Quiznos has followed Sbarro into Chapter 11.
How about a completely amusical interlude that explains why Quiznos went bankrupt? At least, many people I know date the start of the chain’s decline to this:
(And I had not heard of “Hot Dog on a Stick”, so I wasn’t even aware they’d gone Chapter 11, too.)
We have a noodle truck at the office on Thursdays.
The Forbidden. Beef stewed for four hours in an Indonesian-style red curry. DFG Noodles, Austin, Texas.
And it is pretty damn good.
And they take credit/debt cards. You’ve seen it before, haven’t you? iPad with a credit card swiper, pick your tip, sign, have your receipt emailed to you?
This observation isn’t original to me, and I’m not sure it is terribly profound, but: services like Square have revolutionized credit card processing. I remember the old days, when setting up a merchant account was hard to do, and you needed a phone line, and you needed bulky equipment, and the credit card processors charged enormous fees. Now? I’m kind of far from retail, so I’m not sure if Square has resulted in downward pressure on fees (though I suspect it has).
Someone I know who is in retail and takes credit cards reviewed an early draft of this post and provided this information: they pay 2.61% for credit card processing, but each month’s statement also contains a laundry list of “cryptic inexplicable fees” that they have to pay as well. Square claims to charge a flat 2.75% for swiped transactions (Visa, MC, AmEx, Discover) with no additional fees. (I say “claims” because I have not used Square and can’t verify that for myself.)
Square also claims to deliver your money in one to two business days, no matter what type of card it is. The retail person I know says that AmEx fees depend on how long you let AmEx keep your money: they let AmEx hold their money for 15 days, and pay between 2% and 3%.
But fees aside, anyone who has a bank account can take credit cards these days, and all you need is an iPhone or iPad (or a supported Android device, though frankly that looks a little painful). Little to no bulk, no landline, and the money goes into your linked bank account.
The big thing, as I see it, isn’t the merchant charges: it is the portability. Your credit card machine is your phone or tablet, and it fits in a trailer. Or in a pocket. And you don’t need anything else – you don’t even need a printer, you can just email receipts to your customers. (Okay, you might want a charging cable, depending on how good battery life is on your device. But other than that, nothing.)
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Where were we? Oh, yes: cheerleaders.
It is official. It is now impossible for us to care any less about the Super Bowl (or, as some are calling it, “The Pot Bowl”) than we do now.
But we still have this week’s TMQ to get through after the jump…
You know what I want?
A 3D printed chocolate gun that shoots.
(Yeah, I know: Hershey’s chocolate probably won’t be able to withstand the chamber pressure of even a .22LR round. But if a man can’t dream, what’s Heaven for?)
This requires some background.
One of my Christmas presents was a box of smoked meat from Goode Company Barbecue in Houston. The meat itself has been very good so far. But included with the meat was a loaf of Goode Company’s Jalepeno Cheddar bread.
I was warned in advance: “This stuff is addictive. You’ll find yourself eating the whole loaf in one sitting.” Well, I wasn’t quite that bad (it took two sittings to finish the loaf), but it is very very good bread. I wouldn’t put it at the “crack cocaine” level; that’s reserved for Caramel deLites (or Samoas, depending on which part of the country you’re in). It is even better if you toast it and spread some of Trader Joe’s Pub Cheese on the toast, but that’s a digression.
(And by the way, Girl Scout cookie season is upon us again.)
Anyway, after I finished the loaf, I found myself saying the following: “Hey! I have a bread machine! How hard could it be to replicate their bread?”
I wasn’t all that wild about what the NYT did with this year’s “The Lives They Led” obituary roundup.
But this, this is a swell article:
One aspect of this that fascinates me: the Coast Guard’s use of computers in search and rescue.
You don’t often see $300 items at the supermarket. Especially in the produce section, as opposed to behind a locked cabinet in the wine department. (I’m not sure, but I don’t think even the highest-end champagne HEB stocks hits the $300 mark.)
More:
The last time I went to Red Lobster, it was kind of a disappointment. And the last two times I’ve gone to Olive Garden, I’ve walked out before even getting a drink. Maybe this is what Red Lobster needs.
Obligatory: the all-you-can-eat crab legs story.
Obligatory 2: make your own cheddar biscuits at home.
The NYT has awarded four stars to Sushi Nakazawa.
Why do I care? Why should you care?
I haven’t watched a single episode of “Breaking Bad” (it is on my list, though), but I have to admit: I like this hat. It may be a little pricy at $149, but you know, man walks down the street in that hat, people know he’s not afraid of anything.
After all those depressing stories of law enforcement misconduct, how about some stupid criminal stories?
Guy walks into a taqueria in San Antonio, orders six tacos, and when he’s asked to pay, demands them for free. When the staff says “No”, he threatens them with a sword.
I actually have a mugshot of the subject:
Sorry. Wrong taco lover.
Meanwhile, in Houston, David Nathan Gathright has been sentenced to six months in prison for “receiving, possessing, and concealing stolen retail merchandise”. Specifically, body wash and cologne.
More:
On Nov. 6, a witness at another Walgreens location in the 12600 block of S. Gessner told police he saw Gathright boosting five gift sets of cologne from a display, with a cumulative price tag of $120.
Gathright also stole a variety of cologne sets at the Walgreens at 8400 Stella Link on Nov. 15, with that heist reportedly seeing Gathright leave with $300 worth of cologne.
And:
I have to ask: if Gathright was a known figure at the South Gessner Walgreens, and had “repeatedly made attempts to steal even more body wash and cologne”, why did they even let him in the store?
There’s no mugshot of Gathright, but I picture him looking something like this:
In any case, it seems probable that Gathright will be the best smelling prisoner in state prison. (There’s an implication in the article that he had an accomplice, or at least a driver, who remains at large.)
The latest entry into the pantheon of architectural and historic landmarks?
The very first location of Der Wienerschnitzel.
Now I’m kind of hungry.
Some thoughtful posts on the FDA and 23andMe: Derek Lowe. Popehat. Overlawyered.
This is how I want Lawrence‘s tax dollars to be spent: safety tips on turkey frying from the Round Rock Fire Department.
All the Vermeers on the Eastern Seaboard.
(There was a period of time when I was going to see a lot of movies at the Dobie Theater here in Austin; this was before the Alamo Drafthouse, and Dobie was the “art” film theater. Anyway, it seemed like every movie I went to see had the trailer for “All the Vermeers in New York” in front of it. Drove me absolutely bugf–k nuts. The trailer was so annoying, it killed any desire I might have had to see the movie.)
Photographer Saul Leiter passed away on Tuesday. I had not heard of Saul Leiter until I started listening to the “On Taking Pictures” podcast (which is my new favorite podcast in the world): Saul Leiter is an obsession of theirs, to the point where he made it into the OTP drinking game.
To be serious, I wish I had found Leiter’s work much earlier. There’s some good stuff over at the NYT Lens blog about him as well.
Will history blame the Internet, or the bees?
That quote makes it sound like the SFChron no longer produces their own honey. Do I have any readers in the area who can confirm this? Or, alternatively, send me a jar of SFChron honey in return for…something negotiable. Drop me a line. Address is on the contact page.
(Hattip.)