Untitled. @samanthier - Tumblr Blog

Friendly reminder that if you call Eastern Europeans ‘snowflakes’ for not laughing at your war memes, you’re not quirky, you’re just a fucking asshole.

And you don’t get to tell us to ‘take a joke’ about a war that is happening few km from our borders (for non Ukrainians balkans).

If the war is not affecting you, your families, your friends or your other close ones, stop the ‘but this is my coping mechanism 🥺’ bullshit.

tengusnotebook

A True Leader

At this point I might as well want to express my genuine admiration towards Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskiy. He may have had the reputation of an actor and comedian by the time he got elected, and I remember many jokes circulating about Ukraine having a jokester as president.

Turns out you can’t simply judge him by his past career. His determination to remain behind in Kyiv and defend the city and his country alongside his people is nothing short of absolutely remarkable. He turned down multiple offers to be evacuated to somewhere safe, even knowing that Putin basically declared him the number one enemy of the Russian state. Against all predictions that Kyiv may have fallen within 24 hours of the invasion, the city is still holding, more than 48 hours later. In fact, I have yet to hear of any major Ukrainian city to fall to the Russians.

Zelenskiy is what makes a true leader. He may have made mistakes as we all do, but damn sure he knows the time to get serious and step up to what he stands for. He refuses to bail when things get tough and even risks his life by directly confronting the bear. He is a man of his people.

He makes the EU and NATO, perhaps with the exception of Canada, USA, Poland and the Baltics, look like pieces of butter. Including this insufferable monkey theatre that is the German government.

otvaram-ti-dusu-deactivated2022

This picture from Syria protesting war in Ukraine actually made me tear up.

Abandoned by the world, destroyed and still having enough compassion to think about others.

mysharona1987

whydoidothistomyselfandothers

I am heartbreakingly in awe of the strength of the Ukrainian people.

Some things that really stuck out to me from the coverage I've watched so far:

Ukrainian officials requested that a no fly zone be placed over Ukrainian territory and Russia has not just been bombing military targets, they have been bombing areas in cities filled with civilians - they have shelled multiple Ukrainian nurseries, kindergartens and an orphanage, killing numerous children

Ukraine's UN ambassador told his Russian counterpart that "there's no purgatory for war criminals, they go straight to hell"

A Ukrainian soldier went onto a bridge during battle to detonate a bomb on it knowing he would die in the process

Volodymyr Zelenskyy, the Ukrainian president has refused offers to evacuate him and is insisting on staying above ground in the capitol (Kyiv) which is currently being bombed and invaded by Russian troops. Russia claims that they are willing to have peace-talks if Ukraine surrenders - Zelenskyy (rightfully, in my opinion) has refused

It is estimated that 100,000 Ukrainians have fled across the border to neighbouring countries so far. Polish citizens have been offering to drive them where they need to go and also offering them places to stay. Women and children have had to leave male loved ones behind at the border as Ukrainian men between the ages of 18 and 60 have been barred from leaving the country in order that they may be conscripted into the Ukrainian army

Russian soldiers on a warship told Ukrainian soldiers stationed on a Ukrainian island (Snake Island) that they were about to invade the island and told the soldiers there to surrender and you could hear the Ukrainian soldiers over the radio saying "so this is it" because they knew they were going to die and then they told the Russian warship to go fuck themselves

There is a video of a Ukrainian woman going up to Russian soldiers and telling them they are cursed and offering them sunflower seeds (the national flower of Ukraine) to put in their pockets so that when they die on Ukrainian soil at least sunflowers will grow

I am so sorry to every Ukrainian for what you are going through. Putin is a despicable man. I am deeply impressed and humbled by the strength your people are showing - I don't know that I could ever be that brave.

deadpresidents

This would be a good time to remember that when Donald Trump was impeached for the first time, it was for withholding $400 million in military aid for Ukraine -- which was already fighting Russian aggression -- to force Ukrainian President Zelenskyy to investigate false claims about Trump’s political opponents.

That military assistance that President Trump held back from Ukraine for 84 days included “sniper rifles, rocket-propelled grenades, night vision goggles, medical aid and other equipment the Ukrainian military needed to fight a grinding war against Russian-backed separatists”.

I’m sure nobody has forgotten that, but every time I see a new story about Trump praising Vladimir Putin, as he has done THIS week, I think it’s important to recall that he also extorted Volodymyr Zelenskyy, who is literally fighting for his life while leading Ukraine against Russia.

mysharona1987

becausegoodheroesdeservekidneys

Ukraine, 26th Feb, 2022

A friend of mine told me yesterday that he didn’t realise how much Ukraine meant to him until now. I posted yesterday about the time we spent there, and we’re all getting super pre-occupied about the invasion. As I said in that post, I can’t get our waitress out of my head. I can sort of remember what she looked like now. She had an undercut. I think maybe her hair might have been blue? But - I will never know if she lives through this, and it’s driving me very slightly mad.

So naturally, my husband spent all day yesterday obsessively researching everything he could about it with the help of his journalist friends, as a way to help me process it.

This post is me putting it all in order, as a way to try and process my own emotional response as much as anything else (I freely admit there is an element of self-indulgence here). Please don’t take me as the spokesperson for Ukraine right now, nor as a solid reliable news source. But, I haven’t seen this stuff except in bits and pieces on Tumblr, so here we go.

(This is also not about why the invasion has happened. This post is solely about what has happened, and how the invasion is going.)

So, Putin and the rest of the world believed that this invasion would take 1-4 days. The plan was to push through fast, take Kyiv, and force Volodymyr Zelenskyy, the Ukrainian President, to surrender. Given Russia’s military might, it really looked likely.

Here is the conclusion of all that’s happened so far:

Ukraine is absolutely nailing this??? Actually???

They managed to defend every single city overnight, including Kyiv. They started rolling out and using these WW2-style anti-tank thingies that look a bit like angry gabbions, look, here’s a picture of one being delivered:

A bunch of spare iron girders turned into a hefty octopus of Russian misery, basically.

But it’s not just tanks they’re taking down, oh no. Ukraine successfully shot down a transport plane 20km from Kyiv. That is, I shit you not, the single biggest hit to the Russian military since the Second Chechen War. Volunteers from Lithuania, Poland, Latvia, Estonia, Azerbaijan and Israel are all entering Ukraine to help fight and bolster the anti-Russian forces, which is probably illustrative of how Eurovision voting is going to run for the next decade. Most countries have banned Russian planes from their air space. To help stop the Russian advance, Ukraine has made and installed new road signs, like this one:

I can only say a handful of sentences in Ukrainian, Tumblrs, but as I understand it, from top to bottom, it says:

“Fuck off”

“Fuck off again”

“Fuck off Russia”

Meanwhile, it turns out the Russian military might we feared is… possibly not quite as advertised?

They’re underfunded and badly trained. Ukraine captured 200 soldiers in one go, and most of them were confused 19 year olds with no training. The equipment is shite. The tanks keep running out of fuel. Russian soldiers keep abandoning their tanks and handing them over to the Ukrainian army. Putin’s plan was to take Kyiv fast and move on, and he didn’t have a plan B - hence these kids, playing soldier. Here is an image of a Russian tank receiving roadside assistance from Russia’s finest, an old Lada.

No one expected Zelenskyy to survive the night; but he did. America offered him asylum in the White House.

But he said no.

Zelenskyy remains in Kyiv, with his people.

And Putin, in his desperation to be adored, has turned Zelenskyy into a global icon and hero.

Here is something you may not know about Volodymyr Zelenskyy - he used to be a standup comedian. Was he any good? No idea - but what he IS good at is producing funny short videos he can put on Twitter and that, which are absolutely fantastic for Ukrainian morale. And morale is vital in an invasion like this, and Ukraine are smashing it out of the park there.

They are utilising the internet to its fullest extent. In addition to Zelenskyy’s videos, they’ve made sure that the final words of the Ukrainian defenders of Snake Island are known and now echoed around the world: “Russian warship, go fuck yourselves.” A video has gone viral of Ukrainians mocking a group of Russian soldiers whose tank had broken down and who didn’t know the way to Kyiv anyway, presumably because of all the new road signs. They have created a website that lists every single Russian death they can identify, partly so Russian mothers can have closure (thus also painting themselves as the defenders of decency and humanity), and partly for the enormous morale boost of the world knowing, categorically, that they’ve already killed 3700 Russian soldiers (over 100 of which were from that transport plane.) Not one word has leaked of Ukrainian casualties. I’m sure they’re devastating, but for morale purposes, they’re being kept quiet until the dust settles. Ukrainians have started setting up fake Tindr profiles to catfish Russian soldiers for intel, and they’re all 19 and lost, so it’s working. Plus, they’re using Grindr to actually track where the soldiers are, because it turns out Putin was not entirely correct about there being no gays in Russia.

So, Russia wants to cut their internet access. Can the Ukrainian Minister for Digital Transformation, Mykhailo Fedorov, shame a billionaire into providing aid?

This is crucial, remember. Atrocities happen best in the dark, and the world is watching - because of the internet. Morale is vital to maintain. Can they convince Elon Musk to help?

Yep.

Ukraine now has the fastest internet service in the world. The fastest, most stable internet service in human history, in fact. Russia cannot now disable it. The world watches.

Which is just as well, because then Anonymous decided to get involved, and have leaked the website database of the Russian Ministry of Defence. Lol. Also this happens:

And then the Russian propaganda channels started broadcasting the truth of what is happening in Ukraine. Double lol.

So what is the political response?

Well, in addition to closing airspace to Russian planes, loads of countries are sending weapons to Ukraine. Those that can’t are offering asylum. They’re also offering asylum to any Russian soldiers who surrender or defect, which is startlingly good tactics, and there are rumours of around 5000 Russian soldiers who have done just that. Germany, of course, has long had a block on lethal weapons transfer; but Germany recognise this shit for what it is. They’ve lifted the block, thus allowing the Netherlands to send weapons. Efforts are now underway to fast-track Ukraine into the EU. I presume they will consider the lack of pint glasses with crowns on to be a worthwhile price to pay.

So what about Russia’s supporters?

Belarusian leader Alexander Lukashenka helped Russia with this invasion. Now, this has happened:

Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya was actually elected president, but some wild nonsense kept her out of power. She’s now running a government in exile. I have literally no idea what this means or will mean! But my god. She has a spine of steel, and this is not a good time to be happening for Putin.

And it’s really, really not, because then intel on a meeting of Putin and assembled Oligarchs LEAKS (hello Anonymous, probably). The highlights:

This war is costing Russia $15bn a day

He expected it to take ONE TO FOUR DAYS TO WIN

It’s been two days and he is losing very badly, currently

They will run out of rockets by day 4, maybe sooner

After that they will be down to rifles and ammo

It will take 3-4 months to make more significant weapons, except they need raw materials, and the countries that can provide them… have cut supply lines

If the war lasts 10 days, Russia will have completely run out of money and weapons

It’s only day 2, and Russian soldiers are knocking the doors of random Ukrainian homes begging for food and water because they’ve already run out

So, out of desperation, Putin turns to his greatest, closest and most trusted ally for help: Kazakhstan.

And Kazakhstan

SAYS NO

And then Ukraine shoots down a second Russian plane.

Anyway, I’m going to finish off with a final point. Morale is vital in this situation, so here is the message from the Ukrainian government at the minute, to everyone watching around the world:

Be VERY SUSPICIOUS of any negative news about Ukraine. Russia uses misinformation and propaganda. They will want to damage Ukrainian morale.

Use your social media to spread news of Ukrainian victories.

Don’t give oxygen to negative stories. Especially since they might not be true.

That’s genuinely something we can do to help. Every victory of Ukraine, blast it far and wide. So on that note, I’ll leave you with this:

Congrats to Natalia Antonova’s cousin’s son.

chrrispine

New Year, New Gifs Challenge Day 11: Parallels

Shrek + Film References

jezabaeddel

the films on the right are all referencing shrek

tenisperfection

possibly one of the most hilarious exchanges on doctor who

wanderer0fw0rlds

Honestly all the conversations between the Daleks and Cybermen in this episode were fucking gold

swan2swan

I know nothing about Doctor Who lore but I feel like the Cybermen and the Daleks are both the descendents of two exes who both designed robots.

gamerphonzy

You haven’t even seen the best one yet (or at least, it wasn’t in this reblog chain):

ronworkman

Shark Culling Laws Poster

ravenworks-deactivated20210719

that is a great-ass design

hisnamewasbeanni

EXCELLENT design for an EXCELLENT message

cinquespotted

awwww-cute

Sunbathing 😍 (Source: http://ift.tt/2pdzcyp)

hydro-homies

I can relate

biggest-gaudiest-poltergeist

So today this kid yelled Nani the fuck?!? in the middle of a test and I felt compelled to share this to the world.

teachers, share the weird crap your kids have done!

ralsalot

I’m not a teacher (yet) but I do work with students and one of them had the nerve to look me dead in the eye and ask me “why would it be a bad idea for me to eat this entire marker?” They’re 11

official-lyzzystardust

An 4th grader asked for a high five by saying, “A little slappy to make daddy happy?”

I did not give him a high five.

myathesleepyoctopus

A student during break had her head in her arms and was shaking a bit, so i asked the kid next to her whether she was laughing or crying and this 8 year old stared me in the eye deadpan and said “im crying on the inside”

myathesleepyoctopus

Wait i take that back, I cant believe i forgot about the time i brought in a small stuffed octopus as a class mascot because why tf not. It was a class of high schoolers and i didnt imagine theyd actually care much, but one student snuck in a snack and gave it to the octopus as a tribute. Which led to other students doing the same thing, until every day there was a pile of of offerings to Fweej the Overseer, mostly consisting of things like string cheeses and small bags of chips, but sometimes there wouldd be a couple bucks in quarters, one kid brought in some giant pocky i think, and at one point there was a cold stone gift card. This stuffed octopus gained a cult following.

Later i brought in another stuffed octopus that looked exactly the same but bigger and told the class that Fweej the Overseer accepted their offerings and became stronger. These highschoolers lost their goddamn minds.

myathesleepyoctopus

So Ive been going through the notes of this post and it seems Fweej the Overseer is pretty popular with tumblr as well. So I dug through facebook and found photos for yall. Special thanks to @sakoyo, who was my TA and made the facebook posts, thus keeping the record and immortalizing his legacy.

Fweej lives on 🙌🐙🙌

ayellowbirds

you started a cult to a tentacled entity with a name not matching the orthography of any human language. Congrats on becoming the villain of a pulp fantasy story.