2810: How to Coil a Cable

2023-08-04T15:34:51Z

Jiuer7845:

{{comic
| number = 2810
| date = August 2, 2023
| title = How to Coil a Cable
| image = how_to_coil_a_cable_2x.png
| imagesize = 366x713px
| noexpand = true
| titletext = The ideal mix for maximum competitive cable-coiling energy is one A/V tech, one rock climber, one sailor, and one topologist.
}}
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==Explanation==
{{incomplete|Created by a CLIMBING MARINE A/V TOPOLOGIST - Please change this comment when editing this page. Do NOT delete this tag too soon.}}

When left unattended, long cables often develop knots and look messy, especially if there are several different cables. The causes of this are not well understood, but may relate to socks disappearing in the wash and to clothes ending up within duvet covers. Cables are often carefully coiled - arranged in a compact series of loops - to take up less space or avoid tangling with other cables, either for storage or when only part of a cable's length is needed to make a connection, only to be later found to have tangled and deformed themselves. Cables often remain curved or uneven after uncoiling.

In this comic, Cueball is struggling with such a problematic cable, and blames flaws in the construction of the cable for causing it (step 1). Well-meaning people then descend upon him, eager to share their obscure knowledge of cable-coiling technique that they claim will avoid these issues (a bit like in [[208: Regular Expressions]]). Long, confusing, and potentially contradictory explanations ensue (step 3), and they eventually coil it themselves (step 4). Cueball is unlikely to be able to reproduce this process himself, and may still find deformations in the cable later; he will likely need to return to step 1 the next time he needs the cable coiled.

However, it turns out that all of this was intentional on Cueball's part. It is even presented as a four-step tutorial called "How to coil a cable". Apparently, it is crucial to wrongly (and loudly) blame the cable in step 1. This might elicit a faster response than just asking for help, analogous to {{w|Ward_Cunningham#Law|Cunningham's Law}}, which states that "the best way to get the right answer on the Internet is not to ask a question; it's to post the wrong answer". After all, posting the wrong answer will cause some people to [[Duty Calls|compulsively correct it]].

The obvious way of coiling a cable - taking hold of the cable's trailing end as it leaves the hand, and bringing it back around into the hand in a circle, so it forms a simple helix - causes the cable to twist along its length in the same direction for each turn, and requires the person unraveling it to cope with the twisting.

The title text mentions several diverse specialties that have something to say about cables, lines, and/or knots.

The audio technician's way of coiling a cable involves alternating each obvious helix loop with a backhand loop (backwards helix turn) where the loop curls the same way as the other loops, but its 'helix height' is backwards so the trailing end ends up between the rest of the gathered cable and the previous loop. This causes the twists and antitwists to cancel out, resulting in a cable that does not twist while coiled and uncoiled.

The rock climber’s way of preventing twists and tangles in a rope involves “Flaking” a rope - running it through your hands and piling it loosely - which is used when unwinding a coil in to a pile on the ground. This also affords the climber to quickly detect damage and kinks by feel. The reference to rock climbing appears later in the title text when having a rock climber present is mentioned.

A figure-8 coil is used on some boats: the rope is held in one hand, and wound across the forearm to loop under the elbow, then back across the forearm and through the hand in the same direction each time. This also avoids twists.

In general, though the stiffness and cross-sectional profile does affect the tendency to tangle, a similar cable built for the same purpose is likely to suffer from almost exactly the same tendency to tangle when handled the same. As such, the blame laid upon the brand of cable is generally a spurious excuse for what is more likely just down to handling issues. Some particularly problematic cables, such as those used to connect headphones/earphones to their coaxial plugs (which are deliberately thin, flexible and may bifurcate into a "three-ended" Y shape with comparatively large terminating housings on all its ends – all potentially confounding factors), can be sometimes advertised as "tangle-free". Usually this seems to be by using a flat-profile cable, for some reason, and yet almost invariably they ''also'' do actually succumb to tangling anyway, as they are repeatedly used and then being shoved back in a pocket or bag with a more or less cursory attempt at neatly coiling them to save untangling time later.

In the comic, however, Cueball appears to be coiling up something akin to Christmas lights (or another more technical cable with many mid-cable side-tapped connectors) which, most people would know from experience, ''definitely'' adds potential for tangles to form when not carefully enough handled during coiling and uncoiling, as well as if disturbed (e.g. rummaged through, looking for something else in its container) during a period of storage.

==Transcript==
{{incomplete transcript|Do NOT delete this tag too soon.}}
:How to Coil a Cable Properly

:Step 1
:[Cueball is standing holding a tangled mess of cable]
:Cueball: I need to buy a different brand of cable! This one always twists into spirals and gets tangled.

:Step 2
:[White Hat and Ponytail enter the panel to come to Cueball’s rescue]
:White Hat: No! That's because of how you're coiling it!

:Step 3
:[White Hat holds and coils the cable while he, Hairy, and Ponytail attempt to explain the method behind the cable coiling]
:Ponytail / White Hat / Hairy: ...over-under method... ...figure-8... ...quarter-turn... ...flaking...

:Step 4
:[White Hat presents the well-coiled cable]
:Neatly coiled!

{{comic discussion}}
[[Category:Comics featuring Cueball]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Ponytail]]
[[Category:Comics featuring White Hat]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Hairy]]

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2810: How to Coil a Cable