October 04, 2018

Politics and Technology: And never the twain should meet


Politics and Technology: And never the twain should meet
Russians Dying to Get New iPhones

1. Russians went to X-treme lengths this week to get a chance at buying Apple’s new iPhone XS models, which cost over $1,000 in Russia. If you think that’s an absurd price, driven by consumer culture and the unhealthy hold Apple has over the world, get this: in Moscow people were selling their place in line for as much as $6,000! Why would a place in line cost six times as much as the phone? Well, in part because people were waiting in line for up to five days, and don’t forget that time is, er, an iPhone. And don’t even get us started on the Russian headstone that looks like a massive iPhone...

iPhone headstone

Photo: Ufa1/eat2west news

2. In a few unfortunate instances, it is simply inappropriate to take a selfie. One trailblazing member of the Duma is trying to convince his fellow members that while they are voting on legislation should be one of those instances. Vyacheslav Volodin warned his comrades that doing both at the same time could end in an unfortunate mistake (since both voting and selfie-taking require concentration). Volodin’s public stance may have been prompted by one member’s accidental vote in a similar situation. Of course, this to some degree counters the party line: in January the government offered iPhones (of course) as prizes for the best selfies taken at the polls!

3. Yet another American-turned-Russian entertainer is considering the shift to politics, following the brave lead of Jeff Monson. Steven Seagal, an American movie star and recently minted Russian citizen, has announced his intention to run for governor of Primorsky Krai, which is located in Russia’s Far East and has Vladivostok as its administrative center. The results of Primorsky Krai’s original September election were annulled due to allegations of severe fraud (clearly some thought they were Above the Law). The elections will be reheld in December of 2018, though it is unclear if Seagal will actually be eligible to run, or whether he would even take the Executive Decision to do so (though, admittedly, the urge toward politics can be Hard to Kill).

In Odder News:

happy birthday google

Photo: Meduza

  • Game recognize game: Yandex gave Google a shoutout on its birthday

  • Surprising exactly no one who knows anything about Russia, it turns out Russians like to read books!

  • Is this real life or The Matrix? Or both? Either way, this Russian wrestler showed some serious skill in defeating his opponent

Quote of the Week:

“Colleagues, you can’t make decisions and selfies at the same time”

— Russian State Duma Vyacheslav Volodin speaker on the perils of snapping in the politician’s profession

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White Magic

The thirteen tales in this volume – all written by Russian émigrés, writers who fled their native country in the early twentieth century – contain a fair dose of magic and mysticism, of terror and the supernatural. There are Petersburg revenants, grief-stricken avengers, Lithuanian vampires, flying skeletons, murders and duels, and even a ghostly Edgar Allen Poe.
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Life Stories: Original Fiction By Russian Authors

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93 Untranslatable Russian Words

Every language has concepts, ideas, words and idioms that are nearly impossible to translate into another language. This book looks at nearly 100 such Russian words and offers paths to their understanding and translation by way of examples from literature and everyday life. Difficult to translate words and concepts are introduced with dictionary definitions, then elucidated with citations from literature, speech and prose, helping the student of Russian comprehend the word/concept in context.
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Survival Russian

Survival Russian is an intensely practical guide to conversational, colloquial and culture-rich Russian. It uses humor, current events and thematically-driven essays to deepen readers’ understanding of Russian language and culture. This enlarged Second Edition of Survival Russian includes over 90 essays and illuminates over 2000 invaluable Russian phrases and words.
Davai! The Russians and Their Vodka

Davai! The Russians and Their Vodka

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The Samovar Murders

The Samovar Murders

The murder of a poet is always more than a murder. When a famous writer is brutally stabbed on the campus of Moscow’s Lumumba University, the son of a recently deposed African president confesses, and the case assumes political implications that no one wants any part of.
Murder and the Muse

Murder and the Muse

KGB Chief Andropov has tapped Matyushkin to solve a brazen jewel heist from Picasso’s wife at the posh Metropole Hotel. But when the case bleeds over into murder, machinations, and international intrigue, not everyone is eager to see where the clues might lead.

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