Word: customs
(lookup in dictionary)
(lookup stats)
Dates: all
Sort By: most recent first
(reverse)
...Italy they have an old custom which allows a taxpayer to declare his own income for purposes of local taxation, subject to correction by a commission of his fellow citizens. The tendency is to lie and let lie. In the town of Guastalla (pop. 6,000), which sprawls peacefully along the banks of the Po River, the president of the local tax commission is a Communist. Professor Remo Salati, who wears a double-breasted suit like Communist Leader Togliatti and imitates Togliatti's manner of talking, also has access to federal tax returns in which taxpayers, in the face...
...Society, a British get-together club, sent out dinner invitations to the Sultan of Selangor and other Malayan dignitaries. The dinner was to take place at the exclusive Lake Club in Kuala Lumpur, but the club committee refused permission on the ground that a half-century-old custom prohibits Asian guests. The club's action enraged Britain's dynamic new High Commissioner Sir Gerald Templer, charged with conducting the war against the Reds. "Men who have come thousands of miles to fight Communism in Malaya," said he, "British boys, Rhodesians, Gurkhas, Africans, Fijians, are all risking life side...
...Raja is allowed by our religion to take four wives." Nor did it make any difference that the Raja's first wife, the progressively minded Tengku Budriah, should be a Girl Scout commissioner, a badminton, hockey and tennis player, who believes in the emancipation of Moslem women. Moslem custom demanded that she keep a dutiful silence while, 400 yards from her palace, workmen put the finishing touches on a cozy little green house to be occupied by the beautiful Riam...
Saudi Arabia's King Ibn Saud, whose U.S. shopping sprees have already included the purchase of 20 air-conditioned limousines and a $20,000 auto-trailer, decided he needed a modern flying carpet. Transocean Air Lines announced that it was custom-fitting (for some $100,000) a Douglas DC-4 as an aerial palace for His Majesty. Among the accessories: a raised throne which revolves a full 360° and has an extra-heavy-duty safety belt; an oversized bed in a bedroom complete with bath; an elevator; 18 luxurious chair seats. The plane is expected to be ready...
They were not the only innovators. The custom builders (i.e., the higher-priced contractors who tailor a house to the tastes of individual buyers) borrowed tricks from the mass builders. Instead of putting up only a handful of houses a year, as they had before the war, many put up scores at a time...