Hacker News Reader

Comment by yuncun | Hacker News Reader

McDonald’s CEO, James Skinner, is interesting. I like their chicken mcNuggets, but I am always aware that their CEO is US-Navy trained, and maintains a good relation with armed forces.

Seriously though, everybody was China is PLA - it doesn't mean anything. Back in the day, PLA is one of the few ways to get an education and not be a farmer.

View on HN

> McDonald’s CEO, James Skinner, is interesting. I like their chicken mcNuggets, but I am always aware that their CEO is US-Navy trained, and maintains a good relation with armed forces.

I think that's a different discussion. I can't imagine any way that McD's would spy on/hurt us thru McNuggets (except maybe food poisoning), whereas they can thru software/Internet companies.

On a semi-serious note, McDonald's is positioned at major intersections in nearly every city and town in the United States.

If you wanted to go full-militarized police state, locking down all the major intersections seems like something you'd want to do.

A friend of mine once heard a talk by one of the CxOs of McDonald's (was a while ago, and I can't remember which). He asked the question, "What business am I in?"

Obviously, he rejected the naive answer of "selling food". Smarter answers were "licensing franchises" or "marketing/branding", but he rejected those answers as well.

What business was he in? Land

Thanks for the heads-up about McDonald's. We're using their McIDS product right now, so I'll definitely have to do more research into whether we can trust them.

Reply on news.ycombinator.com