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[MaximumZero]

I'm so taking creative writing next semester.

[Sir Pseudonymous]

My mouse has finally given out on me. D:

Related, if I cut open the cable near the usb plug, where it's apparently torn inside, solder the cable back together, and then wrap it in electrical tape, will it work again?

[Urist Imiknorris]

What do you have to lose by trying? It's already dead.

[Sir Pseudonymous]

What do you have to lose by trying? It's already dead.

Fire from improper insulation, some kind of inexplicable resonance that blows out my motherboard, who knows... Also now that I've opened up the cable, I find that there are five wires inside, four of which are insulated, and three of which are broken (two of the insulated ones by my bungling attempts to strip the insulation off, well, one of those, and the other by deliberate and misguided cutting because it looked broken...). I also find I have no electrical tape, only scotch and packing. I have no real clue what I'm doing beyond how to use a soldering iron, which I'm not even sure is the best course of action, but I really don't want to buy a new mouse. That's about the same as six packs of cheap cigarettes...

[Heron TSG]

a soldering iron, which I'm not even sure is the best course of action,

Don't use a soldering iron, use a soldering station. With complicated ICs and such, a normal soldering iron will become far too hot and melt things which should not melt.

I'm so taking creative writing next semester.

I can't wait for my college's Spring quarter. My friends and I are all taking Amateur Filmography, so we can make movies for fun and credit.

[Sir Pseudonymous]

Hmm... Deciding to take the easy way out, I searched around and found my older, equally dead for the exact reason mouse, of the exact same model as this one (yeah, I bought the same model, because it lasted me three years before breaking from rough treatment (constantly getting folded and unfolded and stuffed in a backpack), both times). This time, I was more careful opening it up, and found, in the exact same place, a roughly one to two millimeter gap in the loose copper wire (which is about as much as the gap in the other one too...). I assume I could bridge this without the use of solder, and then wrap it all up in... Something, hopefully generic packing tape will be a good enough insulator. My options are a piece of (unmelted) solder, a piece of scrap silver wire, a piece of a needle, tin foil, possible copper wire if I can find any laying around, or possible some of the same wire from the other mouse. Any suggestions?

[Heron TSG]

I'd recommend finding some of the same gauge of wire and soldering that in. If you connect the pieces improperly you could get a short or worse, arcing, which could blow up random components. If you use tape, electrical tape is good because it will neither melt nor conduct electricity.

[Vector]

Hee, I want to take another creative writing course when I go back to school... but it's not worth the trip up to get the application form, so not next semester.

I'm actually not sure if it will be worth it, but I'm still thinking about it, to be sure.

[Sir Pseudonymous]

The break has been in the cable for a while, during which time the mouse would function if the cable were bent in just the right way (I've been putting off fixing/replacing the mouse for months now), so presumably twisting in more of the same wire to it wouldn't be noticeably different. I also don't really have the room in it to solder it together, as I assume the heat of that could burn through the other nearby wires, and the only solder-related tools I have on hand are a soldering iron and a pencil torch, both of which are too unwieldy. (And just buying a new mouse would be cheaper than buying any better tool, since it was just $18.)

The wire is also a bundle of small loose copper wires, rather than a solid piece, if that affects what I should do.

[Heron TSG]

all the loose copper wires do is prevent quite as much induction, it should be fine if you twist in some wire really carefully. Don't leave any hanging out, though.

[Sir Pseudonymous]

Well, I bridged it as best I could, but it still doesn't register when plugged into a computer... I suppose there may be more problems hidden by insulation, or I just can't get it set right...

Edit: I've discovered that simply mashing the two ends together, sans bridge attempt, works. Problem: that bends the rest of the wires off at a weird angle, and I can't exactly rig the damn thing up to stay like that... >:|

Rolling aluminum foil around the two ends also works, but also only if held at an odd angle...

[Schilcote]

Well, I bridged it as best I could, but it still doesn't register when plugged into a computer... I suppose there may be more problems hidden by insulation, or I just can't get it set right...

Edit: I've discovered that simply mashing the two ends together, sans bridge attempt, works. Problem: that bends the rest of the wires off at a weird angle, and I can't exactly rig the damn thing up to stay like that... >:|

Rolling aluminum foil around the two ends also works, but also only if held at an odd angle...

Why can't you just buy a ne- OH GOD WHAT AM I SAYING!?!? I'M TURING INTO ONE OF THEM!
QUICK, I NEED A 10,000 VOLT NEON SIGN TRANSFORMER AND TWO COPPER RODS

[Sir Pseudonymous]

Because A) I don't want to spend $20 on a new mouse, and B) I want a working mouse now, instead of whenever I could get out to go to a store.

That said, I know what the problem is, just not how to fix it: though I may bridge the connection, the cable later twists, breaking it again, and I can't manage to secure it. Also, one side of the wire is becoming increasing thin and short, making it even harder to connect it in the first place... D:

So I need to both cut away more of the plug to get to that, and probably resort to trying to solder it together in the morning.

[ECrownofFire]

Not really sad, more like annoyed. I don't feel cold, but my body does, if that makes any sense. I like the cold, and I don't think it's cold, but my body insists on being cold (shivering and such) for some reason. It's not cold, dammit.

[Euld]

Talked with a friend about writing stories.  When I said I was interested in writing character driven, literature fiction, he reminded me how little money is made with such things (like I haven't heard that before), and when I mentioned I have a big plot hole problem in a story I'm working on, he started on a tirade I couldn't understand for twenty minutes.  Then he finally got around to real life examples (Harry Potter and Twilight) and I understood he was just telling me to not make my story predictable.  Actually he was telling me that attempting to solve a plot hole makes a story predictable (or "linear" as he put it) and that my story could use some more unpredictability and CHAOS... which would make them exactly like his stories.  I'm going to nab a sample of his writing from my brother to see what on earth he was talking about.

Also, symbology.  Apparently symbolism is not the correct term.