I used to have power and headphone cords that lasted longer than three months.
And since the parrot-related build-up hasn’t worked, I’ll go ahead and mention the mode of failure: Any significant damage to the edge of the bowl causes a progressive failure of structural integrity. Because the bowls flex so easily, you end up with a growing crack that eventually breaks the bowl completely.
How about a spoiler alert next time?!
They are perfect for dosing coffee beans into the espresso grinder for single dose grinding. Also for inverting over the grinder chute as a sort of plunger for blowing out loose grinds.
Thought: some sort of metallic fiber reinforced cord-wrapping tape. Underground cables tend to be armored with steel or lead. Would something similar work for parrot- or cat-proofing?
Would ordinary heavier-duty shielded cabling work? Would copper braiding in them be enough to stop the parrot from getting through?
Could this kind of armoring be manufactured as a heat-shrink tube? E.g. longitudal steel wires embedded in the shrinky plastic?
Parrot beaks can exert really impressive pressure. Tape won’t work because you can’t predict the direction of the pressure. If you can bend the tape to wrap it, the parrot can crush it along the same plane. In my case, cable management stretch wrap does the trick because it’s too big to comfortably chew (it’s a pretty small parrot). However, that isn’t a practical solution for my computer headset.
Curiously, it’s not the cable itself that’s suffering parrot damage. It’s the insulation. This particular WLM (world’s largest moth) will carefully nibble off all the plastic coating, leaving the wire largely intact. Of course, without the coating the wire itself is much more likely to fail due to bending stress…
Oh, and since I’ve now massively derailed this discussion already, I’ll throw in a parrot question. What is it with conures and cave-like spaces? Hiding inside shirt collars, talking into the space behind the bed and the wall…
And it’s not just mine, there’s third-party photo evidence: http://s99.photobucket.com/user/manc_02/media/DSCI2247.jpg.html
(I’d post some of my own, but Cameras Are Evil and I’m liable to get a finger bitten off)
I don’t have much silicone, but I do have a bunch of silicone ice trays. Behold! Ice cube TARDIS!
(Yes, there is a crack. Yes, I find that funny.)
Behold! Ice cube firefly!
Behold! Ice cube… Err… Cube!
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They did clearly state above that the Tardis was cracked… 
I sometimes wonder how many gadgets enter Mark Frauenfelder’s house on a weekly basis… It has to be a lot. Thanks for the trailblazing!
I bought a set of these the last time they were mentioned on BoingBoing, and I have used the heck out of them 
This is that mention, Mark’s post is from 2015. (@orenwolf, time warp again!)
I bought a bunch then too, but from aliexpress where they were $1 for 4. Quite useful.
Mark opened it, presumably on purpose 
My recycler (in California) won’t take it. I suspect nearly all residential silicone ends up in a land fill.
*side eye
They’d better not start dancing…
