When someone suggested to Derek Sivers that he cover the CD Baby website with advertising, he replied
No way. Out of the question. That would be like putting a coke machine in a monastery.
I love that simile for something highly inappropriate. In context, I believe Sivers was saying that advertisement would be an inappropriate way to make money given his vision for CD Baby. But I think more of the disregard for aesthetics and historical context. I could just imagine how crass a coke machine would look in a medieval stone building, something like putting a glass and steel pyramid in the courtyard of a French Renaissance palace.
Derek Sivers’ quote comes from his new book Anything You Want.
I didn’t realize how ridiculous it looked when viewed in context of the palace.
Google Image search for Paris Palace.
Sorry that this isn’t related to your post here, but I don’t have Twitter with which to reply to your @SciPyTip from today; Sage does allow the use of I or i in input, and doesn’t recognize j at all (it’s Python that expects j). See here.
LOL
But yet there is more. The pyramid is a common symbol used by Freemasons, who were the ones who prevailed over the monarchy in the French Revolution. The pyramid at the palace is an in-your-face assertion of victory. Would not a coke machine in a monastery likewise represent the victory of consumerism over asceticism?
I love your blog! Just starting my first Blog Carnival and my research lead me here. Hope I can figure out how to make it happen. We’ll see how it goes. Yours is awesome. I have subscribed and look forward to reading regularly.
My favorite version of this was the Starbucks in the Forbidden City, though I think it’s been replaced (though it’s still a coffee shop).