Have you tried putting your shoe laces in your pocket? That'll keep em tied
this post was submitted on 07 May 2026
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Entropy always increases.
There's one way for a cable to be untangled, and an incalculable amount of ways for it to be tangled. When letting it randomly change state it is very improbable for it to randomly end up in the untangled state.
Same for shoelaces, there is but a few ways for the shoes to be properly knot, and a comparatively essentially infinite ways for them not to be.
I know it's a joke, but I find this perspective fascinating.
The danger of an over simplified model.
This is why I hate math ;-;
this is why I love it!
Just as well that this is physics then!
Yeah... But I know of no purely mathematical theory that predicts entropy - this really is a physics thing.
If it was just infinite ways for shoelaces to improperly knot then headphones would also not properly knot and easily untangle by pulling one end. But that doesn't happen.
The difference is from the physics of lengths of string/wire and the shoelaces are under tension while headphone wires aren't.
shoelaces can be a tangled mess yet not properly knotted
Shoelaces have a "proper" knot while headphones do not. If we were tying our shoes into the abominations I pull out of my pocket, maybe that'd play out differently.
I wouldn't care as much if shoelaces tangled themselves into a knot that took extra work to untie.
I have some laces that I double tie and they still untie themselves.
Holy shit, they've solved it!
And a real shower thought!
Most people only think that they know how to tie their shoes but they're doing the so-called "granny knot" which is why it unties itself.
It could also just be a lack of imagination too:
I was thinking of this when I saw the post. I only properly understood the granny knot recently and since changing how I tie my laces, they very rarely untie now. That Ian chap showed a particular knot that he claimed never comes undone and I can attest to that.
What a fantastic website
bro better have they damn flush cuts up in this bitch
I've been heavily considering investing in the Knipex micro flush cut side cutters but 30 euros is a heavy investment for someone with zipties for shoelaces.
I put these on my running shoes and they work great:
But zipties can withstand being showered with sparks from angle grinder.
[slaps shoe]
"That ain't goin' nowhere!"
Harvard wants to know your location.
Somewhere in the world...
Hint: Inside the shower room.
They do make headphone cables like that. Its those fabric sleeved, slightly stiff ones. Those dont get tangled.
Friends smarter than me assure me these are more likely to... whattaya call it when the wire breaks inside the sleeve... that.
... I still like them.
I had some of those, but they made a horrible sound when moving and the cables touched any clothing. But yeah, no tangling.
Yeah that happens if there is no section at the end that decouples vibrations in the cable from the earpiece.
For those who can't be bothered looking up the difference between a double-slipped granny knot and a double-slipped reef knot, tie the first and second knots with different ends of the string on top (eg. right over left, then left over right). If you do it right it will hold, no need for a double knot.
As for earphones (does anyone even use those anymore?) push them into a small pouch, start from one end and work your way along, pull them out the same way (it's quicker than it sounds).
Who bothers with wired headphones these days?
Cheaper, no battery to charge, harder to lose... Not sure why people bother with wireless
For working out or casual listening with chores, yeah cordless for sure, but otherwise corded all day, ALL DAY
this is either sarcastic or im being left behind by society
My corded headphone batteries never die
I think I'd have to pay 5x the price to get equivalent sound quality for wireless headphones. Having to untangle the wire every time I use them is worth that.
Now this is the big brain thinking I come to the fediverse for!
All my life, I was tying the knot "wrong side up", so it was untying. I was checking out a videonon how to tie high boots the easiest way, and the problem was mentioned. Now nothing ever happens to them.
It's hard to explain in details, so here's a quick check if your shoes are untying themselves. When you start tying, you hold two loops in your hands and cross them, putting one above the other, right? Well, this time, put them the other way around (left on right if it was right on left), and finish the same way you always did it.
You will immediately feel that the knot is not slipping. This is because you also do the first simple knot in a certain way, and first and the main knot has to be different relative to each other
Those motherfuckers never told me.
It's the difference between a square knot and a calf knot. Here they are (without the extra loops, they just allow for easy untying)
ah, so the first plus the second knot are forming one of those two you linked to?
i managed the opposite. had no problem tying my shoes, then watched a video because i wasn't sure i was doing it like everyone else, and that made me lose the ability to tie my shoes for a few years. had to sit down and really think through the steps to get it back.
#TeamVelcro
They tried that, and during the early 2000s, teenagers were hanging themselves with iPod headphone wires. That’s why Apple invented Bluetooth— so people like you could torture everyone else with existentialism
¯\_(ツ)_/¯
Do people really have that problem with shoelaces? I tied mine almost a year ago and they're holding up fine.
One of my shoelaces has stayed for 2 or so years now, the other comes apart every few weeks. It's pretty annoying cause I feel like I'm tying it well enough and I haven't been able to find anything that might be forcefully pulling it apart. But hey maybe I got it right this last time and it'll stick for 2 years
It's never to late to relearn a suboptimal skill you thought you knew. I believe I found this site several decades after being taught the standard shoe lace knot and a child. That one ALWAYS needed a second knot to keep my laces tied. Now I tie either the two loop knot "bunny ears" or Ian's Secure Shoelace knot. Both are balanced so the knots always stays tied and both can be pulled apart and undone with a simple tug at both free ends of the shoelace. Haven't tied my laces the way my parents taught me ever since.
Haha, I love how a guy called Ian made a 'secure shoelace knot'