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Comment by SquareWheel | Hacker News Reader

>"We just got it today and I’ve been stuck in front of my laptop for the last few hours," Mike Demarais, founder of Threedee, told Ars. "It’s unbelievable. I’m probably not going to leave the house."

Is it just me, or does this read incredibly similarly to an Onion article?

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Perhaps you've been reading too much Onion. The Onion's style is a deadpan delivery imitating the predominant formatting and cadence of the popular press (e.g., USA Today).

The reporter didn't mention that I have been sitting in this house without internet for over a week.. I need to catch up on a lot of work.

Mike,

Can you comment on Ben Barreth? I read the article but I don't understand how this could be sustainable. Mortgaging your 401K in the hopes of getting donations on a charity project seems like a no-win situation. And I'm not speaking strictly from a financial perspective. Can you give us some more perspective on this? Or if Ben is out there, maybe he can comment. Thanks!

I'll get Ben on here tomorrow, but he has a few ideas to make this sustainable. The housing market here is really affordable and there are already some companies interested in sponsoring the house, so its not as crazy as it sounds. I believe his current focus is finding investors to buy other homes in the area who are down for the cause.

I'm open to any ideas. So far:

1) rent one of the rooms on airbnb? Need 16+ days a month rented to break even. Maybe push Fiber tourism? 2) get corporate sponsorship. Ask 10 small-mid businesses to sponsor $100/month for the house. Stick their logo all over the walls and the website 3) when google comes out with the business plan, install a new fiber drop and host a mini data center in the home for non-production clients (I imagine I'd have to compete with a bunch of ppl in KC for this service, once Google opens those doors).

Oh, it wasn't a personal comment. It was the mixture of writing style and slightly less-so, the subject. It specifically reminded me of this article:

http://www.theonion.com/articles/last-male-heir-to-bloodline...

Reminds me of when I got cable as a teenager. I was really really psyched, it's hard to imagine now. I literally went out,got myself a bean bag chair, and planted myself in front of the TV for an entire weekend to marvel at having ~40 channels to watch.

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