Rholdeniii

I’m just getting into desktop CNC. It’s the essential element in scaling up from 3D printing to injection molding. The tools are five years (or more) behind 3D printing in ease of use (in part because CNC is an order of magnitude more complex) but it’s a field on the brink of a consumer reinvention, just like 3D printing was in 2007.

I use a MyDIYCNC, with MeshCAM software. It’s small but a cheap way to start, $795 fully assembled.

The previously reviewed Shopbot CNC has a much bigger build area than the MyDIYCNC. We use our little one for things like making Warhammer battlefields (carved out of foam) based on downloaded videogame maps. Mostly just silly stuff for now, while we’re learning how to use it.

-- Chris Anderson

Sprite Desktop CNC Machine
$795

(Add $70 for the USB interface)

Different cultures, different customs, or so the saying goes

The saying also apparently applies to rifle preferences for the world’s militaries, as the following map illustrates.

[Map note from Gizmodo: “Judging by the map's choice of colors, it seems to group weapons that are of a similar family together by color”]:

Obviously, there are many, many more types of rifles than the ones shown on the map, but as Gizmodo notes, the “map gives a general gist of each military’s standardization.”

And here are a few of the more popular rifles referenced in the map:

M4:

C7:

FX-05:

GALIL:

FAL:

M16:

FAMAS:

IMBEL MD-2:

SG 540:

AK 47:

SA80:

R4:

M96:

G36:

F88 AUSTEYR:

QBZ 95:

INSAS:

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Follow Becket Adams (@BecketAdams) on Twitter

Featured image

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Food stamp participation has increased at an annual rate of roughly 13 percent since 2008, the Washington Post notes.

And in an original version of a farm bill recently reviewed by the U.S. House of Representatives, the taxpayer-funded Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) accounted for roughly $743.9 billion of the estimated $972.3 billion cost of the bill over the next 10 years, according to the Congressional Budget Office.

Republicans stripped the SNAP portion from the farm bill earlier this week and voted 216-208 Thursday afternoon on a scaled-down version of the bill.

The SNAP-less bill will now head to the desk of President Obama for his signature. However, considering that the president threatened to veto any version of the bill that fails to renew funding for SNAP, it seems unlikely that the House’s food stamp-less farm bill will pass.

And just for reference, here’s a state-by-state look at participation in the taxpayer-funded multibillion-dollar program:

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Follow Becket Adams (@BecketAdams) on Twitter

Featured image AP photo. This post has been updated.

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