<> As I'm sure all of you know, I am on a never-ending quest for the most incompetent execution of a cappuccino. It's a form of self flagellation that somehow fits my value system, like listening to Talk Radio. I have successfully ordered a cappuccino in 21 countries, and am proud to say that the top three worst renditions all hail from the good old U S of A. Even the Australians don't rate in this competition. So how do we do it? You'd think that the richest, most powerful nation in the history of the planet would be able to make one of these things -- and plenty of us do. But there are some folks who really *should* live in Utah or Nevada who instead migrate to big cities and fake their way to coffee ineptitude. Up to today, the leaders in the caffeine atrocity race were both Starbucks in airports. It was La Guardia versus Newark, in a thrilling regional rivalry of incompetent Carribean emigres. Now you'd think that Starbucks would systematize everything, so gastronomic failure couldn't occur. They can do that, but only for the espresso and the cardboard cup. Foaming the milk, however, has just too many ways of going wrong. The measure of failure is just *how hot* can you get the milk in the cup. There's an upper limit where it starts to evaporate, so the issue is getting above the 175 degrees where all foam is destroyed, and heating it slowly enough so every ounce is at 212 degrees without going over. Pretty heady stuff, that. Today has brought us a new champion: the espresso bar at Fry's Electronics, which pits the finest ingredients and a completely automated machine against a barista, using only her talents and ingenuity to defeat them. Now, Fry's is renowned for hiring people with almost no real knowledge of the products they sell. This lady was exceptional in being able to make correct change. She was also able to set a new record in having the milk develop a skin within moments of her serving it to me. All this at just 25 cents an ounce, only 10 times the price of unleaded gasoline. I don't know who will be able to beat her accomplishment, but I hope not to find them too soon in my travels. . David Taber www.taberconsulting.com +1-650-326-2626 (8AM-7PM PST [GMT-8]) Yahoo-AIM-MSN-Skype IM ID: TaberConsulting blog: www.taberconsulting.com/download/archives.htm 555 Bryant Street, Suite 789 Palo Alto, CA 94301 USA This message and its attachments are privileged information intended only for the addressees named above. This email may contain copyrighted or confidential information covered under non-disclosure agreement. If you are not the intended recipient, you must immediately delete this message: retaining, disclosing, copying, or distributing this message, or taking action based on it, is prohibited by law. The sender believes that this message and original attachments were free of viruses, worms, Trojan horses, or malicious code when sent. However, this message or its attachments could have been infected during transmission or forwarding. By reading this message or opening any attachments, the recipient accepts full responsibility for taking protective and remedial action about viruses and other defects. The sender is not liable for any loss or damage arising in any way from this message or its attachments.