Cell Phone Ban

[blackshoe]

Pope Innocent III declared a Crusade against the Cathars. The Crusaders besieged the city of Béziers, and bade the Catholics to come out, and the Cathars to surrender. Both groups refused. The entire population was slaughtered and the city burned to the ground. It was, apparently, the Papal Legate Arnaud Amalric who was alleged by one of the leaders of the Crusader army to have replied to a Crusader who asked how to tell the Catholics from the Cathars with "Tuez-les tous; Dieu reconnaitra les siens" or perhaps "Caedite eos! Novit enim Dominus qui sunt eius". Amalric's report to the Pope tells a different story, however — that the "servants and other persons of low rank", attacked the town while negotiations about the release of the Catholics were ongoing, took the town in the space of a couple of hours, and "our men spared no one." An early example of "spin" perhaps. See this wikipedia article, in particular footnote 22.

[rigour6]

1) The cellphone ban reminds me of the old joke about the guy who lost his wallet in the alley but was looking for it under the street lamp because "the light's better here". I am going to assume the people who went for this ban aren't idiots, and just went with this because it's less effort and they hope it sends a signal that they're working to stop cheating.

 

2) To avoid blowback on deposit fees, the usual (easy) answer is to charge $2, yes, and post a sign that "all funds raised to be donated to the (insert bridge or other charity here)".