Gettin' Some Wood At Starbucks!

Back in July of 2003, unbeknownst to me at the time, I had posted something on the William Gibson Message Board that was actually read by William Gibson and he indirectly responded to it in his blog. I figured it out a couple of days after he posted it.

The link to what I wrote is here and what William Gibson wrote is here and here.

My original post was called Gettin' Some Wood at Starbucks and here's what I wrote:

"Has anyone ever gotten annoyed at these things? Those stir sticks they have at Starbucks don't stir anything, especially if you have sugar at the bottom! I've tried and tried and all it does is move the sugar around. Sugar does not always dissolve because when I get to the bottom of the cup there is always more sugar. In my search for the perfect cuppa at home, I always have to stir it up with a spoon. There is a Starbucks in Singapore that I went to that had little plastic stir spoons, but they were like a plastic stir stick with a little spoon (more like a small tab) that wouldn't even reach the bottom of my cup! Plus, they didn't have Americano's in Venti size in Singapore, but that's another story.
I have yet to find a Starbucks that has spoons, unless they are out of those heinous sticks. I propose that for 2004 they plan to have something besides wooden sticks to stir the coffee. Surely someone besides me notices these sticks. In their plan to take over the world, Starbucks should have thought of something better than sticks. Every plan has a flaw I guess.
For now I think I'm going to carry around a long spoon in my car. For the price we pay, I think they can afford some long spoons. Anyone else agree? Any other gripes about coffee culture?"

William Gibson responded in his blog by saying this:

"SOMEONE COMPLAINS THAT THOSE WOODEN STICKS AT STARBUCKS...

Don't really stir the sugar into your coffee.

True, but there's absolutely nothing better for mixing Humbrol model-builder's enamel, in those tiny little cans. They also do a great job as disposable glue-spreaders. And if you build dollhouses, they can be used for *flooring*.

After your 400th post here, you can build a model of the Empire State Building out of them!

They are arguably the only genuinely beautiful, commonly available "free" objects in the American retail universe. Though not the most useful. The wire coathanger is still the most useful."

He went on to say in his next post:

"BUILD YOUR OWN HIGH-VOLTAGE ANTI-GRAVITY LIFTER USING STARBUCK'S WOODEN STIR-STICKS!

Actually I don't encourage anyone to do this; just looking at the pictures of what's inside your computer monitor is scary enough! Touch the wrong wire, there, and we're talking Crispy Critter. However, if you *were* going to build your own anti-gravity lifter, you *could* substitute Starbuck's stir-sticks, gluing them together with Elmer's white glue and a 1" overlap."

http://www.americanantigravity.com/lifterplans.html