I feel like there's some hidden complexity there. For any finite flat surface there's a point where not all the spaghetti will fit on it simultaneously. So you have to do O(N) compression steps to find the bundle with the long strand. Locating the strand within the bundle also seems non-trivial if it's big enough. Both are easier to see if you start thinking about scaling to sorting like, square miles of spaghetti at a time.