When you are hoping to maximize your travel security, one of the most obvious places to start is with buying a lock. But how secure are luggage locks? The disturbing truth is that luggage locks are terribly insecure.

What does the insecurity of these locks mean for your luggage security? How does that affect the protection of your property? In order to investigate these issues, we will have to venture deep into the terrifying truth about luggage locks.

What security do TSA locks offer your luggage?
TSA locks are not secure. The shackles can be cut by most low-quality diagonal cutting pliers, the lock cylinders can be picked open with very little skill, and the schematics for the master keys have been revealed to the public. If you are using a TSA lock, you are getting the illusion of security.

The biggest benefit to using TSA locks is that the TSA can open your bag without having to commercial lock service. This still might not keep your lock from being cut off, as many travelers report having TSA cut locks off regardless of having been TSA approved. But at least there is a chance that your insecure lock will not be broken open.

A TSA approved padlock is the next step up from a zip tie. It provides the same amount of initial security if you are worried about criminal tampering. However, a TSA lock can potentially be taken off and relocked on the bag, where a zip tie cannot be reattached once removed. With a TSA approved lock, after a lawful search, there is a chance that your luggage can maintain its same level of “security”.

1. The TSA Can Remove Any Luggage Lock Without Cause
If you are checking luggage, the TSA reserves the right to open your baggage by the means required to properly carry out the search. In case you have not received a “Notice Of Baggage Inspection” letter in your checked luggage, it reads as follows:

To Protect you and your fellow passengers, the Transportation Security Administration (TSA) is required by law to inspect all checked baggage. As part of this process, some bags are opened and physically inspected. Your bag was among those selected for physical inspection.

During the inspection, your bag and its contents may have been searched for prohibited items. At the completion of the inspection, the contents were returned to your bag.

If the TSA security officer was unable to open our bag for inspection because it was locked, the officer may have been forced to break the locks on your bag. TSA sincerely regrets having to do this, however TSA is not liable for the damage to your locks resulting from this necessary security precaution.

The note goes on to suggest that the recipient of the inspection notice refer to www.tsa.gov to find “packing tips and suggestions on how to secure your baggage during your next trip…” Is it ironic for a note telling you what you just read to recommend that you use better security next time you fly? It may seem that way, but the spirit in which it is intended is that locks are not security, knowing what is going to get your bag flagged is the security you need for avoiding TSA attention.

2. Every Luggage Lock Can Be Opened
It is true that every lock can be picked, even locks that have not been picked yet can still be opened. Opening methods that travel security professionals use are almost always destructive. There is no lock that exists that can withstand every type destructive entry method given an unlimited amount of time with the lock.

Not even the best padlocks in existence can hold up to the highest level of pressure that can be applied to them. Do not expect that your security can keep out any law enforcement. Even though you may be hoping to avoid criminally minded baggage checkers, they are within their right to open your luggage at all costs.

Though there are documented cases where strong enough security has been enough to have TSA give up on trying to open it. I don’t fully understand the implications of security that has law enforcement give up, but I would not expect to be the exception to the rule that if the opening of your bag a legally sanctioned it will be carried out.

In terms of criminal threats without the full force of the law behind them, your locks can still be opened. However, when it comes to standard criminals you have to consider every aspect of luggage security and not just the security of your luggage locks.

3. No Luggage Lock Can Protect a Zipper
Any luggage lock that is placed to secure a zipper is completely useless. Anyone with a ballpoint pen can puncture the zipper track (aka teeth). This gives anyone access to the contents of your bag in seconds. Once a person has rooted around in your belongings, they can then move the zipper’s pull tab over the open teeth and reseal the bag without any sign of entry.

If you have an anti-puncture zipper, then your zipper is safe, but a lock can never protect the zipper. When you want a lock to matter at all, you have to use luggage that has hasps, not a zipper. Hasps are common on hard shell cases, which are intended to protect the contents of the luggage.

It is also unlikely that you will end up with a bag that has an anti-puncture zipper if you do not go out of your way to purchase one. This feature is not common, in spite of the fact that the method of entry is extremely popular for criminals all over the world.

4. Your Bag Undermines the Security of a Luggage Lock
Security is not the main concern for standard baggage manufactures. Unless the luggage has been designed with security in mind, the lock you place on it is not going to matter much at all. Besides zipper protection, you have to be concerned about more brash criminals that will not care about surreptitiously or even covertly open your bag.

A very common method of entry that criminals will use is to cut your bag. You made need something like a Pelican case. With a light slice from a sharp knife, a thief now has access to everything in your luggage. Unless your bag can resist cutting, having a lock on your bag is not going to truly protect the property inside.

Most likely your bag is always going to be easier to break than an incredibly strong lock. It does not make sense to have an extremely powerful lock if the case it is securing is itself insecure. Be aware of the level of protection provided by the bag before you make any investment in a lock.

5. Built-in Luggage Locks Are Not Secure
Built In Luggage Lock

This is a guiding principle more than a hard and fast rule, but it is important to think about the fact that almost any piece of luggage you buy is not going to have high-security locks. This might be something that the case claims, but you need to know better than to believe the advertising.

Even if the brand of security being used is not notorious for manufacturing subpar locks, it might still be something cheap and ineffective. A lot of times locks on cases and luggage will claim to be high-security, but they are just using a novel lock type. Such lock types that are used as built-in luggage locks include tubular locks, cruciform locks, and disk detainer locks.

If a lock is poorly made, it does not matter what kind of internal components it has. Poorly made locks are not secure. They break easier because of the lower quality metal, and that means they can be broken open easier. Mass production required to place them on luggage also change bedroom key very simple to the point where most of these locks can be opened with bypasses or improvised keys.

What is the best way to protect luggage?
As you may have learned from the article about protecting your beach bag, the best possible way to protect any luggage is to keep your eyes on it. This is not going to be possible at every point of your trip, especially if you have to check your bags. The important thing is to take advantage of the instances where you can watch over your property.

Your locks need to take as long to open without permission as the average time you will leave them unmonitored. As has already been established, flying in the United States will be the exception to this rule. Law enforcement will have too much time with your luggage, and they will have the authority to open the lock. But for deterring criminals, this type of security assessment is a must.

Final Thoughts
It doesn’t matter if you are in one of the most dangerous countries in the world, or you are sleeping over at a friends house in the next town over, when you have luggage, you will attract the attention of criminals. Luggage locks are not going to do much to protect your bag. You need to consider a lot more than just luggage locks.

Goal Zero Yeti 400 Lithium Review

Whether you’re camping in the wilderness, or preparing yourself for a storm, a generator is handy to have. Electronics are becoming an essential part of our everyday lives, and we’re used to having virtually unlimited access to power at the nearest outlet.

Unfortunately, traditional generators aren’t always the best solution. Sure, a 5000 watt Honda generator can power up your entire home if there is a power outage. But they’re extremely heavy, loud, expensive, and emit toxic fumes when running. If you’ve got to run a fridge and a stove, these compromises are necessary. But for powering electronics, there is a better solution.

Goal Zero is a company that focuses on a different type of generator. Their solar generators rely on the suns renewable energy to produce power, rather than burning fossil fuels. At one point, their products were sold as all in one kits. But now that they’ve updated their battery bank to the latest technology, the Goal Zero Yeti 400 Lithium is a standalone battery that offers portable power on demand. There aren’t many batteries quite like it on the market, so we decided to try it out and see what it can do.
First Look

It’s easy to think of the Yeti 400 Lithium as a portable battery. In a way, that does describe the basic functionality. Charge it up. Carry it around. Plug things into it. With its built-in LCD display and diverse range of connectivity options, you might even consider it to be a little better than your standard battery. But once we started digging deep into the specifications and functionality, we realized that the design of the Yeti makes it unlike any other UPS-style battery on the market. For starters, it uses Lithium batteries. This is the same technology that made laptops and smartphones possible, but on a much larger scale. We’ll show you what sets lithium apart from standard sealed lead acid batteries, but first we’ll show you how the Yeti 400 Lithium works.

Inside the Box and Unit Build and Comfort Impressions of Oculus Rift DK2

Anyway, enough of the theory – what’s it like in practice?
Inside the Box and Unit Build and Comfort Impressions

The Oculus Rift DK2 takes a different approach to the DK1 in terms of connectivity. Whereas with the DK1, the Headset itself held only the display, lenses and IMU – the DK2 integrates the guts of the DL1 breakout box, into the headset itself. This means that you have a single, integrated cable running from the headset, splitting into USB (for tracking data) and HDMI (for video). It’s a refreshingly uncluttered approach and means there’s less chance of cable tangle.



The headset unit itself feels like a quality component with high quality plastics used throughout with a good level of fit and finish. The camera too, a custom designed and built device as a solid quality feel. Nice touches, such as the braided cable sheath (DK2 to USB / HDMI) and minimalist simplicity of the camera are appreciated.

Physically, the DK2 feels very much like the DK1 to wear, light and comfortable although (despite what looks like extra ventilation) still a little warm over long periods on a summers day.

The retraction assembly is almost identical to DK1, with two rotatable dials each side to bring the display and lens assembly close or further from your face. The lenses themselves are slightly larger (and flatter on the user facing side) and there are now only two sets (A, fitted as standard and B). The device feels slightly more comfortable in place and I found it easier to wear glasses whilst in VR than with the DK1 – although you still need to be careful as you put it on.




The DK2’s enhancements include a higher resolution panel, up from 1280×800 to 1920×1080 (1080p) and moved to a pentile matrix, OLED panel for display duties. This means higher levels of resolvable detail and a much reduced screen door effect. The panel features low persistence of vision, a technology pioneered by Valve that aims to cut motion artefacts by only displaying the latest, most correct display information relative to the user’s movements – as users of the DK1 will attest, its LCD panel was heavily prone to smearing, things are now much improved with the DK2.

Understanding Pay Stubs

Together with the technological advancements in digital employee management software a number of businesses have migrated to www.fake-paystub.com instead of mailing or handing out paper www.fake-paystub.com. They may email www.fake-paystub.com notification to every worker or possess a secure log on set up for every employee to register and see their www.fake-paystub.com at their own time.

The digital capabilities benefit companies and employees for a number of factors. Firms save money on newspaper and mailing expenses, the software stream lines payroll, benefits, and reimbursement procedures reducing a chance of malfunction, and it keeps information concentrated for easy research or editing. On the other hand, it reduces the amount of paperwork and mail that workers receive, it gives them the capability of accessing their pay check at any online place, and it makes exploring or collecting payroll information much easier.

Since digital employee management applications have made it easier to obtain and view www.fake-paystub.com, it gives us all the more reason to be sure we know what we're looking at. Important fiscal, tax and benefits information that we should all listen to is listed.

www.fake-paystub.com layouts vary from company to company but they will all include the following...

Personal Information - This includes the business name, employee name, address, and also maybe the employee social security number.

Important Dates - Dates listed will incorporate the pay period start and finish date, and the date of the check or www.fake-paystub.com issuance. Some sections also include a Year-to-date column to show how much you were paid, how much was withheld, or how much was deducted so far that year.

Taxable Earnings - This is the total amount of income that's earned for the specific pay period.

Web Pay - This is the amount of income received for "take home" following all essential withholdings. This will match the sum of your physical paycheck or direct deposit pay.

Federal Tax - This is an income tax withholding which each and every employee pays. The percentage withheld depends on the amount of income you make along with the information you recorded on your W-4.

Condition Tax - The state income tax withholding isn't mandatory for everybody. It depends on what state you live in and their taxation laws. Additionally, it is a percentage based on what you make.

Social Security - This is the US system of supplemental retirement cash. Every employee contributes the same percentage of the gross income. Employers contribute a matching percentage also.

Medicare - This is the US government insurance program. It provides medical advantages to the disabled and retired employees over 65 years old. All workers and employers pay a matching percentage of gross earnings.

Other information that could be listed on your cover www.fake-paystub.com comprises...

Insurance Medical, dental, or life insurance deductions are recorded on your www.fake-paystub.com. They generally demonstrate the amount which you paid and the amount that your employer paid for you.

Retirement Savings Plan - If you participate in a 401K or other form of retirement savings where the funds are deducted from your cover, this information is usually included. The percent is of your pre-tax income.

Health Savings Account - If you take part in a medical expense account where deductions have been taken from your pay, this will show on your www.fake-paystub.com as a pre-tax percent.

Sidewalk Layout and Ground Preparation

LAYOUT-

The easiest way to design a new sidewalk repair contractors in Bronx New York is to use your garden hose. Simply lay out the hose on the floor in which you want the walk to proceed. Forms do not have to be made from wood. Things such as brick, wood edging, pre-formed plastic edging are all used and produce many different edge finishes. If you utilize these types of things, just take additional care to not splash concrete on them. DOT sidewalk violation Bronx Concrete stains or discolors quite easily and does not wash off nicely. If everything dries, the concrete you believe you washed off leaves a permanent stain. Another very helpful item available now for homeowner use is upside down comforter at most hardware or box stores and comes in a number of colors. This makes it very simple to spray a design line for digging or removing sod or soil. DO NOT spray your hose unless you want it to be that color for a very long time. A couple of carefully placed stains that you connect after removing the nozzle is fine.

Be certain that you mark out the lines a couple of inches wider than the finished walk with. You will need to receive your 2 x4's and bets inside the excavation and in the majority of cases flush with the surrounding sidewalk repair Bronx NY. If you will expose the advantages of the new walk above sidewalk repair contractor Bronx, you'll also need to finish the edges when you pour.

GROUND PREPARATION-

Never, never put concrete on frozen earth or sand. You need a firm base for the new walk. You must get rid of the concrete thickness of sidewalk repair Bronx plus the stone you'll be placed underneath. A 4" walk typically gets 4" of stone foundation or great clean run-off bank gravel and sand. After removing the 8" of an earth, put your sub-base material and tamp into position. Make it slightly wider than you walk with. Your forms will probably sit on top of this foundation. NOTE: Now is your opportunity to run any lawn lighting wires or conduits under the walk before you pour. Even if the lighting is in the future, you'll be pleased you make preparations now. Put a piece of 1" Bronx sidewalk repair conduit with caps under the walk for future usage.

2017 Bushnell Natureview Review

Pros
Crisp focus on objects close to the camera
Great picture detection
Excellent battery life
Comes with f600 mm and f460 mm camera lenses

Cons
Slow video trigger speed
Requires a remote to program the camera

Trailcampro Analysis MOULTRIE M-40I GAME CAMERA
Cam is designed with one thing in mind, close focus wildlife photography. This is the most popular camera for anyone using the camera for bird watching, rodent surveys or any other project that involves taking pictures within a few meters of the camera.

Normal trail cameras have trouble focusing on animals near the camera. The 2017 Natureview comes with f600 mm and f460 mm camera lenses that screw onto the front of the lens.

Picture Quality: 78/100

Photo resolution: 14, 8 or 3 mpxl | Video Resolution: 1920 x 1080 w/ audio | Flash Type: No Glow Infrared

This category is a tale of two extremes. Day pictures are incredible and some of the best you will ever see. Outstanding clarity, great color, and consistent quality on all the photos. Extremely impressive. Night photos ranked among the worst in our Flash Range Test. We apologize for the lack of night sample images. For whatever reason, we couldn't get any critters to come by the bird feeders at night. Check the Flash Range Test for night images.

Most, not all, of the users who want a close-focus camera like this aren't as interested in the night photos as they are the day pictures. So the importance of this will be entirely up to you.






Video quality mimics picture quality. These are among the best HD trailcam daytime videos you will ever see.






Battery Life: 90/100

Resting Power (on): 1.26 mW | Daytime Power Consumption: 4.63 Ws | Nighttime Power Consumption: 5.82 Ws

Battery data is outstanding. Low draws across the board. The Natureview HD is an efficient game camera.

If this camera were to take 35-day pictures and 35-night pictures every 24 hour period, this camera would last an astounding 11.4 months in the field on a set of lithium batteries.

If this camera were to take 15-day videos and 15-night videos every 24 hour period, this camera would last 2.7 months in the field on a set of lithium batteries. This is with 10-second video clips.

Detection Circuit: 81/100

Picture Trigger & Recovery Speed: 0.26 s. / 0.7 s. | Video Trigger & Recovery Speed: 2.14 s. / 4.8 s. | Detection Range: 100 ft.

You can't ask for a much faster picture taking camera. 1/4 second trigger speed and recovery well under a second. Video trigger is on the opposite end of the spectrum, it is very slow.

Detection range is an incredibly impressive 100 ft. Other than the slow video times, this is a great detection zone.

Quality of Design: 82/100

Business Plan Example of the Industry Overview

Because it's always easier to write something if you can read an example first, here is a example that you can use as a model for your own business plan's Industry Overview section.

Please note that 'Pet Grandma' is a fictional pet-based business invented for this business plan example. For instructions and tips on how to write an Industry Overview for your own business plan, see Writing a Business Plan: The Industry Section, part of my How to Write a Business Plan series.