asciilifeform: very.

asciilifeform: resurrection of dead laser cutting machine.

asciilifeform: for electronics junkies

asciilifeform: https://unsee.cc/kanupe/

asciilifeform: one russian writer, who grunted in a., opined that 'we were the kid that lifts the weight bar, pushes it up a little, then crushed underneath. afghan is a weight bar.'

asciilifeform: afghan, 'graveyard of empires', etc

asciilifeform: similar to soviet invasion of afghanistan, actually

asciilifeform: dollar for dollar, you'd get more energy by drilling at sea. the point, i think, was to display force

asciilifeform: probably cheaper than what they actually ended up doing (being clobbered for nothing)

asciilifeform: surely they still have at least one working neutron bomb in a warehouse somewhere.

asciilifeform: that's because they stuck with the 'hearts and minds' fluff, instead of 'remove unwanted bioforms and build drill platforms.'

asciilifeform: china/siberian oil; whoever/american carcasses for sausage ?

asciilifeform: invading flotillas, i think, is the remaining scenario

asciilifeform: the nukes rust, yes. the airplanes still work, for the time being.

asciilifeform: he plays with this in his '5 stages' book.

asciilifeform: orlov's prediction is that warlordoms will become schelling points again once various energy-hungry weapons systems stop being affordable

asciilifeform: hence his discussions re: how, when they fuck the populace, using some form of lube would be proper and decent.

asciilifeform: orlov is a reluctant, dour sort of 'statist', he sees mega-empires as inevitable, but likewise their collapse.

asciilifeform: i don't disagree with your objection re: 'proper retirement'

asciilifeform: sure does.

asciilifeform: the best you can do is to put up nets and keep them out, like mosquitos

asciilifeform: orlov's painfully-repeated point is that systems with infinite growth assumptions baked in are worse than straight theft

asciilifeform: and then you say to a chum: 'unlike a proper casino, where the house keeps X, they...'

asciilifeform: it's more like: you go to a basement casino, and instead of letting you play, they club you over the head and take yer wallet

asciilifeform: since ussr never really had a working economy, economic collapse wasn't the apocalyptic disaster it would be in a civilized country.

asciilifeform: fewer pretenses at 'you own your home - went broke? now get out'

asciilifeform: orlov's point wasn't that ussr was a paradise, but that it was a more honest sort of open air prison than u.s.

asciilifeform: so he might take a while.

asciilifeform: he lives on a ship, and doesn't have net access every day

asciilifeform: dmitry orlov

asciilifeform: sometimes he answers. wrote to him about stirling engines once

asciilifeform: his firs name dot last name at gmail, i think

asciilifeform: at some point 'the bezzle' becomes real, the cartoon wolf looks down and finally obeys gravity, goes splat off the cliff. ☟︎

asciilifeform: they sure did. but that was collapse.

asciilifeform: because it was a straight tontine, without a casino in the loop

asciilifeform: he's thinking of the slightly less broken soviet machine

asciilifeform: (or throw you through the ice, as the case may be)

asciilifeform: in orlov's world, a proper system is where you rely on family to feed you in old age

asciilifeform: you can't touch it without massive penalty until you're a certain age

asciilifeform: they try to talk you into dropping some pre-tax pay into a 'fund', where it turns into stocks, etc

asciilifeform: this is how it actually happens in u.s.

asciilifeform: just as everyone derisively laughs at 'cut and paste' programmers

asciilifeform: correct.

asciilifeform: the story resumes from 0.

asciilifeform: another masterpiece is born...

asciilifeform: vomits over the now-empty canvas

asciilifeform: another servant goes on a bender

asciilifeform: sequel!

asciilifeform: which one? could be any of 100...

asciilifeform: borrowed -> has to be repaid. in cash, or фуфло. ☟︎

asciilifeform: it is said that the newbie's mistake is always and without exception: playing on borrowed cash.

asciilifeform: doubt it.

asciilifeform: loses.

asciilifeform: and plays.

asciilifeform: (one common meaning outside the prison)

asciilifeform: he things 'nothing'

asciilifeform: 'фуфло' ☟︎

asciilifeform: new prisoner is asked to gamble, he asks what the stakes will be, told: ☟︎

asciilifeform: mr. o neglects to mention another well-known meaning of фуфло - 'arsehole', specifically in the prison-buggery sense of the word.

asciilifeform: possibly mongolia (or some other entirely un-drilled place) is the real champ.

asciilifeform: he was the fellow who introduced me to 'bezzle'

asciilifeform: http://www.duffelblog.com/2013/12/mikhail-kalashnikov-dead/

asciilifeform: good 'onion' piece:

asciilifeform: (http://cluborlov.blogspot.com/2009/03/welcome-to-fuffland.html)

asciilifeform: also reminds me of orlov's essay on 'fufflers' and their symbiotic relation with the 'victims'

asciilifeform: good sum.

asciilifeform: $1B, in every major city, and no advertising; no one thinks of it, or hears of it on tv, unless it burns down

asciilifeform: mircea_popescu: remember your observations about power plant?

asciilifeform: flashiness has very little to do with actual use

asciilifeform: 'my candle burns at both ends, it will not last the night; but ah my foes, and oh my friends, it gives a lovely light!'

asciilifeform: but the everyday person wouldn't suspect it

asciilifeform: mircea_popescu: the scammers who 'appear big' are reminiscent of the well-known factoid of dynamite being considerably less energetic, per gram, than gasoline

asciilifeform: the way i see it, it's rather like a farmer lamenting that a rotting deer carcass in his field is being eaten by maggots, rather than himself

asciilifeform: and so on, up the foodchain

asciilifeform: but the people doing the fleecing, presumably have a bit more brain, and will do something moderately intelligent

asciilifeform: if not doge, then lolcatcoin, or whatnot

asciilifeform: what i meant earlier was, the 'doge' investors are going to do something idiotic with their coin, regardless of what happens

asciilifeform: microscope hammer.

asciilifeform: that was more or less my first post on the subject

asciilifeform: the occasional luser falls into crucible; free carbon that day.

asciilifeform: the furnace still burns, steel still pours, no?

asciilifeform: p. t. barnum and carnegie can co-exist

asciilifeform: this endgame looks obvious.

asciilifeform: well, eventually all the coin will be in the hands of people with brains. ☟︎

asciilifeform: aha

asciilifeform: pnb ?

asciilifeform: in other news, mikhail kalashnikov is dead.

asciilifeform: ;;later tell mircea_popescu boards are here!

asciilifeform: amazing business model! 1) accept u.s. refugees 2) rectothermal cryptoanalysis 3) profit!

asciilifeform: 'X can also have problems.'

asciilifeform: j.e.hoover: 'justice is incidental to law and order.'

asciilifeform: he said something to the effect of 'my books just fuck people up for no ultimate gain.'

asciilifeform: he promised to, at any rate.

asciilifeform: well, orlov did.

asciilifeform: i think he put an expanded version of this in one of his dead-tree books, also.

asciilifeform: http://www.fromthewilderness.com/free/ww3/071805_soviet_lessons_part3.shtml

asciilifeform: http://www.fromthewilderness.com/free/ww3/062805_soviet_lessons_part2.shtml

asciilifeform: http://www.fromthewilderness.com/free/ww3/060105_soviet_lessons.shtml ☟︎

asciilifeform: see also the author's canonical piece, 'Post-Soviet Lessons for a Post-American Century'.

asciilifeform: same as every country that bought MIGs. 'yes, ussr, sole source of spare parts, now owns our arse. enjoy it please'