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Peat mound septic in Minnesota © Daniel FriedmanFacts vs Opinions at InspectApedia
Editorial Opinions

This page explains how we use the word "opinion" at InspectApedia and includes some general thoughts on expertise, technical publishing, and the importance of authoritative and accurate research, particularly where building or environmental questions of our readers may involve health and safety hazards or significant financial risks.

InspectAPedia tolerates no conflicts of interest. We have no relationship with advertisers, products, or services discussed at this website.

Just Opinions

The articles found at InspectApedia are based on authoritative research, expertise, and expert sources, and nearly all include supporting authoritative citations within the article. In some instances there are additional supporting research citations included with the page but not displayed (to avoid overly-long web pages). These will be provided on request from any reader.

If, however, in an InspectApedia article or in a comment to our readers, you see us use the word OPINON, in that case we're emphasizing that the following text is simply our opinion - what we think.

Separately, at ARTICLE CONTRIBUTORS & REVIEWERS you can see the credentials and experience of key technical reviewers and technical contributors to this website, including the website publisher, Daniel Friedman.

Below on this page we include a few more general opinions of the website editors.

Editorial OPINIONS

Antique hand hewn rafters and cross-collar tie in a pre-1900 home (C) Daniel Friedman at InspectApedia.com [Click to enlarge any image]

Our "old house with blackened rafters & roof" photo illustrates some of the clues available in older buildings that can help determine the building's age and condition or that may be a tip-off that the occupants of this home can't afford to maintain or repair it.

In our view, the continuing shift of income and wealth to an ever-smaller portion of people in many countries has left lots of people worse-off than ever.

InspectApedia.com is not only for home owners, it's also for renters. We welcome questions or requests for advice from everyone.

Opinions Worth Remembering

Regarding free, open access to U.S. building and mechanical systems standards and codes: U.S. courts, including the Supreme Court, have said for almost 200 years: In a democracy, private parties have no business controlling who can read, share, and speak the law — whether it is a statute, a judicial opinion or a building code - Corynne McSherry, an attorney for Public.Resource quoted by LAQW360 in DC Circ. Deems Copyrighted Regulations Fair Use [PDF] (2023)

... many Americans mistrust claims of competence. And yet when it comes to competence, there's still a there, there. Take the collapse in June [2021] of the high-rise condominium in Surfside, Fla., that killed nearly a hundred people:

When it comes to building design, construction, inspection and maintenance, competence isn't merely a self-serving myth.

Either enough steel was used in the condo's foundation, or it was not; either needed repairs were made, or they were not. In the case of Surfside, there was plenty of incompetence going around, and the result was disaster. - Rosa Brooks, "Why Do We Hate Competence?", The New York Times, p. A19, August 20, 2021. Rosa Brooks is a professor at Georgetown University Law School and the author of "Tangled Up in Blue: Policing in the American City."

You have to tell the truth, otherwise you're in trouble. - Charles H. Loeb, 1971 oral history interview, Columbia University, reported in "The Truth Behind the News", The New York Times, William J. Broad, 2021/08/10 p. D1, D3.

Journalists are responsible for following the truth wherever it may guide them. - David Carr,The New York Times - 2013 [1]

Freedom of the press is limited to those who own one. - A.J. Leibling (1904 - 1963), "Do You Belong in Journalism", The New Yorker, 14 May 1960, p. 105

Publicity is justly commended as a remedy for social and industrial diseases. Sunlight is said to be the best of disinfectants; electric light the most efficient policeman. - Louis Dembitz Brandeis (1856 - 1941), "What Publicity Can Do",

in BRANDEIS on OTHER PEOPLE'S MONEY [PDF] — and How Bankers Use It, Frederick A. Stokes Co., Publishers, New York (1914), p. 92.

It has often and confidently been asserted, that man's origin can never be known: but

ignorance more frequently begets confidence than does knowledge: it is those who know little, and not those who know much, who so positively assert that this or that problem will never be solved by science. - Charles Darwin, The Descent of Man - 1871

No government ought to be without censors; and where the press is free no one ever will. - Thomas Jefferson letter to George Washington, September 9, 1792

Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances. - First Amendment to the U.S. Constitution, 15 December, 1791

The freedom of the press is one of the greatest bulwarks of liberty, and can never be restrained but by despotic Governments. - U.S. Declaration of Rights, 1776

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