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Friday Fun Thread for December 16, 2022

Be advised: this thread is not for serious in-depth discussion of weighty topics (we have a link for that), this thread is not for anything Culture War related. This thread is for Fun. You got jokes? Share 'em. You got silly questions? Ask 'em.

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Coat recommendations - you got 'em? I'm in the market for up to three coats:

  • Dressy enough to work with business attire, but not necessarily a suit.

  • Casual and very warm - try to look good with jeans and a sweater, but also comfortable for a decently long walk.

  • Running jacket.

Wisconsin winter, so frequently sub-zero temperatures (negative 18 for my Celsius friends). I've lived here for a decade, so decently cold acclimated, but I've never invested in nice coats - I really only have snowmobiling and hunting outerwear.

https://www.patagonia.com/product/mens-tres-3-in-1-parka/28388.html

Just buy this. I don't own one but my wife got the women's equivalent, and honestly it's the superior choice. I'm a big thrift shopper for a decade now, and for all the beautiful vintage dress coats I own I almost never wear them. The space between "cold enough I can't get away with a scarf and a tweed blazer" and "so cold I'm gonna pick the warmest thing I own over the double breasted camel hair greatcoat" doesn't really come up often. The Patagonia tres looks good enough that she puts it over a suit for court, keeps out the elements really well, wearing the layers separately gives you a lot of options.

Although if you're really going to be out in the cold, get an old fur. At an estate auction I saved a full length raccoon from the dumpster, and that thing is a fucking climate all its own. For standing still in the cold it is unbeatable. I look like I'm cheering on the bulldogs to beat Harvard circa 1928 but I could sit outside in a sub zero blizzard and wouldn't notice a thing. I keep it around for snowmobiles, winter car camping trips, or odd times I need to be really warm.

Goddamn that is expensive

Meme, but buy once cry once (depending on your personal circumstances). I've run through a bunch of cheap coats, rather have one good one; and I've had Patagonia items and always been satisfied with them. It's Vimes' Boots theory of economic inequality. Sometimes as I get older I've learned to just buy the thing, rather than buy a bunch of imitations.

Fair, but my main concern with items like this becomes that I will lose them or they will get stolen. I would definitely not feel comfortable leaving something like this on an unattended coat hanger at a party or wearing it on the street in a third world country. Not a big fan of owning things that limits my freedom of interacting with the world

Like I said, depends on your circumstantia. I only visit warm third world countries and that not often.