North Dumpling Island
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North Dumpling Island is a two-acre (8,000 m²) private island in Long Island Sound. Owned by Dean Kamen, inventor of the Segway Human Transporter, is home to the North Dumpling Lighthouse. The island is a mile off the coast of Connecticut, south of Mystic, Connecticut, but is in New York State.
[edit] Overview
Kamen was initially denied permission to build a wind turbine on the island, so he joked that he was seceding from the United States, and later signed a non-aggression pact with his friend, then-President George H. W. Bush.[1][2] Recently with the help of Fritz Morgan, chief technology officer of Philips Color Kinetics, the island is now powered independently of the regional electrical grid, with a combination of wind and solar power. This has been accomplished by replacing all lighting on the island with LEDs, which resulted in in-house energy consumption dropping by 70%.[3] [4]
Though the secession is not legally recognized, Kamen refers to the island as the "Kingdom of North Dumpling." The island has a lighthouse and a replica of Stonehenge, and Kamen has invented a constitution, flag, and national anthem, as well as a navy (consisting of a single amphibious vehicle) for his "kingdom". It is said that Kamen refers to himself as "Lord Dumpling" or "Lord Dumpling II."[2][1]
[edit] References
- ^ a b "From L.I. Sound, A New Nation Asserts Itself". New York Times. 1988. http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=940DE2DC123AF931A15757C0A96E948260. Retrieved on 2009-01-27. "No man is an Island, John Donne wrote. Not even Dean Kamen, sole owner and resident of this rocky three-acre freckle in Long Island Sound, three miles off Noank, Conn. I am an empire! he boasts. Mr. Kamen, a 36-year-old bachelor and millionaire inventor who prefers to be called Lord Dumpling, has fulfilled one of life's larger fantasies. For $2.5 million, he has bought an island - complete with mansion, lighthouse and a copy of Stonehenge - and seceded from the world around him, or so he likes to believe."
- ^ a b "How Dean Kamen's Magical Water Machine Could Save the World". Esquire. http://www.esquire.com/features/dean-kamen-1208. Retrieved on 2009-01-27. "He's also Lord Dumpling, leader of the Empire of North Dumpling. Dumpie to his friends. ... He has seceded from the United States, you see, having notified the president himself, and Kamen's vision of better living through technology is under assault from the usual gaggle of small minds."
- ^ "LEDs to the Rescue? Not So Fast". New York Times. January 26, 2009. http://bits.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/01/26/leds-to-the-rescue-not-so-fast/?em. Retrieved on 2009-01-27. "LED lamps are already used in street lights, office buildings and, less frequently, homes. The inventor Dean Kamen recently lighted an island and the structures on it solely with LED products."
- ^ "Dean Kamen’s ‘LED Nation’". New York Times. December 8, 2008. http://bits.blogs.nytimes.com/2008/12/08/dean-kamens-led-nation. Retrieved on 2009-01-27.
[edit] External links
- North Dumpling Island is at coordinates 41°17′17″N 72°01′08″W / 41.288025°N 72.018903°WCoordinates: 41°17′17″N 72°01′08″W / 41.288025°N 72.018903°W
