Thoughts & Opinion

Ikea Beijing: Still Waiting On Those Profits

By Addie

Most Americans associate IKEA with a tiresome afternoon of winding through aisles and aisles of sofas, armchairs and shelving all cleverly designed with a European minimalism. You go in with one purpose only: to purchase affordable furniture.
Well, a recent Los Angeles Times article sheds light on a whole new meaning to a Saturday afternoon at… »

Ohhh, I’m Sorry! I Forgot You Invented The Cookie

By Stew

So it finally happened. Score one for the open-market. Someone has finally broken up the monopoly that is the Girl Scout Cookie racket. Unfortunately it took Wal-Mart to do such a thing. Long suffering from artificially low supply, and subject to pity of an exploited workforce, the U.S. consumer can now sit back and scarf-down… »

Apple Approves Cannabis App

By Stew

EDITOR’S NOTE: article created and written by John Robert, he just lost his password…not that there’s anything wrong with that.
Apple gave the modern world one of the most revolutionary inventions of the twenty-first century: the iPhone. Built into the iPhone is one of the most efficient ways to thoroughly waste hours of time: iPhone applications…. »

Goldman Sachs, FTW?

By Andrew

Dancing days are here again, children.
Buried somewhere in your RSS feed or the business section of your local paper today is a small item announcing that Goldman Sachs, everyone’s favorite Investment bank-turned-Federally regulated/insured “holding company” has reported record quarterly earnings of $3.44 billion during the second quarter of this year. This is some pretty amazing… »

Gaga for Birthday Sex

By Wes

The slot for a summertime chart topping jam is reserved for only the best and the brightest songwriters of this age. These number one hits spill out onto the streets and bump the stock speakers of your mom’s minivan en route to the neighborhood pool.
But wait! We should all be ashamed of ourselves to simply… »

No Pain Intended

By Joe

Studying human perception presents an unfortunate but wildly seductive paradox in science: To extrapolate one’s own faulty perception to that of an entire species: Is blue perceived to Bill as it is to Ted? Paradox notwithstanding, there are a few facets of perception upon which all humans can agree (pretty much). One can accurately… »

Don’t Stop ‘Til You Get Enough

By Ana

I’m not over MJ yet. And as part of my grieving process, I’m writing a post. I echo Andrew’s sentiments in the post below regarding not only Michael’s influence on our generation, but also the lesson he taught us about megastardom and the complications and damage it can inflict upon a human being.
Michael Jackson was an incredible… »

RIP MJ: Generation Y Remembers

By Andrew

Michael Jackson Starts Plans for Thriller 2, reads the Fark headline.
In an effort to dodge the inevitable scramble to avoid reminding people of the nastier jokes we told about him, I will leave the eulogizing to other, less-rhythmically-challenged people. Instead I would like to testify to the formative effect Michael Jackson played on some crucial… »

City of Austin’s Identity Crisis

By John Robert

I would greatly appreciate it if you would quit killing all of the free music opportunities this great city’s patrons plan for the long, hot, sweaty days of summer. Shows at Shady Grove’s Unplugged At The Grove have been shut down in the past because of “noise” complaints by the surrounding neighbors that probably hide… »

The Road To Flavor Country Is Paved With Good Intentions

By Stew

HEADLINE: Congress sends White House bill giving gov’t regulators unprecedented authority over tobacco
Finally! a victory for the little man against the big bad tobacco industry! Or at least we thought.
As is the case with most industry/lobbyist fine tuned legislation that makes its way through D.C., the U.S. Congress has passed a “landmark” bill that on… »