Lead Stories
In the British elections in April the usual fringe parties were in evidence, such as the Black-Haired, Medium-Build Caucasian Party, but the longest-standing alternative, the Monster Raving Loony Party, ran the most candidates. Its main platform plank this year was a proposal to tow Britain 500 miles into the Mediterranean Sea in order to improve the country’s climate. MRLP candidates also suggested such innovations as requiring dogs to eat phosphorescent food so that pedestrians could more easily avoid stepping in their poop.
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Unclear on the concept: In January Bamrer Pong-insee, a spokesman for the Professional Comedians Association of Thailand, said its members will soon be prohibited by rule from being impolite onstage. Especially frowned upon are obscene language, physical humor in which pain is implied, and being disrespectful to a colleague’s parents.
The Rhode Island Providence Phoenix reported in February that the latest fad at Providence College is handcuff parties, where men and women are randomly cuffed together and must accompany each other the rest of the evening, even for rest room breaks. At nearby Brown University the fad is “naked” parties, at which there is virtually no sexual activity.
Cultural Diversity
A crime waiting to happen: In February thieves in the region of Sirnak, Turkey, stole 210 pairs of shoes left by worshipers outside the Vali Kamil Acun mosque.
Update
In 1995 News of the Weird reported that some New York City dermatologists were offering a treatment to reduce facial wrinkles by injecting botulism-causing bacteria to deaden the tissue. The New York Observer reported in May of this year that some of those dermatologists now tout a side effect of the $800 treatment: it so deadens the forehead that it prevents scowling, which some patients say helps them keep a poker face during business negotiations.
