It used to be required at a lot of camping pools because the longer shorts would take too much water out of the pool.. nowadays it's not often required anymore in my experience.
In my opinion these parties are often mentioning valid issues or things that could be improved in society, and people vote for that. The problem is these parties don't really have solutions either, but that's something that doesn't show up until after the elections...
Maemo and later Meego yes... I had a Nokia N900 and it was an awesome phone. Basically Debian in your pocket, easily accessible terminal with root etc.