saera

ambamplease:

I know this is long, but please read and reblog this so that we can try and circulate HELPFUL information instead of deadly suggestions.

After stumbling across the last post I reblogged that was full of a lot of DANGEROUS, BAD, TERRIBLE advice in reference to how to handle calling 911 when in danger, I feel compelled to at least try and get some better information out there in the Tumblr community. I am a 911 dispatcher and the first piece of advice I have for anyone in an emergency situation (or even for someone that calls 911 accidentally) is:

DO NOT HANG UP. In case you didn’t get that the first time, I said DO NOT HANG UP THE PHONE. We cannot help you if we do not know where you are, and contrary to what is apparently popular belief, we are NOT mind readers & without knowing your location (which you must provide) we CAN NOT get you help.

To help you understand the importance of this, I’m going to explain to you what happens when you call 911 in my center and in the centers in my area.

911 line rings.

We answer: “_______ (name of your agency) 911, WHERE is your emergency?”

In a perfect world, the caller will respond with the address of their emergency.

If you are unable to do so, we will start to retransmit your location. It takes time. Again, in a perfect world, we can usually get it in less than 10 seconds, but we do not live in a perfect world and so it often doesn’t happen that quickly. (Also, if you’re in an apartment complex, trailer park, hotel, etc, it’s not going to give us the room, lot, etc. number that you’re actually in, even with a retransmit). It is true that if you call from a landline your address will often populate for us, however, the address is NOT always right! We need you to try your ABSOLUTE BEST to provide us with an accurate address. By not knowing your location, you’re prolonging the response time. The call has to be answered, have a confirmed address, type of call that we’re responding to so that the correct responders are dispatched, and then it has to be dispatched. In smaller jurisdictions, their fire/EMS is often volunteer. That means: THEY ARE COMING FROM HOME TO THE STATION. It takes time & the more time we waste just trying to figure out where you are, the longer you’re going to be waiting for a life saving response.

The TERRIBLE information post that is going around tells you to call 911, hang up, and then turn your phone off. NO, NO, NO. That is the absolute WORST thing you could ever do. When a 911 hang up comes in we attempt to call the line back twice. If the line isn’t open long enough to retransmit an address (which most of the time it’s not), that’s it. The call gets out in and closed. There is literally NOTHING WE CAN DO TO HELP YOU. Even if we DO retransmit an address and there is no sign of a disturbance or no other indication that there is an emergency, we often do not send a responder because if we send one to every call, we’d be wasting a LOT of time and resources. We receive 911 hang ups/accidental 911 calls ALL DAY LONG. (Side note: the most common ones that we receive come from disconnected cell phones. Every cell phone (disconnected or not) with battery life can call 911, but 911 CANNOT call those phones back). If you call from a disconnected cell and we’re not able to get a location (or are and not hear any signs that would indicate a need for service), you will most likely not get the help you need.

Moral of this point: DO NOT HANG UP and KNOW WHERE YOU ARE. Try to pay attention to mile markers on the interstate & landmarks, signs or road names. If you call accidentally-STAY ON THE LINE. We (at least at my agency) will ask you to verify your name and address and that there is no emergency. As long as nothing feels/sounds wrong about it to us, we won’t send an officer to knock on your door. You won’t get in trouble. No one will be mad. Just stay on the line so that we don’t waste time and resources on a call that is not emergent.

Disclosure: some agencies offer text to 911. Don’t assume that you can text 911 unless you know that your locality has that capability. A lot of them don’t. If you’re able to safely call you should ALWAYS call rather than text. It’s faster and more efficient.

Moving on-

Answer our questions. We’re not asking you questions for our own amusement. Everything we ask you on the line is for your own safety and for the safety of our responders. They are much more well equipped to handle your emergency if they know what they’re walking into and what supplies they need to bring in with them when they come. We’re NOT going to send our fire/EMS into a scene that is not safe, so answer our questions so that we know which resources need to be provided to you. I know that often times the calls that people place to us are during some of the worst, most terrifying moments of their lives & we WANT to help you in the best way that we know how. We ask the things that we ask because it’s required & because the more we know, the higher the quality of service that we provide you will be.

ALSO: While we’re asking you the questions, most likely RESPONDERS HAVE ALREADY BEEN DISPATCHED. If you didn’t get that, read it again. You can’t imagine how much time we spend trying to argue answers to questions out of callers because we’re being screamed at: “JUST GET THEM HERE QUICKLY.” “HE/SHE/I’LL BE DEAD BEFORE YOU GET THEM HERE,” etc. you’re wasting your time and mine. Try your best to work with us because our number one goal is to get you the help you need as quickly as possible. Contrary to popular belief, we don’t do this for the money. The medics, fire fighters, police officers and animal control officers DON’T do this for the money. (It’s not there, in case you were wondering.) we do this because we genuinely care about other human beings. We want to HELP. We CARE. We are here to protect and serve, but we cannot do that effectively if people are constantly fighting against us.

If you have any questions about how things work here or need advice as to how to handle a call in to 911, feel free to ask and I will give you the best advice that I can. Just please, please don’t listen to terrible misinformation (like calling, hanging up and turning your phone off). These situations are often the line between life and death. As cliche as it sounds, help us help you. Much love, Tumblr fam!

Also, to any of my fellow dispatchers, feel free to add to this. I know that things can vary from one locality to another, so I think any input would be helpful! I tried to just stick to the basics in this post for that reason. :)

@therapy101 @thistherapylife @socialworkmemes @all-about-psychology @theangrytherapist @thecalminside could you guys please reblog this to try and circulate correct information about how to receive help in an emergency situation? There is some VERY bad information going around that provides dangerous suggestions in reference to calling 911 and that makes me so afraid for anyone that reads it and thinks that it’s true.

writing-prompt-s:

writing-prompt-s:

imthedoctor12:

coltrer:

thecrystalfems:

rabbittiddy:

writing-prompt-s:

earth-ruins:

pizzaalle:

xdvisyrx:

tikalgirl:

xdvisyrx:

Farewell online privacy

What happened?

Trump happened.

just get a VPN?

You can’t just tell people to ‘get a VPN (Virtual Private Network)’. Buying a VPN is like buying a house. It’s very very important. Having no VPN or having a ‘wrong’ one can seriously damage your life. Especially for Americans because their privacy laws are garbage. I am going to try explain why you should get a VPN but bare with me, I am from Germany and my English is far from perfect. 

Let’s start with a simple test.
Click this link here: https://whatismyipaddress.com/
It will tell your IP adres, your ISP (internet service provider), and your location. The location might not be very accurate, but then again, it’s just a simple website. Imagine what the government can do!

So basically, everyone can find out where you live. But there is more danger. Your ISP. Your ISP logs your every move online and they are required to keep it in case the government wants access to it (or if a 3rd party wants to buy your data (yikes). They have everything. What websites you visit. How long you stay on a website. What you download. Your search terms. European laws are more subtle on this but if you are from the US you are #@*#&, especially because Trump doesn’t support the open internet. It’s scary but maybe in the future you can’t get a job because the recruiter knows your searched on ‘how to deal with depression’ or anythings else that’s supposed to be private because it’s your f*cking right. Or you get a $100k fine because you pirated a movie 15 years ago. You need a VPN. You’re dumb for not using one. but what does a VPN do?

A VPN encrypts all your data so if it were be intercepted no one can ‘crack the code’ and damage your privacy. 

Usually being online goes like this (simplified): Your computer —-> ISP (—–> keeps data —–> sells it)

But with a VPN it goes like: Your computer —–> VPN (encrypts data)—–> ISP (ISP can’t see shit)

Furthermore, a VPN hides your IP address and location by giving you another IP address located in Spain for example (you can often choose from a list and change as many times as you want).  

Now that you know why you should get a VPN and what is does it is important to educate yourself because people often choose the wrong VPN. VPN providers are also businesses and have to obey the law. If you choose a VPN provider located in the US then you are throwing your money away because the laws in the US shits on your privacy. If the US gov wants the provider to give all their logs they have to obey.  The ISP  still can’t see what you are doing online and sell your data but the US gov can interfere with your VPN provider so NEVER CHOOSE A PROVIDER LOCATED IN THE US. 

I just wanted to make that very clear so my followers don’t buy false security.

There is still more danger! 
Who says your VPN provider isn’t selling your data? You need to check their logging policy. Do they keep logs? If yes, what for? For how long do they keep them? Tip: Choose a provider who doesn’t keep logs

More about law 
The US is part of the Five Eyes program (the worst):  

The Five Eyes, often abbreviated as FVEY, is an intelligence alliance comprising Australia, Canada, New Zealand, the United Kingdom and the United States. These countries are bound by the multilateral UKUSA Agreement, a treaty for joint cooperation in signals intelligence (source)

There is also a Nine Eyes (bit better) and Fourteen Eyes Program (better). 
You don’t want a VPN provider who is located in one the Five Eyes countries. 
If you had to choose go for a provider located in a country that’s part of the Fourteen Eyes Program or even better, go for a country that isn’t part of any program! 

I know this is a shitty explanation and please pardon my english but now it’s time to do your own research. Take your privacy seriously. Maybe WWIII breaks out and you get killed for liking the ‘wrong’ FB-page.  

Go to this website: https://thatoneprivacysite.net/simple-vpn-comparison-chart/

Make sure that your future VPN provider both has green boxes for Privacy Jurisdiction and Privacy Logging. 

I recommend ovpn.se and trust.zone. ovpn is located in Sweden so they are part of the 14 Eyes Program and they keep minimal logs. Their business ethics, however, are alright. 

Trustzone is located in the Seychelles. No country can interfere and their privacy jurisdiction is the best you can get. The US want your data but needs to get it from Trustzone? The Seychelles will simply give them the finger and wave them goodbye. However, this makes this provider very appealing for people who torrent and criminals because they keep no logs (and that is how it shoud be) Also,  there are almost no marketing efforts so this provider is one the cheapest)

Also, often providers such as ExpressVPN are being called ‘The Best’ on websites about VPNs but know that this is just marketing which also makes those provider more expensive (and they too shit on your privacy)

This must be the worst article you have ever read but please, please take your privacy very seriously.

EDIT: I got many people asking me which provider I use. For those who want to know, I use Trust Zone. They offer a free 3-day trial with no strings attached. But still do your own research! 

I am also with Trustzone but I think you forgot to explain one of it’s most important features. It protects you when you are using someone else’s Wi-Fi.
If you are at Starbucks and you use their Wi-Fi your privacy is at risk. Anyone with ill intentions could steal your information. Especially if you are using an unsecured Wi-Fi hotspot. With a VPN your data gets encrypted so no one can steal it. 

Wait, what’s going, on? Did trump destroy internet privacy with a bill or something? Where’s the news? Oh wait, why am I getting visions of Alex Jones and selling water purifiers?

He hasn’t yet but he says he wants to. And if he is serious about it it would be really easy to do. Since all our data is already recorded, as the person above explained.

Trump wants more surveillance of Muslim Americans. This in a country where internet privacy is already close to non-existent. 

Trust.Zone has a free trial. Use it. 

btw this post only has 11k notes? That’s quite disappointing for something this important. 

Don’t reblog this post to save a life.
Reblog this to protect an entire family!

@earth-ruins @writing-prompt-s Should I get trustzone for my mobile device?

If you use public Wi-Fi, then yes. Which VPN you use is up to you, amigo. Take @earth-ruins advice. Do your own research first. 

@elvesfromthedeep​ just brought the current situation in the US to my attention (March 30, 2017). 

Sources

• Anger as US internet privacy law scrapped 
  
• Congress just voted to let internet providers sell your browsing history 
  

To all my friends in the US, please read this entire post. Making everyone aware of VPNs is going to be my mission. Your privacy matters. Please reblog this post.

fandomsandfeminism:

maplepancake:

fandomsandfeminism:

I really think hospitals and doctors that work with pregnancy and pediatricians need to make more literature available for how to, ya know, work with kids?  Because the more conversations we have about spanking (and how it’s ineffective and harmful and does more bad than good), the more I realize that a lot of people don’t know the alternatives. Or like, anything about child development or where misbehavior stems from. 

So, as someone who went through childhood development classes in college, works with kids for a living, and knows multiple people who specialized in childhood education, here are some pointers when you are working with kids:

1. Model emotional response for kids. Children are learning how to recognize and respond to their own emotions. All the way up through high school, children’s brains are still developing, and the emotions they are learning to process become more complex. So with really young kids, the easiest way to help them with this is to model emotional self awareness and self care. 

• “Oh wow, mommy is feeling angry because the cat made a mess. I’m going to clean this mess and then go sit in my room in the quiet for a short break so I feel better.”
  
• “You know, I am feeling very sad about not going to the park because it is raining. I bet some hot chocolate and a book would make me feel better.”
  
• ”Huh, I’m feeling kind of cranky and hungry, but daddy won’t be home for dinner for another hour. I bet I’ll feel better if I eat a little piece apple while we wait.” 
  

2. Understand what causes child frustration and work to preempt it. 

• -Transitions (from one activity to another, getting in the car, etc) can be stressful, especially if the activity or location they are leaving is fun. Give kids a warning when this is going to happen. With young kids, give them about 5-15 minutes of warning (”10 minutes until we are going to leave the park and go home. Do your last thing.”), with older kids, just give them a time frame. (We are can play at McDonalds for 30 minutes, but then we have to go grocery shopping, ok?) 
  

• Not being able to communicate what they want to is frustrating. Babies can learn simplified baby sign language months before they are verbal. Kids may not know the words for what they are trying to say. Be patient and help them find the right words. On a similar note, don’t ignore kids. If you really can’t respond to their question right away because of something else, at least tell the “Yes, I heard your question. I’ll answer you as soon as I’m done talking on the phone.”
  

• Not being able to make choices or having too much choice can be overwhelming. Give kids a limited, reasonable selection of choices. “Do you want apple slices or juicy pears on the side for lunch?” is much better than “What do you want with your sandwich?” or just giving them apple slices. “Do you want to give grandpa a hug or a high five?” is better than demanding they hug grandpa right away. 
  

3. Understand that kids are people to. They will get hungry, tired, an annoyed just like adults do. Sometimes you have to be flexible and give them time to self care. Talk to them, explain things to them, let them be people and not just dolls.  “Because I said so” is really unhelpful for a growing kid. “We can’t buy Fruit Loops today because we are already getting Frosted Flakes. We only need one cereal at a time.” is going to do you a lot more favors. “Don’t pick up the glass snow globe. It belongs to grandma and can break easy. She would be sad if we broke it on accident.” is better than “don’t touch that.” 

And look, no parent is perfect. No baby sitter, no teacher, no care taker is going to be awesome all the time. And no kid is going to be perfect. They will cry and have tantrums, and not be able to tell you what they need, and be stubborn sometimes. Sometimes they need space, or quiet time. Sometimes they need attention and validation. 

But kids learn from every interaction they have, so adults who yell and hit and insult children when they misbehave raise kids who yell and hit and insult others when they feel like they’ve been wronged. 

Another good thing to go along with giving kids choices is the ‘now I get to choose’, for situations where you have to give a ‘no’ but want to frame it in a way kids can understand. Example: “You got to make a lot of choices today. Now it’s time for me to make a choice, and my choice is [choice].” This is especially good for things kids do not like but that need to be done, like bathtime or bedtime.

Also, if you give a kid a choice (like, between juice or milk with lunch) and they are not making a choice/trying to choose something that you have not offered, use this: “That was not a choice. [restate choices]. If you do not choose, then I will choose for you.” And then if they don’t make a choice then, you make the choice for them and follow through with that choice. But be sure to give kids time to process all of this, they need time to think about it and come to a conclusion. If we’ve reached the ‘you make a choice, or I will choose for you’ part, I usually give them 15 seconds or so to make a choice before I intervene. And I don’t count down out loud either, I give them time in silence to think and choose. (This is with 1st graders btw, you may need to lengthen or shorten that wait time based on the kid)

Clearly spelling out consequences for unwanted behavior really helps too. You can frame it in a positive or negative light as well, whichever works better for your kid. “If you keep hitting your sister with that stuffed animal, then it will go on top of the fridge until after lunch.” or “When you choose to play nice, then you may join us for a board game.” Make the consequences fit the behavior, and clearly spell it out like that, and you will get results. I use a mix of the positive and negative versions, depending on what fits the situation.

Yes. You should be raising kids to be thoughtful, self sufficient, empathetic people. Not trained dolls. 

etherealfelidae:

urinfntycrsh:

if you donate to ACLU, tweet your receipt to Sia and she will match it up to 100k.

if you donate to CAIR, tweet your receipt to grimes and she will match it up to 10k

please add on other people/celebrities/whoever that are doing this so everyone can make the most of their donations!

Hank Green is donating $5 for every handwritten sign/message of support written to muslims/immigrants/refugees to the ACLU, so make sure to tweet those at him.

Chris Sacca is matching up to 75k if you tweet your receipt of donation to the ACLU at him.

brehaaorgana:

lilacblossoms:

sexhaver:

it really shows how little people know/care about the Armenian Genocide that a news outlet can literally name itself after the organization that perpetrated it and be hailed as a bastion of progressive thought

…that is deeply upsetting

THEY’RE SO AWFUL I HATE THE YOUNG TURKS AND THEIR GENOCIDE DENIALISM/APOLOGISM.

wow

southernslytherin:

ok tumblr, you seem interested in political activism, so we’re going to have a little lesson in administrative law and how you can force the Trump administration to listen to you for the next four years. 

To condense a semester-long law school course into a blog post: Congress delegates significant quasi-legislative power to administrative agencies, e.g. the EPA. These agencies have a great deal of power to shape your everyday life, but our system of civics education is so abysmal that, chances are, you have no idea what kind of power you hold to shape their decisions.

Administrative agencies have to navigate a maze of laws and procedures in order for the rules they make to be effective and binding. These laws and procedures mean that there plenty of ways the agencies can mess up, and when they do, opponents of a rule can bring legal challenges and invalidate it. (This is frustrating for agencies, but delightfully fun for antagonistic nerds like me.)

When an agency wants to create an informal rule, it has to go through a process called “notice and comment.” Basically, the agency announces a proposed rule and permits the public to submit comments on it. The public includes you. 

When the comment period is over, the agency has to take the comments into account and justify its ultimate decision on the proposed rule in light of the comments. If you submit substantive, meaningful comments that challenge the policy or evidence behind a rule, and the agency fails to acknowledge them and explain its reasoning for its final decision, the rule can be challenged and invalidated.

So how do you comment on proposed rules? This lovely little site called regulations.gov. Really, it’s that easy! You can search for topics that interest you and submit your comments online. And you can do it anonymously! 

So please, check the website frequently and comment when it matters to you, so that your voice can be heard and Trump’s agencies have to acknowledge your perspective. If they fail to take your comments into consideration and disregard the American people, they’ll have to answer for it in court.

Keep calling your representatives and senators about Bannon and the policy issues that concern you, but remember this little lesson in admin law when he takes office.

choncegiving:

If anyone is currently confused on what’s happening, JILL STEIN (in a shocking turn of events, I know) has put together a campaign to raise enough money to call for a recount in Michigan, Pennsylvania, and Wisconsin. 

Very recently, a number of analysts have reached out to the Clinton campaign to urge them to request a recount. Why? 

• US intelligence has recently admitted Russian hackers were able to intrude into some electronic voting systems. This alone should be grounds for a recount.
  
• Trump won Wisconsin by 0.7%, Pennsylvania by 1.2%, and Michigan by 0.3%. All of these states showed disproportionate voting results in Trump’s favor in areas that counted ballots by electronic methods
• It was almost statistically improbably for Trump to win Florida like he did, as he would have had to win around 70% of the same-day vote
• Things just aren’t adding up

THE STEIN CAMPAIGN NEEDS TO RAISE $2 MILLION BY FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 25TH AT 5 PM EST. THIS IS VERY TIME SENSITIVE. She’s already raised quite a bit in just a few hours, but that doesn’t guarantee that she will get enough. Here’s a direct statement from the website:

THE LINK TO DONATE IS HERE. PLEASE SPREAD THE WORD EVEN IF YOU CAN’T DONATE. WE DESERVE TO HAVE THE VOTE CONFIRMED. THIS CAN AND WILL BE DONE.