chick-fil-a

Chick-fil-A foe shows how YouTube can corrupt the soul

As the tech world's volunteer psychiatrist, I sometimes struggle with people's motivations.

In the case of Adam Smith, I find myself having to write this lying down.

Should you have taken the long way around back from Kim Jong Un's wedding, you might not be aware that Smith is the man who rolled up to a Chick-fil-A drive-thru, ordered a free water, and then began to berate an utterly blameless Chick-fil-A employee.

Let he who has never berated the blameless cast the first stone-cold chicken sandwich. However, Smith saw himself as a crusader against the anti-gay views of the chain's President Dan Cathy … Read more

Amazon's Bezos donates $2.5M in support of same-sex marriage

Amazon is the latest tech company to come out in support of same-sex marriage. And judging from the size of founder and CEO Jeff Bezos' whopping $2.5 million donation to defend same-sex marriage in Washington State, there's no mistaking how the e-commerce magnate feels about the cause. This is the largest-ever publicly reported donation to a marriage campaign, according to the Associated Press.

Bezos announced Friday that he was making the donation with his wife MacKenzie to Washington United for Marriage, a group working to uphold the state's same-sex marriage law. Amazon spokesman Drew Herdener told the … Read more

Did Chick-fil-A really pretend to be a teenage girl on Facebook?

Never having sampled the product, I am not sure which of one's A's Chick-fil-A is supposed to fill.

However, the company is currently being accused of Class A filling of a slightly misleading sort by those who believe the fast-food chain is pretending to be a teenage girl on Facebook.

The general kerfuffle began when Chick-fil-A's president, Dan Cathy, declared that he supported "the biblical definition of the family unit."

He then went on a radio show and reportedly offered: "I think we are inviting God's judgment on our nation when we shake … Read more

The 404 908: Where we level up with Fitocracy (podcast)

Our guest on today's podcast episode is Dick Talens from Fitocracy.com, a social network that whips nerds into shape using role-playing mechanics and social-gaming achievements.

A self-described "ex-fat kid," Dick tells us about his high-school RPG career that developed an unhealthy lifestyle and dietary habits, and the light bulb moment when he realized he could combine his love for video games with the success of online social networks to get into shape.

Instead of typical workout routines you get from personal trainers and fitness magazines, Fitocracy takes cues from games like World of Warcraft and Chrono Trigger to present "quests" that must be completed to earn achievement points and "boosts."

After each workout, Fitocracy makes it easy to check in online, update your progress, and even send "props" to your fellow Fitocrats--the whole process is really motivating and takes the chest puffing out of your daily gym experience.

Check out today's episode to see Dick's incredible before and after photos, which should be enough to get you out of your computer chair for at least a few sit-ups. Also, the site is in private beta right now, but Dick is extending a generous invite to 404 listeners--just head to Fitocracy.com and enter in "The404" as a promo code and you'll be able to sign up ahead of everyone else.

Enjoy the service, and let us know what you think, and don't forget to send us your before and after photos!

The 404 Digest for Episode 908

Head over to Fitocracy and enter "The 404" into the promo code section to try it out! Fitocracy brings games and social to your workouts. Follow Fitocracy on Twitter. My workout partner is a role-playing game. Xkcd comic about Fitocracy. Most popular fitness tracking Web site: Fitocracy. Twitter break video of the day: HEYYEYAAEYAAAEYAEYAA (AND HE PRAYS)

Episode 908 Subscribe in iTunes (audio) | Subscribe in iTunes (video) | Subscribe in RSS Audio | Subscribe in RSS Video… Read more