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Berlin Key

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Re: Berlin Key

#81

Post by dpe82 »

novok wrote: post #66
username90 wrote: post #21

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You are much more likely to die in a fire in USA, so it makes sense for Americans to take more measurements to prevent it. But in for example Switzerland fires is not a big thing so there is no need to have any laws against it. https://ourworldindata.org/grapher/fire-death-rates

I'm also guessing german europe (swiss, austria, germany) lives in an earthquake free zone, so they can make stone buildings without much consideration for earthquakes while most of the US population has to think about earthquakes and/or hurricanes, so housing is more likely to go towards flexible and flammable wood.

Actually, it's mostly a cost thing. US code allows very inexpensive building materials and practices relative to Europe.

I suspect that is a result of different cultural expectations related to who should be able to afford to own their own home - even if the homes don't last very long.

Re: Berlin Key

#82

Post by modriano »

_jal wrote: post #22
decebalus1 wrote: post #15

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Don't know about Switzerland, but as an European living in the US, I think the American fire safety rules are what they are mainly because most houses here are basically matchstick houses built from prefab low quality wood which would get devoured by flames in minutes. And the fire-resistant building materials are super toxic when they actually burn. So fire is a very big deal... Anecdotal, we had a fire in my buildi…

I stayed in a house in Germany in which the walls were filled with dried-straw for insulation. It was several hundred years old. There was a no-smoking rule.

For about the last 20 years of my life as an American, 99.9% of all buildings I enter have a no-smoking rule. The only exceptions have been bars in kind of backwards places that I've had to go on business, like Jacksonville, FL.

Re: Berlin Key

#83

Post by alister »

novok wrote: post #66
username90 wrote: post #21

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You are much more likely to die in a fire in USA, so it makes sense for Americans to take more measurements to prevent it. But in for example Switzerland fires is not a big thing so there is no need to have any laws against it. https://ourworldindata.org/grapher/fire-death-rates

I'm also guessing german europe (swiss, austria, germany) lives in an earthquake free zone, so they can make stone buildings without much consideration for earthquakes while most of the US population has to think about earthquakes and/or hurricanes, so housing is more likely to go towards flexible and flammable wood.

The choice of wood for residential housing is based on cost. Trees are plentiful in the U.S., so wood construction is the cheapest option. In countries without lots of trees, they’ll use concrete, stone, or something else.

Re: Berlin Key

#84

Post by ISL »

modriano wrote: post #80
username90 wrote: post #21

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You are much more likely to die in a fire in USA, so it makes sense for Americans to take more measurements to prevent it. But in for example Switzerland fires is not a big thing so there is no need to have any laws against it. https://ourworldindata.org/grapher/fire-death-rates

Based on this data, the fire death rate in the US is 1.16 per 100k pop. and the rate in Switzerland is 0.28 per 100k pop. Percentage wise, that's a big difference, but that's only because both of these numbers are extremely small. I don't think it's really accurate to say you're much more likely to die in a fire in the USA; it's extremely rare in both countries.

1.16/0.28 is a big difference.

If Switzerland had the US rate, ~75 more people would die every year.

If the US had the Swiss rate, ~2800 people would live to see another year.

Re: Berlin Key

#85

Post by v64 »

samtho wrote: post #71
v64 wrote: post #33

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Here's an example of my deadbolt that's keyed on both sides: https://i.imgur.com/xXzWS7j.png

Those are peodominately used in situations where someone could reach in (via a broken window or space between bars) and simply unlock it. A solid door should not have this type of lock in the US.

It's not visible in the photograph, but this door has a glass window in the center of it.

Re: Berlin Key

#86

Post by gdy »

School-Cotton wrote: post #46
wazoox wrote: post #43

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I've never seen that outside the US. Keyholes both sides of the door, everywhere. When it's closed, you need a key or you don't get out.

Well, TIL. Never realized this was a US-specific thing.

Same thing in Russia

Re: Berlin Key

#87

Post by _jal »

atoav wrote: post #42
_jal wrote: post #22

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I stayed in a house in Germany in which the walls were filled with dried-straw for insulation. It was several hundred years old. There was a no-smoking rule.

> There was a no-smoking rule. Which to be honest says not a lot about anything, because this isn't that unusual in Central Europe. Also: a lot of the old wooden houses are far better in terms of fire resistance than you'd suspect on first glance, wood often outperforms concrete and steel when it comes to structural integrity in a fire. I don't know about the straw thing, I only know it mixed with clay.

The no-smoking bit was me being a bit, ah, dry. Sorry it didn't come across better.

The home in question belonged to the extended family of my host family while I was an exchange student. I went with them to a maintenance day and did wallpaper. I got a very close look at the walls, not to mention the repeated lectures on what a firetrap it was.

Trust me, it was.

Re: Berlin Key

#88

Post by alister »

singron wrote: post #39
pletnes wrote: post #23

What is the closest crypto analog to this kind of key?

I think it depends how you translate the locking analog. E.g. decrypting your key with {gpg,ssh}-agent keeps the plaintext key in memory in the agent. If the machine reboots or a timeout elapses, the memory is cleared and the key has to be unlocked again.

On-the-fly encryption, Truecrypt as the canonical example, has this property too. The key is always in memory, decrypting text on the fly, but a reboot or period of inactivity will wipe the key.

Re: Berlin Key

#89

Post by Sniffnoy »

aloknnikhil wrote: post #24

http://www.bruno-latour.fr/sites/default/files/P-36-Berliner... This is the original technical document on this key.

That is not correct. This is an essay by sociologist Bruno Latour about the key, not a technical document.
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