asciilifeform: (or with a 'knife' in the general sense)
asciilifeform: point of the above unfinished tale is, most of the difficulty of machining as a field revolves around the unwanted sequelae of having to cut metal with metal.
asciilifeform is satisfied with conventional lathe. but milling is another matter
asciilifeform: (but he's a thinking man; no idea what 'maker derps' do)
asciilifeform: he owns a cnc mill, the size of a tv set.
asciilifeform: expensive but only in electrical current.
asciilifeform: it was a response to the nato embargo on selling 6-axis milling machines to the sovblok.
asciilifeform: this was perfected in ussr, and the only vendor of electrolytic mills (which could trivially 'etch' small - or large - arms of whatever kind, on a desktop) is still russian.
asciilifeform: speaking of which, time for today's 'sovietism.' not one english-speaking fellow i've met seemed to know, that you can machine arbitrarily hard metals with no cutting elements (no noise, no wear, no need for massive ballscrews or slides, etc.)
asciilifeform: as i recall, locklin's observation was that 'printed' gun is a technowankerous curio, vastly inferior to an aggregation of discarded plumbing parts and a rusty nail
asciilifeform 'east cost corporations' << had the distinct impression that most of the people here never had to walk the u.s. большая зона
asciilifeform: decimation: philo farnsworth invented the raster scan while plowing a field. there's always a weirdo exception.
asciilifeform: '…like a refugee from very rural Pakistan who gets relocated to Oslo, Norway, and still thinks that he could make better food if he were only allowed to light a fire in his living room instead of using that complex electric stove. (This is a real news item. Every now and then, landlords discover indoor fireplaces and occasionally the “newbies” to civilization burn down the building.)' (herr naggum)☟︎☟︎
asciilifeform always supposed that it was because they cannot have proper 'division of labour'
asciilifeform: they merely have access to seemingly-inexhaustible old war spoils
asciilifeform: decimation: they can machine, weld, assemble own parts from scrap << sure. but can they build so much as a kalash round with own hands, to the required tolerances?
asciilifeform: (how many of the latter still work - a different question)
asciilifeform: decimation: ground-based gizmo obsoleted by orbital spybots
asciilifeform: unattainable goal << their modus operandi is to cripple people in any available way, to inject 'relevancy.' no reason to think this won't continue with better tech.
asciilifeform wonders when ocean fiber reamplifiers will begin to include a few kg of trotyl with motion fuse, for meddlesome buggers
asciilifeform: ^ beautiful example of u.s. media hush campaign. vanished entirely from nearly everywhere within days of first mention.
asciilifeform: decimation: or recall the chinese sub that test-fired ballistic rockets off the california coast recently.
asciilifeform: for the 1000 ships tactic, the vessels must be properly autonomous
asciilifeform: fix RuBisCO, from its current ~2% efficiency to something like 50+ - and now you needn't the massive resupply points that make fat targets.
asciilifeform: interesting fact, i think we might have spoken of it before - usg claims extraterritorial jurisdiction over... all ships.
asciilifeform: might want to wait for 'SOSUS' to finish falling apart before setting sail on microsubs
asciilifeform: you can charge inductively under the sea, but parasitic currents are a drag
asciilifeform: there's two basic types of 'permission' - one where you can, without permission, but might catch some lead; and one where you actually can't ('promise vs. protocol')
asciilifeform: today she'd own one of those radio-controlled insertables.
asciilifeform: nubbins`: teacher had no pockets? or, no hands ?
asciilifeform: this applies just as easily to the nominally 'proper' education (average peon has very little use for, e.g. arithmetic)
asciilifeform: in square meters << must specify, folded or denatured.
asciilifeform had occasion to go to a local electronics store a few days ago, '3d printers' were displayed right next to ordinary ones.
asciilifeform: probably being '3d printed' to order even as we speak.
asciilifeform: people would fuck their own severed heads if they could.
asciilifeform: when the last u.s. boat hits the bottom, the scrapyards, or the chinese auction block - we'll find out whether the 'seastead' folks are serious.
asciilifeform: or, as with one proposed electromobile, battery swap couriers.
asciilifeform: eed to love the sea. Spend a little time with Moitessier, Slocum, and the like; read this fine collection, and possibly this (pretty much all of Jonathan Raban's books are good); etc, etc. Yes, I'm aware that seasteading is not yachting. I'm aware that no one intends to take their floating poles around Cape Horn. But you are still at sea, and a subject of Neptune you remain.'
asciilifeform: 'Defined in these terms, when you move onto a floating pole somewhere in the ocean, the first effect on your freedom is a massive decline. You have sworn fealty to King Neptune. Neptune accepts your service, as he has accepted so many before you. His court is glorious, his riches are infinite, his territory is vast. But Neptune is a stern and capricious lord. To live at sea, you need not just love liberty. You n
asciilifeform: mircea_popescu: to fully visualize the logical conclusion of that gedankenexperiment, picture if one could subsist entirely on the output of a 'desktop garden' under a fluorescent lamp.
asciilifeform: DERP << still waiting for some muppet to start a company selling bottled piss or the like, and labeled 'bitcoin'
asciilifeform doesn't quite grasp why hatchet jobs are necessary against electromobiles - they do a fine job sucking on their own
