Random, Random 2.0

[JazzNU]

That is wild. Did the employer install the spiral staircase? Make the decision for spiral instead of straight stairs? Choose the location of the office in the home? Was there video of this "commute?"

[ponchi101]

So the people behind the BIRDS AREN'T REAL movement were running a parody. Good for them.
Of course, their believers will now say that they have been hijacked by dark powers to switch their message.

[Deuce]

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This is pathetic...

I Can't Even Find the Words to Describe This...

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[mmmm8]

Idiocracy looking ever closer to a documentary.

[ti-amie]

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This is pathetic...

I Can't Even Find the Words to Describe This...

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Because there are none.

[ti-amie]

Organizers of the South Dakota teacher 'Dash for Cash' are apologizing and paying up
December 14, 202112:36 PM ET
RACHEL TREISMAN

A South Dakota hockey team and mortgage lender are apologizing for a widely panned event in which schoolteachers scrambled to grab dollar bills off the ice during a game's intermission.

The Sioux Falls Stampede, a junior league team, had billed Saturday's event as its inaugural "Dash for Cash." It involved dumping $5,000 in $1 bills on a carpet at center ice, then inviting 10 teachers from local schools to scoop up the bills as fans cheered.

Videos of the educators — wearing hockey helmets and stuffing cash into their shirts and pockets — went viral over the weekend, after the videos were posted to Twitter by Argus Leader reporter Annie Todd.The teachers' hauls ranged from $378 to $616, according to the Argus Leader.

Organizers said all the money the teachers could grab would be used for their own classrooms and school programs, and they had framed it as a way to help educators amid the stressors of the coronavirus pandemic.

Instead, as NPR's Bill Chappell reported, it drew widespread condemnation from critics and shone a national spotlight on South Dakota's low teacher pay.

The Stampede and CU Mortgage Direct, which donated the cash for the contest, are now offering teachers an apology and an additional $500 each.

"Although our intent was to provide a positive and fun experience for teachers, we can see how it appears to be degrading and insulting towards the participating teachers and the teaching profession as a whole," organizers said in a statement on Monday. "We deeply regret and apologize to all teachers for any embarrassment this may have caused."

They reiterated that the promotion was aimed at raising funds for local teachers and classrooms and explained that they had randomly selected the 10 participants from a pool of 31 applicants. The team said it is giving them all more money, totaling an additional $15,500 for area teachers.

"Together with CU Mortgage Direct we will be providing an additional $500 to those teachers that participated in the event as well as providing $500 to those additional 21 applicants that were not able to participate," the statement said.

The organizers also promised to work with South Dakota's educators organization on future events that will support teachers and "funding for our next generation."

As Chappell reported, South Dakota ranks toward the bottom of the U.S. for spending on education, both in terms of average teacher salary and the average amount it pays per student.

https://www.npr.org/2021/12/14/10640917 ... h-for-cash

[ponchi101]

I wonder why people have never heard the concept of a "Pre Mortem". An analysis of what happens if this goes wrong? And have a few jerks like me sit down and try to figure out every single possible wrong scenario. It would stop so many things like this one.

[ti-amie]

A Christmas season AITA. This poor kid.

AITA for being upset about my family's Christmas plans?

God I can't believe I'm coming here again but I can't find an unbiased opinion from anyone I know.

Okay I (15m) have a different dad than both my brother (10m) and my sister (13f) and they both have different dad's. My step dad (36m) is my brother dad. My siblings, mother, and I live with my step dad. My father wants nothing to do with me as I was technically an accident. My sister's dad is active in her life and my brothers dad is obviously active in all of our lives.

My sister is spending Christmas with her father and my step dad and mom are taking my brother out of town for Christmas to go see other family. I am being left at home alone.

My best friend and his mom have offered to let me spend Christmas with his family.

My mother says that I have to stay at home and that it's not my place to intrude on another family's Christmas.

Her and I have been arguing about this for days but she's adamant on me staying at home.

I know that legally I'm able to stay home alone but I really just don't want to.

The best response I saw.

ijustwantedadryer
·
6 hr. ago
StarryGoldHelpful8Wholesome5

Hey there kiddo, when I read this I felt like I was transported back to my own childhood. I need you to know you are not alone in this. What your mother and stepfather are doing is abuse. When I was 14 and 15 my mother did this exact same thing. She took my younger sister with her bio dad and went to his family's place. They left me home alone during Christmas. I was alone for a full week. You are being left alone for 2 weeks which breaks my heart. Not only are they leaving you alone for Christmas but also New Year's. I can't imagine that. When I was 14 and left home alone, I made the best of it and I didn't tell anyone. My mother also told me the same thing, that I couldn't go to somebody else's house, and that I would be intruding on their Christmas. So I didn't say anything.

I made myself eggs on Christmas morning and I put on a comfort show on Netflix through our household Wii. I watched that show the entire day. I look back on that day now, and I see it with sadness. I was a young child, and legally yes I could be left alone. But what was not told to me was that for the length of time I was left alone, that was considered abandonment of a minor. I didn't do anything wrong, I wasn't in trouble or grounded. They just didn't want to take me with them, I wasn't a part of their family. Like you I also look like my bio dad and my mother resents me for that. I believe till this day that is why she didn't like to be around me during the holidays.

When I turned 15 she did the exact same thing. But this time I was confused, this was going to be in every holiday occurrence now? It didn't make sense and it wasn't fair. So I told everyone that would listen the second she left me alone. I was lucky because I had text messages in writing for proof of how long she was leaving me for and that I was not allowed to go to anyone else's house and I was to be left alone. I got her to admit to everything, and it saved me.

One of my friend's mother's called me on Christmas eve and asked if I was left alone since my friend told her. I explained to her everything and said I even had proof of it. She very calmly told me that she loved me and that she was going to drive down and come get me. But first she told me that I needed to be brave and that their were going to be police officers sent to my house and I very calmly needed to tell them everything that had happened and where my parents were and the proof I had on my phone. That freaked me out, her being my only family I didn't know how she would react and if I'd ever see her again. It scared me. But I said okay and that I would try my best.

Police came, I explained what happened, showed proof and they put me with temporary emergency custody of my friend's parent. I had to go to the police station and stay the day there but went back to my friends place after. My mother wasn't charged since she had no priors but was given a huge warning and was assigned a case worker that would check in on me once a week for three years and she would have to pay and go to parenting classes for a few months.

Did she resent me for that? Yes she did. But I tell you what, she never once disrespected me again until I was 18 because I had a caseworker coming there and making sure I was okay for for 3 years. If I didn't have anything that I needed or is being treated unfairly, that case worker stood up for me. My friend's mom also offered to let me move in when I turned 18 and I did. It was the best thing I ever did.

Please for the love of God, tell everyone and anyone. Try to get it in writing if you can. Because I promise you this will happen every year from now on if this happens. Please say something. My friend's mother was a lawyer and explained all of this to me after Christmas. She was the only trusted adult I had. Please got to your friend's house. You're not alone and people love you and want to spend that day with you. NTA, so deeply NTA.

[ponchi101]

You should need a license to have kids...

[JazzNU]

The reply is an Airplane (the movie) joke if you don't get it.

[ti-amie]

That scene is one of the best from that movie.

[Deuce]

That scene is one of the best from that movie.

Surely you can't be serious...

[ponchi101]

The second, greatest, IMPOSSIBLE TO MAKE TODAY, movie (after Blazing Saddles).

[dmforever]

The second, greatest, IMPOSSIBLE TO MAKE TODAY, movie (after Blazing Saddles).

There were just so many great lines!!!

Kevin

[JazzNU]

With the focus (understandably) being on the dummy and Airplane, I'm thinking many of you will skip the actual story. But just know the article contains this gem:

“I don’t use it for the HOV,” the $122,000-per-year government official insisted. “I use it for the company.”