Month: February 2016

TIDNTKIL

Fast Co: Two Warby Parker Alums Take On The Luggage Industry ↬

Away, travel luggage from a couple of Warby Parker alums to modernize the way we take our stuff with us when we travel.

The interior is fitted with a compression divider to help users fit more stuff inside. A laundry bag keeps dirty clothes away from clean ones. Mesh compartments keep things organized. If you’d rather have an open interior, you can take all the dividers and organizers out. Size-wise it meets all TSA requirements and has a TSA-approved lock for security.
Best yet? There’s a charger integrated with the suitcase—no more hunting for that lone outlet at the airport. It’s located under the handle and doesn’t impede your ability to move the suitcase when you’re powering up.

O&F
Upshot

Eater: Starbucks Changes Rewards Program ↬

I don’t go to Starbucks that often, but when I do – especially when it’s a multi-drink run – I often shake my head at the somewhat draconian rewards system. Shake no more:

Customers who have been using Starbucks’s rewards program for the past few years have been able to earn a freebie after 12 visits, regardless of what they purchased each time. The system therefore slightly benefited those who purchased a small/tall coffee and opted for a fancier free drink on the 13th visit. Anyone that was spending $5 (or less) per visit will no longer benefit from the new system, as the AP notes. Now, people will have to spend a minimum of $62.50 — or earn 125 stars — before getting their first free item.

O&F
Locally Notable

Building a Better Jubala Coffee ↬

The new Hillsborough St location of Jubala is really bringing it with a dual counter setup to help ease delays during high traffic times:

The split-service setup establishes what’s essentially like an indoor, walk-up drive-through counter devoted entirely to customers on the go from the hotel upstairs, the university across the street, offices nearby or anywhere else. That station, marked “Take” in a pointillist design on the front, caters to the hustlers with a three-group La Marzocco Linea PB custom powder-coated in yellow, matte white and black, with gleaming chrome and stainless accents. “We’re using the volumetrics for our to-go drinks,” said Wells.

At the other end of the counter over the pointillist-treated word “Stay,” a La Marzocco Strada EE two-group with see-through side panels is the tool for drinks to be enjoyed in-house. “People come up and they’re lifting their kids up over the counter to look inside, to see that there’s this analog, mechanical art to the thing that we’re making,” said Wells. The Strada is powder-coated in subtly contrasting gloss and matte blue, with matte black accents. Both machines have walnut portafilter handles, and both were customized for Jubala by Espresso Parts.

O&F
Short Cuts

“I picked a lane and I started running” ↬

I spent most of the day today catching up with everyone else in the free world that knew ‘Hamilton’ is amazing. That also means I’m realizing how incredible its creator is as well:

Lin-Manuel Miranda: You know, I went to a school where everyone was smarter than me. And I’m not blowin’ smoke, I, my, I was surrounded by genius, genius kids. What’s interesting about growing up in a culture like that is you go, “All right, I gotta figure out what my thing is. Because I’m not smarter than these kids. I’m not funnier than half of them, so I better figure out what it is I wanna do and work really hard at that.” And because intellectually I’m treading water to, to be here.

Charlie Rose: So why do you think I’m sitting here talking to you and not sitting here talking to one of your classmates?

Lin-Manuel Miranda: ‘Cause I picked a lane and I started running ahead of everybody else. So I, that’s the honest answer. It was like, I was like, “All right THIS.”

O&F
Field of Play

Go Panthers

It only took the elimination of the Washington Professional Football Team, the Seahawks, and the Patriots for me to jump on the Carolina Panthers bandwagon but here I am. I endured a lot of internal conflict about cheering for the Panthers this season, stemming primarily from my deep rooted love of the Washington Professional Football Team1, intense pride for the state of North Carolina, and ever-evolving feelings about Cam Newton. But on this Sunday of Super Bowl “Don’t Call Me L” 50, I’m all in on #keeppounding.

  1. If you lived in North Carolina before 1995, then you might remember seeing the Redskins (back when we could call them that) on TV every weekend instead of the Panthers. ↩

Audible

Will Sia’s New Album Bring Her Out from the Shadows for Good?

I don’t remember if I personally first heard Sia’s ‘Chandelier’ in 2014 or 2015, but whenever it was I was immediately hooked. The album, 1000 Forms of Fear spent significant time in rotation on my music listening device throughout the first half of 2015 and on into the late summer early fall. Now, the recently released follow-up, This is Acting, is picking up right where its predecessor left off.

I love this description of Sia’s sound and style from Carrie Battan’s recent review in The New Yorker:

Which is not to say that Sia’s music feels anonymous. She is one of the most distinctive and acrobatic vocal performers working today, her high-register rasp instantly recognizable. Her songs sit somewhere between balladry and modern dance-pop. Everything is in service of a larger-than-life chorus, each song a vehicle for anthemic catharsis. She is wiser and more world-weary than the girlish Katy Perry, more impassioned than the ice-cool Rihanna, more demure than the slinky Beyoncé. Sia is a balladeer at heart, and she is at her best when she uses her voice as her primary tool.

If you give the new album a spin, check out the first single ‘Alive’, as well as ‘Reaper’, ‘House on Fire’, and ‘Footprints’.