10 more stupid laws

by Annie Scott on

After finding so many outrageously stupid yet entertaining laws yesterday for my top 10 stupidest laws you may encounter abroad, I decided it would be foolish – no, negligent not to continue.

Here are ten more very stupid laws from countries all over the world:

  1. Singapore – If you are convicted of littering three times, you will have to clean the streets on Sundays with a bib on saying, “I am a litterer.”
  2. Sweden – You may only own half a meter down in the ground of any land you own.
  3. U.K. – Since 1313, MPs are not allowed to don armor in Parliament.
  4. England – All English males over the age 14 are to carry out 2 or so hours of longbow practice a week supervised by the local clergy.
  5. Cambodia – Water guns may not be used in New Year’s celebrations.
  6. Australia – It is illegal to wear hot pink pants after midday Sunday.
  7. Denmark – One may not be charged for food at an inn unless that person, by his or her own opinion, is “full”.
  8. France – No pig may be addressed as Napoleon by its owner.
  9. Israel – It is forbidden to bring bears to the beach.
  10. Bahrain – A male doctor may legally examine a woman’s genitals, but is forbidden from looking directly at them during the examination. He may only see their reflection in a mirror.

References:
LawGuru.com
FunFacts.com.au
DumbLaws.com

Top 10 stupidest laws you may encounter abroad

by Annie Scott on

We’ve all heard about the ridiculous, archaic laws of the United States, stuff about shooting bison from trains and grazing your cows on Boston Common and so forth. But it’s imperative to be aware of completely useless laws in other parts of the world, in case you should happen to travel there and find yourself in a really, really unlikely situation.

Here they are, the top 10 stupidest laws you may encounter abroad:

  1. Australia – It is illegal to roam the streets wearing black clothes, felt shoes and black shoe polish on your face as these items are the tools of a cat burglar.
  2. France – Between the hours of 8AM and 8PM, 70% of the music in the radio must be by French composers.
  3. Thailand – It is illegal to leave your house if you are not wearing underwear.
  4. Italy – It is an offence for women of ‘ill repute or evil looks’ to enter a cheese factory in the area of Ferrara.
  5. Scotland – It is illegal to be a drunk while in possession of a cow.
  6. France – It is illegal in Antibes to take photos of police officers or police vehicles, even if they are just in the background. (I hope the photo at right isn’t from Antibes!)
  7. Lebanon – Men are legally allowed to have sex with animals so long as the animals are female. It is illegal to have sex with a male animal.
  8. China – Women are prohibited from walking around a hotel room in the nude. A woman may only be naked whilst in the bathroom.
  9. Hong Kong – A woman is legally allowed to kill her cheating husband, only if she uses her bare hands. The husband’s lover however may be killed in any manner desired.
  10. Switzerland – A man may not relieve himself while standing up, after 10 P.M.

BONUS: In parts of Tuscany, it’s illegal to put something into a minibar.
BONUS 2: We’ve got 10 more stupid laws.


Laws got these women in trouble. What’d they do wrong?

References:
LawGuru.com
FunFacts.com.au
DumbLaws.com

Santa Monica police are cracking down on sit-ups in public places

by Jamie Rhein on

If you have a hankering to start doing sit-ups in Santa Monica, California in a public place, think again. It doesn’t matter if you grunt when you do a sit-up, or rise smoothly with the greatest of ease. There is a ban on such behavior.

Not all public places are affected by the ban on public displays of Pilate’s-like exercises, however. It’s also not for all types of exercise. If you are jogging, running, pushing a stroller or hopping forward on one foot (I added the last one), you are free to get fit.

The ban is only for staying in one place exercises–and only on grassy meridians medians. Being that folks in Santa Monica are such exercise hounds, residents who live around traffic meridians where these calisthenic lovers congregate finally became sick and tired of the commotion and complained.

People who exercise on meridians are not all that quiet –and they litter. Recently, police officers have been stopping people who crouch down for a squat thrust or even a calf stretch. Pick up a barbell and you’re in trouble. If the person who is exercising doesn’t amble away quietly, he or she could be fined up to $158. Of course, considering that Santa Monica is filled with gobs of beautiful people some homeowners who live around the meridians have not minded watching the exercisers one bit and are feeling some disappointment that their early morning entertainment has dwindled.

Because of the meridian exercise ban, people have been using the sides of the streets for their stretching routines. Be on the lookout if you’re driving in a vicinity of a meridian. It would be horrible to hit someone. You might find the most people near the corner of Fourth Street and Adelaide Drive. That’s where the most problematic meridian is located according to this article in The New York Times. That’s where I read about the ban.

There is a court date in January to determine if the ban is legal. The photo was taken at Waikiki Beach, Hawaii where you can do sit ups until the cows come home if you want to.

Execution of Bali Bombers Imminent

by Josh Lew on

The three men who planned and carrier out the 2002 bombings of Bali nightclubs will be executed within 72 hours, according to Indonesia’s attorney general.

The attacks killed 202 people in the crowded tourist area of Kuta. The bombers, Imam Samudra, Amrozi Nurhasyim and Ali Ghufron have exhausted their appeals. They were actually sentenced to death more than five years ago. In a final legal stand, the condemned men asked the courts to change the method of execution. The three wanted to be beheaded rather than executed by firing squad, but Indonesia’s Constitutional Court rejected the idea.

Bali’s tourism industry has recovered well from the bombing. The island took a major step when it hosted the high profile United Nations Climate Change Conference last year. But the executions might bring back some old ghosts. Officials are worried that there could be a backlash. The bombers are not popular in Indonesia, but fundamentalist religious groups could take to the streets to show their objection to the execution of the bombers.

Eat up: No more glamorizing the uber-thin in France

by Anna Brones on

France has long been revered as a country full of svelte women. But because of a new bill adopted by the French Parliament on Tuesday, over glamorizing the thinnest of the thin may soon be criminal.

The bill proposes a crack down on websites that advise anorexics how to starve by recommending fines of up to $71,000 and three year prison terms. Websites that encourage “extreme skinniness” will have to wait and see what the Senate decides in the next few weeks; according to the fashion industry, if passed, the law would be the strongest of its kind.

So now that advocating “extreme skinniness” might be against the law, you don’t have to feel guilty about gorging on those croissants and other delicacies anymore. Better get an extra layer of nutella on that crepe.