If you’re a whisky fan, it’s worth tracking down a bottle I think. I’ve ended up with two myself – one for opening now and the other to save for years down the road.

Related: Looking for liquor references in Shackleton’s book

L’Arête nord du Weisshorn (4505 m) est vertigineuse. Le parcours de cette crête se fait constamment au-dessus de précipices très profonds. – The northern ridge of the Weisshorn is breathtaking. The course of this ridge goes over very deep precipices.

Les Aiguilles Rouges de Chamonix se dressent en face du Mont Blanc au nord de la vallée de l’Arve. Ces pointes constituent un terrain idéal d’ entraînement et sont vite dégarnies de neige au printemps. – The Chamonix Aiguilles Rouges stand in front of Mont Blanc to the north of the Arve Valley. These are ideal for training and are free of snow in the spring.

Salève.

Versant est de la Kingspitz (2621 m). – Eastern slope of the Kingspitz.

Passage clé de l’arête sud du Salbitschyn (2989 m). Massif granitique qui domine Göschenen et qui offre au varappeur une série d’escalades de premier ordre. – Key passage of the ridge south of Salbitschyn. Massive granite dominates Göschenen and provides a series of first order climbs.

Gabelhorn de St-Nicolas (3135 m). Monolithe qui ne peut être gravi qu’à l’aide d’une corde lancée par-dessus le sommet au moyen d’une fusée. Trois des plus grands guides suisses sont en train d’en faire l’ascension. – A monolith that cannot be climbed with the aid of a rope thrown over the top by a rocket. Three of the largest Swiss guides are in the process of making the ascent.

Les Périades (3401 m) sont une succession de petites aiguilles situées entre le col du Tacul et le Mont Mallet dans la chaîne du Mont Blanc. Leur escalade est très acrobatique. – The Périades are a series of small needles located between the neck of Tacul and Mont Mallet in the Mont Blanc massif. Their climbing is very acrobatic.

Escalade de Dalles au Piz Balzetto (2863 m). – Climbing slabs on Pizzo Balzetto.

La Fiamma (2400 m) est un véritable flamme rocheuse du massif de Spazzacaldera et qui est facilement accessible en une heure de la cabane Albigna. – The massive Fiamma Spazzacaldera is easily accessible within an hour of the Albigna cabin.

Dent Blanche, versant nord. – North Side.

Escalade du cervin par l’arête de furggen. – Climbing the Matterhorn via the Furggen Ridge.

Denti della Vecchia. Près de Lugano, au nord du Monte Brè et du Boglia, se dresse une série d’aiguilles dolomitiques qui émergent à peine de la végétation. – Near Lugano, north of Monte Brè and Boglia stands a series of needles with sparse vegetation.

Aiguille de Pèlerins, versant ouest. – West side.

Petite Dru, ascension par la face nord. – Climbing the north side.

L’aiguille du Chardonnet (3822 m) est un beau sommet de la chaîne du Mont Blanc situé à la frontière franco-suisse. Le parcours de son arête faîtière constitue une superbe ascension de neige et de rocher. – The top of Chardonnet is a beautiful summit near Mont Blanc on the border between France and Switzerland. The course of the ridge line is a beautiful ascent of snow and rock.

En montant dans le versant ouest du dome du Gouter (4304 m) au Mont Blanc (4807 m). Cet itinéraire grandiose est rarement utilisé. – Going up the west side of Dôme du Goûter on Mont Blanc. This grandiose route is rarely used.

Sur le sommet du Galenstock, avant l’orage. – On the top of Galenstock before the storm.

Related posts:
Yosemite in the Sixties
The 1921 Mount Everest Reconnaissance Expedition
Thirty Years of Patagonia Catalog Photography

• Grafton Hunt Boxing Day 2011, by James Rudd
• Bicester And Whaddon Boxing Day Hunt 2011, by Peter Greenway
• Country Pursuits, by Carol F

I always enjoy checking these out after Christmas – see more on flickr.

To perceive Christmas through its wrapping becomes more difficult with every year. There was a little device we noticed in one of the sporting-goods stores – a trumpet that hunters hold to their ears so that they can hear the distant music of the hounds. Something of the sort is needed now to hear the incredibly distant sound of Christmas in these times, through the dark, material woods that surround it. “Silent Night,” canned and distributed in thundering repetition in the department stores, has become one of the greatest of all noisemakers, almost like the rattles and whistles of Election Night.

Continue reading more.

While first published in 1949, it still feels relevant today. The essay was later republished in the The Second Tree from the Corner under the title of “The Distant Music of the Hounds”.

The book itself seems to also be a main inspiration behind the Inis Meain clothing line, and indeed, just about every Inis Meain stockist I’ve visited seems to have a copy of it on hand. Bill Doyle’s other book, Images of Dublin, is also worth checking out.

Butternut Squash Soup – recipe
This recipe is time consuming but worth it. For turning the squash mixture into a soup, I use a food mill instead of a blender (this one in particular) – this works well for most soups I make, and if it’s for an occasion where presentation is important, I also put the soup through a fine sieve to make the texture consistent.

Roasted Chicken on a Bed of Root Vegetables – recipe
My favorite part about making this is that there is not much of a mess to clean up afterwards – all of the work can be done in a single roasting pan or cast iron roaster and I often just cut up the vegetables right over the pan with a paring knife without bothering with a board.

Baked Eggs (Oeufs en Cocotte)
This is a nice treat for anytime of the day. Basic steps, borrowed from Julia Child’s Mastering the Art of French Cooking: boil some water, turn your oven up to 375F, line the inside of a ramekin with butter, crack two eggs into the ramekin, pour in a little bit of cream or olive oil, add salt and pepper, place the ramekin into a deep sided baking dish, pour the boiling water into the baking dish so that the water comes up to about half the height of the ramekin (this will help the eggs cook through consistently), place the baking dish with the ramekin in it inside the oven for about 10-16 minutes depending on how firm you’d like the eggs to be.

There are countless variations and techniques for this, and you can add all sorts of ingredients. At Le Pichet for example, they have a signature egg dish which is baked under a broiler called Oeufs Plats, Jambon et Fromage (eggs cooked with ham and cheese).

Sauerkraut Platter (Choucroute Garnie)
Choucroute Garnie is very common in France and Germany, and it is basically cooked sauerkraut served with different preparations of pork (I prefer bratwurst, blood sausage, and pork loin). While my method is not this complicated, I like the steps outlined in this piece on Saveur.com and will try it next time I make it:

He began by melting a generous dollop of duck fat in a Dutch oven, the first step in making silky sauerkraut. He pointed out that it’s also important to rinse the choucroute before putting it into the pot: “In the end, the flavor should be delicate, like wine, not brine.” After seasoning the fermented cabbage with salt and pouring in a few cups of dry Alsatian riesling, he added a bouquet garni of bay leaves, cloves, and juniper berries. Now it was time to add the cured pork. There were two types of slab bacon, salty and smoky, and échine, a delicious cut from the back of the pig’s neck that I’m sorry to say isn’t available in the United States. While the pork and sauerkraut baked in the oven, chef Schillinger simmered the sausages on the stovetop: frankfurter-like knackwursts; garlicky, cumin-flecked Montbéliards; and mild, white boudins blancs. A thick round of boudin noir, or blood sausage, was cooked separately and sliced before serving.

Note the use of a bouquet garni, an important part of many preparations. If I have leeks on hand, I make them by binding up the herbs into two wrapped leaves. For a drink pairing with this dish, try a hard cider – my favorite being a recent vintage of the common Etienne Dupont Cidre Bouché Brut de Normandie.

The pockets contain leather dividers for spark plugs, tyre pressure gauge and spanners along with a pocket for the oily rag have all been specially placed within the suit…

Very appropriate for the Director of Design at Aston Martin. Also noteworthy – Lara Platman has a new book out on Harris Tweed which I first learned about through James at 10engines. I have a copy on the way from Amazon and hope to do a short review on it later this week.

Goodwood Revival, 2010. Photo by Peter Barwick.

More reading: Wikipedia, Great Images in NASA

Air Force pilot Major Cecil Powell stands in front of the X-24A after a research flight.

NASA Flight Research Center Paresev 1-A with Mercury Astronaut Gus Grissom (left) and NASA test pilot Milton Thompson.

The four principal HL-10 pilots are seen here with the lifting body aircraft. They are, left to right; Air Force Major Jerauld R. Gentry, Air Force test pilot Peter Hoag, and NASA pilots John A. Manke and Bill Dana.

Cowboy Joe (NACA High-Speed Flight Station test pilot Joseph Walker) and his steed (Bell Aircraft Corporation X-1A).

NASA research pilot Bill Dana takes a moment to watch NASA’s NB-52B cruise overhead after a research flight in the HL-10.

The M2-F1 lifting body aircraft rests on the sun-baked floor of a dry lake bed located out in the Mojave Desert at the Dryden Flight Research Center, California. Pilot Chuck Yeager, seated in the cockpit of the M2- F1, talks with fellow pilots from left to right Milt Thompson, Don Malick and Bruce Peterson.

Dryden pilot Neil Armstrong is seen here next to the X-15 ship #1 (56-6670) after a research flight.

Jay L. King, Joseph D. Huxman and Orion D. Billeter assist NASA research pilot Milt Thompson (on the ladder) into the cockpit of the M2-F2 lifting body research aircraft at the NASA Flight Research Center (now the Dryden Flight Research Center).

The X-15 flight crew, left to right: Air Force Captain Joseph H. Engle, Air Force Major Robert A. Rushworth, NASA pilot John B. “Jack” McKay, Air Force Major William J. “Pete” Knight, NASA pilot Milton O. Thompson, and NASA pilot Bill Dana.

The X-15 pilots clown around in front of the #2 aircraft.

The Library of Congress maintains large collections of stereographs, including many from the early 20th century when it was a big industry for photographers. Some favorites:

Along the walk, Brooklyn Bridge, New York

Venice, from across the Lagoon at S. Giorgio Maggiore, Italy

Major General Chaffee, China

Harvesting Indian River pineapples, Florida, USA

The Ginza (looking north) the most important thoroughfare in Tokyo, Japan

Steel ocean-going tug, New York Harbor, most powerful of its kind in USA

Place de la Bastille, Paris, France

Westminster Bridge and the House of Parliament, London, England

Mexican troops before the Hall of Congress, City of Mexico

Making “pure Havanas,” the world’s most famous cigars, largest factory of Havana, Cuba

The Cathedral and Campanile (178 ft. high, leans 13 ft.), Pisa, Italy

The stereograph as an educator

“Ansel Adams: A Portrait of Manzanar,” composed mostly of black-and-white photographs taken by the legendary American photographer in late 1943, acknowledges the prejudices and fears that led the U.S. government to confine American citizens and legal immigrants of Japanese ethnicity behind barbed wire.

But its main focus is on the personal experiences of the internees Adams photographed. Adams was given two ground rules when he went to Manzanar: no shots of guard towers and no shots of barbed wire. Yet in the eyes of the people he photographed, many of them staring directly into the camera, you can fathom the twists and turns of the internment-camp experience.

The second was included in the Atlantic’s excellent 20 part photo essay on WW2 this last Sunday which featured several pictures taken by Adams (see the previous parts here).

The entire collection can be viewed on the Library of Congress website along with some background notes by staff.

The giant popsicle will make you smile every time and is one of the few nice things to see in Belltown. Some background reading on the sculpture (it showed up early this summer, and at first nobody knew who made it until recently).

Look for it at the intersection of 4th and Blanchard.

The maps and illustrations in the Quivira Collection date from 1540 to 1802, a span of 260 years or so. These dates also bracket a period of history unprecedented for the general expansion of knowledge and information. The first application of the new technology of printing to maps and geographical knowledge coincides almost exactly with Columbus’s first voyage in 1492. Thus the maps in this collection span the transition from the European Renaissance to the Age of Enlightenment and bear eloquent testimony to the expansion of useful knowledge.

Being close to home, the maps and explorations of the Pacific Northwest area are of particular interest to me. Some earlier prints:

Gerard Mercator, Septentrionalium Terrarum descriptio, Amsterdam, 1595. The innovative and well-known cartographer and author of this map, Gerard Mercator, died in 1594, leaving his son Rumold to publish it in the last of three parts forming the famous Mercator atlas Atlantis Pars Altera. This is not only the first, but also the most influential map to be devoted to the Arctic.

Joseph-Nicolas de l’Isle, Carte Generale des Découvertes de l’Amiral de Fonte. A general map of the discoveries of Admiral de Fonte and other navigators, Spanish, English and Russian in quest of a passage to the South Sea by Mr. De l’Isle of the Royal Academy of Sciences, etc. Published at Paris in September 1752.

Related Posts: Early New England Maps, Old Maps of Antarctica

I stopped by last week to check it out and I was impressed by the quality of what it sells as well as the background story behind each piece (the employees are very knowledgeable, and I’m sure it helps to be a sports nerd here). Despite an unassuming storefront and a location that would be easy to miss unless you walked right by it, a small but steady stream of customers were coming in and out during my visit, including many fathers out with their sons.

Some shots from the store – a selection of its famous wool flannel baseball jerseys:

A ground crew jacket.

Shirts and other jackets.

The lacing design on this hockey jersey is one my favorite details (they could also be found on some older football and rugby jerseys).

A cap for the Bustin’ Babes.

An early pillbox style cap for the Mudville Nine.

Besides the company’s own store and website, Ebbets Field made caps are now sold at a number of places: J.Crew, Imogene + Willie, Superdenim, and Inventory.

Sidenote: Baseball history enthusiasts might also like the well written Flannel of the Month blog, by Jerry Cohen (founder of Ebbets Field Flannels).

Portions of pieces by Normal Rockwell and Jacob Lawrence.

Douglas Tilden’s The Baseball Player, widely recognized as one of the greatest pieces of baseball themed artwork. The original full size version of the statue currently resides in San Francisco, and this particular version is a rare smaller casting.

More info at the Seattle Art Museum.

The exhibit will be open until mid September – stop by the SAM if you happen to be in the area to check it out, it is probably the best collection they’ll have for this year.

Puget Sound on the Pacific Coast, 1870, Albert Bierstadt. Photo by Howard Giske.

Mountain View, Sunset (detail), 1865, Albert Bierstadt.

Related posts: Photography of Darius Kinsey, American Logging Locomotives

The working side of the Land Rover.

Modern adventuring in Africa, South America, and Europe.

All images from Land Rover’s flickr sets.

A Map of the Coast of New England, from Staten Island to the Island of Breton, circa 1775:

Southack captained vessels in New England waters for 22 years. His New England Coasting Pilot (Boston, 1729-33) summarized the wealth of information he had collected about the coast, its hazards, and its currents. Southack’s lists of sailing directions and eight charts guided ship’s captains all the way from the Hudson River to Nova Scotia. Although criticized in the colonies as quite inaccurate, Southack’s work was adopted by London chart makers. The present map was produced in 1744 by combining the eight charts from Southack’s atlas into a single map; between 1775 and 1794 it was often reprinted in the principal English navigational manual for North America, The English Pilot, The Fourth Book.

Nova Anglia, Novvm Belgivm, Et Virginia, circa 1630:

The increased interest shown after 1600 by Europeans in the colonization of North America is concisely shown in this map. It shows the English colonies established by 1620 in Virginia and New England, together with the new Dutch colony of the New Netherlands. This map is the first to show New Amsterdam (New York), founded only in 1626. For New England, de Laet clearly relied on John Smith’s map for many place-names (26, 27), but mixed them with those derived from indigenous sources and recorded on older maps (e.g., Norembegua). This is also the first map to show the name Massachusetts.

A New and Exact Map of the Dominions of the King of Great Britain, circa 1730:

The vagueness of early European conceptions of the interior of North America are demonstrated by Moll’s map of the English colonies, originally published in 1715 (although the remarkable image of the beavers was copied from a French map of 1698). Once away from the coasts and the St. Lawrence, the interior of North America is shown as a vague jumble of rivers, lakes, and forests.

Frontiersman gear.

The Colonel traveled far and wide, including a long expedition to Africa after his presidency ended to go on big game hunts.

In an assassination attempt, he took a bullet in the chest before giving a public speech – he went on to give the speech with the bullet still lodged in him.

Always well read. During his safari trip, he even brought a large collection of books with him in a trunk that had to be carried by a porter.

Portraits.

There’s always a wise old man.

Gun #1.

Gun #2.

“I never rode shotgun on a hearse before.”

Gun #7.

#3.

#4.

#5. And also one of the best scenes.

Lastly, gun #6 (though #7 is back again later).

Afterwards:
Chico: Oh… that was the greatest shot I’ve ever seen!
Britt: The worst. I was aiming at the horse.
(He had shot a bandit instead).

The climax probably starts building up around here.

The end.

While there is no federal law in force pertaining to the manner of displaying, hanging, or saluting the United States flag, or prescribing any ceremonies that should be observed, there are many regulations and usages of national force bearing on the subject.

In raising the flag it should never be rolled up and hoisted to the top of the staff before unfurling. Instead, the fly should be free during the act of hoisting, which should be done quickly. It should be taken in slowly and with dignity. It should not be allowed to touch the ground on shore, or the deck of a ship, nor should it be permitted to trail in the water or in the dust. It should not be hung where it can be contaminated or soiled easily, or draped over chairs or benches for seating purposes, and no object or emblem of any kind should be placed upon it or above it.

A common but regrettable practice at public meetings is to drape the flag like a tablecloth over the speaker’s table and then to place on the flag a pitcher of ice water, flowers, books, etc. Another equally careless practice, and, unfortunately, quite common, is to tie small United States flags to the bottom of a stage curtain; when the curtain is raised the flags are lifted aloft and are effectively displayed, hut when the curtain is lowered, so that the stage scenes may be shifted, the flags trail in the dust of the stage floor.

The flag should not he festooned over doorways or arches. Always let the flag hang straight. Do not tie it in a bow knot. Where colors are desired for decorative purposes, use red, white, and blue bunting.

The flag should not be hoisted upside down, other than as a signal of distress at sea, when it may, if necessary to accentuate the distress and make it easily recognized at a distance, be knotted in the middle of its length, forming what is called a “weft.”

International usage forbids the display of the flag of one nation above that of any other with which it is at peace. Such an act is considered an insult in times of peace, and is always followed by a demand for an explanation and apology. When the flags of two or more nations are displayed, they should be on separate staffs, or on separate halyards of equal size and on the same level.

The flag should never be raised or lowered by any mechanical appliance.

When the national colors are passing on parade, or in review, the spectator should, if walking, halt, and if sitting, arise and stand at attention and uncover.

When flags are used in unveiling a statue or monument they should not be allowed to fall to the ground, but should be carried aloft to wave out, forming a distinctive feature during the remainder of the ceremony.

Where the national flag is displayed with State or other flags, it should be given the place of honor on the right. Its use should be confined as much as possible to its display upon the staff. Where used as a banner, the union should fly to the north in streets running east and west, and to the east in streets running north and south.

Old, faded, or worn-out flags should not be used for banners or other secondary purposes.

When no longer fit for display, the flag should be destroyed privately, preferably by burning or other methods lacking the suggestion of irreverence or disrespect.

Image of the Stars and Stripes from the Library of Congress archives, photographed by Alfred T. Palmer.

One hundred pounds for a straw hat! Enough with which to take a three months’ holiday, enough to keep your son a year at college, enough to buy a small farm. And yet so astute a financier as Mr. Lyman Gage, ex-Secretary of the U.S. Treasury, recently paid that sum for an extra-fine Panama hat, and reckoned, moreover, that he had made a good bargain. King Edward VII also is reported to have paid a Bond Street hatter £90 to secure “the best Panama in London”; while Jean de Reszke, the noted tenor, has paid the topmost price—something under £120 — to procure a similar object in America. Ex – Mayor Van Wyck, of New York, is chuckling over his success in securing a Panama which dealers have told him is superior in quality to either King Edward’s or the one owned by Jean de Reszke. He paid only £50.

These instances of extravagance are not mentioned as a reflection upon the perpetrators, but merely to illustrate the extent of “the Panama hat craze,” one of the most expensive fashions ever adopted by men. Expensive, because a Panama of even medium quality cannot be had for less than £5, and if you aim at having one that maybe tucked away in a vest pocket like a lead pencil, or slipped through a finger-ring, the price is, to most persons, prohibitive. In spite of this costliness, however, Panama hats are being dispatched from South America absolutely in ship-loads, and about half the population of Ecuador are engaged in supplying hat luxuries for the men of Europe and America.

The craze began last year, and appeared to be only transient; but enterprising merchants foretold that this summer would find a demand far greater than the supply, and they accordingly put in their orders about six months ago. Since then the Panama hat industry has become more lucrative than any other in that part of South America adjoining the Isthmus, and with the prospect of making a fortune in a few years many planters have abandoned the raising of coffee and rice. The mountain passes of the Andes, from Chimborazo northward, are crowded, day and night, with long columns of pack-mules and ox-carts bearing their precious burden to Panama, which is the clearing-house for hats. The streets of Panama itself are flanked with the establishments of hatbrokers, and half the city is engaged, one way or other, in helping to further this American “craze.”

In all the pages of history you will, perhaps, find no account of a fad that was at the same time so costly as this one and yet so generally adopted, not even when plumed knights and velvet-clothed courtiers trod the earth. In their heyday a considerable sum of money was, no doubt, paid for the picturesque “Gainsborough,” expensively decorated, which was affected by the men of that period; but it is safe to say that not even the extravagant Louis XIV paid for his head-dress the price of the best Panama.

In our time it has been almost the exclusive privilege of women to spend large sums of money on hats, and it is not uncommon to hear of a Parisian “creation ” selling for a thousand dollars. With the fashion, nowadays, of occasionally wearing diamonds or other precious gems on a head-dress, there is practically no limit to the depth that a woman might plunge in indulging in this luxury. The fad of wearing real lace that is affected to day is also a costly one. A smartly-dressed woman whose ambition is to be in the swim of society will often wear two or three yards of Irish point-lace that costs, perhaps, £So a yard. It is this sort of thing that gives a father or a husband heart disease, a tragedy that has been so useful to joke-writers and knock-about comedians.

But the tables are now reversed, and humorists to be up-to-date must regild one of their stock commodities. It is the women now who gasp with astonishment when the head of the house comes home with a little wisp of straw which he cheerfully proclaims has cost him something like a hundred pounds. Not only that, but he has the effrontery to boast of the purchase and goes strutting about because Brown or Jones has a Panama hat that is woven in two pieces while his, proud man, has never a seam!

At first sight the Panama hat “craze” would appear to be a lavish folly taken up because of a wild desire to “be in style.” But there are good causes for the Panama’s popularity, the chief one being that the common straw hat, with its stiff brim, so universally worn in this country and abroad, is a fragile affair, breaks easily, and has little to recommend it excepting lightness of weight; while a good Panama may be worn a lifetime, can be blocked to any shape, and is exceedingly comfortable to the head. It is, in short, a summer luxury, and only its costliness has prevented it from being universally worn.

Among the false notions regarding Panama hats—and there are prevalent a great many— is that of its origin. The name, in the first place, would lead one to believe that the fabric is manufactured in Panama, whereas the fact is that Ecuador, Colombia, and Guayaquil produce two-thirds of all the Panamas in the market. The city of Panama is merely a shipping port for these hats, which are brought from other places. It is the metropolis of the northern part of South America. The name was originally coined by some French merchants who bought straw hats in the village of Monte Cristo, Ecuador, and took them back to Paris. They attracted attention on the boulevards there, and when queried about them the Frenchmen curtly replied, “Chapeaux de Panama.”

Another illusion that prevails generally is that the natives weave these precious hats under water, but the photographs shown here conclusively disprove that. The rumour probably started from the method of soaking the raw material in water prior to their being woven. There is nothing extraordinary about this, the object being merely to soften the ” straw,” so that it will be pliable and easy to handle.

To call the Panama a straw hat is, by the way, an anomaly, for it is not made of straw at all, the material used in its manufacture being either the stem of palm leaves or a rare sort of grass that grows in South America. The natives are very deft in curing and weaving both these products. The palm they tear in shreds with their teeth until it spreads out fan-shape. After a long soaking the palm stem is taken out of the water and nailed on a rough – looking block, at which the workman sits for weeks at a time, carefully putting in place shred after shred.

It is this length of time and tediousness in labour that account for the high price placed on Panama hats. An idea of the real situation in Panama may be had from the following letter received by S. M. Jackson and Co., of New York, from their South American agent: “Replying to your valued inquiry of April 25th,” said this correspondent, “regarding which we have had to make inquiries, we find that the ‘finest’ hat required by you would necessitate four months to manufacture, and would cost between 80dols. and 100dols. in gold” (£16 to £20). When a hat costs 100dols. in its unfinished condition at the place of manufacture it is not to be wondered at that the same hat, after going through the American Customs house, where a 35 per cent, duty is exacted, should retail at 500dols., or £100.

There is one distinction in Panamas of the utmost importance, a distinction which, if noticed, stamps the wearer as a possessor of the real thing, or, on the other hand, a pretender. Your genuine, high – priced Panama is made in one piece and has no lining, while the inferior style of hat, made for the most part in Antioquia, Colombia, is woven in two pieces and has a lining. The latter is regarded with contempt by the South Americans, though they often pass in the United States for the “real thing” and are priced accordingly.

The perfect Panamas are woven by the women of Ecuador, and those that live in the two provinces of Tolima and Suarez, Colombia. The men can rarely be induced to work, no matter how considerable the pay, and contractors have about ceased trying to galvanize them with energy. But the women are more industrious, and plod along week after week tearing the palm leaf with certain nicety and then weaving in the shreds, one hat at a time.

The value of a hat depends entirely upon its texture and pliability. One that costs £100, for example, should be so closely woven as to appear practically smooth to the naked eye. It is, of course, made in one piece, and if the owner has not been cheated he should be able to squeeze his hat through a finger-ring. But a hat capable of this treatment is about as rare as a blue diamond.

There is no telling where the Panama hat “craze” will end, or the amount of money that has been spent thereon this season. The masculine population seem to have gone quite mad over it, and dealers are taking advantage of the moment to reap a harvest, especially in America. “In other years,” said a Broadway hatter, “I would have sold several thousand stiff – brim Mackinaws in the first part of the season, but this season I have sold less than a hundred. Only Panamas are wanted.

It’s interesting to see that Panama hat sellers were using the “this hat could pass through a wedding ring” marketing line so long ago (you’ll still hear it today). An ad from the time, published in 1905:

One of my own lesser grade hats, which cost about £100 by today’s value – back in 1902 it would have gone for far less.

World War II sailors sewed hidden patches under the sleeve cuffs of their dress blue jumpers. Once on leave, they unbuttoned their “liberty cuffs” and turned them over to display colorful dragons, mermaids, dolphins (for submariners), and birds (for the “airedales” who worked on Navy aircraft). The practice of liberty cuffs continued into the early 1980s, except for a short period in the early 1970s, when the Navy attempted to do away with the blue and white jumpers and replace them with jackets similar to those worn by officers. – Carol Burke, in Camp all-American, Hanoi Jane, and the High-and-Tight

Dragons are very common and easy to find, along with mermaids. My favorite design that I’ve spotted so far were these Hawaii themed patches (I lost that ebay auction).

Most notably seen in The Sand Pebbles.

Another interesting find that I came across were the insignias for Diesel Boats Forever:

During the 1950s and 1960s, the early classes of nuclear submarines suffered reliability problems, and on occasion were unable to complete their various missions. In 1969, USS Barbel (SS-580) was ordered to Japan to relieve a nuclear attack submarine that suffered such a casualty. As the crew celebrated the nuclear boat’s misfortune, they held a contest to design a pin recognizing when a diesel boat needed to take a “broke-down nuke boat’s” mission.

The winning design, submitted by former commercial artist ETR3 (SS) Leon Figuredo, showed a guppy submarine embraced by two mermaids (sea hags), along with the letters “DBF.” Holes in the scroll allowed for stars to be added for subsequent awards.

Upon arrival at Yokosuka, the design was taken to “the Thieves’ Alley” where a local craftsman made up one thousand pins, some gilt for the officers and some in natural (gray) color for the men. When the Barbels picked up their pins, they made the mistake of leaving the die with the craftsman.

A great picture of one can be found here on flickr.

Regulations and Rules – From a seamanship manual for young Royal Navy recruits in the late 1800’s.

Signal Flags – Naval fleets throughout history have used to flags to communicate and many different code systems have been created. From the manual once used by the U.S. Navy.

From a 1944 issue of Popular Science:

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