Maurice Malone

If you know denim...

African American denim designer and fashion brands owner Maurice Malone speaking to students in denim class at Parson School of Design
DuClaw 31 pumpkin spiced lager beer in a 12oz can

DuClaw 31 pumpkin spiced lager

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DuClaw 31 Pumpkin Spice Lager is a seasonal beer that was first brewed in 2008 as a one-time release for Halloween. Dark amber in color, I found it to be tasty, with a slightly bitter finish.

It is nicely spiced, thanks to the addition of pumpkin and spices like cinnamon, nutmeg, and cloves. It smells strongly of pumpkin and feels creamy in the mouth, both of which add to the overall taste experience. It strikes a nice balance between sweetness and spiciness, with neither overpowering the other. Bottom line: I found it to be a smooth, easy-drinking pumpkin beer.

  • Pumpkin Spiced Lager
  • ABV: 5.7%
  • 27 IBUs
  • Seasonal
  • Available in 12-oz Cans and Draft
  • Baltimore Maryland-based Craft Brewery

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A black man, Maurice Malone, asks if ChatGPT is racist after receiving a slang-filled essay
Artwork by Saifullah Ali

Is ChatGPT racist?

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Is ChatGPT racist? Let me share one of my early encounters with AI software. I was sort of giving ChatGPT somewhat of a test drive, when I asked it to write a beer review of a particular brand in the style of Maurice Malone for my blog denimbmc.com.

I’ve been writing about denim for a long time and must have written hundreds of articles. I figured it would crawl my articles and pick up some tips on my writing style. I also provided the URL of this blog so that it could crawl my beer-related post.

Was I surprised when the first line of the review began with “YO, YO, YO” and ended with “Peace out?” I laughed while thinking, “WTF?” I don’t use slang like that. This does not sound like me.

I showed it to my brother-in-law, who laughed as well, before quickly surmising that the AI had picked up on the fact that I was well-known in hip-hop culture and went from there.

I sell denim and make fashion, but one of my most important jobs is writing content because I also build and maintain our websites. I do so many things in a day that my time is extremely limited, so I’ve become very acquainted with using AI writing programs to assist me.

The keyword for me is “assist,” not “write for me.” The first priority on my list is, of course, spell checking, followed by better ways to phrase something or better word use, and so on. I frequently find that AI can run on and on without saying anything meaningful, spitting out bland paragraphs of whatever they scrounged off the internet, and sometimes not factual. Most importantly, I find AI useful for inspiration (finding a new angle) and getting to the point of my thoughts better.

Back to my ChatGPT test drive, where I gave it a thumbs down and wrote a few paragraphs in the comments section. Essentially, I expressed my displeasure that the software chose to generalize my writing style rather than analyze the specific articles I had written.

I repeated the test about a month later and discovered that either ChatGPT was learning or my comments had some real impact. I’m happy to say that I did not get the same results. The program started by outlining its limitations. After my inquiry, there was no slang in the new results of a similar request, and I got real, useful content to help me.

A 12 oz. bottle of Kona Big Wave Golden Ale, ranked the best-tasting beer by Denim BMC.

Kona Big Wave Golden Ale Review: Tastes Like It Was Brewed with Magic Water

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Kona Big Wave has been my favorite beer since I first tasted it in the summer of 2022. I’ve never drank a more refreshing beer.

“It tastes like it was brewed with magic water.” All kidding aside, those were honestly my very first thoughts. My second thought was to take another swallow, and before I knew it, I had quickly finished my first bottle.

You don’t have to be a fan of tropical-inspired beers to love this beer. The beer is perfectly balanced. For me, it’s flawless. Nothing is overdone, and nothing is left out. It’s smooth to drink and has a clean, slightly fruity finish, leaving no bitterness on the tongue. The aftertaste of the Big Wave Golden Ale is, “simply leaving you wanting more.”

Video editing:Roman Golyak

Now, if you’re reading this review, I don’t want you to go out looking for this beer with unrealistic expectations, thinking something magical will happen on your tongue. Or that it will blow your mind or something. I’m just saying that this is a damn good beer.

Both Big Wave and Kona Brewing Company’s Longboard Island Lager are regularly stocked in my refrigerator. Nothing beats Big Wave as my favorite dinner beer and general thirst quencher. The only time it’s not in my frig is when I want a change of pace. The fact is if I didn’t occasionally run out, I might not ever drink another beer.

  • Light Golden Ale
  • ABV: 4.4%
  • 21 IBUs
  • Year-round
  • Available in 19.2-oz and 16-oz Cans. 12-oz Bottles & Cans. On Tap
  • Kailua-Kona, Hawaii-based, Craft Beer Brewery

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A close-up of two red bar tacks stitched onto the hem of a pair of Gustin jeans highlights what a bar tack is.
For branding and to secure the chain stitch, Gustin blue jeans are commonly sewn with a red bar tack on the hem.
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What is a Bar Tack (Bartack)

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What is a “bar tack” (also spelled “bartack”)? This is a question we get almost every day because our denim service is one of the very few that offers bar tacking. The close-up image above shows two red bar tacks sewn onto the hem of a pair of Gustin blue jeans. When you choose to add bar tacking in the dropdown box of our chain stitch hemming service, this is the type of stitching that will be added.

First, an explanation for the majority of our customers who are interested in having their jeans hemmed. The close-up image above shows two red bar tacks sewn onto the hem of a pair of Gustin blue jeans. When you choose to add bar tacking in the dropdown box of our chain stitch hemming service, this is the type of stitching that will be added.

Brands like Gustin, Nudie, and Brave Star jeans have bar tacks sewn over the chain stitching on the hems, both as a branding identifier and to reinforce the sewing. Although they add a bit of extra security by preventing the chain stitch from unraveling, they are not found on the vast majority of jeans. We usually inform our customers that it is not necessary to add them.

"What is a bar tack?" pointed out on Nudie jeans with bar-tacked chain-stitched hem.
Nudie blue jeans are typically sewn with a chain stitch that extends off the hem with a bar tack on the seam.

Definition Summary

A bar tack is a machine-made stitch with a zigzag pattern used to reinforce areas on clothing that experience high stress, such as where belt loops join, pocket corners and flaps, hip seams, and the fly of jeans.

bar tack | bär tak | noun a zigzag stitch made by industrial sewing machines to strengthen areas of a garment with potential weak spots or other sewn items.

bar-tacked adjective

bar tacking noun

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Pascal Sugar tells Beer Stories - Cover photo for beer saves lives

Beer Stories with Pascal: The Patron Saint of Beer

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Pascal Sugar shares the first in a series of amusing beer stories with the Denim BMC blog. In this video, Pascal shares a one-minute story based on “The Patron Saint of Beer,” but somehow dilutes it into something hilarious about a drunken monk from a small village in England who saved the lives of people who were drinking tainted water in his village by convincing them to drink beer instead of the water.

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Close-up of denim train tracks on jeans outseam
Close-up of denim train tracks on a pair of jeans at the outseam, around the knee.
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What are Train Tracks on jeans explained

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Often with denim and fading terminology, things are called what they look like. As is the fading effect known as “train tracks.” To achieve this type of fading, the jeans must have either a selvedge inside construction or two overlocked seams (busted seams) pressed open at the outseams.

During wear, friction can cause fading along the high points of the pressed open seams or selvedge. See the image below for an example of the train track fading at the outseam.

Blue denim jeans with train tracks at the outseam to show what are train tracks on jeans.

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