Results tagged “Culture” from Don't Go Into The Light

It's fairly predictable that when gay issues are in the news, the usual peripheral background stories appear. You know, the ones about a "gay gene", or the fluff pieces showing some gay couple raising a an apparently well-adjusted child, etc.

The ruling last week by the California Supreme Court on the state's gay-marriage ban has brought the "it's OK, monkeys and penguins do it" people out of the woodwork:

As gay couples celebrate their newfound right to marry in California and opposition groups rally to fight the ruling, many struggle with this question: Is homosexuality natural?

On this issue, Nature has spoken: Same-sex lovin' is common in hundreds of species, scientists say.

Roy and Silo, two male chinstrap penguins at New York's Central Park Zoo, were a couple for about six years, during which they nurtured a fertilized egg together (given to them by a zookeeper) and raised the young chick that hatched.

According to University of Oslo zoologist Petter Böckman, about 1,500 animal species are known to practice same-sex coupling, including bears, gorillas, flamingos, owls, salmon and many others.

Animals also eat their own young and slaughter each other based on instinct, not morality or intelligent thought. Shouldn't we aspire to be a little better than that?

It's interesting that the biologist quoted in the article laments:

The funny thing is that people say homosexuality is unnatural, that non-humans don't engage in homosexual behavior, but that's not true. Then they'll say it's base and animalistic."

Can't imagine where they got that idea...

In a similar vein to the previous post, the town of Sitka, Alaska has its own nightmare:

Jason Alex Abbott, a gaunt 18-year-old with a shaved head, has been charged with four counts of murder, accused of using a dagger to kill his grandparents, an aunt and her fiance.

He's also charged with a single count of attempted murder for stabbing another aunt multiple times; she was the sole survivor of the March 25 slayings.

"It was a very horrific type of crime with a lot of blood," Police Chief Sheldon Schmitt said. "It was a very chaotic scene. There was a lot of blood in the home and on the street."

The last time a killing occurred in Sitka was 1996. Police don't have a motive, but this stands out from the story:

Three days before the killings, Jason Abbott was arrested for allegedly trying to punch his mother because she had orange and red colored items in her home. He said they were "evil colors," according to court documents.

From Waycross, GA:

WAYCROSS, Ga. - A group of third-graders plotted to attack their teacher, bringing a broken steak knife, handcuffs, duct tape and other items for the job and assigning children tasks including covering the windows and cleaning up afterward, police said Tuesday.

They were upset with the teacher because she fussed at a student for standing on a chair.

Can you imagine how the teacher felt when she learned about this? I bet it will be a long, long time before she turns her back on a class.

So, is this a sign of the times? I've been to Waycross - it's a sleepy little southern town, not an urban blight zone. Frightening.

Am I the only one who thought of "Children of the Corn" while reading this story?

Via Fox News:

Women, Want a Healthy Marriage? Marry Man Uglier Than You, Study Says

The best marriages are those where women marry men who are less attractive than themselves, research has found.

Psychologists who studied newlyweds found men who were better-looking than their wives were more likely to be unhappy and have negative feelings about their marriage.

In couples where the wife is more attractive, both partners tended to be very content.

Well, yeah - at least it works that way in my home. TB looks way better than me, and we're fairly happy.

Featured at the Bangkok International Fashion Week:

I'm sure Madonna will be grateful that this look is back in style. I'm not so sure anyone else will be.

I'll admit it - I like Starbucks. Not many of us righties do, mostly due to the reputation they have as a gathering place for liberals. I don't care. I like the coffee. That Starbucks is a lefty cultural phenomenon means little to me when I'm in the mood for an overly-roasted caffeine fix.

They used to have a really rich chocolate drink that TB really liked, but when they removed it from the menu she soured on Starbucks. So now I only go when I travel.

I almost always tip when I go - yes, the coffee is expensive, but that's hardly the fault of the baristas - they don't set the price. So naturally I was drawn to this headline yesterday:

Starbucks ordered to pay back tips

Could it be that the tip jars are emptied into Starbuck's coffers and the poor baristas are denied? No, it's even worse - the shift supervisor who slings venti drips and dry pastries right next to the lesser-paid baristas has been benefiting from the tip jar as well:

SAN DIEGO - A Superior Court judge on Thursday ordered Starbucks Corp. to pay its California baristas more than $100 million in back tips and interest that the coffee chain paid to shift supervisors.

San Diego Superior Court Judge Patricia Cowett also issued an injunction that prevents Starbucks' shift supervisors from sharing in future tips, saying state law prohibits managers and supervisors from sharing in employee gratuities.

I might have a little sympathy if the supervisors sat in the back office browsing the web while the baristas slaved over a hot espresso machine, and maybe in some places they do. But the stores I usually frequent have a small staff. From the outside looking in, supervisors appear to be baristas with additional duties. If someone out there who works as Starbucks has a different perspective, please feel free to chime in. I'm by no means unpersuadable.

But we all tend to draw on personal experience when possible, so here's where I come from. While I was still active duty in the USAF, I had a string of second jobs. One was pizza delivery - a job where the employee expects that much of their income will be derived from tips. On nights when we were shorthanded on drivers (or just plain swamped), the shift supervisor (and sometimes the manager) would fire up their Corollas and deliver as well. I don't recall any of the regular drivers whining about lost tips or asking for a share, and I never heard the boss offering to forgo tips.

Now, I know that it might be a little different than having a communal tip jar, but isn't the underlying principle the same? The customer at Starbucks expects the folks serving the coffee to share the tips, if the supervisor is serving alongside the baristas, why should he/she be excluded from the spoils? Isn't it possible that some of the tips were intended to reward service provided by the supervisor?

"...state law prohibits managers and supervisors from sharing in employee gratuities." This one has me curious as well - if, during a rush, a supervisor waits tables in a restaurant, does he have to refuse tips (or give them away to the "employees")? Or does this only apply when there's a tip jar? I can understand the intent to prevent supervisors from skimming tips they didn't earn, but can't there be some circumstances where the supervisor is entitled to tips he/she has directly earned?

I expect that the real harm done to Starbucks won't be the $100 million award. It will be from the supervisors who will now warm a chair in the back room instead of helping out at the counter. Service will suffer, and the baristas may have fewer tips as a result.

Added thoughts: What are baristas paid, anyway? Do they get 8-9 bucks an hour, or a sub-minimum "waitress wage"? Are their hours held back to a small number in order to avoid the baggage of full-time employees? And all the same questions about the supervisors as well. Would the answers change my view? Maybe - although the argument for supervisors to be less involved at the counter still gets stonger as sympathy for the baristas' claim to tips increases.

Welcome InstaPundit readers! And thanks again, Glenn. Are shift supervisors entitled to tips or just greedy? Feel free to join the conversation!

Clarification: The story specifies shift supervisors, not managers. If anyone stops by who knows otherwise, please chime in. But I assume that a shift supervisor is as I've observed - someone who's job description includes barista plus some additional duties, like locking up and putting away the money, etc. And what do you think of this kind of thing outside of California, where there may not be laws as specific? Are communal tips an entitlement for the lowest paid workers regardless of who provides the tippable service? Should a company be able to set rules regarding tips? Join in!

Here's a Chinese condom hat:

If I had seen the photo before I read the article, I'd have thought the same thing:

Police: Hershey candy looks like drugs

Someone has to be the one to ask - what kind of drugs was the designer of this packaging on?

From the "Funeral Collection" of Romania's Catalin Botezatu featured at the Bucharest Fashion Week last week:

Question - are these more appropriate for a funeral or one of Marilyn Manson's cocktail parties? And if it's the latter, do you find the above alluring or just plain creepy?

Call me old-fashioned, but when it comes to the "queen of the undead" look, I much prefer this.

"But they're going to do it anyway...."

It's the argument they used in Maine to give potentially harmful prescription drugs to girls who could benefit only if they were raped.

It's the argument used by the advocates of drug legalization, the pro-choice movement, the folks who give out condoms and oral sex lessons to junior-high schoolers.

It's been used countless times in the past 4 or 5 decades and each time the effect has always been the same - the continued downward definition of moral standards.

The "they're going to do it anyway" crowd is hallmarked by laziness, selfishness, or both. They are either unwilling to do the hard work necessary to address a problem, or actively seek the normalization of behaviors that they themselves desire to participate in.

What started this rant?

LONDON (Reuters) - A Roman Catholic bishop in the southern English port city of Portsmouth is backing a campaign to legalize brothels without in any way condoning them.

The Right Reverend Crispian Hollis supported the local branch of the Women's Institute which wants to license brothels.

How - wholesome.

When the Catholic Church starts using the same argument that leftists and some libertarians have made over the years to redefine behavioral standards down, we should all take notice - and be a little embarrassed at what we're becoming.

Even when you have legitimate concerns over copyrights, it's never a good idea to threaten your fans - particularly when you have so few left.

Turns out his kid sold the tape to National Enquirer for "A lot of money".