Soft Landings

Parachute pants are a style of trousers characterized by the use of nylon, especially ripstop nylon. In the original loose-fitting, extraneously zippered style of the late 1970s/early 1980s, "parachute" referred to the pants' synthetic nylon material. In the later 1980s, "parachute" may have referred to the extreme bagginess of the pant. 

While they became a fad in US culture in the 1980s as part of an increased cultural appropriation of breakdancing, they have very little to do with parachutes, although they did slow you down when you tried to run...or so I have heard.

This week, a look at the history of the parachute.

TTFN, Fred.

Quote of the week: "The sun is up, the sky is blue, it's beautiful, and so are you." – The Beatles, "Dear Prudence" (Lennon-McCartney)

  Soft Landings

Salt Sugar Fat

Every year, the average American eats thirty-three pounds of cheese (triple what we ate in 1970) and seventy pounds of sugar (about twenty-two teaspoons a day). We ingest 8,500 milligrams of salt a day, double the recommended amount, and almost none of that comes from the shakers on our table. It comes from processed food. It is no wonder, then, that one in three adults, and one in five kids, is clinically obese. It is no wonder that twenty-six million Americans have diabetes, the processed food industry in the U.S. accounts for $1 trillion a year in sales, and the total economic cost of this health crisis is approaching $300 billion a year.

This week, a look at Salt Sugar Fat, a book by Michael Moss that shows how we got here.

TTFN, Fred.

Quote of the week: "Who will love me till the end, through thick and thin, she will always be my friend." – The Beatles, "Another Girl" (Lennon-McCartney)

   Processed Food Industry Disapproval Matrix by Michael Moss by fredwine