# Who's Milton?



## Yikes (Feb 3, 2011)

I see "Milton's rule" bantered about on this board, but can somebody tell me who was Milton?


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## Alias (Feb 3, 2011)

John Milton wrote _Paradise Lost_ along with other works.  b. 1608, d. 1674.

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

Sue, where the west still lives................


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## Gene Boecker (Feb 3, 2011)

I was making reference to the tag line at the bottom of Brudgers comments:

Milton's Rule: Start with "How can I approve this set of plans."

Code analysis per IBC 2006 U.N.O.



I supposing that Milton was a plan reviewer.  Ben?  Any insight here?


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## texasbo (Feb 3, 2011)

Meet MiltonMilton was a 17th century poet and plans examiner, who took a brief sabbatical from his chosen occupations to write a documentary exposing the egregious heavy handedness of English building departments of the time. There have been those who said that Upton Sinclair's "The Jungle" drew heavily from Milton's style. But those people are wrong.  Milton used mainly metaphor (unusual for documentaries of the day) , casting the Building Officials as Satan (see attachment), and architects as Adam or Eve, depending on their gender.Unfortunately, Milton died of the Bubonic Plague before he completed his epic tale of good versus evil. So all we are left with is the epitaph from his custom carved headstone, designed by an obscure, small-time local architect,  which reads: "First do no harm", which is scratched out, because it was originally intended for a quack alchemist (and this architect was both thrifty and green), followed by "Let's see how I can approve this permit".

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## Mule (Feb 3, 2011)

He's Waldo's cousin!


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## RJJ (Feb 3, 2011)

Texasbo! Well when I had to read Milton back in English lit 300 never saw anything about building departments in the Cliff Notes! And besides Sinclair we had the tail of Lord Byron "Lord of the Flies".


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## texasbo (Feb 3, 2011)

RJJ said:
			
		

> Texasbo! Well when I had to read Milton back in English lit 300 never saw anything about building departments in the Cliff Notes! And besides Sinclair we had the tail of Lord Byron "Lord of the Flies".


The moral to that: Never rely on Cliff's Notes; you miss the best parts of the story!


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## Yikes (Feb 3, 2011)

I knew about Milton the poet, I just didn't know he was a plans examiner!


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## texasbo (Feb 3, 2011)

Indeed he was, Yikes. He actually approved the plans for Ferriner's Bakery, which was responsible for the Great Fire of London (due to the bakery's confusion between a property line and a lot line), as well as many of the buildings in which Londoner's perished due to lack of operable doors.


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## mtlogcabin (Feb 3, 2011)

I believe in Brudgers previous life he worked as a plans examiner in Florida and that was the mission statement "How can I approve this set of plans." of his employer the city of Milton located east of Pensacola. After all the building department there is under the planning department which by their very nature are visionary in their review of things.

Did I win anything


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## texasbo (Feb 3, 2011)

mtlogcabin said:
			
		

> Did I win anything


A dozen slightly well done English muffins from Ferriner's Bakery.


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## brudgers (Feb 3, 2011)

Milton created The Whizzo Quality Assortment.


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## RJJ (Feb 3, 2011)

AND Milton said:" Anon,out of the earth a fabric huge Rose, like an Exhalation" ( Paradise Lost) I suppose he was predicting the fire of London!


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## Yikes (Feb 3, 2011)

texasbo said:
			
		

> Indeed he was, Yikes. He actually approved the plans for Ferriner's Bakery, which was responsible for the Great Fire of London (due to the bakery's confusion between a property line and a lot line), as well as many of the buildings in which Londoner's perished due to lack of operable doors.


Thank you.  I hereby present you with the Cliff Clavin award.  Cheers!


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## texasbo (Feb 3, 2011)

RJJ said:
			
		

> AND Milton said:" Anon,out of the earth a fabric huge Rose, like an Exhalation" ( Paradise Lost) I suppose he was predicting the fire of London!


That's one possibility, rjj. Another is that he had experienced the pleasures of a trip to Pancho's Mexican Buffet.


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