Youre so sweet

You can’t make meth out of baby formula. You can stretch some drugs by cutting it with baby formula but “Drug dealers sometimes use the powdered formula to dilute heroin and methamphetamine or to stretch the product when supplies run low. However, experts say that more often than not, formula is stolen because of its high market demand among consumers rather than drug dealers.”

I realize that not everybody wants to hear about it, but I briefly want to talk about the current health situation… particularly the growing number of people all over the world who are in quarantine/lockdown or out of school or work because of shutdowns. 

Whether you believe that the panic and/or extra precautions are necessary, the fact remains that millions of people are stuck inside now with nothing to do. For an introvert (like myself) it may not be such an issue, but for those used to going out and doing things like spending time with friends, it must be maddening. And the fact is, for a lot of people Tumblr and other social media sites are their only real means of “escape” at the moment.

So, the point I am getting at is this: Let’s support, entertain, and distract each other. Let’s try offering or requesting:

Fanfic and art prompts 

Fic recs

Drabble challenges (sticking to 100 words can be hard and take time!)

Gifs and graphics

Character or ship headcanons

Playlists and fanmixes

Moodboards

Easy, inexpensive recipes

Arts and crafts (preferably ones that can be made without a store trip)

Life hacks

Role playing

Meme challenges

Online or Google Earth scavenger hunts

Show, movie, or e-book recs 

Whether sent by ask or posted for the wider world, these are sure to be appreciated! Also, it might be nice to come up with some unified tag for such things, if there is not already one out there. For myself, if I post any of the above it will be tagged “quarantine distractions”.

His wife, Yukiko, was also a part of this; she is often credited with suggesting the plan. The Sugihara family was held in a Soviet POW camp for 18 months until the end of the war; within a year of returning home, Sugihara was asked to resign - officially due to downsizing, but most likely because the government disagreed with his actions.

He didn’t simply grant visas - he granted visas against direct orders, after attempting three times to receive permission from the Japanese Foreign Ministry and being turned down each time. He did not “misread” orders; he was in direct violation of them, with the encouragement and support of his wife.

He was honoured as Righteous Among the Nations in 1985, a year before he died in Kamakura; he and his descendants have also been granted permanent Israeli citizenship. He was also posthumously awarded the Life Saving Cross of Lithuania (1993); Commander’s Cross Order of Merit of the Republic of Poland (1996); and the Commander’s Cross with Star of the Order of Polonia Restituta (2007). Though not canonized, some Eastern Orthodox Christians recognize him as a saint.

Sugihara was born in Gifu on the first day of 1900, January 1. He achieved top marks in his schooling; his father wanted him to become a physician, but Sugihara wished to pursue learning English. He deliberately failed the exam by writing only his name and then entered Waseda, where he majored in English. He joined the Foreign Ministry after graduation and worked in the Manchurian Foreign Office in Harbin (where he learned Russian and German; he also converted to the Eastern Orthodox Church during this time). He resigned his post in protest over how the Japanese government treated the local Chinese citizens. He eventually married Yukiko Kikuchi, who would suggest and encourage his acts in Lithuania; they had four sons together. Chiune Sugihara passed away July 31, 1986, at the age of 86. Until her own passing in 2008, Yukiko continued as an ambassador of his legacy.

You want to know about my motivation, don’t you? Well. It is the kind of sentiments anyone would have when he actually sees refugees face to face, begging with tears in their eyes. He just cannot help but sympathize with them. Among the refugees were the elderly and women. They were so desperate that they went so far as to kiss my shoes, Yes, I actually witnessed such scenes with my own eyes. Also, I felt at that time, that the Japanese government did not have any uniform opinion in Tokyo. Some Japanese military leaders were just scared because of the pressure from the Nazis; while other officials in the Home Ministry were simply ambivalent.

People in Tokyo were not united. I felt it silly to deal with them. So, I made up my mind not to wait for their reply. I knew that somebody would surely complain about me in the future. But, I myself thought this would be the right thing to do. There is nothing wrong in saving many people’s lives….The spirit of humanity, philanthropy…neighborly friendship…with this spirit, I ventured to do what I did, confronting this most difficult situation—and because of this reason, I went ahead with redoubled courage.

The stone next to him bears a quote from the Talmud; “He who saves one life, saves the entire world.”