As someone who's spent about 13 years serving at various restaurants, I found this NY Times Magazine article really interesting.

The meat of the article is about a hipster restaurant in San Diego that's outlawed tips. Instead, an 18% service fee is tacked on to each check, and that fee is then divided between the servers and kitchen staff. If patrons are adamant about tipping more than the 18%, they're encouraged to donate the excess money to the charity of the month. Over the past two years the restaurant has gathered over $10,000 for charities.

The article goes through the history of tipping (there's a reason the words "server" and "servant" are so darn similar), the economics if it (tippers pay out about $42 *billion* a year in America, and servers only claim about 40% of that to the government), and the ethics of it (why are servers tipped when kitchen staff aren't - especially when they're the ones responsible for the quality of the food?).

Neato.

Having engaged in political conversations about this upcoming election with most of the people I know, I've noticed something that really bothers the bejeezus out of me:

No matter what side of the fence the people I'm talking to are on, they will not criticize their person/party of choice. Talk to folks who are pro-O and they'll pooh pooh what a fuckwit Ayers is, and the Democratic Party's ties to ACORN. Talk to McCain supporters and they brush off his charming rendition of Bomb Bomb Iran, and seem oblivious to the fact that Palin's about as qualified to be VP (much less the actual Big P) as Michael Jackson is to be the executive director of Big Brothers, Big Sisters.

Now, mind you, I know who I'm voting for (hell, I already voted), but that doesn't mean I think my candidate of choice is beyond questioning. No one with power and authority EVER is. I actually think you should be MORE critical of your own party/candidates.

God I can't wait until this election is over. Election years make me want to kick things.