Medical nightmare: Breast cancer patients miss surgery because of cable theft

The UK-based Daily Mail has reported that nearly 100 medical patients, including two with breast cancer, were forced to miss their scheduled surgeries because thieves stole copper cabling from a hospital's backup generator. The theft from Llandough Hospital in Penarth, south Wales was discovered on Tuesday, December 13, The Daily Mail's Emily Allen reported.

The article quoted university health board chief executive Jan Williams as saying, "NHS staff work tirelessly to care for some of the most vulnerable members of our communities. It is depressing to note that, for these thieves, the monetary value of copper is of more consequence."

You can read the full report here.

Video shows fusion splicer crashing to floor then successfully splicing fiber

A video posted to YouTube shows ILSINTECH's Swift S3 fusion splicer crashing to a hard floor then successfully fusing two optical fibers. In the 1:11 video, the splicer is picked up off a table and dropped from waist-height to the floor with a clanging thud. The splicer is then positioned upright on the floor, fibers are inserted and a fuse is completed. At the end of the video the splicer's screen shows a 0.04-dB loss reading for the successful splice.

This is obviously a self-promotional video made and posted by the folks at ILSINTECH. But it's fun to watch.

Judge deems cable thieves security risks, denies bail

Samisoni Nabilivalu has reported in The Fiji Times that a judge denied bail for five Telecom Fiji workers accused of stealing cable, even though the prosecutor didn't oppose bail. The story explains that Magistrate Janaka Bandara "told the five it was not in national interest to grant them bail saying the group's case undermined the security of the general public."

The prosecutor alleges that on November 9, the five suspects stole 100 meters of cable valued at approximately $1,000.

You can read the full story here.

Polywater mourns passing of founder

American Polywater Corporation, provider of cable-pulling lubricants, recently announced the passing of the company's founder Nelson Jonnes. The company issued the following statement.

Nelson Jonnes, the inventor of Polywater Cable Pulling Lubricants, has died at the age of 85 after a long series of illnesses. Born the son, grandson, and great-grandson of physicians in Circleville, Ohio, Nels served in the U.S. Navy (1944 to 1947) and then graduated from Antioch College where he developed a life-long passion for science and education. As a teacher and inventor Nels went on to create 22 patents and led several entrepreneurial adventures, including his most successful: 38-year-old American Polywater.

Antioch president and Massachusetts legislator Horace Mann famously said: "Be ashamed to die until you have won some victory for humanity." Nels took this message from his alma mater seriously, and devoted his life to making the world a better place for his having been there. As friends, family, and employees will attest, Nelson Jonnes would have made Horace Mann very proud. He will be missed.

Nels founded his fledgling company with lofty growth goals and based it on two simple principles: 1) Use superior chemistry to develop products that solve problems. 2) Treat people fairly, including employees, agents, distributors, and customers. Nels sold his interest in American Polywater to current management in 1988, but later rejoined the company in an R&D consulting role, finally retiring in 2008 at age 81. He created products and a reputation to be proud of. The result transformed the industry and advanced cable installation technology immeasurably. Now employee-owned, American Polywater evolved with this foundation and continues to thrive.

Nels was an extraordinary fellow. His life experience reads like that of a fictional superhero: entrepreneur, author, philanthropist, orator, chairman, science teacher, mutual fund salesman, big game hunter, chemist, world traveler, Navy sonarman, physicist, Ethiopian "ambassador," athlete, inventor, historian, geologist, musician, philosopher, certified scuba instructor, great grandfather, and more. His advancing age was rarely a barrier. Nels won a bronze medal in table tennis at the Senior Olympics--at age 80. He left American Polywater and the industry with a fine legacy and ideals worth striving for.

TIA sets objectives for 40G over twisted pair

In a post on the Network Infrastructure Blog, Valerie Maguire of Siemon provides some detail on the work being done within the TIA TR-42.7 Copper Cabling Subcommittee to establish specifications for 40-Gbit/sec or higher transmission over twisted-pair copper cabling.

Maguire states that these next-generation cabling parameters are expected to be published in 2014, in addendum 1 to TIA-568-C.2. She further explains that four task groups have been formed to investigate these parameters. The subjects being investigated are Application Space, Capacity, Cables and Connectors.

The blog post also includes a table that lists a series of objectives and whether the TR-42.7 Subcommittee considers each objective "required," "highly desired," "nice to have" or "not required."

You can read Valerie Maguire's full blog post here.

Copper cable thieves suspected in electrocution death of six-month-old foal

A story in The Daily Mail describes the guresome discovery of an electrocuted six-month-old foal following a copper-cable theft near Sittingbourne, Kent, UK. The story's author, Stephanie Darrall, speculates that, after removing a pylon and exposing live wires, thieves may have used the foal to test whether or not electricity was still moving through the wires.

The theft left approximately 3,000 homes without power. The story quotes a resident who lives close to the crime scene as saying, "Most of us believe the people responsible used the foal to test whether the wires were still live, either by putting it on the cable or tempting it over with food."

You can read the Daily Mail story here. Mercifully, it contains no photos of the deceased foal.

Copper prices fall, but what about cable prices?

Are you familiar with our LinkedIn group? If you are not, please join. Approximately 1,700 cabling industry professionals from around the world are members.

For those of you who are members, you may be interested in one of the group's newest discussions. Alan Bullen, managing director of Lynx Networks plc in Milton Keynes, UK and a director of the FibreOptic Industry Association, wants to know: "Now that the price of copper has dropped 35 percent and is at its lowest price for two years, when will we see a corresponding drop in cable prices?" The price chart below is taken from metalprices.com and covers copper pricing over the past six months.



The price of copper has been pointed to frequently as one head of the three-headed monster that has sent the price of copper cable up over the past year-plus. The other two heads on that monster are the price of petroleum (a copper cable's jacket is petroleum-based) and, for plenum-rated cable at least, the price of fluorinated ethylene propylene (FEP), which insulates the copper conductors of plenum-rated cables. But Alan Bullen is from the U.K., where they do not use plenum cable per se but rather use low-smoke zero-halogen cables. Still, the pricing of those cable types are subject to the costs of the materials used in their manufacture.

So what do you think? Is the price of copper cable on the way down? Is it just wishful thinking? Perhaps a criticism of copper technology from a prominent member of the FibreOptic Industry Association? Check out our LinkedIn group or comment here on The Cabling Blog to weigh in.