Trivial Pursuits

I'm curious about many things, both meaningful and meaningless.  For instance I learned many years ago that you can tell the origins of a necktie simply by observing the direction in which the stripes are arranged.  So it always struck me that Barack Obama seems to prefer foreign neckwear over domestic brands.  Whenever you see President Obama wearing a striped tie, chances are the stripes run from his left down to the right.  This is often a sign that it is an English or European brand.  American brand ties that are striped, for the most part, run opposite, or from the wearers right, down to the left.  This isn't significant, unless you purport to be someone who supports American union workers like those organized under the Union of Needletrades, Industrial and Textile Employees Hotel Employees and Restaurant Employees International Union or UNITE HERE.  I'll bet you a gazillian dollars that you won't find a union label on the back of one of Obama's ties.    

This innocent observation on my part, led this morning to some other strange and meaningless things.  For instance I wasn't aware that the International Ladies Garment Workers Union, or the ILGWU, the people behind the "Look for the union label" ads that were so popular in the '70's had morphed into UNITE HERE.  Or that most ties, striped, club, signet, paisley, American, English or European, are mostly made in China.  I also came across a website called neckofstate.com.  Neck of State, is a website devoted to the neckwear of POTUS.  Really.  


Neck of State claims it is a "research blog that studies how what the President of the United States of America wears on his or her neck may affect their decisions while in office."  Their "current mission is to track, catalog, and correlate the neckties and other neckwear of President Barack Obama.  President Obama was a powerful force for change long before he took office, and it's imperative that we understand, clearly, how his choice of neckwear affects world events."  Indeed.  We also learn that Obama prefers the four-in-hand knot, which "is easier to tie than the full- or half- windsor, and thus the most appropriate tie for a President focused on drastic change in Washington now, rather than fussing with his neckwear in the morning."  How true.  I can't imagine the kinds of calamitous world events or domestic policy gaffes that were perhaps averted simply by Obama shaving three seconds off his morning routine.  Not surprisingly, we learn that the White House will not disclose where Obama buys his ties.  Only his haberdasher knows for sure.