• Martin (unregistered) in reply to Olddog

    I must say the bickering over the yardstick term started retarded and hasn't gotten any better.

  • Max (unregistered) in reply to Uncoolperson
    Uncoolperson:

    java hack?

    That's awesome. Much better than yardstick discussion.

    At the last place I worked we had RFID in, "button in annoying place" out, and "power switch in the ceiling space outside the door" for emergency entry when I was working late. Thank god for being tall, I could actually flick it just by removing the ceiling tile and reaching up.

    Max
     

  • yomomma (unregistered) in reply to woohoo
    Anonymous:
    marvin_rabbit:

    Gosh, I was getting pretty clear on the concept, but now I'm all confused again.  A yardstick is usually one yard in length?  I don't understand... under what circumstances is it not a yard in length?  And if it can be different lengths, then why is it called a yardstick?

    well, no.... in german speaking countries, (foldable) yardsticks are often called "zollstock" (especially by elder people). "stock" means of course "stick", and one "zoll" (~2.54 cm) is nearly exactly the same as one inch. now, firstly, "zoll" is an old measure that is not in use anymore, because we've been using the metric system for quite a long time. and secondly, even if it was still in use, the stick (whether foldable or not) is certainly not exactly one "zoll" i.e. inch long. so, "yardstick" does not literally mean "stick exactly one yard in length", it just means "stick used for distance measurements with markings in inch/yards on it". imagine this device being called "centimeterstick", would you then assume it is precisely one centimeter long? many do say "zentimetermass" or "metermass" instead of "zollstock" in german, which literally translates to "centimeter -" or "meter measure" respectively. I've very seldom seen one of these to be exactly one meter long (though this is sometimes used by taylors), and never ever one centimeter long. see? you're taking it waaay to literal... ;o)

    captcha: perfection .... for the 2nd time today, I'm really going to blush...;o)

     

    Uh every yardstick is at least 1 yard long, possibly more.  The same for your 'zollstock' - each zollstock is at least 1 zoll long, possibly more. duh. anyways, I have 'perfection' now bish!!

  • yomomma (unregistered)

    Another thing, the picture is of a residential home not of a corporate office building. You can clearly see the porch, and stove in the drawings. This also happens to be a plan for a building in the UK as you can read "WC" for the bathroom. The type of pen displayed is not used for drafting (due to leakage issues), but more commonly for signing and calligraphy work.

  • (cs) in reply to Martin
    Anonymous:

    Volmarias:
    why the R)*!&%()!*&@$ do these forums insist in popping in  's instead of spaces? It screws up my formatting!

     Because multiple space characters are reduced to a single space when HTML is rendered.
     



    Which is fine and dandy, except that I'm not using multiple spaces, and the forum software will just start picking some arbitrary point in the middle of my paragraph to start inserting them. I suspect that it's when I type enough that it has to break onto the next line, except it's not consistant.

    Unfortunately, it means that instead of displaying nicely formatted paragraphs, it displays giant chunks of text, all in a line, so that it looks how it looked when I typed it, not how it looks at whatever resolution you're using.
  • (cs) in reply to Olddog
    Anonymous:
    BitTwiddler:

    fluffy777:
    I like how the focus of the picture is on the bathroom.

     ...while we're on the subject, have you ever noticed that the "emergency exit plan" maps are detailed down to the level of showing which way the stall doors open? As if you're going to run out into the elevator lobby with your pants down around your ankles and your hair on fire, to check whether the stall door swings in or out, left or right?

    I like the Mount Blanc pen.  I signals authority and approval. As if some executive has gone over the bathroom plans, and has finally signed off, after much deliberation.



    I love those pens. They go great with my Folex watches, my Ferrar-eee car, my Amarno suits, and my Cousinart kitchen appliances.
  • (cs) in reply to Martin

    Not to veer too off-topic, but I've always had somewhat of a fascination with definitions of units of measure; I mean you can't really define a fundamental unit of measurement in absolute terms.  It is generally known that the "foot" started out as literally the length of one's foot, but somewhere along the way a standard was eventually settled upon.  For some reason we think that the "meter" has more scientific validity (probably because it is one of the primary units of measurement in the SI).  But the "meter" is just as arbitrary as the "foot".  I'm not going to get into "imperial" vs "metric" (I like both), but read http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Metre and tell me why "meter" is more scientifically sound than "foot".

  • Vlad Patryshev (unregistered) in reply to Martin

    Yeah... when our team of Russian Programmers was visiting offices of our Swedish partners in Stockholm, we never had problems with getting through their "swedish security" doors - any card, knife, probably even a piece of cardboard helped to open any door in the building; by our Russian law-ignoring habits we never bothered to ask anyone to help us get in.

     Later someone kind of learned about this Russian Penetrating Ability. A bunch of laptops were stolen during lunch time the day we arrived. Rumors were spread in advance that Russians may be stealing laptops. Our luck was that our plane was late, so we arrived a couple of hours after the laptops were stolen; so we heard the rumors but not the accusations. Somehow we found it all funny; I would not now.
     

  • (cs) in reply to woohoo
    Anonymous:
    darin:
    To add insult to injury, as soon as I got out it started raining, and the lobby exit was as far as possible from the train stop at the rear of the site.

    This wouldn't by chance be a building of a well-known german company in vienna/austria?

    Nope, Finnish company.  The train was mostly used by locals who left from the rear entrance (and other smaller companies and residents nearby).  Whereas visitors and out-of-town employees usually took taxis picked up at the front.  I preferred taking the train (cheaper, excuse to walk through green areas, fewer receipts, etc).

    At another site I arrived just as they finished a fire drill.  I didn't have a keycard for that location, so I just entered the building with the rest of the masses while the doors were open.  When I called my contact he was surprised that I was already inside.

  • skztr (unregistered) in reply to newfweiler

    Kssh!

    Kssh! 

  • (cs) in reply to luke727
    luke727:

    Not to veer too off-topic, but I've always had somewhat of a fascination with definitions of units of measure; I mean you can't really define a fundamental unit of measurement in absolute terms.  It is generally known that the "foot" started out as literally the length of one's foot, but somewhere along the way a standard was eventually settled upon.  For some reason we think that the "meter" has more scientific validity (probably because it is one of the primary units of measurement in the SI).  But the "meter" is just as arbitrary as the "foot".  I'm not going to get into "imperial" vs "metric" (I like both), but read http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Metre and tell me why "meter" is more scientifically sound than "foot".

    Because it's used by the scientific community.

    Because it is consistent, and advances in multiples of 10. This makes it much easier to use in math.

    The imperial system, using 12 inches and 5280 feet, is much more difficult to use and so is not used by the scientific community (they have more important problems to figure out).

    They may be arbitrary, but metric was arbitrarily chosen for ease of scientific use, while imperial was arbitrarily chosen for ease of pre-rulers use.

  • CeMe (unregistered) in reply to luke727

    luke727:
    read http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Metre and tell me why "meter" is more scientifically sound than "foot".

    Its decimal. 

  • (cs) in reply to woohoo
    Anonymous:
    marvin_rabbit:

    Gosh, I was getting pretty clear on the concept, but now I'm all confused again.  A yardstick is usually one yard in length?  I don't understand... under what circumstances is it not a yard in length?  And if it can be different lengths, then why is it called a yardstick?

    well, no.... in german speaking countries, (foldable) yardsticks are often called "zollstock" (especially by elder people). "stock" means of course "stick", and one "zoll" (~2.54 cm) is nearly exactly the same as one inch. now, firstly, "zoll" is an old measure that is not in use anymore, because we've been using the metric system for quite a long time. and secondly, even if it was still in use, the stick (whether foldable or not) is certainly not exactly one "zoll" i.e. inch long. so, "yardstick" does not literally mean "stick exactly one yard in length", it just means "stick used for distance measurements with markings in inch/yards on it". imagine this device being called "centimeterstick", would you then assume it is precisely one centimeter long? many do say "zentimetermass" or "metermass" instead of "zollstock" in german, which literally translates to "centimeter -" or "meter measure" respectively. I've very seldom seen one of these to be exactly one meter long (though this is sometimes used by taylors), and never ever one centimeter long. see? you're taking it waaay to literal... ;o)

    captcha: perfection .... for the 2nd time today, I'm really going to blush...;o)

    I've never seen a yardstick that isn't 36 inches (or very close to 36 inches). MOST yard sticks are exactly 36 inches, while some have leading and trailing edges and are actually slightly more than 36 inches. If the thing was 6 feet long well its no longer a yardstick. Its something else.

    So yes, if you call something a yardstick I'm going to assume its precisely one yard long (or very close to it) If you call it an inchstick I'm going to assume you are a moron and I wouldn't have a clue what you are talking about.

     By definition a yardstick is a stick a yard long, used for measuring.

  • Anonymous (unregistered)

    Nice. I had a professor who worked for a large defense contractor.. down in the secure area where she worked if you flushed the toilet it would set off the intrusion alarm.

  • (cs)

    I used to work for a very large international bank. Our doors were not that cool. Just plain old mag-stripe cards that we'd swipe. When I left, I went to turn in my card, but the secretary told me to keep it so that I could still get the employee discount at the cafeteria (they actually had pretty good food, and it was 35% off). A month or two after I left, I was stopping up at the office to visit some of the gang or meet them for something. I got to the door and, just for the hell of it, tried my card. Still worked.

  • (cs) in reply to Anonymous

    Anonymous:
    Nice. I had a professor who worked for a large defense contractor..
     

     

    When I first read that, I saw, "...worked for a large defenestrator." Now that's my kind of job!

     

  • (cs)

    Not quite the same level of WTF, but when I was a kid, my dad owned a restaurant. He got an Apple IIe to do his payroll. I HAD to get my hands on that thing. I was in a locked office though. Lucky for me, there was a 2- or 3-inch gap at the bottom of the door. I got a 3-foot long piece of some dowel or tubing or something, put some sort of putty or similar goop on the end, reached under the door, and undid the lock. (It was just the little knob in the center of the doorknob that you'd twist a quarter or half turn.)

     Oh, yeah, and he also kept his Playboys in there.

  • (cs) in reply to Erzengel
    Erzengel:
    luke727:

    Not to veer too off-topic, but I've always had somewhat of a fascination with definitions of units of measure; I mean you can't really define a fundamental unit of measurement in absolute terms.  It is generally known that the "foot" started out as literally the length of one's foot, but somewhere along the way a standard was eventually settled upon.  For some reason we think that the "meter" has more scientific validity (probably because it is one of the primary units of measurement in the SI).  But the "meter" is just as arbitrary as the "foot".  I'm not going to get into "imperial" vs "metric" (I like both), but read http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Metre and tell me why "meter" is more scientifically sound than "foot".

    Because it's used by the scientific community.

    Because it is consistent, and advances in multiples of 10. This makes it much easier to use in math.

     

    These are advantages of the metric system, but not of why the meter is the specific length it is. I believe the other guy's point was something to the effect of, "A foot is the length of a man's foot. What's the basis for the definition of a meter tha makes it any less arbitrary?" If memory serves, it was supposed to be 1/36,000,000 of the circumference of the earth.

     

  • (cs) in reply to Compulsion
    Anonymous:

    gsmalleus:
    You would think that the company that makes these secure doors would have done a bit more testing and had a better design for their doors.

    You must be new here :) 

    Stumbled upon this site last week and have been reading it every day.
     

    sparked:
    Anyone else at HOPE in 2002? A security consultant on one panel there mentioned startling a number of CEO's by greeting them from behind their own desk during using this trick. "They call me unprofessional", he said.

    I wasn't at the 2002 HOPE but was at the 2004 and 2006 HOPE Conferences.

    Anonymous:

    Don't suppose we could get a url / pic?

    Hope 2002 Conference Website

    Main Hope Conference Website 

     

     

     

     

     

  • DrJake (unregistered) in reply to gsmalleus

    Just be glad that they don't have any jeffries tubes in the building. The always seem to mess up any borg plans and allow start-trek members to roam free around the ship.

    captcha: Zork! 

  • (cs) in reply to fly2

    Anonymous:
    Mind you, this was not a high security area, just a normal office building and just one of 4 doors, the other 3 requiring a key or the receptionist opening the door for you

     

    When G.R.G. returned the following week, he noticed that the doors -- all 650 throughout the building -- were hastily retrofitted with poorly-cut metal flanges to cover up the small slit between the doors.

     
    4 doors...
     

  • Winston (unregistered) in reply to PeaceOut

    Anonymous:
    You are right, but they needed to take it a step further.  They needed "dual tech" motion detectors that couple PIR and a zoned motion detector...

    That's the same faulty thinking (overcomplicated door system) that got them in trouble in the first place. What's wrong with an exit button you have to actually push, and using doors where you can't slide things through a gap? Or using the same RFID sensor to trigger the door from both sides, for both entrance and exit if you really want to use technology where there's absolutely no need?

     

  • Crazy Dave (unregistered) in reply to voodooless
    voodooless:

    Anonymous:
    Mind you, this was not a high security area, just a normal office building and just one of 4 doors, the other 3 requiring a key or the receptionist opening the door for you

     

    When G.R.G. returned the following week, he noticed that the doors -- all 650 throughout the building -- were hastily retrofitted with poorly-cut metal flanges to cover up the small slit between the doors.


    4 doors...
     

     See I read this as they retrofitted EVERY door (including the non-security ones) with flanges. Wouldnt surprise me, facilities personnel are bastards for making up stuff to do on weekends for extra money.....

     captcha: Whiskey......yes please.

  • (cs) in reply to yomomma

    Anonymous:
    Another thing, the picture is of a residential home not of a corporate office building. You can clearly see the porch, and stove in the drawings. This also happens to be a plan for a building in the UK as you can read "WC" for the bathroom. The type of pen displayed is not used for drafting (due to leakage issues), but more commonly for signing and calligraphy work.

    Doesn't necessarily have to be the UK just because of the "WC".  My in-laws live smack dab in the middle of nowhere Finland, don't speak a lick of english and have "WC" on their bathroom door.

     

  • Leonard of Pisa (unregistered) in reply to CeMe

    I'd say that having 12 inches is fractionally better than having 10

    12 has the following factors in its favour 1,2,3,4,6 and 12 whereas 10 can only manage 1,2,5 and 10

  • (cs) in reply to Erzengel
    Erzengel:
    luke727:

    Not to veer too off-topic, but I've always had somewhat of a fascination with definitions of units of measure; I mean you can't really define a fundamental unit of measurement in absolute terms.  It is generally known that the "foot" started out as literally the length of one's foot, but somewhere along the way a standard was eventually settled upon.  For some reason we think that the "meter" has more scientific validity (probably because it is one of the primary units of measurement in the SI).  But the "meter" is just as arbitrary as the "foot".  I'm not going to get into "imperial" vs "metric" (I like both), but read http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Metre and tell me why "meter" is more scientifically sound than "foot".

    Because it's used by the scientific community.

    Because it is consistent, and advances in multiples of 10. This makes it much easier to use in math.

    The imperial system, using 12 inches and 5280 feet, is much more difficult to use and so is not used by the scientific community (they have more important problems to figure out).

    They may be arbitrary, but metric was arbitrarily chosen for ease of scientific use, while imperial was arbitrarily chosen for ease of pre-rulers use.

    Yes, moving between units can be a pain in imperial.  However, in real life that doesn't happen very often.  When one is doing scientific calculations with imperial, one typically picks a unit and sticks with it.  It may be a pain to deal with 3 yards 1 foot 6 inches, but 10.5 feet is no more or less convenient than metric.  "It uses multiples of ten" is not a very compelling argument.

     
    Metric starts to show its convenience in the ways that the fundamental units combine.  It is much easier to measure in metric, and then express a result as watts or joules than to use horsepower or BTU.
     

  • wtf (unregistered) in reply to RevMike

    what happens when power in the building (and to the doors in particular) gets cut out in an emergency?

  • (cs) in reply to wtf

    Many of these kinds of doors do what is called fail-safe as opposed to fail-secure.  That is, if anything goes wrong (internal problem, power issues, etc.) the door goes into a state where it can be opened.  For example, magnetic locks work when energized so if the power goes, the lock releases.  In the event of failure, the door is safe.  I think that fire regulations (in the US at least) require fail-safe doors on all evacuation paths.

    Some doors with internal solenoids (on the door, not the frame) work the same way - they can be designed as locked-when-energized instead of unlocked-when-energized. If your doors always feel warm around their lock area, you likely have a locked-when-energized kind of system.

    These kinds of systems are usually connected somehow to emergency systems (fire, gas, etc.) so that the doors all open up allowing easy exit in an emergency (and a security risk as well).

    For the above doors, my guess would be that they could be slid open by hand with the power cut, like an unlocked elevator door.

    Peace!

  • David Raho (unregistered)

    The work around to the retro fitted flanges is a thin black document wallet open at one side.  Just insert through the gap and slide up rapidly and hey presto the door opens.  I used it all the time when I forgot my keys in high tech prison establishments and supposedly secure areas.  Armed with only a mug of tea, a sandwich, and a document folder. daraho.wordpress.com

  • (cs) in reply to jverd

    jverd:
    These are advantages of the metric system, but not of why the meter is the specific length it is. I believe the other guy's point was something to the effect of, "A foot is the length of a man's foot. What's the basis for the definition of a meter tha makes it any less arbitrary?" If memory serves, it was supposed to be 1/36,000,000 of the circumference of the earth.

    According to http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Metre the meter was originally defined as 1/10,000,000 of the distance between the equator and the north pole through Paris. However, since the meter was defined on provisional measurement results, it happens to be about 0.2 millimeters too short...

  • mnature (unregistered) in reply to jverd

    These are advantages of the metric system, but not of why the meter is the specific length it is. I believe the other guy's point was something to the effect of, "A foot is the length of a man's foot. What's the basis for the definition of a meter tha makes it any less arbitrary?" If memory serves, it was supposed to be 1/36,000,000 of the circumference of the earth.

    Oh, yes.  I can see how 1/36,000,000 of the circumference of the earth is a LOT LESS arbitrary than the length of a human foot.  Much more convenient for day-to-day use, too.  And the fact that the circumference of the earth changes constantly is not a problem, right?

    The big difference between using metric and english units, from my experience, is that when you use english units you are usually more comfortable with the idea of fractions.  Metric people want to use decimals for everything, and that is not a very precise way of doing business.  Keeping everything as a fraction up to the point of solving an equation, or even leaving the answer as a fraction, is simply a better way of handling numbers.  I even use a calculator that is set to default to fractions, rather than decimals.  But I'm an engineer, and allowed to behave oddly. 

    But, going along with the idea of different units of measurement:  There is a movement in the news towards using a unit called a "football field."  Something can be "as long as a football field" [length] or "as large as a football field" [area], without any other descriptor such as "football field, including endfields" or "canadian, as opposed to american, football field."  Seems to me that most of our measurement systems are somewhat failing, when we don't have an easily measured and established area and length that is within the range of the length and area of a football field.  The english system of measurement was useful for the type of work commonly done at that time by the majority of people, which was agriculture.  There is a void here, as far as expressing succinctly some types of measurements.  Could go back to acres and furlongs, because a football field is roughly one acre in area, and roughly two furlongs long [especially if you include the endfields].  But then again, maybe that's why a football field is the size that it is . . .

    Captcha:  quality  [at least it's not 6-sigma . . .]

  • (cs) in reply to Zylon

    Anonymous:
    For the life of me, I can't figure out why you described a yardstick as "approx a meter" in length instead of "exactly one yard".

    Because that's how people who don't live in the USA measure things

  • Ace (unregistered)

    I worked for a short while in Chattanooga, TN. The CEO was crazy as a loon and had mandated magnetic locks on all doors. The doors were flimsy as hell, I ripped the lock from the front door when I was in a hurry once but they had magnetic locks. The door into the development room was mounted on the inside of the room and opened inwards so the actual lock mechanism had to be mounted in the corridor which made it easy to open the lock with a screw driver and then open the door.

    The office building was (is) a one storey building with windows without bars. This was a problem. Instead of putting bars infront of the windows the CEO hired the worlds oldest guard with the worlds smallest gun to guard the place during the night. I could go on and on about this place.

    At one time I had to configure some rules for the firewalls and discovered that the security guy had set up anonymous ftp on the firewall (because he couldn't figure out how to set up a tunnel for the version control system) where the telecommuting developers left their code which the security guy then checked in to the version control system. This worked for a while and then they went over to mailing the source to the security guy instead and everybody forgot about the anonymous ftp until some enterprising lads in Canada discovered the ftp. So, when I added rules to the firewall I found heaps of porn and warez on our firewall. I went for a beer at the local hooters.

  • (cs) in reply to BitTwiddler
    BitTwiddler:
    Uncoolperson:
    BitTwiddler:

    fluffy777:
    I like how the focus of the picture is on the bathroom.

     ...while we're on the subject, have you ever noticed that the "emergency exit plan" maps are detailed down to the level of showing which way the stall doors open? As if you're going to run out into the elevator lobby with your pants down around your ankles and your hair on fire, to check whether the stall door swings in or out, left or right?

     you have a better way to represent a door?

    I'm thinking just the general location of the bathroom is sufficient for the emergency exit maps that I see posted in elevator lobbies, etc. But no, they have to show exactly how many stalls there are vs how many urinals.

    What? you don't map your exit strategy in advance of dropping a deuce?

  • r (unregistered) in reply to fluffy777

    ha ha

  • (cs) in reply to marvin_rabbit
    marvin_rabbit:

    Gosh, I was getting pretty clear on the concept, but now I'm all confused again.  A yardstick is usually one yard in length?  I don't understand... under what circumstances is it not a yard in length?  And if it can be different lengths, then why is it called a yardstick?

    (As long as you're going to get all nitpicky about an accurate and perfectly acceptable answer, I'm going to hold you to it.)



    Some "yardsticks" are marked with both metric and US measures. So they would be longer than a yard to hold a full meter (making them technically a meterstick). Also, I've seen many 1 foot rulers that have an extra 1/8th of an inch or so on each end. I presume this is so even if the ruler wears down a bit at the end, you can still measure out 12 inches (using the markings on the stick). Some yardsticks probably do this too.
  • DaBill (unregistered) in reply to wyz

    just reach over the wall through the false ceiling panels.

    How long are your arms? 

  • (cs)
    Alex Papadimoulis:

    [image]There was champagne, shrimp, cake, and even a string quartet.

    Ugh.  String quartets always get stuck in my teeth.

     

  • (cs) in reply to Erzengel
    Erzengel:

    Because it's used by the scientific community.

    Because it is consistent, and advances in multiples of 10. This makes it much easier to use in math.

    The imperial system, using 12 inches and 5280 feet, is much more difficult to use and so is not used by the scientific community (they have more important problems to figure out).

    They may be arbitrary, but metric was arbitrarily chosen for ease of scientific use, while imperial was arbitrarily chosen for ease of pre-rulers use.



    The multiples of 10 thing is not the part that makes the metric system conveniant. (It's just an added bonus).

    The real benefit is the calculated units.
    It is much easier to remember that 1 watt is 1 Joule/second = 1 kg m^2/s^3 than it is to remeber 1 horsepower = 3,000 ft·pound-force/min

    Now there's no reason they couldn't have based a similar system on the foot and the pound-mass. But they didn't.
  • Corporate Cog (unregistered) in reply to gsmalleus
    gsmalleus:

    'The Websense category "Hacking" is filtered.'  Don't think WebNonSense properly understands the term "hacking".
     

  • Anonymous (unregistered) in reply to Leonard of Pisa
    Anonymous:

    I'd say that having 12 inches is fractionally better than having 10

    12 has the following factors in its favour 1,2,3,4,6 and 12 whereas 10 can only manage 1,2,5 and 10

    Not if you use modular coordination.

  • Anonymous (unregistered) in reply to steve

    More like door level security...

     

    Captcha: paula

  • (cs) in reply to Corporate Cog
    Anonymous:
    gsmalleus:

    'The Websense category "Hacking" is filtered.'  Don't think WebNonSense properly understands the term "hacking".
     

     

    btw. HOPE stands for Hackers On Planet Earth ;)


    and yes it is sometimes filtered out by the censors. 

  • Reko (unregistered)

    OK, how's this for door system concepts.

    - For doors that close electro-mechanically (like elevator or train doors as opposed to dumb non-electrical automatic door-closers) motion sensors that reopen the door if the door is not yet closed, in case someone gets stuck in them. If the door is fully closed, the motion sensors do nothing.

    - ID cards can be used to open the door from either side. These are linked to a (redundant) central system so that ID cards can be revoked uniformly. Door events are logged.

    - In the event of power failure, the doors either fail-safe (they fail to an unlocked state) or they fail to a locked state, but can be opened manually using a Yale-style lock (the sort where you don't need a key to open from the inside), and the doors can be opened from the outside using a physical key.

    - The doors change to constantly-unlocked when a fire alarm sounds, using the electrical release system, while power is still available to the system. If fire causes power to be lost, see above.

    - To exit from the inside in normal circumstances, there is a standard Push-to-Exit button. However, to try and prevent people from leaving their cards inside, people are encouraged to use the ID card reader instead of the Push-to-Exit button. The Push-to-Exit button has a 5-second delay for which it must be held; therefore, the ID card is faster to use, encouraging such.


     Have I covered everything?

  • CynicalTyler (unregistered) in reply to Reko
    Anonymous:

    - The doors change to constantly-unlocked when a fire alarm sounds, using the electrical release system, while power is still available to the system. If fire causes power to be lost, see above.

    Except that you have to put fire alarms in non-secured, public areas.  To gain access to the building you merely have to pull the fire alarm.  This gives you several minutes of precious thieving before the fire department/security shows up.  However, if there aren't any public areas, this isn't a problem.  Then again, you could always just throw something heavy through a window too, so maybe this works well enough for preventing covert unauthorized access.

  • (cs) in reply to CynicalTyler

    I've always wondered...what do metric countries use for rulers?  In the US, rulers are generally 1 foot long, or 6 inches for short rulers, which are easy to carry and store since they're about the size of a sheet of paper and a whole unit of measurement.  In metric, a meter is overkill for desktop measuring, 50cm is still pretty large, and 25cm seems like an odd decimal/metric fraction to use.

     Any metric peoples care to share their knowledge?
     

  • (cs) in reply to msgyrd
    msgyrd:

    I've always wondered...what do metric countries use for rulers?  In the US, rulers are generally 1 foot long, or 6 inches for short rulers, which are easy to carry and store since they're about the size of a sheet of paper and a whole unit of measurement.  In metric, a meter is overkill for desktop measuring, 50cm is still pretty large, and 25cm seems like an odd decimal/metric fraction to use.

     Any metric peoples care to share their knowledge?
     

    In Germany, back in my schooldays we used 30cm rulers (which is approximately 1 foot).

  • Roel (unregistered) in reply to msgyrd
    msgyrd:

    I've always wondered...what do metric countries use for rulers?  In the US, rulers are generally 1 foot long, or 6 inches for short rulers, which are easy to carry and store since they're about the size of a sheet of paper and a whole unit of measurement.  In metric, a meter is overkill for desktop measuring, 50cm is still pretty large, and 25cm seems like an odd decimal/metric fraction to use.

     Any metric peoples care to share their knowledge?
     

    Here in Belgium, the most common rulers are 30 cm long (plus overhead before 0 and after 30). There are rulers of 40 and 50 cm too, but they are less common. And there are shorter rulers, mostly between 10 and 20 cm and made of cheap material handed out as promo material or for use by school children as they are easier to put in their bags.
     

  • Lachlan (unregistered) in reply to msgyrd

    In Australia we generally have 30cm rulers, although every now and then you come across a 15cm/40cm/1m ruler.  I've always assumed that that's pretty much standard throughout metric-using countries.  If you made them less, you'd have people annoyed about the inability to measure all the way down an A4 page (27cm or so I think).

  • (cs) in reply to chrismcb
    chrismcb:
    Anonymous:
    marvin_rabbit:

    Gosh, I was getting pretty clear on the concept, but now I'm all confused again.  A yardstick is usually one yard in length?  I don't understand... under what circumstances is it not a yard in length?  And if it can be different lengths, then why is it called a yardstick?

    well, no.... in german speaking countries, (foldable) yardsticks are often called "zollstock" (especially by elder people). "stock" means of course "stick", and one "zoll" (~2.54 cm) is nearly exactly the same as one inch. now, firstly, "zoll" is an old measure that is not in use anymore, because we've been using the metric system for quite a long time. and secondly, even if it was still in use, the stick (whether foldable or not) is certainly not exactly one "zoll" i.e. inch long. so, "yardstick" does not literally mean "stick exactly one yard in length", it just means "stick used for distance measurements with markings in inch/yards on it". imagine this device being called "centimeterstick", would you then assume it is precisely one centimeter long? many do say "zentimetermass" or "metermass" instead of "zollstock" in german, which literally translates to "centimeter -" or "meter measure" respectively. I've very seldom seen one of these to be exactly one meter long (though this is sometimes used by taylors), and never ever one centimeter long. see? you're taking it waaay to literal... ;o)

    captcha: perfection .... for the 2nd time today, I'm really going to blush...;o)

    I've never seen a yardstick that isn't 36 inches (or very close to 36 inches). MOST yard sticks are exactly 36 inches, while some have leading and trailing edges and are actually slightly more than 36 inches. If the thing was 6 feet long well its no longer a yardstick. Its something else.

    So yes, if you call something a yardstick I'm going to assume its precisely one yard long (or very close to it) If you call it an inchstick I'm going to assume you are a moron and I wouldn't have a clue what you are talking about.

     By definition a yardstick is a stick a yard long, used for measuring.

    Which/whose definition?

    Just stumbling about this word as a non-native speaker, I wouldn't assume a yardstick to be one yard long but rather to be of any length reasonable for everyday usage. I would assume, however, that it provides a yard-based (or even otherwise based) scale for measuring lengths. This is so since I'm used to those earlier mentioned "Zollstocks" which come usually in a foldable version that is 2 metres long if you completely unfold it and measure lengths in millimetres and centimetres.

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