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from the If-you-are-reading-this-message... dept.
Natalie Matthews writes that a year ago, a friend of hers left her two roommates at a bar to walk the three blocks home to their apartment in a yuppie Boston neighborhood. "She wanted decent sleep before a Saturday morning exercise class; her friends wanted late night food. Instead, she was jumped by a stranger on the curb of her apartment building, brutally raped, and beaten in her living room while her roommates ate burritos, none the wiser," writes Matthews. " If she'd done something, anything, differently, would it have changed the outcome of her night? It's an unproductive exercise, both she and I know. And yet when I heard about Kitestring, she was the first thought that flashed in my mind, because maybe Kitestring would have helped her, had it existed then."
Kitestring is a new service that aims to make sure people get from point A to point B safely, notifying their emergency contacts if they don't. You tell Kitestring that you're in a dangerous place or situation, and give it a time frame of when to check in on you. If you don't reply back when it checks your status, it'll alert your emergency contacts with a custom message you set up. "Perfect for blind or online meet-up dates, walking home at night, or feeling safe in any dangerous situation, Kitestring is like the virtual mom I've always needed," writes Mary Rockcastle, "especially if your mom is like mine and is never awake past 8:30pm."
(Score: 2, Troll) by VLM on Monday April 28 2014, @12:13PM
"in a yuppie Boston neighborhood ... was jumped by a stranger on the curb of her apartment building, brutally raped, and beaten in her living room"
The folks with arrows in their backs are the pioneers. Being a gentrification pioneer has its inherent risks, and there's no real point in feeling bad about adults that volunteered. If you insist on risky behavior choices, the absence of a security blanket app is not the cause of your problems.
I hear this a lot with co workers trying to live the urban experience lifestyle. "Oh I'd never want the suburb life experience, life in the burbs is just terrible, so soul-less" Usually a lot of meaningless blabber (see: soulless) which translates to they're too cheap or they're repeating stuff they heard from stupid friends. Eventually, they get the "real" inevitable urban lifestyle experience and its all boo hoo, woe is me, however could that have happened, it must all be someone elses fault that happened to me. I'm nice enough not to say "I told you so" but hopefully they figure it out themselves and learn something. Some do, some don't.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday April 28 2014, @09:50PM
"You deserve to be robbed/raped/murdered for moving into the wrong neighborhood."
I believe I speak for everyone here when I say:
Fuck you.