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Hotel Key Myths
posted by GJ on March 16, 2010 @ 2:56PM

Steve, Mom and I were discussing some claims about hotel keys yesterday.  The two main topics:

  1. You should always take your hotel keys with you when you check out and shred them when you get home, because they contain sensitive information like your credit card number and expiration on them, plus your name and address, and it's not even encrypted.
  2. Don't store your hotel key in your pocket with your cell phone--it will erase it.

Well, first off, hotels do not put credit information on the hotel key.  The most you'll find at a normal hotel is name, room #, check in and check out dates.  This data is encrypted.  Places like Disney and casinos will also typically store a unique key that identifies you in their system, in order to authorize charges--but the card is stored in their system, not in your key.  The only fraud that can occur with that kind of key is similar to what would happen with a stolen credit card--which is why those resorts tell you to protect those keys like a credit card for the duration of your stay.  After you stay, the card is deactivated in their central system and cannot be used for further purchases.

Now, there are a lot of folks out there spreading the rumor about this non-existent data risk.  There was a legit blog posting many years ago (at Network World, if I remember correctly), and they claimed they were able to pull credit data off a hotel's keycard.  They were challenged to prove this--were unable to--and retracted their claim. However, it's been passed around as a false email warning since then.  See the Snopes article for more details. 

 

On to the ability of cell phones to erase hotel key cards.  Contrary to what you have probably heard about cell phones, they don't emit radiation like what comes out of active nuclear sources.  They emit very low power microwaves.  That's it.  Microwaves do not have any degaussing properties.

What can screw up cards?  Well, first of all--key cards have a *very* thin stripe on them--far thinner than what's on your credit cards.  This doesn't take much to screw up--your keys and coins in your pocket are far more likely to screw up the magnetic stripe with physical damage.  Think back to science class--one way to demagnetize a material is physically striking it to jostle the heck out of the magnetized ion arrangement.  Take a very flimsy stripe of magnetic material and bang a few metal objects into it (keys, coins, maybe even your cell phone, haha) and presto, you've erased your card.  

See, I'm not always full of crap.  :) 

7 comments | Tags: myths, education

Had to share...very funny
posted by GJ on March 16, 2010 @ 12:18PM

Nothing like a little grenade action on the blog, eh?

1 comment | Tags: funny, picture, political

OK Go is back!
posted by GJ on March 11, 2010 @ 9:58AM

OK Go, the guys behind the treadmill video Here It Goes Again a few years ago, also known for A Million Ways. Their new album is out, and the first video was neat: WTF? but I kinda figured they had something better in store.

So, first came this:

Uh-oh! YouTube won't show their video? WTF? Oh, wait, here it is:

Ah, but never happy to do just one video for a song, here it is again:

 

And if that wasn't cool enough, each of those videos shown above for that song were done in one take. 

1 comment | Tags: music, video

Services for Grandpa
posted by Kristen on March 9, 2010 @ 6:04PM

Figured I would start a thread so we can all touch base and stay informed about services for Grandpa.  Last I talked with mom, it was looking like Sunday being the wake and Monday the funeral.

Marc, if you need a pit stop on the way, mi casa es tu casa.  I imagine that Drew and I will head up Saturday morning....

EDIT:  wake is 2-5pm Sunday, funeral is 10am Monday.  Recommended hotel is the Residence Inn in Parsippany, NJ, see the comments for a link to the hotel registration page. 

30 comments | Tags: family

So glad Texas is the source of most educational textbooks
posted by GJ on February 22, 2010 @ 6:57PM

Because a significant portion of the population view the Flintstones as a documentary.

8 comments | Tags: dumbass

Cool Beans!
posted by GJ on February 22, 2010 @ 4:16PM

14 comments | Tags: video

Letting in the long goal
posted by GJ on February 20, 2010 @ 11:00AM

Yeah, let it be known that I've let TWO of these kind of shots go in...once while being broadcast on the radio in Utica back in 1985, and the other time some years later in Troy's RPI Fieldhouse (but in fairness, I wasn't playing for a college team at the time and to this day I'm sticking with the claim I was just getting my team psyched up).

In any case, I never did it on TV.  Vesa Toskala did, though--just watch!  Turn up the volume, too--it's that good.

 

2 comments | Tags: video

80's week at the Boston Herald
posted by GJ on February 18, 2010 @ 10:53AM

Yep, I've instituted a new tag.  Check out this article about the college shooting the other day in Alabama.  Turns out the shooter had something in common with another shooter from back in 2000...they both played a certain game full of demons, monsters, and all that occult crap.  That must be the explanation!

Next, you'll find out she was an avid player of Grand Theft Auto, no?  Calling Jack Thompson! 

5 comments | Tags: dumbass

No Pressure.....
posted by Steve on February 17, 2010 @ 6:38PM

http://www.autoblog.com/2010/02/17/thatll-fix-it-chrysler-may-drop-sebring-name/

 

Read the brief article.  I have my work cut out for me, as I'm the guy responsible for turning the Sebring into an "animal."  Woohoo!  I can't wait to see reviews on the package I'm developing, I'm really happy with it so far.  

16 comments | Tags: cars

A good car story
posted by Geoff on February 16, 2010 @ 3:50PM

 

Tyler passed away today.

3 comments | Tags: cars

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