ON THE SCIENTIFIC DETECTION OF VICE AND VIRTUE

1998:

Having declared the beard-keeping by male Afghan citizens as a religious compulsion, the Afghanistan's ruling Taliban militia has now introduced a unique instrument to ensure minimum length of the beard prescribed by the Islamic laws.

Taliban's religious police carry around with it a Lantern glass to ensure minimum size of citizens' beard under Shariat enforced in their controlled areas, a refugees who recently arrived from Kabul said. Anybody's beard which is too short to crop out of the standard Lantern glass is punished just as anyone who either shave of or trims his beard, the refugee added....

2006:

In its continuing crackdown on on-air profanity, the FCC has requested numerous tapes from broadcasters that might include vulgar remarks from unruly spectators, coaches and athletes at live sporting events, industry sources said.

Tapes requested by the commission include live broadcasts of football games and NASCAR races where the participants or the crowds let loose with an expletive. While commission officials refused to talk about its requests, one broadcast company executive said the commission had asked for 30 tapes of live sports and news programs....

NO SLIPS ALLOWED

..."I don't know how they are going to rule, but they asked us for tapes with a specific emphasis on crowd noise,'' said [a] TV executive, who ... requested anonymity. "If some bozo in the crowd calls the ref an asshole, the commission is asking for a copy of the tape.''

...Under a new law approved by Congress and signed by President Bush, broadcasters face fines of as much as $325,000 per violation, up from a previous maximum of $32,500.

(Via DU.)