asciilifeform: as it used a miniature rocket (approx. the size of .5 round...) which was fin-stabilized and rotated, it needed only a very simple firing mechanism and low-pressure barrel

asciilifeform: famous failed product (no one seems to agree precisely why failed) but very instructive re: yesterday's thread

asciilifeform: mircea_popescu: speaking of small arms, are you familiar with (historic) 'gyrojet' ?

asciilifeform: probably even arbalest.

asciilifeform: you can shoot through u.s. 'walls' with almost anything

asciilifeform: invented - unsurprisingly - in jp

asciilifeform: http://www.lonesentry.com/articles/jp_tankhunters/fig1_japanese_lunge_mine_antitank.jpg << obligatory 'for when it no longer matters' weapon

asciilifeform: even 'elite' pistolero has wrists, they aren't made of stone

asciilifeform: why not at least give it a wooden folding stock like the old 'mauser'

asciilifeform: sorta reminiscent of the late-medieval 'hand cannone'

asciilifeform: (not sure about elsewhere)

asciilifeform: the .5 pistol is considered a 'crackpot' curio in usa

asciilifeform: walk up to it?

asciilifeform: where, at the airfield ?

asciilifeform: fire at aircraft from pistol barrel, lol!

asciilifeform: mircea_popescu: in english-speaking world 'weirdo' rounds (explode, flechette, etc.) are generally made for '12' shotgun

asciilifeform: http://www.gunslot.com/files/gunslot/images/52467.jpg << that one

asciilifeform: (the one found worldwide, actually used in everything from light aircraft to sniper)

asciilifeform: rather than what is called .50 bmg in usa

asciilifeform: mircea_popescu: are you sure you were thinking of -this- .50 ?

asciilifeform: was, iirc, designed specially for usg

asciilifeform: ^ center

asciilifeform: http://www.firearmstalk.com/images/3/9/0/8/3/thumb2_rounds-178.jpg

asciilifeform: (pistol round)

asciilifeform: iirc most of the famous stockpile is '.40', a caliber unpopular outside of usg afaik

asciilifeform: even to have it happen by accident would require some sort of standardization

asciilifeform: lol not deliberately

asciilifeform: then unadulterated idiocy

asciilifeform: hm.

asciilifeform: (they typically do nowadays)

asciilifeform: also - until we hear otherwise - safe to assume that it was mining a crackpot alt

asciilifeform: mircea_popescu: cpu bitcoin miner would barely make any satoshi << cargocult

asciilifeform: http://qntra.net/2015/03/crapware-still-bundles-mining-software

asciilifeform: *already

asciilifeform: mircea_popescu: it's on qntra alrady

asciilifeform: 'find a place to stick an extra methyl where it won't matter but now patentable'

asciilifeform: i'll add that virtually 100% of r&d investment by extant pharma firms is precisely this and only this

asciilifeform: pharma sop

asciilifeform: more belgian-rubber.

asciilifeform: they're permitted industry, just under very... different terms

asciilifeform: there is always some joker standing ready to take over from whatever widget is up for the ban hammer

asciilifeform: one of the most famous idiocies was the light bulb thing

asciilifeform not diligent scholar of the subject

asciilifeform: possibly

asciilifeform: and was in one not long ago

asciilifeform: haven't seen an auto shop yet that stocks anything but Pb battery

asciilifeform: every ups vendor i know of is shipping chinese cells

asciilifeform: (in usa, cars, trucks, 'ups' - ~100% Pb)

asciilifeform: what did they decree? NiMH?

asciilifeform: hm must be eu thing

asciilifeform: pretty much the only remaining use permitted worldwide is battery

asciilifeform: (less if actually put to use)

asciilifeform: standard Pb cells are good for 2-3 tops

asciilifeform: thing wants new electrolyte every 2-3 decades, but it costs pennies

asciilifeform: same story as the rest of technocivilization

asciilifeform: like mercedes.

asciilifeform: aha

asciilifeform: wonder what they charge.

asciilifeform: ^ lol, is that an american firm?!

asciilifeform: ;;google nickel-iron battery

asciilifeform: (where it is used in farm equipment, iirc)

asciilifeform: but as ancient tech, for some reason not of interest to any existing manufacturer outside of china

asciilifeform: mircea_popescu: it also laughs at deep-cycling, overcharging, heat, vibration...

asciilifeform: iirc there are 100+ year old examples which still function as rated!

asciilifeform: virtually indestructible

asciilifeform: the (very old!) nickel-iron battery is superior to Li (and all other extant chemistries) in all respects but energy density

asciilifeform: incidentally

asciilifeform: cazalla: most of orlov's mechanics apply to any kind of anglo world collapse, not necessarily 'petro-flavoured'

asciilifeform: mircea_popescu: if you know how, then yes!

asciilifeform: if gonna fuse H to get it, may as well do it right in the car...

asciilifeform: Li isn't especially abundant in economically recoverable form

asciilifeform: (as well as the rest of the electro-junk in there)

asciilifeform: mircea_popescu: moves the mineral question to the storage battery

asciilifeform: implies that you can dig up economically

asciilifeform: approx. 'useful shit to dig up'

asciilifeform: mircea_popescu: 'mineral - wrong word, yes. meant 'полезные ископаемые' in general

asciilifeform: no mineral 'runs out' like the air in a diver's tank

asciilifeform: cazalla: again, 'run out' is a dodge concept

asciilifeform: (price spike - not necessarily large, economic convulsions leading to 'demand destruction', price drops, useless mouths resume proliferating, etc. rinse&repeat)

asciilifeform: actual reality of nonrewables exhaustion is considerably more interesting

asciilifeform: implies the price going from reasonable to $maxint overnight, or the like

asciilifeform: likewise, 'running out' is a broad stroke

asciilifeform: cazalla: it is worth your while to become acquainted with the actual theory (vs the popular disinfo presentation of it) - rather than 'running out of oil', considerably more complicated (approximately, running out of -economical- oil)

asciilifeform: cazalla: the 'debunkings' are crude sham jobs to put the plebes to sleep

asciilifeform: airgapped: read the #b-a logs, there is a wealth of material on the subject

asciilifeform: (assuming one does not partake in the braindamage of using a node as a wallet)

asciilifeform: bitcoin node is not really a cryptographically-sensitive device

asciilifeform: there is some conflation of unrelated things here

asciilifeform: !up airgapped

asciilifeform: for the lack of a clearly superior 'bang for the buck' elsewhere

asciilifeform: not perfect by any means, but a number of folks here are experimenting with it

asciilifeform: ^ small 'nas' computer available in usa for < 20 usd; reasonably-well-understood leaked chip docs; reasonable performance

asciilifeform: !s pogo

asciilifeform: and if you went to school and they didn't teach why this is, go and get your money back

asciilifeform: doesn't even matter if the radio is switched on

asciilifeform: thing's a 'submarine with screen door'

asciilifeform: in this case it doesn't even matter whether there are blobs

asciilifeform: http://log.bitcoin-assets.com/?date=18-03-2014#564580 << thread ☝︎

asciilifeform: i'll pass.

asciilifeform: airgapped: if you want to carry out crypto on a chip with built-in radio, be my guest