Friday, December 22, 2023

Links - 22nd December 2023 (1)

Being 'boring' isn’t in Poilievre’s DNA—And thank God for that - "Poilievre didn’t win his party’s leadership in a landslide by bowing out of big fights, ceding major public policy territory to his opponents, and hoping the media wouldn’t notice him (or that they wouldn’t find him too offensive). We don’t have to imagine how the Conservative party would fare if it tried to avoid big important fights—we already know. It would linger in opposition, as it has this last decade. "

Meme - "You weren't though."
Dan Hentschel @danghentschel: "Oh you don't want to tip? *spraying Raid insecticide into McDelivery McDonald's bag"
Dan Hentschel @danghentschel: "You've got to be kidding me."
"We're sorry to tell you this. The safety of our community on and offline is our highest priority. We have made the decision to suspend your account."
I wonder if this was DoorDash

Americans are getting tired of tipping, survey shows. Here’s why - "Americans are tipping less often for a variety of services, demonstrating a steady decline over the last few years, according to new data from Bankrate released this week.  Also, two-thirds (66%) of the survey's respondents have a negative view about tipping, including 41% saying they feel like businesses should pay their employees better rather than relying so much on tips. And, people are feeling annoyed about pre-entered tip screens (32%), sharing that the present tipping culture has gotten out of control (30%), and noting they would be willing to pay higher prices if they could do away with tipping (16%), and being confused about who and how much to tip (15%)... "I was recently asked to tip by a self-checkout machine at Newark Airport. I also don’t like how Hopper, the online travel agency, asks for tips when people book travel on their website. I’ve even heard of some doctors’ offices asking for tips," Rossman says. "These all feel like overreaches and blatant revenue grabs."... Americans are tipping less often for numerous services, demonstrating a steady decline over the last few years. According to its research, Gen Zers (ages 18-26), millennials (ages 27-42), and men stand out for being the worst tippers across multiple service categories...  "While 53% of U.S. adults who have a hair stylist/barber always tip them, just 24% of Gen Zers, 40% of millennials, and 46% of men always do so, compared to 60% of women, 67% of Gen Xers, and 70% of baby boomers." Similarly, 50% of U.S. adults who order food delivery always tip the delivery person, but just 31% of Gen Zers, 42% of millennials, and 45% of men do the same, compared to 54% of women, 63% of Gen Xers, and 62% of baby boomers, Bankrate’s study reports.  Finally, according to the study, while 40% of U.S. adults who ride in taxis/rideshares always tip the driver, just 22% of Gen Zers, 30% of millennials and 36% of men always tip them, compared to 45% of women, 51% of Gen Xers, and 56% of baby boomers."

Self-checkout machines now ask customers to tip - "Self-checkout machines want you to tip them for all that they do...   Many companies told the Journal that these tipping prompts are completely optional, and the extra gratuity is split between all employees.  However, experts say that tips at a self-checkout machine might never even get to an actual employee since protections to tipped workers in the federal Fair Labor Standards Act don’t extend to machines, according to WSJ... The option to tip by credit card at Starbucks was introduced in September 2022 and received mixed reviews from both customers and employees — the latter of whom admitted they feel embarrassed to ask for a tip on what is, essentially, fast food."

Outraged trader shares image of tip screen that suggested a HUNDRED PERCENT gratuity at Alaska restaurant - as top etiquette expert says she never gives in to their greedy demands - "Harrison Snowden from Chicago was beginning his vacation in Anchorage with two friends earlier this month when the mood turned sour... The tourist was so shocked that he tipped just 8 percent, less than he would normally have done, and took a picture of the screen. He then shared the shocking image with friends."

The sneaky trick American businesses are using to get extra tips: Square payment expert reveals how suggested amounts on gratuity screens are being increased - "almost three quarters of Americans leave a higher tip when they are presented with a digital screen at check out... Emily Post Institute - a group of etiquette experts - say that wait-staff should receive a pre-tax tip of 10 to 20 percent, while 10 percent to-go orders or curb delivery is appropriate but not required. Some 73 percent of people said they gave a gratuity at least 11 percent higher when tipping digitally, as opposed to with cash... not all respondents felt negatively towards adding gratuity, the study found, with 36 percent saying it made them feel 'happy', and 33 percent saying they felt 'grateful'.   When it comes to which services people are most likely to tip for, servers at sit-down restaurants topped the list - with 58 percent of respondents saying they would tip after a meal.   Some 46 percent said they would tip food delivery drivers, and 39 percent said they would typically offer gratuity at a bar.   Only 20 percent, however, said they would tip for child care, and just 17 percent said they would offer extra to movers.   A separate survey earlier this year found Americans were becoming 'stingier' with their tipping habits.    The study by Bankrate found the number of people who always tip for servers at a sit-down restaurant has declined by 12 percent in the last four years - from 77 percent in 2019 to 65 percent in 2023"

Determinants and consequences of female attractiveness and sexiness: realistic tests with restaurant waitresses - "Waitresses completed an on-line survey about their physical characteristics, self-perceived attractiveness and sexiness, and average tips. The waitresses' self-rated physical attractiveness increased with their breast sizes and decreased with their ages, waist-to-hip ratios, and body sizes. Similar effects were observed on self-rated sexiness, with the exception of age, which varied with self-rated sexiness in a negative, quadratic relationship rather than a linear one. Moreover, the waitresses' tips varied with age in a negative, quadratic relationship, increased with breast size, increased with having blond hair, and decreased with body size. These findings, which are discussed from an evolutionary perspective, make several contributions to the literature on female physical attractiveness. First, they replicate some previous findings regarding the determinants of female physical attractiveness using a larger, more diverse, and more ecologically valid set of stimuli than has been studied before. Second, they provide needed evidence that some of those determinants of female beauty affect interpersonal behaviors as well as attractiveness ratings. Finally, they indicate that some determinants of female physical attractiveness do not have the same effects on overt interpersonal behavior (such as tipping) that they have on attractiveness ratings. This latter contribution highlights the need for more ecologically valid tests of evolutionary theories about the determinants and consequences of female beauty."

I Wear Pigtails As a Server to Get More Tips. It's Gross but Works - "I wear pigtails to work to make more money. If you think I'm playing the men who tip me, then I'll say this: I am playing them, and I love it. I've spent my life under the male gaze, and now I'm making it work for me. It's empowering, and I'm glad to do it.  I started wearing pigtails to my job as a server because I thought they looked cute, but then I realized I was making more money when I wore them versus when I didn't. I've noticed that braiding my pigtails makes my tips climb even higher, so now I do that too... It's pretty disgusting that this is what men like, but at the same time, I may as well make money off it — I need to pay my rent.  I even explained the pigtail theory to one of the guys I was serving, and he said: "Yeah, it works because we want to pull them." I was like, "Well, that's disgusting, but OK. I'll take your money."  It feels empowering to turn it on them. Like, it's gross that you like this, but I'm making money off it."

PornHub launches BeeSexual campaign, follows in footsteps of Bee Movie, Aqua. - "The site’s new BeeSexual channel features videos of bees—like, actual bees, that’s not a euphemism—with titles such as “Pollen squirter gets raided by exotic explorer” and “Mature natural gets plowed by worker bee.” For the next month, Pornhub will donate to Operation Honey Bee and The Center for Honeybee Research according to how many views the videos, which feature voiceover commentary by actual porn stars, receive."

Amber Heard Claimed Jason Momoa Dressed Like Johnny Depp On 'Aquaman' Set - "Amber Heard told her therapist Jason Momoa was purposely dressing like her ex Johnny Depp while filming the 'Aquaman' sequel ... one of many claims just now coming to light."

Alaska Airlines flight diverts after off-duty pilot attempts to disable engines - "An Alaska Airlines flight bound for San Francisco was diverted to Portland, Oregon, after an off-duty pilot inside the flight deck attempted to disable the aircraft engines.  The suspect, 44-year-old Joseph David Emerson, was booked on 83 counts of attempted murder and endangering an airplane... the off-duty pilot sought to disable the engines on the Embraer 175 regional jet by deploying the fire suppression system, and added the crew was able to subdue the individual and remove him from the flight deck."

Why Alberta is still ‘rat free.’ No, really
The animal rights people must be very upset

Kim’s a la Cart has been serving up Korean street food for more than 10 years. The family wants to keep ‘a richer food culture in Toronto alive’ - "Kim’s offers a taste of what Toronto’s street food scene could have been... The cart is a relic of the now defunct Toronto a la Cart project, which began in 2009 as a city-backed initiative to go beyond hot dogs when it came to street food... Kim’s a la Cart was one of the project’s original vendors, some of which served injera, samosas, roti and souvlaki. Kim’s served bulgogi, bibimbap, tteokbokki and, on occasion, japchae. But the Toronto a la Cart program fumbled from the start as vendors were caught up in red tape.  The project started with 15 vendors, but seven dropped out before it began. The eight remaining vendors each paid $30,000 to operate a cart that was bulky, often malfunctioned and weighed around 800 pounds (still, the cart would slide in heavy winds)... The city didn’t properly research the spots it assigned to the vendors. Some vendors were placed in areas with existing hot dog carts or spots that didn’t have enough pedestrian traffic. It also cost up to $15,000 in annual location fees at the start... In 2011, city staff recommended that the program be immediately shut down. Toronto a la Cart was officially over, but the family stuck it out.  They switched to a hot dog vending licence, retrofitted the cart so it provided shelter during the winter and shifted from full meals to an under $5 menu of snacks to better reflect what Korean street vendors actually sold. The menu now includes pan fried beef dumplings, fish cakes, meat skewers, gimmari (fried seaweed noodle rolls) and tteokbokki. Bungeoppang, crispy fish-shaped waffles filled with red bean paste or gooey custard, are cooked over a fire using a mould imported from Korea (the batter is prepared by Simon’s and Isaac’s father, Myoung Choul Kim). The family also expanded with a bakery, Red Bean Waffle House, at a nearby plaza at 100 Steeles Ave. W., which also serves as a production kitchen for the cart. The bakery is where Simon and his pastry chef wife, YoungIm Na, are found, serving bungeoppang and fluffy, not-too-sweet Korean-style cakes in flavours like black sesame (intense, slightly savoury and full of ground sesame) and its seasonal special, mugwort, a springtime medicinal herb with a subtle green flavour... “We thought of moving (the cart) to one of those micro-restaurants at the bottom of a condo, but we take a sense of pride that we’re bringing a part of Korean street food culture to Toronto,” said Isaac.  “In some ways, our family sees our existence as a protest. By surviving we keep the pulse of a richer food culture in Toronto alive. As long as we operate, in the future hopefully stalls like ours will be more of a common thing.”"

Meme - "10 years ago I was addicted to drugs. Now I have a wife, family, car and a great job
NOTED. Step one: Get addicted to drugs."

Meme - Detective: "MOTHER OF GOD... NOTHING HUMAN COULD HAVE DONE THIS." *red liquid splattered all over kitchen*
EARLIER. *dog squeezing ketchup on burger*

Meme - "Ces choses gui n'existent pas :
les licornes
les sirènes
l'honneur des anglais
les filles sur le groupe"

Meme - "How to spot a drunk driver
In Europe
Sober *driving straight*
Drunk *driving in zigzag manner*
In Thailand
Sober *driving in zigzag manner to avoid potholes*
Drunk *driving straight*"

Meme - "Give us back our friend *2 pandas trying to pull panda away from human staff member taking it away*"

Meme - "What happened on 9/11?"
"The gender reveal party for the Statue of Liberty. It was a girl"
"Have some empathy, I lost my relative that day. Be ashamed of yourself for making a joke about this tragedy."
"sorry for your loss"
"Thank you for your kind words. He was the best pilot in the Middle East."

Meme - Canary to other Canary in cage in mine: "WANT TO ReALLY MesS WITH These GuYs? LAY Down AND TAKe A NAP"

Meme - "UM, EVE, THAT'S NOT A SALAD, THATS MY DIRTY LAUNDRY... *Eve eating leaves*"

Meme - "Believe in myself?? the same person who got me into this mess?"

Meme - "Harry, there will come a time when you must choose between what is hard and what is easy. Harry, can I tell you a secret?"
"Yes, professor."
"I'm both. Right now."

Meme - "Most Embarrassing Sex Moment GO"
Adam John Pilling: "few years ago, went on a date with a disabled girl. Went cinema and for some food. Went back to hers and was kissing in the garden, she told me to lift her onto this swing hangin off a tree. And we had sex on the swing with her legs dangling around like noodles.. I put her back in the chair and took her inside before I left. And her dad came up to me and said quietly "thanks mate , most lads just leave her stuck on the swing""

No, an Austrian airport doesn’t have a desk for travelers who thought they were going to Australia - "CLAIM: Salzburg Airport in Austria has a help desk specifically for people who intended to fly to Australia. AP’S ASSESSMENT: False. The European airport confirmed it does not have a desk for misguided tourists trying to get Down Under. The misconception stems from an advertisement for a technology company that ran on a baggage carousel at the airport, which joked about offering such a service... Indeed, the sign also includes the address of Commend’s website and reads: “Commend provides Security and Communication. From Salzburg to the rest of the world. Even for the most unlikely of situations.”  Wolfgang Peer, a spokesperson for Commend International, confirmed to The Associated Press that the advertisement was real, but had been discontinued in 2022."

Adam Johnson fallout continues: Decade-old video 'appears to show Matt Petgrave doing the same maneuver that resulted in on-ice fatality on Saturday in England' - "A video has surfaced from over a dozen years ago appearing to show Matt Petgrave performing a similar illegal move to the one that resulted in Adam Johnson's death last Saturday.  Johnson was killed during an Elite Ice Hockey League game in England when his throat was slit by Petgrave's skate following a collision. His passing on October 28 is still under investigation from the South Yorkshire Police.   Now, X user @WallStreetSilv is accusing Petgrave of intentionally extending his leg during the collision in an effort to 'take out' Johnson - and to prove that point, the popular social media account shared old footage of an allegedly similar incident. The clip appears to show Petgrave throwing his left elbow and right trailing leg at an opposing player, sending him spiraling in the air and smacking to the ice neck and upper back first."
Weird how this "freak accident" has happened before

Singapore schools starting to carry out anti-terror ‘lockdown’ drills - "For the first time, schools here are conducting “lockdown” drills, with teachers and students locking themselves in classrooms and hiding from sight, in case an intruder with heinous intention enters the premises.  The move marks a shift in schools’ response to emergency situations, from what used to be a focus on fire drills. And it comes as the Government recently rallied industries, businesses and workplaces to prepare and brace for a terror attack, under the national movement for such efforts, SGSecure."
From 2017

Facebook Knows Instagram Is Toxic for Teen Girls, Company Documents Show - WSJ - "“Thirty-two percent of teen girls said that when they felt bad about their bodies, Instagram made them feel worse,” the researchers said in a March 2020 slide presentation posted to Facebook’s internal message board, reviewed by The Wall Street Journal. “Comparisons on Instagram can change how young women view and describe themselves.”  For the past three years, Facebook has been conducting studies into how its photo-sharing app affects its millions of young users. Repeatedly, the company’s researchers found that Instagram is harmful for a sizable percentage of them, most notably teenage girls.   “We make body image issues worse for one in three teen girls,” said one slide from 2019, summarizing research about teen girls who experience the issues.  “Teens blame Instagram for increases in the rate of anxiety and depression,” said another slide. “This reaction was unprompted and consistent across all groups.”   Among teens who reported suicidal thoughts, 13% of British users and 6% of American users traced the desire to kill themselves to Instagram, one presentation showed.   Expanding its base of young users is vital to the company’s more than $100 billion in annual revenue, and it doesn’t want to jeopardize their engagement with the platform...   In five presentations over 18 months to this spring, the researchers conducted what they called a “teen mental health deep dive” and follow-up studies.  They came to the conclusion that some of the problems were specific to Instagram, and not social media more broadly. That is especially true concerning so-called social comparison, which is when people assess their own value in relation to the attractiveness, wealth and success of others.   “Social comparison is worse on Instagram,” states Facebook’s deep dive into teen girl body-image issues in 2020, noting that TikTok, a short-video app, is grounded in performance, while users on Snapchat, a rival photo and video-sharing app, are sheltered by jokey filters that “keep the focus on the face.” In contrast, Instagram focuses heavily on the body and lifestyle.   The features that Instagram identifies as most harmful to teens appear to be at the platform’s core.  The tendency to share only the best moments, a pressure to look perfect and an addictive product can send teens spiraling toward eating disorders, an unhealthy sense of their own bodies and depression, March 2020 internal research states. It warns that the Explore page, which serves users photos and videos curated by an algorithm, can send users deep into content that can be harmful... she found her peers using Instagram as a tool to measure their relative popularity. Students referred to the number of followers their peers had as if the number was stamped on their foreheads, she said... Facebook executives in public have often pointed to studies from the Oxford Internet Institute that have shown little correlation between social-media use and depression.  Other studies also found discrepancies between the amount of time people say they use social media and the amount of time they actually use such services. Mr. Mosseri has pointed to these studies as evidence for why research using self-reported data might not be accurate... “People talk about Instagram like it’s a drug. But we can’t study the active ingredient.”... Facebook experimented with hiding the tallies of “likes” that users see on their photos. Teens told Facebook in focus groups that “like” counts caused them anxiety and contributed to their negative feelings.  When Facebook tested a tweak to hide the “likes” in a pilot program they called Project Daisy, it found it didn’t improve life for teens... Part of the challenge, the researchers said, is they struggle to determine which users face the greatest risk. The researchers also said that the causality of some of their findings was unclear, and noted some of the studies had small sample sizes."

Meme - "Normies this month: No Nut November
Me: I'm on seventeen! *Legolas at Helm's Deep*"

Meme - Anime foxgirl: "PLEASE DON'T PARTICIPATE IN NO NUT NOVEMBER! HOLDING IT IN ISN'T GOOD FOR YOUR BODY AND MENTAL HEALTH. YOUR WELL-BEING IS MORE IMPORTANT THAN MEANINGLESS SELF-IMPOSED CHALLENGE. DON'T NEGLECT YOUR YEARNING. TAKE CARE OF YOUR OWN NEEDS. A SATISFIED MIND IS THE KEY TO HAPPY LIFE. LOVE YOURSELF MORE, NOT LESS. JUST GO NUTS!"

Matt Gurney: An easy way to end the stupid Amber Alert whining — drop the buzzing alarm - "The Alert Ready system is a blunt instrument. The same system that’s used to notify the public of a child abduction is the same one we’d use, God forbid, to alert the public if someone had launched a volley of nuclear-tipped missiles at our cities. But there’s still a way to separate out the Amber Alerts: sending the messages without sending the loud, jarring alarm. Most of the time, the shrill buzzing tone is a feature, not a bug. The system is designed to get your attention, even wake you up, when your life is in immediate danger. If there is a tornado bearing down on you, you’ll want to know about it, even at quarter past three in the morning.  Amber Alerts are different. They do not require immediate, urgent action by the entire public. They don’t require people to be woken in their beds so they can take cover from an imminent danger. They are a way to pass on information to the public quickly and broadly, but with no real expectation that the public is going to immediately do anything about it. If you’re awake and on the roads or out-and-about, yes, by all means, keep an eye open for the child and any suspects the police are looking for. But you don’t need to hurl yourself from your bed to begin your own search for the child.  In other words, public awareness of Amber Alerts, though urgent and indeed emergencies, can wait. They aren’t like warnings of destructive storms, chemical spills or incoming ICBMs. Since no one will be able to help find a child until they’re out of the home anyway, they can wait until morning to learn about the alert. Amber Alerts can, and should, still go out via TV and radio. That’s only going to reach people who are already awake and paying attention. A text message to a cellphone, likewise, will be noted by those people already awake. Everyone else can wait until morning to discover that there is an Amber Alert. They won’t be useful before then anyway."
Clearly the author is a selfish prick who doesn't care about children. Because when children are concerned, there can be no compromises or discussion

WARNING: Interweb Conspiracy | Ultimate Pheasant Hunting Forums - "Tomorrow, Facebook will change its privacy settings to allow Mark Zuckerberg to come into your house while you sleep and eat your brains with a grapefruit spoon. To stop this from happening go to Account> Home Invasion Settings> Cannibalism> Brains, and uncheck the "Tasty" box. Please copy and repost.... :eek: :D :p :rolleyes:"
From 2011

Meme - "Two people on donkey's back. Poor Animal"
"How cruel he is by letting his wife walk"
"How stupid he is by letting his wife take the ride alone?"
"Fools! Don't even know how toutilize the Donkey"
"moral of the story : You cannot please everybody. Whatever you do, people will always criticize you or have something to say. So just do what is right, and don't be distracted by criticisms."

Meme - "I forgot my cat outside. I am too scared to let him in now. This may be my last post"

Meme - "Please do not enter the women *Japanese sign*"

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