Hematospermia

I KNEW this question would be here and there would be no OP response. 20 years ago, when Starbucks was rising to notoriety, I attended a talk by David Schomer (owner of Vivace coffee here in Seattle) and he supposed that the reason Starbucks roasts so dark is because roasting light requires a lot more attention to not only the process of roasting but also the mix of the beans. That is, when you roast beans to "as dark as they can be and still be called coffee" stage, the variability in the bean is roasted out and no matter WHAT bean you use, it will always taste the same. Therefore, Starbucks has made themselves the McDonald's of coffee by roasting their beans to the very point of a dark, bitter, but commercially acceptable flavor and had customers return due to Starbucks' ability to consistently provide the same flavor. But I am currently a bit drunk AND high (I know it's Sunday but daylight savings hath fucked me) so I may be talking complete shit.

Same here. Just released what I think is a very good illustrated book and put a couple of hundred into ads but sales have been essentially zero. In speaking with someone who has moderate success on Amazon, it seems the key is building a following on Facebook, but I have no idea how to get that going either.

I just released my latest illustrated book on Amazon. I don't mind telling you it's brutal on there, and I've since discovered people don't buy kids books on Amazon. I wish I had some tips for you but nothing has worked so far. So I guess my question for you is, how much do you plan to drink to dull the slowly building depression you are surely soon to experience?

Are we in the middle of another real estate bubble or is this just the new normal?

Hi David— thank you for doing this IAmA. I really enjoy going to the symphony and experiencing the music performed live. Clearly the sonic presentation is designed to be best for the audience, and I’ve always wondered what the sound is like for the musicians. Do you mainly hear the other strings that are nearest to you?

Also, the one thing that I dislike most about the symphony is my fellow audience members. I once had a middle-aged lady vomit on the floor in the seat directly behind me. What is it about the symphony that brings out the people most likely to ruin the experience for everyone else?