

Why Elton McDonald built a tunnel - eigenvector
http://www.macleans.ca/society/elton-mcdonald-and-the-incredible-true-story-behind-the-toronto-mystery-tunnel/

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madaxe_again
When I was a kid, we used to hang out in an abandoned Georgian cold-store - it
was on the grounds of my school, with an entrance hidden in a thicket.

We called it "Dick Turpin's Cave", even though it was self-evidently no such
thing, but it was damnably cool - both figuratively and literally - and on a
hot summer's day, sneaking off from games to go loiter in our brick-lined
flagstone-floored cave and play pog or what have you was... special. And
probably incredibly dangerous. One end of it was collapsed - it was shaped
like a cross with an entrance in the ceiling of one lobe.

I more than understand the appeal. There's some innate human instinct to
tunnel - perhaps at some point in our history we made burrows to live in, in
the absence of other construction materials - I mean, we lived in caves, so...

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frik
Seymour Cray, the famous supercomputer architect (Cray-1, etc.), built a
tunnel under his house:

    
    
      Another favorite pastime was digging a tunnel under his 
      home; he attributed the secret of his success to "visits 
      by elves" while he worked in the tunnel: "While I'm 
      digging in the tunnel, the elves will often come to me 
      with solutions to my problem."
    

\--
[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Seymour_Cray](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Seymour_Cray)
,
[http://www.cs.man.ac.uk/~toby/writing/PCW/cray.htm](http://www.cs.man.ac.uk/~toby/writing/PCW/cray.htm)
, [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cray-1](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cray-1) ,
[http://www.amazon.com/Supermen-Seymour-Technical-Wizards-
Sup...](http://www.amazon.com/Supermen-Seymour-Technical-Wizards-
Supercomputer/dp/0471048852/)

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gurgeous
What a great story. Help this kid build a few more tunnels:

[http://www.gofundme.com/objrxk](http://www.gofundme.com/objrxk)

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sharpercoder
When I was a kid, me and my brother used to scour an abandoned monastery. The
materials we gathered there - door frames, plywood, nails, screws, we used to
modify an existing animal shelter. We saw a hole in the wooden structure and
then proceeded to dug down about 1,5 meters. From there we dug sidewards to
construct our own "bunker".

Many times the tunnel would collapse, and eventually the construction became
an "open-tunnel" process. Digging a hole and then covering it up with a wooden
ceiling.

I can still feel the excitement of having our own "secret space" we entirely
built ourselves. Constantly talking about how to expand and improve the
structure was more fun then actually using it.

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Alex3917
Reminds me of a saying I like about startups: The key to success isn't having
the biggest shovel or digging the most holes, it's having the discipline to
just keep digging in the same place.

For whatever inaccuracies there may be, it's something I always try to keep in
mind.

~~~
gtwy
Kind of the antithesis of "Jack of All Trades, Master of None"

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Red_Tarsius
My elementary School was built in the countryside where once was a train
station. The only thing left was A LOT of bricks. Kids used the bricks and
trees to build several forts, each one owned by a different faction. We took
advantage of playground's most strategic spots. There were wars, alliances,
betrayals... It was very fun.

Every summer the teachers would go to the playground and destroy the forts,
because they thought them to be too dangerous. Yet, we built them again at the
beginning of each school year. Soon after I went to middle school, the adults
decided to remove all the bricks.

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markbnj
I think I would like this kid.

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josu
Relevant XKCD [http://xkcd.com/1501/](http://xkcd.com/1501/)

~~~
swatow
Regarding the lead masks case, how about: Two guys were interested in taking
some weird drugs (equivalent of "shrooms" today). They met someone who agreed
to give them the drugs, and as part of the ritual gave them the instructions
"Be at the place arranged at 16.30. Take capsules at 18.30. After feeling the
effects, protect half the face with lead masks. Await the agreed signal"[0].
They took the drugs, OD'd and died.

[0]
[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lead_Masks_Case](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lead_Masks_Case)

