Happy New 2018 Year!

«Heroes don't die» is a Ukrainian military slogan. It fuels our spirit and keeps our fallen comrades alive in our hearts and memories. But we must also face the hard truth. In reality, heroes do die. This specific person, or another one, is suddenly gone, leaving a haunting void behind. Thus, the slogan has to remain just that, while we need to remember that heroes die, and they are dying for us. And so, it is our obligation to honor their memory by living our lives with courage and dignity, standing up to our enemy just as fiercely as our heroes did for us.

Ukrainian singer and combat medic STASIK released a new song - the lyrics are painful and the video is hard to watch without tears, but everyone should listen to and see it. The song is translated into 20 languages, so choose yours and watch.

My family just lost their "having me in their lives" privileges!

Тигроснежка и семь котиков

Тигроснежка и семь котиков

My super advanced mapmaking technique - a handful of dice makes the map nice

Ḟ̴͇͜ě̷̮̕e̴̠͕̓d̵̳̚ ̵̛̞̋m̵̩͎͋e̴͚̜̐̀.̴̬̃ ̶͎̠̒̽F̵̮̹̕ê̶̼e̷̹͘d̷̎̉͜ ̷̩̯̇ų̸̓̐ș̴̺̐̌.̸̱̇̎

Can you tell me why Frodo is so important in lotr? Why can't someone else, anyone else, carry the ring to mordor?

but someone else could.

that’s the whole point of frodo—there is nothing special about him, he’s a hobbit, he’s short and likes stories, smokes pipeweed and makes mischief, he’s a young man like other young men, except for the singularly important fact that he is the one who volunteers. there is this terrible thing that must be done, the magnitude of which no one fully understands and can never understand before it is done, but frodo says me and frodo says I will.

(when boromir is thinking of how he can use the ring to defend gondor, when aragorn is thinking of how it brought down proud isildur, when elrond is holding council and gandalf is thinking of how twisted he would become, if he ever dared—)

but then there’s frodo, who desires nothing except what he has already left behind him, and says, I will take the Ring.

it is an offer made out of absolute innocence, utter sincerity. It is made without knowing what it will make of him—and frodo loses everything to the ring, he loses peace and himself and the shire, he loses the ability to be in the world. It’s cruel, the ring is cruel, it searches out every weakness you have and feeds on it, drinks you dry and fills you with its poison instead, the ring is so cruel.

and frodo picks it up willingly. for no other reason except that it has to be done.

(the ring warps boromir into a hopeless grasping dead thing, the power of the palantir turns denethor into an old man, jealous and suspicious, it bends even saruman, once the proudest of the istari, into a mechanised warlord, sitting in his fortress and bent over his perverse creations—all the best of intentions, laid waste)

but there’s a reason gollum exists in the narrative, which is to show—well, to show what frodo might have been. because even as frodo grows mistrustful and wearied, as the burden of this ring grows heavier and heavier, he is never gollum. he is gentle to gollum. he is afraid—god frodo is so afraid for 2/3 of these books he is so tired and afraid, but he keeps moving, he walks though it would pull him into the ground, because he asked for this, he said he would.

someone else could have carried the ring to mordor, I suppose. the idea of a martyr is not dependent on the particular flesh and blood person dying for some greater purpose. but such a thing has to be chosen, lifted onto your shoulders for the right reason, the truest reasons, and followed into the dark, though it would see you burnt through and bled out.

I will take the Ring, though I do not know the way.

Fun Crafts With Dirt!!!

First, make a small hill:

Make sure it's high enough to see all of your neighbors!

Now dig a circular ditch around an area in front of your hill:

Don't forget to use that extra dirt from the ditch to make an embankment:

If you're feeling especially funky and creative you can sharpen some logs and put them on top of that embankment for a palisade:

CONGRATULATIONS! You have now made your own Motte (not the apple sauce brand, that's Mott) and Bailey castle!

Proceed to exercise your feudal authority over your neighbors at your leisure.

Microsoft Office XP assistants