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There's no easy way to talk about CEO pay. But Tony Stark GIFs are a good start.

They may be paid like Tony Stark. But they're no Tony Stark.

In 2014, CEOs of the top 350 U.S. firms made 303 times more than their average workers.

Chart by Economic Policy Institute.

First of all, are we talking about hundreds of Tony Starks? Are we dealing with f**king Ironmen? Because payouts like that could make sense if they're saving the world like everyone's favorite "genius, billionaire, playboy philanthropist."

In Stark we trust. All GIFs from "Iron Man 2."

But they're not. There are no arc reactors MacGyvered in desert caves to keep their hearts beating. No flying armored suits with rocket-propelled, evil-seeking missiles.

These are just regular human people who happen to make tons of money.

They're the ones steering the companies that source our groceries, genetically modify our foods, pipe in our oil and gas, throttle our Internet service, drape us in sweatshop denim, and invest in ways to keep society more or less the same: unequal. Among other things, of course.

Why do we pay them so much?

It's not all a matter of choice, some might say. It's the market at work. And the ultimate payouts are just the costs of top talent.

That's what they all say. But again, they're not all Tony Stark.

But in the Harvard Business Review, John Mackey, co-founder and co-CEO of Whole Foods, suggests we need to rethink how CEOs are rewarded:

"A bias to focus only on the external market in recent years has helped push executive compensation way out of whack. Because of the yawning gap between the leaders and the led, employee morale is suffering, talented performers' loyalty is evaporating, and strategy and execution is suffering at American companies."

Mackey says Whole Foods uses salary caps to "keep the external and internal equity perspectives in balance." Today, the company's salary cap ratio is 19:1.

Maybe you're thinking, "These CEOs run the nation's largest companies, so maybe they deserve a pass?"

True. They run huge companies with a lot at stake. But the fact that they lead the largest companies is precisely why they matter most on this issue.

"The reason to focus on the CEO pay of the largest firms is that they employ a large number of workers, are the leaders of the business community, and set the standards for pay in the executive pay market." — Economic Policy Institute

These folks are the spearhead of rising income inequality. The Economic Policy Institute found that 41.2% of people who are heads of households in the top 1% are executives or high-level managers.

If their pay packages look like they've been struck by elephantiasis...

"Oh my god, is that elephantiasis?!" No, Tony. That's just an outsized pay package.

...that's going to affect how a lot of other companies pay their leadership.

All of this might be a non-issue if all workers received a fair and living wage, which they should.

But they don't. Until they do, to anyone who argues that top CEOs deserve 303 times their average workers' salaries, Tony and I have only this to say:

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National Geographic Documentary Films
National Geographic Documentary Films
Joy

5 wholesome things to do this weekend: Stream this movie, make your own bucket list, and more

Easy and fun things you can do this weekend that will make your life (and the people around you!) happier

Blink, a new documentary from NatGeo, is now streaming on Disney+ and Hulu.

True

It’s December, and we’re all currently in the thick of it: Wrapping presents, baking cookies, and scouring the toy aisles for that must-have gift of the season. But in the middle of all the holiday chaos, it’s easy to lose sight on what the season is really about: making meaningful memories with our loved ones.

From volunteering to building a bucket list to watching maybe the most uplifting documentary we’ve ever seen, we’ve put together five simple and wholesome activities that will leave you and the entire family a little more connected and a whole lot happier. Ready to make memories that last? Let’s dive in.

Make a difference close to home

littlefreepantry.org

A 2023 analysis from the journal Frontiers in Psychology showed that people who regularly volunteered in their communities had greater self-esteem, more self-reported happiness, and a greater sense of personal fulfillment. (Um, yes, please.) If that sounds like something you want to experience as well, then you're in luck: There's no better time to lend a helping hand than during the holiday season. You could shovel a neighbor's driveway, buy presents for kids in need, or—who knows? You might want to be super ambitious, like setting up a food pantry or volunteering as an "interim parent" like this woman, who cares for babies and young children while their adoptions are being finalized. The sky is the limit.

Watch this feel-good, family flick

Get the tissues ready: This is maybe the most uplifting documentary you’re ever going to see. The film, “Blink,” follows a family with four children, three of whom have a rare genetic disease called retinitis pigmentosa (RP). With RP, the cells of the retina slowly die off, leaving a person with tunnel vision that shrinks until they are nearly—or totally—blind.

The parents, Edith Lemay and Sébastien Pelletier, decide to gift their children with incredible sights and experiences so that they can treasure them forever, even after their sight is gone. The film follows the Pelletier family as they make a bucket list and set out on a year-long journey across 24 countries to make some incredible memories.

For some seriously wholesome holiday goodness, stream "Blink," now on Disney+ and Hulu.

Make your very own bucket list

person writing bucket list on bookPhoto by Glenn Carstens-Peters on Unsplash

To fulfill their dreams, the Pelletier family in the National Geographic documentary "Blink" created a bucket list with every kind of memory they wanted to fulfill, from seeing a sunrise on a mountain to "drink[ing] juice on a camel." (Because, sure. Why not?) Spend some time thinking of your own dreams you'd like to fufill. This is the perfect activity if you're looking for something creative and family-friendly—just gather the kids around for a brainstorming sesh and let the ideas fly. You might not actually complete all of these items (or any of them), but dreaming them up and spending time together is half the fun.

Spread some holiday cheer


Whatever your family’s ages and interests, there are a thousand different ways to spread holiday cheer this season, whether you’re singing Christmas carols door-to-door or just exchanging a warm holiday greeting. If you need inspiration, look no further than John Reichart, 74, who (just like the Pelletier kids) wants to create new memories for his family while he's still able to. Following his wife Joan’s Alzheimer’s diagnosis, Reichart set out to decorate every house in their neighborhood with lights and decorations purchased out of his own pocket. Simply inspirational.

Make someone's life a little easier. 

I need this goober in my life.
byu/kenistod inMadeMeSmile

The holiday season is all about giving and togetherness, but let’s be real, it’s no easy feat. Sometimes we can get stressed, overwhelmed, and exhausted. One surefire way to make this world a better place is to think of ways to make someone’s life just a little easier, like this mom who picks up her teenager’s bedroom every morning after he goes to school. You could even send a note of encouragement to someone who needs it, or bake some treats and leave them out for a hangry delivery driver.

It’s probably easier than you think to spread the love and leave the world a little happier than you found it.

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Education

Teacher reveals the 'really obvious' reason teens no longer read. It's not just the phones.

"Kids who read are just built different."

via Canva/Photos

A teenage boy stars at his smartphone.

Studies show that kids are spending a lot less time reading these days. In 2020, 42% of 9-year-old students said they read for fun almost daily, down from 52% in 2012. Seventeen percent of 13-year-olds read for fun daily, down from 27% in 2012. Among 17-year-olds, 19% say they read for fun, down from 31% in 1984.

It’s safe to say that modern technology is a big reason why kids aren’t reading as much. A recent report found that teenagers spend an average of 8 hours 39 minutes per day on screens, compared to 5-and-a-half hours for pre-teen children. So, it’s no wonder they don’t have any time left to crack open a book. A high school teacher on TikTok who goes by the name StillATeacher recently brought the topic up with her class, and they stopped reading for fun at the end of middle school.

“So even those who are like avid readers of the Percy Jackson series in fourth and fifth grade fall off,” the teacher says. “Honestly, there are many reasons to stop reading recreationally, like increased pressure inside and outside of school, a desire to spend more time socializing, and, of course, the phones.”

But the teacher says there’s an obvious reason “right in front of our faces”: the adults. “Adults have lowered the bar for how much you should read as a teenager so far that the bar cannot be found,” she continued. “There are many educators who have the mindset that you shouldn't teach whole books because kids just won't read them.”

@stillateacher

the literacy crisis is upon us #teachertok #teacher #highschoolteacher #englishteacher #education #literacy #booktok #creatorsearchinsights

“I've taught at schools where teaching novels is actually discouraged,” she continued. “And I have conversations with teachers in other content areas who say that they themselves never read books, that they don't think it's important for students' long-term success. All this said, it is not entirely surprising that high schoolers don't wanna read.”

How does reading benefit kids?

The significant decrease in the number of children who read for fun means that many will miss out on the incredible benefits of regularly curling up for a good book. Studies show that children who read for pleasure enjoy improved cognitive performance, language development, and academic achievement. Reading is also linked to fewer mental health problems, less screen time, and more sleep. Findings suggest that kids get the optimal benefits of reading when they do it for around 12 hours a week.



“You forgot empathy,” one commenter added. “People who read are better at empathizing because they have been able to put themselves in the shoes of others and learn about different perspectives, people, cultures, experiences.”

StillATeacher has seen these incredible benefits first-hand.

“But I'm telling you, the handful of kids I teach who do read are built different. Kids who read have stronger critical thinking skills, more success across all academic areas, and, honestly, just a stronger sense of self. Because reading helps you figure out who you are as a person,” the teacher said.

The decline in young people's reading is a serious problem that must be addressed. So, it’s terrific that the teacher used her platform on TikTok to bring it to the public’s attention. Interestingly enough, she says that TikTok is one of the few platforms encouraging kids to read.

“And honestly, thank goodness for BookTok because I think it is one of the only drivers of adolescent reading that still exists,” she concluded her post. “Isn't that sad? Like, the schools aren't doing it, TikTok's doing it. We gotta start a movement here.”

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Joy

Artist uses trash to make absurdist sculptures that become lifelike animals from one angle

This is absolutely mind-blowing—and perspective-shifting.

Courtesy of Tom Deininger/Instagram

This is the exact same sculpture, just viewed from different angles.

They say one man's trash is another man's treasure, but happens when whole lot of people's trash becomes one man's art? In the case of Tom Deininger's sculptures, you not only get a miraculous viewing experience but also an opportunity to reflect on the natural world and the impact of human overconsumption.

If you look at one of Deininger's sculptures head on, you might see a beautiful cardinal, a lifelike trout, or an unblinking owl staring straight at you. But as you move to one side or another, the illusion quickly disappears, morphing into an increasingly random-looking 3-D conglomeration of toys, action figures, straws, plastic mesh and other discarded human waste that can't possibly be what's forming that realistic animal. Keep walking around it, and you'll eventually come back to your original perspective, but with a whole new appreciation for the stunning creature before you—and the artist who created it.

Check it out:

@theartrevival

Trash Art by Thomas Deininger #thomasdeininger #contemporaryart #textileart

What an artist expresses in their art isn't always what an observer takes away from it—that's part of the fun of art—but sometimes a medium and a message mesh so well that the effect is profound and palpable. Deininger's creations are part beauty and part statement, as the best art tends to be, and the statement in these sculptures is clear: We're throwing away a whole lot of plastic junk that can't break down and it's impacting the natural world.

The Rhode Island-based artist told Yahoo! News that he got the idea for creating sculptures out of trash when he saw plastic waste washing ashore on a trip to the South Pacific. He said the act of making his art helps quell some of the "gut sickness" he feels when he observes the destruction of the environment.

“I don’t think we’re alarmed enough," he said. "Everyone's not alarmed enough, enough of the time, is my fear. We should all be petrified and willing to do whatever it takes,”

- YouTubeyoutu.be

But there's even more behind Deininger's sculptures. After all, he could just make a realistic animal from all angles and call it a day. There's a purpose to making them abstract from all angles but one.

"The goal is to make an interesting, completely abstract sculpture that also contains provocative, subversive, or humorous elements (by manipulation of the various action figures) that from one very particular vantage point resolves into a convincing image of a creature," he told Jejune magazine. "The whole thing is really a meditation on perspective and illusion and the fragility of our world view in any given emotional state. The practice is also about order in chaos."

"Ideally the viewer falls for the 'trick' then as the illusion falls apart and they become disoriented for a few seconds that inspires curiosity, wonder or harmless vulnerability," he added. "This would then give way to a kind of repulsion or soft despair when one considers the implications of the materials… this could then be broken by a little comic relief, social narrative or nostalgia smashing. So in short, a range of emotions. Some good some not so good, but perhaps necessary."

“There is a confidence that we understand our world,” he told the Provincetown Independent, but he wants that confidence to turn to unease as viewers experience the full perspective of the sculpture. “What we thought we knew comes apart.”

People often ask Deininger if his sculptures are for sale. According to Yahoo! News, they are, if you have $12,000 to $50,000 to spend. Honestly, with the amount of time it must take to create one of these pieces and seeing how much other art pieces go for, that doesn't seem outrageous.

Oh, and it's not just animals that Deininger creates out of trash. Check out this masterpiece of another masterpiece:

@tomdeininger

I faithfully analyzed every stroke of paint and found a plastic equivalent. The honor was all mine. #vincentvangogh #tiktokart #abstractart #fyp

Absolutely unbelievable. You can follow Tom Deininger on Facebook, Instagram, and TikTok.

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Culture

'Entitled parent' discovers airline moved their toddler's seat just before flight takes off

Another passenger behaving badly story takes a huge twist.

Photo by Steven Thompson on Unsplash

I took a long Amtrak train trip from Atlanta to Baltimore with my 9-year-old daughter this summer. As far as I could tell, there was no way to reserve specific seats in coach on our particular train ahead of time. But we arrived as early as we could and, to our delight, were treated to a near empty train. We sat together in a two-person row and had a really nice trip up to Baltimore.

On the way back? We boarded at Union Station and the train, having arrived from New York, was already packed. The conductor told me he would try his best to seat us together but couldn't guarantee it. You should have seen the terror in my daughter's eyes. It would be a 14-hour overnight train ride. Sitting her next to some stranger that whole time? Absolutely not. No way.

They eventually found us seats across an aisle from each other, which kind of worked, but wasn't ideal. Luckily, the guy I was supposed to sit next on the other side flew into a rage that he wouldn't have a row to himself and stormed off to sit elsewhere, freeing up the row for us.

But for a few horrible minutes, I had become "that dad" desperately asking anyone in the area if they'd be willing to move so we could sit together.

I had become the dreaded entitled parent from all the viral travel stories.

Stories of "entitled parents" desperately trying to get other passengers to switch seats go viral all the time. But a recent thread on Reddit shows why we don't always get the full story.

Description from Reddit of airplane seating snafuReddit

User u/takeme2themtns recently shared a nightmare travel story in the r/Delta subreddit:

"In typical Delta fashion, they just switched up our seats and placed my toddler in a row away from us," they wrote. "Booked three seats ... in comfort plus months ago. Now, several hours before the flight we get notifications that our seats have changed. They put wife and me in exit row seats and the toddler in a window seat a row away."

With no way to fix the seating snafu digitally, the OP would have to rely on the Gate Attendant or even Flight Attendant to make a last-minute change — which would force someone else on the plane to move.

"I’m confident the GA (gate attendant) will take care of it," they wrote, "but it’s still so frustrating that we have to worry about it. I know we see posts like this all the time, but that’s because it happens all the time to people. Delta needs to fix this trashy system."

Another user in the comments wrote to share a similar story:

"I had this happen to me. The check-in person said to talk to the gate.

The gate said to talk to the flight attendant.

The flight attendant told me to ask people to trade seats.

I asked people. People said no. Other passengers started berating me for not planning ahead and saying my lack of planning isn’t their responsibility.

I defended myself by saying I reserved seats months ago and Delta moved me at the last minute. Then passengers started yelling at each other about my situation.

The FA had someone move and I got to sit with my daughter."

The user noted that the situation was chaotic and traumatizing.

These stories are far from rare.


woman carrying baby while sitting on gray seat Photo by Paul Hanaoka on Unsplash

I found another story just like this from a few months ago on the r/United subreddit. The user's family booked seats together only for the system to separate them right before the flight, leaving an 8-year-old to fly seated alone. The flight crew's only solution was to ask other passengers to switch, causing the OP's family to get lots of dirty looks for the duration of the flight.

Having a young child or toddler seated away from you while traveling is just a complete No-Go, for many reasons. But as a dad, leaving a kid of nearly any age to sit alone — even if they're 8 or 10 or 14 — is not acceptable.

It's not just about convenience, it's a huge safety issue. There are plenty of horrifying news stories that support why a parent would do absolutely anything to avoid it.

When we hear these stories, they're almost always framed as the parents being unprepared, lazy, and entitled. But maybe we're missing the point.

boy sitting on plane seat while viewing window Photo by Hanson Lu on Unsplash

A story from January of this year praises a passenger who refused to switch seats with an "entitled dad" as a "hero."

People are fed up with parents asking them to switch out of airline or train seats that they paid good money for. And I don't blame them!

But we need to stop beating each other up and start holding the airlines and other travel companies accountability for putting parents and non-parents into this mess in the first place.

There needs to be a better system for families booking plane and train tickets. When you buy tickets, you have to enter in the ages of the children you're traveling with — so it stands to reason that these mix-ups flat out shouldn't happen!

Families shouldn't have to panic at the gate or on board about this! Other paying passengers shouldn't have to give up their seats!

The good news is that the Department of Transportation has recently gotten involved with a dashboard of which airlines guarantee family seating at no additional cost.

The DOT is looking to even make it illegal to for airlines to charge parents and children fees to sit together. Parents and children under 13 would be required to be seated side by side or immediately adjacent, and if not, they'd get a full refund or free rebooking — it's known as the Families Fly Together Act.

Traveling in 2024 is stressful enough, from seat changes to unruly passengers to high numbers of cancelled flights.

Seating kids and parents together seems like one small problem we should be able to solve.


This article originally appeared in September.

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Pop Culture

J.R.R. Tolkien wrote epic letters to his kids from 'Father Christmas' for 24 years.

So many parallels to Lord of the Rings here.

Credit: Letters of Note

He was a natural born storyteller.

When it comes to meticulous world-building, nobody does it quite like J.R.R. Tolkien. But not many know that before Tolkien had brought the elves, orcs and hobbits of Middle Earth to life, he delighted his four children with epic tales of “Father Christmas” the North Pole, and they were every bit as sprawling and in-depth as his famous works.

According to Letters of Note, in December of 1920, shortly after he returned home from WWI, Tolkien secretly hand wrote a letter—as Father Christmas, of course—to his 3-year-old son, John, and placed it in his bedroom along with an illustration of Father Christmas’ home in the North Pole. It would become a recurring tradition in the Tolkien household for the next 23 years.

Each year the letters—usually written in Father Christmas’s spidery handwriting—would grow more complex as they recounted the adventures of Father Christmas and his temperamental sidekick North Polar Bear, whose rascally antics were regularly the cause of mayhem. And always, there would be a vivid illustration as well as a North Pole stamp and postage marks, designed by Tolkien.

www.theparisreview.org

In the letter below, written in 1925, we find out that North Polar Bear accidentally broke the North Pole while climbing on top of it to retrieve Father Christmas’s runaway hood. Poor fella crashed through the roof of Father Christmas’s home, broke his leg and spoiled that year’s gift haul with the snow that crashed down with him.

Thanks to the folks at Letters of Note, we have an easily readable transcription:

Cliff House

Top of the World

Near the North Pole

Xmas 1925

My dear boys,

I am dreadfully busy this year — it makes my hand more shaky than ever when I think of it — and not very rich. In fact, awful things have been happening, and some of the presents have got spoilt and I haven’t got the North Polar Bear to help me and I have had to move house just before Christmas, so you can imagine what a state everything is in, and you will see why I have a new address, and why I can only write one letter between you both. It all happened like this: one very windy day last November my hood blew off and went and stuck on the top of the North Pole. I told him not to, but the N.P.Bear climbed up to the thin top to get it down — and he did. The pole broke in the middle and fell on the roof of my house, and the N.P.Bear fell through the hole it made into the dining room with my hood over his nose, and all the snow fell off the roof into the house and melted and put out all the fires and ran down into the cellars where I was collecting this year’s presents, and the N.P.Bear’s leg got broken. He is well again now, but I was so cross with him that he says he won’t try to help me again. I expect his temper is hurt, and will be mended by next Christmas. I send you a picture of the accident, and of my new house on the cliffs above the N.P. (with beautiful cellars in the cliffs). If John can’t read my old shaky writing (1925 years old) he must get his father to. When is Michael going to learn to read, and write his own letters to me? Lots of love to you both and Christopher, whose name is rather like mine.

That’s all. Goodbye.

Father Christmas

So many parallels to Middle Earth are interwoven throughout these stories that there’s been much debate as to whether or not the Father Christmas letters were an influence to Lord of the Rings, or merely showcased concepts Tolkien was already contemplating for the series. There’s invented languages, nods to real-world folklore and historical events, and even elf clans and goblin battles. May have argued that Father Christmas himself was a precursor to Gandalf.

Tolkien would continue writing his Father Christmas letters until 1943, when the gift-giving hero dubbed Tolkien’s children “too old” to hang their stocking anymore. And these stories remained a secret to all but the Tolkien family until 1973, when they were published posthumously.

Tolkien might have been the father of modern fantasy, but as we can see from these enchanting letters, he was also just a dad trying to make Christmas magical for his family. It just so happened that he was very well equipped to do so.

You can also listen to a reading of the Tolkien’s 1925 Father Christmas letter below:

- YouTubewww.youtube.com

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Joy

Let's watch one of the funniest Christmas fails ever, the artichoke fiasco on Canadian News

“I thought it smelled like a barn."

via Global News/YouTube

Newscasters can't stop laughing after trying Leslie Horton's awful artichoke dip.

Eight years ago, Calgary traffic reporter Leslie Horton unleashed one of the most disgusting concoctions ever tasted on live television, and people still can’t get enough of the hilarious video. The team at Global News Calgary was sharing holiday recipes and Horton wanted to bring a fruitcake from a local supermarket, but her sister had a killer artichoke dip that she begged the reporter to make.

What could go wrong with a reliable artichoke dip recipe? A lot, evidently. “It didn’t work out. I’m telling you right now, this did not work out,” Horton admitted while presenting the dip to meteorologist Jordan Witzel and anchors Scott Fee and Amber Schinkel. “I thought it smelled like a barn,” Fee said. “Is it edible?” The crazy thing is that although they were warned about the dip, Schinkel and Witzel still had a taste.

Witzel was brave enough to eat it on a cracker and immediately regretted it. "It's not that bad. It's — the vinegar," he said before spitting it up in a napkin. Schinkel thought the same thing: “That’s like all that I can taste is vinegar,” she laughed. “It burns.” But the funny thing is that Horton swore there wasn’t any vinegar in the recipe. So, where did the strange taste come from?

Horton was utterly puzzled that the artichoke dip didn't taste right. "Do you think something is off? Like, maybe do you think the artichokes are off? Well, ok, I didn't have a lemon, so I just cut up an orange and put that in there. And then, I didn't know what spices to put in, so I put celery salt and oregano in it," she said while holding back her laughter.

- YouTubeyoutu.be

Later, Horton admitted why the artichoke dip had such a strong vinegar taste. She used marinated artichokes instead of fresh artichokes. Marinated artichokes are usually made with olive oil, lemon juice, garlic, herbs like oregano and thyme, salt, pepper, and sometimes a splash of vinegar; hence the strong taste.



“It was just another kitchen experiment gone wrong for me, but this time my co-workers were unfortunately subject to my free-wheeling in the kitchen,” Horton later wrote on Twitter. She also noted that she brought the dip to a work potluck, but nobody touched it.



After the video was posted on YouTube, it quickly went viral. Since being posted in 2016, it has 22 million views. Horton said it was “an honest moment of good fun, caught on live TV,” she told Global News. “My co-workers’ reactions were priceless. We all have fails, and viewers like to know their morning team is just like them.”

Here’s the correct artichoke dip recipe that Horton swears is delicious.

2 cans artichokes drained and chopped

1 can chopped green chilies drained

2 teaspoons fresh lemon juice

½ freshly grated Asiago or Parmesan cheese

½ to ¾ cup Mayo

Combine all ingredients and cook in oven until hot and bubbly. Serve with crackers and veggies.

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