Italy bans crotch scratching

by Anna Brones on

If you’re a male and making your way to Italy soon, be warned: crotch scratching in public is officially off limits.

The Italian Court of Appeals made the decision after listening to the plea of a 42 year year old man from Como who had been fined 200 euros last year for adjusting himself in public. The Court would have none of his appeal and made it clear that any touching of the privates in public is “a sign of ill manners and must be considered against public decency.” Not only was the man in question forced to pay the 200 euro fine, but he was also ordered to pay another 1000 euros in costs. At the current euro to dollar rate, that is a hefty price to pay.

The ban might make many Italian men weary as superstitious ones often hold or touch their private parts for good luck when they see a hearse, or to ward off bad luck; similar to our own “knock on wood.” No pun intended. Moral of the story: keep those hands above the waistline.

Red roses banned in Saudi Arabia for Valentine’s Day

by Abha Malpani on

Married men in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia will have to put their creative caps on to think of an original way to woo their significant other on Valentine’s Day this year, as the Kingdom’s religious police have imposed a ban, not only on red roses, but anything scarlet in gift shops.

Why? All under the premise of not encouraging people out of wedlock to have relationships, something that is prohibited and punishable by law under the rules of Sunni Islam — the type of Islam that governs Saudi Arabia.

You have to keep in mind that Saudi Arabia doesn’t even allow unrelated men and women to mix openly, so if you are a local, you would have to rack your brains to come up with a clever strategy to even communicate with someone your heart is pounding for.

Red, blue or green, a gift is a gift is a gift. The particular availability of something red to gift on V-day is a bonus, so how exactly banning the sale of red items would play a role in discouraging opposite sex relations is beyond my understanding.

As for the expatriates living in the Kingdom, every thing goes in their residential compounds so I doubt they would care too much.

Romantic souls will have to live with gifting yellow, pink, white OR rainbow colored (?!) items instead. No big deal, eh?

Why do Americans want to own guns?

by Abha Malpani on

I remain baffled by how it’s legal to own a gun in the United States. I think even the option of having one is like saying it’s OK to kill if you have a good reason.

According to a recent piece in Newsweek there are 215 million guns in America — i.e. more than half the households across the country own one.

This statistic triggered photographer and author of “Armed America” Kyle Cassidy to travel 15,000 miles across the country to ask people who own guns “why do own a gun?”, and take portraits of them in their homes.

Some of the reasons were just beyond my comprehension:

  • “My shotgun will take care of any intruder, and I know how to use it.”
  • “I own a shotgun for the same reason I own a fire extinguisher.”
  • “Gun ownership is a right and privilege, everyone should exercise it. I think everyone should have one, on the range, on the playing field, in the world.”
  • “It’s not the guns that kill, it’s the people.”
  • “I have nothing against guns, I think they are cool and I love that we have them in the house. My friends are very impressed by the collection we have.”
  • “It’s up to us as citizens to protect ourselves, our family and property. Our constitution provides us with the right and method by which to achieve that objective, and I simply choose to exercise that right.”
  • “I think the ownership of arms is not only a right, but the duty of a free people to themselves and future generation.”

Goodness gracious me.

[Full podcast here.]

Cultures: Divorce While Sleeping

by Adrienne Wilson on

I
didn’t know things like this could happen, but what’s more interesting is the what was supposed to happen afterwards
and what actually happened. Pology, an amazing blog covering
cultures from all over brings our attention to an unusual case of
divorce in eastern India. Under Islamic law a husband only has to say "talaq," the Urdu word for
divorce three times to secure a permanent end to his marriage. Well, while Aftab Ansari was asleep and under the
influence of medicines to help him sleep better, the 30 year-old uttered "talaq" three times causing
his wife to worry and discuss with friends. The husband said he did not mean to divorce his wife of 11 years and that it
was an accident, however when word got around to the Village Elders their solution was this:

In order to
remarry the couple would have to be apart for at least 100 days and that the wife would have to spend a night with
another man and then be divorced by him. The couple not wishing to obey the rules have now been ostracized according to
the Yahoo
news piece.

Now is that crazy or what? It’s almost like the Wizard of Oz with a twist where Dorothy and Toto are at ends and
"talaq" three times gets them their wish to be free from one another and Toto speaks instead of
barks.