ToaKraka
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No bio...
User ID: 108
ToaKraka
Dislikes you
7mo ago
It says "removed by moderator", not "deleted by user". Also, the user has been permanently banned, so he can't answer.
ToaKraka
Dislikes you
7mo ago
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November 2022: A homeowner in a homeowners' association seeks to build a four-foot fence in his backyard, four inches from the property line. He receives approval from both the municipal government and the HOA. Accordingly, the fence is constructed.
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February 2023: The HOA claims that the fence is in violation of the HOA's rules. The homeowner replies that the fence was built in perfect accordance with the plans that were approved three months ago.
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March 2023: The HOA seeks to amend its rules in order to impose a minimum setback of ten feet on fences. The amendment fails to garner the required two-thirds vote of all members.
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September 2023: The HOA sues the homeowner under the theory that the minimum setback of thirty feet prescribed in its rules applies, not just to buildings, but also to fences, overriding the minimum of four inches that is prescribed for fences in the municipal zoning code. The trial judge rejects this argument as utterly ridiculous in April 2024, and the appeals panel affirms in May 2025.
Bonus: Trial transcript
I don't know the size of the lots over there, but, unless you've got a couple of acres, 30 feet back off your property line is a pretty significant distance. Frankly, it wouldn't be very aesthetically pleasing if you look at it that way, which is what these HOA rules are meant to provide. They want to keep the community a certain way, and a 30-foot setback requirement for a fence is just unheard of. I've never seen it anywhere. I've never heard of any association's having a 30-foot setback requirement from a property line for a fence. Drive around South Jersey. A lot of the fences, they're often at the property line, but you've got to get them off your neighbor's line unless you get his permission.
So I don't find that there is any material fact here. I think fences are specifically addressed under 8.1(c). If they wanted a setback requirement to be required, 8.1(c) should have had a setback requirement contained within that area. Otherwise, it should have been all under 8.1(dd), and it should have mentioned fences as well, but it did not. They separated them and there's a reason for that. Fences in one and the structures in another, the accessory buildings and shacks. I think it's pretty clear. And, if there is any ambiguity, you resolve that against the drafter. I think the defendants in this matter, they followed exactly what they were supposed to do under 8.1(c). The fence can stay.
ToaKraka
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7mo ago
Time on the Cross has details of this.
ToaKraka
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7mo ago
Slaves are not a productivity boost (they usually perform worse than free labor)
Time on the Cross details how slaves in the "gang system" perform much better than free labor on plantations.
ToaKraka
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7mo ago
It would be pretty funny if this forum contained two New Jerseyans who could serve as references for you. (Not that it would help solve the other half of the problem.)
ToaKraka
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7mo ago
she discussed working in one of the legal brothels in
UtahNevada (I think)
But the situation in Nevada, where prostitution is restricted to sparsely-populated areas and is largely drowned out by the illegal trade in Las Vegas, presumably is a far cry from the situation in the metropolises of Melbourne and Brisbane.
She was one of the prostitutes who didn't mind taking black clients, so she was always able to get customers.
According to forum discussions that I've seen, many Australian prostitutes refuse to serve Indians.
ToaKraka
Dislikes you
7mo ago
I occasionally find it useful for queries that don't work well in ordinary Internet search engines. Here's my Gemini history.
Write an initial inquiry email asking an architect about the feasibility of building a small custom house.
What is the legal doctrine under which, if a law was passed but was never made available for public viewing, then the law is not valid?
Has a law firm ever been sued for monopolistic behavior?
What is the purpose of a living room? Is a table useful to have in a living room?
Is there a specific name for guns that store the magazine in the handle?
Is AV1 better than HEVC?
In booking an international flight, is it reasonable to prefer domestic airlines?
Imagine that a book has section 1, and within that section both text and section 1.1. Is there a standard method of referencing the text in section 1 without referencing the text in section 1.1?
In making a website, is there any reason to refrain from using XHTML?
ToaKraka
Dislikes you
7mo ago
Slate Star Codex: The Comment Policy Is "Victorian Sufi Buddha Lite"
There is an ancient Sufi saying beloved of the Buddha, which like a surprising number of ancient Sufi sayings beloved of the Buddha, originates from a book of preachy Victorian poetry. It goes:
Before you speak, let your words pass through three gates; At the first gate, ask yourself, is is true? At the second gate ask, is it necessary? At the third gate ask, is it kind?
Slate Star Codex has lower standards than either ancient Sufis or preachy Victorians, and so we only require you to pass at least two of those three gates.
If you make a comment here, it had better be either true and necessary, true and kind, or kind and necessary.
This policy is cited in the sidebars of /r/slatestarcodex and /r/culturewarroundup, but not in that of /r/themotte.
ToaKraka
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7mo ago
I don't have any statistics in front of me.
Wikipedia cites studies showing that 90 percent of the prostitution in Nevada (including Las Vegas), USA, is illegal, and presumably most of that is streetwalkers. But on the other end we have Victoria (including Melbourne), Australia, where there are zillions of legal brothels that even are allowed to advertise their services online. Is it reasonable to say that the typical prostitute in those locations is a streetwalker? I don't know, but I feel doubtful.
ToaKraka
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7mo ago
My opinion that unions are evil is largely based on the negative externalities they impose on society, the distortionary effects and inefficiencies they wreak on the economy, and their strong and not-at-all-coincidental historical affiliation with organised crime.
But how much of that is intrinsic to unions, and how much is a result of a specific implementation of unions, under which they are immune to antitrust laws while companies are not (1 2)?
ToaKraka
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7mo ago
"Legalized prostitution is good"? For every independent escort charging rich businessmen $5000 for a dinner and a gentle romp there's multiple women turning tricks for their pimps in exchange for a small cut of the profits and a daily dose.
This sounds like a strawman. What about the middle of the curve—the prostitutes who are neither desperate streetwalkers nor luxurious escorts, but merely work for reasonable wages in clean, legal brothels?
ToaKraka
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7mo ago
wait how are you even seeing this
https://www.themotte.org/comments shows all comments as soon as they are made, regardless of the top-level post's age.
ToaKraka
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7mo ago
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An owner wants to renovate a four-story building by adding an elevator and a library. He hires a drafter to draw up construction plans for the renovation. When the drafter is done, the owner likes the plans and wants to start construction, but the drafter informs him that permits cannot be obtained without the signature and seal of a "licensed design professional"—i. e., either an architect or an engineer.
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The owner contacts a licensed architect. But he thinks that the architect's fees are too high, so he hires a licensed engineer instead. The architect complains to the state architecture board that the engineer is practicing architecture without a license.
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At the proceeding before the architecture board, everybody involved concedes that the renovation involves components of both architecture and engineering. But the architect's expert witness testifies that it's 80 percent architecture and 20 percent engineering, while the engineer's expert witness testifies that it's 80 percent engineering and 20 percent architecture! The board sides with the architect, and imposes fines on the engineer (1 k$) and the drafter (300 $).
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The appeals panel reverses the board's decision. If the architecture board were justified in imposing fines in this case, then the engineering board would have been justified in imposing fines on the architect if the owner had hired the architect rather than the engineer, and that would be a nonsensical catch-22. It makes much more sense to say that, if a project has substantial overlap between architecture and engineering, then either an architect or an engineer can sign and seal its plans without fear of being fined.
Note that this case is from Pennsylvania. In contrast, New Jersey eliminated this problem by specifically allocating different types of buildings exclusively to architects, exclusively to engineers, or permissively to both groups of licensed professionals. The building at issue in this case was in IBC occupancies B (business—law offices on floors 1–3) and R (residential—an apartment on floor 4), of which New Jersey assigns both exclusively to architects.
ToaKraka
Dislikes you
7mo ago
I think I read somewhere many years ago that "eat hot chip and lie" is a censor-avoiding version of "eat hot shit and die". Ftttg is referencing a meme that incorporates this phrase.
ToaKraka
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7mo ago
Well, it's important in context. Many people aren't interested in reading stories that are expected to remain unfinished, but are fine with following ongoing stories as they approach completion.
ToaKraka
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7mo ago
ToaKraka
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7mo ago
unfinished
*ongoing
"Unfinished" has a connotation of "abandoned" that is not warranted here.
ToaKraka
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7mo ago
Gamer Word is an internet slang term sometimes used to reference the N-word, a racial epithet toward Black people. The phrase "gamer word" came to be associated with the racial slur after PewDiePie's PUBG Livestream N-Word Controversy in late 2017 and after a Twitter user defended PewDiePie's use of the word by calling it a "gamer word" instead of a racial slur.
ToaKraka
Dislikes you
7mo ago
"Dungeon delving" has been a common phrase for many years.
So... What did he buy if the lot no longer exists?
The municipal govt. could have sued to cancel the sale of lot 16 and enforce the merger within two years after the sale, but it did not do so. Therefore, I think the illegal subdivision stands: Jerome now owns a not-properly-subdivided portion of lot 9, and neither he nor the owner of the other portion can get permits to build anything until the two portions of lot 9 are reunited. (But I'm not a lawyer, so I may be wrong.)
Is this a "no refunds" type of situation?
Jerome did also sue his closing attorney for failing to notify him of the merger issue. That lawsuit was settled out of court.
In looking at your real property that was originally laid out over a century ago, have you ever noticed that it appears to be composed of a zillion super-narrow lots? (For example, my mother's house sits on a 100×112.5 rectangle of land that is composed of four 25×112.5 strips.) Well, here's a fun fact: If multiple lots that are not compliant with the current zoning code fall under common ownership, and merging them would create a compliant lot, then under the "doctrine of merger" those lots immediately merge with each other! (Under my mother's local zoning code, the minimum lot width is 40 feet, so her property presumably has merged into two 50×112.5 lots… is what I was going to say, but apparently the zoning code was thoroughly amended since the last time I checked it, and the minimum lot width has been reduced from 40 feet back down to 25 feet. Can lots merge and then de-merge? I don't know.)
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Gary owns adjacent lots 9 (125 feet wide) and 16 (50 feet wide). Lot 9 bears a house, while lot 16 bears some accessory buildings. The minimum lot width in this zone is 100 feet.
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Gary dies, and his estate sells lot 16 to Jerome, who wants to build a house on it. The purchase contract is conditional on Jerome's obtaining a building permit, but Jerome waives the condition. Jerome is warned by the title company before purchase, and by the zoning officer after purchase, that the lots may have merged, but he ignores the warnings.
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Jerome applies for a building permit, but the application is denied because lot 16 has merged into lot 9. He applies for a variance allowing him to build on a 50-foot-wide lot, but the application is denied because lot 16 no longer exists, so there's no 50-foot-wide lot to which the variance would apply. He sues the municipal government, but the trial judge rejects his arguments, and the appeals panel affirms.
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Richard owns two lots that are positioned back-to-back, facing different streets. Lot 2 is 50×125 with a house, while lot 6 is 50×95 with a garage. Under the local zoning code, minimum dimensions are 75×100, but there's also a grandfather clause for existing 50×75 lots.
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Richard wants to replace the garage on lot 6 with a new house. But he is dismayed to learn that the municipal government considers the two lots to have merged. After the govt. rejects his applications for subdivision and variances, he sues.
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The trial judge reverses the municipal govt.'s determination that the lots have merged, and the appeals panel affirms. The existing lots are compliant with the zoning code's grandfather clause, so the doctrine of merger is not applicable. And, if there were no grandfather clause, a 50×220 merged lot would be just as nonconforming as the existing lots, so the doctrine of merger still would not apply.
The article explains: 200 miles of line to be buried ÷ 0.5 mile of line buried (costing 5.5 megadollars) per year = 400 years.
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