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Flipping the Bird

When Knights had tournament back in Mediaeval times they often went into battle bare handed because chainmaille gloves were so expensive and hard to come bye. Because the middle finger is the longest, (and because of the way a sword is held), this finger was the most vulnerable, and the most easy to chop off. So if a Knight came out of battle with both middle fingers he would hold them up to his opponent, like “Haha, I’ve still got my fingers!” This has survived to become every enraged motorist’s favorite insult.

here:
http://www.gaiaonline.com/gaia/redirect.php?r=http://www.angelfire.com/magic/cynder/truefacts.html

wow, i did not know that. interesting.

I gotta say, that site looks kinda suss, and I'll be monkey's uncle if that is the correct etymology for ******** a link for the use of the finger, dating it to ancient greek times, where it apparently appeared as some sort of double entendre.

http://www.ooze.com/finger/html/history.html

And ******** seems to have a rather different etymology, though the one you mentioned is also there though clearly tagged as false.

About the no clocks in casinos thing, it's so people don't know how long they've been gambling or thwe time or anything...it's all economics. The longer people are in there, the more money they're likely to lose. Not all that strange, just simple ecionomics.

False. This is a variation of the fact that English archers would have their index and middle finger cut off by the French when captured, so they could fight no more. So all English archers would "flick the V" to the French soldiers if they still had their fingers, to say "******** you. I can still shoot at you."

What's more, middle fingers are not the most vunerable. The index or pinkies are most at risk, and usually if you have one finger hit in a sword fight, you get all of them hit.

I think these are right:

In every episode of Seinfeld there is a Superman somewhere

The women of the Ubangi tribe in Zaire, Africa, stretch their necks considerably with rings as a sign of beauty, each year adding one more ring

Camels have three eyelids to protect themselves from blowing sand

Queen Elizabeth I regarded herself as a paragon of cleanliness. She declared that she bathed once every three months, whether she needed it or not

Owls are one of the only birds who can see the colour blue

Crazy Laws:

Massachusetts:
All men must carry a rifle with them to church on Sunday
In Longmeadow it is illegal for two men to carry a bathtub across the town green.
Tomatoes may not be used in the production of clam chowder.
Under an old law in Marblehead, Mass., it was illegal to cross the street on Sunday, unless absolutely necessary.

Connecticut:
It is illigal to pirouette while crossing the street.
The marriage of imbeciles and feeble-minded persons is prohibited.
CT still retains an old law forbidding any kind of "private sexual behavior between consenting adults."
In Darien, CT it is illigal to kiss your wife on Sunday.

Delawere:
it is illegal to get married on a dare.

So...I go to college in Springfield, right next to Longmeadow. My friends and I were discussing the prospects of finding a bathtub and crossing the street with it... What is it with all these laws about crossing streets?

Most of these are off the top of my head. I checked CrazyLaws.com to make sure I had them right.