I’m a PR flack. There were several things she could have done.

I can’t speak to the national discourse, but I had just graduated from UVA and was still living in Charlottesville when it happened and the fallout from that article absolutely set the local discourse back. I agree that Erdely needs to find a different job— maybe one that doesn’t require so much research.

I think you’re probably understating the damage this has done to Rolling Stone’s brand (in certain circles). Erdley deserves the lion’s share of the blame because it was her job to vet the story, but I agree that her editors too probably deserve a more public shaming for allowing this to occur.

I disagree. I honestly do not think that Erdely should ever be able to get work as a journalist again. She wanted to write a sensationalist article and she did, without doing her due diligence, and in doing so I genuinely think that she set back the national discourse about campus sexual assault.

I always have to laugh at the type of response that amounts to “x group are crybabies that can’t handle shit” and meanwhile can’t see how ridiculous it is that they are so upset and aggrieved over the issue/ change themselves. So, you are a little crybaby bitch, too, right? Like if the name is such an unimportant,…

If they had done the same to say, an elderly relative or a disabled 20 year old would the sentence have been more strict? This shows me that kids are still not considered autonomous individuals with human rights, they are their parents most prized accessory. These people treated their child worse than decent people…

That poor baby did not deserve these narcissistic idiots for parents.

I think the dude is a sociopath. Not a naturalist or whatever the fuck they call themselves, he’s just a fucking sociopath. Sadly I don’t think we’ve seen the end of him and I personally would like to.

Yes, this was willful negligence. It’s a different story when a parent loses a child due to some kind of reasonable mistake.

The pain over losing a child should not have a mitigating effect on the parent’s punishment for causing the death of a child. Parents don’t own their children.

There is no punished enough for these people. At the very, very least they should have all their other, and any future children, permanently removed.

I do not buy the whole idea that when parents proudly make awful decisions that lead to their children’s deaths (like leaving loaded guns lying around, failing to get the child proper medical attention, etc.) the death should be the parents’ punishment. These parents neglected their child to the point that he died,…

No, they haven’t been punished enough. Feeling bad about breaking law doesn’t mean you get to break the law in a way that leads to death without penalty.

The old “blame-the-ambulance” story.

the very best thing i learned as a business traveler who spent a week at a time in various locations was to simply send all of my “stuff” ahead of time to the hotel via UPS three day and have them hold it for me until i checked in. For return of the “luggage” i somply included another UPS three day return label i…

Me either! Until this time. It was that horrible of an experience. It was just that feeling of being completely fucked, with no way to retaliate other than to leave a sad little Yelp review. I didn’t feel great about, even before they called me. It felt petty and stupid. But when a company’s not returning your calls…

Good for you?

It seems like every watch I see these days looks like something Flavor Flav could wear. Why is that?

Until phones are the size of watches (see below) and worn on the wrist, there’s a lot to be said for having the time, um, close at hand. There are also advantages to analog over digital, but that may be a matter of taste.

I bought my mom a Sanyo microwave oven for $50 that’s going strong 6 years later. My brother-in-law bought us a Panasonic microwave oven when he visited (it was really more for them since they had a baby and a toddler). It lasted 53 weeks and stopped working one week after the warranty expired. We are back to no…