Speedcabling - Untangling For Fun and Profit

ibnsuleiman writes "A new competitive sport is emerging amongst IT professionals and hobbyists. Speedcabling tests the ability to untangle the rat's nests that grow inside and outside of the beige boxes that pervade todays homes and workplaces. The first public competition was held in an LA gallery for a $50 gift certificate to a local Italian restaurant. The winner, LA web developer Matthew Howell, had to untangle a dozen ethernet cables in record time leaving them in working order to win."

Are there rules?

[msauve]

I mean, is this legal [polywater.com]?

Re:OT: What has happened to slashdot?

[vtscott]

The change only seems to be on stories in idle.slashdot.org [slashdot.org]. Maybe taco is testing it out before letting it loose on the rest of the site... I hope not though, because I'm not a fan of the new theme.

Re:heh

[ImpShial]

That explains my friend who is a girl's socks and stuff after each wash around my house.

There. Fixed that for ya' This is Slashdot, after all.

"Ethernet Cables"?

[CohibaVancouver]

untangle a dozen ethernet cables

What the hell are 'ethernet cables,' anyway? Ethernet is a protocol. Back in the good ol' days I set up Ethernet LANs with 10BASE-2 coax cable.

Re:Basic Skill for Sailors / Sound Engineers

[Matheus]

As much as I love a good round of detangling the ether.. I'm not exactly doing that everyday. Every sound gig resembles the following: Find the boxen/buckets of mic/power/adapter cables, untangle the mess left by the wank the night before, make a bad band sound good then untangle all those same cables from their gear and the beverages they have spilled throughout the night and just early enough that it has begun to congeal and stick and properly wrap to try to be nice the next shmoe unlike said wank from the night before.

Add to that a mix of christmas lights that some band thought would look cool and the raw wiring that's frays grab each other like teeny-boppers at a rave and you have a whole pile of fun on your hands 8}

Re:snapping off the locking tabs

[wc_paladin]

wrap some tape around all the cable ends, holding the tab down. I used to have the same problem. I was wasting time and money putting new tips on cables, until a friend of mine showed me this.