Complex Numbers

Law of Rules

Sorry, starry-eyed anarchists, there are always rules, and they're made to be followed.

Some of them, admittedly, don't make a lot of sense, like those old laws about having to get a license to wear a beard or whatever.

According to Cracked, however, some rules are just unjust. (Paradox!)

    5 Logical, But Wildly Unjust Rules  

Laws exist to maintain order in a chaotic society.

Ideally, yes. In practice, laws exist to protect the interests of the rich and/or powerful.

Sometimes, laws are more in place to keep everything moving smoothly and prevent headaches more than to punish Great Evil.

Because Great Evil makes the laws.

Here are five laws that make logical sense, but are deeply unjust…

As usual, it's a countdown.

5. No Dogs in Antarctica

Up until fairly recently, they were a central part of any activity on the continent, but in 1993 they were banned because of worries about them transmitting diseases like the thoroughly old-timey sounding “canine distemper” to native wildlife, like seals.

Sounds like Paradise to me. Well, except for the whole "desert" and "bitterly cold" and "dark six months out of the year" parts.

4. No Bread in Space

If you’re off to space as an astronaut, though, despite heading into a high-stress environment and situation, you won’t be able to rely on the airy, stretchy internal hug of a tasty sandwich or pastry to calm you.

Look, I like bread. Bread is probably my favorite food, when you consider all of its myriad forms, including pizza crust; as well as its cousin, beer (which I suspect is also a no-no in space). But it's hardly the worst thing you have to give up in space. Gravity comes to mind. So does the ability to use a toilet.

3. Getting Your Taxes Wrong

The American process of paying taxes is basically a massive system of mathematical gaslighting that seems designed to make April a forever horrible month.

Which might explain T.S. Eliot's famous opening line of The Waste Land, and why he abandoned the US in favor of England at the ripe old age of 25. Surely their bureaucracy is less impersonal and stress-inducing than our own.

If you get those calculations wrong, because percentages were probably taught to you by a depressed and underpaid English teacher during a staffing shortage, congratulations on committing tax fraud.

As the article notes, they do have to prove that it was intentional. But it still sucks to make a mistake.

2. Jaywalking

I do this on purpose in NYC just so I can be labeled a scofflaw. I also once spit on the sidewalk there. I'm such a rebel.

This all seems a little ridiculous, and, to be honest, unnecessary. Jaywalking already has its own, independent legal system of punishment, known as “physics.”

Except that the vast majority of jaywalkers never receive that punishment, and when they do, it can be traumatic for the vehicle driver as well.

1. No Putting Your Head Under the Soda Machine and Guzzling

Sadly, this one also applies to beer taps.

Maybe it's better in Antarctica, after all.