| It was a widespread custom in the early 1700s for guests at a funeral to receive nice presents from the survivors of the deceased, including rings, spoons and gloves. During the Middle Ages menstruating women weren't allowed to go to church or handle meat and other foods. The Tang dynasty empress Wu Hou, who ruled from 683 to 785 A.D., insisted that all visiting dignitaries perform oral sex on her to pay her homage. It is illegal to own a dog in Reykjavik, Iceland. Among the ancient Egyptians, it was common practice to preserve the dead's body in a huge crock of honey. The official legal difference between a fruit and vegetable was decided by the United States Supreme Court in 1893. According to the ruling, any plant or part of a plant generally eaten as part of the main course of a meal is a vegetable. Any plant or part of a plant generally eaten as an appetizer, a dessert, or out of hand is a fruit. In 15th century Venice, the government ordered prostitutes to go topless. Impotence is grounds for divorce in 24 states in the United States. Tablecloths were originally meant to serve as towels with which guests could wipe their hands and faces after dinner. It was common in the 1400s in Venice to encourage young men to seek prostitutes in order to guard against homosexuality. Thinking that it spread disease, King Henry VI banned kissing in England in 1439. In ancient Japan public contests were held to see who in a town could break wind the loudest and longest. Winners were awarded prizes and received great acclaim. An eighteenth-century prostitute could be spared punishment if she was willing to join the opera. In some parts of Java, couples may have sex in the fields to promote crop growth. In 1765, the year of the Stamp Act - when every pack of playing cards was being taxed one shilling - a deck of cards could be used for class admission at the University of Pennsylvania. In 1929, the U.S.S.R. decreed a week consisted of five days. In 1932, they changed a week to be six days. By 1940, the original seven-day week had been restored. The Puritans had such an obsessive fear of masturbation that almost any means were used to curtail the practice. For instance, some doctors recommended covering the penis with plaster of Paris. The first anti-lynching law in the United States was passed in Georgia in 1893, but it only made the violation punishable by four years in prison. In 1649, Massachusetts's Puritan government ruled the following: "Any childe over 16 who shall CURSE or SMITE their natural FATHER or MOTHER, or act in a STUBBORNE or REBELLIOUS manner shall be put to death." The Code of Hammurabi made it forbidden to randomly mistreat slaves. However, the code also stated that slaves were to be branded on the forehead and forbidden to hide or mask the mark. People say "Bless you" when you sneeze because of the influenza epidemics that raged during the Middle Ages. Sneezing was usually the first sign the victim had contracted the bug. Friends and family would mutter, "God bless you," before getting a safe distance away. As artists and traders in medieval cities began to form organizations, they instituted tough initiation ceremonies. For example, journeymen in Bergen, Norway, were shoved down a chimney, thrown three times into the sea, and soundly whipped. In the 17th century, no citizen of Japan was allowed to leave the country on penalty of death. For hundreds of years, the people of Poona, India, have disposed of their dead by carrying the corpses to the top of a tower and letting the vultures eat them. The Kwoma of New Guinea consider it proper for the girl to make sexual advances rather than the boy in order to help the men avoid upsetting the girl's parents. |
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MY FAVORITE. In ancient Japan public contests were held to see who in a town could break wind the loudest and longest. Winners were awarded prizes and received great acclaim. |
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