A Game Of Chicken

Well, OK, Chick-Fil-A is having some medieval-themed “Date Knight” event. This event encourages sons to take their mothers out to Chick-Fil-A. It appears to be something to encourage family bonding via a kind of knights-and-damsels themed event.

OK, so look I’m not going to bring up Chick-Fil-A’s anti-gay issues, though I can criticize that. I could critique their food, but let’s face it they never claimed to be healthy. Date Knight isn’t a half-bad core idea, encouraging some fun family connections.

Except, as noted in this rant at i09 it’s incredibly creepy.

In fact one of the creepiest things about it is also a prime example of why you need Geeks On Staff to evaluate your cultural impact and choices. You need people who dig deep into culture-focused, technology-enabled culture.  You need people aware of far-flung memes and trends.

Read more

Embarrassment In The Time of E-Publishing?

Lately I've been experimenting with online publishing sites as a way to put out an advanced report for the Geek Scanner.  That's also had me thinking about how easy it is to publish, and what it means for the embarrassment of publishing something bad.

We've all heard about some meltdown that some author had online, from fanfic writers to professionals (in everything but the "professional dignity" sense). More people are putting stuff out more people are able to read it, so what does it mean for the idea of being embarrassed for putting out something bad?

Know what? I'm not sure.  I've wondered about similar issues before, and I'm wondering still.

Read more