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."
finally a sport where steroids wont help you!
"Give someone a program, frustrate them for a day... Teach someone to program, frustrate them for a lifetime."
Apologies to my Scottish and Canadian friends. But, really??
SJW: Someone who has run out of real oppression, and has to fake it.
ESPN 8 the ocho!
From the blurb: The winner, LA web developer Matthew Howell, had to untangle a dozen ethernet cables in record time leaving them in working order to win.
Working order? Man, there's a catch to everything. I guess I can put my weed whacker with it's steel blades back...
Dedicated Cthulhu Cultist since 4523 BC.
Yes, but as a spectator sport? That takes innovation. And a lot of really easily-entertained spectators.
Is it just my observation, or are there way too many stupid people in the world?
I'll bet the national championships will end up on ESPN2 during the middle of the night... just like those tweens stacking cups.
Another sport that deserves a WTF? award.
And in case anyone is wondering, yes, those are punchdown boxes you see. It would be horrible to run the cable directly to the switch without having boxes and patch cables on each end.
We will bankrupt ourselves in the vain search for absolute security. -- Dwight D. Eisenhower
Throw in power cables, phone lines, and mice to make it more realistic.
You are being MICROattacked, from various angles, in a SOFT manner.
The Japanese still have us beat on wacky game shows.
Bearded Dragon
What they really need is a life.
When you unplug the cable to untangle it in the game, you unplug it IN REAL LIFE!
You mean that you don't just rip the switch out of the rack and throw it up in the air? I thought everyone untangled like that!
Round four: Profit!
that there is finally a story where my following formalization of the process of wire entanglement is on-topic.
Kevin's First Law: For any number of wires, strings or similar objects, the probability of complex entanglement between them increases exponentially with the inverse of distance. Time required to entangle is also affected in a similar fashion. This phenomenon can be observed in consequence, but not in action.
Also, for those who are interested, my second law is formalized thusly:
Kevin's Second Law: There exists no robot that cannot be improved in form or function by the addition of a flamethrower.
Dewey, you fool! Your decimal system has played right into my hands!
Thinnet? LOCALTALK??? Are you stuck in the '80's?
Next thing you know, you'll be talking about memory optimization for Win3.11 with QMM, filtering SAP advertisements on the WAN, or configuring TCP/IP packet drivers so you can use this new Internet program called "Mosaic."
--- A man with a briefcase can steal more money, than any man with a gun. [Don Henley]
My blog
Some of the cables will be live and have shorts in the insulation.
- None can love freedom heartily, but good men; the rest love not freedom, but license. -- John Milton
> They need a variant of the sport where there are thirty cables, some plugged into various
> patch panels at both ends, some at one end only, and some free; your task is to extract
> the loose and dangling cables and leave the working ones.
It's called Network Administration.
Not to mention that it should be done under a poorly lit desk with insufficient room for more than one arm at a time while someone tries to do work around you during the contest.
Wow, KY for nerds!
"Some books contain the machinery required to create and sustain universes."-Tycho