
Black T-Shirts: The Original Invisibility Cloaks - jamesbritt
http://www.theatlantic.com/technology/archive/2013/09/black-t-shirts-the-original-invisibility-cloaks/279655/
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FreshCode
The reasons to wear a black shirt are far simpler than the author purports:
contrast & focus.

I learned this while presenting. If you wear clothing with a slogan, you are
giving your audience a potential distraction, or something to read while they
should be listening. Even a colored shirt can be a potential distraction,
unless it is worn specifically for the purpose of brand association.

This is why you should not wear a clever slogan while presenting, even if it's
your own brand.

As a light, Caucasian presenter, I prefer to wear a dark, featureless shirt
because it highlights my facial features and directs the audience to my face
and speech. _Except_ for my hands, which I can use for pointing or
demonstrating a process, in which case, I don't want a long sleeved-shirt to
get in the way, and when there are plenty of lights, to stay cool.

~~~
jamesbritt
Interesting. I prefer white or charcoal grey pocket Ts as daily wear. I've had
some black Ts, but as a person of pallor I found the contrast a bit stark.

I think I look best in the white shirts, but for a presentation I can see the
value of going with a dark one.

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Samuel_Michon
What a bunch of endless drivel. Don’t they have editors at The Atlantic? Given
the amount of material, this article should’ve been no longer than one page.

~~~
coldtea
Not that many. Do you know what their margins are?

It surprises me that people still talk and demand editors and proof-readers in
an era where articles are paid 1/5 (or less) of what they were 10-20 years
ago, and news outless are crumbling down tiny advertising revenues...

It's like going to a $10 buffet diner in the interstate, and expecting
Morton's level steaks...

Seriously, in this day and age, it's like expecting some death-march software
project, done with impossible deadlines and shortcutes by low paid
programmers, to not have any bugs...

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conjecTech
I would honestly like to see more on the topics like this. As I've come to
gain more and my responsibility and prestige within the organizations I'm
affiliated with, I've found clothing can be a particularly effective tool in
shaping the course of interactions with other people. Showing up in an outfit
that reflects how you wish to be treated can be far more effective than
anything you can say to that point.

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jknightco
"He eats half of a slice of pizza and The Comedy Cellar."

I know Louis is a bit overweight, but that just felt like a low blow there.

~~~
lurkinggrue
I'm never hungry enough to eat a whole Comedy Cellar.

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defen
I was curious about the Kung Fu panda thing. For others:
[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xCD3hg6OEQw](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xCD3hg6OEQw)

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omonra
Slightly off topic, but why does the author feel the need to describe Louis CK
as 'white man'? Does that add anything to the story?

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jlogsdon
He brings up the contrast of using a black shirt later, so I would say yes it
does.

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state
Just seeing this on the front page is making me a little uncomfortable about
the plain black t-shirt I'm wearing.

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knockonthedoor
When you become big you need to switch to black shirts.
[http://imgur.com/oEbrORI](http://imgur.com/oEbrORI)

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peterwwillis
_What does it mean to wear a black t-shirt?_

It's the least ugly color you can wear, on the most basic article of clothing
you can wear besides jeans. And they're wearing jeans.

You can certainly wear better clothing! But all things being considered, it's
the laziest possible option of clothing to wear that still looks "decent".
They wanted to be comfortable and not have to think about how they look. And
Jobs rolled up the sleeves because it would have awkward/ugly not to.

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ryanmcbride
"I assume that there is a factory is southeast Asia"

A spelling error in the second sentence made this very hard for me to read.

~~~
coldtea
Well, you should persist more then.

For one, that's not a spelling error (all the words are spelled correctly).
It's a grammatical error. And not even one due to ignorance: it's merely a
typo.

Second, you should expect it to happen much more in the days of low paid
journalists, miniscule budgets, fewer (if any) copy editors, tiny advertising
margins, and attempts to churn tons of articles as fast as possible to capture
eyeballs. This isn't the 1970's Washington Post or New York Times. What we
know about editors and proof-reading is almost obsolete in the web these days.

So we're better off appreciating the value (if there's any) of the content
itself, instead of letting these kind of things distract us.

