consistently failed to maintain the kind of superb hygiene standards that large chains like Starbucks (or the two places we mentioned above) mandate for the owners or managers to maintain - which is usually well-above local health standards.

And we can't forget that even some Dunkin' Donuts locations around Boston have horse flies and gnats landing on their always uncovered donuts! But as we wrote in that piece, at least Starbucks encases - and refrigerates - all of their food, as do both Espresso Royale and Coffee Break Cafe, we might make certain to add.

So hey, if you don't like Starbucks - just like programs on television - don't watch them, don't go in!

But don't knock a company that has also done more - and spent more - to not only educate the general public about the various levels of quality coffee that are out there, which in turn, made it that much easier for local mom-and-pop coffee houses to have a fully-informed customer - but who also changed the leisure paradigm for everyone, for the better.

And stop whining!

How do you spell relief . . . when you've been glued to the toilet seat?

We couldn't resist a little scatological ha-ha, and unfortunately at someone else's expense, from this story of a customer using the Men's Room (is there a recurring theme this week?) at a Missouri Home Depot.

The problem was that someone had allegedly, and as an apparent prank, coated this particular toilet seat with an adhesive that, uh, prevented the customer from, shall we say, getting up after he had finished his business.

From the always amusing website, The Smoking Gun:

JUNE 13--A St. Louis man claims that he was injured last year after being glued to a toilet seat in a Home Depot and is suing the retail giant for negligence. Haywood Rosales, 31, charges that during an August 2007 visit to a Home Depot in Florissant, Missouri he used a store bathroom and came into contact with a toilet seat "covered with adhesive," according to his Circuit Court lawsuit. Rosales's lawyers told TSG that their client did not notice the adhesive before sitting down and that he used his cell phone to alert his wife, with whom he was shopping, after realizing "he was glued to the toilet seat."

But here's the even more intriguing part. Home Depot's insurance company apparently rejected his claim, hence his lawsuit against them:

Rosales's lawyers said their client sued Home Depot after the retailer's insurer "summarily rejected" a claim. In November 2005, a Colorado man filed a similar lawsuit against Home Depot, alleging that he was so fused to a toilet seat that paramedics had to remove the seat from the toilet to get him out of the store bathroom. After almost two years of litigation, the Colorado case was dismissed after a federal judge ruled that Home Depot did not have prior "actual or constructive knowledge" of the dangerous toilet, nor was the glue prank foreseeable.

Now, some kudos must go out to Rosales's attorney for adding that Colorado incident to Rosales's claim, along with an impressive challenge to that federal judge's ruling by saying:

Rosales's lawsuit refers to the earlier incident, charging that Home Depot should have recognized that "there would be a strong possibility that instances of copycat behavior would occur."

The only problem is, what could Home Depot do, or any business with a public toilet do, to stop Crazy Glue from being smeared across one of their toilet seats at any time a prankster so chooses?

Besides, it's a clear liquid, its odor doesn't linger like the morning after you've had curry for dinner - and for gosh sakes, with the kind of aim men have, who the heck sits directly on a public toilet seat anyway?

Nevertheless, our sympathies go out to Mr. Rosales and we hope some agreement can be worked out between them, if only to compensate him for the literal - and figurative pain he's been going through.

Or for the sake of some good P.R., if nothing else.

P.S. - Like the Colorado case, we can't forget the poor soul(s) who had to remove the toilet seat from the toilet tank to assumedly take Mr. Rosales to the hospital. Shades of Mel Gibson and Danny Glover in what, Lethal Weapon 2 from 1989?

To Commemorate Father's Day: how to clean a Men's Urinal - in Japan

One of our favorite tech sites/blogs is Engadget and tonight, well, now it's early Sunday morning, just before hitting the sheets, I came across this video of a men's urinal being cleaned in a public Rest Room somewhere in Japan.

Nothing so special about that, you say.

Au contraire, meatloaf breath, there is something very special, since it's being cleaned automatically by a device the housekeeper rolled up and locked in place, affectionately(?) referred to as the elephant.

My only question was, who does the floor?

Happy Father's Day, Dad. Love you a lot.

A look back at Mrs. Olson in Stepford and the messages they were sending

We were looking for a particular theme song from an airline commercial when we ran into this 1960's era black and white commercial for Folgers Coffee with . . . Mrs. Olson.

Of course, and especially from a feminist pov (point-of-view), what stands out in the video below - besides the easily parodied aspect of the script - are the messages they were sending their audiences at the time  . . . and in just thirty seconds:

• that it was a wife's responsibility to make her husband's coffee in the morning
• that it was her responsibility to make it good
• that she served him, called him sir, while he was in the bathroom shaving
• all to please him.

Then after he thanks her, after he sips the coffee, the now ungrateful Neanderthal opines sarcastically about its lack of quality. But the real capper comes when, in an obviously intended ha-ha moment to endear him to the male audience, associates that coffee failure with his wife's attractiveness, by saying How can such a pretty wife make such bad coffee, (emphasis spoken) as if there is some sort of natural connection between a wife's looks and her particular skill sets in making coffee.

It certainly represents a time capsule of a hopefully long gone era while also serving to illustrate the attitudes that initially drove feminism - an easily understandable need to be respected and appreciated in a then world that offered little, if any of that.

Apple/Boylston Grand Opening Update

UPDATE: We have video of the entire event and much more here.

Just managed to get out of the crowd to post this audio, since I won't be able to post the multiple videos until later tonight. Have some terrific shots.

Unbelievable is all I can say. What an experience, what an incredible Public Relations team they have.

UPDATE: Well, TalkShoe just surprised me and made the audio file size more than 3 Gigs, yikes, so forget it, I won't have time to break it up and post it right now. Instead, go to this link, Apple Boylston Grand Opening - 05-15-08 and give a listen.

Will post everything later tonight.

iJustine: iWatching a delightful ham sandwich

There's a 24-year-old woman named Justine (though she may now prefer to be called iJustine) who seems to be everywhere on the Internet and on just about every streaming video host out there, placing 99th on YouTube as the most watched video just today alone.

She first caught my attention late last year when we were looking to do some LIVE streaming events for [:neon:] (here, here) and I wanted to better understand the concept of free bandwidth in a post-YouTube world, having gone through the pains of a pre-YouTube projected expense.

She's a prolific producer of some very amusing shorts, life experiences, trips and interviews (pretty fearless and quite a good one), but this video immediately below kind of introduces her to those of you who may not be familiar with this serial ham. (In a good way).

Then the second video is her latest one set to some familiar music . . . but with her own lyrics. Quite clever when understood in the context of the circumstances, which was where a fellow video person banned her from his chat.

Anyway, she's just impressively and unbelievably comfortable with who she is, and very entertaining as well. See if you don't think so too.

Now for her latest video.

Indy Mogul, Paul Devlin and the world of Indie films

Although we haven't hung out in their world nor could we be considered any kinds of experts in those fields, we've nevertheless always supported Indies (bands, filmmakers) in spirit and word, simply because they're the pioneers, the ones responsible for innovation in the arts, much the same way that geeks as entrepreneurs shape technology.

There's a video hosting site called Vimeo and on it a particular channel called Indy Mogul, although we're still not certain we understand its primary function there. The videos were quite interesting, where some were actual full-production shorts while others were behind-the-scenes interviews.

But what we thought we'd post over the next few days are a couple of those interviews about the process of independent film making, a process from a traditional industry that was permanently altered for the good by computer-based technologies - and more recently by Internet and streaming technologies that once again altered the professional landscape for distribution and audience access as well.

First up is an interview with Paul Devlin about all aspects of the business and the art of film making, a man who's already won five Emmies for both NBC and CBS sports, according to a post in Wikipedia. With a calm, considered response to every question, his John Malkovich-like demeanor further validates one's impression of him as a must-see artist. (Note: Pay particular attention to their comments towards the end about ArtistShare and Devlin's (and film fans') participation in it with his new film, Blast, a new world of Indie financing).

Paul Devlin Interview from Indy Mogul on Vimeo.

Ms. Lena Horne: her talent, her elegance, her beauty, her forever dignity . . . yes to all of the above

One of our favorite singers from the world of jazz and The Great American Songbook is Ms. Lena Horne, whose beauty was only exceeded by her talent, her elegance and her perennial charm to absolutely captivate her audience with total aplomb.

Her birthday is coming up this June 30th, her 91st, and we understand that the NYC native is fully retired somewhere around the tri-state area, enduring some health issues her daughter apparently spoke of in an interview with Jet Magazine published April 23rd of '07.

From that article, we understand she decided back in 1999 to never perform or do an interview again, and although we may be a few weeks early, we nevertheless want to wish this lovely lady the happiest and healthiest of birthdays and tell her how much she has meant to so many of us, from so many generations.

Her legacy beyond her music will be the leadership she so elegantly displayed - while always maintaining an exquisite dignity that never lost its cool.

So to celebrate her life, and taken from my private collection, here is one of her two most famous so-called signature songs, whose title completely belies her mere presence . . . The Lady is a Tramp.

Ladies and gentlemen, send the love in wishing Ms. Lena Horne a somewhat early but nevertheless very Happy 91st Birthday: