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Economist Tim Harford writes about holidaying in prosperous Bavaria, where hotels let you run up bills of €1000+ without a credit-card and all room-keys are stored in a cupboard where any guest can get at them, and asks how this can all work without being destroyed by dishonesty? (more…)
Turns out those jackets made of recycled plastic are putting lots of plastic into our oceans. Patagonia has led a study showing artificial textiles release a lot of fragments when washed. Eventually those fibers make it into the sea. Patagonia is pushing an effort amongst industry peers to develop standards limiting this form of pollution.
Via Outside:
Fast-forward four more years, and the fibers finally got everyone’s attention. The science was piling on, showing that wastewater treatment plants couldn’t filter out all synthetic fibers, and that toxins such as DDT and PCBs can bind to them as they make their way into watersheds. It also showed that small aquatic species ingest the fibers, and that fish and bivalves sold for human consumption also contain microfibers. Experiments have shown that microplastics can lead to poor health outcomes in some species, and research is underway to find out how the plastics affect humans.Jill Dumain, director of environmental strategy at Patagonia, was one of the people paying attention to all the news. In early 2015, she and the company’s leadership decided to commission a study to find out if and how Patagonia’s iconic and well-loved fleeces and some other synthetic products were contributing to the problem. The results recently came in, and they’re not good.
The study, performed by graduate students at the Bren School of Environmental Science and Management at the University of California, Santa Barbara, found that during laundering, a single fleece jacket sheds as many as 250,000 synthetic fibers—significantly more than the 1,900 fibers Browne first recorded. Based on an estimate of consumers across the world laundering 100,000 Patagonia jackets each year, the amount of fibers being released into public waterways is equivalent to the amount of plastic in up to 11,900 grocery bags.
The experiment involved five pieces of apparel: three Patagonia fleece jackets, each with slightly different construction, as well as a nylon shell jacket that contains polyester insulation, plus a fifth specimen—a “budget” fleece jacket made by an undisclosed brand. Replicates of each jacket were washed multiple times, both in front-loading and top-loading washing machines. The effluent from each cycle was collected and put through a two-step filtration system that captured fibers with both a 333- and 20-micrometer mesh screen.
The jackets were then put through a 24-hour “killer wash,” which Patagonia uses to simulate the aging of a garment. The researchers did this to test whether older garments might shed more fibers as they age. After repeating the washing tests on these artificially aged jackets, they saw that age indeed increases fiber release by 80 percent.
This is not a review of the finest theater visit I’ve ever had, but more of a recap of my emotional journey through it. During my two-day connection with the illusionist Derek DelGuadio's show I felt surges of amazement, fear, pride and relief - and I guarantee that my experience was different from the other attendees.
In this show, show an audience member’s experience is as personal as they want to make it – and mine was very much so.
As I watched, there were moments when I wished I had a time machine to go over what had just happened – and in a strange way my wish came true. You see, at one point of the show I was kicked out of the theater while the rest of the audience saw the finale that I could only imagine.
I was escorted out the side hatch and asked to come back the next day with a documented recollection of what happened so far - and a theory of how I thought things would play out after I was removed. To be honest, at this point I felt pressure because of what was ahead of me – I now had homework.
On my way home, I took a detour through the streets of Hollywood while looking for a certain golden brick but came up empty handed. When I settled into my den, I began writing in the journal that DelGuadio gave me and didn’t stop until my story was recorded.
If what I’m describing here seems strange to you, it’s simply because you haven’t yet seen In & Of Itself - and you really should. Once you do, you’ll want to witness it again and again, because there’s so much personal storyline that you'll miss the first time around.
And when you do see it, do yourself a favor and try to get thrown out when the time is right. I’m convinced that you’ll have a better experience for having done so but be warned; warned, it can only be done on your first viewing – it just wouldn’t make sense otherwise.
The Honest Creator
Derek DelGuadio is a writer, magician, performance artist as well as the sole star of the show. His resume is ridiculous and I really don’t understand how he’s been on the Earth for only 31 years.
In & Of Itself is a meaningful experience that stays with you long after you’ve walked (or been kicked) out of the theater. The maze of story threads that he weaves are truly personal to Derek but by the end of the show it will all relate to you - and what's more is that you'll most likely leave wiser than you arrived.
His story is unveiled through a series of intertwining chapters with artistic and thoughtful magic pieces throughout. But this is not a magic show – it’s an unforgettable experience that has magical elements to support it.
During the chapter in which Derek flawlessly handles a deck of playing cards, he invites you to detect how the impossible is being accomplished as he tells you how he’s doing it. Over and over again, he slowly peels cards from the deck dealing seconds, bottoms and using a technique that Dai Vernon himself traveled across the country to learn.
All of this is done with the calmness of Buddha as he shares his story of how he learned the very thing he invites you to poke holes in – but in the end, he is bulletproof.
Though the through line is the same from night to night, there are key points that morph with every performance due to participation of random members of the crowd. At one point of every show, Derek invites one lucky person to publicly guess the finale but in the end, it just makes the true reveal more impactful.
Derek, with his creative partners Frank Oz, Michael Weber, Glenn Kaino and Mark Mothersbaugh have created the 7-layer bean dip of finales that gets more and more satisfying as the next phase engages. Penn Jillette sat in front of me at last night’s showing and though his business is magic and he has seen thousands of performers – his smile never left his face. For him and everyone else, it was the perfect combination of seasoned manipulations and compelling story.
“Derek has created the best magic show I’ve ever seen and that might be damning with faint praise. It’s Marcel Duchamp and Andy Kaufman if they could do perfect bottom deals."
-Penn Jillette
Being Mr. Yesterday
Looking back, I’m so glad that I was kicked out on Thursday night. It allowed me to return on Friday to witness some of the show I had already seen in a different way. But to be honest, I was scared to death about joining Derek on stage knowing that I’d have to share my journal entry with him and the crowd. Derek later confided in me that I nailed the meaning of the ending and because it was now documented in the journal, it was more real than ever before. I felt pride and relief as I made my way back to my seat - but even more so after our conversation.
The finale could have went in so many directions but the journey it took us on was the right one – with an end point that will stay with us for a long, long time.
Here are a few things that I knew before last night’s show:
1) It is difficult to write a compelling story from the heart.
2) It is difficult to flawlessly perform magical effects and card manipulations.
3) It is difficult to stand alone and capture an audience’s undivided attention for 60+ minutes.
4) It is difficult to make good on your promises.
Here is what I learned after last night’s show:
1) In & Of Itself is a gift from what just may be the most honest man alive.
See this show as soon as you can - and once you have I’d love to discuss it with you.
In the meantime, I’ll be looking for the golden brick while you're looking for the elephant.
- Mr. Yesterday (The Cryptographer)
Created & Performed by Derek DelGaudio
Directed by Frank Oz
HERE ARE SOME RULES ABOUT FOOTBALL LAW AND ITS PRACTICE
CON: Okay so this concerns two football players caught with a stolen firearm and weed in a traffic stop, which is bad. Please don't let come away from this with the idea that everyone's entitled to being arrested with a gun that's not yours. The weed we don't care about, but the gun thing? That's bad, and you can't do that, and seriously what the hell are you doing with a stolen gun anyway, you're a gigantic future NFL lineman, Cam Robinson.
PRO: Two talented young black men AREN'T going to get thrown into the predatory, racist, and largely for-profit prison system of Louisiana? For once, against all patterns of systematic incarceration in the state?
CON: You just made up a temperature-based system for judging whether or not someone should prosecute a crime. That's not how law works. That's not even how law in Louisiana works, and that's saying something. This now opens the door to an entire line of thermometer-based body of law for juvenile and young adult justice.
PRO: Um...at least he's doing this for the right reasons?
CON: Because both are from the Monroe area, and as an elected official this dude might decide not to prosecute the popular local football star? We got straws, keep grasping, there's plenty. The only upside for an Alabama fan is getting to say "this person made a weird decision because he is an elected official, not because he is an Alabama fan."
PRO: Is there another case you can cite of this happening?
CON: No. There are two, and they only involve the governor and the chief justice of the state.
PRO: Wow.
CON: But at least the speaker of the house, a convicted felon, went to Georgia and worked for Auburn? Does that help?
PRO: Unsure but War Eagle anyway. Hey, um: there wasn't enough evidence here, was there?
CON: That's the official stance. The one that might have sounded a lot better had the D.A. not come out and suggested that football practice could invalidate the need to prosecute a case? The one that still sounds a lot better, actually?
PRO: Um...it shows that football can corrupt judicial systems and outcomes even across team lines? Is that good, or at least not as bad?
CON: No? It's probably worse on the whole.
PRO: What if you commit a crime, work outside frequently as a youth, but suffer from anhidrosis, the inability to sweat?
CON: Then you better not end up in Ouchita Parish. This is case law under the Napoleonic Code now, son. Our suggestion: you spritz yourself good with a spray bottle before all court appearances.PRO: Doesn't this also mean players who work out in fancy, climate-controlled indoor facilities won't get the benefit of this prosecutorial selectivity?
CON: Compressors break all the time. Tell a grad assistant to get up on the roof and help the team.
Calcium alginate is incredible stuff. It has the ability to surround liquids with a springy membrane so they can hold a shape and be handled like solids. The process is called spherification, and gets a lot of use in upscale, molecular gastronomy-type restaurants. One start-up is even trying replace water bottles using similar methods. But why save the environment with blob technology when you have a deep fryer and no regard for personal safety?