My earphones' cable has been oozing sticky goo for over a yer now

https://lemmy.sdf.org/post/40090995

This happened to the outer rubbery (soft plastic) housing on my bike U lock. For like 10 years it was great, then one first-ride-of-spring I grab it, and it’s like the entire thing was dunked in a pot of honey.
Rubberized coating does that eventually, especially if the ambient humidity is high.