astradele

What would you think if:

• You received a letter from outside the country, your name and address printed on it.
• The letter had no return address.
• Contents consisted solely of a large peel off sticker, gold border, white writing area.
• Sticker had a messy scrawl what appears to be, “87 Litt 8th Did”

I’m at a loss of whether to toss it, or keep it around and ponder it some more. Correctly addressed, business envelope, someone paid the extra postage to send it cross-border. Computer error perhaps, except no return address and human-generated contents?

[Updated: Eureka! I'm glad I didn't throw it out. It's the authours' signatures for the book, Freakonomics. A couple months ago, they announced on their blog that they would indirectly "sign" every book, if readers would merely send in their address. Their names, btw, are Steven Levitt ("87 Litt") and Stephen Dubner ("8th Did).]

Here’s a little secret that Starbucks doesn’t want you to know: They will serve you a better, stronger cappuccino if you want one, and they will charge you less for it. Ask for it in any Starbucks and the barista will comply without batting an eye. The puzzle is to work out why.

The drink in question is the elusive “short cappuccino”…

Starbucks’ short cappuccino

I wish I’d known about this earlier! Sometimes, I only want the espresso and enough milk to take the edge off. Still not Tim Horton’s prices though.