The Awl

PSA: A Benefit for RightRides, the Get-Home-Safe Program for Ladies & Gays

Choire Sicha — Mon, 20 Sep 2010 15:45:00 +0000

Did you know that there's a program in New York City to offer safe rides home to women, the gays and various gender-non-conforming people? It's true! You can get a safe ride home from midnight to 3 a.m. on Friday and Saturday nights in 45 neighborhoods in New York City. Also, you can now buy tickets for their October benefit to support that volunteer effort.

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Will You Spend $10 Right Now To Feel Good About Yourself?

Choire Sicha — Thu, 26 Aug 2010 16:15:21 +0000

GIVE ME THAT TEN DOLLARS! No, but for real. Today is allegedly youth literacy day and there is literally nothing I like more than literacy. You can send, via text, or even via "mail" I suppose, a donation to 826NYC, which sees 22,000 young people a year. Go on! Try it! "Make a donation of $8.26 on August 26th by texting 'WRITE' to 20222." Or you can PayPal a donation online. DO YOU SEE THAT CHILD CRYING? THAT CHILD IS CRYING BECAUSE SHE IS NOT LITERATE ENOUGH TO READ WEBSITES THAT FANCY LITERARY PEOPLE CAN BE DISMISSIVE ABOUT. HELP HER!

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Six Area Codes In Which At Least One Collection Agency Is Located

Luke Mazur — Thu, 26 Aug 2010 13:25:12 +0000

6. 847 (Illinois, including Cook County)
5. 605 (all of South Dakota)
4. 850 (the Florida panhandle)
3. 414 (Milwaukee County)
2. 301 (western Maryland)
1. 407 (Orlanda, FL metro area)

Luke Mazur would suggest screening numbers with these area codes, but only insofar as that suggestion is not commentary.

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Using Math to Judge the Stupidity (and Deadliness) of Crowds

Choire Sicha — Mon, 23 Aug 2010 15:40:30 +0000

How to stay alive when a crowd turns crushy: "Think of a crowd of people like a wave pool, where choppy waters represent crush conditions. When individuals are facing in similar directions to their neighbors, the crowd moves together-much like a single wave moving through the pool. But if people move in different directions they start pushing against each other, and that's when things get choppy. So by detecting when movements in the crowd start to fall out of sync, the researchers can predict the development of dangerous conditions."

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"Never Underestimate People's Fear of Turbulence."

Choire Sicha — Wed, 21 Jul 2010 13:19:21 +0000

This is one of my weird hobbyhorses, so, sorry, but! Everyone I know is terrified by turbulence, so today's PSA is: "About 60 people, two-thirds of them flight attendants, are injured by turbulence annually in the United States." That's also usually because they just weren't wearing seatbelts. THE MORE YOU KNOW.

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Happy "Be Conscientious With Beverages Around Your Laptop" Day

Choire Sicha — Tue, 20 Jul 2010 09:00:36 +0000

Since time immemorial, human beings have loved to consume beverages-and loved to use computers. So I hereby declare today to be an important annual holiday with regard to laptop and logic board safety. How many laptops have we seen destroyed by a forgotten cup of coffee or a dripping bottle of Vitamin Water? This is especially true for those who foolishly keep iguanas and cats and other pesky critters in their homes. So many. So take time today to move those beverages back! Let's set a two-foot perimeter today. Maybe you can create a special beverage place farther from your typing area? The future-you will thank today-you when you both catch up in the future. Let us know how this goes!

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World Cup o' Books

Choire Sicha — Wed, 30 Jun 2010 16:50:06 +0000

Archipelago Books is having a big old sale on books from countries in the World Cup. Why, you could be reading great books from The Netherlands or Argentina! Instead of watching soccer!

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Man Tells You What Book To Read Next

Choire Sicha — Thu, 27 May 2010 12:20:41 +0000

Today until 4 p.m. Eastern Time, the Biblioracle will tell you what book to read next if you tell him the last five books you have read. Handy! (In other local news, there is a lost corgi puppy in Bushwick, should you happen to find one.)

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PTSD, the Military and Secondary Trauma: An Expert Opinion

Choire Sicha — Fri, 06 Nov 2009 14:13:20 +0000

From our comments, regarding the Fort Hood shooting: "People who make psych diagnoses based on news articles and tv segments are indeed idiots. People who make racist statements are indeed racists. That understood, let's not deny the reality of secondary trauma and PTSD-related violence. Secondary trauma is a genuine phenomenon that occurs with counselors and psychologists who work with other people who have experienced primary trauma.... Counselors on the GI Rights Hotline-877-447-4487-assist people in the military to obtain their rights, including the right to obtain discharge and to have accurate information about the consequences of going AWOL and UA. These counselors often experience secondary trauma related to this work.... It is literally criminal that there is inadequate care for people in the military who have PTSD, that people in the military with PTSD may be harassed and otherwise discouraged from obtaining treatment,and that this condition is often misdiagnosed-sometimes intentionally to avoid giving pensions to people with PTSD."

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PSA: RAINN Benefit in D.C.

Choire Sicha — Wed, 02 Sep 2009 09:32:23 +0000

Are you part of that weird subset of people who hate rape but like politicians? If so, then we heartily encourage you to attend this benefit for RAINN next Wednesday, in our nation's capital. Where else can you hang out with bouncy lil' Terry McAuliffe and bouncy lil' Christina Ricci, while Jerry Nadler looks on hungrily? Hey, if you live in D.C., you'll take what excitement you can get.

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