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Dumb Laws
Guyle writes "DumbLaws.com is the most hilarious site I've ever been to. The people who run it went to an amazing amount of trouble to find strange laws from all fifty states in the US, as well as a few other countries. Ever wanted to know where and when you could legally beat your wife, or where you can be fined for not flushing the toilet? Find out for yourself! " This is definitely worth a read. Funny stuff.
Are there any other people out there who are criminals, according to this website?
Eh, I thought it was radio station programmers who decided what a station plays, and not the people.
Anyway, if you say this is censorship, you should point out precisely which kind of content this prevents from being aired.
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Indeed. I'd bet the majority of the "laws" here are simply made up, and many of the rest aren't very meaningful. For example, surely it's illegal in every state to simultaneously commit murder and read Slashdot, but that's not a very interesting fact.
OTOH, they left out some very real, and very stupid, laws. They didn't even bother with federal laws, as far as I can tell. For example, all of the following are funny without any distortion:
* Under 7 U.S.C. sec. 13-1, the Onion Futures Act, you can be convicted of a misdemeanor and fined $5000 for trading futures on onions.
* Under 50 U.S.C. sec. 407, anyone who has, in the past, contracted to conduct any study of under what circumstances the United States should surrender is ineligible for any federal job.
* 50 U.S.C. sec. 843, still in force, punishes membership in the Communist party.
* 10 U.S.C. sec. 772(j)(1) specifically makes it legal for members of the Boy Scouts of America to wear the Boy Scout uniform.
* 28 U.S.C. sec. 1863 provides for a different method of selecting jurors in Massachusetts federal courts than in every other federal district.
* 35 U.S.C. provides for--get this--patents! How dumb.
I Can't Believe It's A Law Firm, LLP does not necessarily endorse the contents of this message.
I still think the funniest law I've ever seen was when some state legislature set the value of pi to be three. Yes, they set a fundamental trancendental mathematical constant to another value. The stupidity boggles the mind.
I think it was Virginia. Or maybe Indiana... I forgot. The full text of the bill is floating around on the net somewhere, I'm just too lazy to look for it now.
It will never happen, that would require intelligence. The intelligent people in this country get real jobs. :)
At the end of our lifetimes, I'm sure we'll be able to get a good laugh at the current rules we have abnout encryption and computers (and you know they won't get updated when the time comes).
"Sending unsolicited email is illegal? I suppose routers weren't intelligent enough back then to filter it automatically. HA, the primitive world my parents grew up in!"
--Allright, this is getting offtopic but how will your grandchildren handle the following situation (or their grandchildren, if you already have grandchildren)
"HMM, why won't it let me choose QWERTYUIOP as my password. It seems pretty random, and it's longer than 8 characters, so only a computer professional should be able to crack it. I wonder if this has anything to do with when they used to enter data by pushing buttons with letters on them"
Don't forget, some of these laws have been repealed a long time back. (There's a column in the paper that deals with such within-city items, and "Dumb Laws" sometimes appear occasionally. Usually they call up the local PD to verify it's truth - sometimes it's true, othertimes it's an urban legend, and usually, it's an outdated law that has long been struck off the books)
There is the occasional dumb law that slips through, though. But it's usually so stupid and obscure no one is ever caught under it. Gotta find it.
Always knew there was a reason nobody around here can drive..
Some unwritten laws that Memphians do obey:
1. Never use your turn signal
2. If you intend make a right turn, make sure you're in the left lane. If you happen to already be in the right lane, merge left first.
3. Stop and look at accidents, but do not assist.
4. If you took a wrong exit, back up - do not keep going until you reach a point where you can safely turn around.
5. Elvis fans are worth 50 points.
When will Windows be ready for the desktop?
The rest of Canada should sign a petition for the US to nuke Toronto
I often thought that a lot of the really "off-the wall, is that really a widespread problem?" laws were probably enacted long ago to combat a specific individual.
such as:
Old Joe likes to walk past the front of St. Jude's Methodist Assembly in Peoria at precisely 11:45 each Sunday with an Ice Cream Cone shoved in his pocket for the benefit of the Mayor and his wife as they leave services to go to a late brunch with their friends. No one knows why, and this really irks Mrs. Mayor no end as she thinks that this is some kind of perverted kick for Old Joe who just strolls by there silently grinning with rocky road slowly melting away in his coveralls.
Mayor calls the Sheriff who can't come up with anything to arrest Joe for, he's not a vagrant, he's not loitering, he's not making any obscene gestures or doing anything else illegal, he's just walking along on the public sidewalk with Ice Cream in his drawers.
So the Mayor gets the city council to pass an ordinance that you can't walk on the sidewalk on Sunday with ice cream in your pocket. The Sheriff runs Joe in the next time he does this and the Judge fines him $20 or holds him in the tank overnight to make his point. Joe sees that the joke is over and either backs off or starts chaining wheelbarrows to his front yard tree with a for-sale sign on it.
If you look at the laws in Illinois, you will see one in Park Ridge that you have to park a truck in an enclosed garage. Actually, the oridinance in Mt. Prospect is that a commercial vehicle cannot be parked in a resident's driveway, it has to be in a garage. This ordinance was not the result of hundreds of complaints by enraged citizens that their neighbor who drove a repair truck was parking their truck in the drive next door, this was the result of one village board member's personal fued with his neighbor who happened to work for Sears and drove his service van home every night and parked it in his driveway behind his other two cars blocking the sidewalk.
The oridinance was never enforced. It was put on the books by this wacko trustee who managed to force it trough so he could call the cops on his neighbor when he wanted to.
LOL!
Well, it really doesn't matter if the decision has made any changes in most schools. The fact of the matter is that it does make the state look bad. Even if most school boards are committed to giving children a quality education, that doesn't change the Kansas BOE's image as being Luddite and theocratical. Yes, this probably isn't fair to the whole state, but that's the way it is. The good thing is that people can make their voices heard, and Kansas would do well to improve its reputation by getting itself a more reasonable BOE .. IMHO that would reverse a lot of the damage that's been done.
Some laws really look too stupid to be true, but it's a very funny site. :-) I can't resist LOL when reading it. I feel like being a criminal in every state I have already been in the USA. :-)
BTW, why the hell are so many states concerned about people carrying ice cream cones in their pockets? :-)
To contribute a little, two laws from around here in Brazil:
There are many more of this laws around here (if I remember well, watermelons are forbidden in a city here in my state). But many times these are old laws (like this watermelon one) about something that was believed or that were part of the reality in that time (in this case, watermelons were believed to bring some kind of disease).
BTW, if someone from Jonesboro, GA, read my subject, I may be in real trouble. :-)
My boss is British, and he tells me that they drive by in a special van, tuned to detect the IF leakage from the TV's superheterodyne, by all the houses of people who didn't buy a TV license. They confiscate unlicensed TV sets and levy a fine.- --
So it's illegal to own a receiver for radio waves which are going into your house. Look at it this way - imagine that somebody puts up a tower with a light on it, and you aren't allowed to look at the light unless you pay a fee. It's the same thing, physically! TV waves are LIGHT!
Well, the fucking USA has such a law too, believe it or not! You can't buy a radio receiver which gets certain bands - for example, cell phone transmissions. An old TV (without a Phase-Locked Loop tuner) can pick these up without any trouble at all. At least they don't confiscate all the old TV's. But it's illegal to build a radio receiver. That's sick.
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Man has the right to build as he will, to mold as he will, to shape as he will. Man has the right to love as he will, to speak as he will, to travel freely across the face of the Earth.
Man has the right to kill all those who would thwart these rights.
Aleister Crowley.
Isn't monday after midday Sunday? Doesn't that make it illegal to wear hot pink pants any time, except (maybe) Sunday morning?
it doesn't work.
That law seems ahead of its time to me.
You would expect the law to only require the woman to be over 50, old men can still make babies, so what does it matter how old the guy is?
But then the law would be sexist. It's politically correct now.
BTW, is it still legal for men (at least the Mormons) to have multiple wives in Utah?
Enough on evolution! The Kansas constitution will be changed and the BOE will be taken away from the nuts.
;-)
Is it so stupid to have a law against leaving your car running in Salina like they said on the web site? Our local Salina paper today had a report that well over half the stolen cars had the keys left in them. A cab was stolen when the driver left the cab running while picking up a lunch to be delivered for a customer. You know you are in a small town when a stolen cab makes the paper
The juvenile people that put together this site probably thought that "molest butterflies" had some sore of sexual connotation. Failing to note that "molest" means "to bother or annoy". Stuff like this causes me to doubt the voracity of the entire site. Laws are funny enough without paraphrasing!
Sig goes here
Perhaps someone could start up a site and research some of those stranger laws and get the stories behind them...
I'm trying to teach myself to set people on fire with my mind... Is it hot in here?
The reason is probably to prevent crossbreeding between humans and horses. If the horse is pre-pubescent, then what's the problem?
Is it not legal to marry your sister in WV?
Well you're supposed to be at Church on Sundays, so if you have icecream in your back pocket, you'll make a mess on the church benches. Or maybe you're already not supposed to eat ice cream on Sunday, it being Sunday and all, but some wiseguy said "I'm not eating it, I'm just holding it in my pocket [until you turn your back, then I'll have some]."
It seems that anglo-american people (that includes most anglo-canadians) don't understand why we, French Canadians, are trying to protect our language and our culture. Does French in America sound dumb to the point of making fun of it?
There's already a law in California that makes English the only official language, do you find it funny? Californian people now experience the fear of getting surrounded by Spanish speakers, they're scared to death, they're not laughing at all. In Poland, they recently had to pass a law to stop the proliferation of English-only signs for tourists because the cities were no longer using Polish.
Languages are more than commidities or exotic products, they're the soul of people. Language laws have nothing to do with absurd laws that forbid oral sex or unmarried women to fish alone. Anglo-supremacism is a real danger, and we are trying hard not to become like Cajuns.
Mr. Coward, you use of the word "fascist" is profoundly abusive, it's a shame. You obviously know nothing about Quebec. And if your first language is English, you should go back to (a real) school and learn the spelling and the meaning of words.
Marc
In Seattle, Washington, it is illegal to carry a concealed weapon longer than six feet in length.
I wonder if this was made a law before - or after - the guy who decided to march back and forth downtown with a longsword a couple years back got TV coverage.
The point though... You've got to be pretty damn tall to conceal a weapon six feet long.
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If a tree falls on an anonymous coward yelling 'first post' in the forest, does anybody hear?
In Flower Mound, the cutting of a tree on your property is illegal without a permit.
Why is this a dumb law? If everyone in Flower Mound cut their trees down it would become a less hospitable place to live. The city council should have some say regarding the look of the town. While a short-sighted home owner might want to cut down a fifty year old tree, in the long run it could hurt the surrounding land values.
Sig goes here
Did you notice the links to their other pages. One of them was Dumb Criminals. Under the "Convenience" section, there is one story about the Red Hat Bandit. I wonder what some people who are worried about all the money/power Red Hat has achieved lately would say about this... :-)
Nothing wrong with wanting to preserve cultural identity (and it's not as if all the songs had to be Canadian content, just one in five) but it is true that some of the Canadian language laws seem to go a bit overboard. One such law made it possible for a French-Canadian to sue a pet shop owner because the parrot he bought didn't speak French. Speaking of weird laws, here's a weird law that was on the books in Orem, Utah until just a few years back. The city passed a law prohibiting having custody of a primate. (We assume they meant monkeys, but were just having too much fun with more scientific sounding words.) This however meant that technically it was illegal to have custody of any human as well. Good thing they didn't try enforcing it.
--she sings from somewhere you can't see...
Well, I talked to my roommate, and sorry, the word for Montrealer in French is Montréalais/e...
Granted, he lived in franco-land until 2 months ago, but still.
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Oh come on! It is still a crappy decision. In Science class, one should learn the information that coincides with the prevailing view of the scientific community. By not testing students on this information, teachers are not required to teach it. Why waste time on something that isn't going to be tested on the standardized tests? As long as the scientific community strongly supports evaluation, it should definitely be in the curriculum.
People with strong views on religion should not dictate the science curriculum. It is obvious that they were unable to get creationism into the curriculum (because there is extremely little scientific basis for it), so they removed evolution from the curriculum. This is clearly doing a disservice to the students in Kansas.
Sig goes here
first post! woohoo! stupid laws
[w00t@freaky.bish]# rm
Read about Onan. Tell me what that says, at least with regards to spilling your seed outside of the vagina. Seems pretty clear to me what it's saying. Not that I agree with it. Reminds me of the old Monty Python song, "Every Sperm is Sacred" or something. :) Seriously though, most of these acts aren't explicitly referred to (masturbation isn't what Onan does, he practices Coitus Interruptus, which I don't think is particularly immoral, but is definitely a Bad Idea). Maybe God was just letting us know that Onan was practicing a bad form of birth control? Come to think of it, if we take the Bible literally, it clearly says that Onan was condemned and punished by God for refusing to fsck his deceased brother's wife. That's pretty nasty, and nobody nowadays would buy into that. So why the hell do they selectively use the other shit from the story? Heh. Hypocritical literalists. Anyway, I say beat off to your heart's cotent, and never refuse a good BJ.
Okay, completely offtopic, but what the hell!
Being British, all I can say is that Ireland did suffer under British oppression for a very long time. Being annexed and then starved is not something that any one would want. I wasn't taught that at school at all, and only learnt of it once I was at University with a knowledgable Irish girl.
But, in the last twenty years, I would say that Northern Ireland has suffered the most followed by Mainland Britain. It's not Ireland's fault, but Britain's itself for moving so many Protestants to the province in the first place. It was a religious/freedom war, but that finished a long time ago. The modern paramilitaries are very different from Michael Collins. Now it is 'something else'. Alledgedly the beatings are still going on from both sides. I worked in Eire for a few months last year and was warned not to make an appearance in the province simply because I was English. I took the advice. I hope that peace will happen there.
Back ontopic though, I think that New York's laws have to be the best. The first couple are excellent..
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Hey, that's a great idea.
If a law had to be renewed every 25 years or so, stupid old laws like the ones about firing a gun when coming into town to warn people about motor cars would be dropped.
So much easier than tracking these down and repealing them.
Laws against leaving cars running aren't so stupid. I know some places are passing laws against leaving trucks idling for longer than so many minutes when making deliveries and are banning drive throughs. All of this is to reduce pollution.
Leaving an unattended vehicle running is dangerous and should also probably be illegal.
Bolie IV
Some of these laws aren't dumb like they think, they are just old and were never looked at again. Others truly are dumb, but if you tend to think about why that law would be eneacted like I do then it gets annoying.
Nascantur in Admiratione. (Let them be born in Wonder)
In the Australian section it says that a taxi must have a bale of hay in the boot, and that a bar must have facilitys for horses, ive never seen this before and i live here!
...is a law against pouring hot grits down your pants :)
In a few years, people will look at it and wonder where the heck *that* came from.
Roses are red, violets are blue. I'm a schitzophrenic, and so am I.
... I would dearly love to know the stroy behind:
'Donkeys are not allowed to sleep in bathtubs'.
The mind boggles...
It's a shame the guys they GOT the idea from, stupidlaws.com, stopped updating their site!
And there are a bunch of other 'Dumb Laws' that are perfectly reasonable when you understand the context.
I remember a law about not being able to water your lawn with an automated device during the summer. That's just to make sure people don't set the timer to overwater because the reseviors were low. Many arid climates have similar laws.
Some laws are either dumb, or so antiquated as to be laughable, but some make sense if seen in context.
I had a book of stuff like this, called "The Trenton Pickle Ordinance".
:)
A lot of it is either really old, or just have stupid mistakes in wording. Like the one where the two trains stop at a crossroads, "and neither shall go until the other has passed". Deadlock!
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pb Reply or e-mail rather than vaguely moderate.
pb Reply or e-mail; don't vaguely moderate.
Some Australian laws clarified: (IANAL)
:-)
>> A life sentance is 25 years
After 25 years in goal (thats how Australians spell 'jail') you are eligible for parole. There's no such thing as a ruling for 'life without parole'. IMHO this is better than the American system.
>> It is illegal to read someones tarrot, or give them a pyschic reading as these are forms of witchcraft.
Open up an Australian tabloid and turn to the last few pages: "Call 1902XXXXXX to recieve your psychic reading. Trust us, we're right. Only $5/minute"
>> The legal age for straight sex is 16, unless the person is is in the care/custody of the older person, in which case it is 18
The legal age for straight sex is 16, I don't know about homosexual sex, though. There are laws against incest in Australia
>> Under Australian Communications Authority (ACA) regulations, your modem can't pick up on the first ring. If it does the ACA permit for your modem is invalid and there's a $12000 fine.
This is true.
And my favorite law in all of this is the Japanese law:
>> There is no age of consent.
So where's the problem?
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"I used to live in Real Life(TM), now I live in my computer"
Here's a law that truly applies to Memphis drivers...
Illegal for a woman to drive a car unless there is a man either running or walking in front of it waving a red flag to warn approaching motorists and pedestrians.
Always knew there was a reason nobody around here can drive..
"It is illegal to wear hot pink pants after midday Sunday." -- now there's some good legislation!
http://www.dumblaws.com/aust.shtml
Napster-to-go says "Fill and refill your compatible MP3 player", which is a lie. It's not MP3. It's WMA with DRM.
Like encryption exporation and Australian backdoors?
drug laws
-DAVEO
Oral sex and sexual positions other than the missionary position are technically illegal in CT. Also the sale of alcohol is not only banned after 8:00 PM but is banned on Sunday. Go figure.
It is illegal for a Member of Parliament to enter the House of Commons wearing a full suit of armour.
Well, come on. The fact that this law hasn't been repealed makes it kind of silly. I suppose if they did repeal it, everyone would start wearing armour just because they could.
Then why do they have mini-festivals at the square with a POLKA BAND playing and half the town polkaing (is that a word) on the courthouse lawn?
"Heavens, it appears that my weewee has been stricken with rigor mortis!" -- Stewie Griffin
It wouldn't have stopped a nutter planting a bomb, but it may have stopped people from getting hurt.
Also leaving unattened baggage in Airports would just be mad (which I think that law is specific too) anyone could plant anything in there...drugs, bombs...
Off the top of my head, I'd guess that there COULD be no mention of the "missionary position" since missionaries came about to spread the religion which the Bible defined. In other words, there were no missionaries to have sex in the missionary position when the Bible was assembled and published (in those days, copied by hand).
Interrogations Illicit Redundant Comments.
+&x
The Scottish ones are a bit misleading I think. It's legal to trespass in Scotland, cos there's no trespass law. The reason for this is that much of Scotland is made up of large estates, and particularly in the Highlands, many folk live in crofts on those estates. They don't own the land they live on, but pay rent (though it's fairly minimal, and they have special rights to stop the estate owner throwing them off the land). If there was a trespass law, it would mean that there would be very few places you'd be allowed to wander about in the Highlands...there are plenty of other laws to stop people destroying the place...
The "guilty until proven innocent" one refers (I think) to poaching. If you're caught with a salmon, for example, on someone's estate, it's up to you to prove you came by it legally, rather than the other way about....what's more, if you're found guilty, anything you used in the process of poaching the salmon (including that shiny new Range Rover you have parked just down the road) can be confiscated. This is indeed a crappy law.
As for the others, AFAIK if a Scottish law falls into disuse, then it's no longer considered valid legally....maybe some expert can expand on that one...I believe that this is not the case in England.
dylan_-
--
Igor Presnyakov stole my hat
You mean slashdot has strange hidden content, no...
+&x
YOu also half to bathe your hold body in water if you ejaculate, and you will be "unclean till evening" This is pretty sloppy typing!
For a second there I read "it is illegal for 'BEERS' to fly within the city limits on Sunday after 2 pm." Then I was wondering- 'what do they know about beer that we dont'?!!' After reason settled in, I then doubted why beer would want to fly after 2 pm in the first place. Then it just got silly. My sig ran away with the spoon. "The spoon! Of course!" - Bart Simpson "SPOON!" - The Tick "There is no spoon." - Neo,and that bald headed swami kid from The Matrix. "Hey cool! A spork!" - Anonymous "There is no spoon, only Zuul" - An Anonymous bastard with too much time on his hands.
Sorry, What does IIRC stand for?
Oral Sex is illegal? This calls for civil disobedance
Funny that you capitalized oral sex. Freudian slip?
Actually, I think what the lawmakers had in mind with this one (thinking in hetersexual terms here) was to make the act more exciting for the women by making it illegal--a little reverse psychology.
--Last Exit To Babylon
and, as you said, not all the laws are true. (The archery one is false).
Airports like Heathrow have constant reminders that unattended baggage may be removed and destroyed, but I've never seen a suggestion it was a criminal offense to leave it. (Under some circumstances I guess it could be wasting police time or behaviour likely to cause a breach of the peace).
The Prevention of Terrorism (Additional Powers) Act 1996 and Prevention of Terrorism (Temporary Provisions) Act 1989 don't seem to mention it, though the latter is only a summary. There is a section about searches of unaccompanied goods.
rant
genuinely dumb laws there are out there (stuff along the lines of "it is illegal for bees to fly within the city limits on Sunday after 2 pm."
Yeah, you might call it dumb, but have you ever been stung by a bee in a city, on Sunday? It really sucks buddy.
I have heard that in the United States something similar was done. Margarine was almost brown in most places. That has evidently changed, though, as now margerine is almost indistinguishable from butter.
Bolie IV
Can you please offer some actual Biblical citiation to back this up? I mean, really, show me ONE PLACE where the Bible refers to the missionary position or anal sex, or for that matter clarifies what constitutes "marriage." Please.
Oh, you don't know any? What's that, youve never READ the text? Oh, you say that this is what your Christian-bashing buddies told you, which they heard from their Christian-bashing buddies?
I see, so in simple terms, you don't know what the fuck you're talking about; you're just shooting your mouth off.
That $1055 was well spent. I can only speak for MA and VA (states I've lived in), but if you get 5 tickets in a year, you lose your license. Then, it can cost several thousand dollars more to get it back. I would assume (damn, I know I shouldn't do that) that most states handle this in a similar fashion. Add on top, the surcharges you would face from your insurance company.
Of course, your best bet is to avoid getting a ticket in the first place 8^)
Even modern disk brakes can overheat and fail. This is mostly a problem in the mountains which is why many mountain roads warn you to shift into low gear while going downhill. Drum brakes had more of a problem, it's true, but coasting downhill could quickly get you going fast enough that you couldn't safely get back into gear and sudden hard braking could cause you to lose control.
Bolie IV
Actually it depends on which county you live in. Clarion County has sorority houses.
-- Dave... Life isn't fair and it isn't always right but it's all We've got right now.
I'm pretty certain that one is made up.
(I install cable modems in Uxbridge)
It's not a bad law. The air waves are a public resource, as such use of them should serve the public.
If the radio stations played only the top40 songs from the USA, they would be hurting Canadian artists.
And it's not a question of "If it's crap, it doesn't deserve airplay." Canada is a small country and thus people in Canada don't have the huge local market that USA artists do so it's hard to reach the critical mass needed to get onto channels like MTV. It's only a Canadian content law, forcing stations to play some Canadian content, that keeps them from simply doing the easy thing and playing only USA artists.
The law isn't such that 1/5th of your CDs must be from Canadian artists, and 1/5th of your books must be from Canadian authors. Because those things you buy inependently.
Users of public resources, TV and radio stations, are forced to follow these laws because it benefits the Canadian economy by helping local artists and studios.
If you don't like it, buy MTV dance mix CDs and play them in your car.
I believe Ontario makes it a criminal offence to fail to secure a vehicle. I remember someone getting charged with it a few months back.
I doubt most porcupines are >40 lbs...if you're just visiting the state but are from W. Virginia, can you screw a porcupine? On a side note, is it the animal that can't weigh more than 40 lbs?
Sick, sick laws...
Doesn't matter, I'm 99% positive there is no such law in Uxbridge. (I'm the guy who installs their cable modems)
It varies based on the radio station's license. AM stations have a different CanCon requirement than FM stations, for example. But it's usually around 20%-30%.
In Canada we call it Canadian content, and it does not have strong support from the people, especially in the west, where we feel that it takes away our freedom to choose what want to listen to or watch on tv.
What choice? How would allowing stations to play 20% more music from the good ol' USA improve your freedom to choose?
It's a moot point, anyway, because most stations play far more Canadian content than is mandated.
-dave0
-dave0
Thank God we don't have to worry about these types of fucked-up laws showing up on the internet :)
Leviticus, damn it. Christianity includes the Old Testament too. (although it would be better off without it.)
YOu also half to bathe your hold body in water if you ejaculate, and you will be "unclean till evening"
I think they could probably add a lot to the site by just including ANY Australian laws regarding the Internet. We're yet to make any sensible ones...
I heard the reason this is a real law is a lady who was pumping her own gas was also smoking and the resulting explosion took out a city block or something. Of course thats an urban legend in the making.
I'm Sorry for the rash post. How about adding citations in the future? That would REALLY add value to your site. I was telling someone about a law, and she told me I was full of shit. I couldn't contradict her because it was simply your site's word against hers. A citation would clear everything up.
Sig goes here
They are an Endangered Species!
Killing of a Sasquach can result in a fine or imprisonment.
Protect your sasquach so all may enjoy!
-- 'The' Lord and Master Bitman On High, Master Of All
bullshit
Uxbridge has cable modems!
Read about Onan. Tell me what that says, at least with regards to spilling your seed outside of the vagina. Seems pretty clear to me what it's saying.
The modern interpretation of the story of Onan is that after his brother's death, Onan had obligations to his brother's widow to help her have children. Those children would help her live a modestly comfortable life in that time and those children would inherit his brother's estate. But Onan wanted it for himself and refused to impregnate the woman.
The story is not about masturbation. It is about failing to live up to the obligations that society puts upon you.
I have discovered a truly marvelous sig, unfortunately the sig limit is too small to contain i
has anyone heard about the law in new york city disallowing naked manequans (sp?) in a store window?
-DAVEO
I always wondered where they got the venture capital.. :}
I'm disappointed to notice that in the Australian section, they don't feature our amazing internet censorship legislation...
Aside from which, most of them are just plain wrong - eg, until Port Arthur, legal to have an AK-47 but illegal to be gay... wrong on both counts.
We realize "molest" means "to bother or annoy". I really wasn't aiming for a sexual connotation when I added the law - it just seems strange to me to have a law expressly forbidding bothering butterflies. Now I do realize the purpose of the law, and there is quite an interesting story behind it (as is the case with many laws).
Thanks,
Andy (Webmaster - http://www.dumblaws.com)
If they had to decriminalise it at some point it was true. Therefore it's not a myth.
I lived in Delaware for about a year and if i remember correctly, I think they give you the same choice. Not only that, I think they were the last state to abolish public flogging. The still have the whipping post which was used up until the 1930's.
Ok, to a good comment a serious reply.
:) ) since this law has been brought into place. It puts a clear set of rules on the table and EVERYONE plays by them. Some peoeple don't like them but in my opinion if we get rid of them, it wouldn't be very long before the profit margin would take over the need for a satisfied customer. Just take a look at the software industry ...
(this to help prove my case that the language law IS useful)
To quote you:
"If French speaking people are such a large part of the population, why would those businesses opt for English only menus, etc?"
I have had many exchanges about the aptitude and interest of entreprise to adapt to a local market. In the case of Quebec, it is much cheaper to market products in english only than to play fair. Francophones, by proximity to a large mass of anglophones are at the very least functionnaly familiar with the Shakesperian tongue.
In sharp contrast, translating to french, hiring bilingual personnel is a problem. Therefore most companies will either stay away from Quebec or do the minimum. In any case, these companies will maximise their profit while they minimise their effort. A good example is companies who sell (retail) in french in Quebec but who's website has no mention of french at all. No one controls internet but you still have to act in good faith.
I stand my ground. If there is no laws then everything is likely to return to it's original state of 30 years ago. Can't happen? If you have a business and figure out you can increase your profit margin 30% by doing everything in english only, you will surely consider. And imagine french companies trying to compete but having to translate into two languages. There needs to be guidelines so that everyone plays fair.
Like I said earlier, things have gotten much better (at least in my perspective
Obi Wan Celeri
Last reply. Thank you for reading.
Duh. Such a law does not take away any freedom you have to listen to anything, or of the station to play anything. It only requires that the station play a certain amount of canadian music. Which protects local musicians from being excluded from the programming in their own country.
Hell, every contry and city should have some sort of similar law. I wish my country (Puerto Rico) had one; that way, those american owned radio stations that played only american big-label rock music would have to allow local rock bands to have a voice on the radio.
---
No, it's enough that if we do slip on someone's unshovelled sidewalk, we can get medical treatment without needing to sue them.
People who live in glass countries...
I still don't get the Onion futures thing though. Someone care to explain?
Coming from England and living in Montreal, my experience tells me that the law was not stupid when it came into effect, but it is outdated now, and it needs to be updated, so that they use the fact that they are bilingual much more to their advantage. The recent furor cause over the request for English named businesses was a case in point: McDonald's and Burger King should change their name? Is it really hurt the Francophone population that much?? I think that there are some zealots at work here, and they are not helping the Francophone culture.
Montreal could play a lot larger part in business if the Quebec government was to use or promote this.
Of course, we could get into the debate of how if only they spoke French and not Quebecois.. 8-p
Martyn.
Actually, while tattooing is still illegal in MA, body piercing is legal. I know of at least two places in the Boston area, Tribal Ways and the Garage (in Cambridge) that do body piercing. Not that I've ever actually availed myself of those services. Not that that's a bad thing.
For tattoos, however, you have to leave the state.
IIRC it stands for If I Recall Correctly
Yo.
Yes I aggre we would be better off with out Christianity!
I am utterly surprised this made it as a slashdot post considering the amount of exposure these have already gotten in an annoying matter no less.
either way this is not that interesting of a site, especially not slashdot-worthy.
my $.2
It was a interesting little tidbit that I did not know, nonetheless!
In a bombing-prone country, if you leave your luggage unattended you create noise for the bomb squad, which needless to say would rather get busy on the signal.
As for the Boy Scouts, just keep in mind that lots of other people, from Girl scouts to football players, can wear uniforms, and don't need Congress to tell them that. As for the Mass. resident lists, other states do similar things for their own (state) courts; why did Congress mention only Massachusetts?
The legend of the onion futures is: in the '50s, when people were very suspicious of the financial world, a bunch of onion farmers decided that the existence of futures trading in onions caused volatility in the prices they were getting, to their detriment. (Of course, modern economic theory tells us this is nonsense.) They called their U.S. representative, one Gerald Ford, to put an end to it. In 1955, Congress first regulated onion futures trading (other futures were already regulated); and, after severe price swings in 1957, decided to ban the futures outright.
In the case of _Chicago Mercantile Exchange v. Tieken_, 178 F.Supp. 779 (N.D.Ill.1959) (three-judge court), a court rejected Constitutional challenges to the Onion Futures Act, finding that it did not "lack a rational basis." I don't think many people would agree with this conclusion today.
I Can't Believe It's A Law Firm, LLP does not necessarily endorse the contents of this message.
The law about ferrets, gerbils, and hamsters in california is a really pissy one. Especially for farrets.
There is only one species of wild ferret in north america, and it is only distantly related to the domesetic ferret. The domestic ferret, on the other hand, has been domesticated for over 1500 years. In spite of this, the State of California views a ferret as a 'wild animal', so you may not have one as a pet. The fines are stiff.
And to anyone who has never experienced a ferrett.. they rock!
There is a difference between a dumb law and one hopelessly outdated..
Maybe there is a good reason for keeping a donkey from sleeping in a bathtub and it's just that we don't own donkeys now (the average person) and so don't understand it.
A little history, just a line or two, would put this in context and make it a lot more interesting.
Then there are the good, or just not-bad laws that don't really need to be listed. If there's a practical reason for a law and it doesn't severely infringe on civil rights, it probably isn't interesting enough to bother listing.
The 'dumb laws' are the current ones that are still being enforced but for the wrong reasons. This list contains ones like the six or more women living in one house law.
Having laws sorted in these categories, dumb, outdated, and rational (removed from the site) would IMHO improve it a bit.
You might be able to solicit help from the Alt.folklore.urban people in tracking down some of the more oddball laws (see the AFU article on 'rule of thumb' mentioned earlier.)
Actually, having a section on laws that don't really exist but that most people think exist would be good too... Such as "A common misconception is that you were allowed to beat your wife with a stick not to exceed..." and some citations regarding this.
A site with that is one that I would browse for fun and refer people to, both for humor and to correct their misconceptions.
BTW, Moderators, mark Andy's post up, it's probably the most ontopic one on this thread.
Actually, that's not restricted to canada, most states where it snows have something like that, Here in sioux city IA you are responsible for shovelling your own sidewalk, neglecting to do so after a snowstorm (withing a reasonable amount of time) is a $100 fine if they have to do it. It's not dumb at all, it's quite reasonable since the snow has a tendancy to turn into ice.
Stupid is as stupid dies.
> All men must carry a rifle to church on Sunday. (Repealed) In
> Massachusetts (where I live)
>
> Interesting, but what is the point of all men bringnig rifles
> to church?
Security.
Many states in the US back in the wild days recognized that the
Government simply did not have the resources to protect citizens
from criminals and indians ( who they were always starting wars
with ).
So what they did was not just allow people to go around armed but
require each man to be armed and take personal responsibility
for his family. "Over my dead body" was to be taken literally
in cases of raping the daughter for instance.
There is a strong temptation to not bring weapons to the house of
God. Many feel it is almost blasphemy to do so. Everybody
knows this and would rob the bank while all the men were in church
and unarmed.
You get around that kind of problem by giving the solution the
force of law.
--= Isn't it surprising how badly I spell ?
Shut up jabroni before the rock slaps the taste out of your mouth.
There is a law a lot like this in British law now called 'The Criminal Justice Act'. Basically IIRC if five people meet and start talking about having a party then they are breaking this law. It came about after all the illegal parties like Castle Morton which caused loads of damage and hell for the locals around, but the law is so badly defined: another part of it bans the playing of any music with repetitive beats through an amplified system or somthing similar. So don't go playing those Waltzes or Foxtrots over here in England!!
In cyberspace, no one can hear you being sarcastic....
ReadThe ReflectionEngine, a cyberpunk style n
Can't believe it.
Oh, it didn't pass.
---
The ban on absinthe was introduced in the Swiss constitution around 1900 via a referendum initiated by religous groups, because of the social problems with the widespread addiction to the liquor - it was called the "green scourge" back then. AFAIK, with the constitutional revision, it is no longer banned - not that the ban would have been actually enforced the last 50 years or so.
IIRC = if i recall correctly
If Quebec is 80% French speaking, then the stores which didn't cater to that population would quickly go out of business.
If they didn't, it shows that the language issue isn't as important as the politicians would have you believe.
This whole distinct society thing is crap. Grow up and quit whining. If everyone around you speaks English, then speak it yourself or at least don't cry when people don't want to speak to you.
What's with all the dildo laws? It can't be too realistic, you can't have more than 2 in the house, or you can't legally possess dildos AT ALL!
These fake cocks are getting out of control!!!
I'm cool like a fool in a swimming p-p-pfft-pool
I've lived in Montreal for all 23 years of my life, and I've never heard anyone from Montreal refered to as "un montrealais". Granted, I've been living in anglo-land my entire life, but still. Quebecois, sure. Montrealais? Sorry, I'm a Montrealer...
---
-- Will quantum computers run imaginary-time operating systems?
---
In Canada, they listed "every fifth song on the radio must be by a canadian born person" as a dumb law. This law reflects the desire to remain seperate from the United States. It is a way of preserving Canadian identity. What's dumb about that?
---
A lot. Let the people decide where they want their culture to go. Government regulation in such an extreme sucks, and even smacks of censorship.
- Jeff A. Campbell
- VelociNews (http://www.velocinews.com)
- Jeff
Exactly. You understood my point!
---
icq:2057699
seumas.com
All men must carry a rifle to church on Sunday. (Repealed) In Massachusetts (where I live)
Interesting, but what is the point of all men bringnig rifles to church?
-PovRayMan
----------
Check out my blackbox styles
It's an interesting site, but I think it would be a lot more interesting if they referenced at least some of the laws to the ordinance number or section of state law, etc. What's to stop me from submitting a fake law that says "It is illegal for anyone in Madison WI to not be drunk on a football game day." Of course, you're stupid not to be, but that's a different story.
Dear Lionel Hutts:
I've missed Phil Hartman so much. TV just isn't the same without you. Thank you for returning in slashdot form. And when do I get my free pizza?
My point being, all 'humor' articles posted on slashdot lately have been just trash digging. Is there anything new? And why are my messages under moderatelotto, decide what you think damnit.
- Kaatunut
/usr/share/games/fortunes/law
- Kaatunut
Technically PR isn't a "country". "American owned" could very well be "Puerto-Rican" owned, 'cause Puerto Rico is part of America (American territory does sound kind of offensive).
Well, I'm not sure I agree with your opinion, although I feel Puerto Rico should be able to pass it's own laws if it feels like it. I'm not sure if forcing people to hear Puerto Rican music would necessarily do anybody any good, even in Puerto Rico.
I do agree that having any type of music forced on you sucks. And believe me they do it to us "Americans" (you're as American as I am) too. *cough Mambo #5 cough*. Look I just don't listen to the radio that much, feed yourself a steady music of what you want to hear, not what the corporations want you to listen to. You don't need the government to help you rebel, you can do it on your own.
In cafés, it is illegal to have an ashtray on the bar (it's ok on a table but not on the bar)
In my neighborhood in Paris, there is about 50 night bars that serve alcoholic beverages all night long, but it is forbidden to buy any kind alcohol from te grocery store after 8 PM.
Most bars have to close at 2AM. So some of them DO close at 2AM and open back a 2:30AM.
It is legal to do prostitution, but it is lillegal to profit indirectly from it. So prostitutes can't be married -- their spouse would be and are prosecuted.
Like most people I would like to know how the laws started but more importantly I would like to know how you would get caught. Like some people have said that oral sex was illegal at one time, but in order to get caught the cop would have to break into your house, then your bedroom. At which point I would assume the mood would be killed and there would be nothing to catch you doing.
And how on earth are the cops going to know that a donkey is in your bathtub?
---
I believe that any law which restricts the playing of Britney Spears is a good law
---
...and replace with what, Alanis Morisette?
This is progress?
Nope, it's censorship.
- Jeff A. Campbell
- VelociNews (http://www.velocinews.com)
- Jeff
my friend told me about this site in an email a REALLY LONG TIME AGO. It is humorous, and worth looking at, but um... I wish slashdot would go back to posting interesting stories.
Juln
This prevents hostage situations by fugitives, it is based on the premise that it is only natural behaviour to pursue your freedom, and claims that it is the responsibility of the authorities to make prisons secure.
Here's something for the Score 3:Informative group. Check under Canada and twice you will see a law requiring homeowner responsibility for snow on city sidewalks. That's almost a law everywhere in Canada! Who else will clear the area in front of your house? Duh. Snow turns to ice, people fall and crack their skull. Let's get the city to do it and see how high our taxes can go.
Upon seeing the box was too small, Schrodinger's Elephant breathed a sigh of relief.
At least one state, Kentucky DOES have references to the actual written laws. The one about baby chicks is disturbing when you think that they actually had to ban painting small animals (I assume for Easter). Like many other people, probably including the creator of this web site, I used to have a book of these kinds of laws.
;)
In my book, an explanation was given for some of the dumb laws. My favorite was the law in some city (in Indiana I think) that made it illegal to exclaim "Oh Boy!" on a city street. It seems that there was this old guy that used to get young lads to do yard work and other odd jobs by saying "Oh boy, can you come help" or "Oh boy, would you like to work for me". Two teenagers heard the guy and harrassed him by shouting "Oh Boy!" whenever they saw the man. The man had some clout with the lawmakers of this small town, and a law was written to make shouting a very common phrase illegal.
Kentucky Specific laws:
I used to live in Lexington and I've heard the ice cream cone in your pocket law since I was a kid, so it's either probably true, or a really popular urban legend. There is a statue of two little kids eating one ice cream downtown. I think of that law everytime I pass the statue. I think I might look up the law that says anyone who has been drinking is "sober" until he or she "cannot hold onto the ground." and file that one as a possible defense later in life.
In Germany, it's illegal to turn right on a red
light. I didn't find this a very difficult rule
to follow (even though it's legal in Texas, where
I'm from). The time you wait at a red light isn't
really going to make much of a difference and it
is safer to not have people turn into a flow of
traffic. Of course, I did feel silly sometimes
late at night sitting at a light wanting to turn
right with no traffic in sight...
Bolie IV
---
This law is meant to protect quebecer from assimilation by the rest of the english-speaking america.
Anyway the simple law of marketing will tell you that if the population is 85% french, you should offer your service in french too!
---
You know, I've never understood this whole 'assimilation' thing. We're not out to assimilate Canada - hell, we barely even think of Canada.
If a little music 'infects' Canadians, so be it. They ask for it.
Same thing with signs. If Canadians want to remain close to their French roots, that's fine - don't go to English speaking stores. Put them out of business. That's the store-owner's decision, not yours.
I really hate it when people push for government playing the role of babysitter. People are people, let them choose whatever they want.
- Jeff A. Campbell
- VelociNews (http://www.velocinews.com)
- Jeff
> I mean, really, show me ONE PLACE where the Bible refers to the missionary position or anal sex,
You are correct. There is NONE.
So, pray tell, what exactly were the sodomites planning to with those angles which the two virgin daughters were not good for?
-
We cannot reason ourselves out of our basic irrationality. All we can do is learn the art of being irrational in a reasonable way.
the horror!!!
Objections to the content? Nosir! Not from me. I often have had a few laws make me feel uneasy for doing good things most people enjoy. Its about venting at stupid laws that should not be on the books.
Much of the critisism is understood, but sadly lacking the humor plugin, and then there are the weirdos. Some folks come here to make an attempt and practice critical thinking poorly. Which brings up something . . .
If all that wasn't enough, add some grits and you have a few others that seem to fit the definition of pushbutton schizophrenia. Well, I have an uncle that is schizophrenic and at least he has a sense of humor and often adds color to conversation, not ruin it. What we have here is a free forum to discuss most diverse topics and the most interesting people.
The old law doesn't apply to Gentiles with a very
few exceptions (four, I believe). Just read Acts,
in the new Testament.
If you read the Gospels, you'll see that Jesus was
against a strict interpretation of the law and for
following the spirit.
Bolie IV
I think it's sort of misleading how it sounds like there's an exact law on the books that says "you can't do X unless you're doing Y" or whatever. As funny as these things sound, they're just examples of technicalities, and probably there are a lot more "Y"s than are given in the statement.
Just my rant for today.
-Chris
If French speaking people are such a large part of the population, why would those businesses opt for English only menus, etc? Let them make their mistakes, and visit French-friendly businesses. Let the market decide, and put those other businesses under market pressure to provide bilingual menus and signs.
Yes, it's a stupid law.
- Jeff A. Campbell
- VelociNews (http://www.velocinews.com)
- Jeff
In Ripley Park, it is illegal to walk backwards EATING PEANUTS when there is a performance in the Barn Stormers Auditorium. OH FSCKING GOD I LAUGHED SO HARD I CRIED WHEN I SAW THIS ONE!
> So, pray tell, what exactly were the sodomites planning to with those angles
Technically, Gen 19:5, doesn't say.
It is implied, but the point is about having _ homosexual_ relations (why else would it mention the men of the city wanting the men inside Lot's house?) This is consistent with Lev 18:22, and Rom 1:27 which mentions homosexual relations has no place among the followers of God.
I believe the original question meant was there any places in the bible that condone missionary position or anal sex between a man and wife. The answer for that, is NO.
Did we miss any other verses?
> I mean, really, show me ONE PLACE where the Bible refers to the missionary position or anal sex,
You are correct. There is NONE.
> or for that matter clarifies what constitutes "marriage."
Mark 10:7 "This explains why a man leaves his father and mother and is joined to his wife. Since they are no loner two but one, let no on serparate them, for God has joined them together."
(Which is quoted from the Old Testament.)
There are other places that also mention laws against divorce. Strong's Concordance is a good research tool.
Cheers
When a person reaches the age of 50, he/she can then marry their cousin.
I have to return some videotapes...
the funny thing about that snake law .....
i'm from klamath falls
it stems from when kfalls had wooden sidewalks, and the snakes would occaisionally come out while you were walking by, and scare the shit out of you.
people would then knock off their heads, and the bodies would fall back under the sidewalk and rot, smelling really bad and generally being a Bad Thing(tm)
In retrospect, this came out wrong. I meant "cutting up" a tree, as in chopping it into firewood. I didn't mean "cutting down" a tree. Sorry for the confusion.
--------------------
Well, we all know about how much people love animals, right ? So how many of you know that it was still illegal to beat your horse, even though it was legal to beat your wife ? Sorted !
If you like dumblaws.com, you'll love:
www.dumbcriminalacts.com/
Mmmm Portman.
It says many are verified.. But, I have a hard time believing that in my town, it is illegal for a store to sell corn flakes on a Sunday... I mean, some event would have to have occured to cause these stupid laws, and I cannot think of any reason that buying corn flakes on a Sunday would be any worse than any other day, unless there's some magic way to convert corn flakes easily to alcohol. But what about the generic Flakes or Corn and other corn flake imposters?
$1055? Isn't that a lot of money to spend to be able to not pay speeding tickets? (Yes, yes, I know about the "points" possibilities, but you have to consider the principle of it all.)
For more information, click here.
Your everyday /usr/games/fortune has a lot of this crap as well. Quite a number of them are untrue and totally made up. IIRC, there was a guy who purposely made up some of these "laws" and circulated them around long enough to get some into the default fortune list. It is on record somewhere on the net. Go find it. The same applies to this website as well. Many of the so-called "laws" are just bad interpretations of legal speak. Come on, when was the last time you saw a law that said in simple words, "Lollipops are banned"? I know it is meant to be funny and all that, but give me a break. It doesn't take wit to interpret laws in a twisted way, take them out of context and translate into something weird. Go ahead and laugh. But don't spread the word and fool a lot of the naive out there as well. Or add a pinch of salt to go.
Sreeram.
I find the law about not being able to pump your own gas on that site to not be so dumb. Gas is cheaper in New Jersey than the surounding states and you don't hae to get out of your car when it is cold. How is that dumb?
Been linking to this for a while - nice to see it getting the Slashdot treatment it deserves. I also recommend the other sites they run as well, all fun stuff.
Anyway, I'm off to York to shoot a few Scotsmen...:-)
I'm joking, alright? [flee's angry mob...]
Yes that's right, apparently recently banned by Christian extremists because they claim, incorrectly, that it cannot be proven. Well neither can the contents of the Bible, but that don't close Sunday schools does it?
Not all the laws mentioned are stupid:
Rememeber that England has suffered from a prolonged civil war (known as "our little problem with Northern Ireland") with frequent bomb attacks on civilians. These bombs were often left in luggage on stations, airports, department stores and other corwded places.
This law therefore makes perfect sense. I rememeber when I first came to England, I was wodering why there were no luggage boxes on the stations. Such youthful innocence...
God (and the IRA et. al.) willing, this particular war should now be over. Now the poor English can concentrate on the ALF, the anti-capitalism terrorists, and whatever today's new violent fringe group is.
I would have liked the web site to have contained references to the law texts. That would have made it much more trustworthy. How many of the laws mentioned, I woder, are nothing more than urban legends?
Hi!
Most of the laws listed are forgotten relics of an older age, and I seriously doubt that any court would bother with them.
However, they do give us a sense of what people used to be afraid of, how thoughtless politicians can be, and how deep a beurocracy we must have to still have these laws around. Very funny stuff.
I used to Live in Missouri. A law on the books until the 70's was that it was legal to shoot a Mormon on site. In Buckner, MO, last I checked about 10 years ago, there was a law on the town's books that it was legal shoot a [black person] after dark in a public place.
And in Kansas, last I checked, you can still have the option of being hanged for capitol offenses.
I guess this is a law worth mentioning. I live up the road from kennesaw. Only one year after enacting this legistation, burglary was almost non-existant. I mean, if you had the choice of Burglarizing in Marietta (No gun required) or Kennesaw (Gun required) where would you go. The purpose of this law is solidarity. It is not nearly as useful if only 35% of the people own guns. Anyway, I think this is an interesting one. I am also not sure of the Constitutianaility of it. But, it does seem to work. geach
Well, at least in Jasper Alabama, you can't beat your wife with a stick larger than the size of your thumb! Now that is real progress. Now if my wife acts up, I'm just going to threaten to move her to Jasper. How the hell do people come up with these laws??
Well of course, being a georgian, I went straight to georgia to see how many I could violate while sitting down.
I noticed that in Jonesboro it is Illeagal to say "Oh, Boy"
I must asume of course that the people of jonesboro did not want to appear in any episode of "Quantum Leap"
Still, Not being able to say "Oh, Boy" is a clear violation of the american freedom of speech.
I also notice that it is a state law that you cannot curse at a corpse in a funeral home.
Another violation of Basic American Rights.
I did notice that it is leagal to commit simple battery when someone uses fight'n words. I'm thrilled. Anyone know where I can get an official document of that law wich I may present to an officer or judge?
We must write our congressmen, And tell them that we WILL NOT STAND FOR THESE VIOLATIONS!
and let's use the words "Oh, Boy" as often as possible.
In Canada, they listed "every fifth song on the radio must be by a canadian born person" as a dumb law. This law reflects the desire to remain seperate from the United States. It is a way of preserving Canadian identity. What's dumb about that?
Anyways, aside from this, there is a lot that's funny. I really liked the law that nobody considered ugly could walk down the street in San Fran!
The peoples of Youngstown Ohio have been sincerely blessed by their governing body. Perhaps we should look into this as an addition to our existing federal laws?
You may not run out of gas.
I don't know how many times this would have been handy.;)
"You should always go to other people's funerals; otherwise, they won't come to yours." -- Yogi Berra
In Missouri (where my parents live), there was the law "It is not illegal to speed." but it was repealed. However, from experience, I think they forgot to tell everyone in Missouri. :-)
:)
Also, Hawaii (where I lived for 9 years) didn't do too bad, only 3 stupid laws. I'm glad they never actually fined anyone for not owning a boat though. Although we did have 2 kayak's if those count as boats. I also thought it was funny that most of Alaska's dumb laws had to do with moose.
"It is unlawful to refuse a person a glass of water."
Hey, I live in Arizona - I'm just going to walk around town now asking strangers for glasses of water....
Pablo Nevares, "the freshmaker".
Pablo Nevares, "the freshmaker".
I just love to how people times again show themselves as hypocrites. news here
--- You make things foolproof, and they'll find you a damn fool.
I object to the WV law on "wild onions" and children being called stupid.
First, they are not wild onions, they're called ramps -- a native onion-like plant in WV. They REEK to high heaven when eaten raw. If you came to class after eating some ramps, the whole school would stink.
Trust me on this one.
Rani
No I'm pretty sure the laws against oral sex has something to do with feminine hygiene before we got all these "feminine products". Women probably were dirty, and oral sex might have literally been a matter of decency.
Oral Sex is illegal? This calls for civil disobedance!!!
Do not wright in this space.
It was really fun at first, when the laws were real, but then I started seeing some ones that are obviously fake. that ticked me off, I mean, for instance, in illinois "The english language is forbidden". How fake can you get? It makes me wonder if any of the others are. Someone should really go through that site and verify them, and not post em unless they are really verified. I dont think it would be that hard.
It is against the law for animals to have sex in the city limits.
It is illegal to whistle underwater
It is illegal to whisper "dirty" things in your lover's ear during sex.
Ice cream may not be eaten on Sundays.
Hm. I do not see It is illegal to defy the laws of Newtonian physics in here. Someone better get off their donut-fattened legislative ass and rectify that!
While such things are humorous and almost never enforced, you cannot help but feel a little queasy that such stupidity is not only legislated, but law. Orwell's future has been around through much of our past. If you truly think you're a free person in this country, just try using a kernal of corn as bait to fish or taking a bath without a full-length bathing suit on.
To hell with worrying about your rights to burn the American flag or to encrypt your email. In a lot of places, you don't even have the legal right to walk down the sidewalk and knock a snake's head off with a cane.
---
icq:2057699
seumas.com
Uxbridge
Residents are not allowed to have an Internet connection faster than 56k.
What a shame!
A student who was sitting an exam stood up and asked for "Beef and Ale". He had read in one of the rule books that during an exam a gentleman may request beef and ale.
It was decided that the nearest thing available was a McDonalds (IE Bigmac meal). So they got him one.
2 days later he was fined 2.99 (the price of a bigmac meal). The reason? A Gentleman taking an exam must wear a sword
Don't know if it was true, but definately amusing.
Ok. The story behind that one IS because some dumb guy stuck his donkey in his bathtub. And yes, that one incident caused the law to be enacted. That one came straight out of a book called "Blue Laws, Brahmins, and Breakdown Lanes", by Karen Taylor. I think it's out of print, my copy's rather old. There are a lot of laws that are enacted for this sort of reason. Lawmakers just love the idea of protecting us from ourselves, something the american public used to be dead set against but is becoming more and more tolerant - even demanding - of. It's sad, really. If you can't raise your kids to know right from wrong, why blame video games? If you can't control your anger, why blame the people who kicked you out of your office? If you can't keep your farm animals outside, why blame faulty (lacking?) laws? Personal responsibility has gone the way of the dinosaur, and privacy and safety from overzealous officials is going to go the same way soon if it doesn't stop. *sigh*
How depressing.
-Elthia
In the late 1800's Ice Cream was a brand new thing. I am sure many people felt that there was something wrong with all theses young folks running around with ice cream. I am sure people would look back and say, "Why would they make a law against skateboards in downtown. Or rollerblades on sidewalks."
We are a product of our times. I don't think we actually understand why some of these laws were passed because we live in a completely different world
geach
Living in Oregon, I happen to know that this is the best law that has been enacted in a long time. I don't have to smell like gas and people are guaranteed a job.!
Is that some of these 'Dumb Laws' are enforced. You want to feel persecuted, be english, move to Quebec City and try to open an english business. The laws about Frech Signs are enforced strictly by the Language Police (French Facists).
At least that's only Quebec.
It goes WAYYYY back to the first colony days, when church attendance on Sunday was mandatory, but you had to get there and home again alive too.
A township would be granted based on its families' building a "meeting-house" in a central place. The town I grew up in, Bedford, was carved from surrounding towns' territories because those towns were so large that travel from outlying farms to the church in the town center every Sunday was a hardship.
Things may have started out peaceably in the Massachusetts Bay Colony, but after a while, the original occupants of the area got sufficiently annoyed at the flood of newcomers, and the treatment they got from them, to start pushing back, hard. Plus, not that far away, the French/Indian Wars got underway, with some tribes allying with the French and making forays into English-speaking settlement territories (and vice versa), so travelers in the colony were vulnerable to bullet or arrow. A muzzle-loaded rifle was a burden to carry in addition to food for the all-day church session and travel from and back to one's own farm, but a necessary one.
The topic of dumb laws is kind of interesting, because these outdated laws definitely reflect the history of the state or place of their origin.
:)
For example: In Baltimore, MD you can't throw a bale of hay out of a window in the second story w/in city limits. Fascinating! did they have some kind of criminal who killed people by throwing bales of hay on their heads from the 2nd story? (bales of hay weigh pretty much) or did a few people get killed when some chump thoughtlessly chucked a bale of hay out of his window?
I watched the anime movie "Armitage" and this topic made me think about possible dumb laws on earth in this Sci-Fi setting. (for those of you who don't know, In Armitage, The Earth is a feminist society)
The most obvious one is "It is illegal to leave a toilet seat up. 25$ fine"
Another: "It is illegal to refer to anyone using a label or term that denominates gender. Punishable by death"
Perhaps even: "It is illegal for a man to ogle a woman, even if she is wearing revealing or otherwise purposefully attractive clothing. 50$ fine"
But what about other movies? like, Deliverance? or, Dumb Laws in Klingon society? It could be a source of endless humor
-Chompster
Unexpected Kernel Trap at 101010
Don't Panic!
This isn't a redundant post; I just set my threshold to 6.
Although under the title of stupid laws, I think some of them are good. Here are a few:
Chico, Ca
Detonating a nuclear device within the city limits results in a $500 fine.
Hey. don't know about you, but sounds like a good one to me. Although, fining someone is the last of my conserns if a Nuclear Device is detonated in a town where I live in!
Pasadena, Ca
It is illegal for a secretary to be alone in a room with her boss.
Hey, I don't think should be in Pasadena, but the Whitehouse!
Champaign, Il
It is considered an offense to piss in your neighbor's mouth.
Hey, sounds good to me. But what about the rest of the neighbor? Can I piss on him as long as no contents of my piss enter his mouth?
England
All English Men over 14 are meant to carry out 2 hours (or so) of longbow practice a week supervised by the local clergy.
No wonder England does not have a problem with guns! They do drive-by Archery!
Linux O Muerte!
Monday is too late to reply to a Sunday thread.
But I want to agree, plus remark that I don't see why an age of consent at 16 is dumb, nor do I see why excluding a minor's guardians from this is dumb.
Also, you can see real australian law at
http://www.austlii.edu.au/
No matter how cynical you become, it's never enough to keep up.
From the site.... (Canada, Ontario, Uxbridge):
Residents are not allowed to have an Internet connection faster than 56k.
*Why?*
There are some on here that don't really seem that stupid. for instance:
China:
To go to college you must be intelligent.
Italy:
Striking someone with a fist is considered a felony
Singapore:
Cigarettes are illegal at all public places
Austrailia:
The legal age for straight sex is 16, unless the person is is in the care/custody of the older person, in which case it is 18.
Netherlands:
It is semi-legal to smoke pot.
Prostitution is legal but the prostitutes must pay taxes like any other business.
Israel:
If you have been maintaining an illegal radio station for five or more years, the station becomes legal.
------------------
My favorite dumb law, though is this one from Sigapore:
Oral sex is illegal unless it is used as a form of foreplay.
So basicaly, if you give some one oral sex, you're legaly required to have sex with them then? Could you get a woman thrown into jail for not doing it??
I also like this one from Chico CA:
Detonating a nuclear device within the city limits results in a $500 fine.
ReadThe ReflectionEngine, a cyberpunk style n
And I finally figured out how my sig works. I'm so happy.
-----
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"A man is judged by his every word." -RW Emerson
"They misunderestimated me." -GW Bush
However as to whether it is actually illegal, well that is another question. Can somebody actually point to where this is stated to be illegal?
Now i just have to say thats gota suck when you can not have a connection faster then 56k.
I found a couple listed there.
Denmark:
Encrypting data files, owning, distributing etc. of encryption programs and creating such programs for any electronic medias is now against the law in Denmark due to fear for terrorists, left and right wing extremist, fundamentalists and distributors of illegal pornography.
Uxbridge, Ontario. In Canada:
Residents are not allowed to have an Internet connection faster than 56k.
These guys didn't list stupid US national laws though. Oh well
ReadThe ReflectionEngine, a cyberpunk style n
... many of these laws are myths. Much like the myth about the Indiana State Legislature declaring pi equal to 3. (It was proposed once to the legislature by a weird amateur mathematician, but never actually made a law.)
- Kisses may last for as much as, but no more than, five minutes.
- A man with a moustache may never kiss a woman in public.
Ottumwa - It is unlawful for any male person, within the corporate limits of the (city), to wink at any female person with whom he does not know.
I must be public enemy number 1, 2 and 3! =)p
"Having sexual relations with a porcupine is illegal".
:P
Illegal? Wouldn't that hurt really bad as well?
In Soviet Russia, Trojan exploits YOU!
"To go to college you must be intelligent."
Boy, I wish they would enforce this in Canada! I sign off on it!
I guess they forgot "Cracking a national bank is punishable by death, unless you turn your brother in."
"Don't mind me cutting myself on Occam's Razor"
I heard that in Kansas its illegal to teach evolution in school...
-
We cannot reason ourselves out of our basic irrationality. All we can do is learn the art of being irrational in a reasonable way.
Perhaps, they should make a law.. but one that prevents trolls from having children. Or people who abuse their current children?
:)
"No, that would be wrong. "
Either way, that would become just another "dumb law" on the list, which we would laugh at and promptly disobey. Judging by the ignorance of the message this is a reply to, shouldn't the person who wrote that be immediately neutralized? Do people really hate geeks that much?
To remain on topic, i think there should be laws against the use of Microsoft products. Which, amusingly, might be the case in Germany, with their possible banning of W2K.
What i would like to know is the history behind some of these laws. Could give some good insight on American culture.
Truthfully, these laws look to be "The Fruits of Arbitrary Power" (which BTW is the name of a poster protesting the Boston Massacre) and often just a way for a possibly corrupt politician to get his way.
What do you think?
(how about a law banning trolls from any BBS or similar service
-Chompster
Unexpected Kernel Trap at 101010
Don't Panic!
This isn't a redundant post; I just set my threshold to 6.
I've just read a few, but the only one I've read with a specific reference goes like this:
"The new Infant Crib Safety Act in California (AB 3760, Speier), Colorado (SB 98-023,Pascoe and Morrison) and Washington State (SSB 6229, Kohl and Pennington) states that "no commercial user shall manufacture, retrofit, sell, contract to sell or resell, lease, sublet or otherwise place in the stream of commerce, a full-size or non-full-size crib that is unsafe for any infant using the crib."
Doesn't seem particularly dumb to me.
Slashdot is entertaining like pro wrestling is entertaining
Hm. I do not see It is illegal to defy the laws of Newtonian physics in here. Someone better get off their donut-fattened legislative ass and rectify that!
Actualy, that would be pretty uninforceable.
Newtonian physics is only an aproximation, and broken 100% of the time (Though, for the most part you don't notice unless you're moving at a significant persentace of the speed of light, or if you're looking at geometry smalle enough for quantem effects to be aperant)
ReadThe ReflectionEngine, a cyberpunk style n
So, in other words, any electronic device that has encryption is now illegal in Denmark. Won't this affect DVD distribution, since, technically, DVD is an "encrypted electronic media"? (The info on the disk is a "data file") And don't forget that they must be decrypted by special equipment, (a DVD player)...shouldn't that be illegal also? Or is it that it's illegal to own encrypted material, but you can own decrypting devices?
Methinks I smells something.....yes, definitely - something *is* rotten in the state of Denmark :-)
What do you all think?
--
I prefer the wicked to the foolish - the wicked sometimes rest. - Alexander Dumas, fils.
Actualy, those laws limit the speed of actualy 56k modems to 53kbits/sec. This wouldn't stop someone from using wireless ethernet from there office, or getting a t1 line or somthing.
ReadThe ReflectionEngine, a cyberpunk style n
the way I understand it, it's not a part of the required curriculum... districts can add it if they want it...
- In the City of Denton, it is illegal to park your horse on the town square after 4PM on Sunday.
- Again, in the City of Denton, dancing on the square in Sunday is prohibited.
- Town of Oak Point says that no plot of land for sale may be smaller than 10 feet by 10 feet.
- City of Lewisville bans advertising signs on telephone poles and inserted into the ground, but laying them on the street is OK.
- In Flower Mound, the cutting of a tree on your property is illegal without a permit.
- In Marshall Creek, you may not have a home that is larger than 1800 square feet (this is interesting, considering the town is only about 200 acres anyway).
Have fun.--------------------
Y35!!!! F1rst post, 5UCK45!!!!!! shouts to n1nj4 sty10r, 5vckaMC, oyster 'n' kl4m
I heard that in Kansas its illegal to teach evolution in school...
Um... then you heard wrong, or you have some sort of reading deficiency. In Kansas it is no longer Required to teach "Macro" evolution, IE species evolving from other ones. It is still required to teach "Micro" evolution, Evolution within a species.
I'm not defending the law, just pointing out what it actually is.
ReadThe ReflectionEngine, a cyberpunk style n
I heard that in Kansas its illegal to teach evolution in school...
Yet another example of the (delibrate) grave mischaracterization of the actions of the State Education Board of Kansas.
What the BoE was simply drop it as a requirement for districts to teach and drop it from the standardized tests the state requires, not ban anything.
For the vast majority of school districts in the state, this has caused a total of zero changes to the curriculumn(sp).
Of course, the truth of it is never reported. Why? Because then it doesn't give them a chance to bash conservatives and the state itself...
-Tom O'Rear -- tomed@radiks.net
Picking up abandoned baggage is as act of terrorism.
They're true, but its because the murdering IRA bastards think that bombing innocent civilians at railways is in any way defensible. If you could have prevented Oklahoma or the World Trade Center bombings with some laws, would you call that dumb? No, you wouldnt.
Those wishing to use a television must apply for a license.
Yes, the TV license funds the BBC, which is how come we get television WITHOUT ADVERTS! If you Americans could get TV without adverts, would you call that dumb? No, you wouldnt.
It is illegal for a Member of Parliament to enter the House of Commons wearing a full suit of armour.
Well, owing to the fact we actually have a history, our Parliament dates back to the times when knights and soldiers would wear suits of armour. If they were going to walk in wearing their military gear, this would presumably for agressive, anti-constitution purposes. Would you call a law preventing soldiers with RPG's and machine guns from entering the Whitehouse or Congress dumb? No, you wouldnt.
Anal sex is prohibited.
A myth - it was decriminalised a few years ago, 1992 I think.
In the UK news, a naked swordsman started slashing people in a church. Maybe a rifle would have been useful!
That's what cable and satellite service is for.
Just a little note about Italy:
:-) Not cars circulating only 5 days a week (which has sense if it happens to you to be a shopkeeper in a town built in the middle age waiting for deliveries)
USA is the place where everything is allowed, unless it's illegal.
USSR was the place where everything was forbidden, unless it was legal.
Italy is the place where everything is is allowed,
expecially what is forbidden.
AFAIK, Italy is the only nation where laws distinguish between "forbidden" and "severely forbidden, as if there were different grades of "forbidden". THIS is dumb.
My 0.01428 Euro this time (0.02 * 5/7).
AFAIK, the witchcraft law they have listed under ireland is actually scottish. There aren't many extant laws dating from 1736 in Ireland, given that the entire legal system was rebuilt this century following leaving english sovereignty.
The (scottish) law is referenced in several science fiction books by Anne McCaffrey about a future telepathic society.
In Burlington, Vt., any group of 7 or more young persons constitutes a gang and can be forced to separate by local law enforcement. This law may have been repealed in the 4 years since I heard about it, but I doubt it.
With the taxes Canadians pay, the cities ought to clear your front porch.
This sid= trick is looking more like the usenet alt heirarchy by the minute. The hidden "treasures" of slashdot.
There is a law where I'm living in Colorado right now, and I don't know the legal wording of it, just that someone I know was brought in on it. Essentially it says that if you say something to someone that they consider insulting, and they assault you, they are liable for the assault but you've also broken the law by making them assault you.
Now I can understand this to a point. I'm certain there were people who would find someone without enough self-control to not hit someone because of something they said and say nasty things to them so the person would assault them and get arrested, but it just seems ludicrous to me that if you gave someone "the finger" for whatever reason and they decide to assault you that you can be brought up on charges as well.
Perhaps I'm not seeing the entire picture, but I think that making it a law was unneccessary.
"I swear I won't break you if you let me take you where the willows never weep" -- Switchblade Symphony
Anal sex is prohibited.
A myth - it was decriminalised a few years ago, 1992 I think.
Amazing. You managed to contradict yourself in a one sentence post.
I don't care if it's 90,000 hectares. That lake was not my doing.
A friend of mine insists that it's illegal in Lawrence, Kanses to "lurk with the intent to loom". I was hoping to find it on this site, but alas, no such luck.
The "cue the foo posts in 3, 2, 1..." posts will commence with no subsequent foo posts in 3, 2, 1...
It's truly a dumb site. Where are the cites for these laws? Quoted statutes? Court cases? Newspaper articles? Historical perspectives?
Where, in short, is the proof?
I suspect most of these so-called "dumb laws" are nothing more than a collection of those stupid messages that people used to send around all the time (oh, wait--people are still doing that).
And like most of the crap that gets forwarded from here to eternity, I suspect these laws are fake or gross minterpretations of the truth.
Not a very funny site, and not deserving of Slashdot traffic at all. Wield that traffic wand lightly, Rob!
Wordnik, a dictionary project which aims to collect
Many of these laws (seeminly 5-10% based on just browsing the site) are completely rational and many others (like 60% or so) seem to be urban myths... The only ones that seem really believable (especially since almost none of them include references to the actual law) are the obviously outdated ones related to what you can/can't do on Sunday, what sexual positions you can use, what you can do with horses, and donkeys and such....
This page lists a law in Maricopa county Arizona that say that no more than six women may live in one house. This is a real law and it is actually enforced. The reason for it is to prevent whorehouses but all it really ends up doing is making it so that none of the sororities at ASU can have a house. Laws like this, and the fact that anyone tries to enforce them, piss me off.
Muslim community leaders warn of backlash from tomorrow morning's terrorist attack.
Alabama and New York both have laws concerning the carrying of icecream cones in ones back pocket. What's the deal?
Life is life . . . everything else is just a stupid T-shirt slogan.
Are they legalising Absinthe in Switzerland, or banning it totally (it contains wormwood, which is *not* good for you..) . It was legalised in Britain, recently, funny enough.
Probably something to do with the book of revelations.
I was reading over some of the "dump laws" that we have here in Canada, and I noticed one that kept popping up was one about, and let me paraphrase, "It is the homeowner's responsibility to clear snow from municipal sidewalks within 24 hours of the snowfall..." Although this may seem like a dumb law to some people, it actually makes a lot of sense in places where we get heavy snow. Most people, in addition to their private sidewalk/driveway have a strip of city sidewalk running adjacent to their property. After a heavy snowfal, it would unreasonable to expect that the city should be responsible for clearing all of the sidewalk _and_ all of the roadways, which they do. Also, with all of the litigating going around these days, you wouldn't want someone to slip in front of your house. If the snow is not cleared - you're at fault; that means you're getting sued.
It seeks to address the symptom, and ignores the cause of the problem, like most dumb laws.
Interested in XFMail? New XFMail home page.
Yes - here I am. Andy Powell of the http://www.dumblaws.com site that someone found worthy of posting on slashdot (I was surprised to see dumb laws on slashdot - I read slashdot regularly, and this seemed like a good time for a first post). I'm thrilled to see that people have found dumb laws so interesting. I see that some of you have had a couple objections to the content. For example - the "not so stupid" laws (the crib regulations, English baggage law, Arizona water etc.), and the "must be blatantly fake". I'm with everyone about the baggage and the crib - they don't need to be on the site. The blatantly fake? Well we probably need to research them. I'd guess a few legends have crept in during the past year.
Yes, there are outdated laws on the site. I meant for it to be that way - some of them, I don't know if they are still on the books or not. I found them funny anyhow. Should outdated laws be marked as such? I suppose I hadn't paid much attention to that. I'll try to get it all 'up to par' soon - the site should be undergoing a major overhaul soon, as we've had that same design for over a year. I'd appreciate all the suggestion everyone has - I'll be checking this board, or you can e-mail me directly at comments@dumblaws.com
By the way, this isn't my full time job - and I'm not a lawyer or anything like that. In fact, I'm not even a high school graduate, I'm currently in the tenth grade, so between that *and* the site, things get challenging.
Thanks,
Andy
I and any other Angelinos should be proud to hear this one: :)
"it is illegal to beat your wife with a strap wider than 2 inches without her consent" in Los Angeles.
And people wonder why we have the nation's highest divorce rate
--
"Some people say that I proved if you get a C average, you can end up being successful in life."
I think there is a world market for maybe five personal web logs.
Not to mention PBS.
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If the world's a stage, I want to work the sound booth.
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"A man is judged by his every word." -RW Emerson
"They misunderestimated me." -GW Bush
Good that they have taken somehthing that previously could be found in mails and text-files and put it on a site. It's the kind of stuff you want to be able to get back to from anywhere. It'fun as well..
I'm glad I live in Chico CA. Wouldn't want anyone getting away with lighting off a Nuke without getting a $500.00 fine!
Setting his threshold to 5, Sparky eliminated most of the trolls on /.
Anyway the simple law of marketing will tell you that if the population is 85% french, you should offer your service in french too!
Paix sur la terre aux hommes de bonnes volontés
I think england has some of the funniest laws, but there were also a large number of laws that have good reason! For example we still have posters on the tube and bus telling us what to do if we see an unnatended package. This is due to the insatiable urge of some Irish (and ulster)men who really want to blow London up, and like leaving bombs in hold-alls.
And the lisencing of televisions (which costs £80 a year I think) is to fund the evils of the BBC so that it can brainwash us all into becoming good citizens and tell us how it's such a good thing that we pay them to make "animal Hospital".
And if you saw a scotsman, wouldn't you just want to pick up your longbow..........(but not on the holy sabbath you know)
Do you have any idea how ludicrous that sounds? Last time I checked it was illegal to blow up buildings and kill innocent women and children but that didn't stop McVeigh.
How is a law going to stop someone of evil intent who has no regard for the law?
All laws do is make and act prosecutable after the fact. They do almost nothing to prevent an evil person from committing the act to begin with.
Good people don't need to have laws passed telling them they can't rob, rape or kill others. It is only the scumbags for whom these laws were created.
More laws are not the solution for crime or an increase in crime. The solution is to prosecute more consistenly on the basis of existing laws, and even that isn't a real solution, it just isn't creating a bigger problem like more laws do. Laws do little to prevent the act they prohibit and end up making life more difficult for everyone else who isn't doing anything wrong to begin with.
Muslim community leaders warn of backlash from tomorrow morning's terrorist attack.
Yes, but the fact that the Quebec government pays the "Language Police" to go out and measure signs to ensure that the French part of the sign is more prominent than the English is absolutely *ludicruous* in the extreme.
-- Will quantum computers run imaginary-time operating systems?
After taking a quick glance at the Swiss section, I (as a swiss national) have the feeling that the research done by the operators of the site has been somewhat sloppy:
Clothes may not be hung to dry on Sunday. You may not wash your car on a Sunday. It is considered an offense to mow your lawn on a Sunday, because it causes too much noise.
These are purely social conventions and not enforced by any law I know of.
It is illegal to flush the toilet after 10 P.M. if you live in an apartment. A man may not relieve himself while standing up, after 10 P.M. If you forget you car-keys inside the car and you leave the car open, you will be punished.
Utter nonsense. Whilst such norms might be part of rental or insurance contracts, they are certainly not part of a national law.
Though it is illegal to produce, store, sell and trade absinth (special alcohol), it is legal to consume it.
This is no longer valid as of Jan 1, when the constitution of 1874 is replaced by the new 1999 revision.
The highest speed allowed on national freeways is 120 km/h
So what? I don't call that dumb.
Maybe I'm a bit too legalistic here... but we Swiss have a reputation to lose in that regard.
Of all the dumb laws in Quebec, the dumbest is the one that regulates the colour of margarine. In Quebec, it is *illegal* for margarine to be the same colour as butter. This law was enacted because the dariy farmers were afraid people would confuse butter with margarine.
This law is still around in 1999, and it is still enforced. Our margarine in Quebec is almost white, although I believe you can get margarine that is yellower than butter also. It costs the margarine companies quite a bit to manufacture two kinds of margarine, one for Quebec and one for everybody else. It's completely idiotic, but the dairy farmers continue to insist on it.
---
-- Will quantum computers run imaginary-time operating systems?
Bruce
Bruce Perens.
Better yet, stop by the GritsBoy Sucks Dead Buffalo thread and watch gritsboy gobble goo by the gallon.
Too bad it wasn't part of the Constitution (all of them) that all laws have to have expiration dates - each law has to be thoroughly audited by the appropriate legislature & repassed to maintain its existence.
That situation might be a good incentive for the Congressional Critters(tm?) to keep the laws simple, so they can review them w/in their own lifetimes...
But some of the "dumb laws" seem to be people airing their personal gripes, for example. Sorry, I don't recall the specific locations, but I remember these:
- people pissed off about getting speeding tickets -- "In City, State, you can only go 30 mph downtown".
- people pissed off that they couldn't paint their house purple -- "city legislates acceptable house colors"
- someone pissed off that they have to go to smoke outside -- listed as a dumb law: "In ____, ___, smoking indoors is prohibited".
I am very upset about your comments.
Having seen dumblaws.com I can tell this site has everything wrong - in fact the french population of Quebec is trying very hard to DEFEND it's linguistic rights.
30 years ago, most stores served and advertised primarly in english, even though 80% of the population was/is french. The so-called "dumb laws" changed things around. Today francophones can be served in french and most business respect the fact they can't do stuff in english only anymore. It even gave a chance for francophones to compete on their own turf, for once.
I can understand that some people are upset about language laws, it's a touchy subject. But let's not forget these laws apply to business and business practices ONLY, it does not, like dumblaws.com infer, forbid people from speaking in english in Quebec.
At 1% of the american population, I also believe francophones in Quebec were/are under enormous pressure to deal and live in english only. Can you blame us for trying to defend our rights?
Obi Wan Celeri
To call a law dumb based only on the fact we do not understand why it's been written down is dumb in itself, don't you agree?
yeah, i saw dumblaws.com a while back.. the one thing i found most disturbing was that in west virginia, it was legal for a male to have intercourse with an animal, if the animal was under forty pounds. scary, huh ?
A myth - it was decriminalised a few years ago, 1992 I think.
Amazing. You managed to contradict yourself in a one sentence post.
Where?
The first line was quoted from the site, the second was me contradicting it, if thats what you meant.
Or, if you are quibbling "a few years" to "1992", then who says 7 cant be "a few"?
Or, if you're quibbling that decriminalised doesnt mean that it isnt prohibited, it depends on the letter not the spirit. If its decriminalised, that means they basically wont prosecute, which means they dont care about the law, which means it isnt much of a law. Anyway, it may have been fully repealed, I'm not sure.
As far as the law they metioned for York, being able to shoot a scotsman with bow and arrow... I believe that the actual law says that you are _required_ to shoot a scotsman approaching city walls.
And the television license law... well that pays for the BBC. The BBC channels do not have commercials, they get all their money from license fees and selling their show abroad.
--
"I was either onto something, or on something!"
Really that website is so stupid that I can't believe they bothered to register a domain for it.
:)
I find it completely devoid of any humor.
Like, Florida laws:
If an elephant is left tied to a parking meter, the parking fee has to be paid just as it would for a vehicle.
An example of the law instead of the actual law - I expect that this covers any animal, and was intended for horses.
Having sexual relations with a porcupine is illegal.
Ditto the last comments.
When having sex, only the missionary position is legal.
and
Oral sex is illegal.
These laws, or similar ones, exist in many states. I don't know if Florida is one of them, though.
And really, the rest of the alleged FL state laws don't even seem as if they are real at all.
One of the cities listed is "Tampa Bay". That's not a city. There are numerous cities/towns in the Tampa Bay area.
Some other places..
Alaska state:
It is considered an offense to push a live moose out of a moving airplane.
Fairbanks:
It is considered an offense to feed alcoholic beverages to a moose.
These would be considered some sort of animal cruelty in most places.
Rhode Island:
Coasting downhill in your car with your transmission in neutral, or with the clutch disengaged.
This is illegal in most if not all states, presumably it comes from the days of drum brakes, when brake fade while going down a long hill might actually be a concern.
and:
It is considered an offense to throw pickle juice on a trolley.
Wouldn't this be considered an offense in most places?
Providence:
There is not an appeals process for exemtion of property tax due to a disability or poverty.
I wasn't aware that any place would let you do this. Sounds like someone's complaint.
They do ask for submissions and corrections. I can't decide whether to submit some fake ones (they obviously do no checking for correctness, let alone plausibility or humor) or a big list of corrections just to see what they say.
Same with anal sex, jerking off, sex outside of marriage, and any sexual position other than "the missionary position" regardless of marital status. So don't participate in any of these acts if you believe in the christian god, otherwise you might piss it off.
In fact this is a safety law. It should be obvious to everybody that if a car has its headlights on you will spotit much earlier than a car without headlights on (except for on the brightest of days - and lets be honest you don't get many of those in Denmark). If you see somehing earlier you will have a greater period in which to react. The number of RTA's in Denmark decreased siginificantly after the introduction of this law... unfortunately I don't have any statistics to hand. The law was also introduced in Sweeden, which is why on all (European Models at least) Volvo's have their Headlights on all the time.
--
"I was either onto something, or on something!"