…it sets $whatever on my outer instanced class.

Here’s some illustrative code:

<?
    class Inner_Static {
        function burrito() {
            $this->_member = ‘A keyboard. How quaint.’;
        }
    }

    class Outer_Instance {
        function taco() {
            Inner_Static::burrito();
        }
    }

    $my_guy = new Outer_Instance();
    $my_guy->taco();

    print ‘$my_guy->_member: ‘ . $my_guy->_member; 

This boggles my mind a bit. Tracking it down cost me a bit of time. Is there actually a sane use for this little tidbit, or am I justified in thinking that a good language would warn you that scope shenanigans are going on here?