Saturday, April 7, 2018


Today is Sunday, April 8 and there are only 378 days until next Easter, which is when some people say you can eat the Peeps you got this year. Today we remember the birthdays of Lewis Morris, Sonja Henie and Julian Lennon.  On this day in 1766 the first fire escape – a wicker basket on a pulley and chain – was patented, in 1862 John D Lynde patented the aerosol dispenser and in 1952 President Harry Truman seized steel mills to prevent a strike.  In the US it is National Empanada Day and National Zoo Lovers Day.

I know that I have written about strange laws before, but I thought it would be an interesting topic to revisit, based on some of the facts I have been finding over the past few weeks.  So, here is a list, by state, of some of the stranger ones.  I thought that, with vacations coming, you might want to be aware of these.  Again, I wish someone would give the reason why some of these were necessary.  

Alabama – it is illegal to wear a fake mustache that causes laughter in church.
Alaska – it is illegal to wake a sleeping bear to take a photo (dumb, too).
Arizona – it is illegal for donkeys to sleep in bathtubs.
Arkansas – you cannot honk your horn near a sandwich shop after 9 PM.
California – a frog that dies during a frog-jumping contest cannot legally be eaten.
Colorado – it is illegal to ride a horse while under the influence.
Connecticut –a pickle cannot be legally considered a pickle unless it bounces.
Delaware – residents are prohibited from selling dog or cat hair.
Florida – if an elephant is left tied to a parking meter, the parking fee has to be paid just as it would for a                      vehicle.
Georgia – it is illegal to keep an ice cream cone in your back pocket on Sundays.
Hawaii – coins are not allowed to be placed in one’s ears.
Idaho – it is illegal to give your sweetheart a box of chocolates weighing more than 50 pounds.
Illinois – it is legal for a minor to drink as long as he or she is enrolled in a culinary program.
Indiana – mustaches are illegal if the bearer has a tendency to habitually kiss other humans.
Iowa – one armed piano players must, by law, perform for free.
Kansas – a poorly worded law states that if two trains meet on the same track, neither shall proceed until the other has passed.
Kentucky – one may not dye a duckling blue and offer it for sale unless more than six are for sale at once.
Louisiana – you can be fined $500 for sending a pizza order to someone’s house without his or her knowledge.
Maryland – it is a violation to be in a public park with a sleeveless shirt and there is a $10 fine.
Maine – it is illegal to keep Christmas decorations up after January 14.
Massachusetts – it is illegal to own an explosive golf ball.
Michigan – it is illegal for women to cut their own hair without their husband’s permission.
Minnesota – a person may not cross state lines with a duck atop his or her head.
Mississippi – one may be fined up to $100 for using profane language in public.
Missouri – it is illegal to drive with an uncaged bear (again, dumb, too).
Montana – guiding sheep onto a railroad track with intent to injure the train is subject to a fine of up to $50,000 and up to five years in prison.
Nebraska – it is illegal for a mother to give her daughter a perm without a state license.
Nevada – it is illegal to drive a camel on the highway.
New Hampshire – as of 1973, it is illegal to carry away or collect seaweed at night.
New Jersey – it is against the law for a man to knit during the fishing season.
New Mexico – state officials ordered 400 words of sexually explicit material to be cut from Romeo and Juliet.
New York – slippers are not to be worn after 10 PM.
North Carolina – elephants may not be used to plow cotton fields.
North Dakota – it is illegal to lie down and fall asleep with your shoes on.
Ohio – it is illegal to get a fish drunk.
Oklahoma – it is illegal to wrestle a bear (and yet again, dumb, too).
Oregon – it is illegal to go hunting in a cemetery.
Pennsylvania – it is illegal to tell a fortune teller where to dig for buried treasure.
Rhode Island – biting off someone’s limb will result in 1 to 20 years in prison.
South Carolina – horses may not be kept in bathtubs.
South Dakota – it is illegal to sleep in a cheese factory.
Tennessee – it is illegal to share your Netflix password.
Texas – it is illegal to sell one’s eye.
Utah – it is illegal NOT to drink milk.
Vermont – women must obtain written permission from their husbands to wear false teeth.
Virginia – it is illegal to sell lettuce or peanut brittle on Sunday.
Washington – the harassing of Big Foot, Sasquatch or other undiscovered subspecies is a felony punishable by fine and/or imprisonment.
West Virginia – whistling underwater is illegal.
Wisconsin – it is illegal to serve butter substitutes in prison.
Wyoming – You may not take a picture of a rabbit from January to April without an official permit.

There are so many others, but I will do more of them another time.

Appropriately, this week our fact tells us that while minors in Kansas City, Missouri are not allowed to purchase cap pistols, they may; however, buy shotguns freely.  That is like the time we travelled with friends of ours to a Pennsylvania resort and our sons were not allowed to drive snowmobiles because of their age, but could go to the shooting range and fire an Uzi.

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