patrick.net

Ever see a shipping container full of dead Russian women in a port that was headed for brothels around the United States?

I don't think the lack of entertainment and tech gizmos, was their downfall.

lol

If this becomes the new "way" to live, then I don't want to live on this planet anymore. Also, your cooling and electrical bills will be atrocious. That many LCD screens will suck up a lot of juice, and then trying to maintain a livable temperature with them running will be an immense task.

42" lcd uses 10 watts, 5 of those use 50 watts or about 150 watts for the whole living space, almost can be handled by solar panels. You would heat for desert imax scenes, cool for ocean scenes, maybe add fragrance.

Maybe a room in a house, but the entire house? No... I prefer the real thing occasionally.

I once lived for three years in a "cabana" made from two shipping containers placed side by sides and adjoined in several places. There was a bathroom and laundry, a kitchen, and "living room" but it was all very cramped. The bedroom was just big enough for a twin mattress. It wasn't Awesome. And I doubt that LCD screens would have made it more livable.
In the winter it was cold, in the summer it was stuffy.
Ugh. Never again.

So crazy, where did this idea come from? and why?

How many screens were you talking about? In one post you estimated 20k for the screens which would get you at least 20 screens. In the followup, you only needed to power 5.

10 watts for a 42" LCD isn't quite correct + the cooling bills to keep it all from overheating would be tremendous.

OLED would be a better candidate, but that's years away.

You still have infrastructure costs to think about. Running electrical, water, sewage, roads.

Basically instead of a mobile home you want to live in a shipping container. haha.

Cheap vacant lots are cheap because of where they're located, not because of the building that sits on top of them.

A mobile home plot in Malibu can run high 6 figures. Move the same mobile home to some plot of land in West Texas or New Mexico and you can get an acre for 3 figures.

bmwman91 says

If this becomes the new "way" to live, then I don't want to live on this planet anymore.

dont have to.. just expose the real crooks and RE hustlers.. no need to go to NYC and Wall Street.. just look at your local main street.. you will find the bull shit hype .

zesta says

where did this idea come from?

me!

why?

A large part of a home's site value is what you can see out the window.

This struck me when sitting on a scenic park bench in SF:

http://goo.gl/maps/mi7sg

that's a million-dollar view, but with high-DPI television, a display view would be indisinguishable from the real thing.

What I was thinking would be crazy would be to buy a hillside home in SF, build my underground bunker with isolated garage entrance (this is easier to do with larger lots on the right hillside), and re-sell the surface unit.

Free house! It'd be like the Bat Cave!

Same deal in Laguna Beach. Crossing the street costs you $10M in valuation.

http://www.redfin.com/CA/Laguna-Beach/1136-Gaviota-Dr-92651/home/28666844

zesta says

Move the same mobile home to some plot of land in West Texas or New Mexico and you can get an acre for 3 figures.

and all the insolation you'll ever need.

"10 watts for a 42" LCD isn't quite correct + the cooling bills to keep it all from overheating would be tremendous"
these are exact as per my Haier 42" LCD specs at Amazon.

Mobile home $35,000 labor cost $15/hr
container $5,000 labor cost $2/hr

Quigley says

In the winter it was cold, in the summer it was stuffy.

well duh, you were living in a metal box.

I've gone over this before, but what I want is my housing to be transportable in a 40'

what would be cool would be a 40' container that converted itself into a proper modular housing unit, e.g the long sides lifted somehow to become a folding hip roof and the container had wall and flooring modules to create a fully insulated yet ventilated environment.

If the floor area could be doubled that would give 640' living area, doable with intelligent architecture and space-saving measures.

Key thing is to live without much crap. I'm good on that score, LOL.

dhmartens says

Housing is dead, vacant lots show more promise.

problem with this though is that site value is a lot more than the view out the window.

For one, I need biweekly access to a Trader Joe's, or a delivery service that works as well.

Secondly, families need good schools I guess.

People generally want good area dining options, though I don't eat out much any more.

Security is a big thing, too. For me, I want security via obscurity. If nobody knows you're there, you're good.

But foremost is people need to live where the jobs are.

As for "vacant" lots, good luck finding one in a place you'd want to live.

dhmartens says

these are exact as per my Haier 42" LCD specs at Amazon.

.. Perhaps 10W averages a couple hours of watching per day and then standby for the rest of the time? It should be at least a 100W+ while running

How much would it cost you to turn a shipping container into something as livable as a mobile home. (an actual door, insulation, ventilation, kitchen, bathroom, bedroom, flooring, something on the ceiling/walls to improve acoustics?

Ok now it says 79 watts power on on the 42" LCD

Bellingham Bill says

that's a million-dollar view, but with high-DPI television, a display view would be indisinguishable from the real thing.

'Cept a pane of glass would cost hundreds and that high-DPI screen would cost 10's of thousands of dollars.

Cut them, cut room entries and door ways to enter adjoining containers, stucco and crete the outside walls, and dry wall the interior it might be livable. But by time you do all that. All you would have saved is the labor on wall framers. As you would still need a suitable foundation slab to put it on. I would also go as far as to remove the bottom of the container to expose the slab bellow with the plumbing and electrical conduit. By time all of that work was done on the containers, the structural integrity would have been compromised. So what's the point?

Shipping containers are great for shipping big screen televisions, but are ill suited for entertaining super bowl parties, to watch the big game on a big screen television.

Straw Man says

You lost all rights to this claim after buying a house which is a definition of much crap

not if the housing good itself is focused on the services you require.

Keep the rain out.
Keep the bugs out.
Keep the interior environment healthy, not too hot/cold.
Provide basics of daily life -- electrical outlets, water, sewage disposal.
Food storage and preparation.

The funny thing is that we're inculcated at birth that the housing good must be of the traditional form that currently surrounds us and takes up so much of our living space.

Some number of people have taken to live-aboard yachts, and the hippies tried alternative arrangements in the late 60s and early 70s too.

Me, maybe I don't even need a view, fake or otherwise. Just an internet connection.

And a Trader Joes!

example:
I woke up this morning with a 360 summit view of Mt. Tamalpais from their 360 Imax live webcam blueray feed. after I started working I switched to Bridge of star trek Enterprise .

http://www.youtube.com/embed/k2Rv2wZrj-0

My date that night wasn't going well so I switched to Imax 360 zombie attack, she flew into my arms

just type any address, and you have that residences view without the 45 years of slavery to pay for it.

Bellingham Bill says

the hippies tried alternative arrangements in the late 60s and early 70s too.

"Tried" being the keyword here.
Imagine an Ivy League Lawyer and a Wall street bank CEO trying to live in a Commune today?
"Irving it's your turn to plant the Yams."
"Can't we just pay some kids from the local town?"

Bellingham Bill says

A large part of a home's site value is what you can see out the window.

This struck me when sitting on a scenic park bench in SF:

http://goo.gl/maps/mi7sg

that's a million-dollar view, but with high-DPI television, a display view would be indisinguishable from the real thing.

so why werent they selling for million dollars decades past ? Certainly can say the scenic view from Marin looking over the bay and the city... but even then you didnt see hyper price inflation.

dhmartens says

Ok now it says 79 watts power on on the 42" LCD

That particular LCD on the energy star label consumes 240W while in operation.

If it were possible to power a 42" LCD for under 50W, people would probably be hanging them from the ceilings instead of LED bulbs to save energy.

http://michaelbluejay.com/electricity/howmuch.html

this page quotes 42"lcd tv at 91-240 watts
(legend down right side of page)

JodyC linked an interesting Black Mirror episode here:
http://patrick.net/?p=1221296&c=929323#comment-929323
Combine the lcd shipping container with eye tracking in the new Samsung phone and there's your dystopia.

This is another stupid marketing idea.

What's next, showing starving people a picture of a nice juicy steak so they can pretend it's real?

My computer has a nice screen saver of a water fall, I don't really believe I live next to a waterfall. And I don't think anyone will take comfort in fake imagery knowing reality is not the same.

dhmartens says

http://michaelbluejay.com/electricity/howmuch.html

this page quotes 42"lcd tv at 91-240 watts

(legend down right side of page)

That makes a LOT more sense.

Honestly, I don't think that most people would go for the magic shipping container idea. There's still the fact that you can tell that you are in a small space because of the way sound will reflect inside, and the TV borders will kill the effect. The places in the world where people would see this as a great step up in quality of life are also places where people don't have electricity or running water.

I think that a vastly better long term solution to our "limited space" problem is to just cut the world's population in half.

bmwman91 says

I think that a vastly better long term solution to our "limited space" problem is to just cut the world's population in half.

There is plenty of space bmwman. Flyover country is pretty large. Just usually all the crooked and politically connected people buy all the right land right before anyone would want to develop or live there so they can flip it for profit in one day that others will pay 30 years to finally live on.

FortWayne says

bmwman91 says

I think that a vastly better long term solution to our "limited space" problem is to just cut the world's population in half.

There is plenty of space bmwman. Flyover country is pretty large. Just usually all the crooked and politically connected people buy all the right land right before anyone would want to develop or live there so they can flip it for profit in one day that others will pay 30 years to finally live on.

There is plenty of space, but it isn't all equal.

I hear the argument that, "come on now, the earth is only half full." Well, growth is a funny thing. If population growth is 5%, it doubles every 14 years. If earth is indeed half full, then it'll be completely full in 14 years. Say that today the Earth is 25% full now. In 28 years it will be at max. In my opinion, there can not be such a thing as human dignity without personal space. Living in shipping containers is merely a band-aid on the bigger issue.

Straw Man says

zesta says

So crazy, where did this idea come from?

And then:

bmwman91 says

There's still the fact that you can tell that you are in a small space because of the way sound will reflect inside,

Carpet and acoustic ceiling can knock down a lot of that noise.

bmwman91 says

Living in shipping containers is merely a band-aid on the bigger issue.

Beats this:

New Renter says

And then:

http://www.youtube.com/embed/O5x9HXwlkBo

Give these people aiiiiiha!

http://www.amazon.com/Supersonic-SC-2411-Widescreen-1080p-Digital/dp/B007FH8OZY

They have 24" lcd Tv running on 12 volts

This may cut energy costs, or just shift it from a/c to d/c

Whats interesting with this multi-container house is in the comments it says they built it over 2 years with no mortgage or loan, just their cash flow.
http://www.youtube.com/embed/1amB4aheLqk

FortWayne says

There is plenty of space bmwman. Flyover country is pretty large. Just usually all the crooked and politically connected people buy all the right land right before anyone would want to develop or live there so they can flip it for profit in one day that others will pay 30 years to finally live on.

The land owners of flyover states have nothing to complain about.

They are getting fat royalty checks in the mail for several decades to come.

Gas boom mints instant millionaires, so much for the Facesplat stock option nonsense.