Starbucks is continuing to close stores. Will they recover. I think so, only because they already own the best locations. Location is everything. I saw last week even in Kuwait that Starbucks is closing some stores in Kuwait. The one in Salmiya by the International Clinic is closed down.
Month: April 2009
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Contribute to Microfinance in Developing Countries
I found these sites via The Strobist.
Kiva and here’s a documentory.
Kiva allows microfinance institutions around the world, called “Field Partners”, to post profiles of qualified local entrepreneurs on its website. Lenders browse and choose an entrepreneur they wish to fund. Kiva aggregates loan capital from individual lenders and transfers it to the appropriate Field Partners to disburse to the entrepreneur chosen by the lender. As the entrepreneurs repay their loans, the Field Partners remit funds back to Kiva. As the loan is repaid, the Kiva lenders can withdraw their principal or re-loan it to another entrepreneur.
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Ukulele
Someone told me about the Wellington International Ukelele Orchestra and that is them above. Ukulele is like the banjo, you can’t take sad lyrics seriously.
Well, I bought a Uke and brought to Kuwait for mostly everyone else to play.
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Data Rot
Don’t say I didn’t warn you! Will you children or grandchildren be able to see the photos you are taking now?
So every five or ten years, you should move it onto a different format, like from VHS tape to DVD. And that’s fine, but then DVD is already obsolete, there’s Blu-ray, and so what’s going to happen in another 10 years?
Making lots of backups is good advice, and on different formats, different places; consider paper as an archival medium. Some paper we have has lasted thousands of years. If Moses had gotten the Ten Commandments on a floppy disk, it would never have made it to today.
Read the full interview here on Pogue’s Posts at the New York Times. or click (more…)
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British Museum – Shah ‘Abbas
Hmm, I’m flying through London and will have a 9 hour stopover so maybe I should go see this? But the weather is going to be very British.
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Hi-tech is distracting our brains
From the Guardian
A study has shown that one in five suffers very badly due to the distractions triggering our brain and ending up with us procrastinating.
Here is a good post with recommendations on how to cope with multitasking and other issues.
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