Yes. This.
Originally shared by +Boing Boing:
Category: Food & Drink
The Chickens Must Flow
Even if that means denying bathroom break requests from workers on the processing line.
'Yet in the course of hundreds of interviews only a handful of workers described their bathroom needs as respected, with those exceptions occurring primarily in plants with unions. Workers representing by unions reported feeling comfortable leaving or stopping the line when their requests were denied too long. About two-thirds of the poultry workforce is not unionized.
One survey of 266 workers in Alabama conducted by the Southern Poverty Law Center found almost 80 percent were not allowed to take bathroom breaks when needed. A recent survey in Minnesota found 86 percent of workers interviewed said they get fewer than two bathroom breaks a week.
-Workers interviewed by Oxfam and partner organizations reported being yelled at or made fun of by supervisors, who also threatened firing or deportation. […] According to Oxfam, a worker at a Pilgrim's plant in Alabama said supervisors regularly threatened people: "Go to the bathroom, and from there, go to Human Resources." An employee at a Tyson plant in Arkansas said: "Our supervisor always makes fun of us. He says we eat too much so we go to the bathroom a lot." Another Tyson worker in Arkansas noted: "One of the ladies who works with me was pregnant, and she was crying and walking out because our line lead didn't let her go to the bathroom." A woman worker at a Perdue plant in the Delmarva region cited in the report said she once waited so long that she defecated in her pants before she got a break.'_
Enjoy your chicken nuggets.
Denied bathroom breaks, these workers must resort to diapers
Employees at the country’s largest poultry processing plants must deal with more than low wages and high rates of injury
The unspeakable horror of (gasp) Bread Crusts!
Maybe it's genetic, though, because neither my brother nor I were adverse to crusts, nor was my daughter.
And, heck, if I had told my mom I wanted her to cut the crusts off of bread, she'd have told me (1) I can pick them off myself if I choose to, and (2) then I can eat them anyway because we don't waste food.
[Original: http://www.fowllanguagecomics.com/comic/bread-crust/]
[Bonus panel: http://www.fowllanguagecomics.com/bread-crust-bonus-panel/]
Assembly Line
We visited the new Breckenridge Brewery plant over on Santa Fe this past Monday, and the tour included this view of the packaging lines. I've always loved these things, and while it's not as impressive as the massive operation at the Coors Brewery up in Golden, it's still darned cool (and the beer is much better).
How to order drinks
TL;DR:
1. Don't hold up the line of other people ordering.
1a. Figure out in advance what your go-to bar drink is and, unless solicited to think of something new and exciting, order it.
2. Be nice to your bar tender and wait staff.
Um … yeah, that pretty much makes perfect sense. See, also: "Don't be a dick," a/k/a "Do unto others at the bar as you would have done unto yourself."
How to Order a Drink Without Looking Like a N00b
And you thought it was so easy.
It's the Most Wonderful Time of the Year!
And I'm not talking Christmas, friends.
(Picture via +Kay Hill, cookies via some brave little Girl Scout selling door to door in our neighborhood.)
Liquor Laws
Hey, look! Colorado's one of the "8 States with the Strangest Liquor Laws". Sigh.
And it's not been all that many years since liquor stores weren't allowed to open on Sundays. And who were the major force that opposed changing that law, and also now opposes lifting restrictions on liquor and wine sales at grocery stores? Some pious religious organization? Nope. An association of independent liquor stores.
Of course, all liquor stores in Colorado are independent. The main reason grocery stores can't sell booze is that the law actually says that a given corporate entity can only have a single liquor license for a single location. So there's just one WalMart in the state that sells booze, one CostCo, one Safeway supermarket that does so, etc., and liquor and wine stores are all single-outlet operations, not chains.
Which means you actually get some awfully nice liquor stores, and which actually helps smaller produces of wine and beer find a successful outlet for their wares, but does make grabbing a quick bottle of wine while shopping for dinner a separate stop.
8 States With The Strangest Alcohol Laws
What’s the first thing you do to prepare for a trip to another state? After finalizing your packing list, looking up the law of the land should be on your list — especially if you’re planning on d…
I got those Holiday Dinner Party Hosting Blues
No, not blues, carols. Funny stuff for anyone's who's hosted a get-together.
(h/t +Gloria Hill)
One of the nicest things about staying with Mom at the holidays
Her bolognese. Mmmmm. I night never leave.
I sometimes think this is my wife's unspoken dialog to me
Yeah, I admit I am sometimes not very helpful on the subject, +Margie Kleerup.
Originally shared by +Chris Hallbeck:
Choices.
http://maximumble.thebookofbiff.com/2012/12/06/523-shrug/
Seasonal Drinks (at our house, at least)
Scotch Slushy, as chilled with fresh snow from the deck. This one's for +Margie Kleerup.
These make pizza (believe it or not) even better
It is rare that a simple kitchen tool provokes such joy — but the Scizza pizza scissors does so. They do their job flawlessly, cutting pizza of any thickness in a way that makes you wonder how the normal pizza cutter ever lasted this long. Easy, effective, perfectly suited to the job. Buy them.
http://smile.amazon.com/Dreamfarm-Scizza-12-Inch-Pizza-Scissors/dp/B0019R74Z2/
I am not getting any kickback for these. I just find them incredibly awesome, even in the context of an every-day kitchen item.
Another restaurant at the no-tipping point
It's one thing for a hoity-toity restaurant group in NYC to experiment with getting rid of tips. It's another for a run-of-the-mill full service chain to do so.
'Servers will be paid a wage starting at $14 an hour, though the exact amount will vary from server to server on the basis of their past performance, according to the chain’s parent company, Ignite Restaurant Group. The money to pay the waiters and waitresses is being generated by a price increase of 12 percent to 15 percent, Ignite CEO Ray Blanchette told investors late last week.
[…] Ignite expects the switch to a wage to reduce server turnover. A $14 hourly wage sounds much better than $2.13, which is the wage they’d get, sans tips, at competing restaurants, noted Blanchette. It’s also a yellow light to servers who know they’ll likely start with the least-lucrative shifts if they move to another restaurant.'
The cost should be a wash or even a benefit for patrons who would tip 15-20%, and it should also reduce contention between waitstaff about assisting at large tables. In theory, at least.
The model is being tested in 18 cities, not across the entire Crab Shack line.
Joe’s Crab Shack chain tries no-tipping
The casual-dining concept is paying servers at some stores instead of expecting customers to leave gratuities.
What Would Jesus Brand?
The Starbucks Paper Cup Kerfuffle is silly not just because the idea that "white, green, and red without any words or symbols in it clearly doesn't mean Christmas, but if there were snowflakes and sleighs it would be fine, but without them it's a slap in the face to all Christians" is so ludicrously zany …
… but because that idea is actually kind of un-Christian.
At church on Sunday, the Gospel reading was Mark 12:38-44, which reads, in part:
'Teaching in the temple, Jesus said, "Beware of the scribes, who like to walk around in long robes, and to be greeted with respect in the marketplaces, and to have the best seats in the synagogues and places of honor at banquets! They devour widows' houses and for the sake of appearance say long prayers. They will receive the greater condemnation."'
Jesus has a number of messages in the Gospels, but one that keeps cropping up is disdain, if not condemnation, for outward piety, for wearing the trappings of spiritual fervor, especially while not actually caring for those in need.
Would Jesus really get ticked off at a "Christmas cup" that didn't have secular symbols of Christmas on it? Or would He get more ticked off at people who felt smugly religious by walking around with coffee in paper cups that have snow men on them, thereby proving they are good Christians both for doing so and because they've compelled some sort of overt acknowledgement of the celebration birth of Christ?
I mean, really: did Jesus instruct all of His apostles to celebrate His birthday every year as proof of their devotion and cultural hegemony? Did He condemn those people who didn't do so to be no true followers of His Father? Did He claim that businesses who didn't wish their customers a "Happy Jesus' Birthday" were opposed to Him and should be sent off to the Lake of Fire?
In fact, who does get mentioned as being sent off to the Lake of Fire in the Gospels? (HInt: it has nothing to do with coffee cups.)
Anyway, get back to me on those Biblical citations. I'll be here waiting, and having a Pumpkin Spice Latte in a red, green, and white (but clearly not, therefore, "Christmassy") cup.
(No, I actually won't, because Starbucks is ghastly expensive except as an occasional treat. But you get the idea.)
Margie’s Kitchen: Raisin Brand Muffins
Margie’s Kitchen: Raisin Brand Muffins http://bit.ly/1Q9ijxv #recipe
Coffee … flour …?
Hmm. I'll have to lob this one over to +Margie Kleerup for her reaction.
Coffee Flour will soon be available – NY Daily News
Coffee Flour will make its debut Monday at two TED2015 conferences in Canada.
Margie’s Kitchen: Panzanella
Margie’s Kitchen: Panzanella http://bit.ly/1Wj9nFj #recipe
A Happy Birthday Dinner
Happy Birthday to +Margie Kleerup. As a special gift I got her another sushi restaurant to visit when I'm out of town. Except I might be willing to visit it when I'm in town, too (though not for the sushi).
Dave H.’s review of Blue Sushi Sake Grill
I am not a sushi fan, but my wife is, so for her birthday we went to this new eatery in a long-vacant corner of the Streets at Southglenn. And,…
Margie’s Kitchen: Ciopinno
Margie’s Kitchen: Ciopinno http://bit.ly/1GEwB6W #recipe
Margie’s Kitchen: Gorp (Trail Mix)
Margie’s Kitchen: Gorp (Trail Mix) http://bit.ly/1GEwhoR #recipe