thedailywhat: Case Of The Mondays of the Day: Veteran JetBlue flight attendant Steven Slater got fed up with his job after a heated argument with an “uncooperative passenger” on a just-landed plane led to profanity being hurled in his general direction, so he did what anyone in his situation would do: He cursed out the entire plane on the PA system, walked to the door, inflated the emergency slide, shimmied down, and stormed off. From the NYT’s City Room: One passenger got out of his seat to fetch his belongings from the overhead compartment before the crew had given permission. Mr. Slater instructed the man to remain seated. The passenger defied him. Mr. Slater approached and reached the passenger just as he pulled down his luggage, which struck Mr. Slater in the head. Mr. Slater asked for an apology. The passenger instead cursed at him. Mr. Slater got on the plane’s public address system and cursed out all aboard. Then he activated the inflatable evacuation slide at service exit R1, launched himself off the plane, an Embraer 190, ran to the employee parking lot and left the airport in a car he had parked there. He was later arrested at his home in Queens on charges of reckless endangerment and criminal mischief. [cityroom / photo: myspace.] My new hero.

thedailywhat:

Case Of The Mondays of the Day: Veteran JetBlue flight attendant Steven Slater got fed up with his job after a heated argument with an “uncooperative passenger” on a just-landed plane led to profanity being hurled in his general direction, so he did what anyone in his situation would do: He cursed out the entire plane on the PA system, walked to the door, inflated the emergency slide, shimmied down, and stormed off.

From the NYT’s City Room:

One passenger got out of his seat to fetch his belongings from the overhead compartment before the crew had given permission. Mr. Slater instructed the man to remain seated. The passenger defied him. Mr. Slater approached and reached the passenger just as he pulled down his luggage, which struck Mr. Slater in the head.

Mr. Slater asked for an apology. The passenger instead cursed at him. Mr. Slater got on the plane’s public address system and cursed out all aboard. Then he activated the inflatable evacuation slide at service exit R1, launched himself off the plane, an Embraer 190, ran to the employee parking lot and left the airport in a car he had parked there.

He was later arrested at his home in Queens on charges of reckless endangerment and criminal mischief.

[cityroom / photo: myspace.]

My new hero.

Reblogged from thedailywhat

What did I tell you guys about dressing up like candy bars? →

Via Alex Johnson - Editor At Large

Took a friend’s eight-year-old with me on my first personal wedding dress shopping trip earlier this spring. Not a fun experience under the best of conditions; this is, after all, only one part of an $86 billion dollar-a-year industry whose sole purpose is to part hopeless romantics from an average of $27,800 for what is essentially a one-night party. Going with a “post-princess phase” little girl is the perfect remedy to the usual gleeful squeals and tears. The best part of the day was when I showed her the price tag from the dress that she liked most of all. Now, if any of you have or know younger children, you know that most of them have a skewed sense of finances. $10 is a chunk of change. $100? Holy moley. Ask them to guess your annual salary and you’ll get a response of either a confident “TWO HUNDRED DOLLARS” or a shy “maybe a million?” Watching E’s eyes grow wide as she wrapped her head around $2,000 for a dress was like watching a parent look at their college student’s first semester tuition bill. Inconceivable! “That’s CRAZY,” she said. “Who would spend that much money on something they’ll only wear once? Stupid people.” (Ed. note: Wedding industry, good luck with this one.) “I mean, you could do SO MANY THINGS with that money, like buy a house!” (See “skewed sense of finances” above.) So I asked her to write a list of what a smart person would do with $2,000; here are the top five: 1) Save it 2) Buy food 3) Tack a vaction [sic] 4) Buy some plants 5) Buy a pet and pet food. Save it. Seriously, America, pay attention. Forget being smarter than a 5th grader. You just got trumped by an EIGHT-year-old. (Yes, she wrote it on my parking ticket. Whatever. I was trumped eons ago.)

Took a friend’s eight-year-old with me on my first personal wedding dress shopping trip earlier this spring. Not a fun experience under the best of conditions; this is, after all, only one part of an $86 billion dollar-a-year industry whose sole purpose is to part hopeless romantics from an average of $27,800 for what is essentially a one-night party.

Going with a “post-princess phase” little girl is the perfect remedy to the usual gleeful squeals and tears. The best part of the day was when I showed her the price tag from the dress that she liked most of all. Now, if any of you have or know younger children, you know that most of them have a skewed sense of finances. $10 is a chunk of change. $100? Holy moley. Ask them to guess your annual salary and you’ll get a response of either a confident “TWO HUNDRED DOLLARS” or a shy “maybe a million?” Watching E’s eyes grow wide as she wrapped her head around $2,000 for a dress was like watching a parent look at their college student’s first semester tuition bill. Inconceivable!

“That’s CRAZY,” she said. “Who would spend that much money on something they’ll only wear once? Stupid people.” (Ed. note: Wedding industry, good luck with this one.) “I mean, you could do SO MANY THINGS with that money, like buy a house!” (See “skewed sense of finances” above.) So I asked her to write a list of what a smart person would do with $2,000; here are the top five:

1) Save it

2) Buy food

3) Tack a vaction [sic]

4) Buy some plants

5) Buy a pet and pet food.

Save it. Seriously, America, pay attention. Forget being smarter than a 5th grader. You just got trumped by an EIGHT-year-old.

(Yes, she wrote it on my parking ticket. Whatever. I was trumped eons ago.)

This, and other images like it by Charlie Riedel for the AP have been circulating madly today. Even the most cynical among us cannot deny the emotional impact of such a sight. The photo does what words cannot do: it connects us visually, tapping into that particularly large portion of the brain dedicated to image analysis. We humans are, after all, visual creatures. My significant other is a photojournalist. In this capacity, he has traveled all over the world, covering everything from widespread environmental disasters to small town human interest stories. Occasionally, especially after one of his “lighter” assignments, he wonders if he’s making a big enough contribution to the world. In the big scheme of things, what do all of those pictures DO, really? Are they little more than brief attention-grabbers? What’s the point? The point is that they’re one of the most powerful tools for social change in the world today. Photographers are witnesses. The images they produce make us sit up and pay attention in a way that words sometimes can’t. 1,000, 12,000, 110,000 barrels of oil spilled… big numbers, but what do they mean? Images such as the one above, or this one, provide a context for those numbers. They also link us emotionally. As a non-profit fundraiser, I know that the best grant I’ve ever written ultimately can’t hold a candle to an photograph or video of our clients. Yes, the written word is a powerful thing, and I have the utmost respect for writers and the contributions they make to the world. But in my experience, if I need to prove to a donor the impact their contribution would have on the lives of the people we serve, images are about as honest and compelling as it can get. Most importantly, though, photographs expose life. With innumerable responsibilities vying for our attention, it’s easy to exist in a vacuum just to stay on top of things. A good photograph can shake us out of that reverie with a child’s LOOK AT ME urgency, showing us that there’s a world outside of our bubble, and spurring us to action. Says famed war photographer James Nachtwey in a 2007 speech: “It’s easy to be cynical about photography, to dismiss its power to create change. But it has made a difference, against all odds, sometimes in great ways, sometimes small. As long as there are things happening in this world that cry out for change, photography will continue to be a factor in the process.” So, yes. There is most certainly a point to it all. (photo via msnbc.com Photoblog)

This, and other images like it by Charlie Riedel for the AP have been circulating madly today. Even the most cynical among us cannot deny the emotional impact of such a sight. The photo does what words cannot do: it connects us visually, tapping into that particularly large portion of the brain dedicated to image analysis. We humans are, after all, visual creatures.

My significant other is a photojournalist. In this capacity, he has traveled all over the world, covering everything from widespread environmental disasters to small town human interest stories. Occasionally, especially after one of his “lighter” assignments, he wonders if he’s making a big enough contribution to the world. In the big scheme of things, what do all of those pictures DO, really? Are they little more than brief attention-grabbers? What’s the point?

The point is that they’re one of the most powerful tools for social change in the world today. Photographers are witnesses. The images they produce make us sit up and pay attention in a way that words sometimes can’t. 1,000, 12,000, 110,000 barrels of oil spilled… big numbers, but what do they mean?

Images such as the one above, or this one, provide a context for those numbers. They also link us emotionally. As a non-profit fundraiser, I know that the best grant I’ve ever written ultimately can’t hold a candle to an photograph or video of our clients. Yes, the written word is a powerful thing, and I have the utmost respect for writers and the contributions they make to the world. But in my experience, if I need to prove to a donor the impact their contribution would have on the lives of the people we serve, images are about as honest and compelling as it can get.

Most importantly, though, photographs expose life. With innumerable responsibilities vying for our attention, it’s easy to exist in a vacuum just to stay on top of things. A good photograph can shake us out of that reverie with a child’s LOOK AT ME urgency, showing us that there’s a world outside of our bubble, and spurring us to action.

Says famed war photographer James Nachtwey in a 2007 speech: “It’s easy to be cynical about photography, to dismiss its power to create change. But it has made a difference, against all odds, sometimes in great ways, sometimes small. As long as there are things happening in this world that cry out for change, photography will continue to be a factor in the process.”

So, yes. There is most certainly a point to it all.

(photo via msnbc.com Photoblog)

tiffehr: A Shitty View of the Pecking Order - Bob Sutton And here I always thought that shit traveled uphill.

tiffehr:

A Shitty View of the Pecking Order - Bob Sutton

And here I always thought that shit traveled uphill.

Reblogged from tiffehr

Naked priorities

Seattle’s unemployment rate currently hovers just over 9%, more budget reductions are about to be announced to help mitigate the city’s $60 million deficit, the timeline for replacing our aging viaduct is starting to rival that of my hometown Big Dig, and the district is scrambling to find a way to avoid issuing another 42 pink slips to educators in addition to the 36 issued earlier this month.

But what do residents think this city, a city where summer temperatures rarely climb above 80°F, a city where half of the population tends to turn the color of a boiled lobster within 15 minutes of sun exposure (and that’s to the areas of the body that *normally* see the light of day)— what do residents think this city really, TRULY needs?

A nude beach.

GPOYW The Civic Duty edition.

GPOYW

The Civic Duty edition.

Out of The Mouths of Babes

Teen girl #1: “Gaaawd, I am so SICK of these high school boys! They are SO immature! I wish they were, like, older, you know? Like, right now.”

Teen girl #2: “Yeah, if they were, like, 30.”

Teen girl #1: “Totally. 30-year-old guys SO don’t tell poop jokes and think it’s funny. Gawd.”

Me: Snorts drink through nose. Scrambles for napkin. Gasps for breath.

Looks like somebody won’t be invited back to the RNC.

Five bottles of port, three of wine, and one of homemade brandy, all to go home in my little previously-carried-on single rollercase. What about the clothes I brought with me, you ask? Priorities, my friends. Priorities.

Five bottles of port, three of wine, and one of homemade brandy, all to go home in my little previously-carried-on single rollercase.

What about the clothes I brought with me, you ask? Priorities, my friends. Priorities.