this post was submitted on 18 Apr 2025
871 points (99.5% liked)

Microblog Memes

7643 readers
2184 users here now

A place to share screenshots of Microblog posts, whether from Mastodon, tumblr, ~~Twitter~~ X, KBin, Threads or elsewhere.

Created as an evolution of White People Twitter and other tweet-capture subreddits.

Rules:

  1. Please put at least one word relevant to the post in the post title.
  2. Be nice.
  3. No advertising, brand promotion or guerilla marketing.
  4. Posters are encouraged to link to the toot or tweet etc in the description of posts.

Related communities:

founded 2 years ago
MODERATORS
 
top 50 comments
sorted by: hot top controversial new old
[–] ThePantser@sh.itjust.works 134 points 1 month ago (1 children)

Today someone would just watch a YouTube video and then steal the helicopter. Nobody wants to put the work in anymore.

[–] hemko@lemmy.dbzer0.com 52 points 1 month ago (1 children)
[–] WhatAmLemmy@lemmy.world 29 points 1 month ago (3 children)

Final words: "I'll just raw dog a helicopter. How hard can it be?"

[–] jballs@sh.itjust.works 16 points 1 month ago (3 children)

This just made me think... people always complain about missing out on a future that promised them flying cars. Turns out that we have flying cars now. We just call them "helicopters" and it turns out they're hard as fuck to operate.

load more comments (3 replies)
[–] Frozengyro@lemmy.world 6 points 1 month ago

Scene opens: a still of a helicopter with blades sheared off after colliding with an electrical pole, sparks are spraying from the severed power lines. You can see the passenger seat, there's a man in a jumpsuit peeling a nectarine painted like a grenade, looking worried and shouting. The camera pans to the pilot's seat with a scrappy brunette a determined, but concerned look on her face. Cue record scratch.

Brunette: "Yup, that's me. You're probably wondering how I got here."

Screen fades to black. End scene.

load more comments (1 replies)
[–] drkt_@lemmy.dbzer0.com 91 points 1 month ago (2 children)

we used to be a hijinks society

[–] Quill7513@slrpnk.net 47 points 1 month ago (1 children)

antics is how you resist fascism

[–] FauxLiving@lemmy.world 14 points 1 month ago (1 children)

Never underestimate the power of shenanigans

[–] Agent641@lemmy.world 9 points 1 month ago (1 children)

Leftists these days just don't have the whimsy of old.

[–] Quill7513@slrpnk.net 5 points 1 month ago

it's legit a problem. some of the leftists i meet have no interest in engaging in silliness when silliness is what got a lot of us involved in the first place

[–] psud@aussie.zone 7 points 1 month ago* (last edited 1 month ago)

The last attempted helicopter prison escape in the Wikipedia list is from 2020

Hijinks are harder now than they were in the '80s but not extinct; though even in the '80s success rarely lasted more than a few months for helicopter escapees

[–] Amanduh@lemm.ee 62 points 1 month ago (1 children)

How can you post this and not let us know if they got away or not?

[–] egrets@lemmy.world 127 points 1 month ago* (last edited 1 month ago) (6 children)

Michel Vaujour had 28 years to serve for attempted murder and armed robbery; this was his fourth escape attempt. He made his way to the roof by threatening guards with a fake pistol and nectarines painted as grenades. On top of the jail he was picked up by his wife Nadine, who had taken helicopter pilot lessons especially for the escape. They landed at a nearby football pitch and fled in a waiting car.

- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_helicopter_prison_escapes

The couple’s hideout was right back in Paris. Bold or foolish, they stayed in the city where they had just staged a daring escape. Three months later, they were caught not opening a charming coffee shop but robbing a bank—again. In the shootout that followed, Michel took a bullet to the head but survived. He was soon back in prison, his sixth escape attempt with a new accomplice, Jamila, ending in failure.

- https://www.readingolive.com/storyDetails?story=nadine-vaujour-the-woman-who-got-a-pilots-license-to-help-her-husband-escape-from-prison

[–] Amanduh@lemm.ee 68 points 1 month ago (1 children)

Bro didn't know when to quit lol

[–] Baguette@lemm.ee 12 points 1 month ago

Could have gone and became an action film actor at that point

[–] troybot@midwest.social 50 points 1 month ago* (last edited 1 month ago) (3 children)

"List of helicopter prison escapes" is a new addition to my favorite Wikipedia articles

[–] Trainguyrom@reddthat.com 8 points 1 month ago

I only knew that Wikipedia list existed due to a reference in XKCD

load more comments (2 replies)
[–] shadowedcross@sh.itjust.works 32 points 1 month ago (1 children)
[–] S_H_K@lemmy.dbzer0.com 5 points 1 month ago (1 children)

You took he meme right out of my fingers. How the fuck you do get a bullet to the head and then try the same shit again? How the fuck fhose assholes manage to get girlfriends that do all that shit for them?

load more comments (1 replies)
[–] someguy3@lemmy.world 24 points 1 month ago

Nadine faced charges for her role in the jailbreak. Nevertheless, their bond remained unbroken. When asked about her extraordinary actions, Nadine famously said, “I would do it all over again.”

Nadine Vaujour, after serving her sentence, largely disappeared from the public eye. Her life since her involvement in the prison break has been shrouded in mystery, with little information about her current whereabouts. Some reports suggest she sought to live a quieter, more private life, far removed from the notoriety that the helicopter escape had brought her. The lack of public appearances and media engagement indicates that she may have distanced herself from her past.

https://www.dannydutch.com/post/the-daring-love-story-of-nadine-vaujour-the-french-woman-who-learned-to-fly-a-helicopter-to-break-h

[–] AcidicBasicGlitch@lemm.ee 9 points 1 month ago* (last edited 1 month ago)

You know normally I think the argument that people are less imaginative/creative than they used to be in the past is BS.

After reading the sentence "He made his way to the roof by threatening guards with a fake pistol and nectarines painted as grenades." I think maybe that's true

load more comments (1 replies)
[–] CrayonRosary@lemmy.world 55 points 1 month ago* (last edited 1 month ago) (2 children)

Fun fact: People abbreviate it "heli" or "copter", when in fact the two parts of the word are "helico" and "pter". (Think: helical or pterodactyl)

Try pronouncing it helico-pter, and pronounce the P and make it rhyme with "tare" as in pterodactyl. You'll sound like you have a French accent, or something.

[–] dogs0n@sh.itjust.works 17 points 1 month ago (1 children)

Very fun fact, so much so I wanted to know more.

originates from the Greek helix (ἕλιξ), genitive helikos (ἕλῐκος), "helix, spiral, whirl, convolution"[1] and pteron (πτερόν) "wing"

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Helicopter#Etymology

[–] slampisko@lemmy.world 8 points 1 month ago

Imagine saying helicopad and quadpter!

[–] Evotech@lemmy.world 5 points 1 month ago

This is also one of my favourite fun facts! :D

[–] the_riviera_kid@lemmy.world 41 points 1 month ago (1 children)

With that kind of effort Id say they earned it.

[–] MutilationWave@lemmy.dbzer0.com 22 points 1 month ago (2 children)

In Mexico it is not illegal to attempt or succeed in escaping prison. You will not get additional charges or time for attempting an escape or succeeding and then getting caught.

It is written into their constitution that the desire for freedom is a human right.

[–] trainden@lemmy.blahaj.zone 10 points 1 month ago

Land of the free 🇲🇽🇲🇽

[–] Cort@lemmy.world 9 points 1 month ago (1 children)

Same in Germany I think. But you will get extra charges if anything or anyone is damaged in your attempt

[–] Trainguyrom@reddthat.com 5 points 1 month ago

My understanding is that the act of attempting/succeeding at escaping is not illegal, but any illegal acts committed during the process are, so basically if someone leaves the door wide open and you walk out that's not illegal but it's next to impossible to otherwise achieve

[–] Kolanaki@pawb.social 29 points 1 month ago (1 children)

Why was the prison keeping him on the roof instead of inside the prison where he couldn't escape? 🤔

load more comments (1 replies)
[–] argh_another_username@lemmy.ca 25 points 1 month ago* (last edited 1 month ago)
[–] NigelFrobisher@aussie.zone 17 points 1 month ago

My old office was near Strangeways m and one day we saw a drone very conspicuously hovering high over the prison yard. Turns out that drones smuggling in contraband has become a major problem in the last few years.

[–] Darkassassin07@lemmy.ca 16 points 1 month ago

Love knows no bounds?

[–] SpiceDealer@lemmy.dbzer0.com 14 points 1 month ago* (last edited 1 month ago)

Here's a another tale of a helicopter-related prison break:

During the 1970s, Ireland (specifically ~~Northern Ireland~~ northern province of Ulster) entered a period of conflict known as 'The Troubles.' The conflict was mostly concentrated in the north but occasionally would spill into the rest of Ireland. One notable (and devastating) example was the dual car bombings in Dublin and Monaghan in 1973. But the funniest episode of 'The Troubles' would also happen in the Republic that same year.

Because of the violence in the north, the Irish government took steps to stop activity related to Republican (not the American GOP kind) paramilitaries such as the Provisional IRA and their smaller and more openly communist rival INLA. This was in spite of a sympathetic population. The party Fine Gael came to power with an anti-crime promise (sound familiar?) and another promise to put a stop to all paramilitary activity in the country.

On the morning of Halloween, 1973, the IRA hijacked a helicopter and told its pilot to fly towards a prison on the outskirts of Dublin called Mountjoy. The helicopter landed in the prison yard and, despite the commotion, were able to secure the IRA members that were intended for the escape. This led to a large a manhunt involving both the police and the military. Two of the men were recaptured not long after but one of them wouldn't be recaptured until 1977 - a whole 5 years later!

[–] FuCensorship@lemmy.today 13 points 1 month ago

She's a keeper!

[–] boolean_sledgehammer@lemmy.world 13 points 1 month ago

I'm not mad at it.

[–] uncurable_utopia@lemm.ee 12 points 1 month ago (1 children)

Love takes us to strange places and makes us to do even stranger things...

[–] clashorcrashman@lemmy.zip 10 points 1 month ago (1 children)

No almost needed, that's dope.

[–] MystikIncarnate@lemmy.ca 5 points 1 month ago

I wish someone would go through the effort of learning how to pilot a helicopter just so I can be free...

[–] Phoenicianpirate@lemm.ee 9 points 1 month ago

I remember the first time I heard of helicopter prison breaks. What is so incredible is how common they actually where and the countermeasures developed against them.

[–] andybytes@programming.dev 7 points 1 month ago

That's love

[–] 5in1k@lemm.ee 6 points 1 month ago

Ride or die.

[–] Deathray5@lemmynsfw.com 6 points 1 month ago

Partners in crime

[–] altphoto@lemmy.today 5 points 1 month ago (1 children)

....oh OK, very nice Mr...what did you said your name was?

Oh, one last question before we give you a pilots license, have you or will you have in the future a husband or wife or close relatively living in captivity at the moment?

Is the captivity legal or illegal, please explain.

Have had to purchase a rope ladder or just copious amounts of rope from the home Depot recently?

[–] LavaPlanet@lemm.ee 6 points 1 month ago (1 children)

I love what you did there, but to be biblically accurate, they asked zero safety / security questions in the 80s.

[–] Kolanaki@pawb.social 7 points 1 month ago

"Have you ever used drugs, like cocaine?"

"No."

"Oh, would you like some?"

load more comments