time sink 42

Thu Feb 16 22:42:02 UTC 2012

On Thu, Feb 16, 2012 at 2:27 PM, Nick Hilliard <nick at foobar.org> wrote:
> On 16/02/2012 21:14, George Herbert wrote:
>> Brothers' are fine; buy the tapes that have the split-down-the-middle
>> backing on them.
>>
>> It reduces the unpeeling problem from
>> more-time-than-the-label-took-to-type-in to about 2 seconds.  You just
>> grab the edges at an end and bend it, so the backing bulges outwards,
>> and off it starts to come.
>
> Well, that's the theory anyway.  The reality is that the split doesn't
> quite split, and because the tape is so small, you need a child's fingers
> to open it out.  If you're doing all the labelling after a long day's work,
> you might have worked up a sweat, in which case your hands will be covered
> with salt - and we all know how well labels stick after being pawed at with
> a salty fingernail.

I've done several dozens of reels worth of the split-back (TZ type, I
guess) tape, as well as about an equal amount of the old non-split
tape, in datacenters and network centers going back into the early
1990s.  The worst split tape was at least partly splitting and much
better than the non-split stuff.

Once I had it figured out I could pop it open and start unpeeling
blind, without looking at it.  Even at the end of the day with grime
and dust and salt on my fingernails.

Your mileage may vary, but in my experience it just about always just works.

-- 
-george william herbert
george.herbert at gmail.com