Chris Navin

Full post here.

“My marketing department just had a shitfit: ‘You can’t call a restaurant a rat place! People think rats are dirty. It’s not going to work,'” he said. “But what if he is a rat but you don’t call him a rat, I suggested. ‘You name it,’ I told them. ‘I don’t give a shit what it is. But it has to be happy.’ A week later, they said, we got the name. And not only is it happy, it’s triple happy: Chuck E. Cheese, you can’t say each one of those without smiling.’

If I recall: Bad pizza, ball pits, video games and animatronics that eerily came to life like clockwork.

If you want real Americana, see ‘The Gobbler.‘

From The American Interest: Francis Fukuyama Interviews Peter Thiel-’A Conversation With Peter Thiel’…A Few Thoughts On Foreign Policy-Adam Garfinkle At The American Interest: ‘Conservative Principles Of World Order’

Full article here.

As you may have noticed, the economic models that sustained traditional media are in serious trouble. The technology is now available to publish and communicate ideas much more cheaply.

Nicolas Lemann argues that the vital work of keeping citizens informed about how and what their government does and how their society actually functions (how would you achieve this second goal, anyways…through compulsory education?) is always necessary, and can be explored further by journalism schools like his at Columbia.

“Journalism schools not only can replace the original reporting capability that news organizations have lost, but also can raise the level of sophistication in the practice of journalism. “

A new curriculum can be forged out of the current circumstances that can be a win-win for journalism students and the communities they live within: