The Internet!  beats standing in line!

They use to do it here (and in some places they still do).  They are called Blue Laws and for the longest time, retailers were not allowed to open on Sunday and certain holidays.  What changed was the retailers got greedy and wanted more sales! (But of course that was pre-Internet, so they never stopped to think that if ALL stores were closed on Sunday, they were not losing sales).

Even the free market regulates store hours sometimes.   All the farmers' markets in my area, you have to open shop at exactly 8am and close at exactly 12pm, to be fair to everybody.  And that's even if you're sold out at 10--you still have to remain open until 12.  Otherwise people would be trying to open shop at 6am to try & increase sales, and soon they're sold out at 8am.  Then everybody else feels the pressure to be there at 6am, and you've pretty much screwed up the whole market.

Labor unions curtail the work hours of their members, even if the workers want to work longer hours (again, in an attempt to out-compete).  You have to show up to work at 8 and leave at 5. 

And then in athletics, the regulatory commissions (like the NCAA) forbid you from holding practice out-of-season.  Otherwise coaches would be holding 2-a-days the whole off-season and stress everybody out, in an attempt to be competitive.  And the student-athletes wouldn't be getting an education. 

Regulating the markets to cut back hours is not automatically a bad thing in this instance.  And it's arguable as to what exactly constitutes a "free market" or even if it's a good thing 100% of the time.

I avoid lawyers like the plague whenever possible.

Q: What happens when a lawyer takes Viagra?
A: He gets taller

Q: Why to lawyers wear neckties?
A: To keep the foreskin from crawling up their chins.

CarGuy made a funny.

It has something to do with protecting the small traders from the giant retailers who can afford to pay staff to operate 24/7.  However, it usually applies only in regional areas where there is little competition and small competitors don't stand an earthly against the major chains.  In larger cities there are few trade restrictions and it's more or less a free for all.

Oh there's never an issue with that, well not in the major cities and surrounding precincts... and in the country LOL, they're all in bed by 8.00pm anyway, so it don't matter to them if the stores are open 'til midnight, closed at 5.30pm or open all hours.

@ CarGuy.... that's rude, about the lawyers, but I like it.

I know this banker who likes to go horse riding on weekends, so I asked him: "what's the only animal in the world with an arse hole half way along its back?"

He replied: "I don't know."

So I told him: "A banker's horse."

Now that's rude ... too. Guess you told him huh.

You guys are really hurting my feelings.   You don't know what I do for a living.   I'm going to need your names and contact information.

Okay

Okay, so are you gonna tell us?

Um, if I sent it you'd have to disappear soon thereafter.

It is highly hush hush.  

CarGuy1, that's funny.

   A john goes to a $5.00 lady of the evening and get's crabs. He goes to complain to the lady the next day. She replies,

"For $5.00 what do you want, Lobster."  

I was busting this one time so reluctantly went into a public convenience... and walked out prior to completing any business.

In the cubicle it said:

"It's No Use Standing On The Seat

The Crabs In Here Can Jump 10 Feet."

Nothing like that little ditty to make you wanna walk out and wait until you get home... even if it is 2 hours away.

Somebody else wrote on the bottom of the door, which stopped a foot short of the floor:

'Beware of Limbo Dancers"

On sale today we have $5.00 Lady of the Evening dinner ware complete with crusty overlays. Over here we have fresh from the Outback's Outhouse live Crab Du'Jour for only a small pittance of $9.99, down from $10.01 because the Jumping Jacks flashed too soon this year. And over here ...

I might be full of baloney, I'm not a lawyer.  

What do you call a bunch of lawyers skydiving out of an airplane?

Skeet.

Okay, so now that one is ruled out, it leaves politician or banker.

Being full of baloney suggests politician, but you don't come across as being long-winded enough.

That leaves banker.

If so, we need your name and contact details.

What do you call a bunch of lawyers on a deep sea fishing trip?

Bait!

And all your disposable income.

OK, recently, police divers diving off the coast of Chicago, IL discovered a bunch of dead bodies sporting cement overshoes.  At first they thought these were the remains of a series of mob executions.  However, after forensics determined the IDs of the bodies, they discovered they were all lawyers.  Newspaper headline the next day called it "A Good Start."  

Oh jeez. Starkers is gonna love this. Even if it isn't for real.

Would have been good if it had been bankers as well as..... and the headline the could have been "A Better Start"

I wonder why every thread I publish has to go completely OT?

I've not said much about that in the past, but why the heck not just start a thread about lawyers, politicians, bankers and ceos and keep the OT's there?

NT

Yours and just about everybody elses... even Frogboy's, ID's and Jafo's at times

I think it's the nature of the beast that is WC  In fact, I've seen it across most Stardock forums I've visited.

It's not out of disrespect to you or the topic, though, it's just that when people see an opportunity for a bit of fun they usually take it.

I generally do it when I see others have, or when I see the forums getting too drab and boring, but I will try to contain my enthusiasm for a bit of tongue-in-cheek in your threads from here on in.

an occasional comment is ok, starkers. and i'm not angry...