Tuesday morning roundup

The prospect of cyrillic domains fails to excite most Russians.

Cambodia fails to honor its Refugee Convention obligations.

Really, people? Do you f*ing think Santa Claus is in the bible?

I've experienced some of the loveliest customer service ever at Ace Hardware and some of the most pathetic at Lowes, so I can't personally identify with the example, but I can't imagine it's good for Bergdorf:

A report entitled the Retail Service Quality Index, released Dec. 1, rated the service in luxury stores like Nordstrom, Bergdorf and Saks as no better than what was found in home improvement stores like Lowe’s and Ace Hardware.

As for this:

“Retailers are very good at the sales transaction,” Mr. Miller said, “but they are not very good at building sales relationships. If I am not going to get service that is any different walking into Wal-Mart as walking into Nordstrom, why would I go to Nordstrom?”

That's easy, or it should be: You'd think that Nordstrom would have higher-quality products. I'm not a brand snob, but I don't shop at Walmart, or NY&Co., for example, for clothes because I prefer natural fabrics, full linings, etc. That's why I'm so dismayed to find more and more rayon and polyester at the Ann Taylors (and Nordstroms) of this world: if I'm going to get the same cheap materials and shoddy workmanship, then I will just go to Walmart, or at least Target.


I guess it's one thing for meat eaters to have pets and vegetarians to have plants, and another to eat your plants, as I do my basil. And oregano, and sage, and rosemary, and so on. The sentience of a being has never been the primary factor in the ethics of my food decisions--that role goes to environmental impact. Nonetheless, this article messes with my circuitry: the brussels sprout plant is the heroine in this story, the wasp the valiant rescuer... but wasps can kill me and I hate them, and I want the butterfly eggs to live. Do I have to start feeling ambivalent about plucking my basil plant?