@s0 your garden hoses will also thank you for this approach.

@s0 this is even more useful for hoses

probably garden hoses, but definitely heavy commecrial grade rubber ones

Here’s some videos to help you learn!

First up, the way I naturally do it — left-overhanded. It’s the smoothest to watch, because, y’know, it’s my job.

@s0 very cool. I should also remind people that wrapping your headphone cable around your device and slapping it in your bag or pocket is a big no-no. Just bunch the cable up on its own or use a snack sized Ziploc bag. I did this for years as a New York City tour guide & the one headphone pair I have left that still works (they eventually stop working because of getting water in them) is from 2006.

@s0 obligatory xkcd mention https://www.xkcd.com/2810/

@s0 yup. How I do it form a long time now.

@s0 and as a free added bonus: if you try to unravel the cable by passing the wrong side through the middle … you’ll get one knot for every two turns. This is to remind you to only ever pull on the correct side of your cable! 🪢

@s0 I feel like this could use a public-awareness song a la Slip Slop Slap. Leave it with me.

@s0 until you get an absolute nutter like me try to unroll it and end up with kinks and knots in it from tangling it

@s0 a bit tangential, but have any advice for better coiling up rope (twisted rope taken doubly)? I feel like there is additional things to be aware of, but trying to think about the maths behind it just twists my brain …

@s0 I remember years ago reading someone talking about interviewing people for networking jobs, and somewhere during the interview they’d casually hand the person an Ethernet cable and see if they naturally rolled it up properly, like this.

@s0 and as a huge bonus, cables unroll without tangling. For those not familiar, it means you can throw the cable holding onto the end or pull on the end of the cable without unwinding and you don't (usually) get tangles.

@s0 But if it's coiled properly (without creating the loops with this gesture, but spinning it as if with a winder (or better, with a winder literally)), there's no twist at all, is there?

@s0 Saw some (gen x) musicians this weekend wrapping up their cables after their set like they were cub scouts looping their ropes through their fists and around their elbows.

Guess someone's going to going to the local branch of PMT for replacements before long 🙃

@s0 any mountain guide will tell you this is something to be highly ashamed of ;-)

@s0 Coiled hoses, cords and ropes in twist/kink free figure-8s since ‘60s. Over/under is the same.

Excellent advice by @s0 how to coil stiff cable! See 🧵 resp. https://cathode.church/@s0/113230694766080041 .

For years, I've been adding one loop to the left side of the coil and the next loop to the right side. This also produces no twists - if unwound in exactly the same fashion.

This is much better!

@s0 This is absolutely brilliant, thanks. My lawnmower cable has got badly twisted over the years, I've tried untwisting it by holding the reel in my left hand rather than right when I unspool it, but I was never sure of the correct way. Now, I mostly have to remember this until next year, as there's probably only one more mow this season!

@s0 this is fantastic and i will from now on forget about it immediately

@s0 ooh, is it weird that I'm excited to learn this 🤣

@s0 it is not possible for me to retoot this enough. Cables, ropes, just do this with everything stored in coils.

@s0 this PSA is brought to you by the gaffer gang

@s0@cathode.church As an ex-sound engineer, this THE BEST way to roll cables!

@s0

This is one of the first things you have to learn at a shipyard.

Working every day and all day long with electric extension cables, gas hoses, welding equipment cables all over 50 yrds, you are totally lost if you don't know how to left-right roll your stuff!

@s0 I had to get a #hamradio license to learn this!