awfuldaring:

How to Live in New York City

longeaux:

thegeorgemott:

below14thst:

How to Live in New York City

Move here when you’re 18 or 22, maybe even 24. Come from somewhere else-the north, south, west, Xanadu- and come to realize that everyone living in New York is a transplant. Even the ones who grew up on the Upper East Side end up moving into a place downtown, which, as you’ll soon discover, is like moving to a different city.

Discover the cruel and bizarre world of New York City real estate. End up spending an obscene amount of money on something called a broker’s fee, first and last month’s rent and a security deposit. Cry a little bit in the leasing office but remind yourself that you’re so happy to be here.

Picture hearing a man playing the saxophone outside your bedroom window. End up hearing a lot of sirens instead. Figure it’s okay because it’s New York and you’re still so happy to be here.

Go out to bars in the Lower East Side because the Internet told you so. Fall in love with a bar called, Max Fish, and always stay out till four in the morning. Eat a falafel and have someone pay for a cab back to your apartment. Watch the sun start to rise while going over the Williamsburg Bridge and feel like your life is becoming some kind of movie.

Eat bad pizza but trick yourself into believing it’s good because it’s made in New York. Do the same thing with bagels and sex.

Meet people who will be your best friends for three or four months. They’ll help you transition into city life and take you to weird bars in Murray Hill. It will be like the blind leading the blind but once you get a firm grasp on things, you can stop returning their phone calls.

Watch your life in New York go through phases. Spend a summer in Fort Greene with a lover and get to know the neighborhood and its rhythms. Once the fling ends, forget the blocks, parks and restaurants ever existed and don’t return unless you have to.

Encounter a lot of people crying in public. Watch an NYU student cry in Think Coffee, a business woman in midtown sob into her cellphone, an old man whimper on a stoop in Greenpoint. At first, it will feel very jarring but, like everything else, it will become normal. Have your first public cry in front of a Bank of America. Cry so hard and don’t care if people are watching you. You pay good money to be able to cry in public.

Work long hours at a thankless job. Always be one step away from financial destitution. Marvel at how expensive New York is, how when you walk out the door, $20.00 immediately gets deleted from your wallet. Understand that even though no one has any money, everyone is privileged to live in New York City.

Go home for the holidays and run into old friends from high school. When you tell them that you live in New York, watch their eyes widen. They’ll say, “Oh my god, New York? That’s so crazy. I’m so jealous!” Have a blasé attitude about it but deep down inside, know they have good reason to be jealous.

Go home and feel relieved to be away from the energy of the city, that punishing 4:00 a.m. last call. Spend the first two days eating and sleeping, getting back to normal. Spend the last two days feeling anxious and ready to get back to your real home. Realize this city has you by the balls and isn’t going to let you go.

Someday you might grow tired of it all though. You might start crying in public more often than you’d like, have a bad break-up and want to pack it all up.

Certain moments of living in the city will always stick out to you. Buying plums from a fruit vendor on 34th street and eating three of them on a long walk, the day you spent in bed with your best friend watching Tyra Banks, the amazing rooftop party you attended on a sweltering hot day in July. These memories might seem insignificant but they were all moments when you looked around the city and felt like you were a part of it all.

When you leave the city, you probably won’t come back. Eventually your life in New York will seem so far away and sometimes you’ll even wonder if it really happened. Don’t worry. It did.

I’ve gotten a good amount of this done so far. seems I’m on the right track. 

I have chunks of this article jotted down everywhere.

westborobaptistcorps:felopez:

In the wake of that 1000+ note post linking this engadget article:

http://www.engadget.com/2011/11/10/senate-to-vote-on-net-neutrality-repeal-today-obama-counters-wi/

Net Neutrality and the SOPA/ProtectIP Bills are different entities.

Net Neutrality deals with the issue of several large companies - namely Comcast and Verizon wanting to become “gatekeepers” of the Internet; slowing traffic to sites they (as Internet Service Providers) don’t like.  And creating a “Fast Lane” for sites that pay them money.

Net Neutrality is important because, without it, the Internet as a free market is dead.  Small start-up siites will not be able to survive, because they can’t pay the “toll” to get into this “fast lane.”

The SOPA/ProtectIP Bills are the bills that create an Internet censorship power within the Government.

The Net Neutrality debates have been raging for months now, and they’ve finally come to a conclusion.  This is good.  But it’s NOT a decision on SOPA and ProtectIP. They are different.  Completely.

Please reblog this to spread the word and inform everyone.

Keep posts like THESE going-not that link.

swaetshrit:

You guys, you know I’m not usually the type to reblog those “OMG UR A BAD PERSON IF U SCROLL PAST THIS” things, let alone POST them, so this is serious fucking business, okay?

You’ll notice there’s a big black censor bar on my blog today.

That bill is going down tomorrow. It’s essentially going to make the US as bad as Communist China in terms of Internet censorship. I’m not. Fucking. Kidding. They will literally have the power to block any site from being visited by any US user. They’re going to systematically destroy basically every freedom we have, to protect the entertainment industry’s profits. They’re getting away with it because they’re sneaky and no one is freaking out about it and the mainstream media is hiding it. 

Do this - http://americancensorship.org/

Participate in this. Everyone just, do this, and spread this like it’s wildfire, please.

If this passes, we could very well be cut off from Tumblr, Youtube, deviantArt, and all the other sites we’re used to using. So like… if I suddenly disappear, FOREVER, you’ll know why. I’m sorry this is so sudden. D:

But really. We need to fight this. Really hard.

Also, I’m sorry if the censor bar is covering stuff up but that’s kind of the point - click it!

“Rep. Zoe Lofgren (D-CA) is calling it “the end of the Internet” — and that’s barely an exaggeration. The sites we use and love the most are the ones most at risk, and the basic principle of open access is under attack.”

underconstellations:

missveryvery:

Deleted 

1) racist and triggering photo of a black man’s hands over a white woman in an intimidating manner.

2) other text I found bothersome/problematic/etc.

Reformatted for clarity and readability, edited for typos, grammar, problematic text I could find, see other reblogs for original.

‎”THROUGH A RAPIST’S EYES”

A group of rapists and date rapists in prison were interviewed on what they look for in a potential target and here are some interesting facts:


1] The first thing they looked for in a potential victim is hairstyle. They are most likely to go after a woman with a ponytail, bun, braid or other hairstyle that can easily be grabbed. They are also likely to go after a person with long hair.

 
2] The second thing an attacker looks for is clothing. They will look for targets whose clothing is easy to remove quickly. Many of them carry scissors around to cut clothing.

3] They also look for targets using their cell phone, searching through their purse or doing other activities while walking because they are off guard and can be easily overpowered.

4] The number one place women are abducted from / attacked is grocery store parking lots.

Number two is office parking lots/garages.

Number three is public restrooms.


7] They are looking to grab a person and quickly move them to a second location where they don’t have to worry about getting caught.


8] If you put up any kind of a fight at all, they get discouraged because it only takes a minute or two for them to realize that going after you isn’t worth it because it will be time-consuming.

9] These men said they would not pick on targets who have umbrellas, or other similar objects that can be used from a distance, in their hands.

10] Keys are not a deterrent because you have to get really close to the attacker to use them as a weapon. So, the idea is to convince them you’re not worth it.

VERYVERY NOTE: I don’t know how effective/well researched the things below are so take with some salt, use judgment, etc.

———————————————————————————————————————————-

POINTS THAT WE SHOULD REMEMBER:


1] If someone is following behind you on a street or in a garage or with you in an elevator or stairwell, look them in the face and ask them a question, like what time is it, or make general small talk: can’t believe it is so cold out here, we’re in for a bad winter. Now that you’ve seen their faces and could identify them in a line- up, you lose appeal as a target.

2] If someone is coming toward you, hold out your hands in front of you and yell “Stop!” or “Stay back”! Most of the rapists interviewed said they’d leave a target alone if the yelled or showed that they would not be afraid to fight back. Again, they are looking for an EASY target.

3] If you carry pepper spray yelling I HAVE PEPPER SPRAY and holding it out will be a deterrent.

4] If someone grabs you, you can’t beat them with strength but you can do it by outsmarting them. If you are grabbed around the waist from behind, pinch the attacker either under the arm between the elbow and armpit or in the upper inner thigh - HARD. One woman in a class this guy taught told him she used the underarm pinch on a guy who was trying to rape her and was so upset she broke through the skin and tore out muscle strands the guy needed stitches. Try pinching yourself in those places as hard as you can stand it; it really hurts.

5] After the initial hit, always go for the groin. You might think that you’ll anger the attacker and make them want to hurt you more, but the thing these rapists told our instructor is that they want someone who will not cause them a lot of trouble. Start causing trouble.


6] When the attacker puts their hands up to you, grab the first two fingers and bend them back as far as possible with as much pressure pushing down on them as possible. 


7] Of course the things we always hear still apply. Always be aware of your surroundings, take someone with you if you can and if you see any odd behavior, don’t dismiss it, go with your instincts. You may feel little silly at the time, but you’d feel much worse if the guy really was trouble.


1. Tip from Tae Kwon Do: The elbow is the strongest point on your body. If you are close enough to use it, do it.


2. If a robber asks for your wallet and/or purse, DO NOT HAND IT TO THEM. Toss it away from you. Chances are that they are more interested in your wallet and/or purse than you and will go for the wallet/purse. RUN IN THE OTHER DIRECTION!

3. If you are ever thrown into the trunk of a car: Kick out the back tail lights and stick your arm out the hole and start waving. The driver won’t see you but everybody else will. 

 
4. Some people have a tendency to get into their cars after shopping, eating, working, etc., and just sit (doing their checkbook, or making a list, etc. DON’T DO THIS! The attacker will be watching you, and this is the perfect opportunity for them to get in on the passenger side. AS SOON AS YOU CLOSE the DOORS, LEAVE.

5. A few notes about getting into your car in a parking lot, or parking garage:

• a. Look in and around your car as someone may be hiding at the passenger side, peek into your car, inside the passenger side floor, and in the back seat.  DO THIS BEFORE RIDING A TAXI CAB, TOO.
   
• b. If you’re parked next to a big van, enter your car from the passenger door. Many serial killers attack their victims by pulling them into their vans while the women are attempting to get into their cars.
   
• c. Look at the car parked on the driver’s side of your vehicle, and the passenger side. If a person is sitting alone in the seat nearest your car, you may want to walk back into the mall, or work, and get a guard/police officer to walk you back out. IT IS ALWAYS BETTER TO BE SAFE THAN SORRY. (And better paranoid than dead.)

6. ALWAYS take the elevator instead of the stairs. Stairwells are horrible places to be alone and the perfect crime spot.

7. If the attacker has a gun and you are not under their control, ALWAYS RUN! The predator will only hit you (a running target) 4 in 100 times; And even then, it most likely WILL NOT be a vital organ. RUN!

8. VERVERY NOTE: I just rewrote this one: Be wary of those who ask for assistance in secluded places like parking garages.

Aside from the fact that this only applies to ” stranger jumping out of the bushes” rape and most rapes happen from someone you know and/or in a date rape context, this is useful stuff to know.