One time I had an ex ask me for some obscure cable that I happened to have. We went over to my cable drawer and as I pulled it out she said "Why do you have this drawer of random cables?"
FOR THIS EXACT PURPOSE BECCA YOU BITCH
Think about the apocalypse BECCA
I was a Scout as a teen. Taught me the value of being prepared and the use of good tools. Basically, I still carry things like a Swiss Army Knife, flashlight, that sort of thing. I also just like to have things in case I need them, like a charge cable or bicycle pump.
You wouldn’t believe how often I’ve had interactions that go like this:
“Does anyone have a knife? I need to cut this”
“Here, use mine”
“Why do you have a knife???? Who are you going to stab???”
Same thing with other tools. People need one, you’re someone who carries it, now you’re somehow weird for being the only person prepared…
I’ve had to guide people out of buildings during blackouts while using my flashlight (this was before phones had them). Number one comment while doing that? “Why do you have a flashlight???”
MOTHERFUCKER, WHY DON’T YOU? On this planet, it gets predictably dark for, you know, almost half the day. So it might just be handy to carry some light with you. Tool use is what sets us humans apart from most animals, so can you at least try and not embarrass your species?
“Why do you have a knife???? Who are you going to stab???”
I've gotten this one too. I've had a knife on me almost every day for the last 15 years or so and I've managed not to stab anyone except maybe myself a little bit.
Tool use is what sets us humans apart from most animals, so can you at least try and not embarrass your species?
I'm stealing this.
The Problem is, being unprepared worked out for them because they always had someone around who was prepared. It's the same people who say afterwards: "You see, wasn't that bad, all worked out fine". Yes, it worked out fine because someone else was prepared and saved your ass. The worst of those people then also somehow turn it into their own achievement, which makes them think like that: "Why would someone carry around $thing$, I never do that and yet I still manage to save the day."
Unfortunately, being such a person seems to be a requirement to get hired for middle management.
I don't like Becca.
You shouldn't. I also have an ex named Becca.
Once is happenstance.
Twice is coincidence.
Three times is enemy action.
Auric Goldfinger
You never know where you'll be when you need a mini-B usb to 30 pin apple sync cable.
I actually needed a 30pin the other day. I'm glad I still had one
Landline telephones will soon be popular enough to need all these extenders and splitters.
There's a tool sharing program in my neighborhood. You pay like $20 a year for access, and come by, borrow a tool/leave a tool. It's great as people leave lots of big tools sitting around doing nothing.
I want that for computer parts and wires.
Lets pool our ps/2 keyboard adapters and VGA cords together!
You've already got a decent business name for it (minus the "@slrpnk.net" part)!
Neighbourtools. But with fewer vowles
Nghbrtls
Less, not none. The U has to stay to appease the UK regulatory boards.
I refactor the box every year because there are usually some new cables.
Some simple empirical rules:
Wait, there are USB cables that don’t transfer data? What do they do then, charge only?
Yup. Notorious with usb c cables. Lots of battery powered tools give you a cable that only works for charging, and looks the exact same. I guess you could test the cable and mark them as charge only, but it's a hassle
My wife had her finger nail grinder break and it turned out to be the power adapter. It was an obscure 9.6V. guess who had it in my box.
She still complains about my box, but that night she complained a little less.
Been there, done that...tossed the hd with crypto....
crypto
Well there’s your problem right there
On a hard drive? I remember a bunch of people messing around with bitcoin when it was new, relatively unknown and considered a niche nerd thing. There were online competitions with money prizes where the "last winner" (eg. third place) would win like one bitcoin.
Fast forward 15 years and the stuff you mined for fun in high school and forgot about on some dusty old computer is worth thousands of dollars.
Last move, I collected all cables in a one HUGE box.
After the majority of the unpacking (like I'll ever finish that) was completed, I sat down with the box and sorted out all the cables.
I kept a sane amount of each cable, at least one and trashed the rest.
I now have half a dozen labeled sterelite dollar store organizers with the cables in them.
add it to your bucket list....
No one f’ing dare touch my box of obscure cables and stupid converters I’ll probably never use !
It's true. That box has the utility of the highest utility cable in it. Which means it's a lot. Worth taking up space under a bed you aren't using. Anti-horder culture goes too far. It's more complicated than dogmatically throwing away everything or keeping everything. Don't throw away things with real utility. Civilization is built on accumulated utility in durable goods.
I finally got a house so I can hoard everything in the basement and attic away from the wife and I can finally keep my precious safe forever muhaha
After switching to solar DC and batteries I suddenly cared a lot more about ac/dc power inverters needlessly wasting my limited energy supply.
Slowly I figured out how to power my devices without ac outlets. Mercifully 5v,9v,12v,19v at 1-5A are pretty standard values for most lower powered DC appliances.
A good DC barrel plug 5.5mm universal adapter kit, a usbc-PD adapter cable with manually selectable voltage levels to 5.5mm barrel plug, and a car plug to dc barrel plug universal adapter kit have taken good care of 95% of my adapter woes.
It feels sooo good to figure out how to power something directly with USBC and see the wattage drawn get cut down significantly.
Whats my point? If people knew a little bit more about the finer details of power supplies and dc barrel plugs most of their box of junk cables could be phased out with confidence. If you have 20 year old electronics with some weird incredibly specific voltage and barrel plug I would heavily consider just getting a new version that runs on usbc-pd or a more standard power rating. And if I ever need an old video cable? You'd better believe amazon and eBay still got it.
Microcenter is the answer. But never ever give up the box. One day you may need to daisychain VGA to DVI to HDMI through a series of adapters.
Bro I literally just used 2 of my cables from the cable box today. Never giving that up.
This is natures way of punishing you for defiling and disrespecting the box.
The Box should always be kept, and respected, lest it bring ruin to your household.
A few months ago I FINALLY organized my cluttered box of miscellaneous technology and cables into one of those plastic bin drawers with wheels. I now know what I have and can keep it all fairly organized. Found some stuff I could've thrown out, but this post just told me not to. So thanks!
Work at retirement home doing tech. My drawer has grown to a closet of old cords.
It pays off weekly. Too many people with too many different generations of tech. Never know what you'll run into.
I had an ISA serial card sitting on a shelf next to my desk at work for 14 years. In the yearly clean up it was kept. 10 years after the last ISA machine had been in the office it was scrapped.
Not 2 days after the truck I had to order one exactly like it for a machine i did not know exsisted in a printing press i did not know at a customer... NEVER throw out anything!
OMG! I was just about to throw away a box of "cables" I've been accruing since college. My wife has been complaining about these cables that never get used. I think I'm going to have to hold off now. Thanks for the warning!
No problem! You can purchase that hard to find cable at Radio Shack....Oh wait.
I lugged a box of cables around for 10 years without ever needing one. I finally decided that I was being foolish and donated all of them. Literally the next day I needed one.
If you've got the money, and just want to reduce clutter, get some adapters for existing standards like USB-C cables instead.
I have multiple Micro USB, Micro-B, Audio Jack, and Lightning cable adapters that take up less space than one single USB-C cable.
Beginner move, you go through the box, check all cables, and do one of two things:
Get rid of all duplicates but keep one of each type of cable.
Catalog and label all cables in the box, make a list of all cables including their numbers. List all known devices that use them, index their usefullness based on how many devices you know use them and how long ago it was that you needed them. The more usefull the cable the more copies you keep, but you allways keep one type.
Never kept just one cable. Always have a spare.
I will pay you to come over and handle my cables. I really like idea number 2, but I have nearly 4 decades of computer cables and 3 decades of audio cables that have gone through several moves. I don't have the energy or attention span to go through them.
I have all my cables zip ties and in labelled clear bags and grouped by cable type into larger bags. It's like my own store inventory, I love it.
You never know when you might need a PS/2 to DIN convertor!
Of course you'll never be able to find the one you need in the moment, so will end up ordering one for about £3 from Amazon.
I have several boxes of these that I'll never let go, but I have to admit, I ditched the SCSI cables at one point and have no regrets.
I’m sure I’ll never need all 4 of the SCART cables I have, but then maybe I will so I’ll hang onto them just in case.
I've got 3 boxes. One for power cables, one for signal cables (ethernet, phone, RCA cables, coaxial) and one for usb cables and power adapters.
They're tote sized and I'm going to need even bigger boxes soon. No way I'm ever getting rid of them.
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