Sarangworld Tshirt FAQ

The pie chart is currently in experimental/beta/test mode. There will be lots of problems/glitches/etc. Please don't complain about the pie chart, because I know it looks awful. Feel free to send it suggestions for improvement, though.

3.2. Why are the percentages in the pie chart different from the percentages in the text chart?

The pie chart combines all shades of a given color. So, "blue" on the pie chart combines "navy blue", "light blue", "faded blue", etc.

3.3. (OBSOLETE) Why can't I save the pie chart by right-clicking?

This is an artifact of the dynamic way in which the pie chart is created, not an intentional protection measure. If you really want a copy of the pie chart, let me know and I'll email you one. If you're interested in how the "no save image" is created, please email me, but be forewarned the "protection" this offers is very weak and easy to circumvent/override.

As of 7/12/2003, you can save the pie chart by right-clicking.

3.4. What is "mottled gray"?

It's a mixture of gray and white "spots"; it looks a bit like a solid gray with many splotches of white.

Thanks to Laird Carter (email withheld by request) who adds:

[mottled gray] was originally developed when someone took a white "50-50" (polyester & cotton) t-shirt and dyed it with a dye meant for a 100% cotton t-shirt. They found that the cotton threads absorbed the dye very well (making a dark color in the shirt), but the polyester threads did not dye well at all (making a light color in the same shirt). This combined-color shirt became very popular, being called a "dirty" t-shirt or a "dirty gray" t-shirt. After a while the same technique was applied to other colors, so besides gray shirts, there were brown, blue, and green. T-shirt manufacturers never really liked the name "dirty", so they started to call the color "heather".

Some examples of what I mean when I say "mottled gray" (these images are from http://www.bellyacresdesigns.com/catalog/colors/fruit.php and/or similar pages)

3.5. What is "denim blue"?

On 10 May 2004, I started wearing shirts made from the same material as blue jeans (I've heard these called "jeans shirts", but not sure if that's the correct term). I note the color for such shirts as "denim blue". Technically, I'm "cheating", since denim is a type of fabric, and not really a shade of blue, but this is an easy way to distinguish them from "regular" tshirts.

3.6. Why do you wear so many white tshirts?

One reason is that the vast plurality of tshirts I have appear to be white; another reason is that I have a slight bias towards white shirts -- given a choice between wearing a white tshirt and a non-white tshirt, I usually lean towards the white (they're slightly cooler and more comfortable, in my opinion).

4. Errata

4.1. Have you ever worn the same tshirt twice?

To the best of my knowledge, since I started recording on 14 Aug 2000, I have not re-worn a recorded tshirt. However, some of the tshirts listed I have worn previous to 14 Aug 2000 or on weekends (since I don't record tshirts worn on weekends).

4.2. Are there any cases where you wore similar tshirts that might be confused for the same tshirt?

Several cases:

On both 29 Sep 2000 and 17 Jan 2002, I wore "Pizzeria Uno" tshirts; however, one was mottled gray and the other steel blue. The wording was also slightly different.

On both 22 Jun 2001 and 8 Aug 2003, I wore PSA (Pediatric Services of America, Inc) shirts; however, one was a golf shirt with a pocket, the other was a regular tshirt (at least, I think so-- this may be one case where I actually did mess up and wear the same shirt twice!)

On both 31 Jan 2003 and 20 Aug 2003, I wore "CA World" tshirts, both referring to an event in New Orleans, LA, USA. However, one shirt was white, the other yellow orange.

On both 15 Jan 2003 and 26 Aug 2003, I wore Delchamps' tshirts; however, one refers to "Senior Bowl 50" (held in 1999), the other refers to "Senior Bowl 2000"; the former also has "Mobile Gas" listed as a sponsor.

On both 17 Jan 2003 and 30 Sep 2003, I wore "Success Rice" tshirts; however, one was red with white writing, the other was white with red writing.

On both 8 Apr 2003 and 14 Oct 2003, I wore a "Monaco Coach Corporation" shirts; however, one was a pink golf shirt, the other was a white tshirt (the white tshirt also had more wording).

On both 16 Oct 2002 and 12 Nov 2003, I wore COMPUWARE tshirts, but one was white with black writing, the other was black with white writing.

On both 30 Apr 2002 and 14 Nov 2003, I wore "esi/Electro Scientific Industries" tshirts. However, one says "Building You an Unfair Advantage" on the back, the other says "FEEL the ENERGY".

On both 29 Aug 2003 and 20 Nov 2003, I wore "New Mexico Slam" tshirts. However, one was mottled black, and the other was white, and they also had different wording. Ironically, I wore both tshirts after this local (Albuquerque, NM, USA) professional basketball team had gone defunct.

On both 1 Jul 2003 and 9 Dec 2003, I wore "Northeast Optic Network" tshirts, but they were different colors and had slightly different wording.

On both 2 Apr 2001 and 10 Dec 2003, I wore "Kendle" tshirts, but the wording and pictures were quite different.

I've worn 4 "Schuff Steel" tshirts: 17 Jun 2003, 1 Dec 2003, 12 Dec 2003, and 15 Dec 2003. One was red, one was blue and two were white. Of the two white ones, one had red lettering and the other black (note that I "cheated" when listing the two white shirts-- normally, I do NOT indicate what color the lettering is, but did in this case to avoid the appearance of a duplicate!).

On both 9 Mar 2001 and 17 Dec 2003, I wore "American National" shirts, but they were different colors and had slightly different wording.

On both 27 Feb 2001 and 7 Jan 2004, I wore "ICG" tshirts, but they were different colors and had different wording.

On both 29 Apr 2002 and 30 Jan 2004, I wore "eToys.com" tshirts, but the wording was slightly different.

On 4-7 May 2004 (4 consecutive days), I wore "66law.com" tshirts, but they were different colors.

4.3. What should I do if I spot a duplicate tshirt?

Do let me know via email, but you may also want to take a long, careful look at your life-- are things really so bad you have to find duplicate tshirts on a webpage created by a person whose life is so empty that he has to list what tshirts he wore?

5. Minutae

5.1. (OBSOLETE) Why do you use a red tm to represent trademark?

The HTML standard actually defines a symbol for trademark (™), but it doesn't work with my browser, so I use a red "tm" instead. As of 18 Jan 2004, I do this "more correctly" using ™ instead.

5.2. Do you ever "cheat" when listing a tshirt?

Yes. Perhaps the most flagrant example is the listing for January 11, 2001. The back of the tshirt is described in orange text as "periodic table". Actually, this periodic table was 95%+ text, so I could have typed it out. However, it was also very long, so I cheated and simply put down "periodic table". Note that this isn't the normal periodic table of the elements, but rather a "Periodic Table of Human Cytokines and Chemokines" (I have no idea what that is either!).

Another example is the tshirt I wore on 14 Mar 2003. It contains an actual full-size New York Times crossword puzzle, but I simply list this as "crossword puzzle", instead of typing out all the clues, etc!

5.3. What are the longest tshirt descriptions you've ever typed out?

Because I have to use HTML coding sometimes (and for other reasons), these numbers aren't exact, but the top 7 (including both front and back) are:

The "page this!" tshirt worn 16 Feb 2004 (but the back text actually repeats, so I cheated and used cut and paste instead of typing out the whole thing) at 2480 characters. Lot of cute "jokes" on this one, too bad some repeat.

The "Revlon Run/Walk for Women" tshirt worn 27 Feb 2004 at 2434 characters. A lot of companies sponsored this event. Since most of the text doesn't repeat, this is the "true" longest tshirt.

The UAM tshirt worn 3 Feb 2004 at 2023 characters (I had to work around a 1024-character limit on my browser to do this!). UAM owns a lot of other companies!

The CNA tshirt worn 28 Mar 2002 at 1684 characters. There's a lot of stuff in Chicago.

The "Hard Rock" (no, not Hard Rock cafe!) tshirt worn 9 Sep 2002 at 1437 characters. It's not just a tshirt, it's a full page ad!

The Entercom tshirt worn 10 Jul 2001 at 1415 characters (they own a lot of radio stations)

The "Coniferous Trees of Idaho" tshirt worn 7 Mar 2001 at 1092 characters (and I thought all they had there was potatoes!)

5.4. How do you represent European or other "foreign" characters on tshirts?

If the character is really foreign, I simply describe it (eg, "Japanese letters" on the Benihana tshirt I wore 13 Feb 2001). If the character has a reasonable American English equivalent, I use that instead (eg, the 'a' in the "Jagermeister" shirt I wore on 23 May 2003 really has two dots over it, but I list it as just a regular 'a').

5.5. I saw two tshirts with conflicting political opinions. How can you wear them both in good faith?

As a general rule, the tshirts I wear don't express political or other views. However, if and when they do, the opinions expressed on the tshirt do not necessarily reflect my own opinions or views.

5.6. I saw a tshirt saying you hiked the Grand Canyon or whatever. Did you really?

Maybe, but not necessarily. Any statements on the tshirts do not necessarily reflect things I have done.

5.7. Do you wear short or long-sleeve shirts?

I prefer wearing short-sleeve shirts, but, on 5 Mar 2004, I thought I'd run out, and wore a long-sleeve one instead. I later found more short-sleeve shirts, but continued to wear both short- and long-sleeve shirts from then on.

5.8. Are you overtly advertising the companies/products on your shirt?

As a general rule, no. While I'm sure they are fine companies with fine products (and I very much appreciate them sending me a tshirt), I usually don't know enough about the company or its products to overtly advertise. Of course, just wearing the shirt is a form of passive advertisement, which I'm happy to do.

5.9. Are there any exceptions to the "no overt advertising" rule above?

Sadly, yes. The tshirts I wore on 16-17 Mar 2004 are from LaughWeb, a tshirt-selling site that I run. Blatant commercialism, I feel so dirty!

5.10. Have you ever violated the Fundamental Rule of Tshirt Wearing?

Sadly, yes, I did so on 23 Feb 2004.

5.11. Umm, what IS the Fundamental Rule of Tshirt Wearing?

"Thou shalt not wear a tshirt that features an establishment whose threshold thou crosseth whilst wearing said shirt, unless thou art required to do so per the management of said establishment". IE, you can't wear a McDonald's shirt to McDonald's, a Wal-mart shirt to Wal-mart, etc. Most of all, you can't wear to work a shirt featuring your employer (unless you have to), which is exactly what I did on 23 Feb 2004.

6. Legal

6.1. What is the status of the company names you use on this page?

All company names belong to the individual companies themselves and appear on my page for reference purposes only. Many of the phrases appearing on the tshirts are trademarked, service marked, copyrighted, or otherwise owned by their respective companies, and appear here for informational purposes only. The previous statements apply EVEN IF a phrase is not specifically marked as being trademarked, service marked, or copyrighted.