5 ms·

There's some quality (?) bootleg stuff out there today. The other big one I've heard of is narco subs, not semi-submersible, but fully submersible: https://www.

There's some quality (?) bootleg stuff out there today. The other big one I've heard of is narco subs, not semi-submersible, but fully submersible: https://www.chron.com/news/nation-world/article/Ecuadoran-submarine-called-a-game-changer-in-drug-1611558.php https://www.chron.com/news/nation-world/article/Ecuadoran-su... It's rather fascinating what the human mind can do with money + necessity. It's a reminder that great engineers can come from anywhere (and hopefully brought to work on nice-people things).

lowdose 6y ago
Great find! Thanks for this. But after reading I wonder how many of these subs can be out there crossing waters of the USA while the whole coast on both sides are monitored full time on irregularities by the US military?
- 01100011 6y ago
  It's a big coast and the monitoring systems may be old and not suitable for detecting mini-subs. Much of the defense of the US was conceived for a completely different type of threat. We expected Soviet nuclear subs, not small battery powered craft that may not even be manned. I don't suppose it will be long, if it hasn't happened already, before unmanned drones will be delivering most of the illicit cross-border shipments. You could cheaply build a fleet of them and overwhelm most coastal defenses.
01100011 6y ago
The recent spike in radioactive isotopes had me thinking of this. If someone has a modest amount of money and no regard for safety, it's actually pretty easy to assemble a reactor. There are a lot of things we think are out of the reach of individuals or small groups of people, but the fact is someone developed many of these technologies in more primitive times without access to modern materials or the internet. We live in an age where morons can make armed drones or cruise missles, or, apparently, counterfeit helicopters.
- markdown 6y ago
  > but the fact is someone developed many of these technologies in more primitive times without access to modern materials or the internet. With scraps, in a cave!
  - vmilner 6y ago
    The secret is to bang the rocks together, guys!
  - webmaven 6y ago
    Stone knives and bear-skins...
- nicoburns 6y ago
  > If someone has a modest amount of money and no regard for safety, it's actually pretty easy to assemble a reactor. My understanding is that building a reactor is fairly easy (possibly even in reach of a smart high-school kid). But that getting hold of the enriched uranium required to run a reactor is (thankfully) rather difficult due to trade and production being heavily controlled.
  - yingw787 6y ago
    Yeah, a guy from my home high school built a nuclear fusion reactor: https://www.wired.com/2007/03/high-school-stu/ https://www.wired.com/2007/03/high-school-stu/ It's pretty cool. It's really cool.
    - 01100011 6y ago
      Fusion is one thing. The farnsworth style fusors are relatively easy to make. I'm talking about fission, which is a bit more difficult, but actually could be made possible with the neutrons emitted by a farnsworth reactor(or a bunch of other ways that don't require high voltage/high vacuum).
      - 6y ago
FabHK 6y ago
> quality (?) bootleg stuff I remember in Hong Kong I'd be offered branded fake watches: a good fake Rolex from the excellent ABC company, not the cheap XYZ ones...
- markdown 6y ago
  In my country those fakes were always sold as originals. To make this believable, they were sold as stolen. So you'd be approached on the street by a someone who looked sketchy and offered a Rolex for USD$100. They'd open a bag and let you look into it to see the Rolex while they made a big deal about checking to see that there were no cops around. If you declined, they'd drop the price by half. Must have been effective because they did it for years.
  - saagarjha 6y ago
    I wonder what they do if you flash a badge at them.
coronadisaster 6y ago
That sub was more than 10 years ago... they probably built many since then
- aaron695 6y ago
  Narco Submarines: Covert Shores Recognition Guide https://www.amazon.com/Narco-Submarines-Covert-Shores-Recognition/dp/B086G11WMM https://www.amazon.com/Narco-Submarines-Covert-Shores-Recogn...

lowdose 6y ago

Great find! Thanks for this. But after reading I wonder how many of these subs can be out there crossing waters of the USA while the whole coast on both sides are monitored full time on irregularities by the US military?

01100011 6y ago
It's a big coast and the monitoring systems may be old and not suitable for detecting mini-subs. Much of the defense of the US was conceived for a completely different type of threat. We expected Soviet nuclear subs, not small battery powered craft that may not even be manned. I don't suppose it will be long, if it hasn't happened already, before unmanned drones will be delivering most of the illicit cross-border shipments. You could cheaply build a fleet of them and overwhelm most coastal defenses.

01100011 6y ago

The recent spike in radioactive isotopes had me thinking of this. If someone has a modest amount of money and no regard for safety, it's actually pretty easy to assemble a reactor. There are a lot of things we think are out of the reach of individuals or small groups of people, but the fact is someone developed many of these technologies in more primitive times without access to modern materials or the internet. We live in an age where morons can make armed drones or cruise missles, or, apparently, counterfeit helicopters.

markdown 6y ago
> but the fact is someone developed many of these technologies in more primitive times without access to modern materials or the internet. With scraps, in a cave!
- vmilner 6y ago
  The secret is to bang the rocks together, guys!
- webmaven 6y ago
  Stone knives and bear-skins...
nicoburns 6y ago
> If someone has a modest amount of money and no regard for safety, it's actually pretty easy to assemble a reactor. My understanding is that building a reactor is fairly easy (possibly even in reach of a smart high-school kid). But that getting hold of the enriched uranium required to run a reactor is (thankfully) rather difficult due to trade and production being heavily controlled.
- yingw787 6y ago
  Yeah, a guy from my home high school built a nuclear fusion reactor: https://www.wired.com/2007/03/high-school-stu/ https://www.wired.com/2007/03/high-school-stu/ It's pretty cool. It's really cool.
  - 01100011 6y ago
    Fusion is one thing. The farnsworth style fusors are relatively easy to make. I'm talking about fission, which is a bit more difficult, but actually could be made possible with the neutrons emitted by a farnsworth reactor(or a bunch of other ways that don't require high voltage/high vacuum).
    - 6y ago

FabHK 6y ago

> quality (?) bootleg stuff I remember in Hong Kong I'd be offered branded fake watches: a good fake Rolex from the excellent ABC company, not the cheap XYZ ones...

markdown 6y ago
In my country those fakes were always sold as originals. To make this believable, they were sold as stolen. So you'd be approached on the street by a someone who looked sketchy and offered a Rolex for USD$100. They'd open a bag and let you look into it to see the Rolex while they made a big deal about checking to see that there were no cops around. If you declined, they'd drop the price by half. Must have been effective because they did it for years.
- saagarjha 6y ago
  I wonder what they do if you flash a badge at them.

coronadisaster 6y ago

That sub was more than 10 years ago... they probably built many since then

aaron695 6y ago
Narco Submarines: Covert Shores Recognition Guide https://www.amazon.com/Narco-Submarines-Covert-Shores-Recognition/dp/B086G11WMM https://www.amazon.com/Narco-Submarines-Covert-Shores-Recogn...