The listing should have gone full realtor-speak. "Includes family-oriented space for role-playing, dealing with discipline issues, or other creative pastimes."
There's a really nice hotel here that used to be a jail. Not so different.
You just change the check out time from a maximum to a minimum and you're halfway there.
It's the interconnecting door that puzzled me - I mean, I can see why in a small town you might have a combined sheriff's office/sheriff's house/prison, but will there really be a need for regular direct access to prison from the sheriff's kitchen? Did he have to cook them their meals?
Even in my dad's time in a bigger town with a separate jail, the wife of a deputy cooked the meals.
The jail was part of the courthouse, not a separate building.
You just change the check out time from a maximum to a minimum and you're halfway there.
Canonically, you can check out any time you want, but you can never leave.
Sherrif's budgets usually include money for feeding inmates, over which there's rarely oversight. It's been a problem sometimes: https://www.npr.org/sections/thetwo-way/2018/03/14/593204274/alabama-sheriff-legally-took-750-000-meant-to-feed-inmates-bought-beach-house
A while back somebody here linked to a realtor's site which listed a horse that had been done out as a sex dungeon. One feels that the vendors in that case would be the ideal target purchasers of this thing. But very much a niche market.
a horse that had been done out as a sex dungeon.
Since everyone inside was wearing a ball gag, the Trojans heard nothing, and wheeled it inside their city walls unsuspecting.
3. And they still have some of the leftover "jail" tweaks, too. The hotel is (ironically) called "The Liberty" and the bar is called "Clink," IIRC. Had lunch there a few times: expensive but good.
The house seems like it has a lot of potential as a space to record a music video, or (for a pop culture reference that is not 20 years out of date) for the kids to record all sorts of creative tiktok clips.
That said, my main reaction to the listing was to wonder how in the hell that house is only $350,000. I live in a city with below-average housing costs and I'm still often shocked at the prices for real estate listings across the country. Renovated and updated and $350,000??
The house seems like it has a lot of potential as a space to record a music video, or (for a pop culture reference that is not 20 years out of date) for the kids to record all sorts of creative tiktok clips.
That said, my main reaction to the listing was to wonder how in the hell that house is only $350,000. I live in a city with below-average housing costs and I'm still often shocked at the prices for real estate listings across the country. Renovated and updated and $350,000??
15: Yes, I thought you could rent out the jail area as a movie set. Also you could use it for those goofy fundraisers in which local notables have to be bailed out from jail.
$350,000 sounds like a bargain to me, too.
Even without the jail area $350k is pretty good. Though my standards are skewed by living where I do; there's a good chance the Selkie and I will be migrating north soon, and we are looking at houses in rural but not remote areas and finding things that have five or six bedrooms for less than my small flat cost ten years ago.
16: That happens outside of Roger and Me?
1: "Perfect for families with small children. Spacious mother-in-law suite."
My best guess was that it was originally just a jail and an office, and that the office portions have been renovated into a house, but the jail parts were required to remain untouched by some historical commission.
18: Not every thing in a Michael Moore documentary is fake.
18: Here are helpful instructions if you want to hold this kind of fundraising event.
https://oureverydaylife.com/how-to-do-a-jail-and-bail-fundraiser-13637859.html
10: Lack of oversight, yes, but I haven't heard that specific ridiculous "sheriffs personally pocket savings on inmate food" practice existing anywhere outside Alabama. In my county, it's a more recognizable, slightly more sophisticated sleazy relationship where the elected sheriff takes campaign contributions from the jail food contractors.
I almost put "Unfoggetarian: "Pause endlessly, then go in" (9)" OP, but then I couldn't remember if the whole thing had fallen into disuse or not. Now I know!
Also it occurs to me that I forgot to label it as a Guest Post.
17: Fantasy house-buying North Of The Wall is ridiculous. As in, a dual-income professional class couple can afford a small (relative only to the class) honest-to-god country-home or restored castle. Many of the smaller burghs have amazing five bedroom townhomes, sometimes within commuter distance to the major cities, at reasonable prices. We have had thoughts.
25: And there's yet another fun activity for this house - lock up Flippanter and test this.
We spent some time fantasizing about this island.
It is indeed the old jail and sheriff's house, still in use until surprisingly recently:
Howard County's old jail is still standing and is located at 203 E. Morrison in Fayette. In fact, it is among those buildings in the city listed on the National Register of Historic Places. According to an old newspaper article, the jail wasbuilt and ready for occupancy in the spring of 1894, when George Crigler was sheriff.. Ten prisoners that were being held in the Cooper County Jail were to be its first occupants. When the jail opened, it could house approximately 15 men, but included no provisions for women. And although it was built with gallows, no hangings were ever reported. It was typical of the county jails in the late 19th century to also include a residence for the sheriff and his family and Howard County was no different. The first sheriff to live in the jail was George C. Crigler, who served from 1891 to 1894. The last sheriff to occupy the residence was Randy Yaeger, who served from 1981 to 1998. He lived there two years while serving as a deputy under Hardin Dougherty and from 1980 to 1991 as sheriff. The jail residence was occupied throughout most of the years but, eventually those who held office chose not to live there. Thanks to the citizens of Howard County, who agreed with the special advisory board and the Howard County Commission that a new jail was needed, a bond issue was passed in 2002. The new jail was built adjacent to its predecessor on Mulberry Street and features a modern security system; space to house female prisoners; a recreation room for the prisoners; and a sally port to provide a safer transfer of prisoners. The new facility also includes much-needed office space for the sheriffs and deputies that, up until this point, were located in the courthouse. When the new jail was completed, the old one, which had served Howard County 100 years, was closed. This took place during Sheriff Charlie Polson's time in office. Later, the jail was sold on Ebay and the buyer, a man from California, had it restored.
28: Oh dear, I think I've thought about that one, too. I recall seeing another Shetland island for sale that had a few dozen people living on it--the purchaser wouldn't own their houses, but would own the island. That includes its feudal lordship. Which is a bit horrific, said lord (laird?) gets paid rent--but since it's £25/annum for everyone on the island, perhaps that isn't too bad. Inflation saves the day.
26 is indeed our plan, and if my second interview on Friday goes well we will be turning it into a reality.
The town where we're on vacation has a newly renovated 3BR house with a hot tub and pool, a barn and a storefront if you want to say start a brewery and taproom, and 100 acres of land for $500k.
30. £25 pa is what we pay as ground rent for a single house worth about £350k (999 year leasehold. So not bad. There's a lot of leasehold property outside the great when. The landlord is whoever bought the assets of the steelmaker Corus, but how it got into their portfolio is anybody's guess.
28. From what I've seen on certain TV programs, the murder rate in the Shetlands is dangerously high.
The island of North Ronaldsay always needs younger inhabitants to help maintain the wall that keeps seaweed-eating sheep on the beach. Have you considered North Ronaldsay?
MexicoThe Picts will maintain the wall.
We have had the same thoughts as ajay. Since Mrs ttaM was made redundant we lost our planned flat purchase and on one income we can't afford anything in London. We could move somewhere in Scotland commutable to the major cities on my income alone, and have something nice and big, too. Four bedroom detached houses in the Trossachs, and the like.
We probably won't, though.
And there's yet another fun activity for this house - lock up Flippanter and test this.
He'd just flip it.
Anyway, having cheap houses is nice and even ten years of Californians walking in and bidding up prices haven't made things very bad.
Huh, I just got Baader-Meinhoffed by the Trossachs. Never heard of them before, seen them mentioned twice today. Weird.
33: 999-year rent with a de minimis rent. Huh. I just don't get some stuff here. I do always wonder about these ultra long lease terms: I guess everyone assumes that a thousand years in the future is too long and too uncertain for anything to really matter. But I like the idea that the default case is that in the year 2800, the land defaults back to King Robo-Charles XI.
(On the other hand, for some fun, look up the stock prices of publicly-traded companies that have a fixed term of incorporation. Weird stuff happens as they approach the end.)
With the coronavirus, who knows--in theory my wife can work from anywhere in the UK until at least next summer, and I can essentially work from anywhere with a good internet connection--but given uncertainties and being on a work visa, we should probably stay where the jobs are. If for whatever reason she has employment difficulties I'm looking for a real job fast. Meaning I should probably stay within commuting distance of Canary Wharf.
41: It would be good if the Californians continue to come and bid up the houses prices slowly and regularly. So I have another vested reason to be angry about Trump's immigration policy. (Not because that affects Californians, but because I'd prefer Duolingo not move to Toronto.)
Honestly, Toronto is nicer. I'd rather live in Montreal unless the people in Montreal who aren't paid to deal with tourists would eventually want me to learn to speak their down-market version of French.
Also, my dad would always mention the Law of (against?) Perpetuities. I think that means 1,000 year leases aren't a thing we can have here.
I've mentioned to my wife that there are some mostly Scottish people here talking about moving to Scotland, and she was like "yes find out all you can now." Her current fantasy is moving to Edinburgh, I guess because of the reliability of the Waverley to Kings Cross trip.
44: I wonder if there's a clever way around it, like by having the contract be between two non-natural persons. Hopefully some lawyers will explain where I'm wrong, because experience shows that talking incorrectly about the rule against perpetuities is the fastest way to summon excited lawyers.
Right. Rule, not law. You can't constraint constraints on the future with a mere law.
I thought the rule against perpetuities was effectively dead in the US? At least in the sense that seven states have abolished it completely, so presumably anyone who wants to set up a perpetual trust can establish it there.
Skimming the Wikipedia article, it looks like its main remaining function is full employment for lawyers in the remaining states trying to make sure they don't unintentionally violate it.
It's really too bad we don't do charming villages worth a crap in the US.
I told the story here, but about a decade ago I as sitting in a courtroom waiting for my case to be called and gradually realized that the case before mine was a hotly argued Rule Against Perpetuities issue. I was absurdly delighted.
The Rule Against Perpetuities was the reason why Khan didn't have legal grounds against Kirk for stranding him on that planet.
I don't remember the town, but think it's in the same universe as Law and Order. They both mentioned someone going to "Yale" at some point.
52: Never watched the show, but will concede that New England has its moments.
52: Never watched the show, but will concede that New England has its moments.
New Mexico has some very pleasant little towns also, and the pueblos are something else.
55. The family's grandmother is well-written and well-acted. I Didn't much like the rest of the show-- it's filmed on a soundstage, I guess I'm responding to the opening credits.
Northern Exposure?
What did you guys think of BHO tonight? This is not a fucking game, people.
Completely distracted by giant fire sorry
35 get the hell out of my head. I have actually been to North Ronaldsay on many occasions, and helped to repair the wall (and catch and shear the sheep).
Her current fantasy is moving to Edinburgh, I guess because of the reliability of the Waverley to Kings Cross trip.
Ah yes. But Edinburgh property is a bit pricy compared to elsewhere north of the Wall. We are thinking Berwick upon Tweed because it's on the same railway line but considerably cheaper, and only half an hour or so from Edinburgh.
We could move somewhere in Scotland commutable to the major cities on my income alone, and have something nice and big, too. Four bedroom detached houses in the Trossachs,
The Flophowff?
My company's head office is in Glasgow, and half of my team are in Glasgow. So I could relocate to Scotland without any major problems, as long as I was able to get to London regularly to meet with clients, or with my boss. Since I've not physically seen my boss since late March, I don't think being in Scotland would be an issue. Somewhere central-belt-ish would be good, as it's handy for family, and handy for travel to either Edinburgh or Glasgow, and I could still travel to Edinburgh to get the mainline to Kings X.
My wife is keen on the idea of some paradise show home surrounded by mountains and lochs, which we could genuinely do on our budget, but I think that would be great for us but not great for xelA as going to some clique-y village school wouldn't be as good as being at a bigger school. I think moving from London, with a big and diverse friendship group, to moving to Little Teuchterton, might be a problem. I think if by next spring, my wife hasn't found another decent job, we'd be looking at it quite seriously, though.
The sort of mid-sized picturesque town (like North Berwick, as mentioned by ajay) would be the sort of size, I'd want. Maybe a house on the edge of somewhere like that. I grew up on the edge of a village on the edge of a fairly industrial central Scottish town,* but the size/location was such that there was proper countryside accessible to us kids on bikes, and there was still enough density to have decent sized schools, and actual things to do within a reasonable distance.
* although like lots of places, there were some really nice bits, too.
I love Scotland, but I do not think I could make it through the winter. I was in Edinburgh for Hogmanay one year. It was great fun, but it was dark when I had breakfast and dark at 3pm, and I don't think I would have had the energy to work if I lived in that kind of darkness. I might never sleep in the summer.
62.2: friends of mine moved from London to Aviemore - he's English, she's Scottish but not from that area - and their boys are absolutely loving it. No problems with the local school at all, and they are roaming the mountains in every spare moment. So might not be too bad. xelA's still quite young, right? Six or seven? Kids that age aren't terribly clique-y.
Flying Scotsman average speed Edinburgh-London: 78mph (393 miles)
Acela average speed DC-BOS: 65mph (457 miles)
Hey that's not too different! Maybe American train travel isn't the laughingstock of the wo...
Edinburgh-London lowest price one way: $35
DC-BOS lowest price one way: $144
(Unrestricted day-of fares aren't that different, about $275)
ttaM - I'd love your thoughts on Deborah Orr's "Motherwell", if you've read it. Very much the kind of country you describe. I misspent part of my youth in Biggar, AIMHMHB, so some of it was half familiar to me.
Berwick looked a very sensible choice when Ume and I were there briefly a couple of summers ago. We'd rented a cottage by a loch a little further north, but drove in for real shops etc. And it still had them. And the sort of farmers' hardware store which is my touchstone for a real town in the countryside.
There is also a fort with real cannon so that ajay can organise the heroic defence against the English after the independence referendum.
I've never been to North Ronaldsay, but it's on the bucket list. Orkney's still the dream. Getting from there to somewhere convenient on the train network is a hassle, though, and while we don't have kids yet, I think I'd prefer to raise them in an urban setting.
I assume Berwick gets its own separate indyref. Or perhaps a condominium can be arranged.
67: yes, but those super low fares have to be booked a fortnight in advance, as I remember. Possibly even further. We had to dash down from Berwick for a friend's funeral and return the same day: it cost something north of £400 for the two of us.
In general the bargains on British train fares are available for tourists, not in working hours, and best when booked from abroad.
I once had to go to Manchester from Cambridge at short notice by train and realised that I have flown across the Atlantic and back for less.
The ideal setting for children is surely on the edge of a town -- kind of how ttaM grew up. Easy access both to real countryside and to urban amenities. This is different on both counts to suburbia.
ttaM is actually talking about North Berwick which is a completely separate town - smaller, closer to Edinburgh, with more golf. Either would be nice places to live, though.
Orkney's still the dream. Getting from there to somewhere convenient on the train network is a hassle, though
That's islands for you. I don't think a Pentland Firth Bridge will be happening any time soon. And once you're in Thurso, it is still a solid eight hours on the train to Edinburgh. (Scotland is larger than people think and in terms of travel time it is huge - four times the size of France.)
Scotland's small in area--only about two thirds a Pennsylvania, the standard unit of measurement for medium-sized polities--but big in time. We've done the drive a few times and it does take quite a while. The first time, we didn't understand how long, and we arrived right before the last ferry left, despite driving at highly unwise speeds through Caithness. (Partially the issue was that we took a wrong turn and went through Thurso instead of Wick.) Had to beg them to let us on. They did, but since it was a near thing they had us reverse down the ramp with everyone watching impatiently. Not fun when it's your first day driving sinisterly.
End of next month we're going to Skye for two weeks. Looking forward to getting out of the city.
4: I wonder if there's a clever way around it, like by having the contract be between two non-natural persons. Hopefully some lawyers will explain where I'm wrong, because experience shows that talking incorrectly about the rule against perpetuities is the fastest way to summon excited lawyers.
AIUI,in England and Wales the clever way around it is (was? It might have been changed in the last decade) to have the legal title held by a charitable trust.
Actually, maybe it's not legal title, but beneficial ownership.
That charitable trusts aren't natural persons (or even legal persons at all?) but can be beneficial owners has always seemed like a massive but necessary hack. Are there any other non- natural person entities that can be beneficial owners?
Are there any other non- natural person entities that can be beneficial owners?
Well, companies, obviously. I think partnerships can only be beneficial owners in their own right to the extent they are legal entities (ie LLPs).
I am pretty sure I got the RAP question wrong on the bar exam.
Hey, Steve Bannon arrested, indicted.
78: Are companies actually beneficial owners? Maybe I'm using the word wrong: I thought beneficial ownership meant the entities that are at the end of the chain of ownership; the entities that, possibly via a chain of intermediaries, own some percentage of other things without being owned themselves. Humans can't be owned, (some) charitable arrangements aren't owned, and I guess ditto with governments. And that's it, right?
79.last: Woah!
re: 66
Yeah, he's 7. I'm slightly put off by the fact that when my brother moved to Islay (he was about 8 or 9) he found it really hard to integrate. xelA is much more social and outgoing, so I think he'd be fine in a town the size of Aviemore, but I think somewhere smaller would be a no go. Effectively where we live in London is like a really dense village, as everyone lives within 600 metres of the school, so in some senses a town like Aviemore wouldn't be a big shift.*
* although a quick google suggests that that 600 metre circle probably has about 3 or 4 times the population of Aviemore.
re: 67.1
The train journey from Edinburgh to London is 4h 16 minutes, so that's averaging rather a lot more than 78mph.
I found 332 miles but maybe that's the flight distance not rail.
The plane follows the rail line because that's how they navigate.
I saw a story that Bannon was arrested by the postal service. This can't possibly be true, right? Nobody is going to believe the history books' description of our time.
The thing to remember is to use PayPal when defrauding the conservatives.
re: 83
393 miles by rail, and it stops a few times along the way. The trains max out at about 125mph, but it averages, I think, in the mid 90 mphs when you include the stops.
I would love a train to Philadelphia that fast. It would really connect Pittsburgh to the east coast.
Airplane flights to Philadelphia are stupid expensive during the week.
And driving into Philadelphia is fatal in like 1 of 25 cases.
Is there any way to defraud racists without making racism worse? Asking for a friend.
91: Hmm. Maybe Bannon's arrest should improve our opinion of him.
393mi/4.25h = 92mph. So Acela service sucks and is overpriced, confirming my priors.
91. Make it clear post facto that the fraudster had a similar complexion to the victim?
They got $25 million in donations and stole like a million of it. Here I am, working every day for all those years and I don't even have a million to show for it.
2020, the year the Post Office engages in offensive naval operations.
What kind of a shitty fraudster hides out on a boat, but inside territorial waters? Just go out twelve nautical miles and they can't arrest you.
Anything goes in international waters. So the question is, who has more guns: you, or the postal service? You can't run. Neither rain nor snow nor gloom of night stays them, they will find you.
I don't think you can go out twelve nautical miles in Long Island Sound.
Are you saying that the Post Office's special forces teams would be unable to act? Ben Franklin would spin in his grave!
He should have gone with Falwell's NASCAR yacht instead.
98 Nor fascism, as the postal workers union has pointed out.
I'm not clicking that link. I've seen his fly too often.
This part is just perfect:
A Hendrick Motorsports spokesperson told POLITICO that the use of the yacht is not part of Hendrick Motorsports' agreement with Liberty University. The sponsorship of NASCAR, and Hendrick Motorsports' work to develop an auto dealership management program at Liberty, are part of a relationship between the two entities, not Falwell and Hendrick personally, the spokesperson said.
Anyway, now we know the back-up plan for if Trump won't leave the White House: send in the mail man.
Do you think Liberty U's Auto Dealership Management Program gives a BA or a BS no wait that joke just writes itself
They're just in school to find a husband.
Is Marg Schott still alive? We need to fill Bannon's spot at the convention?
Jesus, they just ordered much of Santa Cruz and the UC-Santa Cruz campus to evacuate. The fire north of here that made me nervously pack a suitcase last night is no longer menacing Vallejo, but the one running down the coast from San Mateo County to Santa Cruz is one of these monsters burning through decades of desiccated vegetation. It's hard to think about other things right now... but I find I'm just out of words, other than profanities.
90: I've driven between Pittsburgh and Philadelphia 24 times. I'm glad I stopped just in time.
110: Yeah, Sally left SC Wednesday to hole up with friends in a motel as far away as they could get from flammable trees.
Are companies actually beneficial owners? Maybe I'm using the word wrong: I thought beneficial ownership meant the entities that are at the end of the chain of ownership; the entities that, possibly via a chain of intermediaries, own some percentage of other things without being owned themselves.
Sorry, I was using it in the sense distinguishing legal title (ie owner of record) from beneficial title (ie receiver of the economic benefits). But, yes, if you look at Companies House , lots of the "persons with significant control", which is the current ultimate beneficial ownership register for the UK, are companies.
Why is UCSC part of the order? To conserve firefighting resources for more dense and residential areas? It's higher and more forested but the surrounding neighborhoods aren't under orders.
My aunt is safe and sound a little farther south (in town) but has a friend staying with her and is helping people to board their horses at the stable where hers lives. Lots of folks in the outlying areas need spots. I spent quite a while with a map this morning, worrying.
It's severely more forested -- I think enough so to explain being treated differently than the neighboring town.
I'm not severe just because I don't smile when you think I should.