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Kenneth Abraham, professor of torts at the University of Virginia, says he taps a random student on the shoulder as part of his lecture on assault and battery to illustrate the principle that even negligible unwanted contact can be costly if the victim is uniquely vulnerable. Last month Marta Sanchez, a student Abraham tapped, sued him for $35,000, charging that the tap–which she calls a “caress”–brought back memories of rape and constituted assault and battery.
Last Christmas season, to celebrate fertilization of the earth, the Copia art emporium in Napa, California, exhibited 35 statuettes by Spanish artist Antoni Miralda of figures squatting on toilets, including nuns, angels, Santa Claus, and the pope. According to a spokesperson for the emporium, such statuettes are traditionally part of Christmas nativity scenes in Catalonia.
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