| Knots_on_the_Web A collection of knotting resources. |
| The_Knotting_Dictionary_of_Kännet Covers some common and some uncommon knots, including the Reef knot, Square knot, Sheepshank, Simple Simon Over, Monkey's Fist, and Vice Versa. Illustrations and common uses. What the knot is called |
| The_Lehigh_Group Covers common marine knots, plus the Hangman's knot, the Scaffold knot, and the Gallows knot. Illustrations and common uses. |
| New_Zealand_Speleological_Society Covers common caving knots including the Figure 8, Figure 9, Alpine Butterfly, Italian hitch, and Tape knot. Illustrations and common uses. |
| Notable_Knot_Index New, useful, and interesting bends, loops, hitches, and knots. |
| The_Prusik_Knot Discussion, comments, and tips regarding use for both sailing and climbing. History. |
| Rec_crafts_knots_FAQ Frequently asked questions for the newsgroup, covering resources, recommendations, and links. |
| Rope_Rescue Presentation paper which exposes new students to safe, basic rope rescue fundamentals. Advanced students gain knowledge of proper techniques. All experiences are based on current testing and review |
| Ropers_Knots_Pages Index of knots with links, illustrations, and descriptions. |
| Ropeworks A book of knots, hitches, splicing, lashing and rope making. |
| Ruckus_Society Short climbers' knots manual. |
| Six_Exploding_Knots Covers six knots that untie easily, including the Sliding Butterfly, Double Carrick bend, and Clove Hitch Biting a Bight. Step-by-step illustrations with instructions and a table of properties. |
| Sophia-Antipolis_Speleogical_Society Covers common caving knots including the double figure-8 on a bight and the farmer's knot. Illustrations. |
| Team_Whiskers_Knots Catfishing Team. Includes information on baits, knots, rigs, tackle, recipes, and tournaments. |
| University_of_New_England_Mountaineering_Club Covers the Alpine Butterfly, Bowline, Clove hitch, and Fisherman's knot. Animation and common uses. |
| ABMaps Online interactive map of the world, with detailed street atlas for North America. |
| Atlapedia_Online Contains full color physical and political maps as well as key facts and statistics on countries of the world. |
| Atlas_of_the_Biosphere A collection of maps, schematics, and information about human-environment interactions, directed at the education community. |
| CIA_World_Factbook_-_Reference_Maps Various maps of the world in both jpeg and pdf format that are updated annually. |
| Cornell\'s_Digital_Earth Use this interactive atlas to create maps displaying land, oceans, borders, roads, lakes, rivers, roads, railroads, faults, mines, seismic, and other geological, geographical, and geophysical data. Re |
| Expedia_Maps Offers searchable listing in the United States and Europe by address and driving directions. |
| Google_Maps Provides directions, interactive maps, and satellite/aerial imagery of the United States. Can also search by keyword such as type of business. |
| Great_Circle_Mapper Shows great circle path between specified points on the globe with an aviation focus. |
| Map_Up Provides continental, oceanic, and country-specific maps, followed by geopolitical analysis. |
| Maporama Generates maps for a desired address or point of interest. Output is also viewable on handheld computers. |
| MapQuest Find directions for and explore towns and cities worldwide. Display addresses on a map, view nearby businesses, get driving directions and maps, and plan a trip with city information. Also includes ae |
| Maps_of_World Online maps showing countries of the world and continents. Too wide for smaller monitors. |
| MSN_Virtual_Earth Provides directions, interactive maps, and satellite/aerial imagery of the United States. Can also search by keyword such as type of business. |
| Multimap Global mapping service including street maps of Europe, North America and Australia. |
| Planet_Observer Displays country and ocean maps, followed by demographic data on each reviewed area. |
| Readmap_Project Online maps collection with political and economical overview of each country. |
| TerraFly Searchable aerial views of cities and towns in the United States. |
| TerraServer View maps and aerial photos of various parts of the Earth. |
| United_Nations__Cartographic_Section General country and special issues maps. |
| United_States_Library_of_Congress_Map_Collections Top-level categories include cities and towns, cultural, landscapes, conservation and environment, military battles and campaigns, discovery and exploration, transportation and communication. Searchab |
| Windows_Live_Local Combines online mapping and local search, uses a scratch pad to take notes, and allows to search questions around the United States in a geographical context. |
| Atomic_Clock_Time Displayed in a variety of useful formats. Site is a front-end to U.S. government atomic clocks. |
| The_Calendar Summarizes the history of various calendars developed and used over the centuries. |
| Calendar_Studies Information about calendar history and calendar reform. |
| Calendar_Zone A categorized collection of calendar related sites. |
Knots 
Girth Hitch 
Girth Hitch Spectra Nylon Linked BD Tests Climer Hitch 
And what about that Girth Hitch?Knots are pure magic. I mean, you take this length of cord, twirl itinto an esoteric shape and amazing things happen. A knot will keepyou in place, let you descend slowly, and even untie itself only when needed.Magic, pure and simple. Sometimes, though, that magic can bite.Let's take a simple situation which we've all encountered, namely, joiningtwo runners. Everybody uses a girth hitch, right? Well, maybe you shouldreconsider that. The girth hitch can reduce the strength of your runnercombination to 66% of the strength of a runner/biner/runner combination.Toss in a spectra/nylon runner combination and you're potentiallyworking with a setup that will fail at 10kN or less. Use THAT inan anchor and it could fail with the 6kN shock force generated by aleader fall onto a soft catch rope. *SNAP*.For all their versatility and magic, knots do something bad--they bendthe rope. If you doubt this is bad, take a moment to think of a knife as a device that causes an unusually SHARP bend. The sharper the bend,the weaker the rope. So any knot will weaken that lifeline of yours.PANIC? ... well, maybe not. As a standard test of runner strength,climbing gear manufacturers will pull-test runners using 10mm steel pins at either endto simulate the force applied by carabiners in a climbing situation. Soone obvious solution is to slap a biner between the two runners, makingsure that it can't get cross-loaded (separate problem, you figure it out).But if you don't have that biner, you will have to use...a knot.This is where the fun begins. What knot will join two runners, compromise their strength as little as possible, AND be easy to untie?A puzzle, a veritable mystery...and on it goes. Here's the tale ofmy adventures in KnotLand as hosted by the Knot Master himself, Mr. ChrisHarmston of Black Diamond, to whom I owe a tremendous debt of gratitudefor putting up with my curiousity.Once upon a time, long, long ago, there was a knot called...I. The Girth Hitch (spectra/spectra)II. The Girth Hitch (spectra/nylon)III. The Linked Girth HitchIV. Black Diamond Girth Hitch DataV. The Climer Sling HitchConfused? Well, you should probably use biners to link slings in a high load situation. Otherwise, a girth hitch should be just fine if thegirthed runners are strong enough. Consider that 66% of 27kN is 17.8kN.An anchor that breaks at 17.8kN will support slingshot loads of10.7kN. Check your rope and you'll find that it probably limitsshock load to 10kN or less.The End--Karl