Also an unexpectedly fun trip. “Weird and great” is pretty accurate for the channel!

that weird chick and she’s great.

Jenny Nicholson, for anyone interested. There’s an equally long one about a failed permanent Renaissance Faire that’s a real trip, too. Almost all of them are a fun diversion, really.

To love is to mourn.

This is what I was advocating for, with the additional caveat of the admin doing their part.

My friend who teaches at a local high school told me about at least two instances where parents berated her when they came to retrieve the phone, and having no backing from the school administration. It’s easy to imagine that, at some point, it’s not worth it to enforce rules if you’re just going to get screamed at for it.

Right, why stop at banning cell phones when you can ban emergency services altogether?

Wait till you see the comments on any thread about Florida.

People like to broadly label strangers, putting them away into neatly-labeled boxes in their minds. It makes it easy to ignore the suffering of the innocent, because there are no innocents in [insert location here].

Something tells me this wasn’t a one-off thing for them.

But what I think would be more important would be for there to be fines.

I like this, it seems like a very practical approach that takes on the root issue. Parents need to address their kids’ conduct in school, it can’t solely be on the teachers and staff.

Just to play devil’s advocate; what if the parents ultimately refuse to pay the fines?

You think teachers will ever do any teaching if they spend their whole day playing phone police?

Assuming they’re struggling to get any teaching done while there are no rules in place, this still seems like a step in the right direction to me. But to answer your question, I suppose that depends on what the rules are, and how they’re enforced. One infraction could mean your phone is taken away for the rest of the day, or until a parent comes to get it – For example. The biggest problem I see with this approach would be that it foists a lot of liability onto the teacher – As in, if there were an emergency situation for the student following the teacher taking their phone away, perhaps the teacher could be held liable in some way. Then again, I think this comes down to the administrative staff having a very clearly defined policy in place.

And the emergency reasoning is bogus. The teacher has a phone, an intercom, and a panic button.

And if the teacher is subdued? Or if the emergency takes place on school grounds, but outside of the classroom? Etc.

I have several friends who teach at middle- and high-school grade levels, and they all tell me the same thing: There aren’t really clear rules in place governing cell phone use during class so kids are just fucking around with them all day, and even where the rules are clear, they have no authority to actually take a cell phone from a kid, even if they’re being disruptive to the rest of the students.

On the other hand, an all-out ban (and even “phone storage solutions”) just creates a new problem; keeping a potentially life-saving tool out of the hands of students in emergency situations.

I’m almost certainly over-simplifying this, but why not:

1. Let the kids keep their phones
2. Set forth strict guidelines for their use while on school property, and
3. Ensure teachers have the authority to enforce those guidelines.

Big fan of BNL, especially Steven’s vocals. I admittedly don’t know much of their material before they started charting in the US, so this was a real treat. The whole thing makes me nostalgic for the early 90s.

What’s the name of that Stone Temple Pilots song?

Vasoline.

To add on to the other replies here, both of the two closest libraries to me have several small rooms for this as well.

He’s got the budget t solve this dilemma and you know this.

My fiancee got a Starbucks gift card from work, so we stopped by the one nearest us. The drive-through wrapped all the way around the building, so we went inside. Inside, there was only one huge table, with only one spot with an electrical outlet, and the music and cafe atmosphere were so loud… I can’t imagine anybody trying to bring a laptop and “work” there.

But if I did, I guess I’d buy a coffee? That seems fair. I definitely prefer my local library for remote working outside of the house, though.

I believe they are referring to the snack that smiles back.

Sorry for your loss. Your Abbey looks an awful lot like Kiki, who I lost years ago now, and who had such a profound impact on my life. I found this poem then, and it helped me a lot in getting through that very difficult time.

Death must be so beautiful. To lie in the soft brown earth, with the grasses waving above one’s head, and listen to silence. To have no yesterday, and no tomorrow. To forget time, to forget life, to be at peace. You can help me. You can open for me the portals of death’s house, for love is always with you, and love is stronger than death is.

- Oscar Wilde, from The Canterville Ghost

The Spanish Fly

Still on Ulfric’s side ideals wise, but the racism pisses me off x_x

Same here! I started a new game a few months ago and am actively ignoring both of the major factions, and it’s been the best playthrough yet.