Hello, Neighbor! A Tale of Sweet Revenge.

Alex

Part of the fun of the Interweb is that you re-discover "oldies but goodies," like this story from 2006 about a neighborly dispute that ended up with ... er, just read:

A city councilman in Utah, Mark Easton, had a beautiful view of the east Mountains until a new neighbor purchased the lot below his house and built a new home. The home was 18 inches higher than the ordinances would allow, so Mark Easton, mad about his lost view, went to the city to make sure they enforced the lower roof line ordinance.

The neighbor was forced to lower his roof at a significant expense. So while he's at it, he decided to add a "abstract art representing a cactus" on his vet cover so his complaining neighbor can see it everyday!

Links: More pic at Brainless World | Snopes said it was true - via Ectoplasmosis


Comments (8)

Newest 5
Newest 5 Comments

I'm confused, Serotonin -- which one was the "bitter neighbor"? The guy who pointed out the zoning violation, or the guy who put the "cactus" on his house?
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When dealing with stupid, bitter, or angry people, the only way to get through to them on any level is usually through shaming them. In this case, the bitter neighbour was shamed.

Congrats to the 'cactus' neighbour. Few people would've been as clever.
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Wood said he would remove the vent cover art if he received apologies from his neighbors. When, a week later, Mark Easton "expressed to him that I am sorry for any discomfort that I have caused his family or him, and that I had no intent to do any harm to him when I called the city with my concern about safety," Wood apparently found that sufficient and took down the controversial abstract "cactus."

http://www.snopes.com/photos/risque/ventcover.asp
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I'm pretty sure that the 'cactus' guy got sued and had to take down the 'cactus' too.

Along with Sid though...you should know what you're getting into before you move into a zoned neighborhood. I for one will never move into a neighborhood which has onerous neighborhood association rules.
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It is sad that such a creature may be doomed as we all are. We will have to face reality and if we wish, allot any money to those programs that will actually have an impact.
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Why is it endangered? Would the species die if we stopped killing it, or will it die off because it is unable to adapt. I would argue if a species is unable to fend for itself against natural forces (such as the forces pushing cheetahs to extinction), then it should be allowed to die off, but we should save a sample of it's population's DNA. If however the species is dieing off because we hunt it for food, then the species could still be saved by changing our diet.
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The right whale is endangered now because of human hunting habits in the past. And not because of food as much as for their oil and ambergris. "Natural selection" is not a valid reason, because humans have tipped the scales by changing the circumstances. And adaptations in most animals take eons, not a couple hundred years.

I think we should save them if we can, because they are a unique and incredible animal. Isn't that enough reason?
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I think when there are species that come in a few varieties with subtle differences, and one of those varieties starts to struggle, then YES.

Taken from Wikipedia:
400 to 450 North Atlantic Right Whales live in the North Atlantic;
50-100 North Pacific Right Whales live in the eastern North Pacific and perhaps 200-300 more in the Sea of Okhotsk;
12,000 Southern Right Whales are spread throughout the southern part of the Southern Hemisphere;
9,000–10,000 Bowhead Whales (Aka Greenland Right Whale) are distributed entirely in the Arctic Ocean and sub-polar seas.

There will still be Right whales out there, if the North Atlantic Right Whales disapear. Save their genetic information as best we can, and salute them goodbye, IMO.
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We all have to agree that it takes massive amounts og resources to study and preserve the habitats of animals. If a species dies out because we can't take care of it then so be it. If any are left over after we straighten our own problems I'll give them a hand.
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If a species is going due to human meddling – direct, we're killing these things when we shouldn't – then we must make amends by trying to save them.

If a species is going extinct naturally, then we should let it die out – as attempting to stave off extinction of such a thing is as damaging to the natural order of things as killing off a species that is not dying out naturally.
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I think that if we went back and imposed the policies and ideals we use today we would be doomed to remain one cell organisms floating in the ocean. The first time someone multiplied into a two cell organism all hell would break loose.
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@ gdw3
Adaption tends to take little time as it is a change in populations actions. ( that is: Colonialist adapted to the new england climate in a generation, by changing their actions)

Evolution takes generations and depends on the speed at which a species generates new generations. So ecoli will evolve faster than a Right Whale.

@drake123
I don't think it's possible to say how we would have turned out if we imposed current policies and ideals on our past selves. One could argue if we had the feelings toward the whale as we do now we wouldn't have had appropriate lubrication for motors that drove the industrial revolution. But one could also argue that human are highly inventive and they would have developed other lubrication.
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The real question: shouldn't we deny the unreasonable energy flow and posessions that the angry, irrational unwashed masses demand?

Conservation is the ultimate conservatism.
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