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The article definitely appeals to anyone with a Robinson Crusoe fantasy. Framed less generously, you could be reading about a squatter on public land supported

The article definitely appeals to anyone with a Robinson Crusoe fantasy. Framed less generously, you could be reading about a squatter on public land supported by bi-weekly food shipments. Somewhat related, the homesteading culture is pretty vibrant and full of tech savvy folks like Jaimie Mantzel. His island fortress series is fascinating: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC1p7jFXjL7Q0qMii08oAeAQ https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC1p7jFXjL7Q0qMii08oAeAQ

tmnvix 9y ago
> Framed less generously, you could be reading about a squatter on public land supported by bi-weekly food shipments. You could, but that description sounds misleading enough to be verging on dishonest. He is not simply squatting, but has a role on the island - a role that he filled after the previous caretaker retired.
- deleted_account 9y ago
  Eh, maybe. I'm wary of romanticizing the situation. There's an island, once privately owned but bought back by the Italian government for several million €, which is part of a national park set up to preserve the ecosystem. And by serendipity, we have Morandi, shipwrecked some thirty years ago and with no background in botany or biology, who's set up as steward-for-life on a place any grad student would give their left arm to caretake. The guy lives in a literal (and littoral, ha!) paradise in a situation so bizarrely irreproducible one can only think, "Yeah, must be a nice life..." Would we have the same warm fuzzy — "That guy's got it aaallll figured out" — feeling if NatGeo wrote the article about the once-owner, Michael Harte, bivouacking on his private island?
  - tmnvix 9y ago
    > Would we have the same warm fuzzy — "That guy's got it aaallll figured out" — feeling if NatGeo wrote the article about the once-owner, Michael Harte, bivouacking on his private island? Probably more so, and it would be an even more interesting article in my opinion - 'Multimillionaire Banking Executive Gives It All up for a Solitary Island Life'. The existing article mostly left me thinking "what caused this guy to leave society". That same question of a multimillionaire in that situation could prove enlightening for many.

tmnvix 9y ago

> Framed less generously, you could be reading about a squatter on public land supported by bi-weekly food shipments. You could, but that description sounds misleading enough to be verging on dishonest. He is not simply squatting, but has a role on the island - a role that he filled after the previous caretaker retired.

deleted_account 9y ago
Eh, maybe. I'm wary of romanticizing the situation. There's an island, once privately owned but bought back by the Italian government for several million €, which is part of a national park set up to preserve the ecosystem. And by serendipity, we have Morandi, shipwrecked some thirty years ago and with no background in botany or biology, who's set up as steward-for-life on a place any grad student would give their left arm to caretake. The guy lives in a literal (and littoral, ha!) paradise in a situation so bizarrely irreproducible one can only think, "Yeah, must be a nice life..." Would we have the same warm fuzzy — "That guy's got it aaallll figured out" — feeling if NatGeo wrote the article about the once-owner, Michael Harte, bivouacking on his private island?
- tmnvix 9y ago
  > Would we have the same warm fuzzy — "That guy's got it aaallll figured out" — feeling if NatGeo wrote the article about the once-owner, Michael Harte, bivouacking on his private island? Probably more so, and it would be an even more interesting article in my opinion - 'Multimillionaire Banking Executive Gives It All up for a Solitary Island Life'. The existing article mostly left me thinking "what caused this guy to leave society". That same question of a multimillionaire in that situation could prove enlightening for many.