"New Jersey Dining - Online - Web Forums for Feedback on Food Are Proliferating" - NYTimes.com

I wonder how many older people are starting or contributing to these?

Seniors - Mangerbouger.fr

The North Carolina cafe

One of the persistent and unhappy trends in France is the closing of many of the "corner" cafes that have long distinguished France from countries blighted by strip malls. There was a style and an expectation that was both consistent and consistently met when going into one of these places. But the economics have not worked in their favor, nor have changing practices by customers, probably the bigger of the two.

Without going into more detail on what has caused the demise of thousands and thousands of these cafes in France, I want to ask the question - what is the North Carolina equivalent of the French cafe? Do we have one? And what are its trends?

I guess I am asking where it is that people in North Carolina go to sit and talk, to have a cup of coffee, to buy a drink, and to have a light meal, while buying cigarettes, candy, newspapers and lottery tickets? Have we divided all of those activities among multiple establishments and machines?

Is it the NC coffee shop? Is it Starbucks? Is it a "neighborhood" bar? Is it a diner?

Are there discernible trends?

Harvesting the internet for food

An article caught my eye yesterday in the Nice Matin newspaper here in France. The point of the piece was that online shopping is changing or lives. It notes shopping for food as one of those.

I wonder if we all know as much as we should yet about how to really get the most food value out of the web and e-mail. In other words, wherever each of us may sit, what is it that we can do by way of e-mail and websites (including blogs) that will help us find better value in our food consumption?

There are some obvious ones from collecting coupons online to being alerted to specials by e-mail. But the whole system is haphazard at this point. How can we help better organize all of that so the time and energey expended is less and the value obtained is greater?

I think it all starts wherever you are and involves a balance between places to which you need to go to do your food business, including no further than your computer. If you think of all the food you consume in a day, imagine the shopping basket that it represents - some water that you are not conscience you are buying from whoever connects to your home or wherever you are, food that you purchase at a grocery store, food that you may purchase in a restaurant, and food that may be delivered to you. How do we use the power of the computer to rework that "basket" in order to deliver highest value in every respect?

"Senior Traveler: A recipe for learning abroad" - Philadelphia Inquirer

"Is free KFC chicken worth a long wait?" - Marketplace From American Public Media

Even for people with lots of invested years in their lives, there are not many chances to get food for free. This is an amusing account of how much "free" appeals to a radio editor. Pehraps you will learn some tips or get some ideas from his determination!

"Number of Job Hunters 65 or Older Skyrockets" - NYTimes.com

By the time you've invested 65 years in life, you have a tremendous amount of experience to apply and share with others. When you have the will, and the way is uncertain or apparently not there at all, there is something wrong with that picture. The answer to the problem at hand is that we need rework the value proposition. It is not simply providing work for "old" people; it is tapping a vast reservoir of talent, expertise, knowhow and experience among people over 65. AgePays Food wants to help remake and advance that proposition in the food sector; we don't hear about anyone else doing so. Join us.