Finding Mu

I was down in San Francisco a week ago, flying on United. Still have yet to write something about the trip. But, while flying something happened I thought was blog-worthy.

When the guy was coming around to serve coffee, he'd go around to every seat saying: "Starbucks? Starbucks for you? Starbucks?" Whatever happened to just saying what it is, coffee?

So, obviously Starbucks and United did some deal, but a pretty detailed one: the flight attendants must actually use the word "Starbucks" instead of "coffee". Sneaky eh?

Reminds me a lot of Kleenex and the way the extreme success of that brand eventually led the the word being used to refer to the type of product itself. Nobody says "can you pass me some facial tissue?", they say "pass me some Kleenex." It's the ultimate win in marketing it seems, building a perfect cultural association between the brand and the product itself. iPod is another good example.

Could it be that someday you'll wake up in the morning and say "time for some Starbucks", and head over to the nearest coffee shop, whether it's Starbucks or not?

Posted by at 4:16 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Found a great Ludwig Von Mises quote from Wikipedia here.

The usual terminology of political language is stupid. What is 'left' and what is 'right'? Why should Hitler be 'right' and Stalin, his temporary friend, be 'left'? Who is 'reactionary' and who is 'progressive'? Reaction against an unwise policy is not to be condemned. And progress towards chaos is not to be commended. Nothing should find acceptance just because it is new, radical, and fashionable. 'Orthodoxy' is not an evil if the doctrine on which the 'orthodox' stand is sound. Who is anti-labor, those who want to lower labor to the Russian level, or those who want for labor the capitalistic standard of the United States? Who is 'nationalist,' those who want to bring their nation under the heel of the Nazis, or those who want to preserve its independence?

It's something I wish people would do more: please don't throw ideas into big huge buckets! People like to categorize things, to simplify the way they view the world. Left and Right are great directions to look if you're crossing a street, but don't make them the be-all end-all of where you or others stand in your beliefs.

Posted by at 12:30 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)