I'll see what they have in 18 months, and hopefully something better and cheaper will come out. Right now it's a powerbook, because that's what I have. Money will be an issue though. I'm selling off all my stuff on eBay before the trip.
I'll use a solar recharger for my digital camera batteries.
The laptop is just for keeping a blog. I'm not in any rush on the trip. It'll probably take me 3 years. Since I'm on a bike, I can't use it while I'm riding. It's a small bike that doesn't put out much power. Things would be much easier if I was on a BMW or a Goldwing. But I don't want a large bike.
I can change tires, and work on my bike. I don't know how much a satellite phone will cost, but I've been looking into that. I don't think calling AAA and saying "Uh, I'm in the middle of Madagascar with a blown tire. How long until a tow truck shows up?" will work. Hopefully when I fall off, I won't break any bones.
I don't mean to be a smart ass, oh wait, I mean to be a smart ass, but I don't mean to do it in a mean way. I'm keeping a sense of humor about this trip.
I'm telling my work, "Uh, I quit. I'll reapply in 3 years maybe".
One of the fun parts is I'm epileptic. I still haven't figured that one out yet.
That's dc to dc. The bike is ac. The alternator will probably put out about 100W. It also needs to run my headlight, my taillight, and my brakelight.
I don't know much about electronics, but I'm learning now.
Here's stuff I've heard from an electrical engineer who has old Ducatis:
First, if you choose to implement a charger running off the bike, the charger will have a cord that plugs into the computer presumably through the carrying case. You'll have to plan in advance how long the cord needs to be, and you'll have to route it so it doesn't conflict with any moving parts.
The AC configuration presents some special challenges. Batteries are DC creatures. A rectifier (a diode) handles the job of converting AC to DC nicely and cheaply.
We like to design something called a full-wave rectifier, because that uses both positive and negative AC (alternating current) cycles. The trouble is, you need a reference contact to the center of the AC transformer, which in your case is the bike.
The AC bike doesn't provide that. It can't be done because one side of the "transformer" is tied to the bike frame as a ground reference.
That means all you can implement is a half-wave rectifier. So exactly half the time you're getting some voltage, and the other half of the time you're getting no voltage whatsoever. You have to average the two together, so some voltage averaged with no voltage equals significantly less than some voltage.
Now we have DC voltage, but its pulsating DC. This isn't any good either. When the instantaneous DC voltage is above the voltage of the battery, the battery will charge. But when the DC pulse goes to zero volts during the unusable half-wave, of during the usable cycle when the DC voltage hasn't risen to the at least the same voltage as the battery, the battery will actually loose charge as it tries to send power to your charger!
So now another diode is needed to limit current flow to the battery and prevent current flow away from the battery.
Confused, I hope not. But there's more. We've got pulsating DC that's going from 0v to 10v DC. The 3.3 volt battery of the laptop might be destroyed by too high of a charging voltage. Now we need a special diode called a zener diode that regulates (not rectify) the voltage so we don't apply too much voltage to the battery.
So now, by using a few diodes, we're shooting a tiny charge into your battery when the voltage is above your battery level, but not above the upper limit of battery charge. So for a few milliseconds of every cycle, as the pulse of DC rises and then again as it falls we get a tiny amount of charge into the battery. We can make up some ground by adding a capacitor to store some energy which we take when the DC pulse is too high a voltage for the battery level. But still, we can never make up for the fact that we can't use exactly half of the AC cycle.
What I'm trying to get at here is that the constant 6 volts DC from a DC motorcycle can easily be regulated to the charging voltage of the batteries in order to supply a continuous recharge. The AC system would take some doing to make an effective charger for your laptop batteries.
You need to see what your AC adapter or your car adapter say their output voltage is to the laptop. They should be the same. Maybe it will say something like 3.5 VDC, and it might even give a current specification, like 100 mA or 500 mA.
You'll need a cord with the correct plug to mate with the laptop. I don't trust radio shack quality, but I'm not sure where else you can get the cord. If the car adapters are cheap enough, you can butcher one of those. They should have a higher quality cord.
Transformer Optimus Prime is in the "war"
on
Updates on War in Iraq
·
· Score: 4, Interesting
There's a picture of both Optimus Primes (Optimii Prime?) on the site.
National guardman changed his name to a toy
CUYAHOGA FALLS -- A member of Ohio's 5694th National Guard Unit in Mansfield legally changed his name to a Transformers toy.
Optimus Prime is heading out to the Middle East with his guard unit on Wednesday to provide fire protection for airfields under combat.
"On Sunday, we were awarded as the best firefighting unit in the Army National Guard in the entire country," said Prime. "That was a big moment for us."
Prime took his name from the leader of the Autobots Transformers, which were popular toys and a children's cartoon in the 1980s.
He legally changed his name on his 30th birthday and now it's on everything from his driver's licence, to his military ID, to his uniform.
"They razzed me for three months to no end," said Prime. "They really dug into me about it."
"I got a letter from a general at the Pentagon when the name change went through and he says it was great to have the employ of the commander of the Autobots in the National Guard."
Prime says the toy actually filled a void in his life when it came out.
"My dad passed away the year before and I didn't have anybody really around, so I really latched onto him when i was a kid," he said.
I really wish I had the money to patent that idea. It'd work, and then I'll make millions. Win 95 to 98. My patent. Netscape 4.79. My patent. That's why Slashdot hides their patent number. I'll own them in a lawsuit. Slashdot will become nothing but donkey sex gifs.
Are you talking about me? I'm kind of a musician (I just play bass), and I fell into programming. Now I "program" perl that parses html, pdf, and word files into text. I've been doing it for months and I didn't find out that PDF documents begin with %PDF until last week. I get other people's programs and get them to work. And they often started off a filter that already existed.
I should quit and find a job roaming malls dressed as Hello Kitty.
Tron wasn't nominated for an Oscar in visual effects because it used computers and wasn't animated. Andy Serkis wasn't nominated this time, but people will be nominated one day.
The Sims would be worth playing if you could kill.
I'd like to be a burglar or a killer. And I'd like it if I could release hords of locusts and rats carrying bubonic plague fleas.
If it's a game based on real life, where's the fun? A blurred out visit to a hot tub with a nekkid Sim? It's the violence in real life that makes it fun.
But it's not, so I have to release hords of locusts myself.
Just doing a quick scan of crime types on google, Sims should have: Abuse of the Disabled, Aircraft Hijacking, Animal Abuse, Arson, Child Abuse, Domestic Violence, Drunk Driving, Elder Abuse, Fraud, Genocide, Graffiti, Hate Crimes, Hazing, Homicide, Illegal Dumping, Kidnapping, Modern Slavery, Money Laundering, Police Brutality, Red Light Running, Sex Crimes, Speeding, Squatting, Stalking, Terrorism, Theft, Torture, and War Crimes.
Sometimes that's not enough to curb the desire to be a dickhead, so also remember this: these 14 year olds don't care what you say to them. They're getting paid minimum wage to be there and make very little commision. They've been desensitised by 10000 callers before, and I guarentee you:
I think the House passing a bill doesn't mean it's going to pass. Who pays the House & Senate more money? You or DMA? I doubt this will be one of the bones the gub'mint tosses us once in a while. Soon DMA will be saying that terrorists block telemarketers. Bush will announce that and say it's solid proof why we should bomb Iraq. All your base are belong to us. Somebody set us up the bomb.
My sister is manager at a large nationwide store. They were requiring overtime, but not paying for it. There was a class-action lawsuit. All the managers got paid a good chunk of change for that (the people in the lawsuit got even more, but I'm sure the lawyers got the most).
Now they have to clock in & out and can't work overtime. If they do it's time and a half.
No one I know has a minumum wage job. Or are you speaking of the 'freedom' to be unemployed? Check the unemployment figures.
You have a good life. Most people I know are working minum wage jobs or a dollar or two over minimum wage. I'm not fresh out of college either. But I know a lot of musicians which pretty much leads to a low paying job for some reason.
Just as not ALL countries in Europe turn a blind eye on smoking pot, not all States in the US toss you in jail for it either. Learn a little before you make such sweeping statements.
I'm confused on this one. What states don't toss you in jail for it? I don't mean to make such a sweeping statement -- I've only been to 40 states, so maybe it's the other 10 I haven't been to.
Whose country has posted border guards in another country, ostensibly to stop illegal immigrants?
Yeah! That's us! Stay away Mexicans! We've been doing that for years. 50 years ago we tossed the Japanese in internment camps. 100 years ago it was the Chinese. Based on that short record, we'll be tossing Muslims into jail shortly.
How about the 'freedom' to pay crushing taxes to give the slackers of society a free house. Or the 'freedom' to give to every family a monthly child benefit, regardless of need. I'd rather the money go to those who actually need it, not a government handout to a banker in London.
That's us again! Federal tax, state tax in most states, sales tax, gasoline tax, dmv fees, entrance fees to national parks, parking ticket fees, inheritance tax, blah blah blah fees & taxes. The US might not take 70% of what we make all at once, but it's got to be pretty danged close.
And welfare? That's mostly for large corporations. Corporations take way more than our poor people. But you probably don't know that since you don't know any minimum wage earners.
How about the 'freedom' to be forced to give your employees several weeks of vacation, regardless of merit? Yes, it is nice to have significant vacation time, but should I as an employer be forced to do that?
Yes they should. Why should employers be forced to make us work 40 hour weeks? Why, just a few decades ago, that was unheard of! The humanity of it all!
Should we have kept our military home during WWII? (and no, we did NOT win the war singlehandedly) You'd all be speaking German. The ones left alive, that is. Why did you beg for us to help out in Kosovo? Because you lacked the collective political will to do it yourselves.
That is a completely asinine question. I really don't know where to start with that one. I hope someone else takes it on.
Grow up a little, and get some time perspective. Learn what actually happens.
Yes, please grow up a little. It's easy to say America sucks, because it sucks. There's no country in the world that I'd rather live in, but being critical of the US government doesn't make me a pinko commie liberal.
You should learn how America works. Learn what actually happens. You tell the guy to quit watching the horrorshow on teevee -- which is good -- but how are you learning stuff? USA Today? Time magazine?
Okay, I got him to write it up for me. Here's what the locksmith has to say.
-------------- Actually...in a large master key system it's common to have a change key and a submaster(s) which operate any given lock. All it takes is one chamber to have more than one master chip in it to throw the process off. It's more likely that any given lock will be keyed this way (with at least one chamber having three distinct cuts for a master, submaster, change key) rather than all chambers having at least one cut in common amongst the three keys. It's mostly that even with all the right circumstances it's not as straightforward as "filing a bit". Even with a simple master key system hand filing a key is not a very accurate method for producing appropriate depths in a key. This is especially true in many commercial cylinders (where master key systems are more likely) with higher tolerances. If you file a little too deep and "put it in to see if it turns" it won't. At that point you're screwed. Continuing with the method you will file the key all the way down reaching the conclusion there is no master chip in that chamber. Even with assuming you get any of the other chambers with master chips correct you'll end up with a different working key but not a master. A cylinder with "dummy cuts" would reduce the permutations making it easier to produce a workable key but greatly increase the likelihood of producing a master key. That's assuming I know what he's talking about when he says "dummy cuts".
In the article the guy talks about starting with a key where the bitting is the same as the change key in every position except one (position p). Without access to a key machine this alone would be difficult. Then you'd have to do this for all 5 cuts on the key (more likely six and sometimes 7 cuts). He also talks about progressioning the depths of the key to appropriate depths which requires a key clipper or machine which not everyone has access to. They can be bought but not for 15 cents like a key. He more or less says all this in the article.
It's just that in general it's not as easy as getting a file and a handful of keys. It's still fun stuff to read about. Actually, it has practical uses if you wanted to generate a master key for a customer. But then only if the lock isn't easy to teardown (which it usually is) and if you have the proper equipment (key machines/clippers). For more sinister motives, the method would work fine if the circumstances were all right. In reality it's not going to be as easy as the geek on the geek board makes it sound. Basically, he's mostly just screwy.
That's a lot of geek talk about something that was probably just written for fun and wasn't read that way.
I don't know if you're actually checking this anymore since it's been a few days, but here goes.
He said that businesses often have a couple of different master keys. Say you're at a school. The teacher has a single key for her classroom (I know she'd have more but this is just an example). The janitor would have a master key for rooms and the janitor closet. The principal would have a master key for all the rooms at the school. So there's 2 different masters keys. You wouldn't know which master you'd have.
He also said if you picked open the lock (or figured out how to open it by cutting another key) that it's way easier to take the lock apart to figure out the master key. Since the guy talks about having a key cutter, he should know enough to take the lock apart to figure out the master(s) key.
He went on about it for 10 minutes and I can't remember all he said. Something about having at least 4 keys to do it, and a bunch of other stuff.
For recording and engineering it cost one band I'm in a pizza and a 12-pack. To print 2,000 singles it was around $1,000. We used wrapping paper with bunnies on it for the cover and painted on the band name and wrote dumb goofy titles. Photocopies for the insert were $20, (discount from a sympathetic Kinko's employee).
The recording was great. I'm really happy about it, which doesn't happen with a lot of recordings I've done.
A budget 7" I know, but it was the top listed alternative single in Rolling Stone. It's the issue of Gillian Anderson and David Duchovny in bed on the cover. A weird listing based on the top selling records at stores chosen at random.
Slashdot Mirror
Thanks, this is EXACTLY what I'm looking for. It hadn't even occured to me that I might not be able to even trickle charge the laptop.
I'll see what they have in 18 months, and hopefully something better and cheaper will come out. Right now it's a powerbook, because that's what I have. Money will be an issue though. I'm selling off all my stuff on eBay before the trip.
I'll use a solar recharger for my digital camera batteries.
The laptop is just for keeping a blog. I'm not in any rush on the trip. It'll probably take me 3 years. Since I'm on a bike, I can't use it while I'm riding. It's a small bike that doesn't put out much power. Things would be much easier if I was on a BMW or a Goldwing. But I don't want a large bike.
I can change tires, and work on my bike. I don't know how much a satellite phone will cost, but I've been looking into that. I don't think calling AAA and saying "Uh, I'm in the middle of Madagascar with a blown tire. How long until a tow truck shows up?" will work. Hopefully when I fall off, I won't break any bones.
I don't mean to be a smart ass, oh wait, I mean to be a smart ass, but I don't mean to do it in a mean way. I'm keeping a sense of humor about this trip.
I'm telling my work, "Uh, I quit. I'll reapply in 3 years maybe".
One of the fun parts is I'm epileptic. I still haven't figured that one out yet.
That's dc to dc. The bike is ac. The alternator will probably put out about 100W. It also needs to run my headlight, my taillight, and my brakelight.
I don't know much about electronics, but I'm learning now.
Here's stuff I've heard from an electrical engineer who has old Ducatis:
First, if you choose to implement a charger running off the bike, the charger will have a cord that plugs into the computer presumably through the carrying case. You'll have to plan in advance how long the cord needs to be, and you'll have to route it so it doesn't conflict with any moving parts.
The AC configuration presents some special challenges. Batteries are DC creatures. A rectifier (a diode) handles the job of converting AC to DC nicely and cheaply.
We like to design something called a full-wave rectifier, because that uses both positive and negative AC (alternating current) cycles. The trouble is, you need a reference contact to the center of the AC transformer, which in your case is the bike.
The AC bike doesn't provide that. It can't be done because one side of the "transformer" is tied to the bike frame as a ground reference.
That means all you can implement is a half-wave rectifier. So exactly half the time you're getting some voltage, and the other half of the time you're getting no voltage whatsoever. You have to average the two together, so some voltage averaged with no voltage equals significantly less than some voltage.
Now we have DC voltage, but its pulsating DC. This isn't any good either. When the instantaneous DC voltage is above the voltage of the battery, the battery will charge. But when the DC pulse goes to zero volts during the unusable half-wave, of during the usable cycle when the DC voltage hasn't risen to the at least the same voltage as the battery, the battery will actually loose charge as it tries to send power to your charger!
So now another diode is needed to limit current flow to the battery and prevent current flow away from the battery.
Confused, I hope not. But there's more. We've got pulsating DC that's going from 0v to 10v DC. The 3.3 volt battery of the laptop might be destroyed by too high of a charging voltage. Now we need a special diode called a zener diode that regulates (not rectify) the voltage so we don't apply too much voltage to the battery.
So now, by using a few diodes, we're shooting a tiny charge into your battery when the voltage is above your battery level, but not above the upper limit of battery charge. So for a few milliseconds of every cycle, as the pulse of DC rises and then again as it falls we get a tiny amount of charge into the battery. We can make up some ground by adding a capacitor to store some energy which we take when the DC pulse is too high a voltage for the battery level. But still, we can never make up for the fact that we can't use exactly half of the AC cycle.
What I'm trying to get at here is that the constant 6 volts DC from a DC motorcycle can easily be regulated to the charging voltage of the batteries in order to supply a continuous recharge. The AC system would take some doing to make an effective charger for your laptop batteries.
You need to see what your AC adapter or your car adapter say their output voltage is to the laptop. They should be the same. Maybe it will say something like 3.5 VDC, and it might even give a current specification, like 100 mA or 500 mA.
You'll need a cord with the correct plug to mate with the laptop. I don't trust radio shack quality, but I'm not sure where else you can get the cord. If the car adapters are cheap enough, you can butcher one of those. They should have a higher quality cord.
http://www.wkyc.com/news/news_fullstory.asp?id=382 8
There's a picture of both Optimus Primes (Optimii Prime?) on the site.
National guardman changed his name to a toy
CUYAHOGA FALLS -- A member of Ohio's 5694th National Guard Unit in Mansfield legally changed his name to a Transformers toy.
Optimus Prime is heading out to the Middle East with his guard unit on Wednesday to provide fire protection for airfields under combat.
"On Sunday, we were awarded as the best firefighting unit in the Army National Guard in the entire country," said Prime. "That was a big moment for us."
Prime took his name from the leader of the Autobots Transformers, which were popular toys and a children's cartoon in the 1980s.
He legally changed his name on his 30th birthday and now it's on everything from his driver's licence, to his military ID, to his uniform.
"They razzed me for three months to no end," said Prime. "They really dug into me about it."
"I got a letter from a general at the Pentagon when the name change went through and he says it was great to have the employ of the commander of the Autobots in the National Guard."
Prime says the toy actually filled a void in his life when it came out.
"My dad passed away the year before and I didn't have anybody really around, so I really latched onto him when i was a kid," he said.
Everything is weighed for the "street value". The plant, the roots, the dirt on the roots....
I've been selling dirt that I'm claiming was around the roots of a pot plant for $150 a gram.
And goatse.cs is there in person. Just to get some attention.
I really wish I had the money to patent that idea. It'd work, and then I'll make millions. Win 95 to 98. My patent. Netscape 4.79. My patent. That's why Slashdot hides their patent number. I'll own them in a lawsuit. Slashdot will become nothing but donkey sex gifs.
Uh... that's what we already do.
Only it's the rich purchasing them like a product. I'm too busy playing ps2, watching teevee, or drinking in a bar to vote.
The Lottery is a good idea. Charge people $50 for not voting and use it as Lotto money.
I didn't know that. Soon I'll change my listing to IP Freely or maybe IC Weiner. Or both since it won't cost much.
The phone company runs what you tell them to run. You can have it run without an address -- they don't force you to.
The annoying thing about the phone company is that it costs you money to not be in the phone book.
Are you talking about me? I'm kind of a musician (I just play bass), and I fell into programming. Now I "program" perl that parses html, pdf, and word files into text. I've been doing it for months and I didn't find out that PDF documents begin with %PDF until last week. I get other people's programs and get them to work. And they often started off a filter that already existed.
I should quit and find a job roaming malls dressed as Hello Kitty.
Don't forget the blowjobs they get when they have 60 seconds to hack into the DOD. The secret is the code word is bush.
I'd read the article, but I'm too busy hunched over a desk writing code to keep NSA from invading my brain.
10: Get tinfoil
20: Apply to head
30: Return to 10
Tron wasn't nominated for an Oscar in visual effects because it used computers and wasn't animated. Andy Serkis wasn't nominated this time, but people will be nominated one day.
The Sims would be worth playing if you could kill.
I'd like to be a burglar or a killer. And I'd like it if I could release hords of locusts and rats carrying bubonic plague fleas.
If it's a game based on real life, where's the fun? A blurred out visit to a hot tub with a nekkid Sim? It's the violence in real life that makes it fun.
But it's not, so I have to release hords of locusts myself.
Just doing a quick scan of crime types on google, Sims should have: Abuse of the Disabled, Aircraft Hijacking, Animal Abuse, Arson, Child Abuse, Domestic Violence, Drunk Driving, Elder Abuse, Fraud, Genocide, Graffiti, Hate Crimes, Hazing, Homicide, Illegal Dumping, Kidnapping, Modern Slavery, Money Laundering, Police Brutality, Red Light Running, Sex Crimes, Speeding, Squatting, Stalking, Terrorism, Theft, Torture, and War Crimes.
Sometimes that's not enough to curb the desire to be a dickhead, so also remember this: these 14 year olds don't care what you say to them. They're getting paid minimum wage to be there and make very little commision. They've been desensitised by 10000 callers before, and I guarentee you:
You aren't that clever.
But I am that clever. I made a telemarketer cry.
I think the House passing a bill doesn't mean it's going to pass. Who pays the House & Senate more money? You or DMA? I doubt this will be one of the bones the gub'mint tosses us once in a while. Soon DMA will be saying that terrorists block telemarketers. Bush will announce that and say it's solid proof why we should bomb Iraq. All your base are belong to us. Somebody set us up the bomb.
This isn't IT, but it involves managers.
My sister is manager at a large nationwide store. They were requiring overtime, but not paying for it. There was a class-action lawsuit. All the managers got paid a good chunk of change for that (the people in the lawsuit got even more, but I'm sure the lawyers got the most).
Now they have to clock in & out and can't work overtime. If they do it's time and a half.
The much anticipated stand-up version of Custer's Revenge will have to wait.
It takes much longer to turn on your machine in the morning now than it did 20 years ago.
Could someone send him a computer with a cassette tape floppy? I'll kick in $5 for it.
If Madonna doesn't kill you, Courtney Love will. I'm sure they're both active on /. so you best be watching your back.
No one I know has a minumum wage job. Or are you speaking of the 'freedom' to be unemployed? Check the unemployment figures.
You have a good life. Most people I know are working minum wage jobs or a dollar or two over minimum wage. I'm not fresh out of college either. But I know a lot of musicians which pretty much leads to a low paying job for some reason.
Just as not ALL countries in Europe turn a blind eye on smoking pot, not all States in the US toss you in jail for it either. Learn a little before you make such sweeping statements.
I'm confused on this one. What states don't toss you in jail for it? I don't mean to make such a sweeping statement -- I've only been to 40 states, so maybe it's the other 10 I haven't been to.
Whose country has posted border guards in another country, ostensibly to stop illegal immigrants?
Yeah! That's us! Stay away Mexicans! We've been doing that for years. 50 years ago we tossed the Japanese in internment camps. 100 years ago it was the Chinese. Based on that short record, we'll be tossing Muslims into jail shortly.
How about the 'freedom' to pay crushing taxes to give the slackers of society a free house. Or the 'freedom' to give to every family a monthly child benefit, regardless of need. I'd rather the money go to those who actually need it, not a government handout to a banker in London.
That's us again! Federal tax, state tax in most states, sales tax, gasoline tax, dmv fees, entrance fees to national parks, parking ticket fees, inheritance tax, blah blah blah fees & taxes. The US might not take 70% of what we make all at once, but it's got to be pretty danged close.
And welfare? That's mostly for large corporations. Corporations take way more than our poor people. But you probably don't know that since you don't know any minimum wage earners.
How about the 'freedom' to be forced to give your employees several weeks of vacation, regardless of merit? Yes, it is nice to have significant vacation time, but should I as an employer be forced to do that?
Yes they should. Why should employers be forced to make us work 40 hour weeks? Why, just a few decades ago, that was unheard of! The humanity of it all!
Should we have kept our military home during WWII? (and no, we did NOT win the war singlehandedly) You'd all be speaking German. The ones left alive, that is. Why did you beg for us to help out in Kosovo? Because you lacked the collective political will to do it yourselves.
That is a completely asinine question. I really don't know where to start with that one. I hope someone else takes it on.
Grow up a little, and get some time perspective. Learn what actually happens.
Yes, please grow up a little. It's easy to say America sucks, because it sucks. There's no country in the world that I'd rather live in, but being critical of the US government doesn't make me a pinko commie liberal.
You should learn how America works. Learn what actually happens. You tell the guy to quit watching the horrorshow on teevee -- which is good -- but how are you learning stuff? USA Today? Time magazine?
Okay, I got him to write it up for me. Here's what the locksmith has to say.
--------------
Actually...in a large master key system it's common to have a change key and a submaster(s) which operate any given lock. All it
takes is one chamber to have more than one master chip in it to throw the process off. It's more likely that any given lock will be keyed
this way (with at least one chamber having three distinct cuts for a master, submaster, change key) rather than all chambers having at
least one cut in common amongst the three keys.
It's mostly that even with all the right circumstances it's not as straightforward as "filing a bit". Even with a simple master key system
hand filing a key is not a very accurate method for producing appropriate depths in a key. This is especially true in many commercial
cylinders (where master key systems are more likely) with higher tolerances. If you file a little too deep and "put it in to see if it turns"
it won't. At that point you're screwed. Continuing with the method you will file the key all the way down reaching the conclusion there
is no master chip in that chamber. Even with assuming you get any of the other chambers with master chips correct you'll end up with
a different working key but not a master.
A cylinder with "dummy cuts" would reduce the permutations making it easier to produce a workable key but greatly increase the
likelihood of producing a master key. That's assuming I know what he's talking about when he says "dummy cuts".
In the article the guy talks about starting with a key where the bitting is the same as the change key in every position except one
(position p). Without access to a key machine this alone would be difficult. Then you'd have to do this for all 5 cuts on the key (more
likely six and sometimes 7 cuts). He also talks about progressioning the depths of the key to appropriate depths which requires a key
clipper or machine which not everyone has access to. They can be bought but not for 15 cents like a key. He more or less says all
this in the article.
It's just that in general it's not as easy as getting a file and a handful of keys. It's still fun stuff to read about. Actually, it has practical
uses if you wanted to generate a master key for a customer. But then only if the lock isn't easy to teardown (which it usually is) and if
you have the proper equipment (key machines/clippers). For more sinister motives, the method would work fine if the circumstances
were all right. In reality it's not going to be as easy as the geek on the geek board makes it sound. Basically, he's mostly just
screwy.
That's a lot of geek talk about something that was probably just written for fun and wasn't read that way.
I don't know if you're actually checking this anymore since it's been a few days, but here goes.
He said that businesses often have a couple of different master keys. Say you're at a school. The teacher has a single key for her classroom (I know she'd have more but this is just an example). The janitor would have a master key for rooms and the janitor closet. The principal would have a master key for all the rooms at the school. So there's 2 different masters keys. You wouldn't know which master you'd have.
He also said if you picked open the lock (or figured out how to open it by cutting another key) that it's way easier to take the lock apart to figure out the master key. Since the guy talks about having a key cutter, he should know enough to take the lock apart to figure out the master(s) key.
He went on about it for 10 minutes and I can't remember all he said. Something about having at least 4 keys to do it, and a bunch of other stuff.
I wouldn't bet that there was no studio involved.
Drums don't record well live, so those are recorded in a studio. And the guitar player just can't sit there, they always need to record more stuff.
Live in Budakan was mostly recorded in a studio with audience stuff recorded from the show. I'm pretty sure all "live" records are recorded like that.
For recording and engineering it cost one band I'm in a pizza and a 12-pack. To print 2,000 singles it was around $1,000. We used wrapping paper with bunnies on it for the cover and painted on the band name and wrote dumb goofy titles. Photocopies for the insert were $20, (discount from a sympathetic Kinko's employee).
The recording was great. I'm really happy about it, which doesn't happen with a lot of recordings I've done.
A budget 7" I know, but it was the top listed alternative single in Rolling Stone. It's the issue of Gillian Anderson and David Duchovny in bed on the cover. A weird listing based on the top selling records at stores chosen at random.