check this insane news story...apparently people who hang their laundry out to dry on a clothesline in their garden are increasingly getting remarks from their neighbours that they don't want to look at the "lady thingies" hanging in the wind. Wow. We getting ready for a new puritanical era or something?

http://uk.news.yahoo.com/22/20091118/to ... e916c.html



But what's scarier:



Wtf?! Why is this even an issue?

because if politicians aren't making laws, people may realize they're useless. And it's far easier to make new laws than to repeal old ones.

Besides, those chicks are probably 600 lbs and their 'unmentionables' are probably tents with brown streaks.

Ahh, what a good laugh, i should screenshot this topic

Well, clearly, but still. I think we all know that the undertone of the entire issue has less to do with "they're fugly and their underwear reflects that" and more with "underwear oh no, somebody protect the children".

Maybe it's not much compared to other restrictive laws in the US, I dunno, but to me the idea of not being allowed to dry laundry by hanging it in your garden for reasons that are clearly only puritanical and/or aesthetical is just...wow. Why not issue laws making it so that everyone decorates their front lawn in the same way? Cause you know, that rose bush looks suspiciously like a *gasp* phallus if you cut it in a certain way. Etc.

to be honest, I don't think it's the 'unmentionables' that are the real problem... it may be fore some of the dweebs complaining to the camera, but I'm sure that's not why the law was passed. It's more because people tend to trash the world they live in.

For instance, it's also illegal to have a car in your front yard up on blocks. It's not because people hate cars, it's because if there weren't a law, some bastard would have his car in his front yard up on blocks. It's inevitable. There are a ton of those laws. We just got cited because our fence is uneven. It's supposed to keep neighborhoods devolving into horrible eyesores.

That may annoy you as well, but eyesores are bad for property values. All it takes is one person to drive down property values in a neighborhood, resulting in more 'financially challenged' people moving in and perpetuating the eyesore-ness.

/me has probably put way too much thought into this

lol, maybe, but still, I'll believe you if that is the driving force behind those laws. It's a variation of broken windows theory.

Still, why are there laws for this? Afaik, you can do whatever the hell you like in your own house or yard here as long as it doesn't physically disturb your neighbours (ie can't smell bad or be noisy or leak into the ground) or doesn't break any vice laws.

I would assume that most people are decent enough not to put up a car on bricks in their front yard. Too lazy to paint their fences and maintain their garden perhaps, but not turning it into a giant trash heap. But maybe it's the different in the US with the houses being relatively cheap and big. In Belgium, most poor people can't afford a house with some kind of garden or yard.

houses are definitely more affordable, though really poor people typically live in apartments and trailers. It doesn't stop poor(er) people from renting houses, or large groups getting together to buy a house. It's not unusual to see people of latino persuasion moving into a 3 bedroom house with their entire extended family.

Oh, and we suspect or neighbors across the street have chopped up cars in their garage.

Well around here we do get illegal immigrants, but they don't usually come in entire families - logistics are tougher. So the whole shacking-up-with-30-people-in-a-normal-house-cause-it's-cheap thing only partially applies. People who are dirt poor like that still shack up in small lodgings to share rent as much as possible, but as you can imagine them not being family makes them less eager to share EVERYTHING.

But anyway, didn't know it was that weird down in the States. Next thing you know you're living in a gated community...which would be pretty awesome because you could watch the lowlives outside from over your wall. But I digress.

My new place is in a former port/stevedores district that has been turned into a condo paradise for developers and yuppies, which gives it a weird vibe. During weekdays, the stevedores are ubiquitous and rule the place, but in the evenings and in the weekends all you see is rich(er) young people, as well as some old inhabitants who owned their house before the price boom. The only place that stays 'folksy' during the evenings and weekends is the stevedore dive two stories down from my flat. Gotta love the nightly brawls and song.