Reporting to coworkers after I come back from a furry convention like:
@Dio9sys I'm not a furry, but I have used ferrets to pull cable, and they do a great job!
@nuintari
do you tie the cable to them and drop them in a vent or something?

@Dio9sys Basically, attach a pull string, drop into conduit, crawl space, or drop ceiling. Go to the other end and squeak a toy they have been trained to come to. Reward with treats!

I would NEVER drop a ferret into ductwork, I've had some get in on their own and it sucks to clean them afterward. Nor do I recomend using ductwork to run cabling, unless you are pulling rated cable through a a plenum.

@nuintari
good to know!

@Dio9sys I do not recommend this technique unless you are an exprienced ferret handler.

They can be.... unpredictable chaos tubes.

@nuintari @Dio9sys
I think the "easier" way uses a small parachute and compressed air

@RnDanger @Dio9sys

What you are describing is often called a conduit piston.

Yes, it works. For certain sizes of problems.

@nuintari @Dio9sys that's basically what the video is about from the screenshot above

@nuintari @Dio9sys My favourite way to give my carpet snake a workout was to bring out the plastic dryer-duct, then kneel down on the floor and run it around me... It didn't take much encouragement to get him into the tube, then, once he was about half way through, I'd put the two ends together, and let him run 10 or 15 times. :)

He would have been a great assistant for running cables in conduits. :)

@Dio9sys that one is so good, I shared it everywhere
@leberschnitzel
Tom Scott out of context could be a whole fedi bot
@Dio9sys oh yeah, I love that "my friends when we are trying to meet for DnD" supercut
@Dio9sys @Erased_Citizen Used to be a few at the local rolling stock factory.