We called up Vince Hough-
ton, historian and curator at
the International Spy Museum
in Washington, D.C., for tips on
locking down your workspace,
James Bond style.- PROTECT YOUR PASS-
WORD // Houghton says this
is the easiest way to protect
your information. Keep desk
tchotchkes (especially sticky
notes) to a minimum. “Make
sure your security questions
aren’t plastered all over,” he
says. “Social engineering is the
term we use for trying to learn
as much as we can about some-
body in order to guess their
password and get inside their
system without hacking it.” - LEAVE A “TELLTALE” //
There’s a scene in Dr. No
where James Bond plucks a
strand of hair from his head
and sticks it across the open-
ing between the closet doors
in his hotel room. When he
returns, the hair is gone,
indicating to him alone that
someone opened the doors.
Houghton says you can leave
telltales of your own on your
office desk. Have important
documents you’d like to keep
safe? Place a stapler on top
and position it in a way that
you’ll easily be able to spot if
it has been tampered with. - MAKE DUMMY FILES // If you
suspect a co-worker is steal-
ing your ideas, leave a folder
with a bunch of junk ideas on
your desktop and then bury
the good files in a place that’s
much more difficult to find—
like, say, in a folder labeled
“Cancun 2012.” This method
is what industry experts call
“chicken feed,” and it’s a great
way to throw snoopers off your
scent, Houghton says. “You’re
offering up tidbits of what
looks like good information to
your adversary.”- INVEST IN LOW-TECH
GADGETS // Houghton rec-
ommends a screen protector
that shields your screen from
snooping eyes. A pen camera
is also useful here. If you’re
going to a meeting and you sus-
pect that someone is going to
sit down at your desk and rif le
through your stuff, “you can
turn that pen camera on and
then catch them in the act,”
he says. - AND FINALLY... HERE’S HOW
TO SLACK OFF // Memorize
your boss’s schedule, iden-
tify which parts of the day
he or she will be in a meet-
ing—not roaming around the
office. That way, you can scroll
through Pop Mech in peace.
—Interview by Jennifer Leman
“Any fine sawdust I get I save in a glass jar. When-
ever I have a hole or crack that needs filled, I mix
some of the sawdust with wood glue.” It’s a cheap
solution for quick (if a bit imprecise) repairs.— P R O M E M B E R M A R T I N S T E V E N *—PRO MEMBER STEVE MARTIN*Ever notice that your
ears pop easier on a
plane’s ascent than
the descent? That’s
because, according to
Martin, the Aerospace
Physiology Operations
Manager at the Univer-
sity of North Dakota,
the pocket of air behind
your eardrum expands
on the way up due to
the lower barometric
air pressure, naturally
forcing equalization.
On the way down, you
have the exact oppo-
site problem. “When
we descend into thedenser air at lower alti-
tudes, it’s harder for air
to get past the one-way
flap back up the eusta-
chian tube,” he says.
Which means Mar-
tin—who teaches pilots
how to equalize the
pressure using an alti-
tude chamber on his
campus—recommends
pulling the “Valsalva
maneuver.” Pinch your
nose, keep your lips
sealed, and blow like you
are blowing your nose.
If only one ear pops, tilt
the problem ear so it
faces the sky and look
straight ahead with
your shoulders level.
“This will stretch and
straighten the eusta-
chian tube. Perform a
short, sharp Valsalva
maneuver,” he says.“How can I secure my cubicle from
prying intruders—in a covert way?”Master the
Midflight
Ear PopKEEP LEFTOVER SAWDUST
—PRO MEMBER JOHN TIMMERMANS*DOUBLE FIRST NAMES NOT REQUIRED FOR MEMBERSHIP.
GETTY IMAGES// QUESTIONS, HACKS & EXPERT ADVICE FROM POP MECH PRO MEMBERS //13
84 March/April 2020
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