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96 Comments
- dbavaria, on 10/12/2007, -1/+26Even if you live on an Island you still live on earth buddy.
- inactive, on 10/12/2007, -0/+9Better info: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spiral_Island
- tboutcher, on 10/12/2007, -1/+9I know its hard to believe but Mexico is on earth.
- wet_napkin, on 10/12/2007, -0/+8I know that this is a wild guess, but maybe, just maybe, he meant the earth, as in what the soil is called.
- spyke77, on 10/12/2007, -0/+7AH!
"Spiral Island was destroyed by a hurricane in 2005. Mr. Sowa plans to build a stronger island in a more sheltered area." source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spiral_Island
Just what I anticipated... - theoallardyce, on 10/12/2007, -0/+6Wait so now there are a quarter of a million extra bottles floating around the ocean because it broke apart in a storm and he couldn't be bothered to pick them all up.
Not much of an environmentalist is he? - knightblade2oo4, on 10/12/2007, -1/+5I saw this on TV a year or two back and apparently the sand on his island is from Mexico, therefor it's mexican soil. So he was required to allow mexicans on his island.
The title should be: "Tired of living around Mexicans? Too ***** bad. But look at the man's psuedo-island!" - Mike89, on 10/12/2007, -2/+5Living on 250 thousand soft drink bottles beats living in Mexico, thats for sure
- JudgeDredd, on 10/12/2007, -1/+4That's awesome. I think now instead of being a member of society, I will float on garbage. That would be sweet.
- geminitojanus, on 10/12/2007, -0/+2Earth can mean "Soil" or it can mean the name of the planet. In this case, if you speak English and have a moderate level of intellegence, you can figure out that by earth, he means the soil.
Of course, he did have a slight grammatical problem, capitalizing Earth, but that's not as bad as most Digg articles. - green1152, on 10/12/2007, -1/+3I'd live on it if I were in his situation. Seeing as I'm in Oregon in the valley, there's hardly any decent sun in the winter.. and it's cold, I'm not exactly enthused about building my own island out of 250,000 pop bottles. but if I were more down south, I'd probably get started by drinking a lot of soda and collecting a ton of bottles.. then I'd either end up with diabetes, or a really cool boat/island.. Or both.
- spyke77, on 10/12/2007, -0/+2What happens to his "island" when there is a hurricane or a big sea storm? My guess is that whole thing just vanishes.
- neosiv, on 10/12/2007, -0/+2A blog about the island: http://spiralisland.blogspot.com/
- compacho, on 10/12/2007, -0/+2Wow, now this is old news. Altar, I'm thinking you were on that island yourself.
- inactive, on 10/12/2007, -0/+2I saw this on Ripley's Believe It Or Not like.... six years ago.
- MikeCampo, on 10/12/2007, -0/+2Why the hell are some of you so obsessed with the title? I think the guy gets the point by now, no need to keep bringing it up...
- Cyborg771, on 10/12/2007, -0/+2As long as I had an internet connection, that would be paradise.
- gwjc, on 10/12/2007, -1/+3Dude, this island's a sausage fest I'm swimming back to the mainland.
- atbnet, on 10/12/2007, -0/+2Cool! Now Japan should start building islands cause of it's increasing population! Digged!
They actually did build an island and made it an airport. I remember watching it on the History channel or Discovery. It was really cool though. - PORTAL45, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1The wiki article led me to flickr. Here are a few more pics: http://www.flickr.com/photos/randymac/
There's also a link to the guys email address.... 8-| - inactive, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1"What the hell is "pop""
A lot of people from the south call all soda's "coke". Those who are sophisticated to make a distinction call it "pop". The rest of the rational world calls it "soda". - ragtag, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1Check the wiki entry. It's gone.
- MrKippers, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1That is a cool idea. I've always wanted an island...
Anyways, he got the bottles by collecting them from trash cans at first, then people started delivering them to him. - PseudoCyborg, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1"I thought this was going to be cool. So I Dugg it. It wasn't cool -- it was lame. So now I'm undigging it "
That's why it's smart to read the article first. ;P - jabfish, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1250,000 @ 5-10 cents deposit each? :p
12.5-25 thousand dollars? - inactive, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1and BTW, by earth, he didn't mean the planet, he meant soil
- mushoo, on 10/12/2007, -1/+2"it's not an island, it's an effing raft! any idiot with too much time on his hands can collect bottles out of the trash and join them together with some adhesive and make it into a floating device. Now the people that build mud huts and install solar powered lighting and truly live off the grid without sacrificing modern technology, that's impressive."
You build me a raft that can support a two-story house, mangrove trees, a solar oven, a self-composting toilet, and three beaches.
"Wait, so Mexico isnt earth?
*****."
Apparently it isn't since you know that when we visit the U.S. we're labeled "ALIENS". Even more fun is when we sneak in and then we're "Illegal Aliens".
Yes I'm being an *****, just like a lot of previous posters.
"is he in international waters? if thats the case, very few (if any) laws govern him. I would probably consider that a solution to living on earth. *shrug*"
I don't think he could have built the thing in international waters since it is my understanding that International waters start a couple of miles away from the mainland. - Jay2005, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1is he in international waters? if thats the case, very few (if any) laws govern him. I would probably consider that a solution to living on earth. *shrug*
- levyjl1988, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1Cool! Now Japan should start building islands cause of it's increasing population! Digged!
- bundaegi, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1I digg it!
More details over here:
http://www.livejournal.com/users/crasch/245311.html
http://danger-island.com/~dav/video/heavy/SpiralIsland.asf
Piccies here:
http://homepage.mac.com/denise_adams/PhotoAlbum15.html
http://www.geocities.com/spiral_island/pics.html - J3bu, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1nice idea! Where did he get all the bottles from!?
Would've been nice to see some high res pics. Especially if they could've got some of the structure itself. - jimmy8091, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1From the wiki "Spiral Island was destroyed by a hurricane in 2005".
- kilps, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1Were do you find that many bottles? Still - the idea is cool ...
- johnslater, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1Thanks guys, i saw this about 4 years ago on ripley's beleive it or not and never saw it on again. I can finally prove to my friends i was not lying.
- dstz, on 10/12/2007, -0/+0"he uses his own ***** to fertilize his garden!!! Eweweewww thats frikin nasty"
I'm sure you can achieve a lifelong diet on coke and pills.
Guano... horse *****... blood meal.. soil !!!! - krhagerich, on 12/09/2008, -0/+0I am planing to build an island many times bigger than this using polyurethane foam.If you are interested in being a part of it email me krhagerich@yahoo.com
- tw0bit, on 10/12/2007, -0/+0Old, still dugg though
- CyberTroll, on 10/12/2007, -0/+0 Capitalization in titles.
"In titles, capitalize the first word, the last word, and all words in between except articles (a, an, and the), prepositions under five letters (in, of, to), and coordinating conjunctions (and, but). These rules apply to titles of long, short, and partial works as well as your own papers" (Anson, Schwegler, and Muth. The Longman Writer's Companion 240). - RandyMac, on 10/12/2007, -0/+0To learn more about Richie Sowa's Spiral Island, with photos etc, you can visit a new web portal that I have created for Richie to allow people to learn more about the history of the island. I lived in Paamul back in 2000 - 2001, a little RV community 3 miles north of Puerto Aventuras, and became friends with Richie. I helped him on many occassions to maintain his island, and learned alot about why he built the island, and how long it ook etc.
Of course the Spiral Island was destroyed by the hurricane that ripped through the Yucatan last year, but Richie is bound and determined to rebuild his island.
To see many photos not seen on the web before and learn more about the island, with user commenting available, check out Richie Sowa's Spiral Island history site at: http://spiralisland.westkootenayunplugged.com/
We'll answer as many questions you may have about the island, and we will be posting many more photos and adding more stories over the next few months. (as of May 8, 2006 the site is live)
RandyMac
Richie Sowa's Spiral Island
Administrator - agimat, on 10/12/2007, -0/+0wonder how many of those 250,000 pop bottles ended up becoming poop bottles
- G33KFR33K, on 10/12/2007, -0/+0"Even if you live on an Island you still live on earth buddy."
My sentiments exactly. - G33KFR33K, on 10/12/2007, -0/+0Same here :-P You get cash and you save the environment!
- Vladek, on 10/12/2007, -0/+0I saw this guy on TV. He's just a floating homeless person, seriously. He has no job and just lounges on that pile of crap all day.
- Bender1001, on 10/12/2007, -0/+0If it weren't for the fact they were toting it as an "off Earth" place to be I'd be a bit more pysched..but like this...pfft...I could build my own floating raft if I was soo inclined (or nuts enough...).
- hockeygoon, on 10/12/2007, -0/+0@ jkfan87.
I am no grammar expert. But what if it is at the beginning of a sentance? - cyclotron, on 10/12/2007, -0/+0I dont understand why people dont link to the actual article.
- wildkarde, on 10/12/2007, -0/+0< To contact Reishee to see how he weathered the storm or for donations please e-mail spiralisland@hotmail.com >
how does he get internet there?! - hockeygoon, on 10/12/2007, -0/+0>>Cool! Now Japan should start building islands cause of it's increasing population! Digged!
Actually, they are strongly forecasting population decrease over the coming decades. No need.
As for this idea I think it is lame in environmental aspects. Like someone else mentioned. The thing gets demo'd and leaves gazillions of bottles laying about the ocean. Just what we need instead of having those bottles recycled?? The concept is kewl but I am not up with the building methods. I mean how many islands/pop bottle pollution is this guy going to cause before he finally builds something that doesn't come apart in a storm? - ej25goddess, on 10/12/2007, -0/+0Come to think of it my redneck grandmother calls soda "pop" as well. In marketing terms pop means "point of purchase."
- hockeygoon, on 10/12/2007, -0/+0@ jkfan87. Ignore my original comment please. I your post just sunk into my think head.
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