TSA Scanners Can't Seem to Detect Your Concealed Weapons Through Shiny Clothes [Tsa]

It never stops. Caught somewhere between hilarious and infuriating, Marilyn W. Thompson with the Washington Post discovered that her shiny shirt prevented the roughly $150,000 TSA scanner from doing its job. You mean wearing my late-90s shiny suit means EXTRA gropings??

Thompson remarked on her confusion that these scanners can pick up bladed weapons and ass explosives but can't handle a shiny shirt from Banana Republic. To the point that the agents in charge of the scans start whispering "Shiny shirt!" as though it's an emergency code. I'm with you! Maybe there should be three lines: one for the scanners; one for general gropies; and another for shiny gropies with a photo shoot for your trouble. The TSA is damned if they do, damned if they don't. [Washington Post]

Image via AP

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It's Time to Stop Washing Your Clothes in Hot Water [Psa]

Admit it. There are a bunch of you out there who still wash your clothes in hot water. Don't worry, I'm with you. But this just in: Stop. Use cold. Washing with hot wastes money, energy, and is bad for the environment.

First, being a poor New Yorker Jerseyan means I don't exactly have the means to separate my precious delicates from the rest of my laundry. That's incidental. I would if I could, trust me. I have an addiction, you guys. I like separating and knowing on some base level that my favorite pair of boxers is especially clean. And the truth is that, yes, in a perfect world hot water is better at getting things cleans. It's pretty effective.

But fuck that. For one, the expense and environmental toll inherent in any load of laundry outweighs the benefit of separating your clothes out for a nominally cleaner set of undies. According to the New York Times:

About three-quarters of the energy use and greenhouse-gas emissions from washing a load of laundry come from heating the water - a practice that, scientists say, is often wasteful and unnecessary.

For another, the industry is starting to catch up. Different companies, Tide's Procter and Gamble included, have come out with a number of cold water alternatives that wash your clothes more than satisfactorily and they're only improving. And many manufacturers are working on high-efficiency machines that better utilize cold water. Really, the greatest obstacle to us saving money is... us.

So give it a try. Save your money. If you're so worried about it, you can wash your clothes with a cup of mouthwash (seriously). But it's the right thing to do. [NYT]

Image Credit: Laurent Renault/Shutterstock

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