asciilifeform: mircea_popescu: minkowski, weyl. 'objects', pre-20th c.
asciilifeform: DreadKnight, mircea_popescu: the physics that yields interesting machinery, vs. 20th.c navel gazing, was done by folks who 'thought in objects' more often than not.
asciilifeform physicists think in wavefunctions << summons zombie of hugh everett
asciilifeform: 'Mathematicians think in symbols, physicists in objects, philosophers in concepts, geometers in images, jurists in constructs, logicians in operators, writers in impressions, and idiots in words.'
asciilifeform: 'For social mobility to work, it needs to be a two-way highway, with a large number of pre-rich and an almost as large one of post-rich.' -- from the taleb link
asciilifeform: china << they're experimenting with poison, from purely pragmatic considerations (can sell organs)
asciilifeform: mircea_popescu: what aspect of 20th c.-style government isn't.
asciilifeform: for instance, a squad of jailers watches over the condemned for weeks, months, years - to ensure that he doesn't suicide and cheat the executioner - and the court - of their spectacle
asciilifeform: there are other interestingly perverse aspects of how prisoners are kept in usa prior to execution
asciilifeform: so from this it follows that the current ceremony (injection with not-quite-poisons in an elaborate pseudo-medical setting) also symbolizes something about modern usa, re: national character.☟︎
asciilifeform: HeySteve: traditional civilian execution in russia involves a single bullet (firing squad is seen as 'military', not befitting a common criminal)
asciilifeform: when usa was a techno-power, electric chair was king☟︎
asciilifeform: the one common anthropological thread i see here is that most governments insist on some 'national' symbolic meaning in their chosen means of execution. e.g., the french guillotine across all five 'republics'☟︎☟︎
asciilifeform wonders if any american state has tried bumping off convicts with cocaine
asciilifeform vaguely recalls reading a short story on alt.sex.somethingorother years ago, where in 'the dark future (TM)' the condemned are injected with an alien 'fireworm' that eats them alive for weeks at a time. but everyone is told that they were killed quickly and 'humanely' - and somehow this is supposed to be a greater punishment
asciilifeform: and if poison is supposed to be 'humane' and this is a thing - there are poisons that knock victim out in seconds
asciilifeform: BingoBoingo: this was always a puzzle to me - why don't they simply shoot them ?
asciilifeform: decimation: but you aren't there now.
asciilifeform: 'If you want a partial understanding of why 19-21 Saudi/Egyptian terrorists could live in America and enjoy our strip clubs but still want to crumble our architecture, there you go.'
asciilifeform: this is why, e.g. spammers, break their necks trying to score the 20k machine.
asciilifeform: mircea_popescu: it isn't about the money, but the chain. long chain or short chain, no matter. but, if the 20k came from a mythical machine that disgorges dough, that'd be a different matter. in my book, that's a 'fortune' - because no chain.
asciilifeform: mircea_popescu: ...count themselves as paupers << yep
asciilifeform: mircea_popescu: my memory fails me. is there such a goddess ? >> ishtar.
asciilifeform: mircea_popescu: russian way is to use same cuffs and a radiator.
asciilifeform: mircea_popescu: gasenwagen... triage. <<< you failed to qualify >> so far.
asciilifeform: mircea_popescu: actually, aren't they derping about various russian citizens sanctions and whatnot << so far, the only effect is to make u.s. small arms collectors pay double for kalash
asciilifeform went to exercise and, as usual, missed all the goodstuff
asciilifeform: no prizes for guessing fate of the owner.
asciilifeform: kuzetsa: still not unheard of, in russia: a construction crew, tearing up a 19th c. apartment building, finding cigar boxes with thick stacks of pre-revolution rubles, silver coins, etc.
asciilifeform: like the pots of gold still sometimes found in digs of roman villas
asciilifeform: kuzetsa: buried treasure is real, but generally results from folks who bury goodies and then get killed before they can make any use of them.
asciilifeform: thestringpuller, benkay, chetty: usa would send a tax bill to a Chukcha if he weren't behind russian rockets. law is a 'god that died.'
asciilifeform is, in case anyone didn't know, still walking 'the big zone.'
asciilifeform: gasenwagen, unfortunately, was always real. but it has triage.
asciilifeform: chetty: you'll never really know until you try << well, for whatever it's worth, i did manage to actually get in the airplane (instead of a waiting gasenwagen) in april. to, i admit, a little bit of surprise. but who knows about next time.
asciilifeform: it isn't hard (presently...) to physically leave usa.
asciilifeform: chetty: that train of thought was about what one is to do -in- mexico.
asciilifeform: if he were a russian 'zek', he'd have a red stripe in his id papers.
asciilifeform: i recently went to a zoo, where they had cheetahs. one cheetah was a little different from the others. every time i see him, he's clearly preoccupied with looking for a hole in the fence.
asciilifeform: mircea_popescu: let's say you were on the other side of the wire. my side. and you could escape, if you turned on that 'dulap' and gave up... cock&balls.
asciilifeform: and, in many (most?) states, adverse possession is virtually impossible to pull off (title holder must be aware of the squatter and do nothing for xx years)
asciilifeform: if tourist hadn't strayed miles from the road, if wind had been stronger - the dugout would be there still, with its inhabitant.
asciilifeform: (it was his chimney. disguised partizan-style.)
asciilifeform: tourist noticed a puff of smoke coming from a tree stump.
asciilifeform: now, if you're willing to live like a feral dog, it isn't even necessary to leave the country. i recall, a few years ago, an article about one fellow who lived in a dugout in a u.s. national park. for ~30 years. he was caught by pure chance.☟︎
