Hello, My Name is . . .
While reading Slashdot this morning, I came across this story:
“Raleigh City Councilman Bonner Gaylord is offering to name his unborn children after the co-founders of Google Inc. in an attempt to convince the company to build a high-speed Internet network in Raleigh.”
While lots of communities lately have been making offers to rename their stadiums, landmarks and towns after corporations in a bid to lure in local investment, this is the first time I’ve seen someone offer to name their as yet unborn children after a company’s founders simply to get a network. Granted, there have been stories about parents naming their kids after their favorite brand – “ESPN Real” being one a fellow Slashdotter pointed out – but most of these have been driven by a parent’s (misguided, in my opinion) desire to make their child stand out in some way. What makes this story stand out, is that this is the first instance I am aware of where a parent is voluntarily offering up his child’s identity to a corporate host. What’s worse, to me anyway, is that he seems to be doing so to get a better Internet connection. Call me foolish, but there is not enough porn in the world to justify this kind of stupidity. It’s one thing to rename a building, but a child? Read the rest of this entry »