Whoever installed this power pole support in the middle of a road in Vladimir, Russia decided it would be a waste of money to erect the support in such a way that a driver wouldn't hit it and die.
<em>Image: YouTube</em> Read the rest
SCP Foundation is an online shared world whose members create delightful fiction, movies, games and other media. It's a sprawling, global, friendly phenomenon, licensed under Creative Commons. Read the rest
Wired security reporter Andy Greenberg's latest book is Sandworm (previously), a true-life technothriller that tells the stories of the cybersecurity experts who analyzed and attributed as series of ghastly cyberwar attacks that brought down parts of the Ukrainian power grid, and then escaped the attackers' control and spread all over the world. Read the rest
One for the ages. Almost looks like one of those garage sale black velvet paintings with the dogs playing poker. Read the rest
Traitorous Trump is making spring travel plans with Vladimir Putin. Read the rest
Donald is throwing Gordon Sondland under the Trump bus.
You knew this was inevitable.
Remember that time Sondland gave him a million dollars? Read the rest
For years, I've followed Andy Greenberg's excellent reporting on "Sandworm," a set of infrastructure-targeted cyberattacks against Ukraine widely presumed to be of Russian origin, some of which escaped their targeted zone and damaged systems around the world. Read the rest
Volunteers at Novosibirsk's Wild Animal Rehabilitation Centre put trackers on 13 wild eagles to track their migration patterns; the trackers connected to cellular towers and message the researchers with the birds' location. Read the rest
Vorkuta, Russia is the fourth largest city north of the Arctic Circle. This coal-mining town has a population of 70,000 (it's been declining every year since the late 1980s). If you wish to live there, you can buy this 3-bedroom apartment for the price of an iPhone. The plush lion toy may not be included in the price.
It looks like an interesting place!
Image: by f-Lars, CC BY 3.0, Link
The palm trees are a nice touch:
Top Image: Avito
Agents of the U.S. government have issued multiple subpoenas and conducted searches of various properties in the course of investigating Rudy Giuliani's “Fraud Guarantee” associates, and in one instance feds literally blew the door off a safe to access its contents, reports CNN. Read the rest
Russia's state nuclear company Rosatom announced on Twitter today they have signed a deal with The Republic of Rwanda to build a center for nuclear science and technology. Read the rest
Wired has published another long excerpt from Sandworm, reporter Andy Greenberg's (previously) forthcoming book on the advanced Russian hacking team who took the US-Israeli Stuxnet program to the next level, attacking Ukrainian power infrastructure, literally blowing up key components of the country's power grid by attacking the embedded code in their microcontrollers. Read the rest
Naama Issachar is a dual citizen of the United States and Israel. She was taking a connecting flight in Moscow when a drug-sniffing dog discovered she was carrying less than one-third of an ounce of pot (9 grams). That was enough to earn her 7.5 years in a Russian prison.
In Russia, possessing under 6 grams of pot is punishable by 15 days in prison. Possessing over 6 grams with intent to sell has a maximum penalty of 3 years in prison. So why is Issachar getting 7.5 years? It sounds like she is being used as a human bargaining chip.
From Reason:
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu "requested a commuting of the sentence and an easing of the terms of Naama's detention," according to a statement from his office. "To our regret, the Russian prosecution has not yet accepted to these requests." The office added that Issachar's sentence "is disproportionate and does not fit the nature of the offense being attributed" to her.
The Times of Israel reports that "a senior Israeli official told Hebrew media that Russia offered several times in recent months to free Issachar if Israel agrees to release Aleksey Burkov, a Russian IT specialist who was arrested in Israel in 2016 at the request of Interpol." Burkov "is wanted on embezzlement charges in the United States for a massive credit card scheme that saw him allegedly steal millions of dollars from American consumers."
Image: Naama Issachar (Instagram) Read the rest
Donald Trump's former Russia adviser Fiona Hill is reported to have agreed to testify before three House committees on Monday, October 14, in the Democratic impeachment inquiry. Read the rest
A judge today approved a $1 million bond in property and business for two associates of President Trump’s personal attorney Rudolph Giuliani, Lev Parnas and Igor Fruman, along with mandatory home confinement and GPS monitoring. Read the rest
