If there’s one thing that people are well known to complain about, it’s definitely going to be taxes. There never seems to be a day that passes that someone isn’t complaining about taxes. However, if you think that your taxes are bad, you should probably check out the taxes that people have had to pay in the past.

The truth is that if you ask the economists, we’re actually not paying as many taxes as we used to. The taxes that we do pay go towards a variety of different services, and those services help people that desperately need assistance. This is something that’s argued back and forth, so we’ll skip the politics for now.

All of the taxes on today’s list are universally agreed upon to be pretty stupid. Check it out!

1. Beard Tax!

Wow. It doesn’t get more stupid than a beard tax — or does it? This tax is actually due to Peter the Great of Russia, who obviously had a thing against beards. He actually made his subjects wear a medal that admitted that they were ridiculous for having a beard. Peter kept himself well groomed — at least for Russia’s standards at the time.

2. Flush Tax!

In Maryland, there’s a flush tax. Yes, we had to say it straightforward — there’s a flush tax. It’s designed to protect the Chesapeake Bay, but it really still sounds stupid on paper. There’s a new fund called the Chesapeake and Atlantic Coastal Bays Restoration Fund. It’s supported by — yep, you guessed it — taxes. The tax equals 2.50$ a month in fees, and it’s on sewer bills that everyone has to pay for. If you have utilities, you got hit with these fees. The funds are collected by each county in Maryland, and they’re passed over to the state. The state turns around and passes out the funds to utility companies. These cash strapped darlings (sarcasm) turn around and upgrade wastewater treatment plants. The goal here is to make sure that nitrogen discharge is kept to a minimum. This is what ultimately hurts lakes and streams because algae bloom and that harms the aquatic life…that isn’t algae.

3. Tattoo Tax!

Now we’ve heard everything — for the last six years, the great residents of Arkansas have had to pay a tattoo tax. Body piercing counts too — if you want any of these services, you’ll be paying an additional 6 percent to have them. It’s just a way to get more money into the state. So the next time you want to get a picture of the Jersey Shore boys on your chest, just remember that it’s going to cost you 6 percent more. Then again, why you would want this is beyond our understanding.

4. Church Tax!

This tax is paid in Germany — if you want to belong to the church, you need to pay the tax. If you’re Catholic and you don’t want to pay the church tax, you will have to formally leave the church — you will not be allowed to participate in worship services. For a pious and devout Catholic, this is a pretty serious deal.

However, it applies equally to Protestants — the same rules apply. The money is actually used to support the church welfare and other charity programs. This is a bit different than in the US, where the church is a separate entity that cannot collect taxes of any kind. Read more »

If a toy is cool and trendy, chances are good that it comes from Japan. A lot of people think that Japanese toys are going to fall out of favor — after all, this is a global society now, and it’s not like China isn’t cranking out hits. However, there’s something special about the culture of technology that you’ll find in Japan. If you’re thinking about going to really have a good time, you can’t skip over Japan at all — not when it comes to high tech toys.

Check out 7 cool toys from Japan, and then tell us that you’re not interested in any of them. Go on, we actually dare you to take it there with us.

1. A Pregnant Doll!

OK, this has to be one of the most bizarre toys from Japan that we’ve seen in a long time. It’s a toy that definitely seems to defy everything that we know about toys, because this just doesn’t seem interesting to us at all. Maybe this might be something your health teacher picks up to scare you into using a condom or, better yet — to never have sex. Ever.

Actually, if you want the truth, these dolls are from the 18th and 19th centuries. They were used to “satisfy a deep curiosity for the mysteries of life”. Yeeeeah. OK.

2.  Tuttuki Bako!

This is a toy from Japan that lets you stick your finger into the hole on the side and interact with a strange and unique world. OK, it’s not one of the most interesting that we’ve seen, but we can see how people would want to play with this for a while.

3. An Edamame Keychain?

How cute is this? It’s a little edamame keychain! Look at the vibrant green! I can just imagine cute little Japanese schoolgirls using this keychain — as they merrily skip from side to side. OK, maybe we’ve been watching too much anime around the office…

What’s neat about this keychain is that the little popping edamame actually do pop in and out of their little pod — all three of them. It’s definitely cute, and it’s something to just pick up your spirits. Read more »

High heels and Hollywood have gone hand in hand for a long time. In fact, the craze for high heels has gotten so strong that even regular people think that they need to be in high heels all the time.

It’s a great debate in both fashion as well as feminist circles about the role that high heels really play. Many women, like Victoria Beckham, would never think to go outside without a good pair of high heeled shoes on. It’s a matter of taste for them. They feel more feminine when they actually have these shoes on, while other women might feel just plain ridiculous.

Feminists argue that high heeled shoes are just another way to keep women down.

However, when we looked at this:

We just didn’t think that the woman in the picture looked all that oppressed to us. We’re all for women having choices and the truth is that choices cut both ways.

But let’s take the politics out of it and just be honest: high heels are hot. So in that spirit, we wanted to show you 7 crazy, sexy, and funny high heeled shoes that celebrities are trying to walk around in.

1. Coils and …Pink?

This is an Alexander McQueen creation. He’s a fashion designer that is well loved by people like Lady Gaga and Daphne Guinness.

In fact, Alexander McQueen has such a reputation for designing tall high heels that some models can’t even work for him — they keep falling off stage!

2. All White, Big Coils

This is a shoe that Lady Gaga picked up — if you’re not sure where the shoe is from, it’s actually from her “Bad Romance” video. And if you haven’t seen it, you need to YouTube so hard that we think angels are crying. Gaga ooh la la — want your bad romance!

3. Go Sky High!

Now we’ve seen everything. If Megan Fox or Lady Gaga .want to rock this shoe, they can have at it. But we don’t think even the Sex and the City girls would touch this sky high heel anytime soon.

The celebrity look is catching fire with regular women, and they want to walk like that on the runway…and by runway we mean the sidewalk on their way to somewhere trendy like Starbucks. Or is Starbucks not hip enough anymore?

Seriously, where are all of these women gathering? The shoe is going to be less than $100, which means that it’ll be in the hands of women that usually don’t have access to the cutting edge trends. That’s just the way fashion goes.

This is being billed as one of the tallest high heels in the world, and that means that there’s already controversy. The problem with this statement is that there is already the Alexander McQueen shoes that are 10 inches tall.

Which one is going to be more comfortable to actually wear? We’re not really sure, to be honest.

This new tall heel is called the Sky Heel, and it does have a platform to use. This could give you more balance than your classic stiletto, but don’t hope for that. You’ll need to definitely do some runway walking in your bedroom before you really take this shoe to the streets. Read more »

An older guy from Serbia fails with the alcohol test

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