10 Things Thursday

10 fines for silly crimes. (From MSN.com.)

Anyone who's gotten a traffic ticket knows how frustrating it can be. But considering the $290,000 speeding ticket issued in January 2010 in Switzerland, where traffic fines are calculated based on the offender's wealth, you might consider yourself lucky. Read on for some of the silliest reasons people have gotten tickets.

1. Swedish law says the court can disapprove of names that aren't suitable for "some obvious reason." In 1996, a couple was fined 5,000 kronor (about $755 today), for not having named their five-year-old son. They named him Brfxxccxxmnpcccclllmmnprxvclmnckssqlbb11116 (pronounced "Albin") in protest. The court rejected the name and upheld the fine.

2. Everyone knows drinking and driving is a huge no-no, but what about doing your hair while stuck in traffic? In England, it's a good way to have a brush with the law. Stephen Lynch of Hertfordshire was slapped with a £30 ticket (about $48 today) after a cop claimed he was grooming his mane for at least 20 to 30 seconds without focusing on the road.

3. Daniel Horne was walking home when a police car drove onto the pavement and crushed his foot in Beddau, South Wales. After the cops took him to the hospital, Horne was issued an £80 fine (about $127 today), for denting said vehicle in the collision.

4. In England, driver Michael Mancini was hit with a £60 fine (about $95 today) for grabbing a tissue while at the wheel. The policeman (nicknamed "PC Shiny Buttons" due to his overzealous approach to the job) claimed Mancini was not in proper control of his vehicle while he blew his nose. “I thought they were joking,” the driver has said of the ridiculous incident.

5. Looks like social media has gotten the better of Cincinnati Bengals wide receiver Chad Ochocinco. The player was fined $25,000 by the NFL for posting updates to his Twitter account during the team's 2010 preseason game versus Philadelphia. (The league bans social media on game days from 90 minutes before kickoff until after postgame interviews.)

6. In 2007, a six-year-old girl faced a $300 fine in Brooklyn, New York, for decorating the sidewalk in front of her home with chalk drawings. Her neighbors reported the so-called vandalism, and the girl's parents received a letter from the Department of Sanitation warning them to remove the graffiti from their property.

7. After Vandana Gurjar filed for divorce from her husband, a court in central Madhya Pradesh, India, slapped her with a sizable fine — 200,000 rupees (about $4,524 today) — for saying her ex was impotent. Gurjar's husband felt the accusation "rendered him unmarriageable and sullied his prestige," so in retaliation the shamed fellow sued her for defaming his manhood.

8. If you're visiting Singapore, where cleanliness is maintained by famously strict laws, be sure to double-check the toilet before you exit the bathroom. Failure to flush can leave you saddled with a $150 fine.

9. In what his neighbors have called "Cabbagegate," Steve Miller of Clarkson, Georgia, was fined $5,200 for growing too many vegetables in his backyard. The farmer had been growing veggies and selling them at local markets for 15 years, but the police fined him because it's illegal to grow that much food where he lives.

10. Keep your amore under wraps if you find yourself motoring around Eboli, Italy. This particular town in the notably passionate nation has outlawed kissing in cars, and violators face a jaw-dropping €500 fine (about $699 today).