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Subject: RE: [smof-politics] Thought for solving two housing crises, but is the cost too high?
From: "Jeph Antilles" (lordandmaster@jmc.fen)
Reply-To: smof-politics@smofcon.fen
Date: 2014/2/14 16:42
To: undisclosed-recipients
Noah Scott wrote:
>Blackstone wrote:
>> on the bottom of each building when it gets loaded onto the Express
>> (assuming that's still on the table).
>From the informal reports that Leda is sending me from the scene (she's
>a geneticist trained in biomodification, already has a biomod, and was
>visiting Prometheus Forge anyway; of course A.C. co-opted her), it sounds
>like the Roughriders aren't in any shape to fly a cargo mission this month.
>I'll be happy if I'm wrong, but I think we're relying on JMC for moving the
>first batch of houses.
If A.C. need it, I can route one of the Blue Midgets to the Forge. I have one in the area, with a crew that everyone possesses biomods, so they're in no serious danger of contamination from the spill. We'll also work on pushing forward the completion of some more of the second batch of Blue Midgets for the house moving. I'd also like to see if we can use some space in Stellvia's drydock to get some other Blue Midgets retrofit for the larger capacity. I'll send you a private email with details of what we're currently up against as to schedule for that. Our money's good for that, so don't worry about write offs on that side. 
>Do you folks want a well-used-but-well-maintained set of waldoes
>(manipulators and control station) for your classroom? Kohran just
>upgraded her lab, so we've got a set that don't look pretty but still work.
>(She's been using them for explosives work; they don't meet her perfectionist
>standards any more, but I can and have used them recently to bake a cake,
>so in my layman's opinion they're probably still good.) If you don't want them,
>I'll offer them to the Vesta Institute of Robotics, but they've already got a
>couple-dozen sets of waldoes...
I won't ask what sort of cake you were baking with them, but Myk can certainly use it at least for a backup for the existing rig he has for the classes.
Subject: Waldoes
From: "Myk-El Miller" (MykEl@jmc.fen)
Reply-To: smof-politics@smofcon.fen
Date: 2014/2/14 16:53
To: "Noah Scott" (bigcheese@stellvia.lib)
Just as long as we can get them clean, or clean them thoroughly on our end. I've looked up some of Kohran's projects. She scares me a little bit. Just a little. The waldoes I've been using are serviceable, but they were also rather well used when I got them and were practically scrap before Geo refurbished them for me.
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Subject: Re: Waldoes
From: "Noah Scott" (bigcheese@stellvia.lib)
Reply-To: smof-politics@smofcon.fen
Date: 2014/2/14 17:11
To: "Myk-El Miller" (MykEl@jmc.fen)
> Just as long as we can get them clean, or clean them thoroughly on our
> end.
They're clean enough for food-preparation work in a kitchen owned by someone without a biomod. (Tell Jeph "Boston Cream," by the way - the only kind of cake I know how to make. It was tasty.)
> I've looked up some of Kohran's projects. She scares me a little bit.
> Just a little.
Only "a little"? She's slipping...
> The waldoes I've been using are serviceable, but they were also rather
> well used when I got them and were practically scrap before Geo
> refurbished them for me.
These are in better shape than that. Kohran insists on fraction-of-a-millimeter precision; these are "only" good to one millimeter.
--
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"More than anything else, I believe it's our decisions, not the
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Subject: Re: Waldoes
From: "Myk-El Miller" (MykEl@jmc.fen)
Reply-To: smof-politics@smofcon.fen
Date: 2014/2/14 17:11
To: "Noah Scott" (bigcheese@stellvia.lib)
>They're clean enough for food-preparation work in a kitchen owned by
>someone without a biomod. (Tell Jeph "Boston Cream," by the way -
>the only kind of cake I know how to make. It was tasty.)
The last time I saw Jeph's biomod kick in like that over food, we watched a Triple D where Guy visited several restaurants at New Kandor. I think he... she... damnit, likes the idea. (I have no idea HOW Fnord keeps things straight with KJ's ever changing gender, really. Although it's worse when he tries to wear the 'waved clothes. PAINT does not do the jeans justice as a description for what she winds up with.) Actually, we might have to do another run of restaurants from the show whenever we both get dirtside again. I need fresh greens.
>Only "a little"? She's slipping...
I didn't dare touch the Explosives tab on the webpage.
>These are in better shape than that. Kohran insists on fraction-of-a-
>millimeter precision; these are "only" good to one millimeter.
That would be far, far better than what we have, if not overkill.
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Subject: [Logistics] M'Not Dead Yet...
From: "Benjamin Rhodes" ([url=mailto:blackrider@roughriders.fen[/url])
Reply-To: smof-politics@smofcon.fen
Date: 2014/2/14 17:45
To: undisclosed-recipients
Really, it will take a little more than a major 'Wave spill to ground all of our operations for an extended period of time. I designed this rock for better compartmentalization then that, and then there's the redundancies... The hard part for us is that we're going to be short on some manpower while people recover from their ordeal and adjust to their new biomods. My family members weren't the only ones affected, after all.
Folks, if you ever need a heavy lift solution, Sumitomo is the place to go! We will be taking delivery of our new space-mobile heavy lift cranes later this week for final outfitting. That part won't take long and by then we can begin work on a rail ramp for the Galaxy Express wherever we need it. The hard part is going to be getting permission from the government of Ireland to build the beastie on their turf.
AC, just let me know when to have everyone ready. And Jeph, the Blue Midget would be greatly appreciated - there's quite a few people here affected. The good news so far is that none of the biomods seem to be dangerous. In fact, I suspect my Mom's may be an Ace. Trust me, you'll just have to see her to believe it.
Finally - we have gotten down to the root cause of this mess, and it seems that some ass-clown has been gundecking their maintenance. He has been terminated and deported from 36 Atalante to someplace where he might cause less trouble. Anyhow, this has prompted me to have a seminar on 'Wavium Handling Safety. Myk, you think you could be so kind as to do the honors? Sometime next month would be nice.
-Benjamin
Roughriders of 36 Atalante
Would you like blind, broke, or bedlam?
OOC: Okay, this will prove to be an interesting story. We got Jeph sending a Starbug to 36 Atalante, and Leda and company inbound as well. They are all heading to the forge to get checked out by AC Peters, and in the meantime Leda's gonna get the good news.
So, how we gonna do this? Email?
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Quote:OOC: Okay, this will prove to be an interesting story. We got Jeph sending a Starbug to 36 Atalante, and Leda and company inbound as well. They are all heading to the forge to get checked out by AC Peters, and in the meantime Leda's gonna get the good news.
So, how we gonna do this? Email?
OOC: I think I can trust you with Leda for a few days, especially since she'll be "all business" while working (and A.C. isn't going to announce to all and sundry that Leda's pregnant). Go ahead and write the story.
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"Governments have no right to question the loyalty of those who oppose
them. Adversaries remain citizens of the same state, common subjects of
the same sovereign, servants of the same law."
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OOC: I barely know her, though... I'll give it a shot, though.
BTW: It's just too good for me to pass up. Momma Jones' biomod is a control over waved objects and, to a much lesser extent, biomodded people. The latter just allows her to patch up small owies and gives her a bit of empathy/telepathy. The former, though, will make her look like a freakin' Jedi.
Anyhow, being able to sense things about people with biomods... wouldn't it be a helluva kick in the pants when Leda starts examining Momma Jones who then blinks, gives Leda this smile of mischief and wonder... and (gently) drops the bomb. Oh, don't worry, she knows the better part of discretion as she knows the implications of such things. Thoughts?
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OOC: We've already established that only A.C., Leda, and Noah know that Leda's pregnant before the wedding.
Capsule of Leda's personality: level-headed, usually polite but sufficiently ruthless to give Katz "take-no-prisoners" Schroedinger pause, focused on whatever her current project is to the extent that she'll occasionally forget "minor" things such as sleep, takes risks occasionally. That should be enough to make sure she isn't too far out of character.
As for Momma Jones' biomod... Mal, what do you think?
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Rob Kelk
"Governments have no right to question the loyalty of those who oppose
them. Adversaries remain citizens of the same state, common subjects of
the same sovereign, servants of the same law."
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Subject: RE: [Logistics] M'Not Dead Yet...
From: "Jeph Antilles" (lordandmaster@jmc.fen)
Reply-To: smof-politics@smofcon.fen
Date: 2014/2/14 18:13
To: undisclosed-recipients
>And Jeph, the Blue Midget would be greatly appreciated - there's
>quite a few people here affected. The good news so far is that
>none of the biomods seem to be dangerous.
I've already got #14, nicknamed Waverider, on the way there.
Subject: RE: [Logistics] M'Not Dead Yet...
From: "Myk-El Miller" (mykel@jmc.fen)
Reply-To: smof-politics@smofcon.fen
Date: 2014/2/14 18:34
To: undisclosed-recipients
>Finally - we have gotten down to the root cause of this mess,
>and it seems that some ass-clown has been gundecking their
>maintenance. He has been terminated and deported from 36
>Atalante to someplace where he might cause less trouble.
>Anyhow, this has prompted me to have a seminar on 'Wavium
>Handling Safety. Myk, you think you could be so kind as to do
>the honors? Sometime next month would be nice.
Give me a few weeks to set things up... unless you'd like me to suit up and accompany that Blue Midget out, and get everyone trained while they're still well aware of the dangers of 'Wavium. Yes, I'm rather fully aware of the exposure risks even when I'm fully suited up.
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Subject: RE: [smof-politics] Thought for solving two housing crises, but is the cost too high?
From: "Blackstone" (blackstone@banzai-institute.org)
Reply-To: smof-politics@smofcon.fen
Date: 2014/2/14 13:46
To: undisclosed-recipients
JFerio Wrote:Myk read that over my shoulder, he just came aboard for the trip back to Serenity Valley. He's interested in seeing the test, but I sense a *LOT* of skepticism from him about being able to deliver 'wavium without a lot of contamination of the surrounding countryside. Yes, he's paranoid and cynical, but you have to be when you train people to handle Goop without accidentally getting a biomod in the process, and still manage to get at least two biomods per class because the students don't listen.
OK, so maybe I'm a bit cynical. But I can watch without having to worry about protective gear these days. Expect to see him in a getup that would be at home in the Andromeda Strain movie, though.
The more the merrier. Expert opinions are always welcome, provided they come with the appropriate credentials. Which, in this case, I think they do. I'll send over the tech notes that Tico's sent to me; Myk can run ideas past me or straight to him (ticonderoga@banzai-institute.org). Don had to go out-of-pocket for a bit; there's a drilling rig off of the Aleutians that's having some problems, and International Rescue's on the case. He should be back in a day or so. He left us Thunderbird-1, so we can at least get some of the preliminary tests out of the way.
We're taking as much care as we can about contamination. All 'wavium is currently under the Institute's standard security protocols for the stuff, which given the League's attempts to screw with us during OGJ, is tight. We're running a mockup with something suitably visible first; Nez suggested acrylic paint, but we need to make sure it doesn't clog the sprayers first. It's all in the tech notes. Personally, I'm concerned about the catch barriers permeability and how the whole thing is going to react to the atmospherics of the Big Blue Marble. Isolated lab tests do not accurately mock Hibernian weather conditions.
Anyway, gotta get back to the kitchen. This sauerbraten's not going to cook itself.
Blackstone
BBI #14
Banzai Institute of Strategic Information and Biomedical Research
"...There is nothing radical about clean air and clean water." - Robert F. Kennedy, Jr.
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robkelk Wrote:OOC: We've already established that only A.C., Leda, and Noah know that Leda's pregnant before the wedding. And A.C.'ll screw with her tricorder readings if necessary to keep Leda's privacy.
robkelk Wrote:Capsule of Leda's personality: level-headed, usually polite but sufficiently ruthless to give Katz "take-no-prisoners" Schroedinger pause, focused on whatever her current project is to the extent that she'll occasionally forget "minor" things such as sleep, takes risks occasionally. That should be enough to make sure she isn't too far out of character. Dammit Leda, do you have to be such a good match to A.C.? Besides the whole 'Senshi admiration for A.C.' thing. On the other hand, someone doing something as stupid as hurting Noah with them involved...
robkelk Wrote:As for Momma Jones' biomod... Mal, what do you think? I don't speak for Fnord, but I think it's too much. The only character I can possibly imagine having anything close to that is Haruhi with her theoretical and unconfirmed biomod, and that was far more vague (if wider ranging). Especially given the fact that A.C.'ll be very upset if Momma Jones tried that on her. The sort of upset that causes "accidents".
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OOC: After due consideration, I'm with Cobalt. Having "control" of waved objects in general is way too ill-defined and potentially system-breaking. Nice thought, but pls try again. Sorry.
Mr. Fnord interdimensional man of mystery
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Subject: RE: [smof-politics] Thought for solving two housing crises, but is the cost too high?
From: "Myk-El Miller" (mykel@jmc.fen)
Reply-To: smof-politics@smofcon.fen
Date: 2014/2/14 14:35
To: undisclosed-recipients
>We're taking as much care as we can about contamination. All 'wavium is
>currently under the Institute's standard security protocols for the stuff,
>which given the League's attempts to screw with us during OGJ, is tight.
>We're running a mockup with something suitably visible first; Nez suggested
>acrylic paint, but we need to make sure it doesn't clog the sprayers first. It's
>all in the tech notes. Personally, I'm concerned about the catch barriers
>permeability and how the whole thing is going to react to the atmospherics
>of the Big Blue Marble. Isolated lab tests do not accurately mock Hibernian
>weather conditions.
I've taken to using mineral oil with coloring as a demonstration fluid when I show spraying techniques and hazards to my students, actually. It's a good handy way to show them how *bad* storebought spraying equipment can be for, ahem, overspray. I tried acrylic, but one has to be using it in paint spraying equipment designed for latex, and clean it out quick, and equipment for spraying paint tends to be even worse for overspray as regards 'wavium. The stuff gets *everywhere* and into *everything* when it's aerosolized like that.
As for the catch barriers, as long as you only leave them in place long enough to do their job, then quickly pack them up and clean them, as long as they're not permeable to liquids, they usually work out all right. But you do need to make sure they are quite tight, without any tears in them.
And it's always a crap shoot when it's mother nature involved. There's a reason why Jeph 'waved our cars in garages, and Starbug 1 in a large barn. It at least cut down on the wind. I'd recommend a *least* couple of additional 'layers' of catch barriers, one a distance from the other. But as Jeph noted, I'm a bit paranoid as it regards 'wavium. I've seen what happens when people get careless with the stuff, after all.
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OOC: Okay then, how about this...
Still has weak healing abilities as well as the telepathy - but for sending only. This nicely avoids though whole get-the-voices-out-of-my-head thing.
Nix the telekinesis. Instead, waved machinery simply 'works' around her with no quirks, which is indispensable in the medical profession.
Mundane quirk: Doctorate in Domestic Engineering. You know everything that makes a household run smoothly (and not in the Martha Stewart way)? She's got it down to a science. Literally.
And as for her and Leda... how about we just say she suspects, but is smart enough to not say anything to anyone... except to Leda sometime after the wedding and it has been esabllished that Mrs. Jones is a competent medic. Would that work fine?
BUMP
OOC: I'm guessing that since no one's said anything about it, then it's okay?
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OOC: Telesend is okay; Greenpeace has something similar, IIRC. Quirk-dampening is going to make her Mad Scientist Target Number One if it gets out...
As for her suspecting about Leda, that's okay... as long as she doesn't mention anything. Everybody will know when Helen is born sooner than nine months after the wedding, anyway.
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Rob Kelk
"Governments have no right to question the loyalty of those who oppose
them. Adversaries remain citizens of the same state, common subjects of
the same sovereign, servants of the same law."
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OOC: Yeah, I won't object to telesend. Might want to reconsider the quirk-damping or maybe restrict it to Atalantae-made gear, but other than that I'm cool.
Mr. Fnord interdimensional man of mystery
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OOC: The story part of this thread is now on the FenWiki.
http://www.fenspace.net/index.php5?titl ... right_Idea]Yet Another Bright Idea
By the Fenspace Collective, posted 2-6 April 2010
February 11 - 14, 2014: Even a can of worms needs a place to live.
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Subject: RE: [smof-politics] Thought for solving two housing crises, but is the cost too high?
From: "James R. Bostwick" (wolfboy@jmc.fen)
Reply-To: smof-politics@smofcon.fen
Date: 2014/3/14 21:48
To: undisclosed-recipients
Ladies and Gentlemen, I have been cleaning out my mailbox and reading these flying mails and have a few suggestions.
1. As to the housing, I will be shortly on my way with approximately 30 other experience workers to the construction sites for the Hurcules prodject. We dont have a need for that but i have plans for a few other craft that we would appreciate either a trade or at least a reduced construction rate for.
2. As to the subject of topsoil. I dont know how Port Lowell's waste water is managed, but i grew up in the country and found in that time in my life that when a septic tank and drain field are used the plants above it tend to grow faster and stronger due to the increased fertilizer. My suggestion would be that they make a drying bed to pump the waste water into enclosing said area in a smaller dome and allowing the area to keep being "fertilized" like that for a period of at least six months. Further more, laying of drain feilds in an area that is to be used for crop raising, parks, or other "green growth" entities would likely help any transplanted topsoil survive.
Finally, I refuse to make comments over the subjects of capitalism or socialism. I am a history, economics and political science instructor and know the historic results, ups and down and typical reactions to both. Neither is perfect.
Sincerely;
James R. "Wolfboy" Bostwick
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OOC
(Blows dust off thread)
So, just how much housing can the Convention afford to buy from the Danelaw? And is the USA likely to allow sale of built-up land to the Fen... especially something as "historic" as a neighborhood or three from Detroit?
(We probably wouldn't be able to get the Motown studios - they still make money for the city, even if only a few dollars - so I won't even suggest that...)
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http://theirishgazette.com/ghost-estate ... -one-home/
240 thousand buys one whole estate.
You've got two ways of dealing with this. The Right way has you going through NAMA and the like, speaking with the banks that've taken the estates from insolvent developers and generally making enough of a public noise that prices have started to rise while the details are finally hammered out. It's the honest way to do business maybe. But it's expensive and messy to be so above board all the time. It'll drag for years, like swimming in treacle. You've also got to remember that the people aren't too please with the government at the moment. If the Government are convinced it'll boost their populairty, they'll go with it. But you risk pissing people off, and they're already near breaking point.
Or you've got the way people actually do things in Ireland.
You have fans of Irish extraction. Then have family and friends back home. You use these people as a point of contact. You arrange a few meetings, and everybody has a good time together, and then you broach the plan. You'll loan somebody 200 grand say, through a holding company, to buy a housing estate... which you'll then buy off them straight back for 240, leaving them with enough money afterwards to make it worth their while doing. The approach has the advantage of not causing a massive kerfuffle in the markets which'd kicking up the price before the sale could actually go ahead.
It looks like a groundswell of locals taking a gamble on rock-bottom prices. It takes the majority of the banks and state agencies out of the mix, and when it becomes time to actually buy off them, it'll look like nothing more than an investment that came good.
It has the disadvantage in that it's technically 'corrupt', but no worse than anything currently being scandaled about.
The big stumbling block will be the farmer's headache.... An Taisce. If there ever was, is or will be the hint of a ringfort, fairy tree or unique species of snail on the land you're planning to lift they'll make your life hell. Not to mention all the environmental impact statements that need to be done, especially with the unusuality of handwavium. There's no real way to cut through this part of the red tape. It'll have to be cleared. It'll have to be done. Laws will have to be changed and TD's will have to be 'encouraged'.
Also Sinn Fein - the nationalist, socialist party - will also kick up a fuss about stealing the land that blood was shed for, along with various fringe Republican groups will grouse about stolen heritage and the like. Local independents will also be a problem, as will councils looking at loosing revenue from taxation and the like.
----
I think Detroit could take the opposite approach... as a business Gateway to the US. Clearing built up areas is much harder because of how interconnected it all is. And the fact that people live there still.
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Do it by the book or do it the way the locals do... and doing it the way the locals do will allow the (libertarian, tolerant-of-others'-customs) Convention to buy more than they would the other way. That looks like a no-brainer to me.
The Convention has enough computing and research power to be able to identify all of the sites that An Taisce has an interest in (especially if we let Dee, Takami, Lebia, and the Library Defense Force run the search). And I touched upon the matter with Sinn Fein and the fringe Republican groups in the very first post in the thread: Quote:And while I suspect that Ireland would allow some Unreal Estate launches just because the UK doesn't like Unreal Estate, the Irish are possessive of their homes...
I'm guessing we didn't put enough thought into that part of the matter, though.
The big problem with Detroit is that the USA has a burr under its saddle with regards to Unreal Estate in particular and the Fen in general - moving American buildings into space will cause some talk in DC. The Convention would probably have to set up a front company in Windsor to do the preliminary work...
In both cases, buying and moving just the buildings (leaving the land in place) would likely be easier than launching entire neighbourhoods into orbit. That would also make An Taisce happy if an estate was built over a Gaelic meeting site or some such...
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Quote:And while I suspect that Ireland would allow some Unreal Estate launches just because the UK doesn't like Unreal Estate, the Irish are possessive of their homes...
In practice. It tends to be the opposite. Both countries tend to use each other as guinea pigs, and borrow legislative concepts regularly. Because Britain doesn't allow it, isn't a good reason for Ireland to allow it. Both countries are closer than they are further apart. Political objections will be more along the lines of 'Theft from future generations' and they can get quite a bit of steam behind that because it's very close to the current message of 'Theft from future generations' as applied to the banking crisis. Never mind that most of those future generations have already left for Canada or Australia....
Buying and moving the buildings (Including foundations) might be easier. Building new prefabs would be easier still, if that was the case. The only reason you want to do this with actual estates is because you've got a whole prebuilt settlement, biomass and green areas all in one bubble. The only way this makes sense is through a complete scoop-up... endome the estate and some of its surroundings and leave a new watersports park behind.
Come to think of prefabs, that's an interesting concept. Dig a ground-mould. Lay the foundations for the bottom of the dome. Backfill with quarried material and topsoil. Build on top of that - maintaining some green area. Add something to make it fly. Then close of the top with a hemisphere geodesic. Send it to space. Start the next one. Open up a factory somewhere building them and the IDA will love you for giving people work. Set up a sales office somewhere like, oh, Mars and you won't even have to pay tax on whatever profits it generates. Which also neatly sidesteps the Taisce people.
Whoever invests in that could make a killing if it takes off.
I still think moving down to Detroit might be the better option, rather than moving Detroit up. It's big. It has access to the States. It's cheap. And it's desperate for cash. It's a crack in the door to lever open access to the big American markets, setting up US sales' subsidiaries and the like. It could be the catalyst for a defrost in America when they see how much cash the city rakes in from being a business gateway. Or for the rest of the country to cripple Detroit economically by witholding critical funding from Cities/States that do business with space to ram home their own pet policies. One or the other, depending on how cynical you are.
And you won't have to deal with the EPA and every other federal and State agency involved.... along with historical preservation societies and the like.
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Quote:Dartz wrote:
Come to think of prefabs, that's an interesting concept. Dig a ground-mould. Lay the foundations for the bottom of the dome. Backfill with quarried material and topsoil. Build on top of that - maintaining some green area. Add something to make it fly. Then close of the top with a hemisphere geodesic. Send it to space. Start the next one. Open up a factory somewhere building them and the IDA will love you for giving people work. Set up a sales office somewhere like, oh, Mars and you won't even have to pay tax on whatever profits it generates. Which also neatly sidesteps the Taisce people.
Whoever invests in that could make a killing if it takes off.
Mass-producing Grovers Corners-class craft? I love it! If a Fen company forms to do that, we'll gladly license the spindizzy drive.
-- Bob
---------
Then the horns kicked in...
...and my shoes began to squeak.
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I think Rob (Noah? not sure if this discussion is happening in-universe or not, and if so, how the heck did I get onto the the SMOF mailing list?) was thinking about something in between "traditional" Unreal Estate and "striking" the buildings for moving. With a lot of care and attention to detail, it should be possible to 'wave a building down to its foundations, make it flight-capable, cut the utilities and take off – and leave the surrounding land behind (and, ideally, uncontaminated). This would mean immense labour costs, of course, but no more material costs than a Space Marble or Flying Island. The huge number of well-paying temporary jobs would make approving the project much more attractive.
Alternately, do the dome thing, avoiding Sites of Interest. Then hire the Jason to do site cleanup: if he can make passenger pigeons grow from plants, I'm sure he can make Divots into useful land.
For Detroit, I agree with Dartz: if you build it ("it", in this case, is legislature friendly to Fen businesses), the Fen will come. And bring their money.
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Bob Schroeck Wrote:Quote:Dartz wrote:Come to think of prefabs, that's an interesting concept. Dig a ground-mould. Lay the foundations for the bottom of the dome. Backfill with quarried material and topsoil. Build on top of that - maintaining some green area. Add something to make it fly. Then close of the top with a hemisphere geodesic. Send it to space. Start the next one. Open up a factory somewhere building them and the IDA will love you for giving people work. Set up a sales office somewhere like, oh, Mars and you won't even have to pay tax on whatever profits it generates. Which also neatly sidesteps the Taisce people.
Whoever invests in that could make a killing if it takes off.
Mass-producing Grovers Corners-class craft? I love it! If a Fen company forms to do that, we'll gladly license the spindizzy drive. In that case, I'll have to redesign StellviaCorp, putting Stellvia Hotels and the new "Stellvia Corners" (working name) under a "Stellvia Properties" umbrella...
So, do you want a flat royalty payment or a piece of the company?
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Rob Kelk
"Governments have no right to question the loyalty of those who oppose
them. Adversaries remain citizens of the same state, common subjects of
the same sovereign, servants of the same law."
- Michael Ignatieff, addressing Stanford University in 2012
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Proginoskes Wrote:I think Rob (Noah? not sure if this discussion is happening in-universe or not, and if so, how the heck did I get onto the the SMOF mailing list?) was thinking about something in between "traditional" Unreal Estate and "striking" the buildings for moving. With a lot of care and attention to detail, it should be possible to 'wave a building down to its foundations, make it flight-capable, cut the utilities and take off – and leave the surrounding land behind (and, ideally, uncontaminated). This would mean immense labour costs, of course, but no more material costs than a Space Marble or Flying Island. The huge number of well-paying temporary jobs would make approving the project much more attractive.
Alternately, do the dome thing, avoiding Sites of Interest. Then hire the Jason to do site cleanup: if he can make passenger pigeons grow from plants, I'm sure he can make Divots into useful land.
For Detroit, I agree with Dartz: if you build it ("it", in this case, is legislature friendly to Fen businesses), the Fen will come. And bring their money.
This discussion appears to be OOC to me.
Noah's first idea was Unreal Estate, but Mal Fnord talked him out of it... While the Convention appears to be going the "strike the buildings" route, there's nothing saying a few entrepreneurs can't go the Land Grab route. Planned very carefully to remain legal, of course.
--
Rob Kelk
"Governments have no right to question the loyalty of those who oppose
them. Adversaries remain citizens of the same state, common subjects of
the same sovereign, servants of the same law."
- Michael Ignatieff, addressing Stanford University in 2012
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