OT: The long arm of the law.

[Laughing Cow]

Just to show that I am not just Anti-US, here are some funny tidbits from the british side.


Car Gets Parking Ticket After Yellow Lines Painted
Wed Apr 23,10:12 AM ET

LONDON (Reuters) - A hapless British motorist was given a parking ticket after council workmen painted double yellow lines either side of his parked car.



Workmen painted the no-parking lines after the road was resurfaced.

"It is normal policy to paint either side of parked vehicles and to come back later and fill in any gaps," a city official in Stoke-on-Trent, central England, told Reuters on Wednesday.

"But it is not normal practice for traffic wardens to issue a ticket. It was a bit of a silly thing to do," he said.

The fine has now been canceled and an apology issued instead.

Last month a traffic warden in Manchester surprised passengers when he issued a parking ticket to a bus when it halted at a bus stop.


:D

Remember Humour is the ability to laugh about your own failings.

Seeya.

[Laughing Cow]

Something weird from japan too.

[QUOTE]Golden feces wipes smile
on Japanese faces

By Ryan Connell
Staff Writer

Some may pooh-pooh the claim, but with over 2 million sold, golden turds are the latest hit consumer product to raise a stink in fad fetish Japan, according to Shukan Asahi (4/25).

Ryukodo, a Kyoto-based decoration manufacturer, has trouble pushing out enough of its golden turds to keep up with demand.

The blistering pace at which they've sold since hitting souvenir stores and clothing outlets across Japan since June 2000 seems to vindicate the old adage that nothing is as grossly overrated as awful sex and nothing as underrated as laying a decent log.

Supposedly lucky charms, golden turds weigh just under 2 grams and their curl gives them a height of some 1.2 centimeters. Rather than appearing scatological, they're cute little dollops of dung, which first made them a hit among high schoolgirls.

"I bought loads of them and gave them to each member of my family as a souvenir," a schoolgirl who developed a feel for the fake feces she bought while on a school trip to Nagasaki tells Shukan Asahi. "I tied the one I bought for myself on the end of my mobile phone."

Since the end of last year, sales have been far from bogged down. Instead, they've skyrocketing as growing numbers of housewives and salarymen scramble to get their hands on these nuggets.

"With the world as bleak as it is nowadays, we wanted to come up with a product that would get people laughing," the golden turds' creator, Ryukodo president Koji Fujii, tells Shukan Asahi, giving the poop on why his products are far from being just mere crap. "Nobody in the world would get angry if somebody gave them one of our turds as a souvenir and just seeing them presented would lighten up the whole atmosphere. It's been over two years since we really first started selling them, but I reckon the world has become an even darker place in that time."

Golden turds as sold with a decorative red cushion for 2,000 yen apiece, with versions attached to an 8-centimeter-long string going for just 250 yen more, putting them well within the budget of the average traveler. Ryukodo is the biggest loser in the decorative doo-doo business, though, as the poop is painted with gold paint and the ceramic base they're made of is kilned at low heat for a long time, eating away at its margins.

Current versions include turds with funny faces painted on them, and others that emit a fragrance, though the odor let off is highly unlikely to be anything like the real thing. Ryukodo employees are currently scratching their heads over how to come up with more ideas for other ****ty products.

Although the company never initially intended to do so, following enormous demand from the corporate sector, Ryukodo has since April 20 been selling life-sized golden turds 7 centimeters tall and weighing 100 grams.

"I'm a wonderful example that these turds bring good luck," Ryukodo's Fujii tells Shukan Asahi. "As long as the world has doom and gloom, I believe there'll always be a place for products that can spark people's urge to play around. The dirty and disgusting have an ability to brighten people up."
{/QUOTE]

[dezhen2001]

"It is normal policy to paint either side of parked vehicles and to come back later and fill in any gaps," a city official in Stoke-on-Trent, central England, told Reuters on Wednesday. Only in Stoke! :eek::D

that must really waste a load of paint each year if they actually do that!

dawood

[Laughing Cow]

Originally posted by dezhen2001
Only in Stoke! :eek::D

that must really waste a load of paint each year if they actually do that!

dawood

First time I have heard of that practice.

Over here they hand out notices days before hand and any offending car gets towed.

They just did the road in front of my Aparment. ;)
Nice smooth Tarmac which makes a smooth ride on the bicycle & Bike.
;)

[guohuen]

I dought there would have been an apology in the states.
I've seen them get paid double time to paint lines on a Sunday and then pave over it two weeks later. Ahh, my tax dollars at work.

[dezhen2001]

i have no idea if its true or not... i would doubt it though, as otherwise there would be a heck of a lot of bumpy lines and car shaped parking spaces in no-parking zones :D

sounds more like council workers laziness to me... :p

dawood