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this is the most important thing that happened in eurovision 2023

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Anyone else out there reflecting on this?

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the funniest thing in the entire pirates of the caribbean series is definitely that one scene in At World’s End where they have parlay but davy jones is part of it, and rather than have him stand in the shallows or something they get a big bucket of water and have in stand on it on shore

who thought of that idea? who thought “put davy jones in a bucket of water” and had the guts to suggest it aloud? and then who went “hey that sounds like a great idea!”

at some point someone told davy jones their idea was for him to stand in a bucket of water and he agreed to it

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The male pufferfish tries to impress potential mates with his masterpiece. Source: BBC Earth

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Squirrel makes a home outside a window and then moves the family in over the cold months 

(Source)

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Welcome to Australia! Where a fast food restaurant literally made a mirrored reflective sea-gull proof packet for their fries so they don’t god damn try to fly down and steal your fries.

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Alright was no one going to tell me that in the middle of the Nevada desert is an old cemetery that contains the bodies of a bunch of miners who died in a fire and next door is a haunted clown motel

Why are we still setting horror movies in generic Victorian houses in the woods when this is a real place in the world

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have you guys ever seen the lord of the rings

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"the fuck is happening in ukraine??" for the ignorant [23feb22]

THIS IS NOT EXHAUSTIVE. I have left out happenings. As I typed this more movement was reported. This is happening NOW.

Here is a map of Ukrainian oblasts (regions)

Direct your eyeballs to the eastern (that's on the right of the map) oblasts of Donetsk and Luhansk. These two oblasts make up the Donets Coal Basin, or Donbas region, of Ukraine. coal coal coal.

Hold them in your mind.

On this map above you can see an outline of the Russian separatist-controlled area of Eastern Ukraine. Please note that the Russian separatist-controlled area is not analogous to the oblasts of Donetsk and Luhansk. When on 21 February 2022 Putin declared recognition of the Donetsk People's Republic (DNR) and Luhansk People's Republic (LNR) as independent, we did not know if he meant just those cities and the surrounding Russian separatist-controlled areas OR the entirety of the oblasts. Where these borders are is incredibly important because Putin will use any excuse to declare a Ukrainian provocation. This ambiguity is to his advantage. [This is besides the fact that Putin has no fucking right to declare any of this land independent, or take any of it for Russia in the coming days.]

The Russian separatists, of course, claim the entirety of the oblasts, and Putin recognizes those claims. Russia has come to the "aid" of the separatists to defend against Ukrainian "aggression."

Tonight (23 February 2022), President Zelenskyy of Ukraine tried to speak to Putin on the phone, but was rebuffed. He gave a brief update to his people in Ukrainian, and then a long speech to the Russian people in Russian. Below is text of a translation of that speech from Max Seddon on twitter [thread starts here, good follow]:

We are divided by a shared border of more than 2,000 kilometers. Almost 200,000 of your troops and thousands of military vehicles are standing alongside it. Your leadership has ordered them to move forward, onto another country's territory. This step could be the start of a big war on the European continent. The whole world is talking about what could happen any day now. Any provocation. Any flare-up – one that could burn everything.

They're telling you that this flame will liberate the people of Ukraine, but the Ukrainian people are free. They remember their past and are building their future. Ukraine on your TV news and the real Ukraine are two totally different countries. Ours is real.

There is more, click above link to read.

Russia is going to invade Ukraine, and not just the Russian separatist-controlled regions that were recently declared independent republics by Putin. This is colonization. Ukraine has a rich history and culture separate from Russia (its history and culture is MUCH OLDER than that of Russia, even). Putin denies this and claims that Ukraine is Russian. This is false and ahistorical.

(But why are there so many Russian-speakers in Donetsk and Luhansk? Well perhaps because the Soviets committed genocide in the 1930s and purposely starved millions of Ukrainians so that ethnic Russians could move onto their land. Search "Holodomor" if this is new information to you.)

The UN Security Council has called an emergency meeting for 9:30pm EST (I'm posting this at 7:22 PM EST)

The mayor of Kyiv, Vitaly Klitschko, has declared an emergency.

Airports are closed in Eastern Ukraine.

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Obviously, I hope that everyone in Ukraine stays safe and Ukrainians deserve all of our support right now but I also wanted to say that my heart goes out to all people in Eastern Europe and Central Asia who have been living with the fear of Russian intervention for years and now see their worst fears come true. I see so many posts about how "we shouldn't worry as Westerners because the war will not affect us directly" and while this is absolutely true, I wanted to take a second to acknowledge those who do have to live with the fear that it might affect them directly. I don't have anything more to offer than words and it's not worth much but if you are from Poland, Estonia, Kazakhstan or any other country close to Russia or Ukraine and you are afraid because you don't know what the current events means for the future of your country, I am with you in thought and sending you a warm hug with this post.

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There’s happiness and then there’s realizing that the last ten pages of a scientific paper are just the bibliography.