the mellow tigger's musings

theme song: hey hey rise up

Tue, 12 Apr 2022 21:39:49 GMT

Pink Floyd released its first new recording in a quarter-century. They've done it in support of Ukraine, as explained in the opening titles of their video. Translated from Ukrainian, the lyrics of today's theme song are:

Oh, in the meadow a red viburnum has bent down low
For some reason, our glorious Ukraine is in sorrow
And we'll take that red viburnum and we will raise it up
And we shall cheer for our glorious Ukraine, hey, hey

I've written before about the new computer game Timberborn. The developers in Poland released a recent update expressing their support for neighboring Ukraine. They added Ukrainian language support, they added sunflowers (culturally significant) to the game, and they donated cash to a Polish humanitarian group that's helping people affected by the war. Solidarity.

In semi-related news, Mark Hamill of Star Wars fame wished a happy birthday to David Hogg on Twitter. That's the teenager now politically active after one of our (many, many) USA high school shootings that left his classmates dead. He's been encouraging his next generation of voters to demand sensible gun laws.

"For David: [cake emoji] Keep fighting the good fight."
- twitter, Mark Hamill

Dare this old Occupier hope that change may finally be in the wind? Is the resistance against old persistent problems now rising up and organizing? "Hey, hey, rise up."

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Bucha

Sun, 03 Apr 2022 15:04:17 GMT

I just can't any more.

The story, the pictures thread, the video.

Genocide in Europe, and amongst people hoping for unity. "Never again", my hairy ass.

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a few thoughts on Ukraine

Thu, 24 Mar 2022 14:20:00 GMT

It's been a month since my last post about the war in Ukraine. I've learned a few things since then.

First, I read a very good account explaining why this invasion is happening at all. Sorry, I've tried to retrieve the article/post I saw with this theory, but I can't find it again. It's about how Putin's aggression is similar to Hitler's but with a twist. While Nazism defined the self-vs-other in an objectively clear way, Putin is doing the same thing but in a situational way. Putin wants to unify the Russian people... as he sees them. When anybody declares that they don't want to be part of that unity, they instantly become the "other" that threatens the success of his goal and the purity of his "self". He must harshly subjugate their opposition (both Ukrainian and internal Russian) to contain the threat against purity. Nazism, with a twist.

Second, I think I understand why this invasion is happening now. The Russian invasion of Ukraine in 2014 was because of fossil fuel, allowing Putin to seize 80% of Ukraine's deposits. (Reminder: It is likely that Trump profited financially from the political aftermath while removing sanctions against this imperialistic invasion.) I've also seen claims that Ukraine was heavily taxing pipeline profits of fuel flowing from Russian oilfields to Europe which motivated construction of a new pipeline to the north. This Russian invasion of Ukraine in 2022, however, is because of water. Sure, it would've been better for Putin if Trump was in the White House, but I think Putin had to commit to the invasion anyway. The Crimean peninsula depends heavily on fresh water from Ukraine, which they were keeping to themselves, which led to this invasion just as predicted.

Third, I continue to be intrigued by the European response to this war. I think people are mistakenly pursuing a theory of racism here. There are useful criticisms of hypocrisy, yes, but that's not the main motivator in this case. I think the cause of European unity is much simpler and more visceral. Watch this data visualization from 5 years ago.

It's almost 20 minutes, but this award-winning video is very compelling. It was created long before this war, and I think it adequately explains this year's reaction. Europe has strong opinions about war within its boundary.

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a songwriter's praise

Tue, 08 Mar 2022 14:48:08 GMT

I had my first dream of 2022 last night. I won't describe it as I usually do. The only person in it that I recognized is someone I had a crush on and who died over 3.5 decades ago. I know I'm stressed out at the many continuing and new crises, but my brain is reaching rather far back to find some kind of reassurance.

Instead, do you remember the famous and reassuring song "Let It Go" from Frozen? One of the songwriters tweeted a recognition and encouragement to the young girl singing it to other children in a bomb shelter in Ukraine. Please give a like to that tweet and the original video source on Twitter. I suppose everyone needs at least a small measure of empathetic peace these days.

Meanwhile, today marks the first day of me burning up lots of accumulated vacation days. I'm not working for the rest of this month. I suppose I need to get my house cleared of junk, so it's easier to move soon. Just in case. I probably won't do that prep work today though. I'll probably play some computer games to soothe my own mind, steeling myself for the results of the Minneapolis "2020 Civil Unrest After Action Review" at 1:30pm, then go see what I can do to support the local teachers strike that starts today, besides just signing their petition this morning.

I just don't have any attention/stability to spare for the protests in Florida or the refugees fleeing Texas. (Remember Texas?)

Good luck, everyone.

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the red crystal

Sat, 05 Mar 2022 16:09:08 GMT

I learned today that "The Red Cross" (as an organization) actually has 3 different international symbols. It uses the red cross and the red crescent, both of which have subtle-to-overt religious significance, but it also has the red crystal.

I was following a news link from a Steam game that I've played, "This War of Mine". It's a game developed in Poland and inspired by the war in Bosnia, trying to highlight the horrors of civilian life in wartime. Their news post on Steam used the hashtag #FuckTheWar. Pursuing that charity topic is how I eventually learned of this other symbol.

I now favor use of the red crystal exclusively. I don't know about other countries, but here in the USA the red cross (as a symbol) is plastered over nearly any first aid resource. It is useful that way. Use of the red crystal would instead be unique to the organization which is recognized globally with protective status during warfare.

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theme song: Солдат (Soldier)

Tue, 01 Mar 2022 01:29:34 GMT

This future is weird. Not just the usual stuff I complain about, like humanity being on the verge of free economic production, thanks to robots, AI, and other technologies... yet rather than give everyone displaced by automation a free basic income, regressives try to keep that genie in the bottle by insisting that every human simply must work at a job or else their life is worthless. Very weird. Wait, what was I talking about?

No, I mean the stuff just as it relates to Ukraine these days. For instance, the world's largest cargo plane (made in Ukraine) once delivered much-needed medical supplies to the USA early in the pandemic, even after you-know-who called the Ukrainians "terrible people". Well, Putin has now destroyed that plane on the ground. Weird coincidence, isn't it?

Now suppose that you, a random citizen with no special training, capture a Russian tank. How do you drive it? Well, TikTok is here with a quick tutorial. So now you know how to drive it. Weird that such a thing would be relevant to the world, right?

So here for today's theme song is a strange, depressing, but lovely Ukrainian reggae song from 5'nizza to commemorate all of the unnecessary death happening this week in Ukraine in our 21st-century world of tomorrow. It's actually from 2002, but it is newly relevant, with a mixture of both the Ukrainian language and a bit of English.

The full lyrics are just too depressing and stressful, so I'll stick with the notable ending plea here:

I'm a soldier / Unborn child of war
I'm a soldier / Mom, take care of my wounds
I'm a soldier / Soldier of a country forgotten by God
I'm a hero / Tell me of which novel

I don't understand the native language lyrics, but the music is really nice. War is such a pointless waste of resources better spent on the advancement of humanity and fulfilling the human experience. This song seems to express that meaning in a roundabout way.

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about Ukraine and authoritarianism

Sat, 26 Feb 2022 14:55:38 GMT

I find it curious how the USA in particular is rooting so loudly for Ukraine, when similar conflicts around the globe have merited a collective shrug. I think maybe it's because of Trump.

Seriously.

Do you remember this photo (which then-president Trump actually tweeted)? I dislike Nancy Pelosi, but it was this meeting when she warned everyone at the table, "With you, all roads lead to Putin."
Do you remember Trump's impeachment? The first one? In that fiasco, Trump tried to convince everyone that somehow Ukraine (/Democrats) and not Russia (/Republicans) was behind interference in the 2016 USA election process.
Do you remember what other countries saw in Trump's warping of reality as it happened back then? When German chancellor Angela Merkel was photographed in a similar stand off with Trump, the former prime minister of Belgium subtitled that photograph with, "Just tell us what Vladimir has on you. Maybe we can help."
Do you remember when Trump dismissed NATO while meeting with Putin and suggesting the USA should just leave NATO behind?

With that background on the corrupt USA politicians trying to support Putin taking over Ukraine, we also get to add Ukrainian local resistance this week. Everyone here likes an underdog, and Ukrainians certainly are plucky underdogs.

Did you see the old lady confronting armed soldiers and telling them to take seeds from her, so their corpses would at least grow sunflowers on Ukrainian soil?
Did you see the soldiers on the small outpost about to be annihilated nevertheless tell their invaders, "Russian warship, go fuck yourself"?
~~Did you see the photographs of the "ghost of Kyiv" in flight, downing Russian planes and suggesting echoes of World War I ace pilot skills?~~
Did you see the 80-year-old grandfather (along with other civilians) who volunteered for military service, bringing with him some sandwiches and toothbrush?
Did you see the sailor who blew up Henichny Road Bridge (and himself) to slow the advance of the invading troops in the south?
Did you see their president Zelensky tell the USA that he needs ammunition, not an escape route.

So, I think the world is just grateful that Ukraine is taking a decisive stand against the authoritarianism that the West has failed to contain, both in the USA and elsewhere. Collective guilty conscience, maybe, but still a very important local fight. NATO has very judiciously withheld its military involvement because Ukraine is not yet part of NATO, so they are sticking with the letter of their rules. Their reluctance maybe helps to postpone World War III. What Biden has done so far is certainly better than nothing, but it still seems like weaksauce.

If Ukraine still stands independent 1 week from now, then I think their odds improve greatly of remaining the nation they are today. I wish them success in resisting authoritarianism.

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