Without the state

Men are not romantic...

...drunken renderings of "Lady in Red", notwithstanding! That's what is often claimed anyway. Not true of course, and in evidence I offer from "The English Patient", a film made by a man, based on a book written by a man and now selected by a man, one of the most romantic scenes in any film!

 

Why do I think this is romantic? Well, it is impossible to see this scene and not be caught up in it, to be captured by its sheer joyousness. More analytically, it shows the man literally putting his entire body into giving pleasure to the woman. This effort whilst romantic in itself is also a metaphor for the physical relationship between them and through that metaphor says much more about their physical relationship than any of the the usual soft porn bedroom gymnastics ever could.

Home Owner's Associations but without homeowners

If I talk about something called a Home Owner's Association, would you expect that to be some sort of grouping of home owners? That's logical surely? It seems it isn't quite so simple...

"The HOA directors in all five neighborhoods and the real estate partners who developed the neighborhoods are the same people: Bagwell's wife, Susan; Bagwell's longtime business partner, Southlake investor Dale Crane; and Bagwell himself.

Two other people sit as members on all five HOA architectural control committees. They work for Bagwell companies. The all-important architectural committees have the power over homebuilding plans and homeowner plans to improve their property.

In their lawsuit, the homeowners assert that Bagwell and his associates run the HOAs in an arbitrary, capricious and discriminatory manner. The structure doesn't allow homeowners to participate in any HOA decisions..."

According to the article in the Dallas Morning News:

1. There are five separate HOAs covering five separate neighbourhoods, all controlled by the same six people. None of those own homes in the neighbourhoods
2. Bagwell's [the developer]  real-estate partnerships, which own vacant lots in the still-developing neighborhoods, are the only property owners who have voting rights in the HOAs. That means homeowners have no way to participate.
3. Homeowners are not allowed to select their own homebuilders, pool contractors, roofers, irrigation companies, fence builders or landscape architects. Instead, Bagwell and his associates require them to select those contractors from an HOA-approved list.
4. Covenants, conditions and restrictions that govern the HOAs' structure and activities "contain provisions which vest Bagwell with the putative authority to amend or abolish any aspect of the CCRs, in his sole discretion, at any point after their filing," .... Bagwell calls all the shots and his rules amount to a constantly "moving target," according to the suit [filed by a group of homeowners].
5. A fee – ranging from $50 to $600, depending on the issue – must accompany each building plan or exterior-modification design submitted to the architectural committee. If the committee rejects a plan, resubmissions require another fee. This creates "the obvious incentive to deny submitted plans and proposals on an arbitrary and capricious basis to force homeowners to pay additional review fees with each additional submittal," according to the ...lawsuit.

So, yet again in the land of the free we see capricious rules, bureaucracy, abuse of process - but hey - that's OK because this is the private sector right? Cobblers! Abuse and oppressive behaviour is still abuse and oppression when carried out in the name of property.

Computer generated image

An image made some time ago using a program called Chaos Pro. I have no idea what I'm doing with it but love the effects.

 

I went on to use this image as part of a series I called 'Exhibits for an Imaginary Museum', which was posted on Flickr.

The Right to Earn a Living

The Right to Earn a Living Under Attack | News & Commentary | The Foundation for Economic Education: In Brief.

In Louisiana it is illegal to sell and arrange flowers without permission from the government. Aspiring florists must pass a subjective licensing exam that is graded by existing florists, who have a direct incentive to keep new competitors from entering the market. Thus the failure rate is higher than that of the Louisiana bar, which results in hundreds of well-qualified would-be entrepreneurs being denied the ability to work in their chosen profession.

...

Mercedes Clemens was threatened with thousands of dollars in fines and criminal prosecution unless she stopped . . . massaging horses. In Maryland two powerful groups decided to monopolize the growing field of animal massage by requiring all practitioners to spend four years in veterinary school -- where massage is not even taught.

...

In Texas all computer-repair technicians must now become private investigators.  "If you're investigating or analyzing data, then you should need a little more credentials than someone who just repairs computers," the legislative sponsor said. The PI license requires a criminal-justice degree -- or a three-year apprenticeship under a licensed private investigator.  If a consumer knowingly takes his computer to get repaired by an unlicensed specialist, he faces thousands of dollars in fines and a year in jail. 

A new law in Philadelphia will make it a crime in the coming weeks to talk about the Liberty Bell for money without the government’s permission. Unlicensed tour guides will be subject to hundreds of dollars in fines for talking about the place where the Declaration of Independence was written.

I've written several times on this sort of thing (mainly here but see also here)

Monoprint - untitled

 

A abstract monoprint made with oil based inks. Inspired by the work of Sonia and Robert Delauney, it  also references landscape and gardens.

 

 

Not your normal plane livery

http://colinseymour.smugmug.com/Other/Clips/-/781505036_HNuuY-XL-1.jpg

From the Ridgeway

 

A monoprint made using acrylic paints. A serendipitous find within a larger, unsuccessful, print.

Mice with Human Brains - aka Politics in the USA

Potential US Congresswoman Christine O'Donnell in 2007. See about 4 minutes in where she claims US scientists have already created mice with 'fully functioning human brains'.

Life is sweet

Much as I would miss honey, the world will not die without [bees].

Our old friend RAB on Samizdata.

Meanwhile in the real world:

List of crop plants pollinated by bees.

Seems likely from that list we would lose more than bees...

 

 

Housing Benefit and MP's expenses

The government is proposing capping Housing Benefit claims at £250 per week for a one bedroom flat or £400 per week for a four bedroom house. Meanwhile under the new rules for MP's expenses a single MP will be able to claim about £385 a week for a one bedroom flat.