https://nitter.1d4.us/guardiannews/status/1662090600269910017

  • Dbumba [none/use name]
    ·
    1 year ago

    Here's a fun fact. What's the US state with the most lighthouses ?

    Hint: It's not Maine or California

    spoiler

    It's Michigan

    • daisy
      ·
      1 year ago

      Makes sense. I think people who've never lived near the Great Lakes don't appreciate how rough they can be. They're not your little calm shallow recreational lakes where you can see the opposite shore. They're massive freshwater seas with frequently deadly weather. Even the ships have to be specially designed to handle the lakes.

      • huf [he/him]
        ·
        1 year ago

        https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FuzTkGyxkYI

        • daisy
          ·
          1 year ago

          That song was living in my head rent-free when I did a cross-country 3000Km move in a rented van with old summer tires during november. I was driving along the northern shore of Lake Superior during an especially bad storm. Seeing Superior's massive grey waves under oppressive grey skies is something I'll never forget.

  • WeedReference420 [he/him, they/them]
    ·
    1 year ago

    Sounds like a terrible idea to rely solely on GPS for ship harbour navigation which can go down temporarily or permanently but hey

    • Dolores [love/loves]
      ·
      1 year ago

      surely everything on the water will have 100% functional GPS at all times in future

      thoughts of the utterly deranged

  • Dryad [she/her]
    ·
    1 year ago

    Ok I looked into this. Here is the link to the lighthouses available to individuals. Two of them are expensive, two of them say the starting bid is 10k.

    ....

    How much does that mean they'll actually end up being, roughly? Maybe I should buy a lighthouse. Sounds cheaper than renting lmao

    • Bruja [she/her, love/loves]
      ·
      1 year ago

      Register a non-profit to get a free one instead of paying as individual, run a crowdfunding campaign to fund renovations, hire tour guide for lighthouse, live in adjacent building. No money out of pocket if crowdfunding covers moving expenses as well.

      • Dryad [she/her]
        ·
        1 year ago

        I figured they'd probably want to see that I have an existing nonprofit that's capable of handling a lighthouse, surely? Can I really just register the Give Me a Lighthouse Foundation and then worry about how to actually maintain a lighthouse after they give me the key?

        • Bruja [she/her, love/loves]
          ·
          edit-2
          1 year ago

          Could finesse a nice grant proposal extolling how lighthouse preservation is your passion. There is a grant for $15k-$75k for the FY2023 Historic Preservation Fund through the National Park Service that would get you started if awarded. Set up a website with creative commons pictures of lighthouses how you have been working up to this project for a decade.
          https://www.grants.gov/web/grants/view-opportunity.html?oppId=347545

          From the link you posted:

          any eligible entity with an interest in acquiring the light station must 1) submit a letter of interest to GSA and 2) submit a copy of the letter to the State Historic Preservation Officer (SHPO) of the state in which the light station is located. Letters of interest must include:

          • Name of the light station property
          • Name of the eligible entity
          • Point of contact, title, address, phone number(s), and email of the eligible entity
          • Nonprofit corporations, educational agencies, and community development organizations must provide a copy of their state-certified articles of incorporation

          Write a good enough sounding proposal with a .org domain name for a newly setup non-profit entity with a plausible name and you're in.

          • Dryad [she/her]
            ·
            1 year ago

            :thinking-about-it:

            Listen if I become a lighthouse keeper I might have to retire this account because it'd be too easy to figure out who I am

            • GreenTeaRedFlag [any]
              ·
              1 year ago

              Solution: we all get lighthouses and start like a long range commune.

              • Dryad [she/her]
                ·
                1 year ago

                What if we just all got one lighthouse and had a lighthouse commune

                • GreenTeaRedFlag [any]
                  ·
                  1 year ago

                  I don't want to be crammed into a lighthouse with all of you. We would have like 10 "the lighthouse" events a day.

                  • Dryad [she/her]
                    ·
                    1 year ago

                    Too bad I'm dragging you to the lighthouse. Do not resist.

                    • GreenTeaRedFlag [any]
                      ·
                      1 year ago

                      Struggle session over who gets to use the bathroom first every morning. We all shit our pants as dialectical synthesis.

      • Awoo [she/her]
        ·
        edit-2
        1 year ago

        Register a non-profit. Get dozens. Put leftists in all of them. Organise a lighthouse strike when they're most needed.

  • supafuzz [comrade/them]
    ·
    1 year ago

    Because GPS receivers never go on the fritz and small boats definitely all have them

    • kissinger
      ·
      edit-2
      1 year ago

      deleted by creator

        • kissinger
          ·
          edit-2
          1 year ago

          deleted by creator

          • supafuzz [comrade/them]
            ·
            1 year ago

            I'm acting like lighthouses are useful maritime safety infrastructure and closing them because of technology is short-sighted.

            It's night, your phone died in the rain, you're huddled over a laminated chart with a flashlight trying to figure out where the hell you are. A lighthouse is going to be a welcome visual marker, much easier to see than channel guide lights, especially if there's chop. I have been in this exact situation

            • kissinger
              ·
              edit-2
              1 year ago

              deleted by creator

    • blobjim [he/him]
      ·
      edit-2
      1 year ago

      Doubt these light houses are even in operation as it is.

  • UlyssesT [he/him]
    ·
    1 year ago

    Another completely avoidable problem for the near future because tech never janks out, ever ever. :so-true: