Story Notes: NYC Title 24 §4-03 · 4:03pm Sep 4th, 2023
Happy Labor Day, y'all! Here in the US we celebrate by letting some workers have the day off while other still have to work. Also one of my neighbors celebrated by launching a few leftover fireworks, but that's not exactly tradition.
I figured today was not only a good day to publish a fic about a working pony, but it's also a chance to remind y'all that the Not-A-Contest is still a thing. Also the Not-A-Contest II, which isn't as popular.
Offbeat is the fan name of one of the ponies who lived in Starlight Glimmer's village. As far as I know, there's no shots of her with a cutie mark. She seems like a very friendly pony.
(screencap)
As far as I could tell, there's no image of Offbeat getting her cutie mark back. She's in the vault with the other ponies and presumably does, but I have no idea what it might be--if there's another episode later that shows it, I am unaware of it.
Sometimes I wonder what happened to all the ponies who lived in Starlight's village. Some of them stayed and rebuilt their lives, but many more surely left. Maybe they went back home, or maybe they moved somewhere else and tried to forget their pasts. I've heard that deprogramming* someone who's left a cult can be challenging, and we certainly don't see any effort to offer psychological help to the villagers in the episodes. [*I don't really like the terms 'deprogramming' or 'reprogramming,' but that's what I've seen used.]
The idea of a pony pulling a carriage was inspired in part by a story I'd read years and years ago about a guy who moved his family to live with the Mennonites (I think) for about a year. While he didn't stay, he wound up starting a new career as a rickshaw puller in some city in the US. We know that ponies pull taxies in Equestria, so why not do the same on Earth? There are cities that offer horse-drawn carriages for people, why not have a pony-pulled one?
The second part of the inspiration came from Earth laws. Some years ago, I'd been toying with the idea of a delivery pony having to undergo a DOT (Department of Transportation) inspection as if she were a truck due to some bull-headed inspector insisting it was a requirement. She'd fail, of course; ponies don't have turn signals (among other requirements).
And then while I was doing research on that or some other thing, I discovered that New York City has very specific laws about working horses.
(Screencap)
That idea got shelved for a while while I worked on other projects, and then this weekend the mood was right and I just set to work.
Horse care regulations fall under the purview of the Department of Health and Mental Hygiene. I'm not going to quote them all for you here; if, for some reason, you want to read through the regulations, most of them can be found HERE.
§4-02 (d.1) states that "Stables in which horses used in a rental horse business are kept shall be open for inspection by authorized officers, veterinarians and employees of the Department of Health, and any persons designated by the Commissioner to enforce the provisions of this title..."
§4-02 (d.2) includes the requirement that the stables have a time-clock to record the horse's movement, something I didn't put in the story (or maybe I added it after writing the blog post).
Here's where I'd have put a pony punching in at a time clock, but I couldn't find an image of that.
§4-03 deals with the stable facilities. (f) says that "Stalls in stables shall be a minimum of four feet wide, ten feet long, with a ceiling clearance of at least nine feet. Bedding shall be changed at least once daily, and shall be at least three inches deep." I looked up 'bedroom' requirements in the NYC apartment code, which regulates that they be at least 80 sq. feet (7.5 sq meters) and a minimum width of eight feet (2.4 meters), which satisfies most of the requirement. Ceiling height is only regulated at eight feet, though (it can, of course, be more). The code doesn't specify what bedding should or should not be.
Also since we're talking about bedding, in American English it only includes mattress coverings (bed linins, blankets, etc.), whereas in British English it also includes the mattress . . . at least according to Google. Since we're talking about a legal document, who knows?†
§4-04 (b) states that "Sufficient nutritional foods* and water shall be provided free of dust, mold, vermin and other contaminants. Rental horses shall be fed at least twice daily with the larger feeding being provided after the horse has completed work." You will notice, as I did, that there's an asterisk after nutritional foods, implying a footnote below or a definition above. None of the documents I found gave more insight into what counts as 'nutritional foods,' so despite what Inspector McDonagh might think of her dinner choice, it's not specifically prohibited. However, I don't think that you should feed a wild mushroom risotto to a real horse. Stick with pizza.
(don't feed horses pizza, either)
Finally, §4-05 mandates working hours (10 hours every 24, a fifteen minute break for every two pulling hours). She can't work if it's over 90F (air temp) or 85F (wet bulb) [32C/29C]
Other regulations in other documents include a requirement for 5 weeks of vacation annually "at a horse stable facility which allows daily access to paddock or pasture turnout." They have better benefits than I do, lol. The minimum working age is 5 years old, and the maximum age is 26 (or 27; NYC and New York State have different requirements and I did my best to figure out which were applicable to Offbeat's situation, but reading legal papers isn't my forte). Cold weather operations (below 18F [-8C] are prohibited, and "during the months of November through April every carriage [shall be] equipped with a heavy winter horse blanket large enough to cover the horse from crest of neck to top of rump. Such blankets shall be used to cover carriage horses in cold weather."
Speaking of her dinner, you won't be surprised to know that I did some googling. Maison Harlem really exists, as does Torch and Crown. I also looked up apartments for rent in her neighborhood. One of them did have barn doors to separate the bedroom from the rest of the apartment.
Her address as listed on the form isn't an actual apartment, instead it's the NY Department of Buses. Her tag number is a perfect number, and Claude Bourgelat (1712-1779) was one of the founders of modern veterinary medicine. He was trained as a lawyer and then changed careers due to his love of horses. Topical!
As for the hoof branding . . . that is also a requirement. We've debated back and forth whether ponies wear shoes, and if so how they fasten them--nails, glue, or do they just wear hoof boots when needed? Presuming that they do, and presuming that at least some ponies go for hot shoeing, having a number branded into her hoof wall isn't that big a deal. Unlike a 'traditional' brand (hot or cold), it'll grow out as her hoof grows, so she's not stuck with it forever.
†I feel like this is a good place to link "What is a Photocopier?" for those of you who haven't seen it.
"Isn't there anyone who knows what Labor Day is all about?!"
-Charlie Brown
"Sure Charlie Brown, I can tell you what Labor Day is all about."
-Linus
Remember Haymarket!
And the Triangle Factory.
And Ludlow.
5745193
In fairness the IRL deposition was apparently nowhere near as angry. Still, there's a reason I don't do litigation.
Hey, we can make fun of lawyers all day long and I'm happy.
Possession is 9 parts of the law. Lawyer's fees are the other 91.
But does it say that stable are required to be used? Or that these rules apply to things other than stables?
The connotations do at least demonstrate how inhumane some cults can be.
5745198
That doesn't surprise me--I suppose lawyers sometimes get heated in depositions, but I imagine that most of them know that the histrionics would serve them better in court. Still, the text is crazy enough, and it does make for a good dramatic reading.
5745200
Yeah, you ain't wrong.
5745227
The 'definitions' section at the beginning of the law say this:
So under the provisions of the law, her apartment would probably count as her stable, since that's where she's 'housed or maintained.'
Also, trying the endrun around the 'stable' might run afoul of this clause also in New York Law*
The time she's off work and in her 'stable' matter for the hours of service requirement--while I would assume that there was some time allowed for transport, if she never visited her 'stable,' that would probably be a violation.
*New York City and New York State have different requirements for working horses which are similar but have some differences, and I'm not sure which regulations are for which jurisdiction, since I'm not all that great at doing legal research online. But then this story isn't meant to serve as a legal brief.
5745262
Yeah, and I think that's why the word is used. I just don't like it, personally, even if I understand why it's used.
5745193
OMG! If I didn't know this was an actual case, I would have thought it was a Monty Python episode!
5745285
There's probably a lot of legal discoveries that read like this . . . as MasterThief pointed out, the real discovery wasn't as contentious, but it does make for a great video.
The entire file is available online, and most of it is really, really boring. As you'd expect (I looked it up once; this particular exchange is six hundred pages in or thereabouts).
When a pegasus has to register themselves as an airplane, are they propeller or jet driven?
Huh. I did wonder why she was punching out at her home.
5745306
Ornithopter, unless they updated and adjusted rules since Silver Glow.
5745314
It's the FAA (at least in the US.) They might update regulations before the heat death of the universe, but I wouldn't bet on it.
This story reminds me about a satirical FanFic of Star Trek, in which the Federation looses to the Borg, out of desperation, the Federation releases its ultimate weapon … ¡Lawyers! The Lawyer envelop the Borg in red tape.
5745193
Photocopiers use Xerography (DryWriting) which uses the photoelectric effect. Einstein won a NobelPrize, not for Relativity, but for the photoelectric effect.
While the New York rules regarding working horses would be a nightmare. Think about FAA regulations on pegasi, especially if they can exceed the speed of sound! The author Kitsy-Chan did a pretty good treatment of how pegasi would be treated by military and civilian air authorities in her story Velvet Nightfall. And an in practice of a pegasus keeping pace with an airliner in Slicer Jen's Civil Patrol. Both are excellent reads.
MAISON HARLEM BABYYY
I'm a proud resident of harlem, I'm very pleased to see you picked one of the better uptown spots this part of town has to offer
Also shockingly relevant - as a former NYC department of buildings employee, you NAILED the inspectorly vibe. Those guys can be positively ghoulish when they want to be. Hardcore doesn't even begin to describe it.
5745306
As 5745314 pointed out, in Silver Glow's Journal she was classified as an 'ornithopter' (an aircraft which achieves flight by flapping wings). In Sky Sweeper, Flight Medic (set in England), Sky Sweeper is classified as a 'lighter-than-air' aircraft.
None of the regulations really were set up for pegasi.
And that is why. She's staying in compliance with the law.
5745557
Yeah, you're not wrong. They're not exactly quick when it comes to regulations (but AFAIK they did come up with drone regulations eventually).
5745563
As I recall, in Battlefield Earth (the book not the movie) the lawyers and bankers are the ones that stop the attacking forces.
Some photocopiers; technology varies by company [having said that, the original definition of a photocopier might be for one that's specifically photoelectric, but which has since expanded to all machines which make copies]. IIRC, a lot of 'laser' printers don't really use lasers at all, but duplicated the effect of the early models which did.
5745678
Yes, although she's found a nice niche to fall into that's in the broad grey area of the regulations.
Oh, I have. That's a plot point in Silver Glow's Journal and Sky Sweeper, Flight Medic, and also mentioned in several other PoE fics I've written (including mandatory equipment, VFR and IFR rules, allowed minimums, beacons and/or nav lights, possibly ADS-B [technology has changed since my earliest pegasus PoE stories). License requirements, what she's classified as [ornithopter in the US, lighter-than-air in the UK], where she can and cannot land--including at airports--and so on. I've also covered flight regulations in one Equestria story, basically a NTSB-style report after a midair collision involving pegasi pulling a wagon and a pedal-powered helicopter.
That having been said, I'm always interested in seeing how other authors have handled the subject, and I'll be checking out those stories
5745737
Thank you! I always like putting local landmarks in stories, even if it's a place I've never been.
If you're a NYC resident, you might also enjoy Window Washersi.
While of course that attitude is a bit of a parody on inspectors, it's clearly based on real life. I've never encountered anything quite like it, but I've gotten slightly mired in regulatory and jurisdictional . . . we'll go with events. And that was three weeks of entertainment and phone calls and a two-hour round trip to just get an e-mail address which apparently can't be got with a phone call before things got worked out.
5745768
Another few centuries and they might get around to allowing unleaded fuel!
5745769
Some LASERPrinters now use LEDs. LASERPrinters an LEDPrinters still use the PhotoElectric Effect. Printers using InkJets do not.
The local government were an arsehole. Since the TaxPayers own the documents, it should not charge for them. If the local government would decide to make only those needing the documents pay for them, pay for them, a dime for an individual pages ov a nickel a page for the whole document (less labor per page when printing the whole document (economies of scale) is reasonable. Unfortunately for the poor of this county, the government treats these documents as a source of income. At least they do not kill people:
Some governments reduce the time their lights are yellow so that they can ticket fore people for RedLightRunning. This increases the number of fatal accidents. As some struck by a car, I would rather a light remain yellow 5 seconds too long than 1 second too short. As a mechanic, ¿what is your opinion?
I can imagine Equestrian ponies moving to America to pull tourist carriages would be incredibly lucrative.
Having a sapient pony escort you across a town is an unforgettable experience, to say the least.
5745778
The rational of requiring tetraethyllead is that it reduces knock (premature detonation. 2 other ways exist for reducing premature detonation:
The bonds begin to break at the ends of the molecules, If we would use cyclohydrocarbons such as cyclohexane, that would reduce knock. S-Bonds do not have as much energy as π-Bonds. If we use pure benzene, that would be a low-knock high-energy fuel.
Another additive he can had to a mixture of linear alcanes of random length are alcohols. Alcohols reduce knock, but reduce energy too.
Benzene seems like the perfect fuel, with low knock, high energy, and a pleasant smell, but its molecules are small and fat-solvable; thus making them into the equivalent of molecular wrenches.
Admiral Biscuit knows far more about engines and fuel-mixture than I do. I recommend that you ask him.
5745778
I know, right? And maybe electronic fuel injection, too.
5745823
From what I understand of the case, the problem was that the office wanted to offer the documents electronically on a CD. Which on its face isn't a bad thing . . . but since a CD can hold so many documents, they were charging something like $5000/CD.
I'd have to look up the case again to find out for sure, but it was something like that.
5745962
Yeah, that would be a big advantage she'd have, and she could either charge a premium (if the prices aren't fixed by law, which I don't know), or else just get more business because of the uniqueness of it.
5745968
You are correct in why it's used. However, we've moved well past that in engine technology, and what works in an internal combustion car engine also works in an internal combustion airplane engine. You don't even need an engine computer to avoid spark knock.
In that regard, it's a great fuel; in every other regard it is not. It's one of those things that was widely regarded as dangerous to humans back in 1948, back when kids were still playing with the mercury out of thermometers.
Fun fact! You used to be able to drink benzine in Crystal Lite; Kraft reformulated it so the chemical reaction that made benzine no longer happened in the bottle.
5746132
Although benzene is toxic and is a carcinogen, some compounds are far more toxic. As an example, let is look at dimethylmercury:
In 1996, Professor Karen Wetterhahn spilled a few drops of dimethymercury on her gloved hand (latexglove). It went straight through the glove. Over 10 months, it destroyed her brain and killed her the next year in 1997.
5745968
Or they could just allow automotive engines, which are more reliable now than when the regulations were written and can run on unleaded fuel.
5746297
¿Do CarEngines have sufficient Power-To-Weight-Ratio?:
Given that these engines are for planes, one would not want an heavy underpowered engine.
5746298
Most production ones, probably not. But you can build one to make more horsepower if you want to, and also utilize some of the more modern engine tech. A lot of light aircraft engines are air cooled for simplicity (this doesn't have to be done; AFAIK some airplane engines are/were liquid cooled) and there isn't really a car engine that fits that bill.
Porsche made air-cooled engines for the 911 up until 1997 (which was the beginning of the modern computers era), and they made almost 600 hp and weighed as little as 400 pounds (180kg) which would work for a lot of light airplanes.
It's my understanding that regulations are holding up some potential innovation, since the FAA isn't convinced that electronic engine management is as reliable as points and a distributor, or that fuel injection can be reliable versus a carburetor with a manual choke.
A lot of small general aviation aircraft still require leaded fuel, too.
I'm not totally up to speed--I'm not a pilot, and a lot of what I know comes from what my brother (who is a pilot) complained about the archaic rules, but that was years ago and they might have since improved some things (or not, it's the FAA).