Articles
A selection of essays, editorials, and reviews from the print edition of Flat Out, updated periodically. Follow us on Twitter for updates. If you’d like to read everything, order our print editions. A selection of essays, editorials, and reviews from the print edition of Flat Out, updated periodically. Follow us on Twitter for updates. If you’d like to read everything, order our print editions.
The Inventor
Imagine a Completely New Color
Spring 2020
In August 2017, at the height of Hurricane Harvey, the United States National Weather Service was pushed to add two shades of purple—an extreme violet and a surprisingly subtle lavender—to the previous full-bodied-Malbec max on their color-coded weather maps of southeast Texas, in order to adequately represent the unprecedented rainfall the unprecedented rainfall unleashed by the storm.
The Mortician
Partially Decomposed
Spring 2020
Human composting, anyone? Your corpse is nestled in your own special composting bin with wood chips, alfalfa, and straw. Microbes are added, and the body becomes a pile of fertilizer. The State of Washington just legalized the process; human composting facilities are in the works, so you can preplan your decomposition soon. This is nothing new, just a return to earlier forms of mortuary practice. While cremation is now the dominant form of corpse disposal in the US, it’s an energy-intensive process that releases carbon into the atmosphere and leaves you with some strange, sandy dust and bits of bone.
The Inventor
Imagine a Completely New Color
Spring 2020
In August 2017, at the height of Hurricane Harvey, the United States National Weather Service was pushed to add two shades of purple—an extreme violet and a surprisingly subtle lavender—to the previous full-bodied-Malbec max on their color-coded weather maps of southeast Texas, in order to adequately represent the unprecedented rainfall the unprecedented rainfall unleashed by the storm.