A list of curious facts
One: Apple design guru recently made headlines for inking a partnership with OpenAI to develop AI ‘companion’ devices. But did you know that he also designed a super-fancy jacket in collab with Italian outdoor luxury fashion brand Moncler? It is every bit as nerdy as you’d expect: A three-in-one ‘modular’ jacket:
At the heart of the system is the Moncore, a down-filled vest. Atop this warm base, you can swap a field jacket, parka, or hooded poncho. The bulk of each layer is made from a single, uncut piece of recycled nylon that’s carefully folded to create a shape without seams, much like a kimono.
Making the design a bit ‘iPhone’-ish: A magnetised (home?) button that attaches any given layer to the shell—instead of messy zips or fasteners. Check out the dramatic demo vid below. (Fast Company)
Two: We come bearing good news for people who regularly deal with sleep-deprived nights. It’s called ‘sleep banking’—a fancy term for sleeping a lot when you know you won’t be sleeping very much. You basically ‘bank’ some extra snooze time today to keep your body running on less tomorrow—say, before child birth, final exams or an international flight. Studies show that if you bank say 10 hours of sleep time, you can do just fine with three hours of sleep the next day: “The results demonstrated that banking sleep not only improved both alertness and performance during subsequent sleep loss, but also facilitated a faster recovery.” (CBS News)
Three: Irrespective of your taste in music, there is one very good reason to love punk bands—their subversive sense of humour. The Australian band Private Function locked on to an especially excellent target for trolling: Gwyneth Paltrow’s vagina. Well, the “smell” of it—which she famously sold as a scented candle named ‘This Smells Like My Vagina’ (Gwynnie is nothing if not painfully obvious). The band has recreated the “fragrance” for its scratch and sniff vinyl record most appropriately titled ¯\_(ツ)_/¯. That pretty much sums up how we feel about this hot, smelly mess. We recommend watching this amusing vid that details how they recreated the exact scent. (Daily Beast)
Bonus fact: We leave you with equally messy but less smelly merch: A basic jhola is selling for $48 on Nordstrom. The retailer is American but the company that has shown such chutzpah is Japanese—Puebco. It even named the item 'Indian Souvenir Bag'. Souvenir from where? The ration ki dukaan? We’re especially amused by the random branding. Is it Anita Confectionary Works or Ramesh Special Namkeen or Chatak Sweet? Bhai, pick a lane! (Indian Express)
