The crazy bonk scout!

[The crazy bonk scout!]

[frikiskrew]

Audio On

[samuraiknight-1600]

I’m dying!!! X,D 

[The crazy bonk scout!]

Scammer Targeting Tumblr Artists

[qbalchemist]

The title says it all really. So if nothing else, please share and reblog this post to raise awareness for those that might be caught out - both artists and followers.
For a TL:DR, please look at the bottom of the post

What is happening?

Right now, there is at least one person actively impersonating multiple artists across tumblr in an effort to scam their followers into paying for fake ‘cheap commissions’. The scammer will clone a tumblr, usually using a slight change to the url/account name to look like the real deal. They will then message people directly through Tumblr with messages along the lines of “Hey, i’m doing cheap commissions right now. DM me to get one”. Naturally, this is ends up just being a way to take their money without giving anything back in return.

Who does this affect?

Everyone. Simple as that. As long as the scammer in question works unopposed, they are free to spread their influence and continue to scam more people. Even if you haven’t been targeted yet, it does not mean you are safe or immune.

Several artists have already fallen victim to this scammer, and I encourage any artists that have to reblog this post with the details of their affected account(s) and the ones the scammer has set up.

How can we stop this?

Tumblr, like many other social media platforms, seems to care very little about ‘minor’ occurences like this one, and despite reaching out directly to them over a week ago through multiple avenues of contact - they have refused to comment on the situation, provide a recommended response for users, or take action on behalf of those already affected.
Despite this, there are still tools at our disposal that we can use to make this scam more difficult, and to increase its visibility to those within Tumblr staff that are required by policy to take action.

Tumblr has the following to say on the topic of impersonation: Confusion or Impersonation. Don’t do things that would cause confusion between you or your blog and a person or company, like registering a deliberately confusing URL. Don’t impersonate anyone. While you’re free to ridicule, parody, or marvel at the alien beauty of Benedict Cumberbatch, you can’t pretend to actually be Benedict Cumberbatch. They then provide a link to this online form that you can fill out if you suspect someone’s identity is being confused. Unfortunately, this can only be filled out if you are the victim of impersonation. In other words, only the artists can fill this out legitimately.

So, what about the followers and users of tumblr whom aren’t being impersonated?
Our most valuable tool in this online platform is the platform itself. It enables us to spread our word near-virally across all the many sub-communities on Tumblr with remarkable efficiency for a user-driven system. We can take advantage of that effect to increase awareness of the situation. Even if you - the one reading this right now - aren’t an artist or don’t know an artist, the act of reblogging this post or sharing it directly with friends improves it’s ‘ranking’ in popularity increasing its chances to be seen by more people.

We don’t need everyone on Tumblr to see the post for it to be effective, just like we don’t need the entirety of the human population of the world to be immune to a disease for that disease to be rendered ineffective or eradicated. If enough people are aware, the likelihood of pulling off a successful scam increases dramatically reducing efficiency to a point that it no longer becomes profitable to continue.

Why should I care?

It disheartens me to say this, but of the many artists I contacted directly over the past week to warn about this issue many of them refused to listen or dodged the responsibility with lines like;

“I’m not being impersonated, so it doesn’t affect me”

“I’m just one person. I can’t make an impact”

“I need to take care of my community. Other people can look after theirs”

This is honestly disappointing that so many artists or art-rebloggers care so little as to intentionally wave the responsibility of keeping their followers and fellow artists safe from this, that they cannot spare 10 seconds of their time to share an informative post.
I’m not here to bash artists, but it is time that everyone takes responsibility for their own communities, and of those around them.

Artists: You have a responsibility to ensure that your followers and fans aren’t being abused by someone who may impersonate you. If they succeed, your reputation will be damaged, and your followers will resent you. Your followers are also almost guaranteed to be following other artists meaning your efforts can spread beyond your own circle of influence, so don’t be naive when you think you have little effect.
Followers: You have just as much responsibility to be aware of those that might try to scam you or your fellow followers. Don’t just sit in silence when you see something wrong: Ignoring the issue only makes it more resilient to our efforts to stop it. You are the vocal majority if you just use your voices to be heard!

TL:DR

A scammer is impersonating artists and scamming money from their followers under the guise of ‘cheap commissions’. If we ignore the issue, it will get worse.
Every single person that reads this can afford to spend just 10 seconds to reblog and share this post. Those 10 seconds can save others from being scammed for hundreds of dollars.
Reblog & Share

[seiiartworks]

Spreading this just in case someone impersonate me. I never had to randomly go and tell to my followers that i’m open for commissions.

[plaganest]

Just in case. i will never dm you about cheap commissions because im stingy as fuck. but then again if i offer deals, they will be announced on my blog , not personally or with dm’s

[speedyssketchbook]

I work on a “you come to me for art” kind of thing. If for whatever reason I come to you for stuff I’m doing, well there you go. That ain’t me.

[starrywyvern]

Not sure how true this is, but full disclosure:

I never contact people in order to advertise my commissions.  My commissions are strictly advertised through my own personal posts and my commissions page.  I don’t send DMs, I don’t send asks, I don’t send submissions or anything like that.  I don’t solicit people directly for commissions, and I don’t contact people about flat rates.  First off, you have explicitly to fill out an order form before I ever contact you personally about a commission, and it will be via the e-mail you provide on your commission form and not via a social media platform.  Second, I haven’t charged flat rates in years; I wouldn’t be able to tell you up front if a commission is going to be cheap to advertise it that way anyways, as I price on an hourly basis.  I don’t charge upfront as a result of this.  Additionally, I send constant WIP updates to my clients before I EVER have you send even so much as a penny.

So, if you receive solicitation from “me” prior to having filled out one of my order form whether it’s asking if you want a commission or if it’s talking about flat rates/cheap prices, it is NOT me.

[The crazy bonk scout!]

FINNISH CIVIL WAR

100 years ago. the newly independent nation of Finland was thrown into a civil war when a power struggle between the left and right following the separation from Russia led to an armed revolt by Finnish communists. 

On January 27th Civil war broke out between 2 sides who fought for control of Finland’s future. the red guard forces comprising of left socialists and communists, and the white guard forces comprising of anti socialists. basically a Finnish version of the ongoing Russian civil war.
In the start it went well for the Reds as they quickly took control of most of the southern part of Finland including it’s industriell and the capitol Helsinki. But the whites would regroup and strike back.

Despite their good start, being armed with Russian weapons and at the time strategic advantage early on in the war, the odds were against the Reds who had no real professional army and no real military leadership while the whites were well led by professional military leaders, one of those military leaders being none other than Gustaf Emil Mannerheim, the man who would command Finlands defense in the winter war.
In February the reds launched their offensive on the white forces which in the end was unsuccessful.
By February the white army was supported by more professional soldiers consisting of volunteers that were veterans of the ongoing great war, Swedish jaegers and anti communists trained by the german army and by march the whites had direct support by the german empire who sent both aid to the white finns and a force of 14000 soldiers who landed in southern Finland and retook Helsinki from the reds and occupied most of the southern coast, at the same time the reds were losing ground to the whites all over Finland.
initially the germans were hesitant to aid Finland as they has just signed a peace treaty with the Russian Bolshevik government, but in march communication was broken between the 2 nation and at the same time the Bolsheviks urged an armed uprising in Germany, This threw away the germans hesitation and they sent open aid to the white finns.
The reds continued to fight the whites, but at this point it was a pointless struggle, but they resisted until may when a white victory was declared, The reds were officially defeated.  

The war claimed over 36000 people. A whole percent of the total Finnish population died in the civil war, and though the Whites won control, Finland remained divided, As there was arguing of what the future government should be, initially it was planned that Finland would become a monarchy under a german born king, but Germany’s defeat in ww1 canceled those plans as the german monarchy was ousted, instead Finland became a republic which was declared in 1919. But Finland’s politics remained divided for decades but tensions slowed down in the 30’s.

In the war both sides committed war crimes. But the whites were the biggest butchers in the war (seeing that like 4 times as many reds and red supporters died compared to the whites), initiation what is today refereed as the white terror in which thousands of reds and suspected red supporters were murdered by white supporters, this brutal slaughter was justified by both sides as both sides committed atrocities in the claim of securing their territory, eliminating hostiles and attempts to demoralize the other side.  
It was not until the 60’s that the white terror was acknowledged by the finish government.

[The crazy bonk scout!]

100 years ago. On november 10, the infamous battle of passchendaele which claimed almost a million casualties officially ended. But despite the pointless bloodshed little was achieved, and the bloodshed would continue for yet another year.   

Made in Gmod 

TF2 belongs to Valve

[The crazy bonk scout!]

Random pic of the main protagonist on my sci-fi comic  WW3000. Anna Gibbs.

[The crazy bonk scout!]

BATTLE OF MARATHON. 

In 490 BC, the Future of Greece and probably the future western civilization was fought on the beach of Marathon between the greek citystate of Athens and the persian empire.

Prelude:
Before the persian invasion of Greece, The greek city states stood as a small spot next to the gigantic persian empire who stood from the borders of greece in the west, to northern india in the east.
In the years leading up to the invasion, Athens had supported Greek rebellions in the persian controlled regian of anatolia, the rebellions were brutally beaten down and the persian king Darius saw athens support to the rebels as unforgivable andsought to punish Athens by expanding his empire into Greece. The perisans with their massive armies assumed the greeks would just submit to their demands, as with countless other kingdoms persia had invaded, but when they sent messangers to Athens and other city states, demanding they submit to persian rule by handing gifts of earth and water. AKA, “give us your land or we kill you” The atheans instead threw the messangers down a ravine, The spartans threw the persian messangers down a well, (heh, just like in 300) and prepared for war. The greeks would not hand over their lands without a fight.  
Darius assembeled his forces in a massive fleet and sailed for Greece, expecting a pushover. he was acompanied by a Greek, Hippias, who was the former tyrant ruler of Athens, Thrown out after an uprising and into exile, hoping to regain his crown by cooperating with the persians. He adviced the persians of a propper landing area, the beach of marathon, a wide open terrain that suited the persians vast numbers.
Meanwhile the Athenians and their allies had gathered their forces overlooking marathon. They were lead by a man named Miltiades, Overall Miltiades had some 10000 men at his disposal, greatly outnumbered by some 30000 persians who also had the battlefield advantage. For several days the armies faced eachothers, neither willing to make a move. the persians were still unloading their troops and supplies and it’s aslo suggested they were hoping that Athenians loyal to Hippias would rise up, and the Greeks were waiting for reinforcements from Sparta, who had the best warriors in all of greece, but the spartans, would not aid the Athenians, At the time there was a religious festival in Sparta and the Spartans refused to fight until the festival was over and by that time it would be to late.
The deadlock was finally broken when the Persian commander hatched a daring plan, he secretly loading most of the Persian cavalry along with a handful of infantry with the intention of sailing to another beach just at Athens, hoping to make a surprise attack on the undefended city. But the Athenians uncovered the plan, Miltiades now knew it was all or nothing, a Persian fleet was sailing towards the undefended Athens, but their main force in Marathon was now greatly weakened. Despite still being greatly outnumbered, he made the decision to attack.

The battle:
Miltiades Formed up is troops in phalanx formation, but due to the wide battlefield and the Persians superior numbers, He broke protocol hand had the phalanx formations in the center line thinned out in order to cover up the whole battlefield, But he had his flanks in standard formations, as they were the most important part of the line. Though outnumbered, the Greek hoplites were well trained and well armored with EXTRA THICC bronze, leather and Linen armors, the Persians were trained and equipped for mobile warfare in the steps of Asia and so were mostly not armored and were armed with light weapons. The Persians relied in their archers to crush the Greek attack, With massed volleys from hundreds of archers, the Greeks would have to sprint the last distance towards the Persian line or else they’d be slaughtered and the Persians assumed that by the time the Greeks had reached their line they’d be to exhausted to fight.
That would not happen though, As the Greeks got withing the Persian archers line of fire, some 200 meters they started sprinting and as the Persians fired their arrows many simply bounced of the Greeks thick armor, helmets and shields, and they did not slow down and they were certainly not exhausted when they reached the Persian lines, the Persians had underestimated the well trained hoplites physical fitness. heck, there was even an event in the then Olympics in which hoplites in full armor sprinted twice as far as they had to in marathon. Though the Persians did have heavy arrows capable of piercing the hoplite armor, it was not enough to stop them.  
When the 2 armies collided the Persians found out their light weapons were almost useless against the well armored hoplites who inflicted terrible losses on the Persians, But through cheer numbers the Persians started to drive the Greeks back, but then both of the Greek flanks broke through the Persian lines and encircled the Persian forces, the Persians tried to push them back but every attack was beaten back by the Greek phalanx formations, and it seemed that no amount of arrows could stop the Greeks. What happened next was little more than a slaughter as the Persians broke and made a break for their ships. In the stampede many Persians were trampled to death by their comrades and as they desperately boarded the ships, they were being slaughter by the chasing Greeks.
As the surviving persians fled, the greeks collapsed from exhaustion. but the war was not over. Miltiades ordered the tired greeks to march back to Athens in haste, While the battle had been raising, the persians fleet was getting closer to athens. Luckily the greeks got there first, And when the persians saw the greek army on the beaches in battle formation, they fled back to persia. The Greeks had won.

Aftermath:
The Athenians had won a great battle against the persians, militarly it was not a a huge loss for the persians with their vast armies, but but their morale and prestiege had been severly wounded in tghis battle, it proved that persian was not as invincible as they though, and the greeks now knew the persians could be beaten.
Shortly after the battle the Spartans did arrive only to discover that the Athenians had already defeated the Persian and with it all of the glory, this embarrassed the spartans as they considered the Athenians inferior. This is just a personal theory, bit i think this embarrassment of coming short of the battle could be why in the second Persian invasion king Leonidas ignored their religious festival and marched to Thermopylae with his 300 spartans, not wanting the glory taken from their grasp again.

It is said that after the battle. the Greek runner Pheidippides sprinted as fast has he could towards Athens, not stopping for anything, It is then said that when he reached Athens he delivered the message of the victory at Marathon and immediately after died from exhaustion. Weather it is true or not, Pheidippides run has been romanticized in grek culture and would serve as the inspiration for the Marathon race, which is today popular and well used around the world.

After his defeat, The Persian king Darius made preparations for another invasion of Greece, But he died before it could be carried out. it would fall to his son Xerxes to invade Greece, which he did 10 years after marathon with an army 10 times bigger than the army his father had commanded. This invasion eventually failed to after the spartan stand on Thermopylae gave the rest of Greece enough time to prepare and eventually beat the Persians in the sea battle of Salamis.

[The crazy bonk scout!]

NAPOLEONIC WARS. SQUARE FORMATION. 

The square formation was a simple yet effective formation for infantry to fight off cavalry, the formation is almost as old as warfare itself as some of the earliest depictions of this formation dates back to roman time. The formation was literally soldiers forming up to a square in the event of a cavalry attack, in which the foot soldiers held up their spears or bayoneted muskets (depending on what time era) Which created an almost impenetrable wall of spikes on all sides, giving the enemy horsemen no weak spots to punch through. This formation tactic proved itself vital in the battle of Waterloo (1815. Shown in this pic) where British troops in square formations halted several thousands of French heavy cavalry.

But the square formation was not without it’s weaknesses. it was possible for cavalry to break the square by attacking the edges of them, but that was sort of a 50/50 chance, The most effective ways to break the formation was if the attacking cavalry had support from either artillery or infantry. Squares were easy targets for artillery and was not that effective against other infantry.

[The crazy bonk scout!]

BATTLE OF PHARSALUS.

On 9 August 48 BC at the fields of pharsalus, the fate of the roman republic was decided when roman soldiers took up arms against eachother in a bloody civil war, the result of a power struggle between 2 men. Julius Caesar, and Pompey the great. The winner would rule Rome.

Prelude:
In the 50’s BC. the Roman republic was basically run by 3 men. Julius Caesar, Markus Licinius Crassus and Pompey the great. Each of these 3 men tried to strengthen their position in the republic by winning battles, conquering new lands and bringing in wealth, All in attempts to become the leader of rome, the consul. In 53 BC Crassus was killed during a failed invasion of the kingdom of Parthia in modern day Iran, leaving only Caesar and Pompey left. Both Caesar and Pompey had been successful in bringing in land and victories for the republic, Caesar In Gall, pompey in the east.
Following his victories Caesar desired to return to rome to be consul. but Pompey had beaten him to it and had become consul of rome and thought he had won as a roman general was not allowed to enter rome with his army due to risk of civil war. But Caesar did just that, He marched his armies from Gall and into rome, An act of treason. Underestimating Caesar Pompey took his army on ships and sailed to Greece to prepare for civil war. He did so as the greek province was loyal to Pompey. Caesar entered rome to discover that Pompey had fled and since he didn’t have a fleet so it took him more than a year before he could face Pompey.
Pompey’s army outnumbered Caesar’s 2 to one, but he was reluctant to fight, he hoped that with the countryside and farmers on his side, he could starve Caesars army out without a battle, this almost worked, but reinforcements from Caesars friend mark Antony plus summer harvests shattered pompey’s plan. he was finally convinced by his men to face Caesar in an open battle, being convinced that his superior numbers would crush Caesar.

The battle:
Finally on 9 August 48 BC, Pompey and Caesar faced each other on the fields of Pharsalus. Caesar had an army of 22000 battle hardened troops and 1000 cavalry, They were greatly outnumbered by Pompey’s 45000 troops and his cavalry outnumbered Caesar’s 7 to 1. But Caesar’s troops were battle hardened veterans and had a deep affection for their commander, He refered his men as comrades and he knew all of his army’s centurions by name.
Knowing the threat of Pompey’s cavalry, Caesar had a few cohorts of troops taken from the battlelines to form an extra battle line behind his outnumbered cavalry. Pompey refused to advance but opted to wait for Caesar to make a move, arguing that by the time Caesars troops reached them they’d be exhausted. Realisering that pompey would not attack, Caesar ordered his men to advance, as they did so Pompey ordered his cavalry to attack Caesars flank. easily beating back Caesars outnumbered cavalry, but Caesar responded by unleashing the extra line of infantry he placed behind the cavalry who were able to chase Pompey’s cavalry away.
As that was going on, Caesars troops approached Pompey’s line under volleys of pilum throws (roman throwing spears), Again Pompey’s tactics failed, shortly before reaching Pompey’s line, Caesars troops halted to get a quick breather and regroup the lines, this was not an order by Caesars but a decision by his centurions on the field. Afterwards they threw their pilum’s and charged. As the 2 armies collided, neither side could get an advantage, that’s when Caesar unleashed his reserve line which contained his most elite troops who shattered pompey’s lines who started to flee the battlefield. As Pompey’s lines broke, he lost all will to fight and fled in panic, leaving his army behind. Caesar had won the battle.

Aftermath:
After his defeat, Pompey fled to Egypt where he was murdered by one of his own centurions, When Caesar arrived shortly after he was offered Pompey’s head but he refused to look at it. he had planned to pardon his rival and so buried Pompey with full honors. As the indisputable ruler of rome, Caesar tried to wash the wounds of this civil war by pardoning many of Pompey’s troops, One of them was Marcus Brutus who later betrayed Caesars mercy to him by murdering Caesar along with a number of senators.
But for now Caesar had triumphed and essentially became the rule of Rome until the year 44 BC when he was murdered by a number of senators in what they claimed to be an attempt to save the republic, instead, the death of Caesar marked the end of the republic and became the start of the roman Empire, where emperors would rule.

Made in Gmod 

TF2 belongs to Valve

[The crazy bonk scout!]

BATTLE OF HADERSLEV 

On april 9 1940 the German army invaded Denmark in an operation to seize western Scandinavia, Denmark and Norway. The poorly prepared danish army was quickly overwhelmed and after just 6 hours the Danes officially surrendered and though it was a relatively bloodless invasion, some danish soldiers did put up a fierce fight, In the town of haderslev the germans met heavy resistance from the town’s garrison who were able to pin the germans down until they received a message from Copenhagen to lay down their arms and surrender. But as the Germans moved through the town they were engaged by Danish soldiers who had not received the orders to surrender, they to surrendered when the order finally reached them.

I couldn’t find any sources of the german losses in Haderslev, But one danish soldier was killed in the fighting and 3 danish civilians were killed in the crossfire

[The crazy bonk scout!]

WW1. WARRIORS OF THE FOG. 

A friend of mine showed me this awesome new ww1 map and i just couldn’t resist. This time i really wanted to test the limit of my Gmod and literally stretched it to the limit, which i did as it did crash once, thank god for save files.
But i am very proud of this and happy at how it turned out.