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Post by ScottsyII on Mar 25, 2005 2:06:08 GMT -5
I've heard some of classic old laws that just simply haven't been removed after being enacted for specific purposes... some of those truly are insane!
Loved the law about photographing rabbits!
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Post by maarts on Mar 28, 2005 4:38:32 GMT -5
Kilts given the toss
If you thought Islamic girls wearing traditional headscarves to schools in France was causing a ruckus, imagine how this is going down north of Hadrian's Wall ...
Cambridge University has banned students from wearing kilts at graduation ceremonies.
It insists the ban on national dress is to underline that "all students are equal".
Scottish politicians were furious, and The Scotsman quoted the Scottish National Party's shadow justice and home affairs minister, Kenny MacAskill, as saying the ban was petty and narrow-minded.
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Post by maarts on Mar 28, 2005 4:40:01 GMT -5
Husband penalised for sex boycott
Rome: A Sicilian man who withheld sex from his wife for seven years after an argument has been ordered by a court to pay maintenance.
The man, whose name was given only as Francesco, decided to punish his wife, Piera, after she opposed him in a family argument - a punishment that lasted seven years.
The appeals court called the man's actions - or rather inactions - an "offence to her dignity" and said it constituted grounds for separation.
The court ordered him to pay court costs and maintenance to his now former wife and their children, born when their marriage was in happier times.
"The refusal to have sexual and affectionate relations over seven years with his wife constitutes a very serious offence to her dignity and has caused frustration with serious consequences for her psychological equilibrium," the court judgement said.
The court rule the husband's behaviour was a violation of article 143 of the civil code, which imposes a duty of moral and material assistance between husband and wife.
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Post by maarts on Mar 28, 2005 4:41:47 GMT -5
You what?
A crown court trial was halted when one of the jurors admitted he had not heard most of the evidence because his ears were blocked.
The man had sat through the evidence of the complainant in the Swansea Crown Court trial of a man charged with making threats to kill.
But before the second day of the trial got under way, two other jury members approached a court official and said they thought the man was having difficulty hearing.
He then admitted he had not heard all the evidence as a heavy cold had left him with ear wax.
Judge Christopher Morton discharged the jury and ordered a new trial.
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Post by maarts on Mar 28, 2005 4:43:11 GMT -5
Sheepish ram-raider
There has been a spate of strange animal stories in the US press of late. Hogzilla the giant pig has been shot dead in Alapaha, Georgia. In Michigantown, Indiana, a turtle named Lucky has been found after a pet shop fire with the face of Satan on his shell.
And if you thought the Kiwis had world rights to silly sheep yarns, cast an eye over this tale ...
An Oregon State University Beavers football player had a stolen sheep in the back of his ute when he was pulled over for speeding last week, Associated Press reports.
Ben Siegert, 20, who plays defensive tackle, was charged with driving under the influence of intoxicants after failing breath tests. Ninety minutes after being pulled over, the 140-kilogram Siegert registered a blood-alcohol content of .14 per cent on a breath analyser at the Benton County Jail, the sheriff's office said. Oregon considers drivers with a .08 per cent blood alcohol content to be drunk.
Siegert told the Corvallis Gazette-Times that he had nothing to do with the stolen ram.
Advertisement
Advertisement"I don't know anything about that," he said. "I'm from a city. I don't know anything about sheep."
Benton County's deputy sheriff, Diana Simpson, disagreed, saying Siegert might have been "too intoxicated to remember".
The ram in question lives at the university's Sheep Centre, and is part of a study on homosexuality in sheep, said the centre's manager, Tom Nichols.
"We have at least one prank a year where we have to go to a dormitory or a sorority house and pick up a ram or a lamb or a ewe," Nichols said. "It's one of those springtime pranks."
The deputy chose not to arrest anybody for taking the sheep.
The team's coach, Mike Riley, is still evaluating Siegert's situation, said Steve Fenk, the university's sports information director. "At this point they're just going to deal with it internally. I don't know if it's going to affect spring practice."
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Post by maarts on Mar 28, 2005 4:45:41 GMT -5
Sharp predicament
Pins and needles took on a different meaning for a woman at a clinic in Karlsruhe.
She had gone there for a late afternoon acupuncture treatment, but staff forgot their patient at closing time when they turned off the lights, locked the doors and left.
The woman eventually realised her situation, pulled out the needles, and then phoned the emergency services
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Post by maarts on Mar 28, 2005 4:48:21 GMT -5
Yeast extract spreads alarm
London: An ad for the yeast extract Marmite that parodied the 1950s science fiction film The Blob has been banned from all childrens' programs in Britain after leaving children too scared to watch television, the advertising watchdog said.
Two Marmite ads featured a giant brown blob rolling along a crowded street, terrifying some people, who tried to flee, while others ran towards it with delight. The advert ended with Marmite's slogan: "You either love it or hate it".
Six people complained to the Advertising Standards Authority that their toddlers had been terrified, with four refusing to watch TV after seeing them and two suffering nightmares.
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Post by ScottsyII on Mar 28, 2005 4:48:55 GMT -5
Now some one definitely has to lose their job over that one... :-)
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Post by maarts on Mar 28, 2005 4:50:13 GMT -5
High price
A Vietnamese man who took a fake tablet of the impotence drug Viagra was hospitalised after his erection lasted two days.
The 47-year-old man was admitted on Sunday to Binh Dan Hospital in Ho Chi Minh City from nearby Vinh Long province, two days after taking the Chinese-made tablet, said a doctor from the hospital where he was treated.
The man bought the pill from an acquaintance for less than $US2 ($2.50) on Friday and took it that evening.
The man did not have intercourse after taking the pill, but could not get rid of the erection, said the doctor who declined to be named.
Doctors performed a minor operation to drain some blood from the man's erect penis.
They were not sure what was contained in the pill since no sample was available.
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Post by maarts on Mar 28, 2005 4:50:13 GMT -5
High price
A Vietnamese man who took a fake tablet of the impotence drug Viagra was hospitalised after his erection lasted two days.
The 47-year-old man was admitted on Sunday to Binh Dan Hospital in Ho Chi Minh City from nearby Vinh Long province, two days after taking the Chinese-made tablet, said a doctor from the hospital where he was treated.
The man bought the pill from an acquaintance for less than $US2 ($2.50) on Friday and took it that evening.
The man did not have intercourse after taking the pill, but could not get rid of the erection, said the doctor who declined to be named.
Doctors performed a minor operation to drain some blood from the man's erect penis.
They were not sure what was contained in the pill since no sample was available.
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Post by maarts on Mar 28, 2005 4:51:37 GMT -5
Sex doll sparks bomb alert
A blow-up sex doll sparked a bomb alert in a German post office after it started to vibrate inside a package awaiting delivery, police said on Wednesday.
"Workers were unsettled when it began vibrating and made strange noises," a spokesman for police in the eastern city of Chemnitz said. "They were worried the package might be a bomb."
Officers brought the sender to the scene and discovered the source of alarm was an electrical device inside a life-size female sex doll. The man told police he had wanted to return the doll because it kept turning itself on at the wrong moment.
Order was restored after the sender removed the doll's batteries so the defective product could be returned.
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Post by maarts on Mar 28, 2005 4:53:05 GMT -5
Not well noted
It is never good to fall asleep on the job, but when you are a robber the consequences can be severe.
Quincy police arrived at a pharmacy early on Tuesday morning to find Steven Jakaitis, 42, sleeping in his idling car with a nylon stocking over his head and a cap pistol in his pocket.
By his side was a note that read: "I have a Gun DO NOT Press any Alarms or let Custermors (sic) know Empty the All the register."
A customer called police after seeing Jakaitis, who was also wearing a black wig and a scarf. On the back seat of his car, officers found a plastic bag containing 36 unused hypodermic needles. He spoke incoherently after the officers woke him, Capt. Anthony DiBona said.
He never actually went into the store, police said.
At his arraignment, Jakaitis pleaded innocent to attempted armed robbery, possession of a hypodermic syringe and receiving a stolen car. He was ordered held on $US1000 ($1260) bail and ordered to appear for a pretrial conference on April 12.
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Post by maarts on Mar 28, 2005 4:54:53 GMT -5
Voyeurs in uniform
Prostitutes in a Dutch city say their business is being ruined by policemen turning up to watch them have sex with clients.
Working girls in Groningen have complained to the mayor that embarrassed customers are being put off.
The prostitutes' foundation, De Straatmadelief, said up to a dozen police cars had been parking near street sex zones so officers could watch them at work.
"Instead of focused inspections, they are coming and watching like monkeys," the complaint said.
It suggested one patrol a night instead of "up to a dozen an hour", Ananova.com reports.
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Post by maarts on Mar 28, 2005 4:56:29 GMT -5
Biker gets two penises
A German biker with two penises has reportedly lost his wife.
Plastic surgeons constructed a new penis for Michael Gruber, 40, after a motorcycle crash left him without one, reports ananova.com.
But, despite fathering a child with wife Bianca, 25, Gruber asked doctors to repeat the operation and build him a better organ.
They agreed, but before removing the first penis, they said they needed to make sure the new tissue transplant worked.
Ananova.com reported Dr Markus Kuentscher, a plastic surgeon at Berlin's Accident Hospital, as saying: "We left the old one attached until the new one is properly supplied with blood."
But Gruber's wife went home, packed her bags after her husband showed her the results of the operation.
From his hospital bed he said: "I've got two penises but no wife, but I am hoping when I get rid of one of the penises I will get her back."
His story was this week featured on a German TV documentary called The Last Penis Operation.
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Post by ScottsyII on Mar 28, 2005 6:36:59 GMT -5
That would make an interesting Spam email header...
Want Two Penises?
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