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Geek slippers: looking for positive in temporary office closures

At first, the closure of the offices was a news story. And on Friday ours closed. Well, how it closed: it was reported that employees were recommended to work from home for reasons of epidemiological safety. And all would be fine, but slippers remained in my office. Comfortable, beloved, challenging working mood.

In psychology, there is such a term - an anchor. This is a kind of material trigger or ritual that requesites the necessary emotion. Someone has this morning coffee, without which it is impossible to work. One of our speakers has a small pocket talisman that helps to tune in to communication with the audience. Well, I have the state of the working “flow” associated with slippers under the desktop. Every morning, I raise a cup of coffee with my left hand to take the first sip, with my right hand I open Trello, at the same time I shove my feet in slippers - and rush.


Robot slippers with sound (you can listen below in the text) I

must say that many companies with small cozy offices try to maintain a home environment, like the same Habr (we saw the office with slippers in the photo on their blog). Ours is not an exception, for example, in Moscow Point on Maly Konyushkovsky, old-lady ladies wear characteristic orange slippers, which they once ordered centrally because everyone hung themselves from the knock of heels.

All slippers are now locked in the quarantined office, which means it's time to find out the state of the world slipper industry for geeks - surely progress does not stop.

Before plunging into the topic, let's evaluate the scale of the problem. Along with the increase in the number of cases, many offices are moving to a remote location. Google, Facebook, Amazon Twitter, NVIDIA and other giants promptly closed the “compromised” quarantine offices, sanitized them and encouraged employees around the world to work from home.

It seems that domestic companies have also acted. One of the first was Yandex, CityMobil, and now, probably, at least a quarter of IT people are sitting at their laptops in their pajamas and with cups of coffee. And it seems that this is only the beginning. Next week, they will be joined by the mothers of Moscow schoolchildren, whose children, by universal decree, have been transferred to the home mode of instruction.

Slippers are ordinary (let's start with a simple, geeky below)


The first thing that comes to mind is just ordinary slippers, the look of which is stylized as something familiar to geeks. There are slippers on the motive of star wars , and on the motive of other famous series - from the Game of Thrones to Doctor Who .



In other words, it’s enough to enter in the search engine “the name of the game / series + slippers / slippers” as a couple of dozens of options for the desired product will open before you. Just choose.

There are also ordinary prints in the form of physical / chemical formulas. Well, to immediately make it clear that their owner is very smart.



Lego fans stand out. Firstly, there are slippers in the form of cubes.


It's hard to say how convenient it is, but at least funny. Secondly, there are slippers against Lego. They were made specifically so that it was not painful to go into the details. Any parent who at least once ran into a detail will say that this is a very necessary invention. The company claims that the slippers have a special sole that can withstand contact with the elements of the designer (although in appearance it looks more like just a piece of plastic stuck in a plush).

And if the former - in the form of cubes - is easy to buy, then the latter were made in a limited edition and simply presented on the French Lego website.


Another fun option is associated with slippers in the form of shaggy paws. The fact is that the film “Akimbo Guns” was recently released, where the former Harry Potter with his pistols fastened in his arms runs around the city in slippers in the shape of tiger legs.


Despite the limited rental of the film, sellers note an increased demand for this kind of “shoes”.

Slippers are ordinary, but Sino-modified


Due to the mentality of the slippers, the easiest way to look for the Chinese sellers. The fact is that in many Western countries they do not bother and go home either in shoes or in socks / barefoot. In our country, and in Asia, and even more east, slippers are erected in a cult.

Here, by the way, it is appropriate to make a short excursion into history. According to one version, the first slippers were invented in the East. At first they were intended for the inhabitants of the Sultan’s harems, because it was problematic to escape in such things. And later, the sultans themselves, who visited the harem, appreciated the convenience of such shoes. Behind them, nobles already pulled themselves up, which is quite logical.

Then, together with the crusade, the Europeans came and carried away (besides trophies) the fashion for slippers.


Medieval shoes

Slippers gradually ceased to be a luxury item and became a symbol of cleanliness. Everything was standard until playful Chinese appeared, who like to mix the ordinary with the impossible.

Remembering the old joke about "everything is getting better with Bluetooth," I honestly tried to find such, but alas. But the sale is full of options with built-in LEDs, so as not to stumble at night.


There are also slippers with USB-heating.


Sometimes it’s just slippers, and sometimes it’s a thermal rug with pockets for two legs, such as the Orient SH-01.



The funny thing is that the business dealers, who had once flooded the market with USB-heated mugs, apparently got hooked here. Well, I well remember the stories of repairmen that such crafts burned USB ports on laptops at a time.

However, it was a long time ago. Current models probably have a controller that understands how much current can be taken from the source. But still, the characteristics most often have a power consumption level of 1–2A, so I would not connect these gadgets to USB 2.0 ports, where the standard should be no more than 0.5 A.

There are the same slippers on batteries and my favorites - slippers that can be heated in the microwave. The latter work on the principle of a heating pad and contain material suitable for heating in a similar way. They say that they should be put in the furnace for 1-2 minutes at a power of 700-800 watts. And after “cooking” they will still radiate the scent of lavender.



Another interesting version of the Chinese copy. In 2012, an Australian designer, hiding under the nickname Yashin, put on sale slippers with an artificial grass lawn instead of insoles.



The Australian’s website still exists and offers to buy branded flip flops at a price of $ 39 (I didn’t count them in rubles - the price changes too unpredictably).

Similar slippers can be bought on Aliexpress at a price of 300 rubles. However, for this price we have insoles as if from the cheapest roll cover Leroy Merlin. However, in the same place (on Ali, and not in Leroy) you can find something more decent.

Well, closing the section, I must say about the " slippers, vacuum cleaners ." This is when slippers are crossed with a microfiber sole, and you wipe off the dust while walking around the house.


Slippers should be washed periodically, so, wisely, you need to have two pairs.

Slippers are technically advanced


Slippers with a slight degree of manufacturability, as well as something conceptual, fall into this category. The first subtype can be attributed simply to shoes in which sound has been added. For example, manufacturers can attach imperial march reproduction to slippers from the first category. Stomping on the floor with Darth Vader, and he will play the march - it's nice.

Slippers with KDPV can be attributed to this subspecies as well - these are Robot Bootie Slippers for $ 38, which emit excellent robe noise when walking.



The second conceptual subtype is already more interesting. For example, as part of an advertising campaign, Nissan has integrated proprietary car parking technology into the usual slippers of the ProPILOT Park Ryokan hotel complex. These slippers are able to independently park at the entrance, when they are left anywhere and not put in place.



It is clear that you can’t buy such “smart” slippers in the store, but you can partially replace them with the “dumb” version of Tapistongs, where slippers are taken from the carpet and put into it.



Another interesting option was the prototype of slippers that control the robotic vacuum cleaner: you go through the kitchen, you see trash, you stamp twice, and the vacuum cleaner is already rushing to clean. Or fixes the coordinates and cleans a given place during a scheduled cleaning. Unfortunately, this vacuum cleaner did not go into a series. It's a pity.

Conclusion


If you followed the links from the article, you probably noticed that most of the goods are in foreign stores. Consequently, they will have to wait a long time, and the inner voice optimistically hopes for an early end to quarantine. By the way, about how life looks on the scale of isolation of the whole country, the example of Italy can be read on Habr " Life and work in the conditions of national quarantine ."

Therefore, in order not to mess with the expectation, I am trying to order in Moscow an option from the first category of slippers (not very successful so far, but I'm working on it).


Logically, they should be delivered by courier, and here there is another ethical dilemma of the coronavirus, which TheBell raised in its technological distribution (+ a large thread on Wired ): how correctly to use the services of couriers in a virus? On the one hand, people risking their health come into contact with a large number of people per day. Moreover, risking their own and others' health. And if we socially and responsibly let people go home, then how far does our responsibility extend?

On the other hand: to refuse courier services means depriving people of work and money, and themselves - the ability to receive the necessary goods. And what to do in this case is an open question. What do you think? And yes, if you have a variant of cool geek slippers, share them in the comments.

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