https://hackaday.com/2023/01/05/excuse-me-your-tie-is-unzipped/
If you ask your typical handyperson what's the one thing you need to fix most things, the answer might very well be duct tape. But second place — and first place in some circles — would have to be zip ties. These little wonders are everywhere if you look for them. But they are a relatively recent invention and haven't always had the form they have today.
The original zip tie wasn't called a zip tie or even a cable tie. In 1958 they were called Ty-Raps and produced by a company called Thomas and Betts. Originally meant to improve aircraft wiring harnesses, they found their way into various electronic equipment and packaging uses. But they've also become helpful in very unusual places too. A policeman trying to round up rioters would have problems carrying more than a few conventional handcuffs. But flexible cuffs based on zip ties are lightweight and easy to carry. Colon surgeons sometimes use a modified form of zip tie during procedures.
(Score: 3, Informative) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday January 08, @12:03AM
Except until this article, for decades I always thought it was tie-wraps. Learned something new today.
(Score: 5, Informative) by krishnoid on Sunday January 08, @12:10AM (30 children)
And vice-versa [thedailybeast.com].
(Score: 1, Troll) by khallow on Sunday January 08, @12:39AM (29 children)
Did it actually exist? Zip Tie Guy allegedly picked up some he found left behind by the police and nobody else appears to have been caught with zip ties either on video or their person at that riot.
(Score: 4, Insightful) by Tork on Sunday January 08, @01:15AM (28 children)
Slashdolt Logic: "25 year old jokes about sharks and lasers are +5, Funny." 💩
(Score: 2, Insightful) by khallow on Sunday January 08, @01:31AM (1 child)
It would be something else. The human mind doesn't stop worrying just because it ran out of things to worry about.
(Score: 2) by krishnoid on Sunday January 08, @01:44AM
Oh, it does stop worrying when it runs out of things to worry about. That state, however, is impossible to attain [youtu.be].
(Score: -1, Troll) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday January 08, @04:40AM (25 children)
There was a news article here the other day about a two year memorial service for the five police who died at the riots. Funny thing is I can only remember Officer Sicknick dying, and it turned out that was natural causes.
(Score: 2) by Tork on Sunday January 08, @04:52AM (24 children)
Slashdolt Logic: "25 year old jokes about sharks and lasers are +5, Funny." 💩
(Score: 0, Troll) by khallow on Sunday January 08, @02:48PM (23 children)
For me, it was simply way below the "don't care" threshold. The very act of the protest destroyed itself. As I noted at the time, there was plenty of repudiation (looking back I see this example, Fox News [mediamatters.org] did it the same night).
The hysteria is what I care about. I find it remarkable that there are otherwise mature people still bleating about the scary people from January 6. Surely, you couldn't have found something real and serious between then and now?
(Score: 3, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday January 08, @03:17PM (22 children)
A riot at the Capitol, egged on by the President of the United States working under a plan to illegally stay in power including naming of sham alternate electors, a crowd that built a gallows and was chanting their desire to get their hands on the Vice President (at the urging of the President), the Administration cooperating and coordinating beforehand with white nationalists and Christian nationalists, beating on police, breaking windows, trying to break down a barricaded door to get at the legislators inside (and now claiming the person shot as a "patriot," smearing of feces on the walls, the parading of a confederate flag through the halls, the planting of a couple of pipe bombs, etc., is boring and no big deal? Even if for some reason you don't find an angry mob breaking in and up the Capitol building scary, how about the idea of ignoring the Constitution and trying to illegally stay in power, and that it really only came down to a few principled people to prevent it not scary enough? I know Fox News has basically ignored the January 6th committee all along and lied about it by pushing narratives that are known lies (the link you provided actually argues this point and doesn't say what you are suggesting it says), but people outside of that news bubble found the whole thing abhorrently unAmerican, want the people involved to be held accountable, and would really like to make it so that this kind of thing cannot happen again.
(Score: 0, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday January 08, @03:26PM (19 children)
You've certainly drunk the koolaid and joined in the
two-minute hatesix year media rage. The simple truth is that nothing is going to be done to Trump because he didn't say or do anything that every other politician doesn't say or do. It's called rhetoric.They'll keep bleating about it in the media to keep naive people like you thinking he's the devil, because then you'll ignore what they are doing. It's all just bread and circuses.
(Score: 4, Touché) by Tork on Sunday January 08, @05:53PM (18 children)
Slashdolt Logic: "25 year old jokes about sharks and lasers are +5, Funny." 💩
(Score: 0, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday January 08, @10:59PM (17 children)
I don't like Trump, but I also don't like the delusion and deception on the left. Here's a challenge for you that should be really easy according to that media you put your faith in. However, no leftist has ever been able to complete it:
Provide a link to a racist or sexist tweet by Trump. Not an article about how often he tweets or how bad he is or how he is literally Hitler; a link to an actual tweet.
(Score: 3, Insightful) by Tork on Sunday January 08, @11:14PM (16 children)
Don'tcha wish a better candidate from the GOP had been elected instead so you wouldn't have to be so super specific about what complaints you'll entertain? Why even work so hard for a politician, when and why did their stereotype of being untrustworthy disappear?
Slashdolt Logic: "25 year old jokes about sharks and lasers are +5, Funny." 💩
(Score: 1, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Monday January 09, @10:12AM (15 children)
I'm not VLM and the reason I specified tweet is because of the constant media barrage about how racist and sexist his tweets were. It was a vague hope that, by looking for something that didn't exist despite his "constant stream of racist and sexist tweets", you would realize how much the media was lying to you.
By the way, a deleted tweet is fine. The web archives everything.
(Score: 2) by Tork on Monday January 09, @04:59PM (14 children)
As I said, you backed the most stressful horse.
Slashdolt Logic: "25 year old jokes about sharks and lasers are +5, Funny." 💩
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday January 09, @08:53PM (13 children)
https://duckduckgo.com/?q=Trumps+racist+tweets&ia=news [duckduckgo.com]
Hmm. All that media coverage and no actual tweets. Still don't think they're lying to you?
(Score: 2) by Tork on Monday January 09, @08:59PM (12 children)
🙄
Slashdolt Logic: "25 year old jokes about sharks and lasers are +5, Funny." 💩
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday January 10, @10:15AM (11 children)
So four years of a media barrage about racist and sexist tweets amounts to one tweet with a racist chant in the background that was deleted hours later.
(Score: 2) by Tork on Tuesday January 10, @04:08PM (10 children)
I satisfied your challenge with my first response, don't you wish you had a less-stressful candidate to spin your yarns about?
Slashdolt Logic: "25 year old jokes about sharks and lasers are +5, Funny." 💩
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday January 10, @09:34PM (9 children)
No, the challenge was to provide a link to an actual tweet. Despite all your effort and at least five posts you have still failed.
(Score: 2) by Tork on Wednesday January 11, @12:59AM (8 children)
Slashdolt Logic: "25 year old jokes about sharks and lasers are +5, Funny." 💩
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday January 12, @11:32PM (7 children)
So the four year media blitz about Trump's incessant tweeting was about one Tweet.
And the challenge was to provide a link. Six posts, no link. You have not passed the challenge. But you can give yourself a participation trophy.
(Score: 2) by Tork on Friday January 13, @05:17PM (6 children)
Slashdolt Logic: "25 year old jokes about sharks and lasers are +5, Funny." 💩
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Friday January 13, @08:48PM (5 children)
Have you really convinced yourself that you provided a link? I mean I can sort of understand you being wrong when all the media you see is telling you the same thing, but you can just scroll up the page and read this whole thread. No link.
(Score: 2) by Tork on Friday January 13, @08:58PM (4 children)
Slashdolt Logic: "25 year old jokes about sharks and lasers are +5, Funny." 💩
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday January 14, @02:55AM (3 children)
My stated point was that despite four years of media outrage over Trumps incessant racist and sexist tweeting, you cannot provide a link to a single racist or sexist tweet.
You then claim that one tweet that did not have Trump being racist or sexist - but was deleted because someone in the background of a video was - somehow proves that the media outrage was correct and Trump incessantly made racist and sexist tweets for four years.
Point stands.
(Score: 2) by Tork on Saturday January 14, @03:59AM (2 children)
If you were actually serious about proving your point you wouldn't be going "show me one tweet!" then bitching that you didn't get a thousand when the first one becomes too much for you to tackle.
Slashdolt Logic: "25 year old jokes about sharks and lasers are +5, Funny." 💩
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday January 14, @09:00AM (1 child)
So you admit that more than four years of media hysteria was about one tweet.
(Score: 2) by Tork on Saturday January 14, @05:31PM
Slashdolt Logic: "25 year old jokes about sharks and lasers are +5, Funny." 💩
(Score: 1, Funny) by khallow on Sunday January 08, @09:26PM (1 child)
When you put it that way, it sounds like a pretty stupid concern for you to have. You can puff it up all you want, but that molehill is staying a molehill.
(Score: 0, Troll) by khallow on Sunday January 08, @10:35PM
This misguided, over-the-top hysteria not only puffs up the importance of a few protestors, it allows them to recover from the mistakes they made on January 6.
But then again, perhaps I shouldn't interrupt you while you are making these mistakes, hmmm?
(Score: 2, Interesting) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday January 08, @01:17AM (5 children)
Many products come zip tied to a cardboard backing or other package feature to keep them in position during shipping. I suppose that most people just cut these off and land-fill them?
I've got in the habit of taking the end of my little Swiss knife blade and prying back the "ratchet pawl" to release the tie. Then it can be reused. Use care when you try, I arrange things so that when the blade slips it goes in a harmless direction. It *will* slip and poke into something! Might as well plan ahead for that reality.
Maybe someone knows of a better tool for this job?
Of course there are some styles of tie that have a molded "button" attached to the pawl, designed for reuse. While I rarely have to buy zip ties, this style is always my first choice. I wish I could convince more package designers to choose this style too, the extra plastic is nearly nothing, so the cost (in bulk) must be similar.
(Score: 4, Interesting) by RS3 on Sunday January 08, @02:20AM (3 children)
I have a love-hate relationship with zip ties. Too many people way overuse them in wire harnesses, hoses, etc., esp. inside of equipment. Note I wrote: "over use". A few can be very helpful.
One reason I hate them: many bleeding cuts due to the sharp edges, especially on the cut off stump. Sometimes, when warranted, I cut all of them away so I can work without risk of cuts and infections.
I usually try to cut the loop as far from the part attached to the catch block (whatever it's called), where it goes into the ratchet tang, so that way it's often still usable.
Sometimes I do your technique, usually with a tiny screwdriver, but the little catch tang (whatever it's called) is never as strong after that.
There are several styles with release tabs. I use them for temporary work.
There's also a type where the catch is more like a belt and buckle, so you don't have the bloody sharp stump protruding proudly on its little podium.
https://www.mouser.com/ProductDetail/Panduit/ILT2S-M0?qs=SdtwoRyGcUXcI4TV3qu%2F%2FA%3D%3D [mouser.com]
https://www.hellermanntyton.com/ae/products/cable-ties-outside-serrated/lph175/112-00201 [hellermanntyton.com]
(Score: 1, Informative) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday January 08, @03:46AM (2 children)
I use twist ties instead. They work well enough in most cases and you can more easily undo and reuse them. In fact the main advantage of zip ties over twist ties is the locking and lower reusability.
So for me it's tape, twist ties, glue, blu-tak or similar. I rarely use zip ties.
Some tape can even be aerospace grade: https://www.washingtonpost.com/travel/2022/10/05/plane-duct-tape-speed-tape/ [washingtonpost.com]
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Speed_tape [wikipedia.org]
(Score: 2) by RS3 on Sunday January 08, @05:03AM (1 child)
Yeah, my sadly dearly departed dad was very resourceful, and used a lot of simple things like twist (bread bag) ties. I'm doing it more and more- it makes sense in many cases.
I also like the "Velcro" straps for cable, hose, etc., management.
Zip ties are much stronger, so if strength _and_ permanence is an issue, I'll use them.
I've used the much stronger "Gorilla" brand "duct tape". It's pretty awesome and readily available to regular folk. I suppose irregular folk can get it too. Ha ha. Sorry.
But seriously, thanks, I had not heard of that specific 3M "speed tape", but I've known there are seriously strong tapes and adhesives out there. I want to buy the stuff they use for example on USPS shipping boxes.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday January 08, @02:45PM
Are zip ties really much stronger? The heavy duty plastic or even steel zip ties could be stronger. But the normal ones? Those twist ties are often with a steel core 0.4-2mm in diameter. The skinny ones are weak but the thicker ones can be quite strong. A 1mm steel wire can take a fair bit before it breaks.
250MPa x pi x 0.4mm x 0.4mm = 125 newtons = 30 pounds
250MPa x pi x 1mm x 1mm = 785 newtons = 176 pounds
Random Googled site seems to say normal zip ties go up to 50 pounds.
https://www.nelcoproducts.com/blog/cable-ties-tensile-strength/ [nelcoproducts.com]
(Score: 2) by richtopia on Sunday January 08, @05:50PM
Reusable zip ties are a thing; you can spend money for very nice ones but around the house I get a relatively budget set from Amazon. The major difference for the money is how large the lever is for release; when I use them on my bike and my fingers are cold it is frustrating to undo them.
https://www.amazon.com/Reusable-VTECHOLOGY-Releasable-Adjustable-100Pack/dp/B07R2JKWXV [amazon.com]
(Score: 4, Interesting) by Subsentient on Sunday January 08, @04:06AM (3 children)
I absolutely *love* zip ties. I use them for everything.
One in particular that I've used since I was a kid, however, is as a "permanent belt".
I take one zip tie for some pants that are a bit too loose, and I wrap it through two adjacent belt loops on the left or right side of my pants, zip it up till the pants are comfortable, snip off the excess with scissors, and then just forget about it.
I don't have to adjust it again, I don't have to take it off, it goes through the wash over and over harmlessly, and if I need more or less, zip ties are cheap as hell. I can loosen it by snipping it off and putting a new one, and I can always tighten it on the fly no matter where I am, people just think I'm fucking with my pocket or something.
Is it weird fashion? Yep. Am I sorry for it? Nope. My shirt usually covers the zip tie spot anyways, so nobody knows I do that unless I tell them.
"It is no measure of health to be well adjusted to a profoundly sick society." -Jiddu Krishnamurti
(Score: 2) by RS3 on Sunday January 08, @05:06AM (2 children)
I'm cringing because I know that I would get a nice gash from those little cut ends. Even without the sharp corners of the stump, the little cube often gets me. But hey, if it works for you, it's a win.
(Score: 2) by Subsentient on Sunday January 08, @09:52AM (1 child)
That's only a concern if you don't cut close to the lock after adjusting it. Generally it's not an issue. ^^
"It is no measure of health to be well adjusted to a profoundly sick society." -Jiddu Krishnamurti
(Score: 2) by RS3 on Sunday January 08, @04:42PM
Well, it has been for me, but I probably do much more hands-on work than average, and you may not have seen how many zip ties some people like to way overuse.
(Score: 5, Insightful) by Rosco P. Coltrane on Sunday January 08, @08:27AM (1 child)
Being able to put a lot of people under arrest at once regularly is only a problem in police states.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday January 08, @02:00PM
I suppose that's not what those founding fathers meant by "well regulated militia"? 😉
(Score: 1) by nostyle on Sunday January 08, @08:14PM
Several people have cautioned/complained about sharp edges on trimmed zip ties.
The easy fix for this for the nylon ties is to use a flame to melt the edges to be a bit more rounded - being careful not to start a big fire. This might make them less re-usable, tho.
It is troubling that the nylon will likely wind up as microplastic in turtles in the ocean eventually, but presently there is often nothing cheaper or more handy when the need arises.
--
-Sting, Track 10 on The Dream of the Blue Turtles