Assorted Stupidity #104
- Authorities in Neustadt, Germany, said on Monday that a refrigerated trailer loaded with about 20 tons of Nutella, chocolate eggs, and similar treats, collectively valued at $80,000, had disappeared over the weekend. "Anyone offered large quantities [of chocolate] via unconventional channels should report it to the police immediately," a spokesman advised.
- China's State Administration for Industry and Commerce has banned companies from registering names that are too long or too "weird," according to Sixth Tone. For whatever reason, Chinese entrepreneurs have been registering company names like "Hangzhou Looking for Trouble Internet Technology Co. Ltd.," "Beijing Under My Wife's Thumb Technology Co. Ltd.," and my favorite, "What Are You Looking At Shenzhen Technology Co. Ltd." And for whatever reason, the Chinese authorities have decided this must stop.
- The new rules may be a response to publicity in June about a condom company named "There Is a Group of Young People With Dreams, Who Believe They Can Make the Wonders of Life Under the Leadership of Uncle Niu Internet Technology Co. Ltd.," although it probably isn't called that anymore.
- You've probably already read about Taylor Swift's testimony on August 10 in the case involving a Denver DJ she accused of groping her during a "meet-and-greet," but if you haven't, you should. You should also not grope, sue, or otherwise mess with Taylor Swift, in my professional opinion.
- I noticed some people trading odd case names on Twitter the other day, including: Schwing v. Putzmeister (technically, Schwing GmbH v. Putzmeister, Inc., 168 F. Supp. 2d 1023 (D. Minn. 2001), but close enough); Bojangles v. Hardees (technically, Bojangles Internat'l, LLC v. Hardees' Restaurants, LLC, No. 3:17-cv-00398 (W.D.N.C. July 19, 2017), but also close enough); and a divorce case that was allegedly called Rage v. Rage, though I couldn't find a reported decision on that one. If there is such a case, I'd list it on the Comical Case Names page, probably just below Terrible v. Terrible, which involved an equally doomed relationship.
- Bonus points: Bojangles v. Hardees is a trademark-infringement case about biscuits.
- Program note: if you're subscribed to the RSS feed and have started getting spam, as a couple people have reported, you're probably still subscribed to the old feed, which was distributed via Feedburner. A spammer seems to have signed up for that one, which is the kind of thing those reptiles do. Nuke that feed and sign up for the newer one (via Feedblitz), which you can do here or through the RSS links on the main page.