Alabama: No Dildos For You September 12, 2009
Posted by Joey in Gadgets, Government, Politics, Regulations, Wacky Religious Beliefs.Tags: Alabama, No Fun Allowed
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Alabama, still stuck in the Victorian era, bans sex toys. Not to worry, you can always make your own.
Thank the gods for the intertubes.
Alabama Supreme Court upholds sex toy ban.
The Alabama Supreme Court on Friday upheld the state’s ban on the sale of sex toys, but Love Stuff, the Hoover store that filed the challenge, has no plans to stop selling the devices.
While people have the right to use the devices in private, the Legislature has the right to ban public distribution of those products, the court majority ruled in a 7-2 decision.
Love Stuff had asked the court to strike down the 1998 law, arguing that the ban violated a person’s right to sexual privacy. The court upheld the law, saying public morality was a legal reason to regulate sales.
Business Opportunity: Smuggle Incandescent Light Bulbs Into Europe September 1, 2009
Posted by Joey in Environmentalists, Politics, Regulations, Technology.Tags: Compact Fluorescents, Europe, Incandescent Light Bulb Ban, Mercury
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Europe is banning Edison’s classic incandescent light bulb. I don’t know what brands they have in Europe, but the compact fluorescent bulbs we have on this side of the pond are total crap. They never last as long as stated on the box and are expensive. I doubt I save any money at all.
And don’t forget about that evil mercury in every fluorescent bulb.
Europe’s Ban on Old-Style Light Bulbs Begins – NYTimes.com.
Restrictions on the sale of incandescent bulbs begin going into effect across most of Europe on Tuesday in the continent’s latest effort to get people to save energy and combat global warming. But even advocates concede the change is proving problematic.
Under the European Union rules, shops will no longer be allowed to buy or import most incandescent frosted glass bulbs starting Tuesday. Retailers can continue selling off their stock until they run out.
While some Europeans are eagerly jumping on the bandwagon, others are panicking and have been stockpiling the old-style bulbs for aesthetic or practical reasons. Others are resigned to the switch, if grudgingly.
“Why are we switching? Because we have to,” said Ralph Wennig, a 40-year-old photographer shopping on Monday at BHV, a Paris department store.
Have WiFi? FCC Can Enter Your House Without Warrant May 21, 2009
Posted by Joey in Politics, Regulations, Technology.Tags: Federal Communications Commision, Warrantless Search
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Can you say “ripe for abuse”? Of course you can.
FCC’s Warrantless Household Searches Alarm Experts.
You may not know it, but if you have a wireless router, a cordless phone, remote car-door opener, baby monitor or cellphone in your house, the FCC claims the right to enter your home without a warrant at any time of the day or night in order to inspect it.
That’s the upshot of the rules the agency has followed for years to monitor licensed television and radio stations, and to crack down on pirate radio broadcasters. And the commission maintains the same policy applies to any licensed or unlicensed radio-frequency device.
“Anything using RF energy — we have the right to inspect it to make sure it is not causing interference,” says FCC spokesman David Fiske. That includes devices like Wi-Fi routers that use unlicensed spectrum, Fiske says.
The FCC claims it derives its warrantless search power from the Communications Act of 1934, though the constitutionality of the claim has gone untested in the courts. That’s largely because the FCC had little to do with average citizens for most of the last 75 years, when home transmitters were largely reserved to ham-radio operators and CB-radio aficionados. But in 2009, nearly every household in the United States has multiple devices that use radio waves and fall under the FCC’s purview, making the commission’s claimed authority ripe for a court challenge.
Bird Strike Data To Be Published April 22, 2009
Posted by Joey in Airlines, Regulations.Tags: Bird Strikes, Department of Transportation, FAA
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To follow up on the story You Can’t Handle The Truth (About Bird Strikes), the Dept. of Transportation reversed the FAA on publishing bird strike data.
Transportation Dept. Reverses FAA on Bird Strike Data.
The Department of Transportation is preparing to reject a proposal by the Federal Aviation Administration that would keep secret data about where and when birds strike airplanes.
The FAA last month quietly posted a proposal in the federal register, requesting public comment, that would bar the release of its records on bird collisions. The proposal followed a prominent incident in January when a flock of geese brought down a commercial flight, forcing the pilot to make an emergency landing on the Hudson River. The agency immediately came under fire because the recommendation runs counter President’s Obama vows of government transparency.
Flying the Too-Friendly Skies April 15, 2009
Posted by Joey in Oops!, Regulations.Tags: David Keith Hartz
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Gettin’ some, in a helicopter. D’oh!
Pilot Loses License Flying the Too-Friendly Skies.
If you’re gonna lose your pilot’s license, David Keith Hartz has found a great way to do it, even though there is no specific rule against having sex in the cockpit.
Hartz lost his appeal to regain the flight certificate he lost after engaging in a little, um, in-flight entertainment with Swedish porn star Puma Swede (NSFW). Although the airborne hanky-panky occurred almost four years ago, the Federal Aviation Administration didn’t get wind of it until earlier this year when the gossip site TMZ broke the story and then posted a video (NSFW) of the two in action. That’s Swede in a frame grab from the video at right.
Doggy DNA September 17, 2008
Posted by Joey in Regulations, Science.Tags: Doggy DNA
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Reuters reports on tracking poopy pooches in City uses DNA to fight dog poop.
An Israeli city is using DNA analysis of dog droppings to reward and punish pet owners.
Under a six-month trial programme launched this week, the city of Petah Tikva, a suburb of Tel Aviv, is asking dog owners to take their animal to a municipal veterinarian, who then swabs its mouth and collects DNA.
The city will use the DNA database it is building to match feces to a registered dog and identify its owner.
The article goes on to describe how the city will reward proper poop disposal with doggy toys and fine those that don’t clean up after their poopy little friend.
Pole Dancing Classes Banned in PA September 3, 2008
Posted by Joey in Regulations.Tags: ACLU, Code Enforcement, Pole Dancing
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The NY Times reports ACLU sues to keep pole dancing studio open in Instruction in Pole Dancing Tests the First Amendment.
Business, particularly the pole dancing classes, which have been gaining in popularity across the country, has been so good that she put off finishing her master’s degree in elementary education and decided to open her own studio.
She found a storefront in a shopping area in Adams Township — a small suburb 25 miles north of Pittsburgh — next to Movie Stop, a video rental store, and Jimmy’s Strip District Grill and Deli.
But in March, the Adams Township code enforcement officer, Gary Peaco, denied her occupancy permit, ruling that her studio was an adult business and was illegally within 1,000 feet of a bar and a residential area.
I’m all in favor of hotties dancing on poles. No fun in Adams Township, I guess.
Bacon-Wrapped Hot Dogs: Banned in LA August 18, 2008
Posted by Joey in Regulations.Tags: Food Nazis, Hot Dog, Los Angeles
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Reason TV reports on food nazis in LA in Food Fight.
Amid the hustle and bustle of downtown Los Angeles, there exists another world, an underground world of illicit trade in—not drugs or sex—but bacon-wrapped hot dogs. Street vendors may sell you an illegal bacon dog, but hardly anyone will talk about it, for fear of being hassled, shut down or worse. Our camera caught it on tape. One minute bacon dogs are sold in plain view, the next minute cops have confiscated carts, and ordered the dogs dumped into the trash.
When I was a kid, my mom made us bacon-wrapped hot dogs. Mom made them even better by stuffing the hot dog with cheese, wrapping bacon around it, with the bacon secured with toothpicks. A few minutes in the oven, and sheer gastronomical heaven was achieved. Yum!
Hazardous food, ha!
Woman Stymied In Drive For ‘Beautiful Viking Baby’ August 16, 2008
Posted by Joey in Regulations.add a comment
NPR reports on Woman Stymied In Drive For ‘Beautiful Viking Baby’.
New federal health regulations meant to protect Americans from mad cow disease now prohibit the import of semen from European sperm banks. Apparently before the ban, Nordic donations commanded top-dollar in American clinics.
Definitive proof, I’m telling you, right here!
