Althouse: "You should give me an award for what I have done. I built here a museum.... 48 years, never nothing fall on me."

September 6, 2022

"You should give me an award for what I have done. I built here a museum.... 48 years, never nothing fall on me."

14 comments:

Old and slow said...: Great story. You would think that the Israelis might have some understanding of his position. He is living in his own little paradise that he created. Where is he supposed to go?; 9/6/22, 6:17 AM
Robert Marshall said...: Government -- it's always saving people from themselves. So noble!; 9/6/22, 6:46 AM
rehajm said...: Where is the cave located? At the intersection of handy tinkering and moderate mental illness.; 9/6/22, 7:03 AM
Temujin said...: He's harming no one, nothing. And what he has created is wonderful, amazing. That government is best which governs least.; 9/6/22, 7:23 AM
Howard said...: This guy is the opposite of mental illness. He may be eccentric. Bureaucrats hate eccentric because they are jealous when people refuse to buy into their legal entanglements. This man is Gulliver versus the Lilliputian hordes.; 9/6/22, 7:27 AM
Mid-Life Lawyer said...: Everything about this video is excellent. The artist, the creation, the dialogue, the music, and the video production are all perfect. There is more quality in this two minute video than most 2 hour productions. Having said all that, I don't know enough about the situation to have any idea what should be done if anything.; 9/6/22, 8:00 AM
mikee said...: Nothing has fallen on him, yet.; 9/6/22, 8:18 AM
Owen said...: Howard: “…Bureaucrats hate eccentric…”. Yes but I would add to your reasons the fact that bureaucrats are neurotic door-knob-checking conformity enforcers because any competing system is an implicit criticism of their own. It allows observers to entertain the possibility of alternatives, possibly superior alternatives but even if not they are simply alternatives: and we can’t have that. There is One True Path.

Also? If this thing falls down, the machinery of recrimination will be aimed at them. The Department of Perfect Care and Safety had notional jurisdiction and failed to try hard enough to exercise it.; 9/6/22, 8:23 AM
Joe Smith said...: I guess it comes down to 'who owns the land?'

The guy is a genius until an earthquake hits.

I know people like this...they can build amazing things from scraps.

They're the ones to hang out with after the apocalypse...; 9/6/22, 10:09 AM
PM said...: Shades of Simon Rodia's towers in Watts...but greater by magnitudes.
As always, Mother Nature will have the final say.; 9/6/22, 10:13 AM
Nancy said...: Thank you Ann!; 9/6/22, 10:30 AM
Ann Althouse said...: It probably is dangerous. He says he does his engineering by trial and error. But you can't do buildings like that. The huge stone overhang. What if it falls on somebody? Just rebuild?

BUT... he's been there for 48 years, and I think he should be grandfathered in, perhaps with warning signs telling people to stand back. It's like Watts Towers in L.A. It's great folk art and it should be preserved.

He speaks of a "marina" that seems to be a recent addition. I suspect that there are well-off people who care about their property and don't want this freeloader in their zone. I know I wouldn't like it. I wouldn't let new people in, but the guy's been there for 48 years.

You know rich people used to hire a hermit to live on their property. Think of it as a posh amenity.; 9/6/22, 10:37 AM
Dave64 said...: Fucking with people because they can, that's all this is.; 9/6/22, 5:25 PM
Marc in Eugene said...: I think Althouse's suggestion that the new 'marina' people are behind this is probably quite perspicacious.

Hermits as amenities, I'm not so sure about.; 9/6/22, 7:44 PM