3 ms·

No joke, I really want to dig a tunnel myself. Chances are I won't do it, but there's something very intriguing about subverting the urban landscape and creati

No joke, I really want to dig a tunnel myself. Chances are I won't do it, but there's something very intriguing about subverting the urban landscape and creating a little (or massive?) hidden world. What's held me back is other prevailing interests and not owning any land where I could get away with it. Maybe I'm not mentally fit myself, but I don't think the tunnel-digging is bad for his mental health. If anything, it could be helping him deal with something else that it's really a symptom of. But I have no idea. I'd be more likely to believe that he has an obsession, and it's debatable whether any particular obsession is pathological. This guy probably has a shot at making it big on social media if he posted photos/videos. I know I would subscribe. If he brought in the bux, I'm sure her attitude would change, the inherent danger of amateur tunnel-digging notwithstanding.

irrational 5y ago
Our backyard slopes into a forest. My kids keep saying they want to make a tunnel. Sounds like too much time playing minecraft to me ;-)
- naikrovek 5y ago
  the children yearn for the mines.
- saalweachter 5y ago
  I moved from the Midwest, with feet and feet of dirt and soil, to Upstate New York, with thin, rocky soil and shallow bedrock. The first time I went to plant a tree in my new yard, I dug down a short way and hit a good sized rock that I couldn't work out with my shovel. So I went to the store and got a pickaxe. After working around it for awhile, out popped a nearly perfect cube of rock. It was a solid "OMG, Minecraft is REAL" moment.
bombcar 5y ago
We have places where you can pay to "pan for gold", i.e, get muddy and get maybe a flake of gold, so we have people paying to be 49ers. You can pay to pick up heavy things and put them back down, so we have people paying to be stevedores. So why not have places where you can pay to dig tunnels? With proper supervision and a bit of safety gear, it could be quite nice, you could even allow people to purchase memberships for "their tunnel" and compete with others ...
- UncleEntity 5y ago
  > We have places where you can pay to "pan for gold", i.e, get muddy and get maybe a flake of gold, so we have people paying to be 49ers. Back when I lived in California gold country I used to know a guy who would go panning for gold for free and usually made enough money to pay for the beer he took out there — though I suspect the fresh air and beer were the important aspects to his gold bug. —edit— Should add his “secret spot” was somewhere right in the middle of Auburn and I believe within walking distance from his house.
  - TigeriusKirk 5y ago
    There are a lot of places in California gold rush country where you can legally pan for free. There are some rules, but nothing oppressive that keeps you from having fun and findings some flakes. I don't live far away and a friend even has a little portable sluice he takes out sometimes. Hobby prospecting is a fun way to spend a day.
- ASalazarMX 5y ago
  > You can pay to pick up heavy things and put them back down, so we have people paying to be stevedores. Very off-topic, but "stevedore" is an awesome word. Spanish is my first language, and wouldn't have guessed the word for "estibador" in English, it looks so weird. Had to lookup the etymology, and it's weird because sailors imported the word from Spanish or Portuguese. The original Latin verb is "stipare". https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stevedore#Etymology https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stevedore#Etymology

irrational 5y ago

Our backyard slopes into a forest. My kids keep saying they want to make a tunnel. Sounds like too much time playing minecraft to me ;-)

naikrovek 5y ago
the children yearn for the mines.
saalweachter 5y ago
I moved from the Midwest, with feet and feet of dirt and soil, to Upstate New York, with thin, rocky soil and shallow bedrock. The first time I went to plant a tree in my new yard, I dug down a short way and hit a good sized rock that I couldn't work out with my shovel. So I went to the store and got a pickaxe. After working around it for awhile, out popped a nearly perfect cube of rock. It was a solid "OMG, Minecraft is REAL" moment.

bombcar 5y ago

We have places where you can pay to "pan for gold", i.e, get muddy and get maybe a flake of gold, so we have people paying to be 49ers. You can pay to pick up heavy things and put them back down, so we have people paying to be stevedores. So why not have places where you can pay to dig tunnels? With proper supervision and a bit of safety gear, it could be quite nice, you could even allow people to purchase memberships for "their tunnel" and compete with others ...

UncleEntity 5y ago
> We have places where you can pay to "pan for gold", i.e, get muddy and get maybe a flake of gold, so we have people paying to be 49ers. Back when I lived in California gold country I used to know a guy who would go panning for gold for free and usually made enough money to pay for the beer he took out there — though I suspect the fresh air and beer were the important aspects to his gold bug. —edit— Should add his “secret spot” was somewhere right in the middle of Auburn and I believe within walking distance from his house.
- TigeriusKirk 5y ago
  There are a lot of places in California gold rush country where you can legally pan for free. There are some rules, but nothing oppressive that keeps you from having fun and findings some flakes. I don't live far away and a friend even has a little portable sluice he takes out sometimes. Hobby prospecting is a fun way to spend a day.
ASalazarMX 5y ago
> You can pay to pick up heavy things and put them back down, so we have people paying to be stevedores. Very off-topic, but "stevedore" is an awesome word. Spanish is my first language, and wouldn't have guessed the word for "estibador" in English, it looks so weird. Had to lookup the etymology, and it's weird because sailors imported the word from Spanish or Portuguese. The original Latin verb is "stipare". https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stevedore#Etymology https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stevedore#Etymology