Tag: samaritans
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British Columbia, Time Zones, and Postgres
In March 8, 2026, British Columbia moved their clocks to a year-round Pacific Daylight Savings Time, and doubtless broke a lot of software. Every time I work on better timezone support for Three Rings, this is the kind of story that terrifies me!
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Found GCARTJB Stop, Look... er... Listen?
I'm volunteering at the building right next door to this bridge, this week, working on software that helps charities... among them, Samaritans! So finding this thematic cache was a must-do for the younger geokid and I on our lunch break today. A quick and easy find thanks to the clear telegraphing in the description, aided by our direction of approach. It's a wonderful large bridge, and we got to watch a train zoom along the tracks beneath us as we crossed.
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Never underestimate the power of people who are motivated by the good they can do in the world.
Today I was in awe of this team of unpaid volunteers who, having already given up their bank holiday weekend, worked through dinner and into the night to ensure the continued uptime of a piece software that enables the listening service of emotional support and suicide helplines.
Alt
In a conference room, Dan stands in front of a group of people working on laptops.
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The Story of Scgary
In the early 2000s, as a volunteer trainer at Aberystwyth Nightline, I invented a roleplay scenario which drew upon anecdotes from my childhood and young adulthood... which eventually lead to a collision of worlds for Ruth and JTA when they, former volunteers, MET the person behind many of those anecdotes...
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New Volunteers for Three Rings
Following their weekend in Jersey, Dan, Ruth and JTA went off to Malvern to train three new Three Rings volunteers. Dan gets nostalgic about the history of Three Rings.
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Ageism, Nightline, and Counselling
As a trainee counsellor, I've had plenty of opportunity of late for self-analysis and reflection. Sometimes revelations come at unexpected times, as I discovered recently.
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On This Day In 2004
On this day in 2004, Dan finally handed in his dissertation on the subject of Three Rings. Since then, Three Rings has become the de facto standard for University Nightlines, and has also become the most popular rota management system for Samaritans branches and a variety of other helpline charities, too.
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Googling for Suicide, Part II
You may remember that earlier this year I wrote a letter to Google suggesting that they ought to publicise the number of Samaritans to people searching for suicide-related topics: sort-of like a free Featured Link, but just advertising the phone number of a support service that, in particular, provides emotional support to those who are …
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A Day On Campus
I'm going to be up on the University campus all day tomorrow (Monday 28th September), helping out at the Samaritans stand at the Freshers' Fair. If you're on or near Penglais, come by and say hi, or drop me a text and we can hook up for lunch.
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Board Games And Waterfalls
It's been a fun, full weekend. Highlights include:
A good Troma Night
In case you weren't following, Troma Night is on Fridays nowadays. We watched the fantastic 1945 film Brief Encounter, which I'd highly recommend, and Lava, which I wouldn't (although if you do see it, watch 'til the end: it improves, I promise).
Same about the early … -
What's A Cripple Been Up To?
I'm sick of hobbling round on a crutch. Sure, it was an interesting novelty for the first couple of days, even despite the fact that I got almost no sympathy from folks (and, to be fair, I deserved none - what kind of idiot cripples himself while chasing after cake?). But now I'm just sick …