asciilifeform: for those who have never seen an AR, the "lower" is simply a small can which holds the trigger/hammer mechanism, with the stock screwing into one end and the bold carrier/barrel assembly (known as the "upper") into the other end.

asciilifeform: hardness is not the only issue. (temperature is another.)

asciilifeform: so you can buy the entire metal portion of a Glock, for example (barrel and striker mechanism) with no paperwork, as if it were a video card. because the SN is stamped on an aluminum plate embedded in the lower, plastic portion.

asciilifeform: mircea_popescu: the "BTC vampire billionaire" image

asciilifeform: to my untrained eye, he seems like a comedian trying to spoof MP

asciilifeform: mircea_popescu: I once wrote a FORTH to Brainfuck compiler. Betcha they dug it out from the sands of time and are using it.

asciilifeform: mircea_popescu: 94% of MPEx April revenue from reg fees?

asciilifeform: ezdiy: I think you misunderstand. I'm not trying to convince MP of anything in particular. Just playing out a thought experiment: what would happen if MPEx actually had competition.

asciilifeform: mircea_popescu: there could be logical reasons for starting one's own "MPEx, with blackjack and hookers." Say I want to use evil altchains. And, AFAIK MPEx shares are non-voting, so it isn't that I could buy enough of them to make MP do this deed.

asciilifeform: what I'm rather hazy on is how well MPEx would hold up against a "good enough" clone that meets the basic criterion of "not being an outright scam" (AFAIK none of the MPEx competitors have met this standard)

asciilifeform: Ok, let's see if I understand: the 30 BTC is for keeping MPEx a market full of people who measure 1000 times "before cutting once." No trendoids, etc. Now let's say Warren Buffet (or somesuch) opens WBEx, charging 1 BTC.

asciilifeform: truffles: I meant the banal fact that MPEx works as it says on the box, and none of the vaguely similar services proved to do the same

asciilifeform: mircea_popescu: How would you personally explain the apparent lack of competition to MPEx? Is it simply the fact that no one else has the "reputation capital" ?

asciilifeform: ezdiy: I'm not clamouring to buy an MPEx account for a penny, just objecting to the notion that the fee is somehow different from taxi medallions

asciilifeform: just like an MPEx account

asciilifeform: benkay: the bureaucrats (in practice) own NYC, and charge whatever the hell they want for taxi licenses. a bar can charge for entrance. nothing wrong with that. what I'm unclear on is why the MP fee is a different kind of animal.

asciilifeform: benkay: riffraff interested in automated trading are more or less written out of the script. MP runs his own house how he likes, I'm fine with that. But why not call things by their real names.

asciilifeform: MP has said, in essence, that he doesn't want MPEx to become a Shanghai crawling with the equivalent of rickshaws.

asciilifeform: IMHO taxi medallions are a fair comparison. They, just as the MPEx fee, exist to keep the riffraff out.

asciilifeform: jcpham: idea: rape the algo traders who read this by implementing a contrarian algo