Tokyo Fashion Overview

"Introduction For much of the last 50 years, since the modern fashion industry developed, cities like New York, Paris, London, and Milan have all been centers of new trends, fashions, and brands that have...

Paris, Not just Bar Tabac, Literary Cafes as well!

Paris has been known as the refuge for real and wannabe artists over time, be it jazz musicians, poets, painters, writers and others.Isobel Scott covers some New Cafés Littéraires for Globespotters.Amongst them Tea and Tattered Pages "with its second hand English books from...

Coffee fans revel in Starbucks decline

Remember when Starbucks was considered innovative and actually kind of cool? There was a time in the 90s, believe it or not, when coffee culture was just getting its footing and a quirky little shop from Seattle...

Dutch law bans tobacco, purifies pot

A new law passed today by the Netherlands is threatening coffee shop owners, devestating cigarette smokers, and increasing the potency of marijuana joints, all in one fell legislative swoop."Dutch coffee shops,...

Beat the Smoking Ban: Smoke Weed

No, seriously. Apparently the only way to beat the new Netherlands smoking ban is by puffing on pure cannabis. Hey, it wasn't my idea."In July, the Dutch government will introduce a nationwide smoking ban in bars,...

Free WiFi for US Starbucks customers

"USA Today reported today that Starbucks will be offering a free WiFi service for it’s US customers.  As part of their ‘Rewards’, a program a loyalty card which gives customers various free or...

T-Mobile sues Starbucks over Wi-Fi deal

T-Mobile USA is suing Starbucks, accusing the coffee behemoth of a breach of contract by allowing AT&T to provide customers with free Wi-Fi access in its cafes.In a complaint filed Thursday in New York State...

California Court Awards Starbucks Baristas $105 Million in Tip Dispute

A judge has given some Starbucks baristas an extraordinary tip of his own"A court in California awarded baristas at Starbucks cafes in California $105 million on Thursday, ruling that the company had wrongly...

Java War Report: Schultz Returns to Starbucks

Former Starbucks CEO Howard Schultz is returning to the company in an attempt to restore the premium coffee chain to its former glory.Since flooding the North American market with more than 10,000 of its cafes,...

France cuts its Cigarette Chord, First Day of Ban as seen from Toulouse (via ...

Cigarettes, Jazz Musicians, Writers, Movies, France, throw all these elements in a blender and you might still find a whiff of sexiness attached to smoking in my native land.  With À la recherche de la cigarette interdite ('In search of the forbidden cigarette', French...

Iran Shuts Down the Internet

Forget about their pathway to nukes....we should be way more worried about their joining China in the 'destroy web access' club.  Bastards."ranian police have closed down 24 Internet cafes and other coffee...

1.5 million throng Paris streets for `White Night` festivities

""It is a very beautiful night for Paris because of sports and the art of White Night," Paris Mayor Bertrand Delanoe told AFP as he attended a concert in the city's 13th arrondissement. Crowds of people, many with their faces painted in the French tricolour, took advantage of...

Is J.K. Rowling writing detective novel?

J.K. Rowling's neighbour says his wife spotted the Harry Potter author in an Edinburgh cafe writing a crime detective novel, of all things. Although the report which appeared on the Sunday Times has not been...

Smoking Is Now Banned In All Parts Of The UK and Ireland

"England is now by law a smoke-free zone after the introduction of a smoking ban making it illegal to light up in enclosed public places came into force today.Virtually all enclosed public places are now...

China puts moratorium on new internet cafes

"Mommy, what is that man doing standing in front of that tank?":"The Chinese government has announced its latest futile attempt to hold back the tidal wave of free digital information that is bound to flood the...

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