Author Archives: Michael Froomkin

Locks (As We Know Them) Are Obsolete?

If this video is to believed, the traditional lock and key is an obsolete security system: something called the “bump key” opens most locks in seconds. More details in this paper by Barry Wels and Rop Gonggrijp, whose abstract reads,

How to open Mul-T-Lock (pin-in-pin, interactive, 7×7), Assa (6000 Twin), DOM (ix, dimple with ball), LIPS (Octro dimple), Evva TSC, ISEO (dimple & standard), Corbin, Pfaffenhain and a variety of other expensive mechanical locks without substantial damage, usually in under 30 seconds, with little training and using only inexpensive tools.

The authors, incidentally, identify themselves as members of Toool – The Open Organization Of Lockpickers.

Posted in Sufficiently Advanced Technology | 5 Comments

Maximum Hit Count

He’s a week old, eight days if you round up, but little Max already has 26 hits on Google. OK, seven of them are from relatives, but still.

Posted in Dan Froomkin | 2 Comments

Real-Life Happy Ending

Via TalkLeft (sporting a very nice new layout these days, by the way), a link to the LA Times’s account of the sort of real-life happy ending — horribly delayed, but still a happy ending — that you never believe when you see it in the movies.

In fact, if this isn’t going to be a major motion picture, or at least a made-for-TV movie soon, Hollywood deserves to be outsourced.

Posted in Etc | Comments Off on Real-Life Happy Ending

Digby Does Tinfoil

Digby thinks that GW Bush has lost face too often.

Posted in Politics: Tinfoil | 3 Comments

Calendar of US Military Dead in Iraq War

Calendar of 2,319 US Military Dead in Iraqi War. (Somewhat slow to load.)

Remember that this is only part of the casualties. You have to add

  • Allied military
  • Civilians
  • ‘Insurgents’ and other opposing forces
  • Domestic civil rights
Posted in Iraq | Comments Off on Calendar of US Military Dead in Iraq War

Excuses, Excuses

If Inside Higher Ed :: Coping With ‘Oy Vey’ Students is to be trusted as an accurate picture of what college teaching is like, our admissions office does quite a fine job of weeding out most of the really painful people.

Posted in U.Miami | Comments Off on Excuses, Excuses