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Ask HN: What Is The Most Frighteningly Ambitious Idea in Your Personal life?

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Re: Ask HN: What Is The Most Frighteningly Ambitious Idea in Your Personal life?

#11

Post by alid »

twistedanimator wrote: post #10
alid wrote: post #4

To live on an organic permaculture farm and build a scalable aquaponics business. Actually, build an eco village while I'm at it. Such a hippie capitalist ;)

I was seriously coming here to say the exact same thing. Right now I am a web developer, but I've been dreaming about starting a medium sized aquaponics farm. I'm currently building a system that will use my master bath as a fish tank to learn the ropes.

Ha! That's awesome! It's seriously the future of food security for urban areas. I'm dreaming up low-rise & high-rise apartment developments where there's dedicated floors of aquaponics, securing food for those people in the building. Rooftop gardens will have chickens and goats. Bet we could develop an awesome app systemising the process too. Good times!

Re: Ask HN: What Is The Most Frighteningly Ambitious Idea in Your Personal life?

#12

Post by JoeAltmaier »

alid wrote: post #11
twistedanimator wrote: post #10

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I was seriously coming here to say the exact same thing. Right now I am a web developer, but I've been dreaming about starting a medium sized aquaponics farm. I'm currently building a system that will use my master bath as a fish tank to learn the ropes.

Ha! That's awesome! It's seriously the future of food security for urban areas. I'm dreaming up low-rise & high-rise apartment developments where there's dedicated floors of aquaponics, securing food for those people in the building. Rooftop gardens will have chickens and goats. Bet we could develop an awesome app systemising the process too. Good times!

Millions of acres are under cultivation, to feed America. It seems impractical to get that from some rooftops, even under intense cultivation.

Re: Ask HN: What Is The Most Frighteningly Ambitious Idea in Your Personal life?

#13

Post by 001sky »

codegeek wrote: post #8

To be able to Fly like a bird.

Do you mean, like a bike messenger on acid? or, something altogerther more different? [1]

[1] Well written but vaguely NSFW day-in-the-life: http://www.erowid.org/experiences/exp.php?ID=84954*

Re: Ask HN: What Is The Most Frighteningly Ambitious Idea in Your Personal life?

#14

Post by 001sky »

JoeAltmaier wrote: post #12
alid wrote: post #11

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Ha! That's awesome! It's seriously the future of food security for urban areas. I'm dreaming up low-rise & high-rise apartment developments where there's dedicated floors of aquaponics, securing food for those people in the building. Rooftop gardens will have chickens and goats. Bet we could develop an awesome app systemising the process too. Good times!

Millions of acres are under cultivation, to feed America. It seems impractical to get that from some rooftops, even under intense cultivation.

A hybrized food system -- say with local herbs, tomatoes, lettuces etc-- however does not seem all that impractical?

Re: Ask HN: What Is The Most Frighteningly Ambitious Idea in Your Personal life?

#15

Post by alid »

JoeAltmaier wrote: post #12
alid wrote: post #11

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Ha! That's awesome! It's seriously the future of food security for urban areas. I'm dreaming up low-rise & high-rise apartment developments where there's dedicated floors of aquaponics, securing food for those people in the building. Rooftop gardens will have chickens and goats. Bet we could develop an awesome app systemising the process too. Good times!

Millions of acres are under cultivation, to feed America. It seems impractical to get that from some rooftops, even under intense cultivation.

I'm not American, so am more influenced by what I've seen in Australia and my travels around South-East Asia. There are many urban areas that are not surrounded by arable land, or the arable land they have is dedicated to growing cash crops for export. Globally there's a massive movement towards locally-grown, organically-sourced, low-mileage food, so aquaponics is one solution that taps that.

Re: Ask HN: What Is The Most Frighteningly Ambitious Idea in Your Personal life?

#16

Post by JoeAltmaier »

001sky wrote: post #14
JoeAltmaier wrote: post #12

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Millions of acres are under cultivation, to feed America. It seems impractical to get that from some rooftops, even under intense cultivation.

A hybrized food system -- say with local herbs, tomatoes, lettuces etc-- however does not seem all that impractical?

Clearly, it depends upon the height of the building. A two-story with 4 familes = 20 people - that is a stretch. A 20-storey with 40 families- the roof is no bigger.

Re: Ask HN: What Is The Most Frighteningly Ambitious Idea in Your Personal life?

#17

Post by 001sky »

JoeAltmaier wrote: post #16
001sky wrote: post #14

Earlier quoted context omitted.

A hybrized food system -- say with local herbs, tomatoes, lettuces etc-- however does not seem all that impractical?

Clearly, it depends upon the height of the building. A two-story with 4 familes = 20 people - that is a stretch. A 20-storey with 40 families- the roof is no bigger.

Agree, this is a good point... you would need dedicated spaces or what not, if not re-purposing unused. Depending on the economics of sq ft and energy needs, it may or not be good math.

Re: Ask HN: What Is The Most Frighteningly Ambitious Idea in Your Personal life?

#18

Post by 001sky »

001sky wrote: post #6
realrocker wrote: post #5

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Perhaps Standalone or Non-Overlapping Ideas.

Yes, i think that would qualify In general, for me I think of things that are not immediate CV materiel per-se. But are fundamental composites of what you want to achieve ultimately, in life. This extends the time-frame and the skillset. To things not immediately feasible or beneficial. But perhaps not only interesting, but fundamentally determinative. [Edits for context]

-- Something that supports but does not propel your career.

Re: Ask HN: What Is The Most Frighteningly Ambitious Idea in Your Personal life?

#19

Post by JoeAltmaier »

alid wrote: post #15
JoeAltmaier wrote: post #12

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Millions of acres are under cultivation, to feed America. It seems impractical to get that from some rooftops, even under intense cultivation.

I'm not American, so am more influenced by what I've seen in Australia and my travels around South-East Asia. There are many urban areas that are not surrounded by arable land, or the arable land they have is dedicated to growing cash crops for export. Globally there's a massive movement towards locally-grown, organically-sourced, low-mileage food, so aquaponics is one solution that taps that.

Its optimistic to call the effort 'massive'. Current agricultural practices are massive. The movement toward local produce is 'boutique' maybe. In fact the whole organic food deal is a speck on the agribusiness landscape.
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