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Comment by perihelions | Hacker News Reader

- "...societal impact not only in clean energy production and a cleaner environment but also on rural economies as guano once again becomes a valuable and highly sought-after product."

Apropos of nothing, the Guano Islands Act of 1856 is still, apparently, standing US law [0]. This research is an exciting opportunity for any who'd like to serve as mercenary privateers under the flag of the United States, while advancing science.

[0] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Guano_Islands_Act

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That was an interesting read only topped by the wild ride that was the linked article on "New Atlantis": https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/New_Atlantis_(micronation)

> New Atlantis was a micronation formed by Leicester Hemingway, the brother of Ernest Hemingway. The "island", a 240 sq ft (22 m²) bamboo raft off the coast of Jamaica, was established as a constitutional republic on July 4, 1964.

My grandfather somehow assisted Hemingway in setting up New Atlantis and the documents declaring him and my grandmother Sir and Lady hang proudly in my living room. As far as I know my family is the sole remaining royal line of New Atlantis. Hilarious that this keeps coming up.

Say if you wanted to issue passports for New Atlantis, how do you go about doing that, is there some passport production machine that is purchasable off the shelf?

you could print a passport however you like, but that doesn't mean any other country will recognize it and allow you entry.

I can't say this has topic has come up in any recent New Atlantean Royal Council meetings but we would welcome you to make a presentation on the matter.

I literally lol'd... part of me wishes you'd go all in and claim the throne, create a website, issue royal decrees, etc. while you're at it

Solid Neal Stephenson subplot material

I can imagine a SF story where the act is applied to an abandoned, but still bird infested, space colony.

I now want a Star Wars story that involves a harvesting mynock guano from various astroids, perhaps with a crime lord.

"You think you can come here and disrespect me, by stealing MY shit?"

Are there any unclaimed islands left?

Sadly this wouldn’t apply to new islands since it takes a long time for bats to establish themselves.

My family actually claimed Howland island back in the early days of the guano act (they pivoted from clipper shipyards to guano shityards when international trade collapsed at the beginning of the civil war) [1]. I’d love to go there and, you know, live out my dreams, but WOW is transportation an issue. That place is FAR away.

Also, check out the super secret spy base on the west side of the island, loosely hidden by google maps treachery. What’s happening there?? [2]

[1] http://christophersetterlund.blogspot.com/2020/05/in-their-f...

[2] https://maps.app.goo.gl/Ly8W9M2fqdap7Mzc7?g_st=ic

Better hurry. At only 6m above sea level at its highest point, it may sink below the waves before long.

True that. But the whole potential is leveraging that huge dormant volcano under the water.

Villain lair!

> before long

Specifically, 1600 years at current rate.

(I have a personal bugbear about people worrying about sea level rise)

You can’t ignore that the variance and the sea level increases with climate change, especially at only 6m above.

And an island is, for practical purposes, gone well before its very highest point is below local mean sea level.

There are different sorts of rise to worry about.

There's "everything is always underwater" rise, whichbis 1600 years off. Then there's "average highwater mark during a storm at high tide", which will exceed those 6m a lot sooner and is the point at which the island ceases to become at all inhabitable.

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