Howling at the moon

Weather: Another clear, cool night, and a much more bearable ride in.
Coyotes: Heard but not seen!
Fenders: Bothersome
My new mud fenders started buzzing at me on the ride home today, which was a bit annoying. They're all plastic - the intent is that they're very lightweight and that in the event of caught debris, the fender will break before my spokes do - and I'm wondering if there's just not enough rigidity to them to keep them clear of my tires at all times. Boo.

In cooler news, I totally heard the coyote tonight - as the title implies, howling at the moon. Hearing's definitely better than seeing, because hearing coyotes howl is really cool AND I didn't have to worry about getting sized up as dinner.

Tonight's post is brought to you by my favorite Internet argument*: sexism.

Coca-Cola has apparently been running the "Share a Coke" campaign around the world since 2011, but this summer is the first time it's made it to the US. According to their website, the identifiers on various Coke products are decided based on container size and brand:
- 20 oz. Coca-Cola bottles feature the 250 most popular names in the country.
- 2-liter bottles sport group names, like "Family" or "Friends."
- 12oz cans employ nicknames like "Bestie" or "Buddy."
- On the cans, "the terms will express each brand's individual personality."

Let's talk about that last one. I've been a no-calorie Coke drinker for over two decades, and my current carbonated caffeine of choice is Coke Zero. Coincidentally, this is the brand that Coke is targeting towards young men, as Diet Coke has a feminine stigma (because men don't diet, I guess?). So I was disappointed but not surprised to see my Coke Zero cans loaded up with "guy" nicknames -- Bro, Wingman, Buddy, etc. Meanwhile Diet Cokes feature names like BFF, Bestie, or Mom, as well as one I found particularly interesting: Go-Getter. In short: Zero is for bros, and Diet is for girls and/or hard-working professionals (a compliment that often has a feminine cast to it; men are assumed to be hard-working professionals already). Coca-Cola brand colas: now with 25% more entrenched sexism!

I was ready to just shake my head and get on with it, but today I saw a new Coke Zero name: Gamer. So consider it confirmed by Coke: gamers are all dudes. Bros, even. And after all that market research and all those arguments on the Internet, too.

Personally, all I can say is that my Rated Battleground group is 30% female, both D&D groups I've been involved with in the last few years were 33% female, and my fiancee and I have nearly identical gaming rigs in the office (hers has a bigger SSD and more RAM, I think). Her hunter would destroy you on the damage meters, too.

Unfortunately, she doesn't like Coke Zero.

_____

An aside: it's really a brilliant ad campaign. The number of social media posts I've seen of people posting with a Coke with their name on it (or posting to someone else, showing off a Coke with the recipient's name) is staggering. They even got me to write about it. Bravo.


* Actually, I just needed a segue.**
** Though to be honest, sexism does make up a significant percentage of my Internet arguing.