I heard some of them have eight legs
You know that stupid urban legend college kids always try to blow your mind with about how KFC is called that because the FDA said they can’t call their food sources ‘chickens’ anymore? And then some loser like me goes, “think about it, it’s obviously marketing. They don’t call it chemlawn anymore either.” Actually they do still call it chemlawn. Can you believe that? Anyway, according to snopes, the real reason is 10 times crazier than the Robochicken Hypothesis:
It sounded good, but the real reason behind the shift to KFC had nothing to do with healthy food or finicky consumers: it was about money — money that Kentucky Fried Chicken would have had to pay to continue using their original name. In 1990, the Commonwealth of Kentucky, mired in debt, took the unusual step of trademarking their name. Henceforth, anyone using the word “Kentucky” for business reasons — inside or outside of the state — would have to obtain permission and pay licensing fees to the Commonwealth of Kentucky. It was an unusual and brilliant scheme to alleviate government debt, but it was also one that alienated one of the most famous companies ever associated with Kentucky. The venerable Kentucky Fried Chicken chain, a mainstay of American culture since its first franchise opened in Salt Lake City in 1952, refused as a matter of principle to pay royalties on a name they had been using for four decades. After a year of fruitless negotiations with the Kentucky state government, Kentucky Fried Chicken — unwilling to submit to “such a terrible injustice” — threw in the towel and changed their name instead, timing the announcement to coincide with the introduction of new packaging and products to obscure the real reasons behind the altering of their corporate name.
Kentucky Fried Chicken were not the only ones who bravely refused to knuckle under. The name of the most famous horse race in North America, held every year at Churchill Downs, was changed from the “Kentucky Derby” to “The Run for the Roses” for similar reasons; many seed and nursery outfits that had previously offered Kentucky Bluegrass switched to a product known as “Shenendoah Bluegrass” instead; and Neil Diamond’s song “Kentucky Woman” was dropped from radio playlists at his request, as the licensing fees he was obligated to pay the Commonwealth of Kentucky exceeded the peformance royalties he was receiving for the airplay.
or should that be SNOPESED?
Its like double snoping. Man I wish that was true.
also, I’ll never be able to trust snopes again. the ultimate way (before this) to phish me would be to hack my browser to show “snopes.com” in the title bar and say “It’s ok to enter you account number hear. –Barbara ‘ID-Thieving’ Mikkelson” and i would totally do it.
and another thing, part of the reason I thought this was true is I remember reading about New York City trying to profit somehow from it’s ‘brand’ a few years ago (I specifically remember something about negotiations with Snapple to allow itself to call itself the official drink of New York or something), as well as the London underground. All i could find now though is this:
New York Loves Its Trademark
New York officials show no mercy in their bid to protect the “I ♥ New York” logo. The trademark, supplied free of charge by graphic designer Milton Glaser in 1976, helps beckon 140 million tourists to the Empire State each year. As others tried to tap the design over the years, state legal eagles have filed close to 3,000 trademark objections.
Apparel company 4 KAMM International is incensed at New York’s pending effort to halt the use of “I ♥” SF, Las Vegas, and Paris on everything from bumper stickers to calendars. Last year, New York shut down “I ♥ Yoga” T-shirts produced by a Florida Bikram yoga outfit. And in October, the U.S. Trademark & Patent Office is expected to hear a case filed by Michael Stewart, a clothing designer in Raleigh, N.C., challenging New York’s opposition to “I ♥ NC.”
Lawyers say Stewart’s case is stronger than most because of coloring differences and a change in the heart’s look. New York says this is about protecting a logo, not upping licensing fees, which totaled $900,000 in the past five years. “We aren’t in the business of taking apologies,” says Jonathan Faber, a lawyer at Collins, McDonald & Gann, which represents the state.
But who will watch the watchmen, Jeb? Who will watch the watchmen?
First the last tape factory, now this
It may read like a page out of a classic corporate crime thriller, but the threat is real. ExpoPul, a company whose factory in Saratov, Russia manufactures vacuum tubes under the brand names Sovtek, Electro-Harmonix, Tungsol, Svetlana, Mullard, and others—tubes that include the 6H30 “super tube”—is threatened by one of the many Russian corporate “raiders” who are increasingly stealing businesses from their rightful owners. If the threatened hostile takeover proves successful, two-thirds of the world’s supply of vacuum tubes—tubes vital to the sound of audiophile gear and instruments from such well-known companies as McIntosh, Audio Research, BAT, Jadis, Fender, KORG, Peavey, Vox, Soldano, Carvin, Ampeg, and Crane—could become a thing of the past.
Apart from the fact that if the Sovtek factory is shut down we are all screwed in a practical sense, you really should read at least one of the articles because this is just the beginning. There was a good one in the NYT but its behind the wall now. The company is baised in Samara. The ‘corporate raiders’ physically raid businesses. There’s also a bizarre white-color angle to the crimes. It’s endemic to modern Russia. The sovtek factory was basically supported as the tube industry died by the russian military-space complex and is one of the only operating cold war artifact factories in russia. The company is owned by the guy who invented some famous pedals like the Big Muff and who had something to do with Hendrix. I mean, really, you have to basically read the article.
Rhymes with Orange is the worst comic
I’d be mair vauntie o’ my hap,
Douce hingin’ owre my curple,
Than ony ermine ever lap,
Or proud imperial purple.
– Robert Burns
‘Nothing rhymes with purple’– another Dark Age superstition dies in the harsh glare of the Natural Philosophy. The fact that this includes the word ‘ermine’ is just a bonus.
[Sc., corruption of crupper] (rhymes with purple, cf. hirple) 1) the hind-quarters or rump of a horse 2) transf. the rump, posterior
So I Was Reading About Airwolf...
The CD soundtrack for the show, Airwolf Themes: 2CD Special Limited Edition is a collectors’ item selling for up to $981 - a World Record - on eBay making it the “World’s Most Expensive Television Soundtrack.”
No search results for Airwolf on popsike though.
man that rules. i loved that song. the nes version sucked but i played it all the time anyway. we hate to call you back to active duty, ace.
Is airwolf where you got the name stringfellow scarecrow? Please say yes.
stringfellow hawk (jan michael vincent) and santini (ernest borgnine).
Vidcon is Florida’s only con devoted to fan fiction in all it forms. Come and interact with other fans who read, write and love fan fiction. We are gen and slash friendly!
first double post. finn, keep this guy.
Vidcon is Florida’s only con devoted to fan fiction in all it forms. Come and interact with other fans who read, write and love fan fiction. We are gen and slash friendly!
This one’s called a torse. Naturally, posting this virtually demands one reposts the classic Animals I Enjoy Imagining.
that mcswys list is SO GOOD.
Remember when people used to prank each other with ip relay? This is a messageboard where relay operators post contact info for prankers and then team up and prank the people off hours. At first, I thought it was just funny that this existed, but then I started reading the threads about the nigerian scammers, and then the sob stories about ‘the good ole days’ of relay when the ops knew the callers personally, and I started paying attention to the crazy argot, and I decided that actually this is just a super awesome messageboard.
Seth Godin’s “The new Rules of Naming”
“Are these really ‘new rules’, or just an attempt to rationalize being saddled with ‘Squidoo’?”
Gah. I couldn’t finish reading this. I can’t believe how much time these people spend thinking about this stuff. Do they really think that if JetBlue was called ‘Crashy Airlines’ it would really make that big of a difference? Of course, in compliance with internet law relating to ridiculous naming article posts, I will post this old salon thing that rules.
Also this reminds me of a story somebody told me– these two companies spent months working on this huge merger, but somehow the whole ‘what are we going to call the merged company’ question fell through the cracks. So the deal is ready to be finalized and announced and they don’t have a name. They hire Landor or somebody on a super-rush basis and pay them $800,000– eight hundred thousand dollars– to come up with the name Convera, which apparently took a little less than a week’s work for the naming firm. It seems they may have misaligned their priorities.
This stuff is cool, but like, ever heard of the other colors?
these are great. my favorite nicely complements my current desktop background.
Providence, RI has some heavy history with Load Records, Prurient and Hospital Productions, Paper Radio, Lightning Bolt, Fort Thunder et al. Some new blood is drizzling through the streets by the name of Twonicorn, a label with a spartan design aesthetic and a greasy ear for excellent drone perversion. Like Load, this label doesn’t deal with blatant localism as they got the hot links with the midwest and beyond. “Basement New Age Crawl” is their motto and it is manifest certainly through the work of Tombi whose Cavern Tapes Vol’s 1 + 2 cassettes are stretched and torn drone-lowers. Also represented is the Untitled cassette by the great Glass Organ which is some sinister project of Minneapolis’ most destroyed son Justin Meyers. Hot cream.
Hot cream. Hot cream for all.
you gotta run these links through the nytimes genlink script, dude. permalink.
eh, everyone cool uses greasemonkey to do that JIT