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Mick Harper
Site Admin
In: London
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I have just received this extraordinary missive:
Dear Michael,
We are writing to inform you of an important service update regarding the NESCAFÉ® Dolce Gusto® Webshop. After many years of operation, the NESCAFÉ® Dolce Gusto® Webshop will be closing on 01.06.2026. From this date, it will no longer be possible to place orders directly through our website. Please note that this change only affects the webshop. NESCAFÉ® Dolce Gusto® capsules and machines will continue to be available through our authorised retail partners, both online and in-store.
Thank you for your understanding.
Kind regards,
The NESCAFÉ® Dolce Gusto® Team |
Why extraordinary? Well, NESCAFÉ® is the biggest coffee supplier in the world (o.n.o.) so why is it eschewing the retail mark-up it can glean from its vast captive market of Dolce Gusto capsule consumers? I can only presume it is because they want complaints about the large rises in coffee prices to land at others' doors rather than their own.
If so, this seems incredibly short-sighted since (a) the prices will be coming down or stabilising eventually and (b) we're not such twats as to assume it's because the retailers have tripled their profit margins or something.
It is also deeply irritating. I have no idea who these 'authorised retail partners, both online and in-store' are. I expect I can find out, I expect there will be the usual pfaffs coming and going as whole new arrangements are made, I expect I will now have to pay the full retail mark-up, but I expected better from Swiss giants.
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Mick Harper
Site Admin
In: London
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Those of you who want to join us in New York for the the big Jeff Bezos protest should congregate in Terminal Three at Heathrow. We're not completely sure what it's all about but having a z in your name is never a good sign.
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Mick Harper
Site Admin
In: London
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I was looking at the dress code for the Met Museum of Art because I've accused them of fakery in the past so I don't want to draw attention to myself, when who did I spy but Ms Jeff Bezos in all her finery.
What I can't get round my head is why such an attractive woman would end up with a ghastly arriviste shopkeeper like Bezos. If she thought it was necessary for gaining entrée into white tie galas I could have told her you just get in as a waiter (the agencies are always short-handed during the season) and then change in the lavvy.
Though, to be honest, these days it's only the waiters that are in formal regalia, everyone else being anxious to be seen as men-of-the-people. Not Ms Bezos obviously, she was straight out of Roger Rabbit, but you know what I mean.
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Mick Harper
Site Admin
In: London
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| Pentagon sources declined to comment on whether America has a dolphin training programme for blowing up enemy ships but were adamant the Iranians did not have one. CNN |
They didn't mention why not though. It's all to do with whether dolphins who gave their lives for the cause would count as martyrs and therefore entitled to the companionship of eighty virgin dolphinettes in heaven. But the matter is by no means closed. Unlike the Strait.
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Mick Harper
Site Admin
In: London
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My Medium stats show
4th May 7 views 1 read
5th May 5 views 0 reads
6th May 4 views 0 reads
It's what we call a 'One-nil to the Arsenal' situation.
PS Have you noticed 'zero' is a plural in English? Can someone check the situation in all other languages, it may be important.
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Mick Harper
Site Admin
In: London
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A little thingy in the bottom right hand corner has appeared whenever I open a Word document. When you hover over it with your mouse thingy it says things like
Suggest ways to improve this document
Structure and refine the document
Refine this to be more clear and professional |
I say 'things like' because it seems to change every time. I find it importunate rather than helpful but I always adopt these innovations eventually.
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Mick Harper
Site Admin
In: London
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I am disgusted to hear that quadruple murderer Nicholas Tartaglione should have had to share a cell with a pervert like Jeffrey Epstein.
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Mick Harper
Site Admin
In: London
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Medium just sent me my weekly 'most-viewed stories' stats:
* Can I interest you in a pyramid? Nov 28th 2024 7 views
* It’s Going Down To The Wire May 3rd 2026 6 views
* The World’s Our Stage Dec 29th 2024 6 views
* Is the Ukraine tide finally turning? Feb 26th 2026 5 views
So that's one a week old, one that's two-months old, and a couple that are a year and a half old. Where's the rhyme? Where's the reason?
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Mick Harper
Site Admin
In: London
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On the Substack front, I just got a like from thrivewithjumi for today's Chokey for Chinamen. Who he? you ask. Me too. He's this
| I am Adejumoke, a data analyst, podcaster, author, and pattern designer exploring transformation at the intersection of technology, psychology, and spirituality. I write bi monthly essays called The Illusionist Investigator. |
If it weren't for that 'spirituality' (and maybe that 'psychology') I could be forgiven for thinking he was one of us. Though the Nigerian-ness of the name is also a black mark. (But that may be more me than him.) Or her, of course, but I think I'm safe on that one.
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Mick Harper
Site Admin
In: London
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Academia.edu sent me this today (you'll see why):
What Can Fourth Amendment Doctrine Learn from Vagueness Doctrine by Tracey Maclin
...r the ordinance, if an officer Professor of Law, Boston University School of Law. The author thanks Michael Harper for reading an earlier draft of this article. He also thanks Kelly Honohan, Melissa Toner, and Chri... |
Does anyone know anything about the Vagueness Doctrine? Sounds like one for us.
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Mick Harper
Site Admin
In: London
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I was a bit alarmed when my Medium stats on May 4th read '7 views, 1 read', but May 5th was worse, '5 views 0 reads'. Things did not improve on May 6th: '4 views, 0 reads' or May 7th '8 views, 0 reads' and hadn't looked up by yesterday, May 8th--'3 views, 0 reads'--but today is a whole new day.
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Mick Harper
Site Admin
In: London
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Looking back up the page, I see a post saying all this (albeit in a different way) which I had completely forgotten I had written. Now that is alarming. I don't mind being a forgotten man so long as I'm not one of them.
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Mick Harper
Site Admin
In: London
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On the other hand, Chokey for Chinamen on Substack got '14 views (100% opened)', my best ever opening day figure by far. That clickbait title must have done it. It's a shame I would never stoop that far.
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Mick Harper
Site Admin
In: London
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One of the more depressing things is that while I get a decent number of views on Substack on the first day--I got 12 for yesterday's Labour Party Shellacked--and a few more on the second day--Chinamen has advanced from 14 to 17--I almost never get a change in numbers for earlier stories.
This can only mean that people who give my latest offering the once-over are not minded to look at anything else I've written. This could be because the stories are duff but I prefer to think I am so obscure people assume they must be duff even though the one they are reading is pure magic.
Accordingly I intend to go on the late night talk show circuit to get some name recognition. Does anyone have a brother-in-law in the business?
I don't like to keep bothering Katie Razzall. I could try David Shukman, the ex-BBC environment editor who once gave me a good review. He's just resurfaced with a new book, The Response: A Story of Fire and Flood in Britain's New World of Extremes, but will he recognise my name?
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Mick Harper
Site Admin
In: London
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| Today, Substack wrote: | | Bay Area Letters liked your post Deal or No Deal? |
How nice of them. And who are they? Bay Area Letters, I mean.
| Bay Area Letters@bayarealetters Get the latest AI, tech, and business insights from Silicon Valley. New startup ideas, tools, and uncovered stories. Join our 380k subscribers |
So, I mused, how likely is a Californian writers' help company to have noticed, much less liked, an obscure story written by a Brit three months ago? Not very, I decided. So why did they? If I could work this out I might be able to make further progress in my quest for world Substack domination.
(And, yes, I do realise it's a dirt cheap way of advertising their services to a target audience, but shouldn't Substack be stamping out such practices rather than assisting them?)
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