Jim Nielsen makes the case for keeping a big box of cables
Anecdote about useful cables found after more than a decade prompts a defence of keeping an untidy personal archive.
Jim Nielsen has defended the humble cable box as a useful part of life on the internet, after Tyler Gaw reportedly found two needed cables at the bottom of a box that had been stored for more than 10 years.
In a blog post carried in the Hacker News feed, Nielsen says the story prompted him to reconsider his own “Big Box of Cables”. Rather than asking why he still keeps it, he says he wanted a permanent reminder of its potential usefulness.
Nielsen labelled the box: “Don’t ever let anyone take your Big Box of Cables away”. He describes the label as both a reminder of the value he places on the box and a warning to anyone who might decide it should be thrown away.
The post frames the cable collection as part of the untidy, exploratory culture of making things for the world wide web. Nielsen says the box gives him a sense of joy, motivation and purpose when he adds yet another cable.
He also imagines his children eventually finding the box in the attic among his belongings, and hopes they will follow the advice taped to its outside. The usefulness of keeping such a box remains a personal preference, grounded in an anecdote rather than an independently verified rule.
