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Floating Palace
Problem: You're a hyper-rich oil magnate who loves boats and entertaining lots of guests.
Solution: Port-a-Island.
Ellen has entertained the notion of living on a boat for years, but was never sure where the cat boxes would go. This would solve that problem rather neatly, no? It's checkbook time!!!
1 - get several barges
2 - a portable Mr. Fusion for electricity
3 - Maybe even solar power
4 - join them all together so that you've got a spiffy little island
5 - Move to a nice stable part of the ocean - I believe there are areas called the doldrums or the like where there isn't much wind and maybe the storms there are mild.
6 - you can even weld on a beach area if you'd like.
7 - make one barge a "farm" where you grow fresh veggies
profit? Not so much. You'll also need some armament in case pirates come around.
Posted by: Ron ap Rhys on March 5, 2010 10:43 AMI think the Scientologists managed to do that very thing, and keep it running for twenty years, without any fusion generators or even solar power. It wasn't even lack of money that shut them down; it turned out the ship they bought was full of asbestos (which is probably why it was so cheap).
Of course, they had the wallets of millions of gullible rubes (and dozens of gullible celebrities) to finance their life on the high ocean. Still, you have to give them credit for knowing how to part fools from their money without breaking the law. Unlike a pyramid scheme, Scientologists are very careful never to promise anything measurable or provable in exchange for the money they collect, so it legally can't be fraudulent. They rely on the classic religious fervor of people who have already thrown away everything they'll ever have, and would rather die than admit it was all for nothing.