DUBNER: Okay, and what about a waitress versus a waiter generally?
LYNN: Hard to say. In general, I would say that waiters get better tips from women than men. Waitresses get better tips from men than women.
DUBNER: And what about let’s say among women, hair color? Blonde is better than brunette or red, or no?
LYNN: Yes, blondes get better tips than brunettes. Slender women get better tips than heavier women. Large breasted women get better tips than smaller breasted women. Surprisingly, at least in the studies I’ve done, women in their 30s get better tips than either younger or older women.
DUBNER: So a skinny, good looking, big-breasted woman in her 30s is going to get big tips.
LYNN: I would simply replace the word skinny with slender.
DUBNER: Slender. A slender, good looking, big-breasted woman in her 30s gets a big tip. Color me shocked I have to say.
Okay, extrajudicial punishment, in any form, is understood as undemocratic and illiberal… I would agree, as would most freedom loving people (so long as they’re not of the freedom for MEEEE BUT NOT FOR THEEEE persuasion).
Okay, mobbing anywhere is understood as a means of bullying behavior–abusive, gangsterish and harassing in nature. How much more so would six or seven years of it be? At work, and at school? It’s the kind of conduct that has led to many, many suicides. The galling thing is how the cowardly perpetrators of this behavior hide behind computer screens, hackers, resources and the fear of people who would intervene but for the threat that they too would become targets of such behavior. That’s the shame.
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Riding the rail (also called running out of town on a rail) was a punishment in Colonial America in which a man (rarely a woman) was made to straddle a fence rail (usually the triangular split-rail rather than the modern machine-milled) held on the shoulders of at least two men, with other men on either side to keep him upright. The victim was then paraded around town or taken to the city limits and dumped by the roadside.[citation needed] Intense pain came from the weight of the body resting on the sharp, narrow edge and injuries from the ride could, if the victim were stripped, cut the crotch and make walking painful. Alternatively, the term also refers to tying a person’s hands and feet around a rail so the person dangles under the rail.[citation needed]
The punishment was usually a form of mob extrajudicial punishment, sometimes imposed in connection with tarring and feathering.[1] It was intended to show community displeasure with the victim so he either conformed his behavior to the mob’s demands or left the community.
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Riding the rail is just ghastly. Any wonder it faded away in oh so civilized America many decades ago? Unfortunately there are those who’d revive the practice. I’d suggest that before anyone celebrates these forms of mob behavior for any reason, they stop and consider that people all around the world today are being subjected to mob rule of this sort just for being born the way they are.
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Live and Let Live
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Don’t be the one to revive and perpetuate the type of behaviors that keep non-conformists, misfits, outcasts, minorities–ethnic, religious, sexual–fearing the consequences of living an open life, free to live, free to love, and free to do right by those around them.
Don’t create the conditions that constrain the truths people can tell.
The 3-year-old case revolves around a “gentlemen’s agreement” that the companies forged to retain employees. Internal emails excavated during the pre-trial proceedings showed Google, Apple and other major technology employers agreed not to recruit each other’s workers to help protect their own interests.
The companies maintained that the “no-poaching” cartel wasn’t illegal because they still could hire employees from their partners in the arrangement, as long as the workers initiated the inquiries about vacant positions.
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At one point in 2006, Google sought Jobs’ permission to hire a respected programmer, Jean-Marie Hullot, to run a new engineering office in Paris even though Hullot had already resigned from Apple, according to emails turned over in the case. Google also wanted to hire some other former Apple engineers that formerly worked with Hullot. After some email negotiations about what Hullot and his colleague would be working on at Google, Jobs wrote, “We’d strongly prefer that you not hire these guys.” Google then backed off its Paris plans, according to emails.
In another instance, Schmidt fired a Google recruiter who riled Jobs by contacting an Apple employee about a job opening. After being informed of the firing, Jobs responded with a smiley face in an email.
First, Vertesi made sure there were absolutely no mentions of her pregnancy on social media, which is one of the biggest ways marketers collect information. She called and emailed family directly to tell them the good news, while also asking them not to put anything on Facebook. She even unfriended her uncle after he sent a congratulatory Facebook message.
She also made sure to only use cash when buying anything related to her pregnancy, so no information could be shared through her credit cards or store-loyalty cards. For items she did want to buy online, Vertesi created an Amazon account linked to an email address on a personal server, had all packages delivered to a local locker and made sure only to use Amazon gift cards she bought with cash.
“And finally, I’m actually here today to win the ‘Most Creative Use of Tor’ award
I’m actually here today to win the ‘Most Creative Use of Tor’ award,” she said, followed by roars of laughter in the audience. “I really couldn’t have done it without Tor, because Tor was really the only way to manage totally untraceable browsing. I know it’s gotten a bad reputation for Bitcoin trading and buying drugs online, but I used it for BabyCenter.com.”
Genius, right? But not exactly foolproof. Vertesi said that by dodging advertising and traditional forms of consumerism, her activity raised a lot of red flags. When her husband tried to buy $500 worth of Amazon gift cards with cash in order to get a stroller, a notice at the Rite Aid counter said the company had a legal obligation to report excessive transactions to the authorities.
“Those kinds of activities, when you take them in the aggregate … are exactly the kinds of things that tag you as likely engaging in criminal activity, as opposed to just having a baby,” she said.
I think there’s a racial component, but zooming out, we have to remember that people are often bullied for things that make them different or vulnerable. When I went to a predominately black/Latino elementary school, kids sometimes got bullied for being white, being fat, being “ugly,” being gay, being in special ed, acting “black,” having bad breath, being a female with short hair, eating boogers, being a cry baby, or having a mom show up wearing rollers in her hair. Sometimes you’ll never know why someone doesn’t like you, and sometimes offense is taken at comments that are actually sincere attempts to enhance understanding.
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A burden of being the lone [XYZ] in a classroom or some other environment is the (often unexpressed) expectation that the lone [XYZ] is a standard bearer for all [XYZs]. The frustration I and other “minority” classmates experienced was the notion that we aren’t “really” [XYZ] because of our mental, academic, social or physical strengths. Dominant groups are usually unencumbered by this type of skepticism, their strengths are just celebrated, whatever they are, just as everyone’s strengths should be celebrated. The “wow, you’re so smart” comments and the “wow, you’re so proper” comments and the “why do you talk like that?” queries came at me from different shades of people. But I expect that increasing visibility of diverse, educated and strong [XYZs] will settle these issues, except for people who insistently refuse to accept everyone’s capacity for virtue.
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And the people who are intent on driving wedges and playing up resentment between different groups of people have an ally in ambiguity and abstraction:
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The function here is to deprive “out groups” of “in group” benefits. Thanks to the consciousness developed by movements for equality, rabid insults and blatant hostility made such deprivation less effective. It became more expedient to speak and behave in ways not so easily labelled “extreme” or “rabid.” The goal, o deprivation, is preserved, the punishment, o stigmatization, is meted out, silently. *
To spend life on the lookout for hidden enemies is no life, it fuels mistrust. To sabotage trust is to shatter a precondition for love.
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If a durable understanding that sees past differences is the goal, then an honest reliable trust has to take root. I think it can take root if I can recognize in the next person a heart, and a worthy goal. The recognizable drive to achieve happiness and fulfill worthwhile ambitions can form a basis for empathy, trust, understanding and love.
If maintaining dominance over a stigmatized group is the goal, at the expense of fostering understanding, then disputes of the type featured in the NYTimes video, article and comments will still be a problem long after we’ve handed over the world to the next generation.
I recently learned about dandelion root tea and its purported promotion of healthy liver function. So common is the belief in the benefits of ingesting dandelion (in teas and salads) that the National Library of Medicine has an entry on it:
Dandelion is an herb. People use the above ground parts and root to make medicine.
Dandelion is used for many conditions, but so far, there isn’t enough scientific evidence to determine whether or not it is effective for any of them.
Dandelion is used for loss of appetite, upset stomach, intestinal gas, gallstones, joint pain, muscle aches, eczema, and bruises. Dandelion is also used to increase urine production and as a laxative to increase bowel movements. It is also used as skin toner, blood tonic, and digestive tonic.
Some people use dandelion to treat infection, especially viral infections, and cancer.
In foods, dandelion is used as salad greens, and in soups, wine, and teas. The roasted root is used as a coffee substitute.
I’ve seen complaints that the tea is bitter, but the taste has been very pleasant. I drink it every day, and if it bestows just a fraction of the benefits it is claimed to provide, I would recommend it with the caveat that you check out the National Library of Medicine link first, here.
I’ve seen complaints that the tea is bitter, but the taste has been very pleasant. I drink it every day, and if it bestows just a fraction of the benefits it is claimed to provide, I would recommend it with the caveat that you check out the National Library of Medicine link first, 
Kalonji Malik Perry 