1. Type of key?

The brand is Phillips but they make various types. The type here is (not sure of the correct jargon) without vertical ridges and notches. And both sides of the key are identical.

I've looked at some diagrams of key types and I'm not sure exactly. Is it a "dimple key"? Something else?

2. How to remove broken part from lock?

Location: Door between bedroom and garden.

Situation:

• Someone bent the key a little, and it was stuck, couldn't get it out. On the inside of the door. At that point still able to lock and unlock from the inside only. Using other key from the outside does nothing, doesn't even turn.

• I tried gently straightening it but it immediately snapped.

• Now: can still open and close the door using the handle. Can still, with difficulty, lock and unlock the door (from inside only) by carefully pressing the head of the key against what is in the lock and turning.

A lot of info online for removing broken key blades from locks are for the "traditional" kind of key with vertical ridges and notches.

I have a screwdriver that fits all the screws and I can access all sides of the lock (inside, outside, edge), but I'm not sure if that's relevant. I've tried tweezers but it's too snug.

If I need more tools or equipment, I'll get them tomorrow.

Starring:

• Keir Dullea
• Jack Palance
• Samantha Eggar
• Barry Morse

A group of strangers find themselves dumped into a desolate countryside. They have no knowledge of who they are other than a card in their pockets telling each of them the number of people they've killed.

I don't know what more that I can say about this movie that wouldn't be a huge spoiler. (If you insist, I'll give more info at the end of the post hidden by the spoiler tag.)

I first saw this by chance on late night TV in the early 90s, with no idea of what it was.

Was it perfect? No. Was it interesting? Absolutely. Somehow it always stuck with me and every now and then for the last few decades, something reminds me of the premise. Today some comments made on a post about the kind of people who become ICE recruits brought it to mind again. https://piefed.social/post/930947

So I looked it up on and it's on Tubi, and I rewatched it for the first time in over three decades. Still thought-provoking.

• Welcome to Blood City - Tubi (English audio)
• Welcome to Blood City - YouTube (English audio)

Technical note: Unfortunately, it seems to only be available in very low quality, both on Tubi and YouTube: 360p, videotape transfer with artefacts, poor pan-and-scan. The subs on Tubi seem to be ripped from YouTube's autogenerate!

More links below but even the scantiest review or description is a huge spoiler. If you can, I'd recommend watching it with no more info in advance.

• Wikipedia
• IMDb
• Spoilers: Audio review from Quentin Tarantino? on YouTube

I have a problem with noisy neighbours and want an app to measure and record the volume of their noise for possible legal action.

I prefer free-libre from F-Droid, but they don't have one.

Google Play has... hundreds of apps (one at US$100!). No idea which to choose, hopefully a free one without ads and data surveillance.

Web search results filled with sites I don't know/trust, and obvious SEO or AI slop.

So I'm asking folks here: anyone have any experience of a decibel meter app that's:

• preferably free-libre
• free-gratis (I might pay for a reasonably-priced pro version after I've tried out the free one)
• zero or tolerable ads
• zero or minial data surveillance

Thanks.

... AS BAJORAN!

https://variety.com/2025/tv/news/lincoln-lawyer-season-4-cast-cobie-smulders-1236415684/

China's first humanoid boxing tournament generated enthusiastic coverage from media outlets across the world - revealing how tech hype clickbait can serve the goals of external propaganda

First, about Hu Anyan:

How a Beijing courier’s story struck a chord and escaped the censors

• https://www.metafilter.com/209002/The-wild-writer-who-told-the-truth-about-work-in-China
• • The Financial Times - The ‘wild’ writer who told the truth about work in China
• • Sixth Tone - Hu Anyan and the Beauty of ‘Ordinary Things’ as a Refuge From Reality
• • Pandayoo - A Look at “I Deliver Packages in Beijing”

Second, by Meng Xia:

Reading Contemporary Chinese Migrant Fiction: Memories in Negotiation, Contradiction, and Translation examines the spectrum of Chinese migrant writing about memory since the 1990s and what it tells us about history, memory and trauma in contemporary China.

• China Rhyming - Reading Contemporary Chinese Migrant Fiction

Found this review from Forces of Geek in my newsfeed, thought it might be of interest to folks here.

• https://forcesofgeek.com/cinema-bizarro-the-weird-kids-guide-to-particularly-odd-horror-and-sci-fi-movies/

Cinema Bizarro is a very good book about (mostly) bad movies.

The fact that such all-time turkeys as Robot Monster and The Navy vs. the Night Monsters are treated with an equal level of respect to such genuine genre classics as Invasion of the Body Snatchers and The Blob says a lot about the mindset of these reviews.

A book for kids covering everything from 7 Faces of Dr Lao to Woman Eater!

Publisher's link:

• https://www.bearmanormedia.com/products/cinema-bizarro-the-weird-kid-s-guide-to-particularly-odd-horror-and-sci-fi-movies

THE THIRD ENTRY IN THE RONDO AWARD NOMINATED MONSTER MOVIE BOOK SERIES!

From the creators of Giant Bug Cinema - A Monster Kid’s Guide and Giant Beast Cinema - A Monstrous Movie Guide, both of which reached the Top Ten on Amazon for Horror Movie Books, comes Cinema Bizarro — a celebration of killer plants, eccentric aliens, and weird westerns!

Featuring insanely insightful reviews of 38 movies (plus 30 capsule reviews of Weird Westerns of the 1930’s and 1940’s), take a very unsafe tourbus through a terrifying terrain filled with sight-stealing triffids, alien gorillas in diving helmets, and the vampires ’n’ dinosaurs that vexed the wild west. Let Cinema Bizarro envelop you in its loving embrace like the cool, slimy clutches of The Blob!

The contributors are:

• Larry Blamire - Rondo-Award winning film historian and cult filmmaker of Sony’s The Lost Skeleton of Cadavra, Giant Beast Cinema

• Dan Madigan - former Writer for WWE, screenwriter/creator of See No Evil franchise.

• Tracy Mercer - Giant Beast Cinema, Host, My Favorite Shtty Movie podcast

• Mike Peros - José Ferrer: Success and Survival, Dan Duryea: Heel with a Heart, Giant Beast Cinema, film critic for Noho Arts District

• Steven Peros - Co-Editor/Contributor to Giant Beast Cinema, screenwriter of Peter Bogdanovich’s The Cat’s Meow

• Nadia Robertson - Cinema Macabre Magazine, Rock and Roll Nightmares, and Co-Host of Cinema Chats podcast

• Brian R. Solomon - Godzilla FAQ, Giant Beast Cinema

• Phoef Sutton - Two-time Emmy winning writer for Cheers, co-host of Films Freaks Forever podcast.

• Mark Bailey - Conceived, designed, and co-edited entire monster book trilogy.

• Steven B. Orkin - Copy editor for monster book trilogy, Winner of Stephen King’s On Writing contest

cross-posted from: https://slrpnk.net/post/22869744

From

• Proof that Patrick Stewart exists in the Star Trek universe

Via

• https://reddthat.com/post/42276522

Loads of people have thought "What if you had a time machine? Would you go back and kill Hitler?"

The Yesterday Machine addresses the question "What if you had a time machine and were a mad Nazi scientist? Would you go back and save Hitler? And bring him to present-day America?" (Hmmm....)

Apparently a cheapo "regional movie" made in Dallas and never distributed beyond the Texas drive-in circuit, its release is so shrouded in uncertainty that no one can quite agree on the year it first came out. (Suggestions include 1963, 1965 and 1966. Still filling out the bill in Texas drive-ins in the mid 70s.)

It opens with a completely gratuitous bit of majorette go-go dancing, and pans to also view... a knockoff Charles Napier. At which point I went "And this movie is gonna have Nazis... is this a RUSS MEYER MOVIE???"

But as the titles roll, it becomes clear this is by a completely different director. Russ Marker. See, 3 whole letters different from Russ Meyer!

We also know it's not the œuvre of the world's favourite Nazi-obsessed director by the fact that the majorette and other actresses lack Meyer's trademark... topheaviness. And the film is not nearly gonzo enough. It's a fairly action-free hour before the Nazis even show up, at which point the mad scientist spends like 15-20 minutes just explaining his time travel "science" in front of a blackboard. I genuinely dozed off at this point. (But presumably at the drive-in, this would be when the teens would be rounding third base, so... who cares?)

A literal snooze fest. Don't bother watching... once the go-go dancing is over.

Not Charles Napier, in a movie by not Russ Meyer

Info:

• Wikipedia
• IMDb

Teaser:

• https://youtu.be/7BVteHch6d4

Movie (apparently it's in the public domain now, so it's everywhere):

• The Internet Archive
• Cinetimes (where I found it)
• YouTube: a gazillion uploads. Take your pick.