Russian Roulette

I read a story the other day that literally almost made me fall off the toilet.

In the Feb 19th issue of AMNY, an article titled "Anti-Aids gel misses mark" was written by Marilynn Marchione of the AP.

"The first anti-aids vaginal gel to make it through late stage testing failed to stop HIV infection in a study of 6,000 South African women..."

Some of the reasons cited for the failed results include "low use of the gel, women used it less than half the number of times they had sex, and only 10% used it every time as directed".

Here is an additional fact box titled "Volunteers Line Up" provided in the article:

"More than 9000 women, average age 31, volunteered for the anti-aids gel study. About 27% tested positive for aids and were disqualified. In all, 6202 women were given either Carraguard or a placebo gel."

What, in gods name, did they promise these women to participate in this study?

Didn't 50% of the women realize that they were going home with a fake gel and that they were now susceptible to HIV?

How about the fact that 33% of the women that signed up had HIV?

Instead of writing about a failed study, shouldn't Ms. Marchione be writing about what these women were promised or told to participate in this study?

The way I see it: Signing up for this "study" is about as smart as signing up for a new study by Smith & Wesson wanting to test out their new guns. You would think that they could get 9,000 women to line up on a firing range to check the mortality rate of its new gun.

Unexpected gifts equal Cool gift

The other night I was chilling out with The Thinker and his wife and we happened to be looking at the moon as it was moving over the tree line.

It struck a very vivid and beautiful image.

I made a comment as how it looked like a painting and how I was interested in learning how to draw.

I have always figured that every person has the ability to draw, or do something artistic, they just don't know how to do it.

Its as if you have to unlock your artistic eye and teach your hand to convey or draw what you "eye" sees.

Well last night Mrs. Thinker gave me a book titled "Drawing for the Absolute & Utter Beginner" by Claire Watson Garcia.

I haven't even opened the book yet but it looks very cool.

The way I see it: Unexpected gifts are Cool gifts.

To Tip or not to TIP

This week THE THINKER and I have to spend the week in NYC for work. We decided to chill tonight with LEAD SINGER and MASTER DEBATER.

I found out tonight that I am not the only one who doesn't really know how much to tip a taxi cab driver.

So many times I have gotten into a taxi and tried to figure, with each tick of the meter, how much to tip the driver.

On a normal basis I think I am a very good tipper. I give bell hops $5 for two bags. I give hotel doormen $1 for getting me a cab, and I tip 20% on food service.

But for some reason I am always befuddled by how much to tip a taxi cab driver.

Now, this problem only arises when I am in a New York City taxi. When I travel abroad I tip ridiculous amounts because the value of that particular countries dollar is so much less than here in the States. For example, in China I'll give the taxi driver 10RMB which works out to about to about $1.40.

Keep in mind that when I take taxis in other countries the cost for the trip is twice as long as any trip I would take in NYC and half the price.

THE THINKER doesn't tip taxi cab drivers. He has figured that since the taxi is going that way already, he doesn't have to tip.

I have always been one to give the extra change plus a $1.

Now, thanks to the MASTER DEBATER, I have accepted a new form of tipping taxis. Any time the meter reads below $X.50, I'll let the driver keep the spare change. Above $X.50, i'll add a dollar. I think that's fair.

I found a great article on tipping which you will find below.

The way I see it: Taxi cab drivers are an anomaly when it comes to tipping. I guess a lot of the non-tipping sentiment arises from peoples general disdain for taxi cab drivers, but thats a story for another day.

Tuesday, August 30, 2005

Who should be given a tip -- and how much?

By CANDACE HECKMAN
SEATTLE POST-INTELLIGENCER REPORTER

Trinity Jessen didn't even realize what she had done until asked about it later.

It wasn't much more than 50 cents, plunked into the jar next to the cash register as she accepted her change for two coffee milkshakes at a downtown Seattle Tully's.

A couple of quarters, a nickel maybe, a few pennies. ... She couldn't remember because she didn't grab the receipt. It was all so fuzzy, so quick, so automatic.

		Phil H. Webber / P-I
	Donald Vincent, a server at Romio's Pizza & Pasta in Greenwood, works Monday near a pitcher where customers are encouraged to tip the cooks.

"Why would they put a jar there if they didn't expect to get a tip?" she asked. "Other people are tipping. I think you're supposed to tip them."

Her sister, Linda Jessen-Davis, emphatically disagreed.

"That's not a tip, it's a bribe," Jessen-Davis said. "It's like you're telling them, 'Here's 50 cents, please make my drink good.' They should make it good anyway. It costs five bucks."

For the next 10 minutes, the Jessen sisters engaged in the debate that stretches across America's social fabric: Who gets a tip, how much, and why?

A gratuity offered at the end of a restaurant meal, for carrying bags or taxiing someone across town has long been a way of saying "thanks."

But the tipping explosion, which has paralleled the equally explosive coffee shop proliferation during the past 20 years, now includes almost any industry offering a service.

Nearly every deli counter, even some fast food joints, in Seattle displays a jar or cup silently requesting customers to deposit a few coins.

Some cups are simply marked "TIPS." Some are cleverly labeled "employee education fund."

Then again, "Emily Post's Etiquette," the American standard for good manners, describes many tip jars as nothing but the "inanimate equivalent of an outstretched palm."

And there are places such as beauty salons, where customers feel obliged to tip, but aren't sure how to and how much.

"Some places have envelopes, some you're supposed to slip it in the person's pocket," said Colleen Stone, chief executive of Seattle-based inSpa, where tipping is not allowed. "You end up feeling awkward or stupid because you don't know the secret handshake."

	Niki Desautels / P-I
Jennifer Whittaker, who is visiting from London, gets a facial at inSpa in the University Village Shopping Center on Monday. InSpa does not allow its employees to accept tips.

Stone, who runs the chain of day spas, said that worrying over the tip at the end of a facial or massage often negates the relaxation that the service is meant to bring.

In the six years that inSpa has been in business, Stone has found that tip anxiety affects women of all ages and economic levels and has nothing to do with the actual dollar amount of a gratuity. It's the expectation that makes people uncomfortable.

"Tipping is a huge part of our culture. Some people might feel uncomfortable about the expectation, but there is an expectation," said Gene Vosberg, president of the Washington Restaurant Association. "There is something very American about the way this has evolved."

In contrast, many people in East Asian countries, such as Japan, don't appreciate tips.

While they would probably be too polite to say something, they would be insulted, said Lynn Staneff of Magellan's Travel Supplies, which offers people culture-based travel advice.

But the closer people get to cosmopolitan centers in the United States -- Los Angeles and New York in particular -- the more they will be expected to tip, Staneff said.

"However, I believe in the depths of my soul that tipping should be an individual choice," Staneff said.

To Americans, tipping serves many functions, Vosberg said.

It can be meant to grab extra attention, to relieve a sense of obligation, or out of sympathy.

To servers, it affirms that they are doing a good job and are being appreciated.

William McBee, who was visiting his grandchildren in Seattle last week, said he's become uncomfortable with seeing the proliferation of tip jars on counters, but he believes strongly in tipping at restaurants and hotels.

McBee, who lives in a small town outside of Austin, Texas, is usually a 15 percent tipper, always has been.

"That's a lot more than my mother gives," he said. "She's 83 and she doesn't give no more than 10 percent. And that's for good service."

When he goes out to eat with his mother, he usually pays. Every once in a while, she will want to treat him, like on Father's Day and his birthday, in which case McBee said he'll slip a few extra dollars onto the table when they get up to leave because he knows Mama's tipping hasn't evolved with the culture.

"I definitely feel obliged," McBee said. "My nephew was a waiter in college, and he didn't even make minimum wage."

That sense of obligation can shift, depending on where you are.

Some restaurants require their servers to pool tips, and then distribute them among the entire staff at the end of the night. Employees who receive tips are required to keep accurate records of their tips and pay state and federal income taxes on them.

In most states, such as Texas, restaurant wait staff can be paid a lower wage, sometimes as low as $2.13 an hour, because most of their income will be gratuity.

Washington, along with Alaska, California, Minnesota, Montana, Nevada and Oregon, however, do not allow this. The lowest a server can be paid in these states is the minimum wage. In Washington, that's $7.35 an hour, the highest of any state.

The time has come that tipping should be an obligation and no longer strictly a gratuity, according to Jonathan Ben-Ammi, who worked as a waiter until recently moving into a different position for a Seattle restaurant.

"Most service that you're going to get isn't going to be so bad that you shouldn't leave any tip," Ben-Ammi said.

"If you don't tip, you're actually hurting that person," because the server could be waiting on someone who will tip, he said.

Ben-Ammi said he believes any employee giving sit-down service or delivery, such as pizza, should be tipped.

Vosberg would like to see sit-down restaurants start charging a service fee, like they do in many European countries, but he understands that competition in the restaurant industry might preclude that shift.

"People will disagree with me. They'll say, 'Vosberg, you're crazy. When I go to Europe, I get terrible service.' " To Vosberg, the principle is simple: If a restaurant charges for food, they should charge for service.

"I wish people would tip based on the quality of service. My sense is that people tip without really thinking about the serving," he said.

Super Tuesday

Today is Tuesday February 5, 2008 or what is known as Super Tuesday.

Super Tuesday comes around once every four years and in most cases, Super Tuesday determines both Democratic and Republican Presidential Nominees.

I was amazed by how many commercials were played during the Super Bowl pre-game shows urging people to get out and vote or stop complaining.

It's a concept I have believed in for as long as I can remember.

Whether you are a Democrat, Republican, or Independent you should go out and vote today.

If you are not a Primaries voter then make sure to vote in November.

There is a majority out there that says "Why should I vote, it doesn't count", "It's just the Popular Vote" or "I'm just one vote". Both of the these arguments, in essence both statements are true due mainly in part to the Electoral College.

Here is a link to a great article on "How does the Electoral College work?" which can be found at howstuffworks.com.

In my opinion, if you really want to make a difference, then you should go out and vote when seats are up for election in your Local (ie: Mayor), State (ie: Governor), or Federal Districts (ie: Senator).

This is where you can make the most of your vote and really make a change.

My issue is that so many people complain about the "system" yet they don't go out and vote. I have no issue listening to what a person has to say about President Bush or anything else political as long as they went out and voted. I don't care who they voted for, as long as they voted.

The way I see it: Vote or shut up!!!

True Blue

Its been two days since I watched what is in my opinion is the greatest Super Bowl ever.

I know that "Greatest ever" is a stretch in some peoples mind, especially if your a New England fan, but let's look at the facts:

1. Patriots looking to go 19-0 and achieve only the second perfect season in history.

2. Giants 13 point underdogs.

3. Giants started the season 0-2

4. At no time in the game did any team lead by more than 4 points.

5. 3 lead changes in the 4th quarter.

6. Game winning TD with under 40 seconds to go.

7. A Super Bowl which would have either a team that makes undefeated history or a team that deals the most crippling upset in sports history.

In addition to the above this game had what many people are calling "The greatest play ever" or the "Play of the century". If you have not seen the play, then CLICK HERE.

One must tip their hat to a team that has truly earned the title World Champs.

The way I see it: I still would have liked to see New England go undefeated. Although many people dislike New England, it is still a great accomplishment which, for at least another season, will remain intact.