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My Friends and I Bought an Island

tynan.com

201–210 of 405 posts

Re: My Friends and I Bought an Island

#201
post #113

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yes, there is strong LTE and HSPA+ service there, and Canada has some decent PAYG plans.

That's news to me (I live in Canada, although in Ontario).

I think the plan my friend was using was Rogers iPad plan... data only, but it was really reasonable.

Re: My Friends and I Bought an Island

#203

Correct me but you buy an island but you're not able to make you're own country in there. You're still under Canada's rule I guess.

It depends entirely on the size and power of your military.

How so? Then I can buy any kind of land and claim it as my own :)

Re: My Friends and I Bought an Island

#204
post #144

Earlier quoted context omitted.

For people who are confused: A widowmaker is a dead tree that could fall, and kill somebody [in the namesake a probably-male logger]; thereby creating a widow.

Ah - living in the UK I thought that would be some kind of weird spider or snake or something. Thanks for that. We don't have weird dangerous stuff here except for the politicians and bankers.

Apologies, I spent too much time around loggers. I'd hate to be under a tree that sheds politicians and bankers :)

Re: My Friends and I Bought an Island

#205
post #144
post #3

Lots of widowmakers there judging by the pictures, better be careful. One thing you learn quickly when you live remote is that the nearest hospital is very far away both in space and in time and stuff that is routine in a city can get serious (or even kill you) when you're living remote. Still, congratulations, I can really relate to how you guys feel. In case there are more island enthousiasts here: http://www.priva…

For people who are confused: A widowmaker is a dead tree that could fall, and kill somebody [in the namesake a probably-male logger]; thereby creating a widow.

I was rather confused since I know more about finance than logging.

In finance, "Widowmaker" means one thing: Shorting Japanese Government Bonds (JGB) and inevitably losing money. Because of Japan’s gigantic national debt, and because the Japanese bond rally has gone on so long, investors have called the top in the Japanese bond market for years, only to get impaled.

thanks for clearing it up.

Re: My Friends and I Bought an Island

#206
post #149

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yep. And suddenly fall they do (gust of wind, guy playing around with a chainsaw at the base, random chance).

it's a miracle humans managed to survive the first few million years...

> it's a miracle humans managed to survive the first few million years...

They haven't, yet; humans (H. sapiens) have only been around for ~200k years.

Re: My Friends and I Bought an Island

#207
post #144

Earlier quoted context omitted.

For people who are confused: A widowmaker is a dead tree that could fall, and kill somebody [in the namesake a probably-male logger]; thereby creating a widow.

Ah - living in the UK I thought that would be some kind of weird spider or snake or something. Thanks for that. We don't have weird dangerous stuff here except for the politicians and bankers.

We still have trees, here...

Re: My Friends and I Bought an Island

#208

One question: weren't you afraid not to have visited the island before you made an offer?

Not really. Did as much research as I could, and most of the value of the island to me is having a group of friends with an island to build up by our own designs.

Also, we did check it out before wiring the money. If it was burnt down or something really bad, we wouldn't have bought it.

Re: My Friends and I Bought an Island

#209
post #161
post #97

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm already over 30, as are many members of the group. I was extremely selective on who I invited, and they're all people I trust completely. There will be issues in the future, but we've come up with rules to deal with them. Also, as noted below, none of us are planning on living there full time-- just visiting over the summer, hopefully all at the same time.

> I'm already over 30 ... Then I envy your youthful outlook. :) By the time I was 30 I had had enough of communal living for several lifetimes.

Haha, thanks. I had a great time communal living in school. Everyone involved in the island is trustworthy, fair, reasonable, etc., so I think it will be good. We also outlined ways to deal with disputes in advance.

Re: My Friends and I Bought an Island

#210

It sounds like you guys really thought this through (with the LLC, etc), however I can't shake the feeling that you're going to find this a bit like owning a boat: it sounds like much more fun before you actually do it. Five acres is slightly more land than I have (in the exurbs of Toronto), and is almost certainly much more awkward, with less usable space. I mention that because I can't imagine trying to facilitate…

Totally agree on the size.

In much of the rural midwest, 5 acres is the _minimum_ plot to build a house on. One single-family house. Five acres was how far we could play as children without going "far". It's 3.78 American football fields.

That said, it's five more acres of island than I own.

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