The fastest cabler in the East

Tests of everyday man's worth to society steadily evolve and diversify; where once exposing oneself to physical danger (and surviving, obviously) was enough, successive generations have found themselves required to do everything from making witty quips in the drawing room to getting Windows out of safe mode. In Japan, a society docile enough to be termed "peace-addled" by some of its more activist elements, the latest of these pacifist tests of manhood has emerged: broadband cable installation. And we have to agree; this is man's work. Or rather, it falls into that category of tasks that wives and girlfriends daily snare us into performing because they involve lying on the floor inhaling dust and running cables under things.

Hence, the Advanced Info-Communications Promotion Community's Info-Communications Wiring Technology Forum this year featured teams of eager cablers working on a mockup of bits of a house, vying for supremacy in smartly-pressed boiler suits (everyone liked the contest itself, though exhibitors rated the forum a resounding "average" elsewhere, according to the refreshingly honest report on the AICPCIWTF website). We assume that things like speed, neat bundling, and the ability not to panic in confined spaces were all factors in assessing the winners, though information on that score is scant. In any case, they competed with the noble aim of making cable TV and DSL safe for future generations. Several competitors were also heard to make witty quips in the drawing room after the contest, and one exposed himself and was later arrested.

Someone announce a gadget, for goodness' sake! We're starting to lose it!

[Via Nikkei ITPro (Japanese)]