Illinois governor’s schedule includes recommended attire
What if you were governor of Illinois and didn’t have a thing to wear? If you’re JB Pritzker, you look at your daily schedule. During his first six weeks in office, Pritzker’s appointment calendar includes 70 “attire” recommendations for events as varied as bill signings, a state police officer’s funeral, a White House dinner, surveying flood damage, and cocktails with legislators at the Illinois Governor’s Mansion.
Pritzker, among the nation’s 400 richest people, needs sartorial suggestions? He’s not alone. Joseph Rosenfeld, a fashion and personal style strategist in New York who’s from the Illinois city of Buffalo Grove, maps out wardrobes with all his C-Suite executives. “It comes back to one basic premise: Relatability,” he said.
Pritzker spokeswoman Jordan Abudayyeh said staff members get suggestions from organisers of the governor’s events, but the governor ultimately decides what to wear.
Fifty-five of the recommendations on the calendar, disclosed under the Freedom of Information Act, were simply, “Business: Suit and tie.” Khakis, “button-down and pullover,” and “polo with Columbia jacket” also make the mix. The Democrat was advised to forgo neckwear when he hosted dinner for union leaders, but “Bring extra tie options” was the note on Feb. 9, the day of his official portrait.
Despite his girth, Pritzker keeps his ties at a proper length, avoiding the long necktie look that President Donald Trump favors. While Pritzker often opts for a blazer and khakis, they’re typically crisply pressed — no disheveled “Mom jeans” like those for which former President Barack Obama was excoriated at baseball’s 2009 All-Star Game.
New beer can doubles up as motion film developer
Kodak says a new beer hitting the market can be used to develop its Super 8 movie film. Dogfish Head Craft Brewery in Delaware created its SuperEIGHT beer after a conversation with people at Kodak, the upstate New York technology company most famous for its photographic roots.
Dogfish learned from Kodak that heightened levels of acidity and vitamin C in certain beers could make them a processing agent for film. That inspired the brewery to design such a beer. Kodak helped by testing it.
Dogfish founder Sam Calagione says he’ll document his summer travels on Super 8 film that will be developed in SuperEIGHT beer and turned into a short film. The beer, made with pear, mango, berries, kiwi, quinoa and salt, is set for national distribution next month.
Knitting with repurpose: Woman makes suit of bags
Rosa Ferrigno’s new suit takes recycling to an extreme — she knitted it from more than 300 plastic grocery bags. The 75-year-old woman from Greece in western New York whiled away the winter knitting a skirt and jacket from filmy brown bags scissored into thin strips that were tied together to make yarn. She lined it with cotton fabric. The finished garment is quite chic, with a tweedy look from green printing on the brown bags. Her daughter, Fran Bertalli, tells the Rochester Democrat and Chronicle that Ferrigno has been knitting and sewing since her childhood in Sicily. Last summer, Ferrigno saw someone’s purse made from repurposed plastic bags and started her own bag projects, making two purses before the suit.
Florida man Googles to find out which Florida Man he is
A new challenge making waves on social media pokes fun at Florida’s reputation for producing strange news stories involving guns, drugs, booze and reptiles — or some combination of the four. The challenge invites participants to run their birthday and “Florida man” through a search engine to find out which headline pops up. Then they must post the result on social media.
The “Florida Man” concept crept into the nation’s consciousness with the @_FloridaMan Twitter account in 2013. The account, with the tagline “Real-life stories of the world’s worst superhero,” has been home to recent headlines such as “Florida Man Fire Bombs Garage That Impounded His Car, Hits His Own Vehicle” and “Florida Man Tried to Pay for McDonald’s With Weed.”
The less common, but no less noteworthy, “Florida Woman” subgenre has produced headlines such as “A Florida woman was arrested and charged with aggravated assault without intent to kill after she reportedly ‘farted loudly’ in a Dollar Store and then pulled a knife on a man who complained.”
“Once, it seemed as though all the weird people and stories came from California. But over the past decade, it shifted to Florida,” said Jim Clark, a lecturer in the University of Central Florida’s history department.
rare albino penguin makes its debut at zoo in Poland
An extremely rare albino penguin has made its debut at Gdansk Zoo in northern Poland. The albino penguin hatched in mid-December and has been under veterinary care. In the wild, such an unusual-looking penguin would be rejected by other penguins and would have little chance of survival. But in Gdansk, it has its parents and two other friendly penguins. The bird’s sex has not yet been determined. It weighs over half a kg and stands 28 cm tall. Zoo director Michal Targowski said Friday the albino penguin “would have become the very first to be attacked by predators”.
