4 ms·

Elton McDonald tells newspaper why he built the mysterious Toronto tunnel

37 points by olalonde 12y ago

Luc 12y ago
Seymour Cray used to like digging tunnels to clear his mind when designing supercomputers. I wonder if the tunnel(s) he dug still exist... EDIT: Ha, I Googled it and here's a commenter on BoingBoing saying it's largely a fabrication: http://boingboing.net/2006/08/10/seymour-cray-liked-t.html http://boingboing.net/2006/08/10/seymour-cray-liked-t.html I'm not sure who to believe now.
drivingmenuts 12y ago
Interesting. Here in the US, the prosecutor would be trying figure out which of 10 million potential terrorism charges could be thrown at the guy.
- 8_hours_ago 12y ago
  I kept expecting to read the part where he was charged with some combination of trespassing, building code violations, drug trafficking, etc. Instead it looks like the police correctly recognized that he wasn't a threat, and let him off with a warning. Happy endings are nice.
  - DKnoll 12y ago
    They can't actually charge him... he's only breached local bylaw which is not enforced by police.
- protomyth 12y ago
  Depends where in the US, I can also imagine the local prosecutor shaking his/her head, walking away, and having a heck of a story to tell at the bar.
- ashark 12y ago
  I glanced back over the article twice because I was certain I'd missed the part where a life-ruining set of felony charges and fines had been thrown at the guy.
  - CPLX 12y ago
    The tell was the words indicating he lived in Canada, clearly.
splitdisk 12y ago
I'll admit that I too have dreamt about doing something like this, but more along the lines of adding a sub-basement beneath an existing one. Almost like a Cold-War era bomb shelter, or safe room. Doing so on public property is obviously a bad idea for a number of reasons. Also barbecuing in an enclosed space-great way to win a Darwin award.
- chiph 12y ago
  Even on your own land, if you go too far your city's code inspectors might get involved. http://www.kvue.com/story/news/local/2014/05/25/2435656/ http://www.kvue.com/story/news/local/2014/05/25/2435656/
  - splitdisk 12y ago
    Yeah, it's likely a terrible idea to start "modding" a pre-built home without consulting builders, getting the correct permits, etc. There's probably few non-nutcase reasons why a person would do this, as your link attests to. Still, a man can dream about having an indoor shooting gallery, or whatever. The best option would be to construct from scratch.
joelwilliamson 12y ago
Why not link to the newspaper article, rather than the summary? http://www.torontosun.com/2015/03/05/i-built-the-mystery-tunnel-toronto-man-tells-sun http://www.torontosun.com/2015/03/05/i-built-the-mystery-tun...

37 points by olalonde 12y ago

Luc 12y ago

Seymour Cray used to like digging tunnels to clear his mind when designing supercomputers. I wonder if the tunnel(s) he dug still exist... EDIT: Ha, I Googled it and here's a commenter on BoingBoing saying it's largely a fabrication: http://boingboing.net/2006/08/10/seymour-cray-liked-t.html http://boingboing.net/2006/08/10/seymour-cray-liked-t.html I'm not sure who to believe now.

drivingmenuts 12y ago

Interesting. Here in the US, the prosecutor would be trying figure out which of 10 million potential terrorism charges could be thrown at the guy.

8_hours_ago 12y ago
I kept expecting to read the part where he was charged with some combination of trespassing, building code violations, drug trafficking, etc. Instead it looks like the police correctly recognized that he wasn't a threat, and let him off with a warning. Happy endings are nice.
- DKnoll 12y ago
  They can't actually charge him... he's only breached local bylaw which is not enforced by police.
protomyth 12y ago
Depends where in the US, I can also imagine the local prosecutor shaking his/her head, walking away, and having a heck of a story to tell at the bar.
ashark 12y ago
I glanced back over the article twice because I was certain I'd missed the part where a life-ruining set of felony charges and fines had been thrown at the guy.
- CPLX 12y ago
  The tell was the words indicating he lived in Canada, clearly.

splitdisk 12y ago

I'll admit that I too have dreamt about doing something like this, but more along the lines of adding a sub-basement beneath an existing one. Almost like a Cold-War era bomb shelter, or safe room. Doing so on public property is obviously a bad idea for a number of reasons. Also barbecuing in an enclosed space-great way to win a Darwin award.

chiph 12y ago
Even on your own land, if you go too far your city's code inspectors might get involved. http://www.kvue.com/story/news/local/2014/05/25/2435656/ http://www.kvue.com/story/news/local/2014/05/25/2435656/
- splitdisk 12y ago
  Yeah, it's likely a terrible idea to start "modding" a pre-built home without consulting builders, getting the correct permits, etc. There's probably few non-nutcase reasons why a person would do this, as your link attests to. Still, a man can dream about having an indoor shooting gallery, or whatever. The best option would be to construct from scratch.

joelwilliamson 12y ago

Why not link to the newspaper article, rather than the summary? http://www.torontosun.com/2015/03/05/i-built-the-mystery-tunnel-toronto-man-tells-sun http://www.torontosun.com/2015/03/05/i-built-the-mystery-tun...