Heat Emergency Means No More Neckties

“Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez has called on workers in the public and private sector to stop wearing ties, as an energy saving measure in the heat.

Mr Sanchez said his government will adopt ‘urgent’ energy-saving measures on Monday as European countries strive to become less dependent on Russian gas in the wake of the war in Ukraine.

On Friday, temperatures reached 36C (96.8 F) in Madrid and 39C [102.2 F ] in Seville.”

— “Spain heatwave: PM tells workers to stop wearing ties to save energy,” Malu Cursino, BBC News

Logically, you’d think that neckties should be compulsory in winter to save heating, but they’re bad for your brain. Throw the damn things out and wear a muffler this December.

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First they came for my tiki torches ….

In Charlottesville, they came for my tiki torches. Also my polo shirts and khakis. Now they’ve stolen my Hawaiian shirts.

Fascists are ruining my summer. What’s next, Slip ’N Slide?

More:

“What Do You Do When Extremism Comes for the Hawaiian Shirt?” Nathan Taylor Pemberton, New York Times

“Who are those gun-toting dudes in Hawaiian shirts at protests? Depends on who you ask,” Carol Robidoux, Manchester Ink Link

“Armed Militias Are Readying For A New Civil War In Aloha Shirts,” Ryan Finnerty, Hawaiian Public Radio

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History of the Hoodie

“From its association with punk and hip-hop to skater culture, the hoodie has a history of being adopted by youth-driven communities once relegated to the fringes, imbuing it with an iconoclastic, sometimes criminal, subtext. Mainstream fashion may embrace it as practical article of clothing, but it’s never lost that edge.

The hoodie was born of modest origins. Champion Products, which began as the Knickerbocker Knitting Company in 1919, claims to have made the first hooded sweatshirt. Originally a sweater mill, Champion began making sweatshirts in the early 1930s once it developed methods to sew thicker underwear material.

According to Harold Lipson, a former president at Champion who started at the company in 1934, the hood was first added to sweatshirts in order to protect athletes and laborers from the elements. Employees at cold-storage warehouses and tree surgeons working through the winter were calling for a garment that would provide more warmth than their long underwear. Meanwhile Champion was working directly with high schools to determine their apparel needs, eventually making big double-thickness hooded sweatshirts that football and track athletes wore on the sidelines in bad weather.

The hoodie made the leap from practicality to personal style when athletes started to give their track gear to their girlfriends to wear. Just as they are today, high schools were a breeding ground for popular fashion, and soon sportswear caught on as a fashionable style.”

— “The History of the Hoodie,” Denis Wilson. Rolling Stone

 

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Fashion knockoffs are totally legit.

Fashion knockoffs are not counterfeits, they’re totally legit. Cleo Abram of Vox explains.

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Heels USA: The Height of Fashion

Las Vegas, Miami and Puerto Rico: Where stiletto heels are highest, and orthopedic surgeons are busy. Data wranglers at the Gilt fashion website created a map comparing the average height of women’s high heels in all 50 states and Puerto Rico.

Yoga Pants: Threat or Menace?

Revealing, stretchy yoga pants are often the (ahem) butt of jokes, even when they’re not transparent. Now we hear that they may be a (ahem) fundamental health risk, causing buttne, acne of the buttocks:

“You know it’s serious when a doctor tells you to give up the yoga pants. It works like this: Your yoga pants are tight. They’re sweaty. They stick to your butt when you sit or even when you’re not sitting. So does bacteria and sweat, which clog pores. Dr. [Carlos] Charles puts it this way: ‘Sweat that sits on the body for extended periods of time leads to the overgrowth of bacteria that can exacerbate acne.’”

— “Your Yoga Pants Might Be Giving You Butt Acne,” Kathleen Hou, New York Magazine

Related:

“Yoga was created 5,000 years ago, right?” Girish Shahane, Scroll.in

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Apple Watch

Apple Inc.introduced a new product on Tuesday. It’s the Apple Watch, and will cost you $350. It straps to your wrist. It can tell time, like a $10 Kmart watch, but only when your iPhone is working.

More:

“Apple Unveils Smartwatch, Its First New Product in 4 Years,” Alistair Barr, Wall Street Journal

“Apple unveils smartwatch, bets on wearable devices,” AP via Washington Post

“The Apple Watch Is Here And Another Tech Hype Cycle Commences,” Elise Hu, NPR

“5 reasons Apple Watch won’t scare Swiss watch industry,” Teresa Novellino, Upstart Business Journal

“Deconstructing The Apple Watch, As A Watch,” Johan Schloemann, Süddeutsche Zeitung via Worldcrunch

There Are 177,147 Ways to Knot a Necktie

“A small team of mathematicians, led by Mikael Vejdemo-Johansson of the of the KTH Royal Institute of Technology in Stockholm, has uploaded a paper to the preprint server arXiv describing a mathematical process they used to determine that the number of ways to tie a tie is 177,147—far more than previous research has suggested.”

— “Mathematicians calculate that there are 177,147 ways to knot a tie,” Bob Yirka, phys.org (links added)

Here in Washington DC the necktie is an integral part of a man’s traditional garb, like the blue blazer and khaki pants. Most of us pick one of two or three ways to fasten a cravat and stick with it. For us, the early morning act of knotting a tie has a reflexive, mechanical nature.