Twang!

Here's a site that has assembled a list of weird laws from across the world (listed by jurisdiction!).

My favourite, so far? Britain's take on the Second Amendment:

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.

Forget church and state - this is church and local militia!

Wit, Thy Name is Blockhead

Short of his retro-night hits, I don't know much about Ian Dury and the Blockheads, but these lyrics make me want to know more:

The Bus Driver's Prayer
"Our Father,
Who art in Hendon
Harrow Road be Thy name
Thy Kingston come
Thy Wimbledon
In Erith as it is in Hendon.
Give us this day our Berkhampstead
And forgive us our Westminsters
As we forgive those who Westminster against us.
Lead us not into Temple Station
And deliver us from Ealing,
For thine is the Kingston
The Purley and the Crawley,
For Iver and Iver
Crouch End"

Life in the Courts

Here's a very observant little piece on daily life at the NY traffic courts. Articles like this are a big part of my love for the NYTimes.

The court often mirrors the changes in New York's immigrant groups. A judge said he first came across the surname Singh in the late 1980's in the Manhattan traffic court that serves mostly cabdrivers. Sometime later, he said, he realized that the ethnicity of the cabbie population was changing when he called out the name Singh and three people stood up.

Lawyers and judges agree that certain ethnic groups favor certain defenses or explanations, depending on one's point of view. Russians, for example, often invoke their mothers-in-law. West Africans smile broadly, a public face that judges sometimes misinterpret as lack of respect.

Then there are the bargainers, drivers from countries in the Middle East and Russia, for example, who expect to be able to strike deals in court.

I also love this little gem of a quote from one of the lawyers on call:

He talks frankly about his profession. "Look, I'm a traffic lawyer," he said. "It's not glamorous. I will not leave an indelible mark on the legal profession." He is much prouder, he said, of his accomplishments as a father.