From Africa, To Africa

I bought some coffee from Starbucks today. It's called "From Africa, To Africa" and as the name implies it's an African coffee and revenue from the product goes back to African farmers. That's nice.

Jane told me about it and she was really excited about it - she doesn't tout it much, but she actually really cares about helping people, she's a lovely person - so I bought it. It's actually quite good, though I'm not a huge coffee drinker because I have a delicate stomach.

The whole (red) line finds itself on the end of a lot of criticism, a lot. I'll admit that I seem like I'd be in that camp, but I'm not. We live in a consumer based society and at the moment there isn't much we can do about it on a grand scale. Companies aren't required to give any profits to anyone other than the shareholders of that company, and many of them simply don't. Thanks to NAFTA and it's ilk, companies aren't required to practice fair trade, and many of them simply don't. Thanks to deregulation the food industry isn't required to use products not tainted by growth hormones, and many of them simply don't. Starbucks does. See here: charities (ones they don't tout, they just do), fair trade, unmodified milk. Yeah, they actually do what they claim to do. Do you? Yes, that's a general rule, if you're going to call someone on it, you better damn well do it yourself.

Could Starbucks do better? God yes. Everyone could, and unless you live in a mud brick house, grow your own food, and use the sun as your only source of light, so could you. We could all do better, but most of us don't even try, Starbucks does and they deserve credit for that. Remember, this is a company that isn't exactly doing well either, so it's not like they have money to spend on this type of thing.

I'm not saying don't pressure them, by all means, write them letters and ask them to be more Green. Please do. For instance, they could put solar panels on some of their roofs, that'd be a nice start. I'm not on Starbucks' side, but calling them out for actually doing stuff is a bit crass. Who cares if they market it, they actually did it and that's what matters.

Starbucks isn't the enemy. They do some less than desirable things, yes, but they also do a lot more good than many other companies. You want a company that destroys lives, jobs, health, and the environment? Look no further than Monsanto. Want to make a difference? Stop them, not Starbucks. Starbucks doesn't have the blood of an entire town on their hands, Monsanto does: meet Anniston, Alabama. There's also the whole Agent Orange and the blood of an entire nation thing as well.

I also have to say, the (red) campaign is to raise awareness of AIDS in Africa. Believe it or not, many Americans simply aren't aware of the scope of the problem. You can blame this on a number of things, mainly the public schools and their infatuation with test scores while ignoring issues of worldly concern. There's another thing you can rail on. It needs to be advertised, that's how you get people's attention in America. When they went on Oprah and talked about (red), that was a big moment, that got people's attention. The companies involved made that moment happen.

I'm not arguing against traditional charity, that's a wonderful, wonderful thing. If you do it. But if you don't do it, don't you dare mention it.

I guess I should update.

So, I had what I think was the flu last week. It wasn't great and I could think of a million better ways to spend the week. I won't go in to detail, but parts of the week were not pretty.

I'm better now though, kind of.

Anyway, I played Megaman 9 a lot while I was ill. I got okay at it, I have to stress the okay part because some people are crazy good. Playing it made me think of older Megaman games, notably the title MM9 is based on, that being Megaman 2.

Anyone who has ever played Megaman 2 will remember Woodman. He's one of the more memorable "robot masters" and featured in future games as well. Anyway, I've always thought that Woodman resembled John Daly. Do you agree?



So, the Jane recently (Oct 25th) celebrated her one-year anniversary of lifecasting. She had a fever that day :( but still managed to do something. Jane's a really awesome person once you get to know here, and I'm glad I do :). Oh, watch her make pumpkin seeds here.

And since Jane would want me to include it, watch this:



So, my Meredith Robbins post was quite popular. Apperently she's been swamped by attention recently. I got around 200 hits on that post, which is more than my usual 4. (Hi, Jane, Denis, and Dane).

Bobby + Caffeine = Very Strange

Today I had a cinnamon dolce iced coffee from Starbucks at the suggestion of "Jam Jam". I'm pretty much naturally wired as is, but caffeine (obviously) takes me to another level. I think everyone at Food Lion thought I was on crack because my eyes were opened so wide and I was really, really jumpy. It was so worth it though, it tasted like I was drinking a cinnamon bun. It even tasted good with soy milk (I'm lactose intolerant). I am so getting another one. I have to call the comment line tomorrow and tell them Janeybean suggested it, hopefully she gets some credit for being such a good ambassador for her employer.

I didn't go to Church today, despite it being Easter Sunday. I don't really think I'm welcome at my Grandparents' Church anyway as I get a lot of strange looks there. From my understanding one of the cornerstones of Christianity has always been acceptance, but it seems that's really drifted away from modern Churches. Technically I'm Southern Baptist, but I guess I have to go with what Jane told me today, just because the rest of my blood is one doesn't mean I am. It doesn't really go along with my Egalitarian beliefs anyway. I am Christian, I just don't like how a lot of Churches are becoming 527 groups.

Janey's got a new job

And I'm very, very, very, very, very, extremely, inexplicably proud of her.