asciilifeform: most folks here are as likely to escape as dolphin from national aquarium.
asciilifeform: at any rate, the reason there is not a pandaemonium of attempted republikflucht from usa, and corresponding whack-a-mole game by usg, is very simple -
asciilifeform: (notice no bags of benjies accepted either)
asciilifeform: sorta inverse of the 'prove you have enough to live on' demanded when entering certain countries
asciilifeform: next logical step, likely, is 'exit bond'
asciilifeform: (for n00bs - a vanity-exchanged currency is approximately as useful outside of the border of demented issuing state as vegas poker chip is outside of vegas)
asciilifeform: but not clear that the buggers actually care to detain the earthly carcasses of the owners, vs. just their holdings.
asciilifeform: now, it's abundantly clear that usd is on its way to 'zimbabwean', 'vanity' currency status like soviet ruble
asciilifeform: iirc, the version of the statute that actually passed was '50k outstanding tax is grounds for cancel passport'
asciilifeform: intelligence agency is (at least in times gone by) distinguishable from vandal.
asciilifeform: pickup may work on x% of woman; nerve gas - 100%. but notice most folks are interested in - pickup.
asciilifeform: and how many / what kinds of routing it survives.
asciilifeform: would depend on the particular magic, no ?
asciilifeform: mircea_popescu: grunt at ft. meade had to let go of the red button to light a cig
asciilifeform: mailed back medal, sure, anyone can. but what of the money.
asciilifeform: at any rate, i'm unable to say when exactly we reached the point where 'the hunchback can only straighten in his grave' - but it was some years ago.
asciilifeform: altera - same basic scam, ultimately.
asciilifeform: incidentally, the last time i gave a damn (> 1yr ago) i learned that all the 'miner asic' products had been produced this way.
asciilifeform: e.g., your ethernet card, ddr controller, whatever libs you had the misfortune to rely on
asciilifeform: naturally you cough up royalties for their 'property'
asciilifeform: e.g., xilinx wants you to prototype on their fpga, and then offers massively-discounted asic process which simply consists of their fpga die plus custom metallization layer.
asciilifeform: decimation: asic << and here's where the turdmeisters win. many 'asic' products on the market presently are actually 'hardcopy fpga'
asciilifeform: generally used when there is absolutely no alternative.
asciilifeform: generally, you'll have it figured out by the time... the chip goes out of print.
asciilifeform: if you grind away at it long enough, you can sometimes figure out the actual physical locations of things on the die
asciilifeform: because it uses the general-purpose routing fabric, and propagation delays eat you alive.
asciilifeform: if you go and actually try to implement, e.g., ddr2 controller, using generic logic (yes, i did, and it fit) you quickly discover that it is useless.
asciilifeform: one could dispute particulars, but the popular image of 'open source' where 'thousands of people' have meaningful contributions to a project - was always a hallucination.
asciilifeform: not to mention the userland being there for the taking
asciilifeform: to the extent 'linux' was a clean-room riff on 'minix' - same deal
asciilifeform: mircea_popescu: aside from examples like 'emacs', most of what is actually useful in 'open source' was written in other times, other walls, pre-dating it
asciilifeform: mircea_popescu: i'm not altogether certain it was ever alive.
asciilifeform: lest anyone think tortoise gets nothing from this deal - think again. he gets to derp in front of the other cartoon animals, that - even while his shell is bursting from megacock thrust - that nothing at all is happening
