Cause and Effect Game
April 1st, 2008 Posted in d.challenerIt’s April Fools Day, so it’s time for some creative fun.
If you need a good laugh, head on over to Dumblaws.com. There you’ll find a host of laws that have made their way into the books, that, at least on the surface, make little sense. Today we’re going to have a little fun with them.
Here’s the game…
- The Spark: I’ll start by copy-pasting one of the laws from Dumblaws.com.
- The Flame: The next person will create a brief story as to why it was necessary to make this a law. You will be penalized for being logical or correct
- Re-Spark: Then that person will visit Dumblaws.com and select a law that strikes their fancy. Note: There are plenty of laws related to sex—let’s try to stay PG or better.
Now I’ll start the ball rolling with…
My Spark: In North Carolina “Elephants may not be used to plow cotton fields.”
2 Responses to “Cause and Effect Game”
By Paul on Apr 1, 2008
Confession time - I used to be one of the forum members on Dumblaws.com - if you do a search in the archive, you can probably find a few posts by a member called “Scotslaw” - yup, that was me…
I remember being scathing about some of the laws, because I was able to categorically say that the laws they had listed for Scotland were simply not true, and some of the ones liste for the UK were not “dumb” (a subjective appraisal).
The one that struck me most was the “dumb law” that it is illegal to impersonate a Chelsea Pensioner in the UK. This is only dumb if you don’t know what a Chelsea Pensioner is. They are a special category of war veteran who have given up their war pensions in return for residence rights at The Royal Chelsea Hospital. They are entitled to a number of tax breaks, wear a special military uniform, and all in all to impersonate one is a pretty bad thing - hence, if you’re British, there is nothing “dumb” about criminalising the impersonation, as it amounts to fraud!
Anyway, rant over - on to the challenge.
Elephants used to be native to North Carolina, but due to overhunting the population rapidly declined until only a few breeding pairs were left. Despite obvious suitability for plowing fields, it was felt that to use them for this purpose would be to reduce their ability to breed, and to cause the population to decline further. For the survival of the elephant, the North Carolina legislature banned the use of elephants. Sadly, the numbers did not increase, and you won’t find elephants in North Carolina…
I pick this one:
In Scotland, if someone asks to use your toilet, you are obliged by law to let them use it.
By Jodi on Apr 1, 2008
It was decided if the rich toffs weren’t going to pay their fare share of taxes to help build proper sanitation for everyone - well then they would just have to open their doors and share their facilities with all and sundry. So all those rich toffs had to start letting in the poor buggers to use their loos until everyone in the street had one. They passed a special law to levy a new tax on the rich to pay for sanitation and then everyone had a loo.
Mine, from those under Australia.
“Until the Port Arthur Killings (1996) it was legal to own an AK-47 but not legal to be gay.”
(There was a case that was taken to the UN human rights tribunal in regards to discrimination on the basis of homosexuality in Tasmania, to try and have these laws changed. For an extra bit of background the DSM4 (the diagnositc manual for mental illness used by psychologists and psychiatrists) stopped listing homosexuality as a mental illness the year I was born - 1973 - but it was still illegal 10 odd years ago to be gay in Tasmania!)