this post was submitted on 13 Jan 2024
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xkcd

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xkcd #2880: Sheet Bend (imgs.xkcd.com)
submitted 10 months ago by [email protected] to c/[email protected]
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https://xkcd.com/2880

Alt text:

A left-handed sheet bend creates a much weaker connection, especially under moderate loads.

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[–] [email protected] 96 points 10 months ago* (last edited 10 months ago) (2 children)

I just noticed this info on the xkcd website for the first time:

xkcd.com is best viewed with Netscape Navigator 4.0 or below on a Pentium 3±1 emulated in Javascript on an Apple IIGS at a screen resolution of 1024x1. Please enable your ad blockers, disable high-heat drying, and remove your device from Airplane Mode and set it to Boat Mode. For security reasons, please leave caps lock on while browsing.

Randall is such a genius.

[–] [email protected] 34 points 10 months ago (1 children)

Boat Mode needs to be a thing, I don't know what it does but I want it.

[–] [email protected] 50 points 10 months ago (4 children)

It unlocks your screen rotation settings and links screen orientation to the phones gyroscopic sensor to maintain orientation perpendicular to the horizon.

[–] [email protected] 19 points 10 months ago

It'd be like the phone equivalent of Linux's diagonal monitor orientation, only now the touch screen experience is beyond fucked.

Strangely enough this might work for round smart watches though.

[–] [email protected] 8 points 10 months ago (1 children)

Yeah, now I want boat mode too!

[–] [email protected] 2 points 10 months ago* (last edited 10 months ago)

2024, make it happen!

[–] [email protected] 3 points 10 months ago (1 children)

But then you yourself have to be in Boat mode to browse it.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 10 months ago

In my experience, the human form of “Boat Mode” means drunk. A drunk person with a wobbly mobile device sounds like sad fail tiktok content.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 10 months ago

Brilliant! I'd use that as Carsick Mode myself. Maybe then I could read a map in the passenger seat without hurling into the driver's lap.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 10 months ago (1 children)

Must be a new addition. I haven’t seen it either until now.

[–] [email protected] 7 points 10 months ago

It's been there for a while, just hard to spot. From doing a binary search with web.archive.org, it seems it was added on October 5th, 2016 https://web.archive.org/web/20161005090723/http://xkcd.com/

[–] [email protected] 25 points 10 months ago

https://explainxkcd.com/2880

[–] [email protected] 13 points 10 months ago* (last edited 10 months ago) (1 children)

That

is one mother fucking cursed connector

it's brilliant because it's so hazardous yet still creates a contact between two double core wires.

[–] [email protected] 4 points 10 months ago (1 children)

Additionally, the next "wire" would be connected reversed polarity so you would never know if grey or yellow were hot.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 10 months ago

why would it be connected with reversed polarity?

[–] [email protected] 9 points 10 months ago

Fuck everything about that.

[–] [email protected] 5 points 10 months ago

I want to see IRL photo of this connection.

The knot also needs to be adapted for common two-core electrical appliance cable, if you remove a piece of the insulation on one side and with an offset on the other side, the cable needs to be twisted mid-knot to match the correct wire.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 10 months ago (1 children)

WTF? the sheet bend is close to a square knot which is much more secure. Or a thieves' knot if you're looking for something that slips apart after limited tension.

[–] [email protected] 9 points 10 months ago

A sheet bend is more secure for cords of two different types/diameters. A square knot is for cords of the same diameter.