Now You Can Get A Crappy Cocktail With Your Over Roasted Half Cap Mocha Chino Frap Venti Mess

Starbucks will expand its evening alcohol and light bites menu, which includes bacon-wrapped dates and Malbec wine, to thousands of stores, Chief Operating Officer Troy Alstead said in a phone interview.

The rollout, which can help boost sales, will take several years, he said.

"We've tested it long enough in enough markets -- this is a program that works," he said. "As we bring the evening program to stores, there's a meaningful increase in sales during that time of the day."

Starbucks has been focused on selling more non-coffee items, such as alcohol, juice, Teavana tea and food, to stoke U.S. growth. The company, which announced a long-term plan to almost double its market value to $100 billion yesterday, also is expanding and improving its rewards program and mobile applications. Earlier this month, Starbucks said it would soon test a way for customers to order items ahead of time with their smartphones.

The shares fell 0.4 percent to $75.60 at 7:41 a.m. in New York. The Seattle-based company closed yesterday with a market capitalization of about $57.4 billion.

The company first sold alcohol in October 2010 at a Seattle store. In January 2012, Starbucks said it was expanding the test to as many as 25 locations in Chicago, Atlanta and Southern California. In Chicago, the after-4 p.m. menu includes fare such as truffle macaroni and cheese, chicken skewers, Chardonnay and chocolate fondue.


The evening food and drinks, which are in about 40 stores now, won’t work in all Starbucks cafes, Alstead said. He said they’ve seen success in some urban areas, near other restaurants and theaters, where people are out at night.

Last month, Chief Executive Officer Howard Schultz handed over the company’s day-to-day operations to Alstead, so Schultz could focus more on digital, mobile, loyalty and electronic- commerce initiatives. The company said yesterday in a statement that its mobile-payment application has been gaining traction.

Mobile payment now accounts for 14 percent of in-store transactions in the U.S., up from a 10 percent rate disclosed in July. Starbucks also said it will open at least 20 additional Teavana stores in the current fiscal year.

"Mobile is very important," Peter Saleh, a New York-based analyst at Telsey Advisory Group, said in a phone interview. "The companies that are taking share are the companies that have some mobile, digital platform -- Papa John’s, Domino’s, Starbucks, Dunkin'."

Loyalty Program

Starbucks's loyalty program entices diners by offering free beverages, food and refills in return for points they’ve accumulated from purchases. Customers can pay with mobile phones or Starbucks cards that are linked to their account.

As part of its effort to sell more tea, the company will begin offering Oprah Winfrey-branded chai tea on April 29 at stores in the U.S. and Canada, Schultz said at the company’s annual meeting yesterday. Winfrey, the television personality and entrepreneur, tasted different tea varieties and helped Starbucks create the blend, which includes black and rooibos teas.
 

Via Sun sentinel

Putin Continues to Act Like a Putin

The Russian government slapped sanctions on top U.S. officials on Thursday, moments after President Obama imposed penalties on 20 Russians inside and outside the government -- as diplomatic efforts over Ukraine unraveled into a long-distance tit for tat. 

The newest sanctions would bar nine American officials from entering Russia. The list includes House Speaker John Boehner, R-Ohio; Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev.; and Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz.

Just as Vladimir Putin's government shrugged off U.S. sanctions earlier in the week, so did the Americans targeted by Moscow. 

"I guess this means my spring break in Siberia is off, my Gazprom stock is lost, and my secret bank account in Moscow is frozen," McCain quipped in a statement. "Nonetheless, I will never cease my efforts on behalf of the freedom, independence, and territorial integrity of Ukraine, including Crimea." 

Boehner spokesman Michael Steel said the speaker "is proud to be included on a list of those willing to stand against Putin's aggression." 

As each side imposes sanctions, left unclear is whether any of them will have an effect on the standoff over Russia's widely challenged annexation of Crimea. 

Obama, warning of more costs to come for the Kremlin if the situation worsens, said he also signed an executive order that would allow the U.S. to penalize key sectors of the Russian economy. Officials said Obama could act on that authority if Russian forces press into other areas of Ukraine, an escalation of the crisis in Crimea.

The president, speaking on the South Lawn of the White House, voiced concern that Russian military positioning could point to "further incursions" into southern and eastern Ukraine. 

The president cautioned that the threatened economic measures if implemented could hurt the global economy, as well as the Russian economy, but "Russia must know that further escalation will only isolate it further from the international community." 

For the time being, Obama said the U.S. will levy sanctions on more "senior officials of the Russian government," as well as "a number of individuals" supporting Russian leadership -- and a bank, Bank Rossiya, that is likewise providing "material support." The list includes Putin's chief of staff and his banker. 

The president, in an interview a day earlier, effectively ruled out U.S. military action over Crimea. He and top officials, though, continue to assure NATO allies in the region that America's support is "unwavering." 

Obama stressed Thursday that "diplomacy between the United States and Russia continues." 

The new penalties mark the second round of economic sanctions the U.S. has levied on Russia this week. The first round of penalties -- on 11 Russian and Ukrainian officials -- had little impact in stopping Moscow from annexing the strategically important Crimean Peninsula from Ukraine.

Meanwhile on Thursday the European Union announced that it has slapped sanctions on 12 more people linked to Russia's annexation of Crimea from Ukraine, bringing the number of people facing EU sanctions to 33.

The 28-nation bloc did not immediately release the names of those it had targeted with travel bans and asset freezes, but they are expected to close in on members of President Vladimir Putin's inner circle to punish him in the escalating Ukrainian crisis.

VIA FOX

The One Case Courtney Love Couldn't Crack, Kurt Cobian's Death Reexamed

Nearly 20 years after Nirvana lead singer Kurt Cobain was found dead in his home near Lake Washington, Seattle police have re-examined the case – including dozens of photos not seen before.

KIRO 7 first reported that police developed four rolls of film that had been sitting in a Seattle police evidence vault for years. The 35 mm film was processed last month at the King County Sheriff’s Office photo lab. Seattle police requested the help because they no longer develop 35 mm film.

Though the pictures have a slight green tint because of deterioration, police say they show the scene more clearly than the earlier Polaroid photos taken by investigators.

Police said in 1994 that the case was clearly a suicide. Ciesynski said that is still the case after reviewing evidence.

After KIRO 7 first reported the re-investigation Thursday morning, the Seattle police public affairs unit took issue with semantics, saying the case was not technically “reopened” -- despite the new interviews and processing of film that had not previously been developed.

The final investigation report has not yet been completed, Ciesynski said.

He also said images of Cobain dead at the scene will not be released.

“What are people going to gain from seeing pictures of Kurt Cobain laying on the ground with his hair blown back, with blood coming out of his nose and trauma to his eyes from a penetrating shotgun wound. How’s that going to benefit anybody?

“It wasn’t going to change my decision that this was a suicide, and actually I’m the one that makes the decision finally: do we go forward or not? Morally I would not be able to justify that. Legally I can’t justify doing that.”

The morning of April 8, 1994, Veca Electric employee Gary Smith went to Cobain’s home at 171 Lake Washington Blvd. East to do electrical work.

“I noticed something on the floor and I thought it was a mannequin,” Smith told KIRO 7 at the time. “So I looked a little closer and geez, that’s a person. I looked a little closer and I could see blood, and an ear and a weapon laying on his chest.”

The medical examiner determined Cobain had killed himself three days earlier – only days after he had left a rehab facility.

Police said before he shot himself, Cobain had a lethal dose of heroin. The syringes and the heroin kit Cobain used were kept in the Seattle police evidence unit and were part of the re-investigation, along with the previously undeveloped film.

Smith, the electrician, found a suspected suicide note on some planting soil in the greenhouse.

“I only read the bottom lines,” Smith told KIRO 7 in 1994. "(The) bottom two lines said, ‘I love you, I love you’ to someone.”

On March 18, 1994 – less than a month before Cobain was found dead – Seattle police were called to the Lake Washington home after Kurt “locked himself in a room,” and said he was going to kill himself, according to a police report. Police were also told he “had a gun in the room.”

But Cobain told police he was not suicidal and didn’t want to kill himself. However, police said after the 1994 investigation that his death was clearly a suicide.

Someone at Smith’s electrician company tipped then-KXRX radio deejay Marty Riemer, who was the first to announce the musician's death, which the medical examiner determined was a suicide.

More than 7,000 mourners packed Seattle Center two days later for a public memorial, where a recording was played of Courtney Love reading Cobain's suicide note. She also attended the memorial  and gave some of his clothes to fans.

Last year, a Seattle Police Department spokeswoman said the department gets at least one request per week, mostly through Twitter, to reopen the investigation.

The public affairs unit keeps the basic incident report on file because of the number of requests, and police have said no other Seattle police case has received similar attention in two decades.

Ciesynski said having the film developed last month will hopefully benefit everyone. KIRO 7 asked if the case was closed.

“Hopefully,” Ciesynski said. “I’m sure until the 25th anniversary comes up.”

VIA kirotv

Harper & Lola by Rebecca Leimbach

Meet Harper. She’s 3 years old, and her mom, photographer Rebecca Leimbach, has been taking pictures of her with her best friend since she was born.

VIA 22 Words


Toto's Africa Always Signals End, End of the Album..... End of the Night, End of Winter Seems Fitting: Happy First Day Of Spring

Songfacts

This song tells the story of a man who comes to Africa and must make a decision about the girl who comes to see him. He is enamored with the country, but must leave if he is going to be with her.

Toto keyboard player David Paich wrote the song, and explained in the liner notes of Toto's Best Ballads compilation: "At the beginning of the '80s I watched a late night documentary on TV about all the terrible death and suffering of the people in Africa. It both moved and appalled me and the pictures just wouldn't leave my head. I tried to imagine how I'd feel about if I was there and what I'd do." Paich had never been to Africa when he wrote the song.

In an article in Time magazine, one of the group members said they were looking for a song just to close off the album and did not think "Africa" would do as well as it did. They also mentioned that if you listen close enough during the lyrics "catch some waves," some group members were singing "catch some rays."

Toto IV won a Grammy for Album Of The Year.

This is probably Toto's most famous song, and their guitarist Steve Lukather would like you to know that there is much more to the band: Toto were top studio musicians before forming the group, and known as some of the best in the business. Lukather told Rock's Backpages: "A lot of people categorize us as 'that 'Africa' or 'Rosanna' band,' and I hate that s--t. We have a lot more substance than that. Don't get me wrong - those songs have been great to us, but you really don't understand the depth of the band if that's all you know.

We could be the most misunderstood band in rock history. We consist of some of the most recorded musicians in the business. And yet we take hits for that. [laughs] Ashlee Simpson and all these phony-baloney singers sell millions of records, but everybody knows that's bogus. Some folks go on the road, and they might as well be miming. My son toured with Lindsay Lohan 4 years ago. The whole band was playing live, she was lipsynching. She couldn't sing a lick. Some poor guy had to Pro Tools that every night."

This is used in the video game Grand Theft Auto: Vice City.

Olivia Lufkin and Howie Day have both recorded this. The song has also been sampled by JoJo and Nas.

South African Castle Lager used this in commercials. (thanks, Hermes - Athens, Greece, for above 4)

Guitarist Steve Lukather and singer Bobby Kimball told Rock Eyez that this song nearly didn't make the album and it "was a guy named Al Keller, who was over at CBS" who convinced them to put it on the disc. Lukather added: "I thought it was the worst song on the album. It didn't fit, the lyrics made no sense and I swore that if it was a hit record, I'd run naked down Hollywood Boulevard! That's how good I am at picking singles! (Laughs) I mean I love the song now but, to be honest with you, at the time I thought it was really the odd ball song on the album. It almost didn't make the record and it was a #1 worldwide single and still gets played everywhere today. No matter where I go in the world, people know that song… it's bizarre! For a song that Dave (Hungate) and I wrote in his living room, people know it in Indonesia!"

This appeared in an episode of the TV show Scrubs in 2004. The episode was a tribute to the movie The Wizard Of Oz, so Toto fit the theme.