Starbucks to charge real bucks for soy

Lactose-intolerant Starbucks customers are up in arms after the chain revealed its revamped Gold Card rewards program will drop its free soymilk and syrup provisions. Yes, buried within an announcement touting how much easier it will be now for Gold Card members to earn a free drink or food — only 12 required purchases rather than 15 — comes the horrific revelation that soymilk is no longer on the house for card holders. Which, as Consumerist points out, is a little bit of a problem for people who are Gold Card members but cannot (or choose not to) consume dairy. These people are now renouncing their loyalty to Starbucks and declaring things like, "We are SHOCKED that this is ending," noting that one of the big benefits of the Gold Card program was not the free drinks but rather the exact soy and syrup provisions that have just been dropped. And it's not just the lactose-intolerant, but also wusses such as vegans who have hijacked the discussion thread of the Starbucks announcement with declarations like this gem:

Thanks Starbucks!!! LOVE THE NEW TAX ON VEGAN'S!!! The only good thing with the "NEW BENEFITS" is it saves me money, the money I USED TO SPEND AT STARBUCKS... i enjoyed it while it lasted!!!!- i have $8.30 left on my card after that my household will no longer be a customer of starbucks!!!!

The Gold Card rewards changes don't go into effect until October 16, so there's still time to protest. And protest I would at least consider, because at least one member of my household (well technically, it's not MY household) is lactose intolerant (clue: it's not me). But I won't protest this: the timeline for autonomous cars hitting the road en masse keeps getting closer. GM's Cadillac division expects to produce partially autonomous cars at a large scale by 2015, and the automaker also predicts it will have fully autonomous cars available by the end of the decade. Audi and BMW have also shown self-driving car concepts, with the former working with Stanford to pilot a modified TT up Pikes Peak. Meanwhile, Google is ripping along at its own rapid pace with a fleet of fully autonomous Toyota Prius hybrids that have logged over 300,000 miles. And the company has pushed through legislation that legalises self-driving cars in Nevada. California is close behind, and Google has also been busy lobbying joyriding lawmakers in Washington, D.C. And speaking of DC, the Joker (real name James Eagan Holmes) faces 10 additional charges. The court documents, which were filed an Tuesday, don't reveal the nature of the new charges. A spokesperson in the district attorney's office declined to spell them out, because of a gag order. The filings show that prosecutors also plan to amend 17 of the existing 142 charges against the former University of Colorado doctoral student, though the motions don't show what alterations they want to make. But I hope they give him the chair for such a senseless act in a place where people go to relax and be entertained without having to worry about bellends like him shooting up the place.