On Tue, 7 Nov 2000, David Honig wrote:
At 09:00 PM 11/6/00 -0800, Ray Dillinger wrote:
On Mon, 6 Nov 2000, David Honig wrote:
* running water * N toilets per hectare * electricity * walls, stairs, floors made to certain state minima (standards) * N metres of terra between A and B
Um. Not true. Many of my relatives do without the first three owing to religious proscription.
Wow, you're related to the Amish?
Yeah. They really are an amazing bunch and have done an astonishing amount of work on the civil-rights front. One of my grandfathers was born to an Amish family but eventually married outside that community and, um, left. But we still go occasionally to family reunions, and we are still welcome there.
Anyway the English :-) may make exceptions for the Amish, but generally, and even in rural america, you can't sell a house for human (chiiiildren) occupation that's not wired for classical infrastructure ---water, wires, N lbs/ft^2.
I don't think so. As I understand matters, the laws in most of the US are that *IF* there is electrical wiring, then it must meet certain standards, and *IF* there are indoor toilets then they must meet certain standards, and etc. These laws simply do not apply to homes built without these things. :-) FWIW, referring to those outside the community as "English" is a Pennsylvania thing. In other centers, where the Amish are themselves mainly english-speaking, the term in use is "Outlander". So when my cousins refer to me as having "Outlandish" ideas or ways, I know exactly what they mean. Unlike most of the people who use the word about me, they are just being literal. Bear