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This bar bathroom poster is going viral for all the right reasons.

You shouldn't be scared to ask for help when you have a bad feeling.

Saving yourself from a potentially dangerous situation while on a date could be as easy as saying someone's name to the bartender.

At least, it should be that easy in an ideal world.

Picture this: You're on a date with someone you just met. You start to get a bad vibe. You have a feeling the situation is heading somewhere dangerous. If you leave with this person, there's a chance you might end up in a risky situation.


Image via iStock.

Your solution: Just ask for "Angela."

In Lincolnshire, U.K., "asking for Angela" is a new and effective way to combat sexual assault and abuse.

The campaign, titled #NoMore, launched in Lincolnshire recently and went viral after a woman shared a photo of the poster inside a women's restroom. As of now, the image has been shared over 30,000 times.

The name has special meanings, too. Hayley Child, a substance misuse and sexual violence coordinator for Lincolnshire County Council, says it's a partial play on "guardian angel." It's also named after Angela Crompton, a friend of a friend who was killed by her husband. Child hopes this program will eventually be implemented worldwide.

Posters like this one were placed in schools, on university campuses, and in bar restrooms in Lincolnshire during the last two weeks of September 2016:

The main idea is to help someone get out of a potentially dangerous scenario by inconspicuously asking for "Angela." That's the bar staff's cue to either call you a taxi or help get you out of that situation without causing a big scene. Perhaps the staff could conveniently notify you that your "car's being towed" to cause a disruption and get you out of the date. You get the idea.

Child said, "Sexual abuse and violence is an national issue and all councils have a responsibility to tackle abuse. This was Lincolnshire Community Safety Partnership's first awareness raising campaign on this issue."

People got so excited about this campaign that there are plans to roll out the efforts again in February 2017 as a response to National Sexual Violence and Abuse Awareness Week.

This idea is important because it offers a completely non-obvious way of asking for help. It's also free to implement anywhere.

Ultimately, #NoMore's goal is to keep spreading the word about this idea on social media and in your local community. You're invited to download a poster, take photos with it, and share those images on your social media channels using the #NoMore hashtag.

Image via iStock.

"It's very new, but the positive feedback from the public and bar staff has demonstrated they wanted something like this and are happy to know this support is available," Child said.

Plus, the more we can promote our solidarity against sexual violence and abuse, the better. It'll get us just a bit closer to a world where if you or someone you love are in a situation that require some serious saving, you can always politely ask for "Angela."

Community

How to end hunger, according to the people who face it daily

Here’s what people facing food insecurity want you to know about solving the hunger problem in America

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Even though America is the world’s wealthiest nation, about 1 in 6 of our neighbors turned to food banks and community programs in order to feed themselves and their families last year. Think about it: More than 9 million children faced hunger in 2021 (1 in 8 children).

In order to solve a problem, we must first understand it. Feeding America, the nation’s largest domestic hunger-relief organization, released its second annual Elevating Voices: Insights Report and turned to the experts—people experiencing hunger—to find out how this issue can be solved once and for all.

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Outside of collars, harnesses and bandanas, immediately identifying the dog that belongs to you has to be a secret skill because at first glance, their personalities are also super similar. That's why it's not surprising when one family dropped off their sweet golden pooch at daycare and to be groomed, they didn't notice the daycare sent out the wrong dog.

See, not even their human parents can tell them apart because when the swapped dog got home, nothing seemed odd to the owners at first. She was freshly groomed so any small differences were quickly brushed off. But this accidental doppelgänger wasn't fooling her feline siblings.

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“It’s important to know that he’s been unemployed since 2021,” the woman wrote on Reddit’s AITA subforum. “He receives benefits. It’s also important to know that he’s extremely lazy. He doesn’t cook, clean, or help out in any way. I was nervous about leaving her home with her father, but I had no choice.”

The mother had reason to be worried about leaving her baby home alone with her husband, but in the beginning, things seemed fine. “When I came back from work, she was clean and sleeping. The next few times I came home, he was either playing with her, feeding her, or out for a walk with her. I was happy,” she wrote.

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“This system has worked swimmingly for us since it started, the boys have always complied with completing their chores,” the mom wrote on Reddit.

Her 12-year-old son was getting ready to play Fortnite with a friend and told him he’d be ready in 15 minutes once he finished his chores. When the boys started playing the game, he told the friend he was in charge of dusting and sweeping the stairs, to which the friend responded, “It’s a good thing my parents don’t make me do girl chores.”

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Madeleine Albright once said, "There is a special place in hell for women who don't help other women." It turns out that might actually be a hell on Earth, because women just do better when they have other women to rely on, and there's research that backs it up.

A study published in the Harvard Business Review found that women who have a strong circle of friends are more likely to get executive positions with higher pay. "Women who were in the top quartile of centrality and had a female-dominated inner circle of 1-3 women landed leadership positions that were 2.5 times higher in authority and pay than those of their female peers lacking this combination," Brian Uzzi writes in the Harvard Business Review.

Part of the reason why women with strong women backing them up are more successful is because they can turn to their tribe for advice. Women have to face different challenges than men, such as unconscious bias, and being able to turn to other women who have had similar experiences can help you navigate a difficult situation. It's like having a road map for your goals.

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That is not the case for TikTok creator Derrick Downey Jr., however, as he has not only befriended his neighborhood squirrels but goes all out to help them live their best squirrel lives.

Downey shared a video in May of 2022 in which he chats with a couple of squirrels on his porch while feeding them and offering them water. That video received over 26 million views and kicked off a whole series of videos showcasing the adorable antics of Richard, Maxine, Hector, Consuela, Norma (may she rest in peace), and Hood Rat Raymond. He's built Richard a house, rescued Maxine's babies, mourned Norma's transition (to wherever squirrels go when they die) and more.

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Library of Congress

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