Administrators at the Success Academy—a network of high-performing charter schools in the New York area—are standing behind what they call a model teacher, who was caught on camera ripping up homework and berating a first grade student for answering a math problem incorrectly.
The video of Charlotte Dial’s first grade class, first published by the New York Times, was surreptitiously filmed by an assistant teacher who tells the paper she was “concerned by what she described as Ms. Dial’s daily harsh treatment of the children.”
In the video, Dial—a “model teacher” who trains other teachers at the school—berates a student who answered a homework question incorrectly.
“Go to the calm-down chair and sit!” Dial says sharply to a calm first grader, ripping up the child’s paper. “There’s nothing that infuriates me more than when you don’t do what’s on your paper. Somebody come up and show me how she should have counted to get her answer that was one and a split. Show my friends and teach them. Thank you. Do not go back to your seat and show me one thing and then don’t do it here. You’re confusing everybody. I’m very upset and very disappointed.”
But despite the school’s guidelines, which include mandates to refrain from yelling at students, using sarcastic tones, or giving “consequences intended to shame children,” Dial is back in the classroom after a brief, week-long suspension.
The founder of the Success Academy network, Eva Moskowitz, tells the Times the video was an anomaly—though anecdotal evidence gathered by the paper suggests it is not.
Jessica Reid Sliwerski, 34, worked at Success Academy Harlem 1 and Success Academy Harlem 2 from 2008 to 2011, first as a teacher and then as an assistant principal. She said that, starting in third grade, when children begin taking the state exams, embarrassing or belittling children for work seen as slipshod was a regular occurrence, and in some cases encouraged by network leaders.
“It’s this culture of, ‘If you’ve made them cry, you’ve succeeded in getting your point across,’” she said.
One day, she said, she found herself taking a toy away from a boy who was playing with it in class, and then smashing it underfoot. Shortly after, she resigned.
“I felt sick about the teacher I had become, and I no longer wanted to be part of an organization where adults could so easily demean children under the guise of ‘achievement,’” said Ms. Sliwerski, who subsequently worked as an instructional coach in Department of Education schools.
Another former Success teacher, Carly Ginsberg, tells the Times teachers often ripped up students’ papers in the presence of school administrators.
She once witnessed a girl’s humiliation as the principal mocked her low test score to another adult in front of the child.
In one instance, the lead kindergarten teacher in her classroom made a girl who had stumbled reciting a math problem cry so hard that she vomited.
She tells the paper, “It felt like I was witnessing child abuse.”
Moskowitz, for her part, does not appear to view the video as a big deal and says Dial, who ultimately received a reprimand and some sort of emotional training, is still a model teacher: “This video proves utterly nothing but that a teacher in one of our 700 classrooms, on a day more than a year ago, got frustrated and spoke harshly to her students.”
As for the crying, well that’s just what kids do, even when their teachers aren’t berating them over a missed answer, Moskowitz says:
Ms. Moskowitz said that no one at Success purposefully reduced children to tears, but that “children cry a lot” and a child crying did not necessarily mean that a teacher had done something wrong.
“Olympic athletes, when they don’t do well, they sometimes cry,” Moskowitz rationalized in a speech last month. “It’s not the end of the world.”
Garland (Ark.) County Circuit Judge Wade Naramore was charged with misdemeanor negligent homicide yesterday, more than six months after leaving his 17-month-old son Thomas in the car on a hot afternoon in July.
Per authorities, Naramore, 36, surrendered to police in Hot Springs, Ark. on Thursday after a warrant was issued for his arrest. According to an affidavit Naramore gave on Nov. 23, as reported by Arkansas Online, he forgot to drop his son off at daycare on the day of July 24 and only realized he had left him in the car when he went to pick him up some five hours later:
Naramore told police that he and his son “said their morning prayers” while he was traveling to work about 8:15 a.m. July 24. During the drive, Naramore said he also stopped for breakfast at a McDonald’s, adding that it was unusual for him and that he usually prepared breakfast at home.
After leaving work early that day, Naramore said, he ran some errands and went home. That afternoon, he left his residence to pick his son up from day care.
“As he turned a corner, he heard a noise in the rear of his car which caused him to turn around,” the affidavit states. “As he turned around, he noticed Thomas was in his car seat and had not been dropped off at day care.”
At that point, Naramore said, he “immediately stopped the car, got Thomas out of his car seat and called for help,” according to police. He told authorities that his son had been in the car for about five hours.
The explanation given by Naramore, who said he was worried that day about a big court case, is similar to those described in a 2009 Washington Post story about parents whose children had died after being left in cars. In his 911 call, Naramore can be heard crying and wailing “no” as he waits for paramedics to be dispatched. Audio of that is below, if you can stomach it:
Contact the author at jordan@gawker.com / image via Garland County Sherrif
Creating enough affordable housing is one of the hardest political and economic challenges in the world. (If you think you know an easy answer, you’re wrong!) Here is a new piece of data that could “add to our understanding,” and make everyone mad.
The Washington Posttoday picks up a nonpartisan California government study that looks specifically at what happens to low income people when you build more housing for high income people in their neighborhood. It is natural to imagine after a moment’s thought that this sort of gentrification—which can be seen all over Brooklyn, for example, where new luxury condos sprout on blocks that were considered poor just a few years ago—would hurt the neighborhood’s low income residents. In fact, the report finds, the opposite is true.
In places facing affordable housing crises—like NYC, and like parts of California, which the report focuses on—one unavoidable fact is that there is simply not enough housing. Housing that was once affordable becomes unaffordable due to the lack of new supply to keep up with increasing demand. For this reason, the study found that one very simple way to help ease the affordable housing crisis is to allow more private construction—even if that construction is not of affordable housing. In other words, even those shitty new condos for wealthy assholes could be unintentionally helping less wealthy people continue to live in their gentrifying neighborhoods.
For one, the report notes, the new luxury housing of today turns into the middle class housing of the future, as the rich chase ever newer housing stock. By building continuously we ensure a future supply. “One study of housing costs in the U.S. found that rental housing generally depreciated by about 2.5 percent per year between 1985 and 2011,” the report notes, “but that this rate was considerably lower (1.8 percent per year) in regions with relatively limited housing supply.”
Furthermore, adding new units (even if they’re not affordable) tends to cause rent to grow more slowly. Check out this chart!!!!!!!
The study also found that—perhaps because of this effect of keeping rents in check—low-income areas with the most market-rate construction actually had lower displacement of citizens than low-income areas with less new construction. Which is to say that poorer people are actually less likely to be forced to move out of neighborhoods where developers are building lots of new buildings for gentrifiers than neighborhoods that are just plain poor, with little new building at all. And none of this is related to policies that require new buildings to set aside a certain (small) percentage of units for affordable housing: “market–rate housing construction appears to be associated with less displacement regardless of a community’s inclusionary housing policies.”
Of course, all of this must be understood in the context of a place like the Bay Area where housing supply period is too low to meet demand. This does not mean that building luxury housing is the optimal solution to our affordable housing issue, or that we start handing out good citizenship awards to developers. But it does seem (according to this study at least) that rage at new construction in gentrifying neighborhoods is misplaced in the context of this particular problem.
It’s better to rage at the people moving into new places in gentrifying neighborhoods. Ugh, hipsters!!!! Mayonnaise stores!
[None of this should be read as a pardon for liberal guilt, which is an essential force for good in our democracy. Full study here. Photo: Mark Hogan/ Flickr]
CNN media reporter Dylan Byers, who contributed to the hotel room story and had a subsequent spat with Scarborough on Twitter, writes today that multiple staffers and journalists at NBC noted the “widespread discomfort” among the ranks over the relationship. Scarborough, who hosts MSNBC’s Morning Joe alongside Mika Brzezinski, has called Trump a “masterful politician.” But he has also personally given the candidate political advice, according to comments Scarborough made at an event last year, which Byers dug up for the story. “The higher-ups are definitely aware about what’s going on. It’s an issue,” one MSNBC staffer told CNN.
In the earlier story, CNN reported that Scarborough and Brzezinski had visited Trump in his hotel room on the night of the New Hampshire primary. The implication was that this was a little too chummy to be appropriate for a pair of political commentators and a presidential candidate they cover. But NBC shot back with a surly statement about how the co-hosts were doing “what anchors are supposed to do”—that is, interviewing the candidate.
Still, Scarborough is evidently aware that the relationship may at least have the appearance of impropriety. Trump previously thanked Scarborough and Brzezinski for being “supporters” of his campaign during a televised phone call, and Scarborough promptly backed way up from it. From CNN:
After Trump hung up, Scarborough sought to clarify the matter further: “Donald said support. It’s not support ... and I would dare say that I am the only person who has hung up on Donald Trump on live television. And the thing is we’ve been very critical of his approach toward Muslims, we said he went too far on John McCain, we said he went too far on you name it,” he said.
But if his tweets from yesterday are any indication, he’s not that concerned about it:
Back in December, Representative Duncan Hunter (R-Calif.) made headlines when he proudly declared to the masses, “Yes, I vape.” Then again, just yesterday, Hunter was back showing off sick clouds right in the middle of a congressional hearing. So is the man just wildly passionate about vaping? Maybe, sure. But it probably doesn’t hurt that, since 2010, Duncan Hunter has received $31,500 in donations from big tobacco’s e-cig manufacturers.
In 2010, 2014, and 2016, Altria (which produces MarkTen e-cigs) gave Hunter $2,000, $6,000, and $5,000, respectively. Lorillard, which owns the wildly popular Blu e-cigs, has given the least to Hunter, donating only $5,000 to his campaign committee in 2014. But Reynolds, which boasts an entire vape-based subsidiary, was the biggest spender with contributions of $6,000, $7,500, and $10,000 in 2012, 2014, and 2016, respectively.
In fact, Reynolds American was the second highest contributor to Hunter overall this past year, just barely being beat by Edison Chouest Offshore, a marine transport company.
We reached out to Hunter to ask how much influence the money from Big Vape might have had on his his highly public vaping habits over the years. His chief of staff, Joe Kasper, sent us the following response:
None. Before anyone decided to support him, he vaped and was passionate about the issue. And people can choose to support him or not, their call.
Kind of a ridiculous question. To help you? He’s also led tobacco amendments via the NDAA.
Either way kids, just remember: It doesn’t pay to vape. Except, you know, when it literally does.
“Yogurting” is the new advertising term being adopted by a brand of smoothies, meant to indicate that “You don’t even need a spoon” to consume the thin, milky gruel. I guess anything can call itself yogurt these days. Good yogurt requires a spoon.
Remember when Donald Trump kept insisting that he was only bringing up Ted Cruz’s citizen status because he was worried the Democrats might sue?
They even spent a whole seven minutes on the topic during one of last month’s GOP debates
When the moderators asked Trump why he was raising the issue now, Trump responded with “Because now he’s doing a little bit better. I didn’t care before—it’s true.... The fact is, there’s a big question mark on your head, and you can’t do that to the party.”
And then he says, “I’m not bringing a suit. I promise. But the Democrats are going to bring a lawsuit.”
But that was weeks ago. And shockingly enough, Trump seems to be flirting with the idea of—yes—suing Ted Cruz.
Gia Arnold, who ran for a New York State Senate seat with Tea Party support in 2014, was arrested on weapons charges in Niagara Falls last night. In her car were an assault rifle, a handgun, a combat knife, and a ski mask. To be fair to Arnold, it was pretty cold out—the mask could have just been for warmth.
The Rally.org page has raised about $1,700 in support of Arnold at the time of this writing. “This rifle was never considered illegal before the (UN)Safe Act was passed into law, and many citizens consider this law null and void since it infringes on our 2nd Amendment rights,” it reads in part. Arnold, a Republican, campaigned on a pledge to repeal New York’s assault weapons ban, known as the SAFE Act.
The fundraiser also claims that the pair were victims of racial profiling. (Johnson is black.)
Arnold’s story was a strange one even before the arrest. As a 24-year-old in 2014, she ran as a primary challenger to longtime state senator George D. Maziarz, who suspended his campaign soon after announcing he would seek re-election. Then, Arnold suspended her own campaign after admitting that she’d begun an extramarital affair earlier that month, only to re-enter the race a week later. “When I made my announcement last week, I never fathomed the hundreds of texts, calls and emails that I received, almost all of which called for me to stay in this race and fight for truth, honesty and what is right for our Senate district,” Arnold told the Buffalo News at the time. She ended up losing to then-North Tonawanda Mayor Robert G. Ortt, who now holds the seat.
I was going through President Dwight Eisenhower’s daily schedule (as one does) and just noticed what might be the weirdest entry I’ve ever seen. On December 10, 1954 Eisenhower was on his way from the White House to Camp David, and he picked up two hitchhikers.
Granted these weren’t your average hitchhikers. They were Marines heading from Camp Lejeune in North Carolina to their respective homes in Ohio and Michigan. But it’s still a strange thing to imagine.
The dude just pulled over and was like, “you guys want a lift?” Oh, Ike. We can’t help but love your chill ways. (Provided we ignore the racist stuff.)
I looked into it, and apparently the December 11, 1954 edition of the Chicago Tribune even ran a story about it. They explained that the servicemen didn’t ride in the president’s vehicle but was one car behind him. The caravan took the two about 40 miles to Frederick, Maryland before they parted ways.
I know it’s not the most profound news ever. Hell, it’s not even news, given that it happened over 60 years ago. But I can’t seem to find mention of it in any Eisenhower biographies. I also have a hard time imagining any modern president stopping to pick up hitchhikers (soldiers or otherwise) on his way to vacation.
Having seen firsthand the high speed that modern presidential motorcades travel at, it seems that these days any president would be more likely to run some poor sap over. And that definitely doesn’t play well in Des Moines.
Teachers or teacher assistants of any age: if you worked at a Success Academy school and have a story of any relevance to the institutional problem of inappropriate teaching methods or behavior, contact me at biddle@gawker.com. We understand you might not feel comfortable using your real name, or having specific details of your time at Success Academy published—and that’s totally fine. We can make sure you remain anonymous even if you share something with us that could shed more light on teacher-student aggression.
Contact the author at biddle@gawker.com. Public PGP key PGP fingerprint: PGP fingerprint: E93A 40D1 FA38 4B2B 1477 C855 3DEA F030 F340 E2C7
Staten Island Borough President James Oddo put a burn for the ages on the real estate developers Savo Brothers this week. By Oddo’s choosing, three streets in a new Savo development will be named after rough synonyms for greed, avarice, and deceit.
As borough president, Oddo has the power to decide on names of streets, and presumably chose Cupidity Drive, Fourberie Lane, and Avidity Place in response to Savo’s decision to tear down Mount Manresa, a century-old Jesuit retreat on the Island. Savo Brothers, which purchased the site from the Jesuits, demolished the retreat amidst much public protest. It will be replaced by a condo development.
Savo Brothers took Oddo to court over the street names, calling them “derogatory” and “an abuse of the respondent’s discretion.” Thursday, a judge ruled in Oddo’s favor, writing “it is within Borough President James Oddo’s discretion to decide if the street names of the residents of the Borough of Staten Island should reflect greed, a Lazy Bird or a fallen hero.”
Below, watch Oddo tell a Colbert-style Norwegian comedian to get the fuck out of his office back in 2007, when he was a City Council member. It doesn’t particularly pertain to yesterday’s reading, but it’s a fun video for a Friday afternoon. Staten Island stand up!
Like so many trash fires fueled by a mix of paper-thin arguments and Bengay, the race for the Democratic nomination for president is heating up. Online discussions between so-called Bernie Bros and Hillary Bots have thus far been characterized by condescension, profanity, and just generally being insufferable. But perhaps Valentine’s Day could turn the tides...toward love.
That is, at least, our hope—our dream. Bernie Bros: Now’s your chance to woo the Hillary supporter of your dreams. Just print out and deliver these handy valentines to any of the many women you think might be confused (or, let’s not beat around the bush, ignorant) enough to vote for Hil. She’ll get the message!
And if she doesn’t, just wait until Bernie’s president. Then she’ll see. They’ll all see.
At a branded event for Wonderful Halos last week, HollywoodLife.com asked Kristin Cavallari about her Valentine’s Day plans with her husband, Jay Cutler. Here’s what Kristin told the site, exclusively: “To be honest we haven’t even talked about it.”
Dyson’s DC65 was your favorite vacuum cleaner in our Kinja Co-Op voting, and Amazon will sell you a refurb today for $230, or about $200 less than buying it new.
Sure, it comes with a hefty price tag, but it certainly does not disappoint in any aspect. I vacuumed my apartment with one of the newer Shark Navigator models, and then immediately revacuumed it with this Dyson, and it was amazing what additional dirt/dust/pet hair/stuff it picked up. The “complete” model comes with an tool that makes vacuuming pet hair, and anything really, off of furniture super easy. That tool alone attached to the hose is more powerful than any other full-sized vacuum I’ve ever used. It was undoubtedly money well spent. - stcmd
I’m a frugal person who would normally think that spending $500 on a vaccuum is total insanity... but then I got a Dyson “Animal.” At the time I bought it, we had two dogs, two cats, and wall-to-wall carpeting. The improvement over every other vaccuum we had ever purchased was astounding. That was 8 or 9 years ago, and it still works great... - GG
This refurbished Vizio Sound Stand pumps out up to 101 dB of crisp stereo sound, and includes a built-in subwoofer for extra bass. Plus, you won’t even need to find a place to put it, because your TV sits right on top. This might not be ideal for for your main home theater setup (personally, we’d recommend this 5.1 channel Vizio system), but it’s a perfect little integrated system for your other TVs around the house. I might just get one for my bedroom.
Since this deal is refurbished, there aren’t many reviews on the product page, but you can find them here on the product’s main listing. As with all Gold Box deals, this price is only available today, or until sold out, so don’t waste any time. [Refurb VIZIO S2121w-D0 2.1 Channel Sound Stand with Integrated Subwoofer, $78]
If you’re going to get a mechanical keyboard, you might as well go all in and get the clickiest one you can. This $50 Cougar model includes Cherry MX Blue switches, which are ideal for typists who love a crisp, unmistakeable click, and $50 is about as cheap as you’ll ever see a keyboard like this. [Cougar Attack2-3B Cherry Blue Gaming Keyboard, $50]
If you’re still using ugly CFL bulbs, or heaven forbid, energy-hogging incandescents, it’s time to transition to LED. Philips’ unique SlimStyle 60W equivalents are only $3 each today on Amazon, which is the best price we’ve ever seen. At that price, they’ll pay for themselves in the short term with energy savings, and in the long term with a lifespan that could stretch over multiple decades. Plus, many utility companies will pay you a buck or two for each bulb, if you submit a receipt.
The big caveat here is that these are add-on items, so they’ll only ship as part of a $25 order. Of course, you could just buy nine or more bulbs to hit the threshold, and transition your entire house. [Philips SlimStyle 60W Equivalent Soft White Dimmable LED Bulb, $3]
Update 2: Prices have increased on the 3 and 6 month memberships.
Update: It seems that if you have an existing YouTube Red subscription (but not a Play Music Subscription), this won’t work unless you first cancel your Red subscription. Yeah, we’re confused too.
Need a last minute Valentine’s Day gift, either to your significant other or yourself? Google is currently taking 50% off gift subscriptions to Google Play Music. Even if you already have an account, we’ve confirmed that this is stackable, meaning it’ll just add extra time onto your existing membership. [50% off Google Play Music]
Note:While we can’t find any official wording on this from Google (Update: Evidence!), it seems that Google Play Music subscriptions come bundled with commercial free YouTube Red access as well. It worked for us, but if you find anything from Google that confirms it, let us know in the comments.
We’re Uniqlo fanboys around here, with their undershirts winning our reader vote and their Heattech getting the Indefinitely Wild nod, to name a few accolades.
Today you can grab two men’s casual or dress shirts for $49.90 a pair. The same promotion applies to women’s shirts. If you really want to stock up, promo code CR25OFF takes $25 off a cart of $200+, plus free shipping on $100+.
There’s also a $10 off promotion when you grab two select pairs of pants, and of course the sale section that the $25 off $200 code and free shipping threshold apply to.
Let us know what you’re adding to your wardrobe in the comments.
A good air mattress is something everyone should own, and this Queen sized model from Intex can be yours for just $40 right now. [Intex Queen Raised Airbed With Built-In Pump, $40]
Many of Logitech’s newer Harmony remotes have done away with the built-in screen in favor of outsourcing those functions to your smartphone. If that doesn’t appeal to you though, this Harmony Touch can do everything right on board, and control up to 15 of your favorite devices. [Logitech Harmony Touch 15 Device Universal Remote, $100]
If you ever pay for iOS apps, movies, music, or iCloud storage with your credit card, you’re throwing money down the drain. Instead, stock up on iTunes gift cards at a 20% discount. [$50 iTunes Gift Card, $40]
Alright, this is clever. $7 is a fine price for any dual port car charger, but this one features a stainless steel tip that you can use to break a window to escape an overturned or sinking vehicle. Hopefully, you never need to use that feature, but it never hurts to be prepared. [OXA Safety Hammer Smart Car Charger, $7 with code K5CK3IM7]
If you want to build a multi-monitor setup on the cheap, you’ve got two great deals to choose from today. The $80 Lenovo display boasts the color accuracy and viewing angles of IPS, while the smaller Acer is marked down to a Craigslist-like price today.
Ninja’s new high-end coffee maker has racked up a solid review average in just three months, and it just got its very first discount.
The headlining feature here is Ninja’s Auto-iQ system, which automatically adjusts the water level based on the brew size and type you select, but the kit also comes with a double-walled thermal carafe, and even a milk frother and tumbler. $20 isn’t a huge discount, but it’s the first price drop we’ve seen from its original $200 MSRP. [Ninja Coffee Bar Brewer, Thermal Carafe, $180]
The price might vary by a few dollars based on the color you choose, but all of them include a $10 coupon that will be applied at checkout. You can also save a few extra bucks by ordering through Subscribe & Save. Shipping will take longer if you go this route, and you’ll want to cancel the subscription after your first one arrives, but the option is available if you want to squeeze every penny. [Waterpik WP-672 Aquarius Professional Water Flosser, $63 after $10 coupon]
On paper, it’s every bit the equal of the SB6141; it has the same number of upstream and downstream channels, and the same maximum speeds. Just check with your ISP to make sure it’s compatible before you purchase; most maintain lists on their websites. [NETGEAR High Speed DOCSIS 3.0 Cable Modem, $50]
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Jim Gilmore (otherwise known as the only veteran still in the running for president or, more often, “who?”) is no longer running for the GOP candidacy. This information probably does not affect you. And frankly, this information probably only marginally affects Jim Gilmore. Because as his online activity reveals, Jim Gilmore’s campaign was very, very sad.
But even the saddest of souls deserves a proper going away, so let’s take a moment to remember the campaign that was Jim Gilmore’s to the best of our abilities. At least 12 people will miss it dearly.
Meet Jim Gilmore. Jim Gilmore was nothing if not confident in Jim Gilmore.
It could be the script for the latest installment of National Lampoon’s Vacation: a kooky Henry Kissinger sips a frosty Mai Tai, a floppy bucket hat drooping low over his brow, scrolling through the google hits for the search term “am i a war criminal.” In walk the Clintons, dragging a pair of beaten-up suitcases. “Oh Henry, old pal! We’ve made it!”
The Clintons and Kissingers appear to spend a chunk of their quality time together at that de la Renta estate in the Punta Cana resort. Last year, the Associated Press noted that this is where the Clintons take their annual Christmas holiday. And other press reports in the United States and the Dominican Republic have pointed out that the Kissingers are often part of the gang the de la Rentas have hosted each year.
The only rules for Punta Cana? According to the late Oscar de la Renta, reported in 2012 by the Wall Street Journal, there’s to be “no conversation of any substance and nothing nice about anyone.”
What would a Dominican Republic vacation be without the old semi-retired curmudgeon who once waged an illegal genocide on one of the world’s least developed countries?
As the piece notes, Hillary Clinton and Kissinger tend to “pal around” at other gatherings, and their friendship has been documented by several other publications. Interestingly, the entire relationship came under scrutiny after Clinton herself brought it up at the last Democratic presidential debate, as The Intercept’s Glen Greenwald pointed out.
“But as his career winds down, we’re left to grapple with the reality that there is credible evidence that Peyton and the Manning family knowingly, willingly, wantonly ruined the good name and career of Dr. Jamie Naughright, a respected scholar, speaker, professor, and trainer of some of the best athletes in the world,” writes activist and writer Shaun King, in a damning (if one-sided) take-down of Superbowl-winning quarterback Peyton Manning in the New York Daily News.
Ah, jokes. They are tricky to master, no? Sometimes they land, sometimes they fall flat. Sometimes you make a horrendous joke using a slur about a person born to a noncitizen mother in a country with birthright citizenship, and the audience just doesn’t get it!
Republican presidential candidate and clump of mashed-up candy corn Donald Trump made one of these jokes on Saturday, after announcing that he had settled a $500 million lawsuit over Univision dropping the Miss Universe pageant in the wake of another “joke” Trump made about Mexicans being rapists.
While the terms of the settlement were not disclosed, Trump did take to Twitter to spew forth his hope to be interviewed by a “star anchor” from Univision, likely referencing Jorge Ramos, with whom Trump has sparred in the past. In doing so, Trump inserted what seems to be a sly reference to anchor-babies.
Ramos, who was born in Mexico City, has not commented on the tweet, but did retweet a story about Trump’s settlement. It’s worth pointing out, however, that Ramos does not even fit the description for the term “anchor baby” when it comes to the U.S., because he was born outside the country. Trump, however, whose mother was born in Scotland and held British citizenship, fits the descriptor “anchor baby” much better than Ramos does.
The tech world loves their Easter eggs, from Adventure’s original hidden feature to Tesla’s various car tricks. But don’t fall for the recent claims for one hidden in your iPhone: if you attempt it, you’ll brick your device.
A prank originating from 4chan claims that if you set your iPhone’s (5s models and up) date back to 1970, it’ll display a retro Apple logo:
What actually happens if you decide to set your iPhone back to January 1st, 1970? It’ll brick your device, and there’s no fix for it: even Apple’s own Geniuses can’t figure out how to fix it, and you’ll have to get the phone completely replaced.
Update: according to Ars Technica, this happens because January 1st, 1970 is the first day of the Unix epoch, and that allowing the phone’s battery to go completely dead (or disconnecting the battery) will reset the date.
YouTube user Zach Straley provides a good demonstration of what actually happens when you sent your phone back in time:
Fortunately, this isn’t a thing you can do accidentally: there’s quite a bit of effort on your part to actually set the date back almost five decades, but it’s one of those things where curiosity just shouldn’t take over.