That's interesting. I'm gona look up that movie on netflix...thanks...I enjoyed the history.

You might call them a Greek enclave. It has an interesting http://history.It's called Tarpon Springs and was established as a Greek Sponge Fishing Village in the 1860's. Most all today are American Citizens, keeping the old traditions, proud to be Greek-Americans. They have a large Greek Orthodox Church here and still put on the old fashioned underwater suits with the big brass helmets and a guy on the boat pumping air. It has become a tourist attraction and people are taken out in boats to watch the sponge divers. Also, there is a warm spring in the middle of town, which attracts manatees in the winter. So, you'll get tourists snapping away at the sea cows. I particularly love the grizzled old timers who sit and talk Greek to each other. Strangely enough, they are not resentful of the newbies (anyone here less than 50 years) because their kids are all Americanized. Almost all are bilingual. Also, a yearly event is held here in the Orthodox Christmas which occurs in January. Teen boys from all over the country and a few from Greece come here. The Greek Bishop throws a cross into the bayou that has the spring and the boys jump in to retrieve it. The one who gets it is said to have good luck for the year and is feted like a celebrity for a week or so. By the way, they made a pretty good movie here in the 50's (60's?) called Beneath The 12 Mile Reef.
Phew. That's probably more information than you expected.

As an engineer, I like their work. Nice stuff there.

Are you saying they never fully assimilated or just have an interesting mix?

Illinois for me. And being a city boy with country cousins I'd have to agree - farm life is brutal! Ha!

"Little houses on the hillside
And they're all made out of ticky-tacky
And they all look just the same." Pete Seeger
Old Communist Pete Seeger one of the original Weavers . He was downright stupid politically, but he could write and sing good songs in the folk genre.

I live near the Gulf of Mexico. (5 miles) In a 160+ year old sponge fishing village in the "new" section (25-30 years old) that looks like it came right out of everyone's typical suburban neighborhood. But I like being in the midst of clashing cultures. You enter a modern Panera Bread restaurant, but it's filled with old Greek sponge fishermen. I have learned to say good morning and good bye in Greek.

I imagine the first real Gulch being a few crude structures in a very remote place- not much to look at on the outside-- barely keeping its autonomy from Greenland and Denmark using partly pro bono help from a couple big law firms that want to be a part of an historic landmark court case.
https://goo.gl/maps/ZOH2t

A century or two later: floating cities (like the Roark 3D one), space stations, underwater habitats, land-based intentional communities, and USA still a nice place to live, like the UK, saying wow just 100 years ago we used to be an empire.

Weirder things have happened in history.

Emm, me too, even though we treasured the 12 years we had with our sailing yacht...if we still had it now, we'd be looking for some uninhabited island somewhere...but even that is tough, I need a constant influx of new people to meet and talk with even though I despise cities. (Tell me I am not a walking paradox...laughing at myself.)

I live about 2.5 miles from the ocean, but I live in the woods...not sure I could give that up unless my life was in direct danger by staying here.

My mom was an expat cruiser for many years. There are bunch of them out there. She lived on a couple big catamarans. She loved it and only quit once she and her husband started getting a little old to be handling the boat. Talk about a great life! That's where I got my name here - spending some time in the Abacos with them on the boat. It was the most beautiful place...

As far as a city on the water...They better plan for some open spaces for soccer, a little golf, etc. Can get pretty cramped based on what I'm seeing in the example. But, I think it's pretty neat...

True.

I remember years ago when I was on a beach in Georgia, I think it was Tybee. I looked at all the little houses made out of cinderblock walls. We don't see much of that in Cali. I looked at that and said, "yep".

Damn! You're right. I love the mountains. That's the only thing I hate in Florida -- no mountains, and the only thing I miss about San Diego is the mountains. (Maybe the climate also.)

Ouch.
Hadn't thought of that. Although having a home in Florida makes me a no moving target.

My only problem is that I find it too restrictive. It's not so much that I'm a nomad, but it is the idea that I can only go so far on my own like on a boat. I even feel a bit claustrophobic on a Cruising Liner.
Just a confirmed landlubber, I guess.

Named after the world's greatest fictional architect. Why not?

it is hand wringing. but I grew up in Iowa. this is what we say there-"farm life is brutal"

Hey K, nice of you to say.
I never left but I've withdrawn a bit.

This whole Trump thing has thrown me into a serious funk. For real.
It's more than just another election that's not going our way. It feels more like the beginning of the Terminal Slide. The ground is slipping away and I feel a bit woozy. (And this was supposed to be our year!)

I'll try to do better though.
There really is no fighting this one, but ya can't just roll over and quit. Can you?

Yeah, I know, it's called "shrugging", but to me it feels more like giving up in despair.

Anyway, I'll try to contribute a bit more.
(Thanks for noticing. Always liked you.)

For me it's all about autonomy. A chance to start an new government based on our values.

Living at sea? Yeah, well, I'd put up with for the freedom.

It's one of those things like digital signal processing. It makes modern wireless communications possible. It was invented long ago, when it was just a pipe dream on paper.

I visited their website, no names listed, nice concepts, but I prefer real ground. However, I can see setting some politicians out to sea in a floating city where they would float all over the world, fighting for control of their empire, leaving the US to us.

Slow moving target is what occurred to me, dino.

Agreed. That too struck me as a brilliant innovation.

Within three seconds of viewing the video one word popped into old dino's head, and that word was "hurricane."

Not interested. No mountains.
Jim in Wyoming

I really can't see the need, advantages, nor attraction of such city other than the idea of doing something different. I sure it is fraught with all kinds of perils and obstacles. I would prefer the same modular concept on land with man made lake or moat that can be filled or drained as necessary by dams. The man made islands in Dubai have to be constantly maintained at incredible costs.