I've been reading this site for 13 years and I think pontifier's original post is my all time favourite HN comment. It's perfect in so many ways, and the fusion reactor is the icing on the cake. I think this might be the peak of hacker news.
I wish the article had more on the fusion reactor than just the bullet point at the very end, but I suppose they would have needed to interview more people. This was a great read.
> “The Overconfident Optimist and His Ill-Advised DIY Project.”
OK, MaxRead, if you're reading this I'd suggest a similar investigation into Bill Gates.
The other Bill Gates. He of Midnight Engineering magazine "fame."
Midnight Engineering was a great magazine about engineers starting their own businesses while working 9-5.
And it was pretty damn good. Until he decided to buy an entire printing press for pennies on the dollar, truck it from Florida to Colorado and set it up in a warehouse so he could run it, alone, to print the magazine. No, he had never run a printing plant before!
The magazine's print quality declined far enough after he did this (CMYK registration was so bad it gave me headaches) that I let my subscription expire, but I always wondered what happened to him after that. My guess is that he was overtaken by the rise of the Web and lost subscribers, but it could be a good story either way.
My favorite part of Midnight Engineering was his column on setting up his printing press. I loved it for the reality of the struggle. All the obstacles and setbacks, spelled out for everyone to see.
This was a great follow up to an already great comment. I almost posted this as a comment to the original post so I'll post it now in the event Pontifier reads this.
Strange as it may sound, I think the most efficient path if you did want to continue would be running for city government.
At least try to find a local attorney you can trust to represent your interests and who can help you navigate all the obstacles. The usual problems you find in any town and the ones local to Pine Bluff in particular.
I'd also try to find some way to get some state-level advocates who could help with development grants or special innovation zones or whatever they can do.
It really doesn't seem like he's interested in spending money on anything but assets. He needs to hire someone who can direct his energy in a productive direction and create some structure for at least one of his ideas.
> “People have come to the tent and put a gun in my face at one point, back in 2020 -- while I was waiting for this stuff to happen -- and my dad shot at them, and they ran away. I've got an audio recording of that.” (He does; it’s available on his Soundcloud; I can’t say I recommend listening to it.)
Curiosity got the better of me and I went and listened to it, available here:
'Escaping the state' is grossly unfair to most of beautiful Arkansas.
I've lived in 8 states and think the Natural State compares well. (Especially NW Arkansas, which is wildly developing yet still home to world class biking, hiking and outdoor life.)
No kidding. If only he could bottle that up and sell it! If something goes wrong in one of my projects, I start thinking about giving up, but this guy doubles down. He seems like one of those crazy business tycoons you read about from, say, 150 years ago that ended up becoming an oil magnate, except in his case, not quite so successful.
He's proposed 10 entirely different uses for the warehouse (go karts, makerspace, fusion reactor, corporate office, science museum, etc.). He's not paying professionals to get up to code so he can get permits. He doesn't have the money to pay for security (that size would need 6 people, $50k/year, $300k/year). He's still buying more property and imagining huge parties and living in it like a penthouse suite.
He mistakenly thought the purchase price was all you need, and you're in business. But you need way more capital to attempt fusion (what?). You need to invest a huge amount into building codes, security, and focus on one project at a time.
Cheap land is cheap for a reason. And true arbitrage in real estate is generally a stroke of luck, more-so than something that can be sought out by scouring the country for "deals". Where it can be done, it relies on intensive long term local knowledge, i.e. why real estate agents are still a thing.
I replied (https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=32468137) to the original comment that I would like to see a documentary on him (which he didn't seem to oppose), and this article just makes me want it more.
Really enjoyed this read. As someone who has had similar daydream fantasies - maybe not to this scale - it's interesting to see all the ways it can backfire. It also definitely got me thinking about ways he could be dealing with local bureaucracy a bit better (even if the bureaucracy is clearly in the wrong.)
Oh man reading this he mentions permitting issues. Software I supported was used by that part of the city and/or county government at one point. 15 years ago now so I doubt anyone I met is still there but wow this is taking me back.
As an Arkansas native I predicted the outcome of his idea for a hybrid maker space / amusement park in Pine Bluff run by someone with no knowledge of or interest in the community. There's some sick sense of satisfaction from watching ideas that should fail, fail. But of course we can't be sure unless someone actually does the thing, as he puts it. I still manage to like him - I about spit out my coffee watching the message to Disney. My only real gripe with him is grossly mishandling the Murfie customer data.
I'm interested if the HN exposure can glean a review of his proposed nuclear reactor.
They have an awesome annual holiday light display, but little else that's good. Crime and Poverty seem entrenched. I wish there was some program that could bring in enough jobs and money to bootstrap a recovery, but I'm not sure such a thing exists.
so crazy and unhinged. Kept wondering where he got all the money from? Something about a patent? Just seems so deliusional and like unadjusted to how the real world works
