December 13, 2020

Pay with your Face


Pay with your Face
Yes, the Moscow Metro is great, but we at least want to operate under the illusion that our every move isn't being tracked. The RussianLife files

Every day, we move close to an Orwellian cyberpunk dystopia. The Moscow Metro, perhaps fittingly, is taking the next step.

The city's Deputy Mayor for Transport, Maxim Liksutov, announced last week that Face ID will become an option for Metro passengers next year.

The upgrade will take advantage of existing cameras near turnstiles – which can already recognize faces – and connect with biometric data that banks already have on file. If passengers have such data tied to a bank account, they will automatically be charged, saving them the trouble of swiping a fare card or dropping in change.

According to Liksutov, the software can even recognize masked faces. Not even COVID can stop the algorithm overlords.

 

 

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Our edition of The Little Golden Calf, one of the greatest Russian satires ever, is the first new translation of this classic novel in nearly fifty years. It is also the first unabridged, uncensored English translation ever, and is 100% true to the original 1931 serial publication in the Russian journal 30 Dnei. Anne O. Fisher’s translation is copiously annotated, and includes an introduction by Alexandra Ilf, the daughter of one of the book’s two co-authors.

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This wonderful novella by Alexander Kuprin tells the story of the wrestler Arbuzov and his battle against a renowned American wrestler. Rich in detail and characterization, At the Circus brims with excitement and life. You can smell the sawdust in the big top, see the vivid and colorful characters, sense the tension build as Arbuzov readies to face off against the American.

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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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