asciilifeform: doesn't have to be alone - what's to stop somebody from riding grinding wheels in regiment ?
asciilifeform had a dream many years ago that his grandfather took an ancient grinding wheel from workshop, turned it upside-down, and taught him to ride it. and now people actually do something quite like this.☟︎☟︎☟︎
asciilifeform: he confuses the shoddy nature of modern computers with bitcoin as a technology, which can and will exist independently from today's crap-o-soft << this.
asciilifeform saw that in a trilema article, first thought 'plucked peacock'
asciilifeform: also diffraction gratings. but the diffraction above happens in your own eye.
asciilifeform: conceivably, cat (with a rather differently structured eye) sees rather different ones.
asciilifeform: some of what you see 'fuzz' around the edges is actually diffraction patterns that form in your own eye.
asciilifeform: re: cat & laser: experiment. turn on a laser pointer in a dark room; look at the edges of the spot. take picture of same with camera. notice difference.
asciilifeform: im just not excited about anything i see << constant state of excitement is a medical condition, doctors say 'priapism' and it is curable. be glad you aren't 'excited' at all times.
asciilifeform: hanbot: lol. windowcat, in all likelihood, began by watching birds. or the play of her kitten, microwindowcat. but she's been known to look in the window.
asciilifeform: mircea_popescu: not sure what his story is << herr handle is a u.s. army officer, now working at a not-too-hard-to-guess-which world-famous bureaucracy.
asciilifeform: they even sent a stereotypical woman to prepare stereotypical coffee, and served it on a bar, lifted straight from a 1950s american tv scene.
asciilifeform once had the good fortune to visit just such a 'park.' inside: mildly refinished warehouse, with plentiful cubicles and many hanging models of satellites; on the walls, hanging mementos of the 'glorious reagan years' - 'this floppy contains our first flown firmware!' and more in that spirit.
asciilifeform: BlueMeanie4: 100% have elevators. 'disability act' compliance.
asciilifeform: BingoBoingo: they're traditionally 1-3 floors. make life a little harder for kgb binoculars, or whatnot.
asciilifeform: just be sure never to confess to knowing a language - or people might speak it to you, and that'll be a little like work.
asciilifeform: exponentially difficult << 'learn' for translating a diplomat - perhaps hard; reading articles in your armchair slowly - not so hard
asciilifeform: some folks will warn you that this requires lost ancient technology - don't believe.
asciilifeform: the other good news is that it is possible to learn languages.
asciilifeform: re: nail polish poison detector << how many cases of dysentery from the finger dips.
asciilifeform: ^ first saw that one on a wall in school! (u.s. school; history class)
asciilifeform: chetty: looks like a potential rehash of '10.
asciilifeform: any folks here living in u.s. colonies (read: nato) are welcome to comment re: whether such brutalist monstrosities blot your landscape as well.
asciilifeform: (what style? gigantic plate-glass window walls that never let through office light - they're painted black on the inside; the seemingly-mandatory wrought-iron fence, with steel cable trusses - nominally against terrorist trucks (TM); archaically-massive satellite antennae; a few other features broadly known to anyone who looks with any regularity.)☟︎
asciilifeform: ;;later tell mircea_popescu they also have many other similar шарашкаs here; in most cases, readily spotted with the naked eye on account of the highly-ritualized architectural style.
asciilifeform: ;;later tell mircea_popescu maryland excepted. i have nfi idea what it's even for << it's where they keep ft. meade. (largest employer, largest consumer of mains current, per public stats.)
asciilifeform: (where X is the mass of reagents found on the condemned)
asciilifeform: incidentally, usg proclaims that 'reagents' plus 'intent' is judged like X kg of final product. which usually sums to life-at-hard-labour.
asciilifeform: until (afaik) the '80s, soviet rockets flew on (asymmetric) dimethylhydrazine
