I’m hardly the only one making the critique. It’s actually a pretty common one. Go look at TED’s IRS 990 form. They certainly pay their top few employees a LOT of money! And they haven’t been overly forthcoming in the past on how much they actually hand out in scholarships. Just because it’s a not-for-profit doesn’t…

I think the entire overarching tone of TED is awful. And I’m not going to judge someone’s scientific achievement or life’s work by their talk. In fact, TED means that anyone who is merely good at doing won’t get the same level of recognition as someone is both good at doing and good at talking about it or packaging…

I just get a “you’re a better person because you’re discerning enough to listen to this talk” vibe from the whole enterprise that I find completely offputting. The “cloud of smug” producing “Toyonda Pious” from South Park has nothing on this.

They’re sort of bullshitty, faux-inspirational “innovation” talks. It acts like short talks - each largely geared around a single idea illustrated by the personal experience of the talker - can somehow make a difference in anything. It’s “changing the world” via personal anecdote.

By stressing “innovation” and…

Really not sure - that teacher might’ve just had a policy of not accepting them in general - some don’t. Sometimes they start off taking them, but at a certain point (after years and years), they decided that they were tired of disposing of them. Some (more at the high school level) won’t accept anything edible…

My kids all had the same kindergarten teacher. During conferences, class events, etc, she’d sometimes go a bit off-script, get a little too honest, and stop just short of saying something completely inappropriate.

She was awesome.

This is why my wife won’t live in - or next to - the town that she teaches in. She doesn’t really want to run into parents and the kids in her private life.

By the way - the Atlantic just published a story today about how a quarter of adjunct professors are getting some type of public assistance . . .

Actually, I’ve known a number of adjuncts over the years. It sucked for them. Trying to piece together full-time employment while getting paid between $3,000 and $4,000 per course per semester in an incredibly expensive part of the country, plus not getting benefits if they were only part time at each college or…

Great - that means that the fact that there’s a working Lyme disease vaccine - that you can get for your dog but not for you - sucks even more.

Actually, classic freak shows - before they started getting somewhat paternalistically banned - arguably gave the “freaks” the ability to make a living, and potentially a community that was more accepting than wherever they were from. BAnd people were interacting with them in person, rather than through a television.…

At this point, can we just declare that the folks running TLC are terrible, soulless husks of humanity who just travel around the country looking for the latest Palinesque “Real America” grotesquery to parade in front of viewers until the inevitable happens? And then they start all over again . . .

Their real life…

It is - I enjoyed it. Ordered a copy from bookdepository.com based on a Guardian review before it was available in the US.

It is - I enjoyed it. Ordered a copy from bookdepository.com based on a Guardian review before it was available in…

He’s term-limited out after this term. Maybe he’ll run for Senate! He’d bring a level of gravitas to the body that we haven’t seen since Al D’Amato.

He was an asshole and it was caught on camera. Other human beings who have the (pleasure?) of knowing him can choose whether or not to identify him after seeing the video. You’re not guaranteed the right to privacy if you’re out in public, so tough shit. How’s that?

I would have been pissed off if one of my kids acted…

Apparently it is. I wonder if it’s the guy who checked the old lady.

Wait, isn’t this the same Fox5 News where Ernie Anastos told everyone to “Keep fucking that chicken!” a few years back?

I don’t understand any of this - then again, I went to high school at a northeastern suburb in the 1980s. There were nearly no dress codes. We could wear:

And she likely wouldn’t have forgotten again without you freaking out. When you’re pissed off and the adrenaline is exactly the time you DON’T get into it. I’d think you sounded like less of an asshole if you said “our INFANT”. But you didn’t. And by the way - remember that they’re “your kids” in terms of being…

That’s nuts. My 4th grade twins walk themselves home. It’s about a mile. They’re fine.