Originally published at: http://boingboing.net/2017/06/19/artist-breaks-43-stupid-laws-b.html
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In Texas it is illegal for children to have unusual haircuts.
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i think the interpretation of the nevada one is wrong. i suspect it means a bar of soap that LOOKS like a flag, because then you’d symbolically be “washing your hands with/of the flag,” you know?
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Agreed, and clearly that flag is in the soap, not on it. Or more specifically, the flag is above the soap while the toothpick is in it.
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These are amusing. How will he illustrate the law rounding up and deporting Mexicans?
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In Pennsylvania, It’s Illegal To Tie A Dollar Bill To A String And Pull It Away When Someone Tries To Pick It Up.
Damn those Pinko Pensylvania Commies! This is capitalism. This is What Makes America Great. Why do They Hate America?
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I’d rather see a list of stupid laws that people actually do time for today.
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Re #28, apple pie with cheese is delicious.
As far as law regarding photographic up-skirt, can we at least agree that unless the photography is consensual, it ought to be illegal, and thus the law is not stupid but necessary?
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Apple pie without cheese is like a hug without the squeeze
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The MA law was recent and came about because a gentleman was taking up skirt pics on the subway and couldn’t be charged with a crime. So maybe it’s just 42 stupid laws.
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Ah, good old Marie Calendar 
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I think most of them are probably bullshit. I wish the artist had printed or linked to the actual law. I took the first one about it being illegal in Alabama to have an ice cream cone in your back pocket and looked for the actual law and came up with nothing.
Can somebody point to the actual law?
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dave01760, why do you refer to the up-skirt photographer as a gentleman?
The ban on putting an ice cream cone supposedly was because people at one point would do just that to entice a horse to follow them while denying they were actually trying to steal it. In my experience many stupid laws are actually attempts to deal with novel situations (and that goes double if the law in question is a court decision and not a statute).
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Because in Boing Boing land, gentleman usually equals asshole/idiot
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When I searched for the origins, I saw lots of explanations including that one. What I didn’t find is the actual law. I don’t think it’s on the books. I bet most of the laws the artist is having fun with aren’t actual laws now.
FWIW, the Alabama laws are available online. I searched them for the string “ice cream” with this Google query:
site:alisondb.legislature.state.al.us/alison/codeofalabama ice cream
It turned up two pages of results, but none were about putting it in your pocket.
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I’d rather see a list of stupid laws that people actually do time for today.
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That’s, like… a pretty long discussion.
Compendiums of weird laws have been circulating forever. Even if it really was once a law it could easily have been repealed decades ago and yet still make these lists.
Can we all agree that tying a string to a Dollar Bill and pulling it away while someone tries to pick it up is a dick move.
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