Summer hats. MHFD, books

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They may have lost the war, conducted Mengele-ish medical experiments, pressed wome into service for ‘comforting’ their troops and generally have been as bad as the Nazis but they did have a nice hat.
Observe the Japanese soldiers hat for tropical wear:

While most Japanese military gear was outdated or inadequate (relying on a soldiers fanatical loyalty to make up the difference) this hat must have made an impression because its so damn ubiquitous in most outdoor catalogs:

LL Bean makes one
As does REI
Patagucci Patagonia too
And here’s the Columbia version I was generously gifted with last week

So I’ll be trying it out in the summer Montana sun and will let you know how it works out. I’ve usually just used a boonie hat andhave been overall satisified with it so we’ll see how this fares. For the record, this type of cap is referred to as a ‘bimini cap’ in many places.
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The Mountain House ‘three day emergency kit’ of food I ordered from Amazon arrived the other day. They were closing them out at 1/3 off regular price. Its basically just a cardboard box with the standard foil pouches inside. I didnt really need it but I figured I might as well get it since there wasnt much at Amazon I wanted at the moment.

Still, you cant really have too much stored food.
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Hey, speaking of…Im reading a new TEOTWAWKI book…“Dies The Fire”…part, apparently, of a trilogy of books. Sure, its no ‘Survivalist’ series 😉 but it reminds me very much of Lucifers Hammer which I think we can all agree was a pretty good read.

The one thing harped on in this book over and over and over is that when you have food and others dont, those normally peaceful civilized soccer moms and golfing dads become real dangerous, real fast. All the more reason to make sure that those kitchen shelves stay full. Im about 70% through the first book and I like it very much. The reason for the EOTW in this book is insanely stupid, but the resultant situations and scenarios are not and thats making it worth reading.

26 thoughts on “Summer hats. MHFD, books”

  1. I still haven’t finished that book. The idea that percolators work and steam engines don’t pisses me off every time I pick it up again.

  2. I used a hat similar to that while living in the Mojave Desert

    I would soak the “tail” in water for a great evaporative cooling effect. I doubt that method would work that well in areas like where I live now. I miss the Desert but California is off of my list for places to live for obvious reasons.

  3. I liked it. But whenever you have one of those “mysterious events” that change the laws of physics, it’s all handwaving anyway, so I don’t get too uptight about it.

  6. It’s pretty much consistent, given the arbitrariness of all such handwaving. Percs are low pressure, steam engines high pressure. If one accepts chemical reactions being controlled, why not steam pressure? After all, firearms cartridges are just a high pressure burn, which weren’t allowed (I think – I’d have to dig the book out at this point to be sure), while fire, a low pressure burn, was. I found that more or less consisten.

    Anyway, I like Sterling, even though I often have to accept more than the usual suspension of disbelief.

  7. Hmm…I’ve been meaning to read that book, though the reviews on Amazon make it sound like a SCAdian fantasy. On the other hand, if I can’t be a gun-toting survivalist, I can still be a sword-toting one (or a spear-toting one or a bow toting one…it’s good to have contingency plans…and armor… and a minor in medieval studies).

  8. make it sound like a SCAdian fantasy

    Indeed! The SCA and RennFaire nerds figure prominently as the new power elite.

    Only slightly worse than a world run by Star Wars geeks.

  9. I read that book and decided to keep my chain maille after all…

    I probably would have liked it more if I hadn’t passed high school chemistry.
    But if you can get past the premise, a great read.

    He’s done a few “alternate timeline” books as well (think Harry Turtledove…sort of) that were pretty good, I very much enjoyed “Conquistidor”.

  10. For a couple of years, I’ve been using what appears to be a US mil version of the hat (I say “appears” because the label inside doesn’t quite match the specs, there’s no actual Mil-spec or NSN listed).

    The label identifies it as “Cap, Combat” and it includes the following string of numbers:

    DLA100-83-8-22015
    8405-01-110-5023

    …and it says “Made in USA.” I Googled the numbers, got no hits…I’m pretty sure I got the hat either from Cheaper than Dirt or Sportsman’s Guide about three years ago.

  11. hmm

    the book deals mainly on lossing electric power and other energy sources; which can be due to the effect of a nearby black hole event where the energy potentail changes as everything slows down to a crawl.under such conditions electrochemical reactions are very slow. it is an interresting book, anyhow. Wildflower 06

  12. Wow… I just had a flashback to my old job. I didn’t know there were NSNs for hats. I only knew about the ones for electronic test equipment. Did you look on GSAAdvantage? If it’s got an NSN maybe you could find one there.

  15. I didn’t know there were NSNs for hats. I only knew about the ones for electronic test equipment.

    See, I’m the other way…I assumed almost everything has an NSN. I recall years ago when doing aircraft tech manuals, the illustrated parts breakdown manuals all contained NSNs for parts ranging down to nuts and bolts.

    Did you look on GSAAdvantage?

    Hey! Good idea! I’ll check that tomorrow when I get back to work.

  19. Depends on what youre looking for. I like the MH stuff for ‘stuff-it-on-a-shelf-and-forget-about-it’ convenience and its lightweight if I have to go portable. You can easily put together an identical package with a quick trip to their website or to any backpacking store. FD’s are nice but spendy…

    Similar stuff…try here:
    http://beprepared.com/quickshoplist.asp_Q_c_E_62_A_name_E_Mountain%20House%AE%20Freeze%20Dried%20in%20Cans
    http://beprepared.com/quickshoplist.asp_Q_c_E_80_A_name_E_Dehydrated%20Food%20Storage%20in%20Cans
    http://beprepared.com/quickshoplist.asp_Q_c_E_64_A_name_E_Provident%20Pantry%AE%20Freeze%20Dried%20Food%20in%20Cans

  20. How is that hat different from tying a knot in a bandana and wearing a baseball cap, which has the advantage of being awfully cheap if you get your baseball caps at trade shows?

    -K@w.

  22. Books

    Thanks for the link on “Dies the Fire”, I am headed to the library after work. Looks like these blacksmithing classes may come in more handy than I imagined.

    Can you recommend some good TEOTWAKI fiction? I have read “Lucifer’s Hammer” and “The Stand” but would like some other titles of books that you found entertaining and/or valuable.

    Crom

  23. Re: Books

    Entertaining and valuable dont necessarily go hand-in-hand.

    Aherns ‘The Survivalist’ was fun just from the cheese factor.
    ‘Wolf and Iron’ is pretty good if you ignore all the touchy-feely New Age crap about wolves.
    ‘WarDay’ was pretty good.
    ‘Invasion’, about a Chinese invasion of mainland US was, IMHO, pretty good.
    ‘Alas Babylon’ is one of the great all time ones and does give useful points to consider.
    ,Rawles’ “Patriots” is good although pretty heavy-handed in the religion department.

    I have a suggested fiction reading list on the other computer….remind me to post it.

  24. How did you find out about the sale?

    Just luck? On your wish list?

    I’d like to know if there’s some way I can get them to tell me about these sales like Midway does.

  26. Re: How did you find out about the sale?

    Thanks

    Now I feel like a complete idiot. I’m even a team member there.

    Guess I should pay more attention.

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