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Someone broke into my shop last night

 
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At least, that's my assumption. No way that extension cord knotted itself overnight...
 
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Yikes.

Or cool? Maybe your cord has evolved sentience and mobility.

Anything missing?

Hope all is safe and everything's well.
 
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Really smart raccoon maybe?
 
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Are the dogs okay?
 
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Is that the only thing that's off, from normal?
 
thomas rubino
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Got any buddies that might be having fun?
 
Trace Oswald
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I'm just joking guys. I'm sure I got it all knotted up carrying it back in after working on the chicken coop. Just makes me laugh that, no matter how carefully I try to gather up an extension cord, the next day when I try to use it, it will be a mess.
 
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Trace Oswald wrote:I'm just joking guys. I'm sure I got it all knotted up carrying it back in after working on the chicken coop. Just makes me laugh that, no matter how carefully I try to gather up an extension cord, the next day when I try to use it, it will be a mess.


in that case I'm voting with L Johnson "Maybe your cord has evolved sentience and mobility. "

:D

In serious thoughts on it, every so often I take my extension cords, hook them to something or someone at one end, pull them straight, and feel for which way the cord wants to twist due to the wires inside being twisted, and untwist it the other way, shake it, loosen it, untwist and pull it gently, then it takes it a lot longer to get rowdy again. I also roll them like lighting crews roll wires they are going to throw across a stage: over and under and over and under. Keeps the wires inside of the cord from twisting up.
I have some really old cords I keep working well by doing this. The cord I grabbed yesterday to do something I know for a fact was an old one in 1989. It's a 25 foot cord, still doing well.


But I prefer "Maybe your cord has evolved sentience and mobility." There is a theory out there that garden hoses and bicycles are mortal enemies, and if you put them in the same shed together, they will fight, which is why when you look, they are all tangled up. Perhaps your cord is assuming a defensive stance, like a rattlesnake coiling and rattling, against something in the shop. If I were you, I'd look to see if any of a cord's natural enemies might be in the shop too! Not sure who they might be. Inspect your shop carefully! I never trust weed eaters, personally, they look like shady characters.

:D
 
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Are you sure it wasn't this little guy?


source
 
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Terry Pratchett had sentient luggage and my son's been reading a book whose main character is a sentient chest, so I'll go with Pearl's explanation!
 
Pearl Sutton
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Jay Angler wrote:Terry Pratchett had sentient luggage and my son's been reading a book whose main character is a sentient chest, so I'll go with Pearl's explanation!


Heh, that's good, it's a modified idea from a Terry Pratchett book  :D

And I adore the luggage.
I've used it for internet security questions, "Model of your first car" "The Luggage"   :D

 
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I generally dislike ropes, extension cords and hoses for that exact reason.  Not enough to come up with a good system to keep them from knotting but enough to bitch about it all the time.
 
Trace Oswald
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Mike Haasl wrote:I generally dislike ropes, extension cords and hoses for that exact reason.  Not enough to come up with a good system to keep them from knotting but enough to bitch about it all the time.



Lol, that's me exactly.
 
Pearl Sutton
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Trace Oswald wrote:

Mike Haasl wrote:I generally dislike ropes, extension cords and hoses for that exact reason.  Not enough to come up with a good system to keep them from knotting but enough to bitch about it all the time.



Lol, that's me exactly.


Heh! And then there's me, I make up good systems to control them. I can think of more important things to bitch about  :D
 
Carla Burke
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I create and implement systems for organizing things like that, that are ingenious. Then, they get used again, not put away 'properly', and I bitch about my systems not being used. Annnnd... ahem. I'm often (not always) the one that doesn't take the time to put them away properly.
 
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If I remember correctly, this is literally how the mythology of gremlins originated.
 
Jay Angler
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Carla Burke wrote:I create and implement systems for organizing things like that, that are ingenious. Then, they get used again, not put away 'properly', and I bitch about my systems not being used. Annnnd... ahem. I'm often (not always) the one that doesn't take the time to put them away properly.

Then Hubby bitches and complains that my method takes too long - he just wraps it around his arm and it tangles up like a slinky falling off a cliff.
 
Trace Oswald
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Jay Angler wrote:

Carla Burke wrote:I create and implement systems for organizing things like that, that are ingenious. Then, they get used again, not put away 'properly', and I bitch about my systems not being used. Annnnd... ahem. I'm often (not always) the one that doesn't take the time to put them away properly.

Then Hubby bitches and complains that my method takes too long - he just wraps it around his arm and it tangles up like a slinky falling off a cliff.



Me too  I know a half dozen ways to do it correctly.  What do I do?  Wrap it around my arm and make a big #*&@ing mess.
 
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Pearl Sutton wrote:

Jay Angler wrote:

And I adore the luggage.
I've used it for internet security questions, "Model of your first car" "The Luggage"   :D



Just out of curiosity...  which bank are you with? And what's your mother's maiden name?

 
Pearl Sutton
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Michael Cox wrote:

Pearl Sutton wrote:

And I adore the luggage.
I've used it for internet security questions, "Model of your first car" "The Luggage"   :D



Just out of curiosity...  which bank are you with? And what's your mother's maiden name?


Heh. You don't think that's the question I use it for do you?
And I've told the bank fiction on all my other questions too...
Perhaps my mother's maiden name is The Luggage!     :D
 
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Pearl Sutton wrote:There is a theory out there that garden hoses and bicycles are mortal enemies, and if you put them in the same shed together, they will fight, which is why when you look, they are all tangled up.


i have it on good authority that the natural enemy of the extension cord is the garden rake, hence the tangled mess every time I look down in that storage area.....
 
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Trace, you got us. There's actually a "thief knot" which is an intentional mis-tying of a common knot, to potentially fool a thief who would unconsciously tie the real knot correctly before leaving. Then you would know your stuff was messed with.

But, there's maybe three "good ways" to coil up a cord.
First, like they make and sell it. Rolled up on a reel, but by spinning the reel not casting it over the end by hand, that's basically the same as the "around the elbow" but on a reel. (same with those plastic bobbin with a handle thingies, yuk.)
Second, like the gaffers do it. One coil over-hand, the next under-hand, repeat until done. Chant "overworked, underpaid,..." while doing it...  This is also a great way to prepare to cast that cord out (across the floor, over a limb...) without it falling in a tangled ball partway there. The main benefit is you never kink the cable, so it will always lay flat on the floor again (important for microphone cables, etc...)
Third, the "chain sinnet" knot, which begins with a slipknot, then a bight pulled through to form a new loop, repeat until the end, then pull the tail through. To untie, untuck the tail and pull, al the loops "zip" out easily. I use this on my cargo straps, so they are never tangled with themselves or other things.

I was given a long cord by a friend that moved away, it was AGRESSIVELY wrapped over his elbow thousands of times, it looked like a telephone handset cord! but without any of the nice attributes.
 
Pearl Sutton
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Kenneth Elwell wrote:
Second, like the gaffers do it. One coil over-hand, the next under-hand, repeat until done. Chant "overworked, underpaid,..." while doing it...  This is also a great way to prepare to cast that cord out (across the floor, over a limb...) without it falling in a tangled ball partway there. The main benefit is you never kink the cable, so it will always lay flat on the floor again (important for microphone cables, etc...)


Heh! That's the way I do it, mentioned in my post above, but I had never heard of saying "overworked, underpaid" while doing it. I love it :D
 
Mike Haasl
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Had to look up the over/under technique...
 
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This is an effective technique for rope. The secrets to success are to keep the loops sticking out of the ends as short as possible & to make the wraps tight.

 
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Kenneth Elwell wrote:
First, like they make and sell it. Rolled up on a reel, but by spinning the reel not casting it over the end by hand, that's basically the same as the "around the elbow" but on a reel.

Second, like the gaffers do it. One coil over-hand, the next under-hand, repeat until done.



Every week I do a small audio setup, 4 speakers and 6-10 microphone inputs. I get lot's of volunteer "help".

Cable cassette reels are the best. It's really hard to damage the cables and they store neatly. The biggest problem is that uk plugs tend to snag on stuff.

Over-under or a reel is, in my extremely unhumble opinion, essential for anything over 6m. For mic cables less than this, it is feasible and much easier to teach people, to roll the cable half a turn every loop. Every cable gets a permanently attached velcro tie and ideally that gets wrapped so that the hooks are inside. If I could think of a way to store mic cables on a reel that would be wonderful. (The connectors are too bulky)

I got some "help" last night. The guy was winding a 1.5m mic cable around his elbow. In the same time I had looped 2 2m power cables. My cables don't get to last long :(

When I rule the world, all power cables will have powercon connectors and be made of H07RN-F.
 
Jay Angler
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I watched the video Mike posted and it makes sense watching the fellow doing it. However, a lot of what I end up coiling are 100 ft hoses - we will have to see if this works on them!! Certainly the regular way doesn't work well... Where I see this breaking down is when my left hand is simply not large enough/strong enough to hold the portion that's already correctly coiled. I do have some hose hangers on the well shed, so now I need to figure out how to pretend the hanger is my left hand, and see if I can make it work. We're not quite at that season yet - but I have a lot of hoses stretched out for convenient animal bucket filling that have to be consolidated when freezing becomes an issue.
 
Pearl Sutton
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Jay: anything that's too long or heavy I roll in sections. Before I start I put my tie strings on the ground in going out from the center, so when I set my coils on them, they are in position to tie and the mess is more controllable. Do the over under bit till your hand is full, set it down neatly on the ground, do the next section, set it down neatly on top of the last one, etc.  When you are done, tie your ties, then pick up the whole stack, all coiled and tied neatly.

Garden hoses I tend to leave outside, so I just coil them straight onto the ground in the over under pattern.  
 
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