Balloons!

Surfing the web the other day, I found what may be the best picture ever taken:

Yep folks, that's what it looks like. An entire Mongolian family, all wearing balloon hats! This is part of a series of photos called The Varieties of The Balloon Hat Experience by Addi Somekh and Charlie Eckert. These daft geniuses travel the world, making balloon hats for folks. From camels to Mongols to Norwegan military units, their goal is simple: to make people smile. They certainly got me.

Survival Belt

Here's a custom belt made from a few "D" rings, some webbing, and a single length of parachute cord. The idea was sparked by a customer of mine who noticed the bit of cord that I keep around my neck for tying things out of my way, keeping baby toys from falling out of the stroller, etc. He was an ex- special forces soldier, and mentioned that they used to make belts and all kinds of things out of paracord so that, in addition to being useful, the item could be unraveled in an emergency. When I got home I found only a couple of designs for such a belt, the best of which were published on stormdrane.blogspot.com/. I found that I had some preconceived notions of what I wanted such a belt to actually do:

1) It must hold up your pants. It's a belt. Preferably it should be able to do this even if you need a piece of cord.

2) It must be able to unravel quickly. Paracord is certainly strong enough to retrieve a friend who has fallen through the ice, so time is a concern (a la Slatt's Rescue Knot bit.ly/8sPMIG - difficult to untie).

2.5) It would be nice to be able to make it quickly, just so that there is no subconscious, "is it gonna be worth it? I mean, I spent 3 days locked in a room to make this thing- how good a friend are they?...)

3) Nobody expects the Spanish Inquisition. Neither would you expect to need to rescue someone from thin ice, so it must be something you can fit through your everyday belt loops (usually 1") and still look good enough that you will actually wear it.

This is the answer. Looks good, can in fact be made in 15 minutes, unravels without binding in less than 15 seconds, and can be used a bit at a time while still holding up your pants. It can even be assembled with multiple lengths of cord, allowing any piece that you needed to be put back without making a whole new belt!

Complete assembly instructions at http://www.instructables.com/id/Parachute-Cord-Belt/