* Among the recent rules established by the Afghanistan Taliban office formerly known as the Department for Promoting Virtue and Preventing Vice: No paper bags (because the paper possibly could have been recycled from discarded Korans); no kite-flying; no clean-shaven men (unless they are prepared for a career of street- sweeping); no women employed in senior positions in hospitals, or seated in the front seats of ambulances, or riding with foreign citizens; women visiting hospitals must refrain from making noise with their shoes while walking; athletes must grow beards and wear full Islamic dress in the field; and sports-event spectators must not clap. However, the ban on watching television was lifted. ~~~ Send a message to notw-request@nine.org with the Subject line of Subscribe. To read these News of the Weird newspaper columns from the past six months, go to http://www.nine.org/notw/notw.html (That site contains no graphics, no photos, no video clips, no audio. Just text. Deal with it.)