Classic old saw is that the only tool in a workshop which can duplicate itself is a lathe --- hence the Gingery books starting w/ making a lathe using investment castings:

http://gingerybookstore.com/Me...

(Book 1 is how to set up a charcoal foundry)

Had a copy of Book 2 a long while ago and gave it away --- always rather regretted that.

Actually, Tolkien collaborated on sheet music w/ Donald Swann:

http://tolkiengateway.net/wiki...

actually humming out tunes which Swann adapted when Swann's take on things didn't match his.

The Shapeoko 2 works well for milling circuit boards (esp. if one upgrades the spindle): http://www.shapeoko.com/wiki/i...

Precisely adding solder paste should just be a variation on an extruder: http://www.shapeoko.com/wiki/i...

and here's one example of using the machine for pick and place: http://www.shapeoko.com/forum/... (using an aquarium pump for vacuum).

Anyone know how to add this new category to those which one follows?

I don't see it listed as a slashbox under Account options....

The clear one was just scraps and poplar craft boards --- I'd love to do it again w/ a nice piece of maple and wrap the grain all the way around, but the red oak was much cheaper, but I found the grain boring enough that I went for the dark, dark finish (which is more delicate than I was anticipating...).

Here's the project page on Lumberjocks: http://lumberjocks.com/project...

So the wiki and pages such as: http://www.shapeoko.com/wiki/i...

Have made a few things:

  - Wooden Box with hinged lid --- http://www.shapeoko.com/projec... --- cut w/ a CNC machine
  - wooden case for my Bear Custom Kodiak T/D --- http://www.pinterest.com/pin/3... --- done entirely by hand tools, including the dovetails save for drilling the holes for the arrow holder (used a jig and an electric hand drill for that) --- this build was documented on ArcheryTalk though: http://www.archerytalk.com/vb/...

Or buying _The Essential Hal Clement, Volume 2: Music of Many Spheres_

Seeing photos of these always reminds me of Hal Clement's hard SF short story ``The Mechanic'' --- still copyrighted though, so not at: http://www.unz.org/Pub/AnalogS...

Well worth tracking down a copy of the book _Space Lash_ to read it though.

Powerful argument for why such fines should never have been allowed to be added directly into budgets, but always should have gone into the general fund to reduce the tax requirement for the next year.

Explosives are simple kitchen chemistry.

Firearms aren't that much more difficult:

  - cast bullets on your stove
  - turn cases on a lathe
  - a firearm can be made from a truck axle and some spring steel w/ a file and some patience --- better/more tools make it easier

However, one doesn't read highway signs at arm's distance.

Also, lower resolution reduces the amount of information which one can fit on a given highway sign and diminishes legibility by obscuring finer details.

The human can distinguish the difference in character shapes at resolutions up to ~2,000 dpi --- see Smeijer's book _Counterpunch_ for an examination of this.

Current smart phones aren't quite able to adequately represent typeface designs w/ subtle curves such as Optima at text sizes, and engravings become a pixellated blurry mess compared to the sharp originals, some of which require extraordinary printing techniques such as two black plates to capture.

You have to live w/in a reasonable distance of an ``Amazon Storage Locker'' and have your account set up so as to allow it to be enabled:

http://www.amazon.com/gp/help/...

Given that China's recent supercomputer can't find enough work at the rates they have to charge to cover their electric bill, it seems to me that any such problem would be as simple as pulling the plug and waiting for the batteries to die down.

I'm also mystified as to how one gets a deterministic device to have volition and self-awareness --- Heinlein could handwave this by declaring that after a certain number of transistors a device ``woke up'' and became aware (The Moon is a Harsh Mistress), Marvin Minsky sidestepped it neatly (The Turing Option), and Victor Milán had to posit algorithms which produced random results and bolt on a radioactive cannister whose decay was used as a source of random input (The Cybernetic Samurai).

Building the right antenna helps a lot for OTA TV:

http://makezine.com/2009/01/12...

I had to build one when the local PBS affiliate reduced their power output when the other stations went digital --- also location, had to run a cable upstairs and put the antenna behind the sofa (have to move it to the window when the weather is bad --- my wife won't let me hang it on the wall).

The problem is that there isn't that much energy to harvest --- look at some of the electric conversions --- every one which I've seen which has considered regenerative energy has rejected it 'cause it doesn't make up for the added weight.