Carbon build up in piston rings cleaning

My 2007 VW GTI MKV has low compression. Leak down test showed 20+ % on all 4 cylinders according to dealership. Also carbon buildup on the plugs and cylinder top. Burns ~1l every 500 miles. Mechanic recommends engine rebuilt or new one. 

Nevertheless, this guy recommends trying to dislodge the carbon deposits with BG Dynamic Engine Restoration.

Maybe a better option! Berrymans B-12 Chemtool Used by this guy 

Setting engine top dead center but do I really need this?

Found these guys in McKinney TX that will do it

I paste here the raw stuff I've been typing up. Sorry not very cleaned up but in case it can help someone...

VW told me that I had to change the motor!

Other people says it is piston rings getting stuck because of carbon.

This guy presents an old method to de-stuck them: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EG70jHiT-S0

Shopping list:

- Latex gloves

- Compresion tester (Innova Compression Tester 4 Piece)($33)

- Shringe

- Tube

- Berrymans B-12 Chemtool Carburator Cleaner

https://www.autozone.com/fuel-and-engine-cleaners-additives/carburetor-and-throttle-body-cleaner/p/berryman-b-12-chemtool-fuel-treatment-15oz/525253_0_0

- Fanel

- Paper towels

- Stick to measure where the pistons are at. I ended up using two chopsticks taped back to back

- Scope Camera + cell phone

- Spark plug wrench: Duralast 3/8in Drive 5/8in Magnetic Spark Plug Socket with 10in Swivel Bar

https://www.autozone.com/test-scan-and-specialty-tools/spark-plug-socket/p/duralast-3-8in-drive-5-8in-magnetic-spark-plug-socket-with-10in-swivel-bar/914154_0_0?spps.s=6596&cmpid=LIA:US:EN:AD:NL:1000000:TLS:8367255572&gclid=CjwKCAjwzNOaBhAcEiwAD7Tb6Lg1ejA0yDtvjPJWTZGNVZsgVqTTXG4WbwO-zMXBjlK9AwBEz1FJwxoCAD4QAvD_BwE&gclsrc=aw.ds

- Crank screw key ($7): Duralast 1/2in Drive 19mm 12 Point Socket

https://www.autozone.com/ratchets-sockets-and-wrenches/socket/p/duralast-1-2in-drive-19mm-12-point-socket/557514_0_0?spps.s=6596&cmpid=LIA:US:EN:AD:NL:1000000:TLS:8367255572&gclid=Cj0KCQjwnvOaBhDTARIsAJf8eVO2CFiH84g0BnFlkSMVPQKn86kMJXH-P7L5Gl5F2OFl8vg7grwjuzsaAt0uEALw_wcB&gclsrc=aw.ds

- Spark plug x 4: 

Autolite XP Iridium Spark Plug XP3923

Process:

Compression test:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q43h2LdxaGg

Note: theoretically you do this with the engine hot but I just did it cold.

1. Hear to the fuel pump when you turn on the ignition key on.

2. Locate and remove the fuel pump fuse. In my case it is the 27 (15A). That'll avoid getting fuel injected when you are running the starter engine during the work (for instance to check compresion)

3. Do same as 1. but now you shouldn't hear the pump - honestly not sure I did any time. 

4. Remove the ignition coils and the spark plugs. BTW, one can see, specially on #3 that both are quite soaked on oil. 

5. At this moment, I would run the starter to purge a bit of the gas in the line (I didn't and somehow when I check the first compression test the car stalled).

6. Plug the hose of the tester in the spark socket without tightening it too hard, just by hand.

7. Turn on the starter pressing on the clutch (neutral) and the gas. Run about 5 times. Same for all cylinders.

8. I got about 190 for all 4 cylinders. 

Well, actually the first one (cylinder 4 actually) I believe had fuel going in and stalled, as mentioned...

But the other 3 did the 190 and looks like on the same steps, first to about 120, then 150, then 180, and rounded up in two kicks more to the 190

Somehow it looks too good specially considering it is cold... 

9. I did try to do a wet test and added a spoon of oil to #3 but then the compression was actually worse and barely made it to 180?!

Procedure:

10. Took some pics with the scope:

First day 4-3-2-1

Second day 4-1 then cranked 180 degrees and did 3-2

11. The procedure is basically to add Berrymans in the cylinders, through the spark plugs, turn the crank 5 times, and let it sit there for 6 hours. Then repeat another 3 times.

Every can has 440ml

First time I put about 70ml on every cylinder. About 10:55AM on Tuesday

Second time (about 5PM on Tuesday) I put a bit on each cylinder. Closed #1 with the spark plug but it seemed also dry when I looked back after 6 hrs

The third time at 1AM added quite a bit (unfortunately I didn't record the amount).

Last time 7AM, the first one had still some liquid. I sprayed about 30ml on every cylinder with the syringe and closed everyone with the spark plug.

Overall I run through one can and a half, almost 2.

To rotate the crank shaft, you use a 20mil double hex socket on the crankshaft pulley

Rotate CW (see https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IFZ-JX5yFWw minute 10:17)

Nevertheless, for me to turn the crank was much harder than in the video. I had to take the wheel out, the wheel guard and use a longer pray bar to have more leverage.

BTW, as I spin, there is a moment that it is really tough and then becomes easier. Basically when all cylinders are dead center it is tough, then becomes easier and then at 180 degrees becomes tough again, and then easier again at 270, to finish tough... Could that be a clue?

How to turn the crankshaft to set it at TDC (top dead center):

https://www.pelicanparts.com/techarticles/Volkswagen_Golf_GTI_Mk_V/55-ENGINE-Setting_Your_Engine_At_TDC/55-ENGINE-Setting_Your_Engine_At_TDC.htm

Nevertheless, I am not sure I understand the logic of the engine being dead center when adding the liquid. Anyhow you are going to move them up and down 5 times... Maybe to let it sit dead center, but even that, why?

I put new plugs, close everything up, and tried to turn on the engine, which miserably failed for 2 times giving me all kind of codes. But finally it started up! Put out a lot of smoke on start and while driving.

Then you gotta go 60mph, 3rd gear, 20min. But I think the point is to go at 4500rpm for 20 min. So, you can drive faster but on 4th gear, for instance...

My smoke lasted for a while but then went away...

Then go change the oil. In my case used 5W-40.

Engine description (a newer one but hopefully the same):

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KJbKNIJqAEA second=2:03

1-2-3-4 counting from left to right looking at the car from the driver's seat

Firing order 1-3-4-2 

Stroke 92.8mm

Displacement: 1.984l

One can see the animation of the 1-3-4-2 at minute 0:54 of https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zY_FgdgYxYI

Intake-Compresion-explosion-exhaust

Other folks talking about this potentially being a reason:

https://p.widencdn.net/bqglho/US-VPS-0623-EN_ALL_ENG_CLEAN_FIRST_DEFENSE_SELL_SHEET

https://team.valvoline.com/diy/carbon-buildup-can-haunt-your-vehicle-and-wreck-your-wallet-0#:~:text=That's%20why%20carbon%20buildup%20can,some%20cases%2C%20catastrophic%20engine%20failure.

Different products:

Seafoam

Marvel Mystery Oil

Valvoline

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lyITY8BqPz0

Berrymans ChemDip : This does it the carbon very nicely but CAN'T be used in the engine directly. They use it to clean the pieces out of the engine.

 

Mi luz

Enciende la luz

Apaga la luz 

USB C to HDMI

Bought this adapter (Sniokco) about a year ago and was working fine with my HP Spectre x360 Convertible 13t-aw000. Nevertheless, now it seems to have contact issues (and probably that is the case). When I plug it you can see it detects that it has been plugged because the laptop screen will flicker but sometimes the monitor doesn't turn on. Happens with my two HDMI monitors. 

At the same time my brother game a T'nB USB C to HDMI cable which didn't work either so tried to understand the latest on this type of connector/standards.

Just for reference, the laptop spec says:

2 USB 3.1 Gen 2 Type-C™ with Thunderbolt™ 3 (40 Gb/s signaling rate, Power Delivery 3.0, DisplayPort™ 1.4, HP Sleep and Charge); 1 USB 3.1 Gen 1 Type-A (HP Sleep and Charge); 1 headphone/microphone combo.

No surprise as it was working...

One strange thing is that the adapter in the Amazon pic says 4k UHD but mine doesn't say. Still, I think it was working as such before.

Couple of good links:

1. Mouser app note
2. Xataka

According to a reviewer my brother's cable is actually using MHL! Funny because they don't say anything on their page. They say it works with 3.A USB C which is not a version of USB-C?!? So if the source doesn't have it, it's not going to work. Which is the case of my laptop... Duh!

Solutions I thought of:

1. Probably is the adapter. I am saying that because I held it in place with one hand while shaking the rest and it failed. Also it failed when using it with my other laptop. So, a solution is to buy another one, but heck not the same brand. This lasted less than a year.
2. Get a wireless adapter, like the Microsoft Wireless Display Adapter based on Miracast.

Renovacion pasaporte español

Tramite general (ministerio del interior >> servicios al ciudadano >> pasaporte >> procedimiento de expedicion)

Parece que se puede hacer en el consulado o en España.

Aunque aqui parece que dice que se tiene que hacer en el lugar de residencia...

Ya veremos...

Update: si me lo hicieron en Barcelona. Puse la direccion de USA (la ultima, aunque no estaba registrada todavia en el consulado)

How to

 How to add a new item to the New section in the Context Menu The NullFile approach worked for me

Few sites interesting for Dallas Real State

• Redfin (to me the best platform to search for a place). 
• Even better, beyond that, Redfin provides access to some interesting data.
• Dallas construction related resources (building code, permits...). For instance, one can find online the records of all the building related permits granted in a given month.
• Topographic map of Dallas

Virtual mail (as of snail mail)

 So, you plan a year traveling or whatever. Don't have or don't want to have a residence. What do you do with your mail for tax, credit cards, etc purposes. First option is to ask a friend/family. Probably what I'll do. Second use one of these services (about $200/year):

1. https://www.sbimailservice.com/mail-scan-pro/
2. https://www.earthclassmail.com/pricing?tab=mailbox
3. https://americasmailbox.com/
4. https://www.virtualpostmail.com/

Elderly emergency monitor anywhere anytime

My mom saw one of those services that they offer you a watch (and a nice bill) so that it can call someone in case of emergency. Here is a short listing of this and alternative methods. By no means the list is exhaustive but tries to at least point to the different categories.

Starting from the simplest:

1. Enable your smartphone to make an emergency call. For Android, you can add up to 3 contacts, and the phone will send pictures/audio and your location. All by simply pressing the power button 5 times consecutively...
2. If you are afraid that mom is not going to have the phone really in reach in case of an emergency, a watch that connects through Bluetooth with that phone may come handy: 
1. Most of the traditional smartwatches should be able to do that.
2. If you look for something simpler, without all the other functionality of a smartwatch, just check online for "emergency watch for elderly". 
3. If your mom has some mental illness which could result on she not carrying her phone around, a smart watch with cell phone capability will be the best. Even if she doesn't call you may be able to find her location. The issue with this option is that you obviously need another SIM and it is kind of redundant if your mom really carries the phone around. Examples: 
1. As with the previous functionality, you can just get a nice smart watch. See a review of few of them here. Examples:
1. TicWatch looks very nice.
2. Apple Watch It looks like first it calls emergency services and then the contacts.
3. Samsung gear (and I guess other Android phones) will do something similar to the Android phone case described in #1.
2. You can also try to find narrow functionality (and cheaper) ones by doing a similar search to #2, but make sure you read the reviews. A lot of those watches seem to have issues with the connectivity to the cellular network, durability... Examples:
1. Laxcido and KKBear which actually seem to be rebranded products of the same thing.
4. Finally get the same watch with a service that will take care of you in case of emergency. The monthly fee may be too much specially if mom can simply call you... There are few services out there but the whole point of this post was to try to save the monthly fee.

Cheers!

Number of housing units in the US vs population - historical

 Two references:

https://www.statista.com/statistics/240267/number-of-housing-units-in-the-united-states/

I believe these are all units, full or empty...

On population: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Demographic_history_of_the_United_States

In 1980 we had 226M people in 88Munits, so, about 2.56 people/household. From 1980 to 2010, population grew 82M people. One would expect 32Munits, based on the 1980 ratio, but instead, we grew by 43Munits and we all know where that finished.

In the last 10 years, population has grown by 24M people, which would require 12.5Munits (assuming we did not have over supply in 2010). Instead we got 9Munits, so, sure, one could say that we felt short which could explain partially the inventory shortage (although probably not all of it).

Añadiendo un termostato a la calefaccion por caldera/radiadores

Esta es la mejor guia (ver pg 11 en adelante) aunque tiene mal alguna numeracion

Otra guia super completa aunque los numeros de la explicacion al final tambien estan todos cambiados!?

Y otra foto

Creo que esta es la guia de mi caldera!

Top level, creo que el termostato (en el comedor) simplemente hace que el agua se mueva cuando la temperatura esta por debajo del punto fijado. No he leido como, si abriendo alguna de las llaves (o las dos, entrada y salida) y/o haciendo que el circulador (bomba se encienda) para que el agua circule. Pero bueno, creo que eso tambien hace que se encienda el gas.

Nota: Interesante, me lo estaba preguntando... pero como digo, la caldera tiene una bomba de agua para que circule el agua por los tubos, asi no hay que gastar agua para la operacion y ademas el agua que calientas ya estaba caliente (o no tan fria) como viniendo de la calle... Obvio pero...

Bueno, ahora si quiero anyadir otro termostato en la habitacion (el mio esta en el comedor) como lo hariamos de la forma mas simple?

1. La forma en la que esta pensado ahora es ajustar el radiador. Si la habitacion esta normalmente mas fria que el comedor, cierra un poco el del comedor y abre el de la habitacion, para compensar. La verdad es que eso funcionaria pero durante el dia no hace falta que la habitacion este caliente...
2. La otra forma seria poner otro termostato en la habitacion "en paralelo" con el del comedor. Si el termostato es basicamente un interruptor (que creo que lo es y esto parece confirmarlo) que se cierra cuando la temperatura cae por debajo del valor fijado, pues el de la habitacion estaria en paralelo y haria lo mismo. Cualquiera de los dos puede entonces activar la caldera. Vamos a ver si eso existe...
3. Una tercera forma es cambiar el termostato por otro que tenga funcion de sensing remota...
4. La ultima/mejor es anyadir un circuito de agua separado controlado por valvulas independientes, cada una controlada por el termostato correspondiente. Evidentemente este es el mas costoso de todos...

Seguramente pruebe #2 

PD.: Por cierto, este link es bueno explicando fallos de caldera.

Cracking my old Excel file encryption

 I got this very old file and can't remember what was my password! DARN!

So, here I am trying with what is out there (which seems pretty powerful). At the time of starting writing this I am (hopefully) half way. Have not been able to crack it yet. But will write here some of the key links/explanations I have found so far:

• Very simple intro from The Guardian on encryption jargon.
• FYI, I am working in Kali Linux.
• Used: Phython office2john.py file_you_want_to_crack > hash.txt This will extract the hash of the file.
• Now you could use something that uses a dictionary to try to crack it, like john --wordlist=/usr/share/wordlists/nmap.lst hash.txt
• But that may not be powerful enough (it wasn't for me) because I wasn't dumb enough to just use words for my password... So, we are now trying brute force attack (try every combination, basically) with hashcat (which is smarter than that). I am having problems using it though but here some interesting stuff as I learn along the way...
• Really nice example/explanation step by step of the whole encryption process and cracking approach. The Atom post he is referring to (that guy is a beast) is here.
• Ok, so after searching, I figure that 1/ I had to remove also the back file name in the hash and all the "::::" (I still had that) and 2/ can't run hashcat in VM Kali (basically needs intensive access to the HW which the VM is simply emulating).
• So, now I got the Hashcat version for Windows 10, but still not running. Issues seem related to the Intel OpenCL driver. You can run Hashcat -I and will give you the devices where it can run the cracking:

hashcat (v6.1.1) starting...

* Device #1: Unstable OpenCL driver detected!

OpenCL Info:

============

OpenCL Platform ID #1

  Vendor..: Intel(R) Corporation

  Name....: Intel(R) OpenCL HD Graphics

  Version.: OpenCL 2.1

  Backend Device ID #1

    Type...........: GPU

    Vendor.ID......: 8

    Vendor.........: Intel(R) Corporation

    Name...........: Intel(R) Iris(R) Plus Graphics

    Version........: OpenCL 2.1 NEO

    Processor(s)...: 64

    Clock..........: 1100

    Memory.Total...: 6450 MB (limited to 3225 MB allocatable in one block)

    Memory.Free....: 6386 MB

    OpenCL.Version.: OpenCL C 2.0

    Driver.Version.: 27.20.100.8280

OpenCL Platform ID #2

  Vendor..: Intel(R) Corporation

  Name....: Intel(R) OpenCL

  Version.: OpenCL 2.1 WINDOWS

  Backend Device ID #2

    Type...........: CPU

    Vendor.ID......: 8

    Vendor.........: Intel(R) Corporation

    Name...........: Intel(R) Core(TM) i7-1065G7 CPU @ 1.30GHz

    Version........: OpenCL 2.1 (Build 0)

    Processor(s)...: 8

    Clock..........: 1300

    Memory.Total...: 16126 MB (limited to 4031 MB allocatable in one block)

    Memory.Free....: 16062 MB

    OpenCL.Version.: OpenCL C 2.0

    Driver.Version.: 2020.11.11.0.13_160000

It identifies both, the GPU (device 1) and the CPU (device 2). It doesn't seem to say "unstable driver" for the device #2. So I give it a shot to use that: hashcat -a0 -m9700 -D1 hashtest.txt

Using D1 tells him to use only CPU, not GPU and it started working!

hashcat (v6.1.1) starting...

./OpenCL/m09700_a0-optimized.cl: Pure kernel not found, falling back to optimized kernel

* Device #1: Unstable OpenCL driver detected!

This OpenCL driver has been marked as likely to fail kernel compilation or to produce false negatives.

You can use --force to override this, but do not report related errors.

OpenCL API (OpenCL 2.1 ) - Platform #1 [Intel(R) Corporation]

=============================================================

* Device #1: Intel(R) Iris(R) Plus Graphics, skipped

OpenCL API (OpenCL 2.1 WINDOWS) - Platform #2 [Intel(R) Corporation]

====================================================================

* Device #2: Intel(R) Core(TM) i7-1065G7 CPU @ 1.30GHz, 16062/16126 MB (4031 MB allocatable), 8MCU

./OpenCL/m09700_a0-optimized.cl: Pure kernel not found, falling back to optimized kernel

Minimum password length supported by kernel: 0

Maximum password length supported by kernel: 15

Hashes: 1 digests; 1 unique digests, 1 unique salts

Bitmaps: 16 bits, 65536 entries, 0x0000ffff mask, 262144 bytes, 5/13 rotates

Rules: 1

Applicable optimizers applied:

* Optimized-Kernel

* Zero-Byte

* Precompute-Init

* Not-Iterated

* Single-Hash

* Single-Salt

Watchdog: Hardware monitoring interface not found on your system.

Watchdog: Temperature abort trigger disabled.

Host memory required for this attack: 204 MB

Starting attack in stdin mode...

Session..........: hashcat

Status...........: Running

Hash.Name........: MS Office <= 2003 $0/$1, MD5 + RC4

Hash.Target......: $oldoffice$0*47dddd306ed3c1e272c9e3cd6013906e*5cf05...d7066a

Time.Started.....: Sat Jan 02 10:10:26 2021 (10 secs)

Time.Estimated...: Sat Jan 02 10:10:36 2021 (0 secs)

Guess.Base.......: Pipe

Speed.#2.........:        0 H/s (0.00ms) @ Accel:64 Loops:1 Thr:64 Vec:16

Recovered........: 0/1 (0.00%) Digests

Progress.........: 0

Rejected.........: 0

Restore.Point....: 0

Restore.Sub.#2...: Salt:0 Amplifier:0-0 Iteration:0-1

Candidates.#2....: [Copying]

It keeps going but gives this message:

ATTENTION! Read timeout in stdin mode. The password candidates input is too slow:

* Are you sure that you are using the correct attack mode (--attack-mode or -a)?

* Are you sure that you want to use input from standard input (stdin)?

* If so, are you sure that the input from stdin (the pipe) is working correctly and is fast enough?

I think the issue is that we are trying a dictionary attack (a0) but not sure what list was using. So, I changed to mask_attack (a3) but I had changed to m9710 which was limiting the length to exactly 5 characters (not sure why) and obviously my experimental 1234 password was not getting cracked. Finally I tried: hashcat -a3 -m9700 -D1 -o outfile.txt hashtest.txt ?d?d?d?d

and that cracked it!!

Other notes... I am using now (to crack the real file) the command:

hashcat -a3 -m9800 -D1 -o outfile.txt hashprostatitis.txt --increment ?l?l?l?l?l?l?l?l

and we get:

[...]

Host memory required for this attack: 204 MB

The wordlist or mask that you are using is too small.

This means that hashcat cannot use the full parallel power of your device(s).

Unless you supply more work, your cracking speed will drop.

For tips on supplying more work, see: https://hashcat.net/faq/morework

Approaching final keyspace - workload adjusted.

Session..........: hashcat

Status...........: Exhausted

Hash.Name........: MS Office <= 2003 $3/$4, SHA1 + RC4

Hash.Target......: $oldoffice$4*778b3815ae4fe0c33b38500455d85742*0d3bf...b08f61

Time.Started.....: Sat Jan 02 11:06:06 2021 (0 secs)

Time.Estimated...: Sat Jan 02 11:06:06 2021 (0 secs)

Guess.Mask.......: ?l [1]

Guess.Queue......: 1/8 (12.50%)

Speed.#2.........:   108.0 kH/s (0.04ms) @ Accel:4 Loops:26 Thr:64 Vec:16

Recovered........: 0/1 (0.00%) Digests

Progress.........: 26/26 (100.00%)

Rejected.........: 0/26 (0.00%)

Restore.Point....: 1/1 (100.00%)

Restore.Sub.#2...: Salt:0 Amplifier:0-26 Iteration:0-26

Candidates.#2....: s -> x

The wordlist or mask that you are using is too small.

This means that hashcat cannot use the full parallel power of your device(s).

Unless you supply more work, your cracking speed will drop.

For tips on supplying more work, see: https://hashcat.net/faq/morework

Approaching final keyspace - workload adjusted.

Session..........: hashcat

Status...........: Exhausted

Hash.Name........: MS Office <= 2003 $3/$4, SHA1 + RC4

Hash.Target......: $oldoffice$4*778b3815ae4fe0c33b38500455d85742*0d3bf...b08f61

Time.Started.....: Sat Jan 02 11:06:06 2021 (0 secs)

Time.Estimated...: Sat Jan 02 11:06:06 2021 (0 secs)

Guess.Mask.......: ?l?l [2]

Guess.Queue......: 2/8 (25.00%)

Speed.#2.........:   719.5 kH/s (0.75ms) @ Accel:4 Loops:26 Thr:64 Vec:16

Recovered........: 0/1 (0.00%) Digests

Progress.........: 676/676 (100.00%)

Rejected.........: 0/676 (0.00%)

Restore.Point....: 26/26 (100.00%)

Restore.Sub.#2...: Salt:0 Amplifier:0-26 Iteration:0-26

Candidates.#2....: sa -> xz

The wordlist or mask that you are using is too small.

This means that hashcat cannot use the full parallel power of your device(s).

Unless you supply more work, your cracking speed will drop.

For tips on supplying more work, see: https://hashcat.net/faq/morework

Approaching final keyspace - workload adjusted.

Session..........: hashcat

Status...........: Exhausted

Hash.Name........: MS Office <= 2003 $3/$4, SHA1 + RC4

Hash.Target......: $oldoffice$4*778b3815ae4fe0c33b38500455d85742*0d3bf...b08f61

Time.Started.....: Sat Jan 02 11:06:06 2021 (0 secs)

Time.Estimated...: Sat Jan 02 11:06:06 2021 (0 secs)

Guess.Mask.......: ?l?l?l [3]

Guess.Queue......: 3/8 (37.50%)

Speed.#2.........:  3935.9 kH/s (4.20ms) @ Accel:4 Loops:26 Thr:64 Vec:16

Recovered........: 0/1 (0.00%) Digests

Progress.........: 17576/17576 (100.00%)

Rejected.........: 0/17576 (0.00%)

Restore.Point....: 676/676 (100.00%)

Restore.Sub.#2...: Salt:0 Amplifier:0-26 Iteration:0-26

Candidates.#2....: sna -> xqz

Approaching final keyspace - workload adjusted.

Session..........: hashcat

Status...........: Exhausted

Hash.Name........: MS Office <= 2003 $3/$4, SHA1 + RC4

Hash.Target......: $oldoffice$4*778b3815ae4fe0c33b38500455d85742*0d3bf...b08f61

Time.Started.....: Sat Jan 02 11:06:06 2021 (0 secs)

Time.Estimated...: Sat Jan 02 11:06:06 2021 (0 secs)

Guess.Mask.......: ?l?l?l?l [4]

Guess.Queue......: 4/8 (50.00%)

Speed.#2.........:  5325.5 kH/s (5.44ms) @ Accel:16 Loops:6 Thr:64 Vec:16

Recovered........: 0/1 (0.00%) Digests

Progress.........: 456976/456976 (100.00%)

Rejected.........: 0/456976 (0.00%)

Restore.Point....: 17576/17576 (100.00%)

Restore.Sub.#2...: Salt:0 Amplifier:24-26 Iteration:0-6

Candidates.#2....: uegy -> xqzz

I.e., one can see how the --increment flag is working and it is testing initially just one character, then combinations of 2, then 3.. Each taking longer time, obviously. It tells you how many it tried. For instance, for 4 characters it does 456976 combinations. Pressing "S" gives us the current status. Of course, this may take hours... (The 6 char long took 1 min, the 7 char long took 37 min) so I canceled.

In that sense, notice that it also shows the speed of how many trials per second: 5325.5 kH/s All 8 cores were at 100% at this time :)

Then I tried hashcat -a3 -m9800 -D1 -o outfile.txt hashprostatitis.txt -1 abcdefghijklmnopqrstuvwxyz0123456789 ?1?1?1?1?1?1 but no luck. I think I am going to have to give up on this. Probably too hard to crack...

Other links:

• A link that I found (unfortunately late) relatively close to this.
• Youtube
• Hashcat wiki
• On the old Office vulnerability when saving multiple versions of a document with the same password. I was thinking to do this as I got two documents using the same password, but I don't think it works for that.

Creating your Home Design with SweetHome3D

 Just a brief tutorial/tips, under construction, on how to get the best of your SH3D:

• Break your space on different problems and create separate files to work on them. That way you can have different variations on the same file of the same space about that one problem and compare to each other. Eventually, when done, you can put it all together with the winning combination for every problem.
• How to find more objects
• SH3D link
  
• How to go from your design in SHD3 to VR view, say on HTC Vive:
• SH3D to do the plan
• Then from there you can export the 3d view to .obj format
• Use autodesk fbx to convert the obj to fbx
• Use unity to import the fbx in htc vive scene. Use the unity toolkit as a start to have a simple teleport system.

3D models: formats, libraries, websites, translators

So, I am using SH3D (Sweet Home 3D). Really nice open source software that allows you to import objects. I am new to all these file formats, so, trying to figure what is the best source of objects and how to bring them in... Work in progress...

You can start by the SH3D library page. Remember to unzip the libraries before importing them, or else it will give you a message like everything was fine but actually nothing gets imported.

Working backwards, SH3D accepts (sorted for compatibility with Blender):

• OBJ - Wavefront << This can be opened by blender
• 3DS - 3D Studio << This can be opened by blender
• DAE - DAE Collada << This can be opened by blender
• LWS - LightWave Scene
• KMZ: this is the Google Earth file format. Not sure what it is doing here...
• ZIP

Nevertheless, the typical libraries websites:

• Archive3D
• 3DSky 
• 3D Warehouse: from Sketchup. Free models.
• TurboSquid: paid and free.
• CGTrader: paid and free.
• https://www.3dcontentcentral.com

Have files like (sorted by how easy is to get them in SH3D, mentioning what opens it that can translate it into one of the SH3D formats):

• RFA: from Revit
• DXF: use 3D Transform to transform STL, which Blender accepts.
• FBX, from Filmbox, is proprietary (folks basically hack their way in, but with a newer version, they lose that...) although the newer versions seem that it can be opened in Blender.
• DWG
• STL 
• SLDPRT: SolidWorks Part file. Proprietary. You can see it with Autodesk Viewer but don't know how to save it/translate it to something (without paying...).
• SLDASM: SolidWorks too. It typically contains several of the above organized together...
• MAX: From AutoDesk. Looks like there is no way.

In some cases we lose the texture, which is not cool...

Some of the files are more complex than what we want to use in SH3D, so, we need a way not only to open it but to edit it.

Websites that allow you to change formats for free:

• http://www.greentoken.de/onlineconv/
• Input formats: 3d, 3ds, fbx, ac, ac3d, acc, ase, ask, b3d, blend, bvh, cob, csm, dae, dxf, enff, hmp, ifc, irr, irrmesh, lwo, lws, lxo, md2, md3, md5anim, md5camera, md5mesh, mdc, mdl, mesh.xml, mot, ms3d, ndo, nff, obj, off, pk3, ply, prj, q3o, q3s, raw, scn, smd, stl, ter, uc, vta, x, xml, xgl
• Export formats are: stl, stlb, collada, obj, 3ds, ply, json, x 
• 3D Transform: takes .igs .iges .stp .step .brep .3ds .ase .dxf .stla .stlb .stl .wrl .iv .obj .swv .gmod .iv and outputs .STL

Editors:

• Blender:
• Sketchup: looks like they may have some freebies... Unfortunately does not run in Linux so won't comment further.

Eventually, we will also need textures. Textures are relatively easier as any jpg will work, except for the tileability (how to tile them side by side seamlessly)

Covid rapid (24 hrs turnaround) test for travelers in Dallas

 Just a note here to write down what I did:

1. I found 3 options (there may be more but just stopped there :)):
1. DevLabBio: $150 next day results. They replied very fast to my email. You book a time online. Fill the form, including the payment, ahead of arriving to the place.
2. CareNow. $150 on their normal clinics. $250 at the airport.
3. RealTimeLab: $250 for 24hrs turnaround time
2. For a list of testing sites in Texas click here  Wherever you decide to go, make sure it is in this list so that it is not a fake place (there are reports of some popping up).
3. The points guy article.

I did #1 (at 3PM on Thursday for a flight departure at 8PM on Saturday, and arrival at 10AM Sunday). My backup was #2 at the airport if it failed.

===

Nothing to do with Covid testing but other stuff required by immigration:

• Travel to UK from US restrictions
• UK entrance form
• Travel to Spain regulation
• Spain entrance form

Getting Internet while traveling in Spain

The link that brought me to the solution is this nice one

The solution that I did:

• https://www.simyo.es/ You should see few sliders where you can pick the quantities of data and voice/calls. I selected 20GB/month for 10Euro. No voice/calls.
  
• Tethering is allowed
• If you don't want to do tethering or your phone doesn't allow it, you can get their modem for 48Euro.

Great people

Intent of this post is to list a few of maybe not so well known great human beings  (work in progress). Respect:

Rosalind Franklin: should have been one of the novel prize winners for the discovery of DNA. 

Jonas Salk, discover of many vaccines, but very few now him because he credited his team.

James Heselden - Segway and Hesco Owner

"There are people out there who are making money, and when times are good I honestly believe people have a moral obligation to use their wealth to help others," Heselden told the Yorkshire Post earlier this year. "Life turned out pretty well for me, but I still work in the same area where I grew up, and everyday I see people who for whatever reason are down on their luck."

Usman Koroma, wanted to adopt a child who had just lost her mom to Ebola. 

Chinese doctor, Li Wenliang, who was reprimanded by police after warning colleagues about a new respiratory disease emerging in Wuhan, and finally died after falling ill. 

Aaron Feuerstein, from Malden Mills. Keep their employees after the factory burnt down and many competitors were moving overseas. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Malden_Mills

Peter Norman, Awesome human and Australian athlete.

Yevdokia Dashina: hippo care taker

Josep Maria Bertran de Quintana. Judge on the Republican side (one of the Spanish sides during the Civil War) that prosecuted indiscriminated killings of civilians on the Republican controlled regions, against the establishment and social winds (hurricanes) in those regions.

EV battery size and cost

Being checking a bit on EVs now that Tesla is hot (I think >$2k/share is a joke, you read it here first :)). Still, the EV (which BTW were not invented by Tesla) are cool. Even Teslas are cool (just the stock price is a joke). Note: I am checking also FCEV (look super cool too). 

Anyhow, quick calculation from the offering on this site (they explain it really well so you just can read it there). A Tesla 5.3kWh (444 batteries as 74p6s) pack costs $1580 ($300/kWh) and is 68 x 28 x 7.5 cm. 10 of these packs would give you about 53kWh which is close to Model 3 smallest battery (50kWh) and can take you (if you believe the BS-EPA rating from Tesla) to 354Km. Would love to see you try that, Tesla fan ;) but still pretty good even if falls short of that (see bottom of this post). Assuming same "marketing" trickery, we can guess we can get about 275 km with that battery pack.

So, to summarize it, it takes about $57 and about 0.5 liter of volume per km of autonomy. 

Notice though that this is for the full Tesla module. In the same website we can check the price of the individual cells (Panasonic 18650): 200 cells (3Ah/cell, or ~2.3kWh) for $600. This is actually not much cheaper than just buying the Tesla module, about $1330 for the 444 cells on that module and you got everything else with it (cooling, assembly...), done on the Gigafactory.

So, what to do with this stupid battery? ;)

• Awesome, I repeat, really awesome video of how to make an electric catamaran. Warning: if you watch it, you may not be able to avoid building one. You've been warned...
• Or how about an eBike? :)
• Or an eFoil?
• Or an eWaterBike?

Seriously!

PS.: On the range (what I call BS-EPA), this video measures few cars in a real life scenario. The link should bring you straight into the results part. As summary:

1. Nissan Leaf: 62kWh, 208 miles in the test, 87% of the EPA promised range (what I call the BS-EPA range).
2. Jaguar I-Pace: 90kWh, 223, 76%
3. Mercedes EQ: 80kWh, 194, 75% 
4. Audi e-tron: 95kWh, 206, 81%
5. Kia e-Niro: 64kWh, 255, 90%
6. Tesla model 3 Long range: 75kWh, 270, 78% 

Based on #6, the real range would be 78% of 354km = 276km

Seborrheic Keratoses

 Remove them with your fingernails

Where to invest your money

So we are in August 2020. I am not going to spend time telling you what has happened this year in the world :) But here I just curated the view of different smart people that may give you different perspectives on what they think about putting your money in different places. Some will be right, some will be wrong, but they are all certainly people worth listening to. In no particular order:

• Where money comes from (I guess one should start there, if in the end, all what you are trying to do is to conserve or grow that): 
• Money creation in the modern economy.
• Inflation and US debt
• Stock market returns accounting for inflation. The short story:
• $1 in 1950 bought you the same as $9.1 in 2010.**
• $1 invested in S&P in 1950 with dividend reinvestment would be worth ~50 in 2010 if you had reinvested the dividends, once you account for inflation. If you didn't reinvest the dividends it would be only worth about $7. Certainly the gains are much lower than many financial advisors will tell you but still great and a good hedge against inflation. An example would be to look at Jimmy Carter's presidency (1/1977 to 1/1981) with this calculator. The total gain with div reinvested adjusted for inflation in that period was a mere 5%. BUT the inflation was actually 50%! If you left the money under the mattress, you would have lost 50% of its value at the end of his presidency.
• ** Is inflation what you really care about? For the most part, yes, but the key thing to keep in mind is that you get money and hope to use it on stuff. You would hope that at least when you want to buy something, it will cost the same or less than today. There are products that you can buy today but some you got to wait (can't buy food for 2040). In those, inflation is critical. Nevertheless, what you plan to buy may or may not match what the government considers in the basket of products for inflation. So, watch for those. For instance, the main one is one of your biggest expenses, housing. As it is so big, people usually doesn't miss it/gets fooled by government data. But it is interesting to note why they do not include that (different topic).
• Is gold a good hedge against inflation? With the last stimulus of 3 trillion dollars, a lot of people says that there will be inflation and that Gold helps offset that. Some articles on the topic:
• For that theory
• Against that theory
• Ray Dalio: highly respected in the investment world, founder of Bridgewater. I am no one to judge his knowledge and way of thinking (which I think it is really good) but I do find his texts not so easy to understand (probably my fault more than his) and a bit repetitive (could include different angles to the same concept):
• How the economic machine works? 
  
• The Changing World Order (a 2020 series of articles on how he sees the US position in the world evolving, the effects on macro-economy, the potential role of other countries like China...). I am just starting to read it so can't really judge yet... 
• John Hussman. To many what is called a permabear (someone who always thinks the market is going to go down). He got this reputation over the last 10 years as he claimed the market was overbought but kept going up. He admits that although he may be right on the first (market fundamentals), he didn't appreciate the fact that people (psychology) may still keep pumping the market up (market internals). Regardless, I find his analysis sound and you can learn quite a bit reading his monthly notes.
• Liquidity concept
• Want to invest on start-ups?
• Wefunder

This is work in progress but anyhow hope it helps...

Resources:

1. ETF
2. 
   

Moving from one Android phone to another

These are mostly notes for myself so don't take it as a tutorial. I am sure there are much better out there...

1. In the old phone I had google back up running, so, it was basically up to date with all the info.
2. On the new phone, I just had wifi enabled (the SIM was still in the old one). Logged in with my Google acct and a lot of the stuff got transferred in.
3. I did have to log in Facebook to enable the automatic login in other apps.
4. Skype and Messenger (Facebook) were straightforward. Just log in those apps and then you can use it in both phones.
5. WeChat was relatively easy too. Didn't want to lose my contacts/chat history. 
1. Following those instructions in the old phone, go to Me>>Settings>>Chat>>Backup and migrate chats. It'll show a QR.
2. Then log in normally in the new phone WeChat. As I didn't remember my password, used SMS to reset it (they get sent to the old phone, but it is ok).
3. Once in the new phone app, click the top right corner plus sign and an option to scan QR shows up. Do it and there you go! By the way, you'll get logged out of your old phone WeChat.
6. Line:
1. In the old phone, open the app, go to the "More" (3 dots), settings icon (top right) >> Chats >> Backup and restore chat history >> Backup to Google Drive
2. Similar to WeChat, log into your new phone Line. If you forgot password, you can reset with SMS and email assigned to your account. Then it'll warn you that your old phone app is going to disappear and that you should backup. You click ok and as it pulls the backup from Google it disables the older phone Line.
7. Whatsapp:
1. In the old phone, go to whatsapp >> 3 dots >> Settings >> Chats >> Chat backup and do a backup.
2. Then log in the new phone Whatsapp simply with your phone number. Even if the SIM still in the old phone, you get the verification SMS in the old phone and enable the new phone. If you had two factor authentication, it'll as you now. Then you can pull the backup. If you don't do it then, you won't be able to do it later! 
3. That's it! The old phone Whatsapp will get disabled, like with the other apps...
8. Signal:
1. In the old phone, click the 3 dots >> chats and media >> Backups enable. Write down the bunch of numbers it gives you. Then click "Create backup". 
2. Go now to the old phone internal storage and search for the backup file in signal/backups. Copy it to the same directory in the new phone.
3. Now install signal in the new phone (I had installed it and then erased it, which left the directory in there). Bottom line, when you install it, it'll see the backup and pull it itself. Will ask you for SMS and pin also (like whasapp). Straightforward...

Cheers!