The key variable in determining whether a septic system serves well could be the size of lot on which the system is placed.

http://cincystreetcar.wordpress.com/2009/01/26/infrastructure-allows-greater-density/

Let in the sewerage system engineer and let in the cookie cutter home developer who cares little about the environment and produces homes to the minimum standards. Noise and light pollution results as tightly packed communities experience the trauma of citification, places where people don't know each other and don't talk to their neighbours that often.

http://www.ccwpc.org/index.php/cape-cod-water-protection-collaborative/about-the-collaborative/78-comparison-of-costs-for-wastewater-management-systems-applicable-to-cape-cod

Developers with limited amounts of land want to pack people into small lots and will almost invariably call for a sewerage system because of the environmental damage small lots and household density will cause. A prelude to packing a region more densely could be to introduce a sewerage system in order to allow a developer to pack people together in tiny box like homes rather than spread them out within the woods.

Licensing systems can provide a means of thinning out population density in order to preserve natural habitats and the environment.

http://www.water.rutgers.edu/Fact_Sheets/fs533.pdf

The profit incentive thus for engineering consultants getting business from governments in municipalities, from other engineering companies and from land developers or owners of smaller lots will be to push for sewerage systems.

These groups will raise their profitability because of economies of scale. In other words the more densely they can pack houses together the more profit they make and the less space the household owner has to grow a family.

http://www.nap.edu/openbook.php?record_id=11241&page=54

Sewer systems are thus bad for home development where the family is trying to enjoy the environment and the natural preservation. They destroy the environment by packing too many households into too small a space. Rather than leave a beautiful environment for families to enjoy developers create compounds of houses with small gardens and poor outlooks. Trees are cut down, small lakes are filled in and nature leaves. Small birds have to depart because they cannot hear other birds talking to them. All nature is squeezed out as the bulldozer changes the environment into a densely packed cookie cutter development.

Will ye no think kindly on those who would be your friends! May the sun shine with your thoughts, today, and happiness grow in your heart! May you allow yourself some peace of mind.

Soils and Septic Systems

Soil and septic systems work together. the chances are that if you already have a septic system conditions formthe system were appropriate at the time of installation. However, conditions do change, and the water table may for example rise:

http://www.septicdesign.com/homeowners/soils-and-septic-systems/

http://ohioline.osu.edu/aex-fact/0742.html

Checking your soil type is important:

http://www.johnstonsmith.co.uk/fact4.html

Septic systems are by no means inferior to sewerage systems and can be far superior:

http://cru.cahe.wsu.edu/CEPublications/eb1475/eb1475.html

http://www.shelterpub.com/_shelter/ssom_advanced-01.html

We should not kid ourselves that septic systems could not fail. A good discussion of what causes failure of septic systems is set out below in the following link:

http://if-srvv-edis.ifas.ufl.edu/ss114

Will ye no think kindly on those who would be your friends! May the sun shine with your thoughts, today, and happiness grow in your heart! May you allow yourself some peace of mind.

Nudity in art

Much of the time when I am not writing about Wuh Lax, I am painting images in many media. The rise of the Internet means that there is an immense library of material to stimulate artistic efforts.

I think of myself as a pretty normal human male with pretty normal appetites of all sorts. Where I differ from the mainstream is in my opinion in my appreciation of artistic form. I, for example, think a nude painting whether of a male or female, or several humans in the nude is art.

I am interested in such art both from the aspects of how it was created, what it symbolizes, how it informs me, and how in stimulates. I don't think the human form should be hidden away, even though I know conventional wisdom suggests otherwise, and the evidence might suggest the viewing of nudes is erotic and addictive hence potentially dangerous to one's health and social relationships. That's the theory and it is pretty sound.

Nude and erotic art is frequently almost pornographic, but not quite. The line between art and pornography is pretty variable over time and across locations. Much depends on age and maturity. But, since young people these days are staying immature for longer one wonders. They seem to be developing physically sooner, but mentally later. That should alert us to the inappropriateness of the figure as an art form to be placed before children.

As a child myself once, I was not alone is viewing library books and nursing magazines for the odd glimpse of a the nude form. I jokingly admit that what got me heavily in Freudian psychology before the age of eight was the discussion of sex in almost all of his writings. Who didn't want to know why another kid wet his bed?

There is, nevertheless, in society a strong reluctance to breach the gap between the reality that our views of sex are socially determined and have nothing much to do with how we feel or wish to feel. Hence, we see so many people addicted to sex and pornography as a secret rite of passage which can lead to many deformations of character and premature aging.

That last comment might shock you, but it's probably the case that too much preoccupation with sex leads to physical changes that promote maturity prematurely. If sex becomes an addiction, it may very easily lead to premature death arising from natural causes, such as disease and abuse of one's body.

Religions vary in their attitude towards sex and nudity. We have the Roman Catholic church and the Moslem religions abusing their roles as guardians of the peace and of cooperation and sound thinking. By being obsessed with nudity, they detract from good policy. I have seen it proven that to deny one the pleasure of what is normal leads to an overcompensation psychologically. Hence, we witness the abuses of the Catholic and Moslem religions as regards the human body and it's appropriate care and beautification.

The fact that the disease of sex addiction afflicts many men of the church and the moslem places of worship should come as no surprise. That in the Moslem community women are treated as men's sex objects should also not come as a surprise. It's all in Freud!

Now those religions that work with the human body explicitly have a somewhat different take, and seem to be more in tune with human needs in an open environment that is loving and caring. We can all see the pleasures of the body, such as the sight of the reproductive organs and so called carnal knowledge are for us to enjoy. This is not to mean that we form addictive behaviours, but that we become more in tune with our bodies and potential social relationships that could derive.

My reality is that the people of whom I write in the Wuh Lax series belong to social arrangements very different from our own present day arrangements. Their attitudes towards sex, children, and families, were very different from what we have today. Woman, for example, had multiple sexual partners and children were a group responsibility. Thus, men in many cases did not know whether they were the father of a specific child. Some men would ignore their responsibilities and would sell children off as slaves for the Romans to abuse.

Art and nudity are very closely related. The earliest art forms such as found on the island of Gozo in the Mediterranean, represent women of enormous size as a fertility symbol. That reproductive organs appeared in art in early societies should not surprise us. We should be more surprised that archaeologists hid these paintings from us because they themselves were shocked by them, as in the case of digging up Pompeii art.

Will ye no think kindly on those who would be your friends! May the sun shine with your thoughts, today, and happiness grow in your heart! May you allow yourself some peace of mind.

Secrecy, Addiction and Ignorance Are Joint Catalysts For Conflict

Little Jack of five years comes up to me typing away and says, "Arffer, you are in trouble. You are in trouble." He looks down at my socks and eyes the big toe sticking out of the one on the right.

I say to Jack, "Well, thank you Jack. That's very kind of you to point that out!"

I say to myself that I wish everyone were so open with me. Then returning to my writing, I have a strange notion about how little is said about more major problems until they burst out into open warfare.

The human is a creature that has cravings and appetites. If not kept in check, they grow within. The human is a hedonistic hub in which desires arising from chemical changes within produce greater and greater, more and more, cravings. Without satisfaction, these cravings can come to dominate a person's mind so much that they are a fabric of their very being.

When people with the same hidden cravings get together as a hub of activity then we can have problems of a major sort. It's groups that keep secrets that cause conflict. The craving drives the secrecy which drives the group towards actions that go beyond the group into the world. Within the group remains a sort of ignorance about what is actually going on, a sort of denial of what percolates to drive the group forward.

In the end, hedonism within a group can lead to conspiracy, excessive allegiance and ultimately to actions and behaviors that predispose the members of the group to premature death.

Will ye no think kindly on those who would be your friends! May the sun shine with your thoughts, today, and happiness grow in your heart! May you allow yourself some peace of mind.

Is Canada Doing Better than Australia?

We often hear how well the Canadians are doing during the present world crisis period. That Canada was doing so well even became rhetoric during the recent British National election. Professor Stiglitz below comments on the Australian economy. Can we see similarities? Of course we can!

http://www.project-syndicate.org/commentary/stiglitz128/English

Will ye no think kindly on those who would be your friends! May the sun shine with your thoughts, today, and happiness grow in your heart! May you allow yourself some peace of mind.

Do Democracies Perform Better?

There is something to be said for young people who learn to think for themselves rather than let their parents decide. Traditions are important, but the best traditions may be those that support the family while raising children to be independent. Such it is with democracies that we may see greater progress coming from communities that allow children to develop quickly and take on responsibilities sooner in life. That women in such societies are given a grater role is self evident.

More at:

http://www.project-syndicate.org/commentary/rodrik46/English

Will ye no think kindly on those who would be your friends! May the sun shine with your thoughts, today, and happiness grow in your heart! May you allow yourself some peace of mind.

Waking up to the Challenges the Migration of People and Technology

People compare what happened during the Great Depression with what is happening today.  For a discussion of the causes of depression:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Causes_of_the_Great_Depression

In my view, we have evolved economic systems based on the fear of another great depression.  We have central banking systems that give us more tools to avoid the scourges of rapid asset depreciation.  But, we are still vulnerable to a major depression arising out of excessive over investment during a period of enormous demographic change.  

That demographics have come to the rescue of the American economy many times arise from what used to be known as the safety value, a gap between what could be done migrating westward and the opportunities such migration afforded to a troubled eastern side of the continent.  

We still have the safety value, but in our modern world it is migration of technology in one direction and people in the other.  People will migrate to industrial economies and the technologies of industrial economies will migrate to places where there are loads of people.  Both migrations have the enormous potential to be destabilizing.

 http://www.project-syndicate.org/commentary/fan16/English

On the one hand places receiving people will need to build homes, while on the other hand places receiving technologies will also need to build homes as more and more people are housed in cities.  Thus demographics and the housing markets of our modern economies will be severely impacted quite apart from changes in money supply, land prices and environmental conservation.

While we talk about energy prices, we see how money in the form of liquidity and the demographics in the per household management of that liquidity can have a major impact on whether or not we experience a major depression.

We know that population growth rates and land prices are critical forces for human discomfort quite apart from energy prices.  We are presently observing rapid development in all the key forces of discomfort.

  http://hubpages.com/hub/What-Bad-Financial-Policy-can-Bring-Weimer-Germany-in-the-1920s

We need to wonder and research how the modern world will cope with the impact of major shifts in the migration of people and technology.

Will ye no think kindly on those who would be your friends!  May the sun shine with your thoughts, today, and happiness grow in your heart! May you allow yourself some peace of mind.

Homes such as these going for half price

This is my daughter's home in Berryville, Virginia and it is up for
sale at half price. At $320 k, the half price is sitting on the long
term trend of house prices and is affordable. That the price should
have been more is an aberration, an outrage! Many people have to sell
their homes to satisfy the developers and bankers greed! The banks
knew what they were doing and still placing the younger generation in
a n impossible situation. With inflation, you are forced, as a young
person or family starting out, to participate in order to have your
foot in the door. That is why it is so evil and so socially
destructive. That divorces arise and children are affected is
entirely predictable.

Cycling in Grand Bend

The one thing that I like about summers in Grand Bend is the cycling.
There are so many places to go that are with the forest canopy and by
the beach. Healthy and fun at the same time, there is bot much that
can beat cycling.

Personalities, Causes and Mayoral Roles

Is Good Governance Self Serving?

What I have seen is that the local political world is fairly complex.  Normally, I would sit on the sidelines and say that it does not involve me.  Assuming a neutral role, however, may be in special circumstances a disservice to oneself.  Thus, one has to be self serving at least some of the time in situations where it becomes unavoidable.   

Who decides that it is unavoidable?  Good question!  It's a two way street.  We all need to be self serving a little, but let us not mistake serving others with self serving.  

Nevertheless, it takes one to know one and the present mayor of Grand Bend is apt to present an overstated case in favor of a number of things.  Far be it for me to regard many of his comments as inflammatory or even self serving.  How in the world would I know?  Perhaps, he is serving what he regards as the better interest, but I am in a position to understand what is just wrong and point to a better way to go about things and be picky about honesty and openness in governance.  

Being a mayor is awesome in itself, but the current Mayor needs to have more style.  His projection of himself as a fair and honest dealer is in shambles.  He stands naked before us in his blindness to the fact he has no clothes of consultation and cooperation.

Mayoral Representation and Consultation  

In my view, and in serving myself, we hear much from the Mayor that is false, and we hear much less of what is self evident were he to see himself as others see him.  The situation is mostly about personalities.   That is not to say one should raise personalities to the forefront of a debate.  The issues are important, but they should never be accepted as a done deal when they affect so many people and so many other related things, such as fair dealing, honesty, openness, consultation, service to the community, service to the environment.  

There are many ways to approach interpretations of consultation.  That many were not properly consulted on the issue of sewers is now pretty evident to many people.   

Am I self serving if I object to the fact that I was not properly consulted on something that will impact seriously on my sense of what is right for the environment at my doorstep?  Sorry!   If it comes back to personalities, then such an affront to what I consider fair play will not be taken lightly.  And, it should not be taken lightly.  

After all, in some less fortunate communities changes at one's doorstep become matters constitutional for which people fight to the death.  Are they self serving?    

I am particularly conscious of the mayor's rather bold comments concerning the wisdom of a new sewerage system covering Grand Bend.  He exaggerates the benefits without being smart about the negative consequences.  Rarely, do I meet such narrow mindedness, so it is a displeasure to be sure!  

I would not think any one could ever have voted for him.  however, there are many bright people in the community that did and that puzzles me.   Well, they can correct for past errors and change their minds.  There are some good candidates up to the task of being a Mayor and being better at it.   It does not detract from what has been the current Mayor's personal way has become my present  nightmare and yours.  So, we are all agreed.  A change towards more openness and consultation would be a vast improvement on what we presently have and I don't really want to go there.  

Consequences of Having a Bad Mayor

Being a good mayor is not about spending more and more money and having successful projects.  It is about understanding the electorate and bringing people together within the community.  Nothing should move forward without most people buying into it.  Thus, people need to be informed.  That is a vision of democracy.  One in which people collaborate together and cooperate rather than compete.  They collaborate because they are aware that it is correct to do so.  It fits the circumstances to work together on important issues such as sewers and commercialization.

But, that is not the main issue as I understand the Mayor has left quite a messy situation and lots of ill feeling within the community, and yes, it seems, it is time for him to pack up his Mayoral role and from what I have seen it is not too early.  Who will pick up the sad discardable pieces that he leaves behind and deal with them effectively, I wonder who?

Sewers

It is sad that ordinary people who voice their opposition to costs they cannot bear should be disparaged within the community.  That is just plain wrong.  

Let's get rid of the sewerage project until we have much more unanimity of purpose about it within the community.  If we don't we will almost certainly be driving in completely the wrong direction.

I cannot for the life of me see why there is so much rush.  

This is a time to continue the research into what is appropriate and it is not the time to be spending money on consultants without imagination.  

I have never seen a community so divided over rubbish.  

We could save much wasted money by dumping the sewerage project into a black hole somewhere.  Would that I could build a black hole for it, myself. 

Will ye no think kindly on those who would be your friends!  May the sun shine with your thoughts, today, and happiness grow in your heart! May you allow yourself some peace of mind.