1. how is the boycott comment relative (is this Jewish history spam?)?

and 2. in the interests of openness, shouldn't crossposting be acknowledged?

(Getting ready for TAing has made my Google-fu work overtime on suspiciously formal-sounding writing...)

Lasagne.

Seriously.  The thought of a future bereft of lasagne is pretty much what stands between me and conversion...

As someone said, the Torah is a living document.  In fact, one doesn't need to look only to the present day to find justification of anal sex.  According to both the Talmud and the author of the Mishnah (who cites the Torah in support of his findings), anal sex is permitted between (heterosexual) married couples (I'll get to this in a minute).  If, somehow - and I'm not explaining how, that obviously falls outwith my abilities to arrange! - gay  marriage was to become halahkically acceptable, I don't see how anal sex within that marriage would not be.

For reference to what I said above, I cite the Babylonian Talmud Nedarim 20a-b, as quoted by Daniel Boyarin in Carnal Israel: Reading Sex in Talmudic Culture (1998):

A certain woman came before Rabbi [an honorific title of Rabbi Yehudah the Prince], and said to him: Rabbi: I set him a table, and he turned it over.  He said to her: My daughter, The Torah has permitted you, and I, what can I do for you?

A certain woman came before Rabbi.  She said to him: Rabbi, set him a table, and he turned it over.  He said: How is the case different from fish?  (p.110 in Boyarin)  The fish quotation is in reference to all fish from the fisherman's store being able to be prepared however the husband wants, just as all meat from the shochet may be eaten any way he wants.

 Boyarin goes on to say himself that the Torah disqualifies itself from any interference in the private sexual practices of married couples, who may behave sexually as they please with each other.  ...  Note that according to Rabbi Yohanan, not even non-procreative acts are condemned by the Torah.  In other talmudic texts we learn, moreover, that anal intercourse is permitted as well.  According to this view, at any rate, "wasting of seed" takes place only in masturbation, not in sexual intercourse of even non-procreative varieties (pp.112-113).

Finally, in regards to the children issue, well, in reality this would only be a problem for gay couples and not lesbians, because pru urvu applies only to men: The man is required to be fruitful and multiply but not the woman (Mishnah, Yebamot 6:6, Neussner, J. (ed.), 1988).  Amusingly enough, this same passage provides a loophole for gay men, as a Jewish man is entreated to: not give up having sexual relations unless he has children.  Heh.

Tipping is a complicated business in the UK.  And the people you encountered are right, they do pay for the service, more than we Americans if we eat out and don't tip.  There is no separate wage level for service industry workers in the UK, as there is in the US, therefore there is no discrepancy in wages which is supplemented by the customer, letting the employer off the hook.

That said, Britons do tip (around 10%), if they are receiving table service.  However, since most meals ordered in pubs are ordered at the bar and unceremoniously delivered to the table, there is no expectation of a tip.

I really don't see why this is a problem; why should we expect the rest of the world to conform to our customs?  Hell, in France, servers are unionised!

So, evidently, children protection services are also not good - "intrusive".

More here: http://thinkprogress.org/2007/10/17/susan-orr/

Hear hear.  

I can usually deal with a bit of second-hand smoke, but what about those with respiratory conditions?  I just don't see why they should be endangered for the sake of what is ultimately a leisure activity and a choice.   

I love that someone else even remembers "Sex and Candy"...

I'm still getting over the wedding I went to last year where their song was a particularly depressing Nick Cave number.

I'm thinking "Fat Bottomed Girls" would be my choice.