Be Excellent To Each Other

I've never seen the Kiwi animation before, just watched it now on YouTube, it's beautiful and heart-breaking in equal measures.

Thank you for introducing it to me, it's worth the tears.

It’s beautiful, isn’t it? I cried thinking about it twice yesterday, because I had written about it here, and I can feel myself going again.

There’s something about that one moment of fulfilment, knowing that is it, that is all. That deep sigh as *this* is the experience and you are going to just let it happen and live that moment.

I don’t know if there’s something wrong with me but I’m crying like a baby because I’ve started thinking about it now and can’t get a hold of myself and it is a CARTOON. I know my empathy meter is dialled up too high but I really have trouble moving on from things I have seen.

I’ll never forgive the person who called a few of us over to watch something on his screen which I assumed was something fun and interesting but was a man getting electrocuted on the top of a train and I’m pretty sure he dies immediately. Taking to Russell a couple last night he said it’s an infamous video that circulated around at one point, but it haunts me and I think of it often (stupid things bring it to the forefront of my mind. Overhead power lines, the sound of a train going by, pictures of a crowd). Not every time I see/hear these things but often enough for it to be a ‘problem’.

Anyway. I’m going to go and watch the Tom Holland lip sync video because it’s the only thing that makes sense in the world now.



Lol, was in my clipboard because I sent it to my mother today.

I hope it’s ok posted there, just in case people need a break from the unprecedented times stuff. Something we’ve all seen a thousand times and which never stops being pure joy.

Right, I'm off to listen to some Placebo now.

Mimi, you're not alone there. I have a terrible memory usually, and I don't visualise things in my mind the same way most other people do, but there are some things I've seen (mostly on the internet) that have stuck in my brain and will sit with me forever. I only need to recall them for a second to endlessly cry.

That’s reassuring that it’s normal and I’m not broken, at least.

Or, we’re two sad broken peeps.

It might be the latter, but I'm fully ok with that

At the school's in invitation, BigOne and The Baby attended today in yellow and blue today, in a gesture of support for the Ukraine, which is about one hundred times more than the government has done for those that live there trying to get to safety.

Not overly happy with an aircraft carrier publicly parked up two miles from my front door, to be honest.

Are they blocking the gate?

The Mersey might have HMS Queen Elizabeth but Plymouth sound has these beauties!

https://twitter.com/Rockhoppas/status/1 ... 1537134603

Impressive naval kit in the Sound with @RFATiderace @HMSSomerset and @hms_tyne - @NavyLookout #EsplanadeLife pic.twitter.com/IEYM143bpk

— Kevin Kelway (@Rockhoppas) March 26, 2022

"Those responsible"

Oh look, it's the Comedian and the President.

There's some things that the UK hasn't done right over this - the Homes for Ukraine scheme is a good idea in principle, but the implementation has been slow and confusing for those using it is one example. Liz Truss is another.

On the whole though, I don't think it's been too bad. Our government have been very clear in the condemnation of Russian actions, pushed for severe sanctions and have provided both financial and (plenty of) military aid, while managing to not escalate this into a wider conflict. The public have also been very generous in their fund raising and opening their homes.

Boris is still a dick, but being seen there *does* make a difference and it shows that even he has some situations when he'll comb his hair.

I'm no Johnson fan, but him going to Kyiv and walking the streets does make a point - the Russians tried to capture it and now the PM's there taking a stroll and chatting to market traders, because they failed.

Military aid for Ukraine is, in my opinion, is absolutely right. It's the morally right thing to do, as well as being a thing utterly in the UKs best interest. 100 million quids worth of missiles are honestly not a big deal in the UK budget, but they might honestly make a difference in this war, and the future of Europe as a whole.

Russia’s flagship of the Black Sea fleet has spontaneously caught fire and exploded a bit, then sank due to a storm while being towed back to port.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-61114843

It definitely wasn’t hit by Ukrainian missiles….

Russian warship went and fucked itself.

Either it was sunk by the Ukrainians or by Russian blunders. Neither is a good look for Putin

Here's a bit of doomsday thinking for a Good Friday.

"We" are going to have to be careful with Putin - I can count these barrels he might think he has us over

* Fossil fuels
* Colossal military capability
* State sponsored cyber terrorism
* Lots of oligarchy money in all the places
* Nukes

He's clearly insane and delusional, and/or nobody is willing to tell him how badly it's going in Ukraine so he won't just stop but

* Everyone's getting off his fossil fuels
* Everyone's cutting off his money
* His military is apparently not very good
* If the fuel and money are cut off it's easy to cut Russia off the internet
* So nukes it is then?

I'm not sure if he has completely unchallenged authority to end the world. Just got to hope there's some kind of a backstop there.

I think I’d be relying more on their missiles being as good as their ships and tanks, than an outbreak of morality in the Russian military.

oh, that was careless of him

<Look to camera>

Can't really see this war ending anytime soon. When winter comes I assume everyone will hunker down and restart in spring.

Figured soon as Ukraine held the line that the war would be two years at least, if Putin didn't suddenly back out. A few weeks until mud season starts in Ukraine, which will stop any offensives. Then winter, when the ground hardens and you can operate again. Then comes mud season again in February/ March which incredibly Putin decided to invade in. Fingers very much crossed Ukraine can retake Kherson in the next few weeks. It would help them strengthen their lines

Agree with both. I also think Putin is counting on the west losing interest in supporting Ukraine to the extend it's already done, especially as domestic conditions get worse and the usual suspects start complaining about how much it's costing.

Looks like the Ukrainian offensive in the Kharkov region has completely taken the Russians by surprise. The repeated announcements of the Kherson offensive, the US chiming in that they hoped Ukraine would be cautious and not push too far too fast there, the ostentatious use of HIMARs in the Kherson region and repeated cries for social media to respect OPSEC and not post about troop movements in the area all appeared to fool the Russians (and me) that the main effort would be there. So Russian rushed twenty thousand troops in reinforcements to Kherson, and the Ukranians blew the bridges behind them trapping them there. Then Ukraine started its real offensive, in the Kharkiv oblast.

Five days on and it seems that Russian forces are retreating faster than the map-makers can redraw the lines. They've retaken Izyum, have pushed up to the Oskil River and seized the crossings of Kyp'yans'k. Sen'kove and Oskil and have even retaken Lyman. It's becoming apparent that a complete collapse of the Russian army in that sector has occurred. Forces North of Kharkiv have pushed the Russians back to within 7km of their border in places. Now it appears that the Russian high command has ordered a complete withdraw of troops from the Kharkiv Oblast into the 'people's republic' districts of Luhansk and Donetsk.

The next few days in both Ukraine and Russia are going to be extremely interesting.

https://www.flightradar24.com/2022-10-2 ... 1/2dec83b3

RAF spy plane toddling about the Black Sea with a couple of RAF Typhoon fighter friends along for the trip. Looks like we've decided it's not safe for spyplanes without an escort.

Also interesting, if you're that sort of nerd, is to rewind time on that site and watch the fighters meet up with an in-air refueler a little while back.

Reports that the Russians are pulling out of Kherson. Hopefully all the way back to Russia.

With all their obvious bullshit claims that Ukraine are going to use dirty bombs, this feels like the most obvious preparation for an Akbar.jpg style trap. Fall back, wait for the UA to move in and blow stuff up.

Grim relief that it was most likely a Ukrainian SAM killing people in Poland, eh?

At least the Ukrainians will send a sorry card ("whoops, our bad") and a fruit basket over.

This has taken a bizarre but not entirely unpredictable turn, with Prigozhin deciding to invade Russia from Ukraine
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/live/world-europe-66006142

On one hand, this gives a huge opportunity for Ukraine to regain its territory.
On the other, this could get very messy very quickly.

I suppose an outcome that could be considered favourable is a collapse of Russian morale and a retreat from the front lines; Ukraine gets its borders back and returns to the hyper capitalist corrupt state it was before.

And another perfect phone call from Mr Trump.

These warlords aren't exactly the nicest of people.

My MSc thesis was on 'Friendly blowback', supposedly all about the dangers of employing mercenaries. Frankly, after the title I half-arsed it, and me wishing I'd in any way suggested this sort of thing might be happening is the wishiest of wishful thinking. But gosh, that title fits.

It's clear they've never played Subterfuge.

Wagner are totally going to gift those troops right before they reach Rostov

:hugs:

I was hoping to see Wagner's tanks driving into Moscow with Ride of the Valkyries blasting out of some hastily welded on Tannoys, but it's not going to happen now.

This sort of thing is a touch worrying though, I don;t know how close these guys got, but what's to stop another group trying/doing this again in future - and if they get their hands on the nukes it's probably time for a lot of pant-shitting.

Well the guy who currently has his hands on them isn't exactly confidence inspiring. The upside is that 50% of the nukes they have won't work and somebody will have stolen the fissile material out of most of the other 50% and sold it to Iran.

It's fair to say that the current situation with one man in charge of them is quite scary, but if the whole country ends up destabilised and it ends up with a number of groups making power-grabs it could end up with loads of nutters with nukes and that's even scarier.



I reckon, yeah, that does seem quite likely but I'm not sure how much I'd want to rely on them fizzling out instead of going with a bang.

Vlad's getting a bit bored of Novichok apparently.

I’m surprised it took that long

Style and panache.