Ask MetaFilter questions tagged with cracking

Will our drained pool survive a NE winter?

thankyoumuchly — Tue, 09 Dec 2008 12:45:40 -0800

Will an empty in-ground plaster pool survive a winter in the North East US or does it need to be filled/winterized/etc.? We drained our 30,000 gallon, in-ground plaster pool this summer to paint it and ended up never painting or refilling it with water because of money issues. The pool is about 30 years old.

To provide a little history (and the source of our concern due to this being the first year we are not following this pattern), every winter in the past, the pool has been filled about 75% of the way with water (to ensure the water level was below the pool filter jet/pipes), and winterized using chemicals from a pool store, then covered with a non-water tight cover (it's basically a tarp weighed down on the sides with sand bags). This worked fine in the past and the pool has been in good shape the following summers.

Now that the North Eastern US winter is arriving (sub-freezing temperatures at night, a few feet of snow expected over the coming months, etc.) we are worried that the lack of water in the pool might hurt it (cracking, the pool itself "rising" due to the lack of water in it weighing it down? (if this is even possible)).

This year we have blown out the pool filter jet/pipes to ensure no water remained in them and prevent a freezeing/cracking problem. We also removed the pool pump (normal procedure) and blew any remaining water out of those pipes as well.

Our Ask For You: Now our concern is the pool itself. Does anyone out there in the MeFi hive mind know if the pool will survive the winter without any water in it?

Please be blunt, we would much rather spend the money to fill the pool and winterize it with chemicals than loose the pool due to a crack (which would cost more to repair than filling it).

Thank you muchly!

Demonstating password cracking

bent back tulips — Wed, 03 Dec 2008 06:51:21 -0800

I need a utility or small program to demonstrate password cracking. At work we're organising a day of "educational" games for 14-15 year old students. My game aims to teach them about safe online behaviour including importance of anti-virus software, not giving out personal details, etc.

One of the things I want to show them is the importance of good passwords. I plan to have them enter a password on the computer at the start of the session and then attempt to crack their passwords during the 25-minute session to (hopefully) demonstrate that weak passwords are bad. Essentially I want a program that will allow us to enter some passwords and then start trying to crack them.

The machine we'll have access to will be a fairly high spec laptop, 2.6GHz and (I think?) around 10-15 GFLOPS. There is a possibility of being able to tap into a mainframe and use that computing power to crack the passwords, but I'm not sure if that's going to happen.

For the laptop I'll probably need something that will run on Windows; Unix or z/OS for the mainframe. I'm prepared to do a bit of fiddling/scripting to get it to work as required.

Some kind of visible output would be nice on the screen while they're getting on with the other tasks. Not essential, but it will show them that it's doing something.

So, how feasible will it be to crack one or more passwords (entered by 14-year-olds, but nonetheless) in around 25 minutes? And how can I do it?

crack

KateHasQuestions — Fri, 14 Nov 2008 22:13:44 -0800

How do I stop cracking my knuckles? Along with every other joint in my body? Whether it's harmful or not, I would like to stop. All my cracks are SO loud, and I crack my knuckles about once every 2 minutes, usually without even realizing it until I am done.

Here are all the things I crack and how I crack them:
- Knuckles. Usually without realizing it. I do it more often if it's cold, if I'm nervous, if I am typing/gripping onto something.
- Neck. Once an hour or so. It just feels SO SO good, and once I start thinking about how good it'd feel to crack my neck, I pretty much have no self control.
- Back. Every 15 minutes. In various spots - all down my spine and the side to side twist that cracks something near my lower spine/hips. Makes my back hurt less.
- Knees and ankles. They crack on their own (not me wanting to crack them!) when I get up after sitting for a while. It's pretty terrible, as soon as I get up it's like 5 cracks with the first few steps.
- Toes. When I'm at home just chilling barefoot.

Any tips on how to stop all this?! From having the self control to not crack my neck, to helping my back not hurt and not feel the need to be cracked (would a chiropractor help?), to realizing that I am cracking my knuckles before I finish cracking all of them, to fixing my joints so they don't crack on their own when I get up or bend my knees.

Has ANYONE ever been successful at stopping? Seems like it'd be harder to quit than smoking. Any tips will be appreciated!

Oh, and after looking at other posts about this - I do work out, I don't think my muscles are weak. And besides, my knuckles and fingers are the WORST of everything, so working out wouldn't fix that, I don't think. I need more behavioral/will-power tips for that.

I commonly feel a moment of extreme fatigue and drowsiness after a good back cracking. Why?

andythebean — Thu, 19 Jul 2007 09:38:51 -0800

I commonly feel a moment of extreme fatigue and drowsiness after a good back cracking. Why?

Methods of semi-precise breaking of a cinder block in half lengthwise?

vanoakenfold — Tue, 19 Jun 2007 06:40:14 -0800

I want to use cinderblock halves for the border of an outdoor project, but my question -- how to break them along intended lines without cracking/fracturing the rest of it? I'd like to break a cinder block (two-hole) lengthwise, that is, down the center of the two holes, so that I'll have two wide "m" shapes. How can I break the cinderblock semi-precisely, without fracturing the rest of it? I'm going to be implanting them into the ground, so the exactness isn't necessarily perfect, as long as I have to flat surfaces on the edges of both halves (two flat tops on the "m" shape) to line up end to end to make a border. Any suggestions of how to accomplish this, without having to buy/rent a concrete chainsaw or drilling perforation holes? Solutions that are slow/tedious are just fine.

Latest and greatest in wi-fi cracking for Windows?

obiwanwasabi — Mon, 29 May 2006 16:35:25 -0800

What's the state-of-the-art for cracking wi-fi under Windows? Knoppix CD with aircrack / airsnort / kismet? Or are there some decent Windows binaries these days?

Why does only one egg crack in an egg cracking contest?

banished — Mon, 17 Apr 2006 19:56:12 -0800

So every Easter my family has an egg cracking contest using hardboiled eggs. You pair off with a partner, smash your eggs together, and whoever's egg does not crack goes on to the next round until you are left with one winner. My question is, why does only one egg break? They never both crack, no matter how they are smashed together. Also as a side-question, is there anything that can be done that would give someone an advantage in this game? I have tried looking for sharply pointed eggs, trying to hit the other person's egg with different parts of my egg, trying to find the coldest egg, etc. It all seems to be just luck.

:-(

Anonymous — Fri, 20 Jan 2006 19:12:02 -0800

My neck cracking habit is killing me. I crack my neck all the time. Some days it happens more than other days but I do it every single day at least 4 times.

On days where it's really bad I will crack my neck everytime I get a chance and my head neck and shoulders will feel sore all day long. Most of the time I use my hands to press my chin up to the side. Sometimes the tips of my fingers feel numb right after I crack it.

This is a disgusting, repulsive, terrible habit. I remember being totally grossed out by neck cracking before I started myself.

My mother who has the same unfortunate habit went to a chiropractor who told her that there were many cases of people who had quite literally *killed themselves* with overenthusiastic neck cracking. I have absolutely no doubt that if this is indeed possible it will happen to me if I do not stop soon.

I've tried before to stop. But then that tense/stiff feeling just builds up until I can't stand it until *snap crackle pop* ((bliss))

I want to be like how I was before I started this terrible habit when my neck just felt normal all the time. This is making me miserable. I can't afford to see a chiropractor on a regular basis.

Please, for the love of mankind, help me.

Knuckle-Cracking: Good? Bad? How do I stop?

sirion — Mon, 06 Jun 2005 16:32:38 -0800

As far as my Google-fu will take me, knuckle cracking is "probably not" associated with arthritis, and "maybe bad for other reasons" over long periods of time. I'm addicted to cracking my knuckles, and I'd like to get more info on the following: 1. Any new or particularly informative studies on the subject? All I can seem to find are medical studies using ridiculously few numbers of people. 2. Any more info on the non-arthritis side effects of knuckle cracking? 3. How on earth do I stop? My hands hurt when I don't crack them, and I do it unconsciously in movie theaters, operas, everywhere. Toes too.

How can I play DRM protected media without the DRM software?

muckybob — Wed, 10 Mar 2004 01:40:45 -0800

Your help please in playing DRM protected video clips without DRM software... (further details are contained within) A 'friend' has downloaded various video files from one of those filesharing thingies out on the intarweb, but some of them won't play and instead open up a browser to talk to microsoft.com. The URL includes the name of the file my 'friend' is trying to play. I understand that this is something to do with DRM. How can the files be played without infecting the PC with DRM restrictiions?

Oh, and by the way, we're not in the US, so that little DMCA can't affect us.

Ask MetaFilter questions tagged with cracking

Will our drained pool survive a NE winter?

Demonstating password cracking

*crack*

I commonly feel a moment of extreme fatigue and drowsiness after a good back cracking. Why?

Methods of semi-precise breaking of a cinder block in half lengthwise?

Latest and greatest in wi-fi cracking for Windows?

Why does only one egg crack in an egg cracking contest?

:-(

Knuckle-Cracking: Good? Bad? How do I stop?

How can I play DRM protected media without the DRM software?

crack