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> The Mercury-4 is the culmination of years of research

I'm imagining some researcher after years of investment and experimentation eventually accidentally discovering the solution: "you mean it just shuts _itself_ off?!?!".

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It doesn't shut itself off. It just stops cutting. It's like using concrete as a kitchen cutting board: that knife isn't going to do any damage, regardless of whether or not you stop pushing.

If you want to laser through metals, you need a different type of laser. Just as getting through concrete needs a different tool (say, a hammer chisel).

The line sounded funnier to me in the less pedantic way.

Not a really good comparison I think.

A knife blade and a masonry chisel are roughly the same type of carbon steel tempered to a similar hardness.

They will both scratch and damage concrete.

I'll grant that it's an imperfect analogy!

But would you like to chop through my sidewalk to get to the water main with a santoku?

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