What's your take on them? Mobile data centers? Floating 'Google glass' stores?
My take -> they will use them to host data and avoid lawsuits due to the content of the data and/or taxes due to the fact that they will be deployed in the "open" sea...
sounds like a great idea, they better not let the idiot in charge find out about it though.
"Patri Friedman, a former Google engineer who now works for the Seasteading Institute, said floating cities are the perfect places to experiment with new forms of government.
Some of the new political ideas the group is tossing around include legalizing marijuana and making intellectual property communal -- so that everyone would take ownership in art produced on the city at sea."
I like the second paragraph best, how do I sign up?
Steve
------------------ Technology is great when it works, and one big pain in the ass when it doesn't
Detroit iron rules all the rest are just toys.
[This message has been edited by 84fiero123 (edited 10-29-2013).]
Seems there is something going on in Portland harbor again by Cianbro, the company I work for doing the oil rig job. they won't say who or what they are building for but I just heard it on the news this morning that there talk it May be the east coast Google floating city. I will have to get my old phone book out and see if any of my pals from the oil rig job are working on it and what they know. the company website is not saying anything.
But this isn't a government project if it is for Google, if it is what some are saying it might be. Note no one is admitting just who this one in Maine is or for. Not even the company doing the work here.
But this isn't a government project if it is for Google, if it is what some are saying it might be. Note no one is admitting just who this one in Maine is or for. Not even the company doing the work here.
Steve
No--probably not a govt project, but that doesn't stop the govt from covertly looking at everything and anything the completed project does. From today's news:
Q: Do you think Google is becoming an Umbrella Corporation? Post your opinion about Google's growth and expansion in several diferent sectors. Besides, what do you think about its power over your privacy and information security.
A: my view of google..... they are one of 2 huge companies (+apple) that are in the process of dismanteling a monopoly (microsoft). it takes extreme quality products (mac, chrome) in order to do so so i really dont care how big google or mac get.... as long as they keep putting out quality stuff.... just like no one cared how big microsoft got when they were putting out quality stuff like windows 95 and windows xp
"Google is still collecting data from the people in the world to develop something. and this something isn’t anything that we know of. Although it was stated it’s for marketing purposes. ... If you’re walking down the street, you are being observed by Google. If you’re using your most common used search engine, you are being observed by Google. Google is now trying to blend in to our lives. Still, I can’t deny that Google is yet the most AWESOME company in the world currently." ...
Originally posted by 84fiero123: Some of the new political ideas the group is tossing around include legalizing marijuana and making intellectual property communal -- so that everyone would take ownership in art produced on the city at sea."
Steve
Good luck getting artists to join up and thereby effectively sign off their rights to their creative property. Maybe the legal weed will ease a possible hardnosed stance on otherwise a floating socialist city.
There are two of these barges. One in Cali and one in Portland, Maine. Steve, go take a look and let us know what you find.
2 hours each way, 1.5 if I push it and no traffic, while I do still have my old Cianbro ID tab and hard hats. I had to have 2, one for walking around and working and one for welding with my welding hood so I conceivably could get in I'm not so sure I would run into someone I knew and that would be the rub. if they didn't know me they probably wouldn't talk to me, at least not much. my old phone book I had when I worked there in 03 I think it was I just found and will look at it after I finish this post though. I used to go to the Cianbro site when I was in Portland on the oil rig job but am not real familiar with it just where I went when I was on that job and that was just to pickup materials for the job I was on. I was on their website, Cianbro yesterday but found nothing about this job, now I now they have webcams on all their jobsites that you can access I couldn't find one for this job. I will look again later. they are open to the public for the most part, had been since I was there in 03. I would always check that one on the oil rig before I left in the morning to see what the weather was.
OK I did find 2 numbers for Cianbro employees I worked with, one was a grunt like me, the other was, I think the jobsite superintendent for the oil rig job. will call the first one at lunch, we both road together at times and I know him better. the other did want me to swap trades to carpenter from welder. strange crew when I was there, had some canucks because Cianbro refused to pay union welders so they imported Canadian welders.
Steve
[This message has been edited by 84fiero123 (edited 11-02-2013).]
What's your take on them? Mobile data centers? Floating 'Google glass' stores?
My take -> they will use them to host data and avoid lawsuits due to the content of the data and/or taxes due to the fact that they will be deployed in the "open" sea...
I honestly don't see Google doing anything that works FOR us. More likely data mining and borderline illegal activity, in international waters.
Google Earth is your friend this is a snapshot of Cianbro's site in south Portland as of Sept. this year. I am just guessing that those 2 Barges are what all the poop is about.
if they take more recent pictures you will be able to see the progress of what they are doing, now that I have a location I will do a search for their webcam.
............... making intellectual property communal -- so that everyone would take ownership in art produced on the city at sea."
Steve
I guess they never heard of John Galts strike. There is a very good reason that over the years most of my better products/ inventions/ developments have gone under the sledgehammer rather than see the light of day.
I pass this "jobsite?" every day to and from my jobsite. Around last Nov. till around I think Feb. There had been CIANBRO trucks parked around the side of the abutting Commercial street. I would also see the typical Chevy or Ford or WTH ever construction workers trucks parked around there.
It looks a lot different then it does in the above posted image. You can see a newer image of Google's BAL0011 here in Portland, Maine at this wiki link. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Google_barges
The above seen linked image is from the harbor or water side. Like someone took it from a boat. I see it from the other side from the road. From the street side you can clearly see the entrance ramp. There is a side street that goes down into the wharf area. I think it is pretty open to the public but haven't gone down there. Yet!
So I am thinking a Mission Impossible run (cue theme music) is in order. Get all blacked out in my snowmobile suit. It's all flat black and covers me from neck to feet. Jump on the bike and zip down with my high powered camera. Pull up and snap a TON of pics. Then ride off real quick!
Shh. They might be watching. Where is my foil hat?
Can't tell for sure but I think it may have one on that job, as that is their pier they are working at on their fab area in Portland. can't see crap at night you might try looking at them in the morning.
Now if I mysteriously disappear you will all have an idea of what might have happened to me.
Attention Google. If something should happen to me I have a letter in a safe deposit box with full discloser. I have instructed a secret person as to it's whereabouts and what to do in case of my untimely demise! You have been warned!!
Oops one more very remarkable pic. For some reason it didn't upload the first time. Maybe Google blocked it somehow? Foil hat time!
Well look at the windows. You can see day light as if your looking through the structure. Or maybe there is an open area in the middle? Or could it be just a reflection? To me it looks as though you can see right through and out the other sides windows. IDK if the angle is right though to be seeing through four shipping containers and out the other side...
That is the entrance/exit ramp. IDK if there are stairs inside or not. I think it's just a ramp but I honestly have no way of knowing. It is the only egress that I could see any where. To me this is remarkable in that this would not fit any building codes and I know it's not a building. IDK what shipping codes would be pertaining to # of egress's. IDK if this barge would even be subject to said shipping codes.
Another thing if you look at the quoted pic you will see the plywood panels on the left most end. It would appear that one of those panels has fallen off. There appear to be large windows behind them. Also with this missing panel in mind I would say there hasn't been much activity at all around the site recently. Further it has been awhile since I have seen the work truck crowd over there. Looks like they either have completed their tasks or been delayed for some reason.
Also notable on the site, if they can be seen, are what are called light plants. They are portable generators with mast's and large flood lights. IIRC there are a few there. This might tell us that some work may be done after dark.
We can see clearly that the barge is sitting in very shallow water. I have read speculation of some underwater electrical generation system. Google actually did recently patent something to do with that. Further speculation mentions using seawater to cool servers. Even as far fetched as the usage of underwater entry systems for scuba divers.
So they have it all fenced off and there is barb wire. Security gate with access code panel. We can only get so close on land. Could a person say float up on a boat from the harbor side? How close could that person get? What if that person's vessel starts to take on water and they need to escape to a safe area and have to jump aboard the barge? I mean life or death situation! Could they then maybe, life or death situation, move about the barge to preserve their own life? Hmmm...
Or even better. Sneak in. Use the tailgating method. Get all CIANBRO'd up on my PPE. Hart hat, vest, etc, and walk right in like I own the joint. "Good morning Bob. How was your weekend? How's the missus?" and just keep walking...
I still have one of my old Cianbro hard hats, if you feel even more adventurous. edit to add
as well as my log in time button. I had to have 2, 1 for walking around and one for under my welding hood, we had to have a hard hat on at all times.
Steve
Hell man! We are practically in! I got the rest of the PPE, goggles, boots, etc. I could mingle right in with the crowd, do the CIANBRO stretch with them and walk right in there. CIANBRO employees do stretching every morning! Small camera in hiding. I wonder what a few pics of the interior of that barge might go for to the right buyers...
Hell man! We are practically in! I got the rest of the PPE, goggles, boots, etc. I could mingle right in with the crowd, do the CIANBRO stretch with them and walk right in there. CIANBRO employees do stretching every morning! Small camera in hiding. I wonder what a few pics of the interior of that barge might go for to the right buyers...
Foil hat! Bling!
Ayup, no problem, hell no one knows who's who on a jobsite that big, I was doing some work at a grade school on Mt desert Island one time for another company and grabbed my Cianbro hard hat, I had 3 or 4 in my job box from all the companies I had worked for over the years and had just grabbed the Cianbro one and one of the Cianbro bosses on that site said "Hi Steve" all our hard hats had our first name on them. "What you doing today?" he had no idea I wasn't with the Cianbro crew that was there. my company was installing the stairs. and they love to use subs on all their jobs as well, they would never know we didn't belong. well until they saw me hobbling around all bent over.
Google has reportedly sold the massive barge moored in Portland Harbor, which would have eventually become a high-tech, floating showroom. The project has been attracting news since 2013, and was eventually revealed to be the site of an “interactive space where people would learn about new technology.” This vague, but enticing, description made us pretty excited about Google’s barge.
Sadly though, the project has come to an abrupt end, according to the Portland Press Herald. Earlier this week, tugboats pulled the vessel from its prime spot to a cargo terminal at Turner’s Island, South Portland. The terminal’s owner told the paper an “international barging company” had purchased it, and that it was being sent on a long voyage, but wouldn’t say where.
The 63 storage containers on top of the barge, which created the four-story structure that would eventually house Google’s guests, will be dismantled and scrapped. Apparently, the company tasked with designing and fitting the futuristic interior never really started work, suggesting Google’s plans were either too ambitious, or not focused enough. However, Google hasn’t commented on why it cancelled the Portland barge project.
Scrapping the Portland barge means a sad end to what could have been a unique space. Given the massive size of the showroom, it was speculated Google would fill it with all manner of tech, including demonstrations of its driverless cars, Google Glass, and other Google X projects. There was even said to be a “party deck.”
The fate of its sister barge, moored in Stockton, isn’t clear. According to the port director, the fees for keeping the barge on site have been paid until October. Google may have decided two barges was overkill, and will concentrate its efforts (and money) on one. If so, scrapping the other before it rots away seems sensible. Until we hear more, our dreams of partying aboard the Google boat remain alive.
I had to have 2, 1 for walking around and one for under my welding hood, we had to have a hard hat on at all times.
