On Feb 16, 10:28*pm, "Existential Angst" wrote:

Regarding locks: *cheap locks are pickable, Medeco and a few others are not.

No, Medeco and a few others are, maybe way more difficult to pick, but
there are no locks (according to a couple of locksmiths I've spoken
with) that are truly pick proof. None.

On Feb 16, 10:08*pm, Frank J Warner
wrote:
In article
,





rangerssuck wrote:
I thought now would be a good time to relate a story about locks.

I've always had a passing interest in locks and lock picking, but it
was just that - a passing interest. Until a few years ago when I
picked up a rental video on lock picking. Holy crap, says I, It can't
really be that easy, can it? So, I bought a cheap set of lock picks,
and took a whack at it. It really was THAT easy.

The 15 year old kid from down the street happend to stop by, and I
showed him my new-found "skill." After I spent a couple of minutes
explaining what goes on with the pins inside a lock cylinder, he
proceeded to pick my front door lock.

A long time ago, a locksmith told me, "Locks are to keep honest people
honest. If a bad guy wants to get in, he's going to get in." After my
brief experience with picking various locks, I believe him.

Anyway, I thought y'all might like the story.

Locks. Phhht! Who needs 'em?

I've lived my house for 22 years and have never once locked my front
door. I don't even know where the keys are. Not even after the major
remodel in 2004.

I have a padlock on my workshop door, but I think it's rusted open.
Don't know where that key is, either.

Went to Vegas for 5 days last month and left everything open, mainly so
the neighbor kid could come in and feed the cat twice a day. Came back,
the cat was fed, and all my stuff was still there.

It's location, actually. I live next door to a sheriff's substation.
Patrol cars coming and going at all hours of the day & night. They wave
& smile as they go by. Some of you might not be so lucky . . . .

Frank

--
Here's some of my work:http://www.sharpbywarner.com- Hide quoted text -

- Show quoted text -

Growing up, my father was a doctor, and he had his office in the
house. We did not have keys for any of the doors. We'd go away on
vacations and just leave the doors unlocked. There was never a
problem.

Things have changed.

On 2011-02-17, Frank J Warner wrote:

[ ... ]

Locks. Phhht! Who needs 'em?

I've lived my house for 22 years and have never once locked my front
door. I don't even know where the keys are. Not even after the major
remodel in 2004.

[ ... ]

It's location, actually. I live next door to a sheriff's substation.
Patrol cars coming and going at all hours of the day & night. They wave
& smile as they go by. Some of you might not be so lucky . . . .

Living next to the sheriff's substation is one contributing
factor.

What about where in the country you are living. The fact that
it is Sheriff's suggests rather rural or small town.

In the Washington DC vicinity -- things are not so good. We
used to not lock the car in our own parking (fairly far off the street).
but some kids opened the door and helped themselves to a flashlight and
a pair of sunglasses from the glove compartment. I suspect that the
sunglasses disappointed them. They were in a Ray-Ban case, but were
cheap plastic lenses instead.

In the suburbs, where I live, the closer you live to a Metro
stop (subway/aboveground mass transit), the more likely that someone
will take the Metro to be able to rob a more affluent population, and
then return to where they live using the same transport.

I don't have a serious lock system. Just the key in the
doorknob setup. But it is easy for someone to break the window right
beside it, reach in and turn the inside knob to get in. If I wanted to
protect against that, I would have to have a steel door (or at least
steel plate over wood -- say 14 Gauge or so bolted to both sides with
carriage bolts, then set up one of the "knuckle" locks, except with
another keyhole on the inside. I would have to use keys to lock and
unlock the door from either side.

But (I am far enough away from the Metro stop so I won't worry
that much. :-)

And I would sort of like seeing a couple of young thieves trying
to steel my 24" DiAcro brake. It is *not* a feather. :-) And most of
the stuff I have is weird enough so they would have difficulty knowing
what was worth anything and what was not. The Nichols mill would be
even more difficult to move. Same for the 12x24" Clausing lathe.

I'm pretty sure that my apartment years ago (before the Metro
even existed) was entered a few times while I was at work or elsewhere,
but nothing looked valuable to the typical thief. (And it was not a
high-income area, anyway. :-) The firearms were in a security file
cabinet which they would not be equipped to open, and since it was
mostly file cabinet, it did not look as though it had anything worth
stealing anyway.

Instead -- I just try to not look prosperous (because I am not).
I find myself wondering what effect putting the metalized tape on the
ground floor windows would have? Make it look protected by a fire
alarm, or make it look too prosperous?

Enjoy,
DoN.

--
Remove oil spill source from e-mail
Email: | Voice (all times): (703) 938-4564
(too) near Washington D.C. | http://www.d-and-d.com/dnichols/DoN.html
--- Black Holes are where God is dividing by zero ---

Generally, the small cameras that can be easily hidden, and have the tiny
lens openings aren't going to produce good resolution with anything less
than nearly bright sunlight or brightly-lit spaces.. such as watching your
yard during the day.
I have a couple of the helmet-cam types that work well at high light levels,
such as bright daylight, but are only barely adequate in reduced light
levels (and color is lost).

I have a good collection of Sony commercial grade cameras, from the very
compact XC types to 3-CCD studio/laboratory DXC types.
The XC models are approximately 1" square, by 4 to 6" long.. and can be
disguised as something else in housings which don't look out of place where
they're located, with a little creativity. The XCs have been in use for
years in movie making and commercial applications.
The DXC models are approx 3" square and fairly large with full-feature
lenses.. but the video is broadcast quality. These are often adapted to
microscopes and other lab equipment.

Commercial cameras frequently have S-video outputs (2 cables) which produce
clearer video, when recorded with S-video recorders.
Plain composite video signals (1 cable) are already partially degraded by
combining the luminance and chroma signals.

Lots of sellers throw the term "high resolution" around for cheap cameras..
but for a difference that can easily be seen, the real resolution should be
over 700 lines.
General TV viewing on older CRTs was around 400 lines. A similar comparison
would be to watch an old VHS movie on regular CRT TV compared to a DVD movie
on a LCD TV.

Much of the equipment on the market for the purpose of surveillance is only
good for detecting movement. Actual identification of people often isn't
possible.

Most video equipment will be next to useless in complete darkness, and by
providing areas with good lighting, many criminals will stay away.

--
WB
..........


wrote in message
...
How would you define "good quality" ? Cams and Rec
equipment?

thanks

gary





Many of the cheap surveillance/security cameras (including models with IR
light sources) won't get good enough identity details for evidence
(especially if the lighting is poor), good quality cameras and recording
equipment will capture much clearer images.

On 2011-02-22, Wild_Bill wrote:

[ ... ]

Most video equipment will be next to useless in complete darkness, and by
providing areas with good lighting, many criminals will stay away.

Of course, you can get cameras which are sensitive in the near
IR, and use IR illumination (either lamps and filters, or IR LEDs). The
IR sensitive cameras do have some intersting side effects. Light
synthetic fabrics are almost transparent to near IR, especially in
contact with the skin.

But -- isn't having the criminals stay away the idea? :-)

Enjoy,
DoN.

--
Remove oil spill source from e-mail
Email: | Voice (all times): (703) 938-4564
(too) near Washington D.C. | http://www.d-and-d.com/dnichols/DoN.html
--- Black Holes are where God is dividing by zero ---

Many folks are still living with Great Depression economic standards.. leave
a light on all night? That's idiotic, I'm not a
Rockefeller/Carnegie/Westinghouse.

Then they buy numerous cheap "0-lux" cameras and a couple of PCs and
on-'n-on technology because the thieves just keep coming back.
Recall Tom and his after-hours visitors?
Maybe extra lighting in that run-down industrial area might not have kept
those thieves away, but it will be a significant deterrent in most
locations.

The thing is, IR is visible with common devices.. which makes it easy to
avoid, and IR cameras are fairly easily defeated.

There are some very good quality machine vision IR-sensitive video cameras
available as used surplus.. again, not retail store merchandise.

Getting the crooks to walk right up to a camera is about the only way in
which the typical home surveillance camera is going to be helpful in
identifying a face well enough to be considered actual evidence, IMO.

I've watched surveillance recordings from retail store installations where
the store lighting is nearly perfect, but because of time-lapse settings
(less than 30 FPS), actual identification of individuals' faces isn't easy.

--
WB
..........


"DoN. Nichols" wrote in message
...
On 2011-02-22, Wild_Bill wrote:

[ ... ]

Most video equipment will be next to useless in complete darkness, and by
providing areas with good lighting, many criminals will stay away.

Of course, you can get cameras which are sensitive in the near
IR, and use IR illumination (either lamps and filters, or IR LEDs). The
IR sensitive cameras do have some intersting side effects. Light
synthetic fabrics are almost transparent to near IR, especially in
contact with the skin.

But -- isn't having the criminals stay away the idea? :-)

Enjoy,
DoN.

--
Remove oil spill source from e-mail
Email: | Voice (all times): (703) 938-4564
(too) near Washington D.C. |
http://www.d-and-d.com/dnichols/DoN.html
--- Black Holes are where God is dividing by zero ---