Skip to main content

11yo lock-picker

This lass is not one of mine, but her dexterity seems to be up to the task of “bumping” a five-pin tumbler lock, armed only with an “blank” key and a gadget to nudge this key with.

The technique seems to involve rattling the key up & down fast enough that all of the tumbler pins happen to cross the shearway at the edge of the chamber (bore) all at once; gentle turning while this happens simply undoes the lock.

It’s an old enough technique that Isaac Newton wrote about it before suitable locks were even invented.

Do you feel secure now?

Comments

Stephen Thorne said…
Locks are just a sign that says "please don't open my door". They don't actually stop anyone who really wants to disobey the polite request.

Scary indeed.
28 August, 2006 08:00
Leon RJ Brooks said…
st: yup, it's just discomforting to have it pointed out by someone you'd tend to view (foolishly, methinks) as basically harmless.
28 August, 2006 18:14
Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

new life for an old (FTX) PSU, improved life for one human

the LEDs on this 5m strip happen to emit light centred on a red that does unexpectedly helpful things to (and surprisingly deeply within) a human routinely exposed to it. it has been soldered to a Molex connector, plugged into a TFX power supply from a (retired: the MoBo is cactus) Small Form Factor PC, the assorted PSU connectors (and loose end from the strip) have been taped over. the LED strip cost $10.24 including postage, the rest cost $0, the PSU is running at 12½% of capacity, consumes less power than a laptop plug-pack despite running a fan. trial runs begin today.
Post a Comment
Read more

every-application-is-part-of-a-toolkit at work

I have a LibreOffice Impress slideshow that I wish to turn into a narrated video. 1. export the slideshow as PNG images (if that is partially broken — as at now — at higher resolutions, Export Directly as PDF then use ‘pdftoppm’ (from the poppler-utils package) to do the same). 2. write a small C program (63 lines including comments) to display those images one at a time, writing a config file entry for Imagination (default transition: ‘cross fade’) based on when the image-viewer application (‘display,’ from the GraphicsMagick suite) is closed on each one; run that, read each image aloud, then close each image in turn. 3. run ‘Imagination’ over the config file to produce a silent MP4 video with the correct timings. 4. run ‘Audacity’ to record speech while using ‘SMPlayer’ to display the silent video, then export that recording as a WAV file. 4a. optionally, use ‘TiMIDIty’ to convert a non-copyright-encumbered MIDI tune to WAV, then import that and blend it with the speech (as a quiet b...
1 comment
Read more

boundaries

pushing the actual boundaries of the physical (not extremes, the boundaries themselves) can often remove barriers not otherwise perceived. one can then often resolve an issue itself, rather than merely stonewalling at the physical consequences of the issue.
Post a Comment
Read more