blockheads

BLOCKCHAIN TECHNOLOGY

BUT FIRST A TESTIMONIAL ABOUT BEING WARM AND DRY

This happened last fall...

Well it finally happened....after just short of 60 years of all kinds of camping I ended up with a wet sleeping bag. I've always been very careful to always have the bag in a waterproof cover of some sort but screwed up last weekend when camping with some friends.
The tent was a single wall Cabela's Outback Lodge that I usually have a Kelty Noah's Tarp over if it is going to rain. But I didn't and when it poured Sunday when we were away from camp everything in the tent got wet. Worse I didn't discover it until just before bed. So I moved into one of my friend's Adirondack shelters and slept on a cot.

Now I have heard that if a Wiggy's bag gets wet, and this was my pushing 20 year old Nautilus that's been washed 30+ times, if one climbed in the bag would warm up quickly and be dry by morning. So rather than digging out the wool blankets I keep in the truck I decided to try it figuring if it didn't I'd just go get the blankets.

Had on a t-shirt, underwear and socks, crawled into the wet bag and in a minute began to feel warm...fell right asleep as usual. Woke up a few hours later and got up to go to the bathroom to find that most of the bag was dry. When I got up in the morning the only part of the bag that wasn't dry was the area of the final foot or so of the zipper.

Monday when I got home put the bag in the washer with a cap full of SportWash. Then put it over the deck rail for about 2-3 hours and it was like new again.

Bob

Blockchain

A blockchain, originally block chain, is a continuously growing list of records, called blocks, which are linked and secured using cryptography. Each block typically contains a cryptographic hash of the previous block, a timestamp and transaction data. By design, a blockchain is inherently resistant to modification of the data. It is "an open, distributed ledger that can record transactions between two parties efficiently and in a verifiable and permanent way". For use as a distributed ledger, a blockchain is typically managed by a peer-to-peer network collectively adhering to a protocol for validating new blocks. Once recorded, the data in any given block cannot be altered retroactively without the alteration of all subsequent blocks, which requires collusion of the network majority.

I was reading an article in Textile World about blockchain technology. Not knowing what it is I looked it up and found out, see above.

The company that provides this technology is Loomia based in San Francisco.They are offering to equip apparel with the data gathering equipment. What they have for outerwear is known as Loomia Electronic Layer (LEL). The discreet flexible circuitry LEL can heat, light and sense, while remaining washable and dryable. Consumers will be able to share the data –related to temperature, motion and frequency of wear with the retailer for rewards from the retailer.

The whole idea is to give the retailer information on how the garment is used with respect to temperature, motion and frequency of wear just in case you decide to return it.

Do you really want to report all of your use of a garment? Is this one more step towards one of the big brothers watching. Keep in mind there is a cost for all of this nonsensical electronics added to the garment that you will be paying for when you buy one of these garments. I suspect the retailer is thinking that this will be a selling point for their garments.

Since the garments that are possibly getting this are outerwear garments the retailer might find that there garments that are insulated do not keep people warm. This should also be incorporated in every goretex garment made so the LEL can record the amount of water that is trapped in the garment, but remember this is electrical so you might electrocute yourself.

Lunacy looms at Loomia in my opinion.

It seems to me some government agency, Internet Company and now manufacturers want to know everything that can be known about every person on the planet. What will they do with all of this information?