Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

Despite his magical powers, I don’t think Trump is thinking this through, to be honest.

“The difference between stupidity and genius is that genius has its limits.”

“Everybody’s entitled to be an idiot.”

The choice is between normal and crazy.

… gradually, and then suddenly.

Sadly, media malpractice has become standard practice.

The willow is too close to the house.

Washington Post’s Catch and Kill, not noticeably better than the Enquirer’s.

Dear Washington Post, you are the darkness now.

We cannot abandon the truth and remain a free nation.

Motto for the House: Flip 5 and lose none.

The party of Reagan has become the party of Putin.

Jack Smith: “Why did you start campaigning in the middle of my investigation?!”

They are lying in pursuit of an agenda.

Black Jesus loves a paper trail.

The truth is, these are not very bright guys, and things got out of hand.

It’s pointless to bring up problems that can only be solved with a time machine.

It’s all just conspiracy shit beamed down from the mothership.

Jesus, Mary, & Joseph how is that election even close?

Democrats are back in array!

Their boy Ron is an empty plastic cup that will never know pudding.

Books are my comfort food!

If you are still in the gop, you are either an extremist yourself, or in bed with those who are.

My right to basic bodily autonomy is not on the table. that’s the new deal.

You are here: Home / Open Threads / Open Thread: This Is An Age of Miracles & Wonders

Open Thread: This Is An Age of Miracles & Wonders

by | 151 Comments

This post is in: , ,

No, seriously: Cooling vests are excellent tech (I’m tempted to get one for working in the garden, assuming I can find one in my size). And also I’m glad that furries can feel comfortable enough to be interviewed by the Daily Beast:

… Tired of overheating in his own fursuit, Pepeyn Langedijk adapted a military cooling vest to his own ends to create the EZ Cooldown vest. Langedijk, a resident of the Netherlands, goes by “EZ Wolf” in lupine costume and named his invention after his character.

Langedijk and his husband Tom live in Amsterdam and run the EZ Cooldown business together full-time. They met during Elfia, a medieval fantasy reenactment fair, and their hobbies led them to test their product on themselves. The team told The Daily Beast that they sold more than a thousand vests in 2018, which each retail for $215, packs included. Roughly 80 percent of the company’s sales are to U.S. customers.

The pair don’t have official military contracts, but they told The Daily Beast that a small group of U.S. Navy troops in Japan reached out to EZ Cooldown three years ago to ask if the company could ship to military bases. The service members ended up buying 10 vests, then their friends bought 20, then 30, Langedijk said. He still doesn’t know how they heard of his product…

The Dutch innovator decided to create his own slimmer cooling vest targeted to people in costume, placing cooling packs in the small of the back and high up on the chest to complement the owner’s body. On the way, he worked with partners to concoct a proprietary chemical blend that fills the packs of his vests. He released the product at “Eurofurence,” a furry convention, in 2013. Langedijk’s cosplaying friends quickly told him the design was a “game changer.”…

Reader Interactions

151Comments

  1. 1.

    PsiFighter37

    Donnie canceled his meeting with the PM of Denmark because she would not talk about selling Greenland. Not a joke. WTF. Even an ass-sniffer like Mnuchin must think this is stupid.

  3. 3.

    Steve in the ATL

    “Eurofurence,” a furry convention

    Let’s be honest—it can’t be any worse than the Eurovision Song Contest.

  5. 5.

    Baud

    to concoct a proprietary chemical blend that fills the packs of his vests.

    If sci-fi has taught me anything, it’s that this won’t end well.

  8. 8.

    MomSense

    One of my dearest friends lives near my new job so I’m going to see her tomorrow. I’m so happy.

  9. 9.

    Brachiator

    … Tired of overheating in his own fursuit, Pepeyn Langedijk adapted a military cooling vest to his own ends to create the EZ Cooldown vest.

    Once again, necessity is the freaky mamma of invention.

    Is this story for real? If this thing really works, could it be used by sport team mascots, or the hapless souls who have to wear bulky costumes at amusement parks?

    A strange little story, but this invention could change life as we know it.

    Also, too, I love the little freak bomb dropped along with this little tidbit:

    Now soldiers, some of them furries themselves…

  17. 17.

    satby

    @Brachiator: I had to wear a Barney the dinosaur costume for the neighborhood block party one year, in July, in Chicago. Only had that costume on for three hours, but I sweated off five pounds of water weight wearing it. Can’t imagine voluntarily wearing a furry costume, but I bet the cooling vest is a game changer. No idea how Disney characters manage in Florida in the summer.

  18. 18.

    schrodingers_cat

    Reposting my morning tweet about the image of a bleeding chinar* leaf, which Modi doesn’t want you to retweet.
    which says I stand with Kashmir. Its made by the artist Shubnum Khan who has given the permission to redistribute it and use it. The government of India is trying to pressure Twitter to take it down.

    * Chinar trees are deciduous trees indigenous to Kashmir

  19. 19.

    zzyzx

    I’m still stunned that the reason Trump was talking about buying Greenland is because he thought that there was a chance he could buy Greenland.

  22. 22.

    Brachiator

    @PsiFighter37:

    Donnie canceled his meeting with the PM of Denmark because she would not talk about selling Greenland. Not a joke. WTF.

    I had to double check this because… I mean, wow. There is something seriously wrong with Trump, and it seems to be steadily escalating. He fixates on shit.

    And I freely admit that I get weary waking up, checking the news and having to read about the latest stupid shit that Trump is up to.

  23. 23.

    Steve in the ATL

    @schrodingers_cat: do the execs at Twitter give a shit what the government of India wants, or will this be just another opportunity for them to side with fascists over a less powerful foe?

  31. 31.

    Another Scott

    @Baud: Same here.

    I’ve missed out on shoe botting too.

    […]

    For readers unfamiliar with this term, “shoe botting” or “sneaker bots” refers to the use of automated bot programs and services that aid in the rapid acquisition of limited-release, highly sought-after designer shoes that can then be resold at a profit on secondary markets. All too often, it seems, the people who profit the most in this scheme are using multiple sets of compromised credentials from consumer accounts at online retailers, and/or stolen payment card data.

    To say shoe botting has become a thorn in the side of online retailers and regular consumers alike would be a major understatement: A recent State of The Internet Security Report (PDF) from Akamai (an advertiser on this site) noted that such automated bot activity now accounts for almost half of the Internet bandwidth directed at online retailers. The prevalance of shoe botting also might help explain Footlocker‘s recent $100 million investment in goat.com, the largest secondary shoe resale market on the Web.

    […]

    Zounds.

    Cheers,
    Scott.

  34. 34.

    zhena gogolia

    @Baud:

    I’m pretty sure that’s what that commenter (can’t remember the nym) would say. It’s a little like high-capacity magazines, etc. (I hope I’m not being offensive.)

  40. 40.

    Steve in the ATL

    @Baud: when I *literally* chuckled aloud at this comment, the bartender cut me off. [sad face emoji].

  44. 44.

    Gvg

    @satby: they go out for about 20 minutes and then back to air conditioning for an hour…or something like that. Disney was always regimented and realistic about this. Mind you, the costumed characters do suffer some, but they can take it and it’s not life threatening. Disney really had no choice. I am sure having characters die would be bad publicity.
    Disney also has a whole underground infrastructure hidden under the shops and rides. There are quick doors all over for characters to get out of sight.
    I grew up in Orlando. Moved there the first year. Whenever news was slow, there would be these little interest stories to fill in plus after a while you met people who used to be characters. Tinker belle got high pay because she was gliding up on a wire with a harness under the costume. That actually had some risk.
    I suspect they have improved the costumes since the 70’s too.

  45. 45.

    SRW1

    @PsiFighter37:

    Donnie canceled his meeting with the PM of Denmark because she would not talk about selling Greenland.

    Is Trump’s visit to Denmark still on? If so, I think the crowds will be fun for Donnie.

  52. 52.

    Gin & Tonic

    Anyway, to be sincere, I’m still feeling the love from a weekend spent expanding the family. My son got married, and we got to meet the young lady’s family for the first time (yeah, that might be considered late, but it’s just the way it worked out.) All other things being equal, there would have been more time and they’d probably have done this next year, but work-travel and visa issues made it necessary to do this now, so about two months from “will you?” to “I do” – yet they managed to include old traditions, family history and heirlooms, and do it the way they wanted. One small example – my son wore a shirt that his grandmother embroidered for his grandfather, whom he adored (but who is no longer among us) when they were married in a refugee camp in 1946. Many other things like that – a bridal shawl that was crocheted by my late mother; betrothal rings from his great-grandparents from over a century ago. It was genuinely moving in so many ways.

    They have some challenges ahead, but I’m sure they’ll work through them.

  53. 53.

    Brachiator

    @satby:
    A friend worked for the Liberty Tax income tax prep company. He had to dress up in a Statue of Liberty costume, dance around and twirl a big arrow to attract customers. He said it was hell. And we are talking about hot Southern California days.

  54. 54.

    ?BillinGlendaleCA

    @Gvg: I remember seeing pics of the Disney World underground, I think it was in Life, when they first opened. Disneyland doesn’t have the extensive underground that WDW has, but does have the pop out locations.

  57. 57.

    Steve in the ATL

    @SRW1: Kay’s bot will give him hell. If not, we will ban her from posting here.

    @zhena gogolia: ha! I’m at a chic French bistro in the South, so highly unlikely. Mainly because there’s no one doing lines off the bar.

    @Gvg: surely they could get some mileage out of it if Jafar died in public

  58. 58.

    ?BillinGlendaleCA

    @zzyzx: I’d never been there until this year, though I’d driven by it loads of time heading to Vegas. It’s really cool, but as they noted in the piece, really windy(that’s bad for using the star tracker).

  59. 59.

    debbie

    I have a vague memory of reading a novel where people dressed up like horses, bridles and harnesses too. I guess I have heard about this furry thing.

  60. 60.

    TenguPhule

    @PsiFighter37:

    Donnie canceled his meeting with the PM of Denmark because she would not talk about selling Greenland. Not a joke.

    And this man has unrestricted control over America’s nuclear arsenal.

  62. 62.

    Steeplejack

    The pair don’t have official military contracts, but they told The Daily Beast that a small group of U.S. Navy troops in Japan reached out to EZ Cooldown three years ago to ask if the company could ship to military bases. The service members ended up buying 10 vests, then their friends bought 20, then 30, Langedijk said. He still doesn’t know how they heard of his product.

    ?

  73. 73.

    ruemara

    That only took 3 hrs. And they forced us to watch a message from what looks to be lunatic playing president with a hairball stuck to his skull. Then they put on that awful Lee Greenwood song which made me even more infuriated. My friend nearly left me because she thought it was taking too long, then she insisted we get some sushi since it was my day and I wound up paying for myself. But I got my voter registration form, which is what the main benefit is all about. Now I’m back to working. because I have replace the cab fare & the lunch.

    However, I was genuinely happy for my fellow new citizens, many of whom fought long & hard to be here. Hypocritical messages from Trump & Cucchinelli notwithstanding. Hopefully, I land a few gigs soon.

  74. 74.

    debbie

    @PsiFighter37:

    She should have told Trump she couldn’t sell him the country, but she had a nice bridge in Qaanaaq he might be interested in. (It might be fun seeing how he’d mangle the spelling in a tweet.)

  75. 75.

    Brachiator

    Well, I’ll be… The cool down folks actually have a line of products for mascots.

    Our mascot cooling vests and products have been specially designed for mascotting and costume performance.

    Using revolutionary Phase Change Material inserts and a unique mesh vest, our costume cooling products will keep you cool without adding any thermal layers.

    Since the introduction of the original EZCooldown Performers vest back in 2013, we are now cooling some of the most famous mascots and costume performers all over the globe.

  79. 79.

    ?BillinGlendaleCA

    @ruemara: Congratulations. I hope you also got your naturalization certificate. We were spared the message from HW Bush when my wife was sworn in and Thank God the Lee Greenwood song hadn’t been written.

  83. 83.

    TenguPhule

    NRA
    ✔
    @NRA
    I spoke to the president today. We discussed the best ways to prevent these types of tragedies. @realDonaldTrump is a strong #2A President and supports our Right to Keep and Bear Arms! – Wayne LaPierre

    4,558
    11:41 AM – Aug 20, 2019

    Assholes.

  84. 84.

    TenguPhule

    Donald J. Trump
    ✔
    @realDonaldTrump
    · 1h
    Denmark is a very special country with incredible people, but based on Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen’s comments, that she would have no interest in discussing the purchase of Greenland, I will be postponing our meeting scheduled in two weeks for another time….

    Donald J. Trump
    ✔
    @realDonaldTrump
    ….The Prime Minister was able to save a great deal of expense and effort for both the United States and Denmark by being so direct. I thank her for that and look forward to rescheduling sometime in the future!

    31.3K
    1:51 PM – Aug 20, 2019

    Worse then expected.

  95. 95.

    R-Jud

    @ruemara: Congratulations and welcome to citizenship. I mostly lurk here but have been following your posts about your path to this day for a while.

  96. 96.

    Alternative Fax, a hip hop artist from Idaho

    @MomSense: Is your new job wonderful? (She asks in hopes of an affirmative reply).

    How’s Korra doing? Harry sends his best.

  97. 97.

    Steeplejack

    @Baud:

    How did I miss out on the whole furry thing?

    Well, you don’t wear clothes of any kind, for one thing. That might be a tip-off.

  99. 99.

    Jim, Foolish Literalist

    Alexandra Bell @ atomicbell
    Day 933: Trump makes embarrassingly dumb remarks re Kashmir, fails to complete an intelligible sentence about “wiping out” nations, questions the “loyalty” of Jewish Americans, & cancels a trip to a NATO ally via tweet cause they didn’t want to sell him a semi-autonomous island.

    also, said Russia should be brought back into the G7 (8) because Obama kicked them out because Obama was mad that Putin “outsmarted” him. He said it twice. Also claimed that the President of Romania greeted him by congratulated trump on the strong economy. Which I guess is believable, since it’s not hard to imagine foreign leaders all know how needy and weak he is.

  102. 102.

    Anne Laurie

    @debbie: That may have involved pony play, which is… a whole different thing. Generally NSFW to google, but there’s an episode of Bones that involves murder at a weekend pony-play gathering, which is where I first heard of it…

  105. 105.

    NotMax

    Rapid panting was good enough for our forefurs.

    :)

    @Baud

    In that case, do not recommend Googling the term furvert. ’nuff said.

  111. 111.

    MomSense

    @Alternative Fax, a hip hop artist from Idaho:

    I like the people and the location so that’s a plus. She’s doing much better. I’m going to have her liver tested for peace of mind, but the veterinarian is really pleased with her recovery. He was soooo relieved she responded well. Tail wags back to Harry!

  114. 114.

    opiejeanne

    @Baud: Furries are not incels . Let’s just stop all of this speculation. They are the same type of people who go to ComicCon, i.e., like the rest of us. Some straight, married with kids, some gay, some bi. All walks of life. Only the Nazi furries (yes, this is a thing) are probably incels.

  115. 115.

    opiejeanne

    @satby: Disney characters only spend 30 minutes AT MOST in full costume, and when it hits a certain temp (80?) they start shaving 5 minutes off of each shift for every 5 degrees above that. My youngest was a “fuzzy”, a character complete with a head, like Mickey or Stitch.

  116. 116.

    opiejeanne

    @Baud: No, my son has gone to the conventions for years and doesn’t have a pursuit.

    The one pictured in the article is really nice and probably cost quite a bit.

  119. 119.

    Miss Bianca

    @Baud: @debbie: err…if you ever read Anne Rampling’s (read, Anne Rice) “Beauty” series, that may be how you encountered it. And yes, “pony play” is, apparently, a thing.

  120. 120.

    Steve in the ATL

    @opiejeanne:

    Furries are not incels

    They are the same type of people who go to ComicCon

    Does not compute.

    As I said before, more power to them if it makes them happy as they’re not hurting anyone like, say, Republicans or people who wear flip-flops* in public.

    *feel free to substitute “Oakley Blades” for “flip-flops”

  122. 122.

    Omnes Omnibus

    @opiejeanne:

    They are the same type of people who go to ComicCon, i.e., like the rest of us.

    I am going to have to stop you right there.

  123. 123.

    TomatoQueen

    @ruemara: The one precious thing, the right to vote, supersedes every other thing, and you have it now and you have earned every bit of it. Welcome in.

  131. 131.

    schrodingers_cat

    @ruemara: Congratulations. Thankfully, when I became a citizen the Orange One did not make an appearance, even via a recording. Even the USCIS office I went for the interview or to get the biometrics didn’t have his photo.

  135. 135.

    Anne Laurie

    @opiejeanne:

    Only the Nazi furries (yes, this is a thing) are probably incels.

    From what I’ve heard, the Nazi furries partner each other, so they’re not (I think?) absolutely ‘involuntarily celebate’…

  139. 139.

    opiejeanne

    @NotMax: My kid didn’t share underwear when she worked there, and wouldn’t have taken the job if that was even a thing. EW! But that was Anaheim, and it’s independent of the Florida management, so who knows what went on in Florida. It wasn’t happening in Anaheim in 2001.

  140. 140.

    opiejeanne

    @Omnes Omnibus: Ok, so you seem to think there’s something weird about going to ComiCon. How about WorldCon, or Discworld Conventions?

    disclaimer: I’ve only been to one of the above, and I’ve gone to it 4 times now.

  141. 141.

    opiejeanne

    @Anne Laurie: I don’t know about their sexual proclivities, but I would expect them to be more in the angry white male who think they’re entitled to sex with the hot chicks group than anyone else.

    The con that used to run in Anaheim every year has shut itself down because of the Nazi furries. I know some of the people who originated it.

  143. 143.

    opiejeanne

    @Steve in the ATL: Why would you think that? The only hot button is the assumption that you can make fun of a group of people you don’t know without push-back from people who do know them. Substitute any minority group into your comments and see how that sounds.

  144. 144.

    Omnes Omnibus

    @opiejeanne: You don’t know whether or not I am a furry or if I have a full OG Battlestar Galactica uniform that I wear to every convention within driving distance. If you read my comments in the context of the rest of the thread, I think that you would see that I, like the rest of the folks, was just fooling around. Now, if in the course of that I was insulting to your son, it was not my intention and I apologize.

  145. 145.

    Steeplejack

    @ruemara:

    Congratulations! ??.

    That does sound tough, though. I went back and found my report when my Brazilian brother-in-law became a citizen two years ago. A joyous occasion (452 people from 79 countries):

    The auditorium—Oakton High School (“Go Cougars!”) in Vienna, VA—was packed with friends and family. And of course it was a tremendously diverse gathering—all ages, all races. I saw several hijabs and at least one full burqa (neither of which is unknown in my corner of NoVA) among the candidates. Also a Sikh gentleman. One of the USCIS “emcees” asked the candidates to stand (and remain standing) as their country’s name was read, with the audience clapping and cheering, after which they all took the oath together.

    Then all of us, new citizens and audience, recited the pledge of allegiance and sang the national anthem. More clapping and cheering.

    U.S. Rep. Gerry Connolly (D-VA—the fightin’ 11th!) gave a mercifully short but affecting speech, in which he mentioned, without it sounding like a humblebrag, that his grandmother came to America as a poor young woman (had her meager money stolen on the ship coming over) and worked doing laundry and sewing to support herself and bring over her mother and two brothers.

    Welcome, citizen! I threw in a few dollars to your GoFundMe. This is an excellent return on my investment.

  146. 146.

    Ruckus

    @ruemara:
    Read your link.
    Damn girl that was good.
    We really have improved since I was born. Not anywhere near enough but we have improved. More like baby steps. I welcome one more voter to the cause of a better country and a better life for all. I didn’t believe in the war in Vietnam, but I joined the military during it rather than leave because I know the bigger picture is important. This place is an experiment, some times the idea blows up the lab, like now, but that is part of the process. And we need all the help we can get to clean it up. Every person wanting to make it actually better rather than more restrictive and worthless is one more step in the direction of a better nation. That’s one of the strengths, and yes weaknesses, the ability of the nation to change by majority. It’s a weakness in that the change sometimes isn’t enough or only happens after it’s obvious that it needs to change. But it changes because people can get together and make a positive change.
    Welcome to the struggle.

  147. 147.

    Ruckus

    @Steeplejack:
    My ex’s parents came from China. With basically nothing. They ended up with 4 kids, all with 4 yr professional degrees, by dad working in a laundry and mom was a seamstress in a sweat shop. They never even learned english. But they worked hard, paid their bills and raised 4 pretty damn good kids and citizens.

  148. 148.

    Ruckus

    @opiejeanne:
    We had family friends whose daughter went to work at Disneyland in the mid 50s, not long after it opened, as one of the costumed workers. She liked it a lot, said it was fun. Sounded like they took reasonable care of the workers. And I know a guy who currently works there as a welder, building/fixing rides. He is a very good craftsman and stays busy there.

  150. 150.

    Mart

    Realize thread is dead but this is not Donnie losing his mind about buying Greenland. He has been spoken to. The good old boys are drunk with economic opportunity with the Northwest Passage ice melt providing access to undersea oil and transport profits. Greenland’s ice melt is opening up all sorts of mineral deposits. Heard if Greenland actually melts all its ice – and it appears well on the way to getting there – the oceans will rise about 25 feet. All those environmental refugees will need new homes! Climate change is a Win, Win, Win!, and a hoax. (Also too nobody in the media has asked him – Who the fuck is gonna pay for this with the USA headed for a trillion dollar deficit? How much do you think it will cost to purchase? What are the estimated mineral deposit values and what is the expected return on investment? Wouldn’t this money be better spent on hardening the USA’s natural hazard defenses? Have you discussed this with Greenland and/or the Dutch? Are you aware that many of the island folks are the original Greenlandic Inuit, and that many Dutch have married into these families? Miller would not approve.)

  151. 151.

    Chris Johnson

    Buying Greenland is strictly about buying Putin’s love/not getting whacked like Epstein. Plus it’s vital distraction from ‘what really happened just then?’ regarding Epstein getting strangled by Russian mobsters as most of the Republican leadership runs scared thinking they’ll be next. Shot as a traitor or strangled in a jail cell as a failed asset: which is best? Apparently not a hypothetical question. OF COURSE they’re making up ridiculous shit as a distraction, so would you if you were a traitor and would-be Russian asset.

    I’ve been a brony and a furry, have worked several furry cons and a brony con as staff, and generally like the communities. There were a couple people going around at the last Bronycon with ‘Bronies Are Stealth Furries’, and at a ‘How To Be A Furry’ panel so many people tried to attend that they had to turn away just as many people as they fit into the hall. There’s obviously huge crossover.

    …not an intentional pun, btw. The old joke is ‘by and large, furries ARE bi and large’ and there’s a lot of truth to that. LGBTQ furries are a much higher percentage than you find in ‘normies’, and it’s also true for bronies: it’s become socially unacceptable to be transphobic in furry/brony circles WAY earlier than in ‘real life’, which is to furries’ credit.

    All in all, it’s at least as fun as ham radio or stamp collecting, AND furries/bronies throw better parties :)

Comments are closed.