Live data from Hacker News

My Friends and I Bought an Island

tynan.com

331–340 of 405 posts

Re: My Friends and I Bought an Island

#331

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I can't see the appeal of this at all. Random list of why: Inevitable fights/headaches when one person wants out -- yes, you planned for it, but it's still a hassle. All the pains of homeownership (leaky roofs, pipes, HVAC problems, etc.) x 1000 due to difficulty of getting a construction crew to the island. Lack of a police force to enforce basic property rights against squatters/hunters/other "intruders" with diffe…

I'm not saying you're "wrong," but that attitude will certainly cut out much of the fun in life.

Doesn't sound like he or she considers it "fun". Different tastes I guess. To me, all the "problems" mentioned are the whole reason I'd love to undertake something like this.

Re: My Friends and I Bought an Island

#332

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Sadly the US is a bit different. If a guest injures themself, they can sue you and win. If a tresspasser injures themself while you're not there, they can sue you and win. Heck, we even have reports of theives injuring themself and then turning around, suing the owner in court, and winning.

Are you serious ? What kind of nonsense is that and who invented those legal concepts ?

Not island related, but there has been at least one case of this that I know about in the UK: someone broke into a warehouse and was injured when a stack of stuff fell on him. I'm not sure if the claim would have held water in court but the company didn't want to take the risk and settled with him for an undisclosed sum. IIRC they were also fined for the health and safety violation that was the mis-stacked stock (as the same accident could have happened to an employee instead and an inspection found other such problems).

Warning signs disavowing the owner of a site of responsibility for other people's actions (in a public place or while trespassing) often have little to do with the actual rule of law though (except where the signs are mandated by regulation) - more often than not they are simply about reducing the chance of someone trying it on. You might win easily in court if it goes that far, but if you can save the time and other hassle of needing to go that far by putting people off trying it is likely to be cost effective to do so.

Re: My Friends and I Bought an Island

#333
post #301

As a Canadian I would not have bought an island unless it was near a major urban center and thus has the appeal of being urban and country at the same time, or somewhere warm ..aka not in Canada. If you just want to rough it, you can lease Crown Land, fees are basically nothing if you're willing to do the paperwork, most leases last from 10-99 years, some of these leases might be open to foreigners (not sure, might n…

source for that?

Re: My Friends and I Bought an Island

#334

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Actually, no you can't build anything you want, and no, it's not really your property.

Yes, this is what I though too. He just bought property rights. It's still part of whatever country it's located within and they can apply all of their legal code on you. I imaging digging deeper than a few feet would be illegal on that without proper authorization first. Having a really sovereign country is kind of difficult.

If someone who read this get his very own country someday, please name it something that will give you the .gz ccTLD so I can finally buy www.tar.gz where I will offer visitors to download an archive of the Internet :-p.

Re: My Friends and I Bought an Island

#335

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Sadly the US is a bit different. If a guest injures themself, they can sue you and win. If a tresspasser injures themself while you're not there, they can sue you and win. Heck, we even have reports of theives injuring themself and then turning around, suing the owner in court, and winning.

Are you serious ? What kind of nonsense is that and who invented those legal concepts ?

It's the same in France. If you have a swimming pool in your garden for instance, and you don't put a legal size fence around it, and someone gets hurt because he slipped or drown in the swimming pool is your responsibility.

It's the same for wifi. If you don't protect your network with a password, you are legally responsible for what happen on it even if it's someone in the street squatting your wifi.

Re: My Friends and I Bought an Island

#336
post #183

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Random tips from my own private island experience… People may visit when you are not there. In the US, the shoreline up to some strangely defined highwater mark (which is higher than you expect) is public. Canada has a similar deal related to crown lands (you may own the island, but the bit under the water, not so much). These visitors have every legal right to hang out, have a picnic, play jarts, whatever. When you…

Maybe you could install a remotely/motion activated speaker system that plays the smoke monster noise from Lost to scare away visitors ( https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e-M8P14u_G8 )

I have a lot of second hand experience that shows this will work fine up until the meddling kids.

Re: My Friends and I Bought an Island

#338
post #334

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yes, this is what I though too. He just bought property rights. It's still part of whatever country it's located within and they can apply all of their legal code on you. I imaging digging deeper than a few feet would be illegal on that without proper authorization first. Having a really sovereign country is kind of difficult.

If someone who read this get his very own country someday, please name it something that will give you the .gz ccTLD so I can finally buy www.tar.gz where I will offer visitors to download an archive of the Internet :-p.

Disappointed that you would not proposed the superior bz2 format.

Just kidding :) your idea is awesome.

Re: My Friends and I Bought an Island

#339
post #298

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

In Australia, and I had the same thought, that 'widowmaker' referred to a spider.

Or any number of dangerous mammals. ;)

Re: My Friends and I Bought an Island

#340
You are living out a dream/fantasy held by many of us and obtained by few. Please do keep us informed on the awesomeness that is to come on Tynan's Island.

Also, definitely look into the permaculture thing. The Zombies Are Coming! and you gotta be prepared. =)

Post reply on HN