Here’s an example. It’s a population ecology example, but not because population ecology is the only bit of ecology that’s about dynamical systems. There has been quite a bit written, on the Internet and in print, about lock picking. Some pin tumbler locks incorporate "high security" features, including secondary locking mechanisms and features intended specifically to frustrate picking. Mechanical locks (and techniques for defeating them) are inherently interesting to many scientists, engineers, and others, and an understanding of the principles for evaluating and techniques for attacking locks, in addition to being useful in its own right, can provide subtle insight into security more generally. A detailed introduction to locks is well beyond the scope of this document; we assume here that you already understand, or have access to, the basic principles. While some of these features can be defeated with conventional picking tools and are covered here, picking high security locks generally requires specialized tools and techniques (often designed for a specific brand or model of lock) and are beyond our scope here. Because of the intense contact, you will find most billiard tables are constructed with a solid wood frame.

I have no idea, but I believe Austin Ray, who will run the Melrose Billiards successor, when he says the new place is not turning it into some tiki bar. If you can’t play with full mental abilities for more than two or three hours, it will be difficult to become a serious competitor. Billiards was originally played with just two balls and an implement resembling a hockey stick. An alternative endgame is "poison": in this variant, a player who has scored the last wicket but not hit the starting stake becomes a "poison ball", which may eliminate other balls from the game by roqueting them. For those unfortunate neo-anti-Luddites who refuse to acknowledge the value of anything not available on the Web, I suggest, at a minimum, reading the MIT Guide to Lockpicking, which, while not perfect, has the virtue of being free (and readily available online). Consequently, they are equipped with on-board computers which constantly and delicately adjust the flight surfaces to cancel out the unwanted butterfly effects, leaving the pilot free to exploit his own. While pool tables are common to many pubs, snooker tends to be played either in private settings or in public snooker halls.

Shims are the easiest way to level a pool table. In snooker, 22 balls, including the white colour striker ball, are used. Games are shorter, balls are more likely to be hit harder, and 'jump' shots are more likely to be witnessed, where a ball is played to deliberately jump off the ground and over another ball. As long as a shot first contacts the lowest ball, any ball pocketed allows the player to continue shooting. Pool involves 15 coloured balls, a cue ball, and a pocketed table. What is the difference between snooker, billiards, pool and side pocket? You might have even seen it being played and not even realized it, as seems to be true with most varieties of billiards, at least in my experience anyway. Other classes of attack, not discussed here but at least as worthy of study and scrutiny, include lock decoding, which is concerned with producing a working key based only on access to the external interface of the lock, lock bypass, which aims to unlatch the underlying locking mechanism without operating the lock at all, and forced entry, which, as the term suggests, involves the destructive application of force to the lock or its surroundings.

In this document. we focus specifically on the conventional "pin tumbler" lock, which is the most common commercial and residential design used in the United States. Again, repeat the exercise with the aim of learning to distinguish between these states with as little lifting as possible. The first step toward learning to defeat locks is a thorough understanding of how they work, where their security comes from, what is billiards and how their design and manufacture introduces potentially exploitable vulnerabilities. Pin-tumbler lock picking has long been among the common skills of the security community. An excellent (and currently available) reference is Marc W. Tobias' Locks, Safes and Security. The book is an encyclopedic guide to mechanical locks, how to evaluate them, and how to defeat them, aimed primarily at investigators, law enforcement and intelligence operatives. It's aimed at working locksmiths, and has a broad discussion of picking techniques and principles, albeit with less depth than the Finch book. Probably the best book I've found on picking locks is the Gerry Finch Manual of Lock Picking, which unfortunately appears to be out of print as of this writing. Find out its pros, cons, and cost considerations. If you can find a copy for sale, get it.