Month: March 2024

When the Philadelphia Eagles’ season came to an unceremonious end last weekend, many fans were, understandably, more than a little pissed.

Take the rest of the night off to sleep in your shame, boys. Photo by Elsa/Getty Images.

After the final game, one fan allegedly commented on Facebook that the team had “played like they were wearing tutus!!!”

Photo by David R. Tribble/Wikimedia Commons.

…according to the Pennsylvania Ballet, which reported encountering the post on the social media site.

The Pennsylvania Ballet, whose company members regularly wear tutus, had a few choice words for anyone who thinks their light, frequently pink costumes mean they’re not “tough.”

Commence epic reply…

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(full text transcribed under the post).

A Facebook user recently commented that the Eagles had “played like they were wearing tutus!!!”

Our response:

“With all due respect to the Eagles, let’s take a minute to look at what our tutu wearing women have done this month:

By tomorrow afternoon, the ballerinas that wear tutus at Pennsylvania Ballet will have performed The Nutcracker 27 times in 21 days. Some of those women have performed the Snow scene and the Waltz of the Flowers without an understudy or second cast. No ‘second string’ to come in and spell them when they needed a break. When they have been sick they have come to the theater, put on make up and costume, smiled and performed. When they have felt an injury in the middle of a show there have been no injury timeouts. They have kept smiling, finished their job, bowed, left the stage, and then dealt with what hurts. Some of these tutu wearers have been tossed into a new position with only a moments notice. That’s like a cornerback being told at halftime that they’re going to play wide receiver for the second half, but they need to make sure that no one can tell they’ve never played wide receiver before. They have done all of this with such artistry and grace that audience after audience has clapped and cheered (no Boo Birds at the Academy) and the Philadelphia Inquirer has said this production looks “better than ever”.

So no, the Eagles have not played like they were wearing tutus. If they had, Chip Kelly would still be a head coach and we’d all be looking forward to the playoffs.”

Happy New Year!

In case it wasn’t obvious, toughness has nothing to do with your gender.

Gendered and homophobic insults in sports have been around basically forever — how many boys are called a “pansy” on the football field or told they “throw like a girl” in Little League?

“They played like they were wearing tutus” is the same deal. It’s shorthand for “You’re kinda ladylike, which means you’re not tough enough.”

Toughness, however, has a funny way of not being pinned to one particular gender. It’s not just ballerinas, either. NFL cheerleaders? They get paid next to nothing to dance in bikini tops and short-shorts in all kinds of weather — and wear only ever-so-slightly heavier outfits when the thermometer drops below freezing. And don’t even get me started on how mind-bogglingly badass the Rockettes are.

Toughness also has nothing to do with what kind of clothes you wear.

As my colleague Parker Molloy astutely points out, the kinds of clothes assigned to people of different genders are, and have always been, basically completely arbitrary. Pink has been both a “boys color” and a “girls color” at different points throughout history. President Franklin D. Roosevelt — longtime survivor of polio, Depression vanquisher, wartime leader, and no one’s idea of a wimp — was photographed in his childhood sporting a long blonde hairstyle and wearing a dress.

Many of us are conditioned to see a frilly pink dance costume and think “delicate,” and to look at a football helmet and pads and think “big and strong.” But scratch the surface a little bit, and you’ll meet tutu-wearing ballerinas who that are among toughest people on the planet and cleat-and-helmet-wearing football players who are … well. The 2015 Eagles.

You just can’t tell from their outerwear.

Ballerinas wear tutus for the same reason football players wear uniforms and pads:

To get the job done.

This article originally appeared on 01.05.16

Madalyn Parker wanted to take a couple days off work. She didn’t have the flu, nor did she have plans to be on a beach somewhere, sipping mojitos under a palm tree.

Parker, a web developer from Michigan, wanted a few days away from work to focus on her mental health.

Parker lives with depression. And, she says, staying on top of her mental health is absolutely crucial.

“The bottom line is that mental health is health,” she says over email. “My depression stops me from being productive at my job the same way a broken hand would slow me down since I wouldn’t be able to type very well.”

She sent an email to her colleagues, telling them the honest reason why she was taking the time off.

“Hopefully,” she wrote to them, “I’ll be back next week refreshed and back to 100%.”

Soon after the message was sent, the CEO of Parker’s company wrote back:

“Hey Madalyn,

I just wanted to personally thank you for sending emails like this. Every time you do, I use it as a reminder of the importance of using sick days for mental health — I can’t believe this is not standard practice at all organizations. You are an example to us all, and help cut through the stigma so we can all bring our whole selves to work.”

u201cWhen the CEO responds to your out of the office email about taking sick leave for mental health and reaffirms your decision. ud83dudcafu201d

— madalyn (@madalyn)
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Moved by her CEO’s response, Parker posted the email exchange to Twitter.

The tweet, published on June 30, 2017, has since gone viral, amassing 45,000 likes and 16,000 retweets.

“It’s nice to see some warm, fuzzy feelings pass around the internet for once,” Parker says of the response to her tweet. “I’ve been absolutely blown away by the magnitude though. I didn’t expect so much attention!”

Even more impressive than the tweet’s reach, however, were the heartfelt responses it got.

“Thanks for giving me hope that I can find a job as I am,” wrote one person, who opened up about living with panic attacks. “That is bloody incredible,” chimed in another. “What a fantastic CEO you have.”

Some users, however, questioned why there needs to be a difference between vacation time and sick days; after all, one asked, aren’t vacations intended to improve our mental well-being?

That ignores an important distinction, Parker said — both in how we perceive sick days and vacation days and in how that time away from work is actually being spent.

“I took an entire month off to do partial hospitalization last summer and that was sick leave,” she wrote back. “I still felt like I could use vacation time because I didn’t use it and it’s a separate concept.”

Many users were astounded that a CEO would be that understanding of an employee’s mental health needs.

They were even more surprised that the CEO thanked her for sharing her personal experience with caring for her mental health.

After all, there’s still a great amount of stigma associated with mental illness in the workplace, which keeps many of us from speaking up to our colleagues when we need help or need a break to focus on ourselves. We fear being seen as “weak” or less committed to our work. We might even fear losing our job.

Ben Congleton, the CEO of Parker’s company, Olark, even joined the conversation himself.

In a blog post on Medium, Congleton wrote about the need for more business leaders to prioritize paid sick leave, fight to curb the stigma surrounding mental illness in the workplace, and see their employees as people first.

“It’s 2017. We are in a knowledge economy. Our jobs require us to execute at peak mental performance,” Congleton wrote. “When an athlete is injured, they sit on the bench and recover. Let’s get rid of the idea that somehow the brain is different.”

This article originally appeared on 07.11.17

Robert Bush Sr. is an avid outdoorsman who runs a Facebook page called “Bob’s Pennsylvania Wildlife Camera.”

He set up a secret camera on a log that lays across a steam to capture footage of all the different animals that walked across it. The result is a relaxing video featuring all sorts of wildlife including a black bear, chipmunk, coyote, turkey, and great horned owl.

Bush is very active recording wildlife videos, which he shares on his Facebook and YouTube pages.

In the introduction to his Facebook page he captures his philosophy that is welcoming to all, with a few ground rules:

“I love the outdoors and wildlife and I am not anti-hunting, this page is not about hunting and I will not post any hunting pictures or videos on this page, this page is about the wildlife in the mountains of Pennsylvania. Please do NOT post hunting pictures in the comments, and do not comment about killing the animals or about hunting at all, and do not bash hunters or talk about anti-hunting … just enjoy the videos.”

Well said, Robert. And now, on to the first video:

You may have noticed the video is called “The Log 2.” Well, here’s the original.

This article originally appeared on 02.28.20

Parenting is a hard gig regardless of whether you planned to have children or they were a happy surprise. As many parenting books as there are out there, none of them have the perfect equation to get it right and most parents do the best with what they learned, or unlearned, from their own parents.

Samantha, a parenting content creator on TikTok under the name Raising Self, has been working hard to overcome generational trauma and parent her children differently. Recently she was doing a live video to interact with her followers when one of her children made a stunning revelation: he was scared of her.

You could tell by her expression that his confession was a surprise, and though her son barely took his eyes off the video game he was playing, the two had a very meaningful dialogue. Instead of being upset or even happy that her child was fearful, she responded with curiosity.

Some people believe that children should be fearful of their parents in order to respect them, but the exchange Samantha had with her son turned that thought process on its head. He started off the conversation by saying, “I know this might be a little shocking but I do sometimes actually find you a little scary.” When Samantha probed him a little she found that what’s causing him to be fearful is when her “grandma instincts come out,” referring to a generational pattern that his mother has been trying hard not to repeat.

Samantha didn’t hesitate with her response: “Yeah, I did not know that. I’m sorry that you’re experiencing that.” She continued, “When it’s happening, please call it out. Cause that allows me to understand what behaviors I’m not doing a good job mitigating.” Even though she was shocked, the conversation didn’t end there. It’s a beautiful exchange that can guide other parents on how to navigate these types of conversations.

Watch the entire conversation below:

This article originally appeared on 12.21.22

“Dune: Part 2” has been a smash with filmgoers and critics alike. It earned nearly $370 million in its first two weeks of release worldwide and has an impressive 93% Fresh Rating on Rotten Tomatoes.

The film centers around Paul Atredies’s (Timothée Chalamet) journey from royalty to a new life on the desert planet of Arakkis, whom the inhabitants believe may be “The One Who Will Lead Us to Paradise.” Paul’s journey is treacherous, as he must battle his sworn enemies, the Harkonens while trying to avoid being gobbled up by 400-yard-long sandworms with knife-like teeth.

But, in the end, it’s all about the spice.

A comedian who goes by Tom on Twitter made a fantastic video as Shai Hulud, a giant sandworm, being played by former president and current presidential candidate Donald Trump. In the video, he rails against “Pesky” and “Little” Paul Atredies and says he will get a better deal on the spice trade with the Harkonens.

The video works because it’s funny to hear Trump speak about the “Dune” universe and the simple eyes and nose on the face of a sandworm are right out of early ‘70s Saturday morning TV.

— (@)

“I’m going to see this on Sunday and can already tell that this video will ruin the entire film. ‘Pesssky Paul’ in my head, every other scene,” David Paul joked in the comments. I think I’ve watched this 20 times now, and the ‘We’re gonna have paradise on Arrakis’ line gets me every time. Perfection,” Ben Page added.

We’ve all been there. Got an interview you were pretty excited about but once sitting across from your new potential boss, you do one of three things. You blabber on incessantly due to nerves. You seem to have forgotten every single thing that would be pertinent to the job in which you’re interviewing. Or, you feel as if you’ve somehow exited your body while you desperately attempt to appear normal but you know it’s not working.

Some people are simply rockstars when it comes to interviews, while others consistently look like they’re being interviewed against their will. It doesn’t seem to matter how many interviews they have under their belt, they’re just a nervous quiet mess trying not to sweat through their shirt.

One woman found herself in the latter category of interviewees, but instead of having to continue her search on the nearest job board, she got the job. The CEO took to LinkedIn to explain why.

“DISASTER! So, I interviewed a highly recommended candidate. The interview was a nightmare. She was so nervous she could barely communicate. A deer in the headlight. She BOMBED miserably. Still I couldn’t get past my gut feeling she was the best candidate for the job,” Brigette Hyacinth, Founder and CEO of Leadership HQ reveals.

Hyacinth posted the note to the professional social media platform in an effort to reach other people in the position to hire people. The CEO wanted to make sure people weren’t overlooking potentially excellent candidates due to not performing well in the interview due to obvious nerves.

Depending on what’s going on in people’s lives, interviews can be high stakes. Someone could be a newly single parent interviewing for the first time in years. There could be a situation where someone may be on the brink of eviction or foreclosure and landing that job is a matter of keeping stable housing. Sometimes people are neurodivergent and may appear awkward or extremely nervous in the interview but be fantastic assets to the company.

Let’s not forget the subset of people that just interview poorly because of anxiety, sort of like people who test poorly due to test anxiety. There are a multitude of reasons that people could bomb an interview from excessive nerves. But not everybody gets past the interview to prove they are a good fit for the company.

Hyacinth writes, “I gambled and decided to give her a try and within 6 months, she was one of my top performers. Sometimes it’s hard to know a candidate’s full capabilities in a job interview.”

Other’s agreed with her assessment, while some gave their thoughts on the whole interview process.

“The interview process is so dated. On another note companies go on about wanting to to employ more neurodiverse people, yet they put autistic people through several stage interview processes where they have to speak to people they don’t know for a long length of time, that can be so draining for them. Wish this would change and go more off references, experience, and portfolio and not having a chat with the owner of the company that they will probably never speak to ever again,” one commenter shares.

One person said in part, “Couldn’t agree more! We need to adjust many of our outdated conventional ways and pay closer attention to attitude and engagement during the interview process. Just because someone could be crippled with anxiety during an interview doesn’t mean they couldn’t be an absolute rockstar if given an opportunity.”

In Hyacinth’s case, it turned out that she was right to give the nervous woman a try. Maybe in the future other hiring managers and CEOs will be willing to take a page out of her book to give the introverts a chance to shine in a position that may be perfect for them.

Ryan Modjeski, the Executive Director of Empatico, has found an interesting way of sharing the benefits of empathy — by using magic. Empatico is a video-meeting platform for educators that helps foster empathy among students through meaningful connections around the globe.

Although teaching people interpersonal skills through magic may seem strange, studies show that visual demonstrations help people remember and recall information.

In the video, he uses a card trick to explain how empathy makes us more resilientby fostering connections with others.

“With empathy, you build resilience,” Modjeski says in the video. “So, then, no matter how hard life is, no matter how shuffled up or jumbled up things are. No matter how much life pushes down on you. When you’re empathetic and you’re connected with yourself and with others. You always come on top.”

The Magic Of Empathy

In the second video, he uses a handkerchief trick and the mythical Green and Orange people’s story to show how empathy breaks down barriers between different types of people. “How do we get Green people and Orange people to connect?” he asks. “The answer is with empathy. When we learn how to listen to each other, how to be kind, how to hear each other’s stories.”

FInally, he uses four glasses of water to show the different types of empathy: cognitive, emotional, and behavioral. “Now, this might seem like a lot, but in fact, when you put in a little effort and you open up your heart, well you can do anything,” he concluded the video.

Rudy Gobert is the heavy favorite to win his fourth Defensive Player of the Year award at the end of this regular season, as he is anchoring the league’s best defense in Minnesota for one of the West’s top seeds.

While some have pointed to Victor Wembanyama’s outrageous block and steal totals and wondered if the Spurs star rookie should be in the mix, plenty have noted that the Spurs are still near the bottom of the NBA’s defensive ranks. That said, not everyone is on board with another Gobert DPOY, with Shaquille O’Neal laying out why he’s never been sold on Gobert being an elite level defender on The Big Podcast during the latest episode with Mario Chalmers.

At the 17:00 mark of the below video, they start discussing Gobert and Shaq’s big issue with the French big man is that his impact on that end comes mostly from his work as a help defender

“I never thought he was a great defensive player either,” Shaq said of Gobert. “See what it is is there’s not a lot of centers that are making him play defense. He not doing that sh** against Joker cause he’s got to be engaged, but when he goes against another guy – he’s 7’6! Of course if you lay it up he’s gonna block it, but defense to me is guard that motherf**ker and shut him down. You want to impress me? Hold Joker under 15 points. Now you’re playing defense. All that weakside, blocking shots, that’s cool, but it ain’t gonna work against guys like me, Joker, and Embiid. What he’s talking about with Bam is, Bam plays people. He plays the two, the three, the four, and the five. So, I would give it to him too.”

Now, there is an argument to be made that Gobert’s defense has never had the same impact in the postseason as it’s had in the regular season, but DPOY is still a regular season award. It’s also a bit funny to hammer Gobert for not stopping Jokic (who no one stops) and then shifting your praise to Bam Adebayo for guarding guys when…Jokic gave Bam fits in the Finals (again, because no one has an answer for him, not because Bam is not a great defender).

Having “stop Jokic” as your criteria for being a good defender is probably not fair, but there is certainly a fair way to question how valuable, exactly, Gobert’s defensive impact is to winning come playoff time. Adebayo’s versatility has certainly lent itself to being more effective in the postseason in years past, but as we always have to remind folks at this time of year, awards are about the regular season and you can’t project about playoff performance (as we learned last year with Jokic finally winning his first title).

It’s especially funny to hear Shaq call for someone else to be DPOY over Gobert when one of Gobert’s most vocal critics, Draymond Green, stumped for Gobert this year when discussing Wembanyama’s candidacy.

Arnold Schwarzenegger and Alan Ritchson have a lot in common. They’re both tall, ripped he-men with larger than life muscles. They’ve both dabbled in comic book stuff: Schwarzenegger, of course, top-billed as Mr. Freeze in Batman & Robin, Ritchson as Aquaman on Smallville. They’ve both done comedy that makes light of their bulk; perhaps you remember Ritchson in the Kevin Hart comedy The Wedding Ringer? Surely one day the two’s paths would cross. And now, finally, they will.

Per Deadline, Ritchson and Schwarzenegger have been cast in The Man with the Bag, a generic title that betrays a high-concept premise. Here’s the logline:

“When Santa’s magic bag is stolen, he turns to his naughty list to find Vance, a former thief, to help him get it back. Along with his daughter, Santa, and a group of misfit elves, Vance will have to pull off the greatest heist of his life to save Christmas.”

Let’s assume that Schwarzenegger, in his mid-70s, will play cuddly old St. Nick while Ritchson, barely over 40, will play the “former thief” who helps him with a Yuletide-related heist. Or maybe Ritchson will play a strapping Kris Kringle who coaxes an old-timer Schwarzenegger out of thief retirement.

Ritchson’s fame has shot up of late with Amazon’s new Jack Reacher show, which he takes so seriously he’s scared off stunt coordinators. Schwarzenegger, meanwhile, has the Netflix show Fubar, although he’s also been hanging out a lot with his longtime buddy Danny DeVito, though that long-promised Twins sequel ain’t happening anymore.

(Via Deadline)

Fast food is getting expensive. What used to be a cheap and easy pick-up is starting to break the bank, which may have changed some of your spending habits this year. But just because the typical combo meal is inching closer and closer to $20 these days, there is still plenty of cheap fast food to be had if you know where to look.

Almost every big fast food chain has some sort deal that’ll get you fed without spending a ton. To help push you in the right direction to save the most cash, we’re highlighting the best food deals right now. Whether you’re after breakfast foods, desserts, or lunchtime classics like a great cheeseburger, we’ve got it all!

Here are the best fast food deals right now.

Burger King

If you’re still feeling the time change, BK has got your back. From now until March 16th BK will be offering free food deals for rewards members. Today you can pick up a large order of hashbrowns free with any purchase over $1. On Thursday you’ll be able to score a free Hershey’s sundae pie with a purchase of $3.14. Friday you’ll get a free large vanilla iced coffee with any $1 purchase. And on Saturday any purchase above $1 will get you a free sausage breakfast.

Burger King is trying to be the breakfast king and we’re totally behind it!

Dairy Queen

DQ’s annual Free Cone Day returns on March 19. Hit up your local DQ on the day and receive a free soft-serve vanilla cone, no questions asked.

Dog Haus

Sign up for the Dog Haus rewards program and receive $5 off your order.

Jack in the Box

Jack in the Box’s Jack Pack is back! For just $5 score a Jr. Jumbo Jack cheeseburger, taco, curly fries, and a drink. That’s a steal!

KFC

Make any purchase of $10 or more and receive a free 5-piece order of chicken nuggets. Redeem the deal via the KFC app.

Little Caesars

Little Caesars is offering two large two-topping pizzas for $7.99 each.

McDonald’s

First-time app members can score a free Big Mac with any $1 purchase. If you’re already a member, score a free order of medium fries every Friday with any purchase $1 or more.

Popeyes

Popeyes is running a BOGO deal on chicken sandwiches right now. Order any chicken sandwich combo (classic, spicy, blackened, or spicy blackened) and receive an additional sandwich for free when ordering via the Popeyes app. If you’re looking for an excuse to experience fast food’s greatest sandwich, this is a good one!

Shake Shack

From now until March 18, Shake Shack is offering a free single or double SmokeShack Burger with any order of at least $10. This deal is applicable via the Shake Shack app or Shake Shack kiosk in-store.

Sonic

This is a short deal but today, March 13th, 2024, Sonic will be offering Corn Dogs for only .99¢. That’s almost $2 dollars less than normal!

Wendy’s

At Wendy’s buy one Breakfast Croissant Sandwich and get an additional sandwich for free. Redeem the deal via the Wendy’s app.