tagged by @cameoappearance and oh wow
i have never been A Tag
excite!
Relationship: Yee, she a good we a good. Currently LDR, but that’s because she’s studying abroad like a nerd and I’m stuck on the east coast.
Favorite Color: Eh, not really particular on these. Colors are cool. Ostensibly it’s blue but, again, eh?
Pets: Ain’t got none, college don’t allow none. Have a cat at home, would like to continue having a cat once I am allowed to have a cat consistently.
Wake up to: Being 15 minutes late for class. Or the sun rising. There is no in between.
Cats or Dogs: Cats, but dogs are fine? As long as they are not large. I am slightly terrified of larger dogs. Small yippy dogs are also terrifying, but in a different, more visceral manner.
Coke or Pepsi: There is a difference, but I do not care. Vanilla Coke, but Cherry Pepsi.
Day or Night: People have a preference? Idk man, as long as I have friends to chat to if I’m awake or shit to do.
Text or Call: I mean, I guess instant messaging counts as texting. I usually prefer text because it allows me to order my thoughts better and not sound like a total dumbass. Doesn’t really stop me but whatever.
Lipstick or Chapstick: I use neither, as I do not wear makeup and my lips generally do not chap. Chapstick, I guess?
City or Country: One’s got wifi and it ain’t the one with the trees.
Last Book I Read: Counting rulebooks? Promethean: The Created corebook. Not counting rulebooks...uhhhhh...I forget the name. It was sweet and had almost-lesbians, which makes me sad because I was pulling for the lesbians. But it was well written and otherwise interesting and I can imagine that they were poly instead, so it’s ok.
Last Song I Listened To: Wayfaring Stranger, sung by Betsy Lee and Co. This particular version is a rendition from Betsy’s youtube series called No Evil. It’s cool, check it out, well researched Native and Central American mythology with interesting spins on just about everything. I like it a lot. Maybe too much. I should rewatch it for the umpteenth time.
Last Movie I Watched: Probably Kubo and the Two Strings? It’s the last one I remember watching at least. Almost rewatched Spirit: Stallion of the Cimarron. Good movie about horses and the taming of the West.
Top 3 TV Shows: Avatar the Last Airbender, and beyond that I don’t TV much these days and haven’t gotten an opportunity to rate anything.
Ain’t nobody awake, so w/e
I got to do a thing and I am happy with that \o/
A friend of mine posted this on a different site not too long ago, and I wanted to share it here.
Ukraine. This is an essay of about 1,100 words :P
First of all, to understand the Ukraine conflict, it is very important to understand the geopolitical framework around it and the interests of the parties involved. There are reasons behind everything a politician or a diplomat says, does not say, shows, or does not show. Those reasons may or may not be in accordance with national or international law, your cultural frame of reference, or generally accepted customs. Many governments - and media organizations - use this to their advantage, some do so more than others. For example, part of Russia's cultural identity is hating the group of norms and values that are generally considered to be "Western", while certain Western news outlets lean towards a certain kind of ideology in their reporting and influence media consumers in doing so. Government and media organizations in states with military and/or economic dominance tend to use strategic public diplomacy more than other nations.
Public diplomacy, influencing the average Joe, is an important part of international relations nowadays. Do not assume that everything a government or media organization says or shows, is a fact. Especially when the topic is conflict or otherwise related to sensationalism-prone issues, journalists tend to overstate things and government officials like to feed sensationalist info, usually without offering factual evidence, to journalists to influence public opinion because it allows them to ensure a certain degree of public support for certain decisions they expect have to be made in future.
Ukraine is a very clear example of information warfare and varying interests of groups and states. A variety of states and international organizations have certain opinions on certain issues, spewing out all kinds of opinions to the media. Very few of what you hear and see about the Ukraine conflict are facts, most of it are “facts” not backed up by evidence, “facts” with classified, non-public evidence, and opinions. That’s a very dangerous thing, especially in a society where it is very easy to influence large groups of people.
So, make sure you make some effort to separate fact from opinion and ensure you know the interests of all parties involved. Sorry for the wall of text, I felt I had to write this introduction given the sensitivity of the issue.
The Russian government has a policy of trying to protect those it feels are within or should be within the Russian sphere of influence. That basically means all former USSR states excluding EU member states and, to a certain degree, non-EU NATO member states. By “protecting”, the Russian government really means it is of the opinion that the sovereign state of the Russian Federation has the right to protect those using the Russian language and Russian culture. In reality, this definition is broadened according to the government’s needs. Whether international law recognizes this, I do not know for sure; what I do know for sure, though, is that intervention by another state which seeks to protect a certain group of people because of language or culture is not allowed during peacetime. If, however, armed separatists have been active prior to the other sovereign state’s intervention and the situation can be considered a (regional) civil war, it’s less clear whether or not this would be allowed under current international law. I suppose Russian lawyers are aware of this.
The Putin government has been trying to expand its power for some time. For example, we’ve witnessed several interventions in other countries’ affairs in the past few years, Russia trying to pressure countries through Gazprom, and pressuring foreign diplomats through intimidation and blackmail.
The majority of Russians believe that Russia should rule the world. I know that may sound ridiculous to many of you, but that’s the way most Russians think - propaganda and school books with half-truths do a lot to how you think, especially if you do believe 99% of what state-sponsored TV tells you. Russian news in general is anti-Western-everything and quite aggressive. Note that for most Russians, TV is the primary news source and very few Russians ever see, let alone talk to, people from other countries. The Russian culture in general is very conservative. Younger Russians are more and more willing to question what the mainstream Russian media tells them, but almost all other Russians don’t really bother to question anything.
As a direct result of what many Russians believe, interfering in another sovereign state’s affairs to protect minority groups who speak Russian is an awesome way to boost your popularity at home if you happen to be a Russian politician. For example, Putin’s approval rating increased from 60-ish percent before the Crimea crisis to 71% this week. A great majority of Russians seem to believe Putin’s intervention in Crimea was the right thing to do, supporting the separatists is somewhat OK and MH17 was definitely downed by the Ukrainian military.
Let’s travel back to where almost all - if not all - SLU members live: what Russians see as “the angry, aggressive West”. Most of us learn to question things at school. We are in a privileged position where we can just as easily read the South China Morning Post as we can Le Monde or the New York Times. Our view is not only shaped by what one or several broadcasters tell us. Most of us rather enjoy being able to talk to people located across the Atlantic and would certainly not want our governments to declare war on each other (I hope!).
From our point of view, our ability to read whatever we want, question whatever we want and sue the hell out of government agencies to ensure they make public certain documents and do so without fear of being sent to some distant labor camp, the actions of the Russian Federation in Crimea and their support of the separatists, considering the facts, seem awkward at best.
Has Russia invaded Ukraine? That question is now - too - part of the global information war. What we do know for sure is that Russia has provided some kind of training to separatists and that some of the separatist leaders are, in fact, Russians. We know Russia has a large military force near the border with Ukraine. The evidence backing up the claim of Russian military vehicles crossing the border is quite solid now, that I know. The alleged 1,000 Russians operating in Ukraine, I am not sure whether or not that’s true. I hope that more facts, supported by evidence, will pop up.
Are Russia’s actions good for advancing the state of the world? Generally, no, although I do see closer cooperation within the EU and long-overdue support for increasing defense spending in EU member states.
-Written by the one I know as Grolsch, who's job ties him somewhat to the current events in Ukraine
It is 4:30 AM on the East Coast and I am reblogging various pictures of a troll who killed hundreds/thousands/however many admittedly already-dead trolls from doomed timelines to further her own goals which just so happened to be the best plan any of them could come up with at the time before Aranea fucked everything up and even then Aranea was doing the majority of the controlling of the ghosties and...yeah this is getting out of hand
A LIST!
1. It's 4:30 AM on the East Coast
2. I am reblogging pictures of a troll
3. Said troll caused the deaths of hundreds/thousands of already-dead trolls from doomed timelines
4. Aranea did most of the controlling
5. Vriska didn't really feel bad about "killing" the ghosts
6. Vriska did feel bad about how she acted as a kid and losing friends over the whole ghost-killing fiasco
7. Vriska feels damn comfortable with everything else because fuck you I'm trying to save literally all of fucking existence okay and if you don't like my methods good like trying to figure something else out
8. Vriska had a fucking fantastic character development and you can't tell me shit
