Newsletter #170 - Pareidolia
Are my cables telling me something?
Over the holidays, instead of spending quality time with family and friends, I did something more important.
I found the bin of random cables I’ve been storing in my basement, brought it into my studio, and organized the contents.
Doing this job was 25 years in the making. There are cables in this bin from devices I had dating back to the early aughts. Like this IEEE 1394, also known as Firewire.
There’s a chance I might actually still need this someday, so of course I am never going to throw it away!
Anyway, it was a giant nest, and it took me about a day to untangle and then organize all the cables in a way that would be useful.
You know, just in case I ever need twelve versions of a USB 3.0-USB Micro-B for the Western Digital hard drives I will never plug in because I already have the data backed up in three other locations.
As I went through this collection of cables that took over two decades to amass, I started thinking about technology and how things have changed over time.
One question that kept popping up in my head was: What makes a good cable, and why?
Take the Category 5 (aka Cat5) cable, for example. The Cat5 has always felt like a serious cable to me. Data has to travel fast over this cable.
Also, Cat5 cables are super long, which might come in handy if I ever need to use one as a rope. And they come in a variety of colors.
After much consideration, I decided that the Cat5 is probably the best cable ever made.
Now obviously, if we talk about the best cable ever made, that begs the question: What is the worst cable ever made?
That of course is the USB 2.0 Micro-B.
This cable sucks and I can’t believe it’s still being used for things.
Speaking of USB cables, did you ever notice that most USB Type A cables have faces on the ends?
I realized this for the first time while doing this cable organizing exercise and could not believe I had never noticed it before.
Look at this one.
They all have such unique personalities.
Are they mocking me? Or trying to impart some technological wisdom from decades past? Are they sentient?!
This one just looked me straight in the eyes and said, “You need to make content every day until the day you die.”
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Kristen Neufeld saw a face in a beefsteak tomato once.
Zach Vitale knew about the faces.
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"Zach Vitale knew about the faces," dammit, he's good.
Great timing! It's the Year of the Snake! That's what I see! I also had (past tense) a collection of cables that I got feed up with no one identifying and took them all to the electronic e-waste recycling center about 10 years ago. Now my adult sons will never forgive me for it...Maman! somehow the cable I need must have been in that box! I need labels for things like that. Yesterday I finally started learning how to use my audio interface and the amount of cables that will need corralling is incredible!
I'm also feeling a Brady Bunch vibe!
Hi Seth!