For all those patient "do-it-yourselfers" out there. I recently saw a few internet sites which offered real estate on the moon and a few planets. Got me to thinking.
The idea is to give away acre + sized areas of the worlds oceans, with the caveat that the taker must buy the materials required to construct an island on the "property" from the gift giver. Items would include fill dirt (lots), plants, animals, shells, fresh water...whatever their hearts desire.
Surely there is at least one rich moron out there...-- Basil2, Mar 08 2004 Forbes Island http://www.forbesisland.com/This guy built his own Island complete with 40' lighthouse - see the history page... [csea, Oct 04 2004, last modified Oct 21 2004] Man-Made "Island" for the Common Man http://akuaku.org/archives/000074.shtmlOkay, really a very big raft, but it looks like an island and you have your own beach. [jurist, Oct 04 2004, last modified Oct 21 2004] Man-Made Island for Osaka http://www.takenaka...e/e_kix/kiindex.htmMore room; more vrooooom. [jurist, Oct 04 2004, last modified Oct 21 2004] "there is at least one rich moron out there..."
Yeah, he rented my canoe and hasn't come back yet.-- dpsyplc, Mar 08 2004 I've got that moron thing down, but how do i get some cash?-- whatastrangeperson, Mar 08 2004 Similar to that classy Palm Island thingy in Dubai then. Except, of course, those people are all too rich to build it themselves. They buy the finished thing (or a bit of it anyway). Can't be bothered linking as have linked to it numerous times before. It's all terribly tacky.
Am slightly concerned that [Basil2] seems to think that you can build a functioning tropical island from fill dirt and other "materials".
A:"Oh and pop in an ecosystem while you're at it, will you" B:"Certainly, sir. Small, medium or large?" A:" Erm... medium.....Oh, have you got one in pink?"-- squeak, Mar 09 2004 Squeak: No one ever said it had to be functioning. In fact it works to my advantage if it doesn't. Then the "rich moron" needs to buy even more materials from my company.-- Basil2, Mar 09 2004 The platforms would have to be more than just anchored, else they'd count merely as floating platforms c.f. north sea oil rigs, and not eligible for any sort of island status - which I assume would be the main point of this. Rich moron becomes king of own island etc.-- Bobble, Mar 09 2004 Baked as "Forbes Island" in SF Bay. See [link]-- csea, Mar 09 2004 [csea], While Forbes Thor Kidoo advertises his creation as an "island" it's actually a 50 foot wide by 100 foot long self-propelled motor vessel. Or, in other words, it's a barge masquerading as a parade float. Not really an island.
If you want to talk about man-made islands in San Francisco Bay, point at Treasure Island, once home to the World's Fair, then a Naval Facility, now being regentrified to a civilian community.
Or Kansai airport built five kilometers off-shore to serve Osaka, Japan. [Link]
In both cases the islands are firmly planted to the ocean bed beneath them. And both were far larger projects than the author contemplates here in order to recoup some economy in scale. In both cases the construction costs were huge for the time, and largely subsidized by mitigating the costs of ancillary dredging of nearby navigation channels.-- jurist, Mar 10 2004 <eighties flashback>"Over the mountains over the sea - just you and me. We'll go walkin' together watchin' the sunrise over the trees. Modular Island - all we ever dreamed of True love - holdin' us together star shine - Modular Island Oh I wished that we could stay like this forever. Modular Island - all we ever dreamed of . . ."</eighties flashback>-- hippo, Mar 10 2004 Phew. Glad that's over.-- yabba do yabba dabba, Mar 10 2004 random, halfbakery