Category Archives: Gear

Robot Rodeos Conjure Up Disasters and Pancake Contests

Extreme Hazard robot essaying an obstacle course at the Robotic Vehicle Range, Kirtland AFB, Alberquerque, NM. Sandia National Labs.

Extreme Hazard robot essaying an obstacle course at the Robotic Vehicle Range, Kirtland AFB, Albuquerque, NM. Sandia National Labs.

A sultry day was in the offing near Purnell OK, the seat of McCurtain County in the state’s southeast quadrant, just a dozen miles northwest from the triple point where Arkansas, Texas and Oklahoma meet. One hundred forty miles northeast, the National Weather Service Doppler radar station KSRX at Ft. Smith Arkansas, was monitoring a cold front approaching from the west, driven by a mass of cool dry air sweeping down from the northern plains. Typical for the late spring in the American prairie, this eastbound mass was colliding with a warm, wet air mass streaming north from the Gulf of Mexico, now roiling under a cool dry tongue at 700 mb. Buoyant but trapped under heavier cool air, supercells were forming in the humid 850 mb surface layer twenty miles west of Purnell.

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Amphibious vehicles: images

We hope to follow up with more details about particular applications of amphibious vehicles. However, these images are intended to illustrate the variety of amphibious transport which already exist: even a small number of these can replace a bridge, be used as ferries, and can make transportation (supply, bringing rescue personnel in, wounded or immobile persons out) during floods a simple matter. Clearance no longer matters; the question of vehicles shorting out as water hits the electrical system through the underbody is moot.

Plus – in our opinion – some of them  look pretty cool.

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Microserrated Kitchen Knife – Never Needs Sharpening

10 CM / 3.9 in Nogent Profile. Florence Fabricant’s article,  DINER’S JOURNAL; Food Stuff: Keep the Hacksaw In the Garage, from the Style Section of the New York Times, caught my eye, and fired up my imagination in regards to citrus and other fruit drinks in the heat.

Neatly slice that blushing peach or that ripe tomato bursting with juice. Cut thin rounds of firm, peppery salami. Gently quarter sea scallops. Whack wedges of lime for drinks. These and many more everyday kitchen jobs will not daunt the new French paring knives by Nogent, with handles in bathing-suit colors.

What makes these knives unusual is that the stainless steel blades have serrations so fine as to be almost microscopic. They do not give hacksaw treatment to delicate fruits; they can handle tougher jobs, and, for those whose sharpening steels and stones simply gather dust, they require no sharpening.

Stainless steel knives with nearly microscopic serrations and no need of sharpening? The implications are not trivial: firefighters and rescue workers cutting people from seat belts; remote medical facilities able to re-use surgical instruments after sterilization but without resharpening? Survival knives which can undergo protracted use in harsh environments?

According to Nogent’s Canadian website, the firm is French, has been in existence since 1823.

 

“Glowing Tooll Handles” – reduce loss of critical tools during crises –

From user jolshefsky at the always-outstanding site Instructables, this simple technique for making tools hard to lose in the dark, Glowing Tool Handles – a technique helpful during mionor inconveniences, but which may rise to the chllenge and become more useful the serious the situation.

We recommend the following: ig you’re only going to do this for one type of tool, do it for flashlights and around light switches.

But think of other applications: first aid equipment, any tools such as paintbrushes,

Hat to helmet in nanoseconds: Shear Thickening Fluids (STF) – nanotech liquid

Shear Thickening Fluids (STFs) may be “liquid” in a strict sense – but they’re used in fabrics. Developed by Professor Norman Wagner and his research team, including students, of the University of Delaware, as a joint project between the University of Delaware Center for Composite Materials and the United States Army Research Lab. They’re amazing – and are already in use. (Professor Wagner seems a bit shy, but very proud of his students. The website for his research group is filled with photos of his colleagues, graduate students and undergraduates – but what should be his personal page on the University of Delaware site is a dead link). STFs are added to Kevlar, making ballistic armor more effective;

D30 Labs has been making STF’s available to the civilian market. The Swiss Company RibCap has been making what look like normal knit caps – soft until subjected to a sudden force – at which time they behave like crash helmets:

At the moment not, apparently, available in the United States – but they’re available via some Canadian and British stores .Ribcap’s Swiss site here; their Canadian affiliate, DirtSurfer, also has a list of U.S. retailers.

We’d like to know more – and see test data – but if effective, these soft hats should be in every go-bag – and worn by every emergency responder who’s not already wearing protective headgear.

Via Wired (body armor) and CoolTools (RibCap).

Cool Tools

Simple, functional, travel pants

10-26-11

Patagonia Rock Guide Pants

Rock Guides.jpg

On my recent trip to Bangladesh I wore a single pair of Patagonia Rock Guide Pants for nearly four weeks while in country. Every few days I would wash them in a sink in the evening, hang them up to dry, and in a few hours they would be as dry as anything gets in Bangladesh. After a month of hard traveling and three months of subsequent wear at home I feel confident saying that they are the best travel pants I have ever worn.

One of the reasons why they work so well is their simplicity. They are not overwhelmed with pockets. They have one zippered back pocket, two traditional side pockets, and a single low-profile zippered cargo pocket on the right thigh. The result is a minimalist but perfectly functional pair of travel pants with just enough pocket space. The zippered pockets mean that your belongings are kept secure (especially in pickpocket prone areas, or during bumpy epic bus rides), and the thigh pocket has the perfect amount of space for a passport, a wallet, and a few smaller items (memory cards, coinage, maps, etc). Unlike other travel pants I’ve tried, the Rock Guides don’t scream “adventure,” and are inconspicuous enough to be worn in a variety of environments while traveling (and even on a daily basis at home).

The pants are made out of a lightweight nylon and spandex blend that provides the perfect amount of stretchiness and flexibility. My pair weighs around 11-oz, and unlike every other pair of pants I own they don’t take up much space when packed. Despite being light, they also resist scrapes and scratches. I recently wore them during a long backwoods hike through thick thorns and brambles and they emerged unscathed (thorns are normally a critical weakness in pants I’ve tried in the past). I’ve had my current pair for five months, and they have withstood a lot of punishment while being no worse for wear.

In the past, I’ve tried zip-off convertible pants but always found them cumbersome and uncomfortable. A good idea on paper, but one that has never worked for me in the field. I was initially worried about the lack of flexibility the Rock Guide pants would provide, but quickly found that they were designed to be worn comfortably with pant legs rolled up. The lightweight stretchy material and wider hem allows the legs to be rolled up without risk of unrolling, and the stretchiness minimizes any uncomfortable binding. A recent testament to this came last week when I forgot my running shorts at home and I ended up wearing my Rock Guides on a five mile run. They performed great.

Other nylon pants I’ve worn used thicker fabric and bulkier designs which contributed to them feeling hot, heavy, and burdensome in the pack. This includes pants I’ve tried from REI, North Face, EMS, and Columbia. All had some critical flaw. The Rock Guides remain the best pair of pants I’ve owned. I recently ordered a second pair as I’ve started wearing them on a daily basis. As far as sizing goes, they run a tad large due to their stretchiness. Finally, the most significant criticism I’ve seen about them is due to the lack of different pant lengths. However, it seems Patagonia has incorporated extra fabric in the pant cuff for those who don’t mind re-hemming their pants on their own.

— Oliver Hulland

Patagonia Rock Guide Pants

Men’s and Women’s sizes available

$79

Available from Amazon

Manufactured by Patagonia

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Cool Tools "Everyday Carry" (EDC) contest

Everyday Carry Contest on Kevin Kelly’s Cool Tools. This is what we might refer to as “”A” gear (always with you), even more critical than what you might keep in a “go-bag,” particularly if you don’t drive everywhere.

The tools you have with you are the ones that are going to get used, and so it is with great pleasure that we are announcing our newest contest seeking the best everyday carry (EDC) tools. The diversity of tools that people carry with them whether on keychains, in pockets and/or bags never ceases to astonish. From Moleskines to Leathermen, and flashlights to Buffs, the shear number of tools we have to choose from is overwhelming. That’s where you come in. Send us reviews of your everyday carry tools, and explain why they have made the cut. There is no limit to how many you can include, and feel free to submit EDC tools from specific situations like camping or biking. Just remember every tool should be reviewed with the following five parts in mind: 1) a succinct description of what the tool is, 2) how it changed your behavior, 3) why Cool Tools should run the item, 4) why it is superior to other things, and 5) why we should believe you. Submissions will be accepted until Tuesday, April 19th. As usual, the author of the most publishable review gets to select a prize from the Prize Pool and will be published the following week. So tell us all about the tools you have with you when it counts! via Cool Tools.

We note that “EDC” is a new term for us – we’re used to the U.S. military “A” gear (never left out of arm’s reach during operations), which “EDC” sounds close to – and of course the “go-bag,” A/K//A the Bug-Out Bag, the “Diddi Mau” bag (Vietnamese for, in effect, “leave without delay,”) and other synonyms.

Reflective Clothing from RAF

Reflective Apparel Factory makes OSHA/ANSI compliant clothing, has what look like pretty competitive prices – and takes the trouble to explain most of the OSHA/ANSI standards on its website.  We’re not sure whether the rules  apply – but here in New York, I’ve had a number of conversations about the failure of delivered-food restaurants to give their delivery workes (usually on bicycles, or mopeds) reflective clothing and fit the vehicles and foodcontaners with Reflexite or Scotchlite.  My guess is that those workers don’t have a lot of bargaining power to spare.

Back to RAF – as we try to provide more information about responder gear characteristics, performance, and pricing, we’ll have more to say.  But Reflective Apparel Factory seems a good resource. They’ll sell single units, don’t engage in the dodge of declining to post prices – a practice, which while legal, should give purchasers pause – and the prices seem quite reasonable, and the range of garments and sizes pretty good.  Certainly worth a look for anyone planning a CERT  or SAR team.

Flambeau Cases – available in bulk, customized

Flambeau, one of the most visible makers of plastic cases for hunters, fishermen, artists, and paramedic/EMT/First Aid cases. Bulk purchases and customization can be discussed by contacting the company via its commercial website, Flambeau Premiums.

As an example, Flambeau’s Trauma Drug Kit retails at First Aid Supplies Plus for $256, and can be seen at this page. However, a CERT, rescue squad or VFD might well want to purchase them in larger or very large lots, making it reasonable to seek a quote from Flambeau.

Here are two of Flambeau’s watertight gear boxes:

RuggedNotebooks.com: MILSPEC 810F data devices

We’ve come across RuggedNotebooks.com, a supplier of laptop computers and PDAs to public and private users of data devices whose equipment must survive drops, immersion, humidity, sand, and extreme heat.  (MILSPEC 810F, effective, January 1, 2000).  ((We note that the standard is not classified,

although the data which may be stored on them is; if that were not the case, we would not discuss it in this forum. Because the MILSPEC standards are – for the most part – not classified – using the military’s procurement standards can be useful for non-military purchasers, in and out of government. There are soldiers whose job it is to throw expensive equipment off the roofs of buildings, into water tanks, and otherwise abuse them. We’re fairly sure, from reader feedback, that we’ve got at least a few readers, to whom this sounds like fun. We’re still happy to have them as readers, notwithstanding their unusual ideas of entertainment)). RuggedNotebooks makes  three models of rugged PDA – and for anyone who’s counting, that’s 50% more models of PDA than Hewlett-Packard makes (only two which are PDAs without phones) and three more than Palm (no non-phone PDAs).

In addition, RuggedNotebooks makes nine laptops and tablets to the same standard, and another line of “semi-rugged” devices. We’ll try to update with price and images later.




Sierra Trading Post one-day sale

Sierra Trading Post, on any given day a place to find high-end gear and clothing at low-end prices, is having a one-day sale with an additional 40% off of 4,000 items. Sierra Trading Post’s stock – from my viewing of it – is usually very high-end outdoors Sierra Trading Post Homepage_Logo

gear and clothing, sometimes in last years colors, occasionally slight seconds, or perfectly fine discontinued items. In addition to outdoors gear (from the United States and elsewhere), they carry overstocks on very high-end European clothing. Precisely how a company based in Cheyenne, Wyoming ends up selling very-high-grade European dress clothing and outdoors gear is one of those market mysteries whose answer is not apparent on the face of things.

That said (that I don’t understand their business model), they carry a lot of products which should be in a go-bag or worn during an emergency – or to prevent one. Since – having been through it – I’ve learned that dogs can be even more vulnerable than children to being hit by cars, Sierra Trading Post’s deals on the OllyDog reflective vest for $17.95 (medium, large and extra-large available; but if you’re dog’s small – these can end up doubling as raincoats) may save you and your dog from heartbreak:

Olly Dog reflective vest medium - at Sierra Trading Post

Olly Dog reflective vest medium - at Sierra Trading Post

There’s more, of course – check out Sierra Trading Post’s front page – and I believe that will bring you to the additional 40% one-day sale on 4,000 items, including the dog vest above.




BAGGU

BAGGU. – sturdy bags which fold into minuteness; not designed for hauling large loads over long distances; but kept within a go-bag – an easy way to have a reserve carrying capacity.

We’ve only bought the one  – and so haven’t subjected it to a testing-the-limits regimen.But ours has been holding up well..

6-in-1 Utilikey from SwissTechTools.com/at Container Store

6-in-1 Utilikey from SwissTechTools.com

6-in-1 Utilikey from SwissTechTools.com

Picked up this Utilikey 6-in-1 tool at one of the local outlets of the Container Store. It weighs half an ounce (0.5 oz; 14 mg.) and has six features:

– Flat Screwdriver

– Phillips Screwdriver

– Micro Eyeglass Screwdriver

– Straight Blade Knife

– Serrated Blade Knife

– Bottle Opener

It locks and unlock easily, seems quite sturdy and precisely machined, and there’s enough dull surface area to grab with the blades open that it can be held securely and used with some force.

There’s an 8-in-1 model which includes a wire cutter and wire stripper, but we haven’t seen or tested a sample.

If you’re carrying just house keys, it’s still small and light enough not to be in the way. This one looks like a must-have, and perhaps a good item for bulk purchase by community-based preparedness organization.

Note: we assume that you’re all already carrying portable flashlights.

Available at The Container Store, but not, apparently, on their website.

On Amazon, Swiss Tech UKTBS Utili-Key 6-in-1 Polished Stainless Steel Key Ring Multi-Tool.

Conflict of interest disclosure: we receive, in theory, a small commission on any sales via Amazon.

Republican Alternative Energy: Coal, Oil, & Nuclear Power

“The Republican Road to Recovery”  according to John Boehner, Eric Cantor, Mike Pence, Thaddeus McCotter, Cathy McMorris Rodgers, John R. Carter, Pete Sessions, Kevin McCarthy, David Dreier, Roy Blunt, who signed it, “Keeps Energy and Fuel Costs Low.” It mentions wind and solar, but focuses on coal, oil, oil shale, offshore drilling, and nuclear power.

The document says “Republicans want energy independence with increased development of all natural resources, including renewable energy sources, such as wind and solar.” It doesn’t mention “global warming.” It mentions the term “greenhouse gases” once, stating, incorrectly, that nuclear power doesn’t produce greenhouse gases. Mining, processing, and transporting nuclear fuel, and managing radioactive wastes, produces tremendous amounts of greenhouse gases.

It points out that “Senators Ted Kennedy and John Kerry … have long fought a renewable wind project in waters off of Massachusetts…. Cape Wind, would provide 75 percent of the electricity demand for Cape Cod, Martha’s Vineyard, and Nantucket island. “

The document focuses on coal, oil, and nuclear power. These are not clean, renewable, sustainable energy sources.  Ultimately, therefore, it attempts to “greenwash” coal, oil, and nuclear power.

the Administration has already taken steps to hinder the leasing of the Outer Continental Shelf (OCS) which is estimated to hold at least 19 billion barrels of oil, and Democrats have long championed the prohibition on drilling in the Arctic Coastal Plain – which is estimated to hold 10.4 billion barrels of oil. Furthormore, Democrats continue to block the procurement of advanced alternative fuels from sources such as oil shale, tar sands, and coal-to-liquid technology. U.S. Oil shale alone could provide about 2.5 million barrels of oil per day.

Republicans also support opening the Arctic Coastal Plain to energy exploration and development.

And despite expert agreement that nuclear power is reliable, clean, and affordable without producing air pollution or greenhouse gases, Democrats continue to block its development.

Republicans realize that there are better solutions to restore freedom and security in our energy market.  Republicans recognize the importance of exploring for American oil and gas in an envionronmentally-sound manner and support immediately leasing oil and gas resources in the OCS through an an expedited and streamlined procedure.

Republicans support removing government barriers to new nuclear reactors as long as they meet strict security and safety criteria.

Americans realize that the future of energy is in alternative and renewable sources. In order to promote the development of renewable and alternative energy, Republicans support promoting the leasing of federal lands which contain alternative energy such as oil shale. … spurring a market by using fuels derived from oil shale, tar sands, and coal.