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pushed around by powerful employees who do not care about patriotism.

So, since when is Silicon Valley patriotic? As in, they care about America and their fellow Americans? Huh? Silicon Valleyites are "citizens of the world". They care far more about distant peoples from backwards cultures than their own neighbors in places like Texas, Idaho, and West Virginia. They regard us with mingled scorn and apprehension. Scratch an intellectual, and you find a would-be aristocrat who loathes the sight, the sound and the smell of common folk. Here is a great essay I have bookmarked that discusses the issue very eloquently and precisely.

Every election cycle like clockwork, conservatives accuse liberals of not being sufficiently pro-America. And every election cycle like clockwork, liberals give extremely unconvincing denials of this.

"It's not that we're, like, against America per se. It's just that...well, did you know Europe has much better health care than we do? And much lower crime rates? I mean, come on, how did they get so awesome? And we're just sitting here, can't even get the gay marriage thing sorted out, seriously, what's wrong with a country that can't...sorry, what were we talking about? Oh yeah, America. They're okay. Cesar Chavez was really neat. So were some other people outside the mainstream who became famous precisely by criticizing majority society. That's sort of like America being great, in that I think the parts of it that point out how bad the rest of it are often make excellent points. Vote for me!"

I was an Obama voter, and I have proud memories of spending my Fourth of Julys as a kid debunking people's heartfelt emotions of patriotism.

Here is a popular piece published on a major media site called America: A Big, Fat, Stupid Nation. Another: America: A Bunch Of Spoiled, Whiny Brats. Americans are ignorant, scientifically illiterate religious fanatics whose patriotism is actually just narcissism. You Will Be Shocked At How Ignorant Americans Are, and we should Blame The Childish, Ignorant American People.

Needless to say, every single one of these articles was written by an American and read almost entirely by Americans. Those Americans very likely enjoyed the articles very much and did not feel the least bit insulted.

Here's another great essay, "Revolt of the Elites" that also addresses this issue.

When confronted with resistance to these initiatives, members of today's elite betray the venomous hatred that lies not far beneath the smiling face of upper-middle-class benevolence. They find it hard to understand why their hygienic conception of life fails to command universal enthusiasm. In the United States, "Middle America" - a term that has both geographical and social implications - has come to symbolize everything that stands in the way of progress: "family values," mindless patriotism, religious fundamentalism, racism, homophobia, retrograde views of women. Middle Americans, as they appear to the makers of educated opinion, are hopelessly dowdy, unfashionable, and provincial.

These privileged young people acquire advanced degrees at the "best [universities] in the world," the superiority of which is proved by their ability to attract foreign students in great numbers. In this cosmopolitan atmosphere, they overcome the provincial folkways that impede creative thought, according to Reic

Read more about it here...

https://www.pravda.ru/news/wor...

or the google translated version for the comrades you can't speak russian here...

https://translate.google.com/t...

Pravda still exists. It did not morph into RT.

https://www.pravda.ru/

RT was established in 2005. I don't see where their "stated goals" include disrupting the US or breaking up the EU.

https://www.rt.com/about-us

And even if those were their goals, how the hell would they go about accomplishing them? If RT can successfully "disrupt the U.S." simply by airing TV programs and publishing things on a web page, then the U.S. has some serious problems. Who knew it would be so "disruptive" to report news that the Western media refuse to cover and offer perspectives that don't otherwise get represented?

"The basic problem is that we have not realized that Internet's anonymity's lets people say anything they want to."

Where have you been? I'd say pretty much everyone else realized this a long time ago. When you live in a climate where people can be physically assaulted for speaking unpopular opinions, having a forum where people can say anything they want to is not a "problem" it's a solution.

posting as AC just because I can!

I dunno if AC will check back or not - but in no particular order:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/
http://www.reuters.com/
http://rt.com/
http://www.cbc.ca/
http://www.news.com.au/
http://www.dailytelegraph.com....
http://news.sky.com/
http://kurdishdailynews.org/
http://rt.com/
http://www.jpost.com/
http://www.aljazeera.com/
http://www.china.org.cn/
http://www.scientificamerican....
http://timesofindia.indiatimes...
http://english.pravda.ru/
http://www.projectcensored.org...
http://www.arabtimesonline.com...

I think I've covered the best - be aware, some national sites are heavy into propaganda. Pravda very much so, RT somewhat less so.

Depending on your own interests - you might type in some country in a Google search, and add "times" or "post" or "news". From time to time, I do something like that - the earthquake in Tibet for instance. https://duckduckgo.com/?t=pale... That search offered up a number of sites, but I didn't add any of them to my feeds. Note that many of the hits are very politicized, but you can still find Tibetan news sources among them.

Have fun!

Russian media is reporting the plane was downed by a US Navy missile: http://www.pravda.ru/news/poli...

If this is true, this is an unconscionable provocation.

Seems legit...

Russian media is reporting the plane was downed by a US Navy missile: http://www.pravda.ru/news/poli...

If this is true, this is an unconscionable provocation.

I should rephrase that. Saudi support for terrorism is only one of a long list of reasons why the US and global community should push for regime change in Saudi Arabia.

http://english.pravda.ru/opinion/columnists/30-09-2013/125766-usa_saudi_arabia-0/

Didn't you get the memo? It's the end of the world.

When the sun burst out, never again will grow any bushes on the hills of Volga.

With all due respect to the victims and their families and friends - this isn't world news. In quite a few parts of the world, not just Iraq and Afghanistan, that's a small note somewhere on page 5 of the local newspaper.

It seems the world disagrees with you. This are all page one stories at sites that span the world.

Germany - USA: Explosionen beim Boston-Marathon - drei Tote, hundert Verletzte
Russia , (Act of terrorism committed in the U.S., numerous victims reported
Australia - US on alert after blasts shatter Boston Marathon killing 3, wounding 140
India - Boston Marathon bombing kills 3, injures over 130
Argentina - Bombs kill 3 people, wound more than 100 at Boston Marathon
United Arab Emirates - Boston Marathon: 3 killed, more than 140 injured as 2 bombs explode near finish line
South Africa - Boston terror attack: Three killed, 100 injured
Japan - 3 dead, more than 110 hurt after two bombs explode near Boston Marathon finish line

So it's not news-worthy for the body count and not for the fact that there was a bomb or two.

Actually it is newsworthy, for both reasons. Mass casualty events tend to be that way. Last I heard the number of bombs was 5-7.

And, most importantly and most disgustingly, we are still thinking in tribal norms. Our own dead and wounded are more important than the foreign ones.

Every family looks after its own first, as does every country. But as to tribes - there aren't really any tribes in the West anymore, none that function anyway. (Were the last the Scotts?) You might try that line of thinking on people from parts of the world that actually do have functioning tribes, such as the Middle East, or Africa. Your disgust will probably be taken as evidence of being crazy. It wouldn't even be a question to them - of course you look after the tribe first, it is a matter of survival. If you can convince the Arabs that making peace with the Jews is preferable to killing them, you might have a chance a reducing tribalism, but I doubt you can eliminate it.

I put you on the list of not responsible enough to have a gun. I bet Rambo is your favorite film

You should sit down and talk with these guys.

From Pravda:
http://english.pravda.ru/opinion/columnists/28-12-2012/123335-americans_guns-0/

From a Tienanmen Square activist:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=miEmIfhfxuc

And the "Rambo" crack just shows how weak your arguments are, and how closed-minded you are on the topic. If that's all you have, please stop wasting everyone's time with your inane and asinine ad hominems.

The 2-A isn't about hunting, sports, or even protection from common criminals. It's for protection against government tyranny. The other stuff is just a bonus.

Without the 2-A, Americans would be left to face down government tanks like in the famous video from Tienanmen Square of the lone man facing down a tank. Which, btw, didn't work out too well for the unarmed Chinese protesters, including that brave soul in the video facing down the tank.

Strat

There's an enormous difference between resistance against a culturally different invading force, and an uprising against the homeland government.

Why, you're absolutely correct! There is an enormous difference.

Just not in the way nor the direction you're thinking of.

US citizens already have every single domestic military and NG base & armory surrounded, we have already thoroughly-infiltrated the military as we ARE the military, and all volunteers, so a significant percentage would refuse to follow orders to fire on their own people defending their Constitutional rights.

Make no mistake. A full-out US uprising/rebellion/revolution would be a long and very, very bloody affair. Think WW2 Stalingrad, Kharkov, etc. Any military attempting to suppress a widespread rebellion in the US that has the approval of a significant portion of the population would make Afghanistan or Vietnam look like a walk in the park. It would be a war of attrition, and the numbers are on the citizens' side. Ever see a swarm of army ants overwhelm a much larger, and more-powerful-by-far victim?

Pravda(!) has already warned Americans against allowing their 2-A rights to be weakened.

http://english.pravda.ru/opinion/columnists/28-12-2012/123335-americans_guns-0/

Heck, in the event of a rebellion, US citizens would likely receive arms/supplies/support from other nations. There are many nations who are not exactly happy with our current corrupt government, either, and would welcome a return to a US under the control of it's citizens, rather than the completely dishonest, untrustworthy, treasonous, tyrannical criminals we have had in control over the last number of decades.

Strat

Watching Al Jazeera as TV is somewhat wasteful of time, but it's worth reading their site. Today's important item: trouble is brewing in the Balkans again.

Other viewpoints to watch:

• Russia Today. It's the official line, but it's worth seeing what that line is. (Russia Today, which is more of a tabloid, is less biased than Pravda.) Important item from Pravda: Russia is building a new generation of bigger ICBMs, in case the US builds missile defenses.
• Xinhua the semi-official paper of the China. Important item today: "Yuan to strengthen mildly in 2013: analysts". The US has been lobbying for a weaker yuan. Not going to happen.
• South China Morning Post, Hong Kong's top newspaper. If something important appears in People's Daily, they'll have some good commentary on it. Important item today: multiple stories on trying to figure out what Xi Jinping is going to do now that he's taken over.

It's hard to find any coverage of those subjects in US dailies.

but Russia Today? seriously? there's no sincerity here

If you want to have your mind blown, here's a Pravda (Pravda!) article warning Americans about Obama's socialist tendencies. Go figure...

"The 1980's are calling for their foreign policy back" -- Barack Obama :)

That wouldn't be fair to the Russians. After all, they are still spinning up the old Soviet practices, aping the Cold War, and they apparently aren't done with them yet. It certainly appears that the Russians would rather be the enemy than be ignored.

Russia restarts Cold War patrols
Report: Russia may base bombers in Cuba
More Russian bombers flying off Alaska coast
Report: Russian Nuclear Attack Sub Patrolled Waters Off Gulf for a MonthUndetected
Canada does not like Russian nuclear bombers patrolling Arctic territory
Japanese, South Korean jets trail Russian bombers over Pacific
UK jets greet Russian bombers
New Russian Anti-Missile Facility Opens in Kaliningrad
Russia claims new missile can overcome missile defenses

I run "Zombie" and "Network 23".

But one day I may set up an open access point with a special hacked DNS that redirects everything to the same server, and why not Slashdot? At least it's amusing for a few. Or maybe I should direct everyone to Pravda.

I'm open for suggestions - as long as it's reasonably decent.

And With working links: Pravda People's Daily

British montage
I have no fixed British paper currently I use this to find them. I look for ones with high online presence who are not pernicious asses about subscribing and who keep the tabliod pablum low. I choose one and read it for a week if I can stand it then pick another. Newspapers that are not professional are ignored. I don't provide a list as others may like ones I would not. I also pick single British news articles off google news if it looks like it wasn't written by a rabid wombat.
ahref=http://www.wrx.zen.co.uk/britnews.htmrel=url2html-7729http://www.wrx.zen.co.uk/britnews.htm>

The Times of India in English.
Good articles and better written than most US news sources. Their RSS feeds are fine and there are enough choices to be daunting at first.
http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/

Middle east
The Israeli newspaper Haaretz in English.
http://www.haaretz.com/
and Al Jazeera in English
http://www.aljazeera.com/
Picking the peanuts out is trying. Read these together and make comparisons between them and other sources.

Pravda in English.
I've read enough stories they've written that provide a lot more information than other news sources that has shown to be accurate. I'm more impressed with them than propaganda would lead me to believe. They cannot be as free about in country reporting but international reporting can be very good. You have to read them with an eye to government propaganda but where they can they do fine original work.
http://english.pravda.ru/

Japan
I don't have one.

Some of the rest.
Finding a newspaper that is not censored or self-censoring to protect itself in some areas is difficult. A lot of newspapers have no choice. If I see an article I find interesting that occurred in a country known for censorship I also check surround countries news sources and others in country. I don't rigorously do this as I can only dedicate a fixed amount of time to being a news junkie.

If anyone has a pointer to a small, well written, non-tabloid, smart Australian online news source post it. I'm not seeing much I care about as most of it is cut and paste from others or is tabloid pablum.

The point of this isn't to be more open. The point is to make people think about what the CIA can do with today's technology if they could do that with the technology of yesteryear. Making the enemy overestimate your power is an important principle in deterrence.

Yea... I don't think that's true. You want the enemy to underestimate you're ability to spy on them so that you can, you know, spy on them.

Unless you want them to think that you can train sharks and vultures as agents.

Seaweed makes you live longer, fact.

Also the case in the modern day Russian military.

Or that free people reserve the right to act like idiots if they so choose, and the rule of law should make them responsible for any damage to others that they incur while doing so.

Also, imagine if these laws didn't actually change the outcomes at all... Would you still support them?

http://english.pravda.ru/news/science/earth/29-01-2010/111932-cell_phone_usage_ban_statistics-0/?mode=print

If banning cell phones and texting doesn't change accident or fatality rates, then you're just preaching morality and superstition.

My horoscope says that delicious pies are spying on Iran!

Who can I trust?!

You must be reading the Soviet Russia horoscope.

Sorry, all the KGB blackmail porn was on Betamax tapes. The transcribed copies might still be in there somewhere.

http://english.pravda.ru/fun/2002/07/08/32009.html

man.

history channel made a documentary on soviet ufo files that were opened to public, taken the video out of those files released, and you are still contesting it ?

you just dont want to believe, force yourself to disbelieving nomatter what. now, lets say i brought up the archives directly to you. this time you will say that russians faked the video in order to fool nato ?

http://english.pravda.ru/science/19/94/378/16663_UFO.html

http://english.pravda.ru/science/19/94/378/16663_UFO.html

http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&client=firefox-a&hs=CDU&rls=org.mozilla%3Aen-GB%3Aofficial&q=soviet+ufo+files&aq=f&aqi=&aql=&oq=&gs_rfai=

spare some effort, will ya.

man.

history channel made a documentary on soviet ufo files that were opened to public, taken the video out of those files released, and you are still contesting it ?

you just dont want to believe, force yourself to disbelieving nomatter what. now, lets say i brought up the archives directly to you. this time you will say that russians faked the video in order to fool nato ?

http://english.pravda.ru/science/19/94/378/16663_UFO.html

http://english.pravda.ru/science/19/94/378/16663_UFO.html

http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&client=firefox-a&hs=CDU&rls=org.mozilla%3Aen-GB%3Aofficial&q=soviet+ufo+files&aq=f&aqi=&aql=&oq=&gs_rfai=

spare some effort, will ya.

Jewish law doesn't prohibit anything involving pigs except for eating them, and praying in places where you can smell them. Get your facts straight before you blathering on about the corruption of a religion you don't know much about.

I agree that the post you replied to is trollish, but have to berate you for your very, very limited imagination. This is the Internet Era, no? The last time I checked, bestiality with pigs was still a big no-no in Judaism (and no, I wasn't checking because of personal interest --- it's a figure of speech, get over it). In addition, I believe that most rabbis would also forbid torturing pigs (unless it might save a human life). Hmm, what else. If/when the practice of animal sacrifice will become active again, only kosher animals are permitted to be sacrificed. Jews can wear shoes made from pig leather, but not on Yom Kippur. It's forbidden to murder someone by dropping a pig on them from a great height. You are forbidden buying and selling pigs on the Sabbath.

Actually, the list is, well, endless....

BTW for the next time this comes up, you might want to cite: http://engforum.pravda.ru/archive/index.php/t-216072.html

E.g. this or this or this. Really, you'll find a lot of that if you just google for "russia+agw".

There are even some conspiracy theories abound that Russia was the one behind "climategate" hack, though those are about as verifiable as truthers' or birthers' claims.

I suggest you look up the 2004 Ukrainian child pornography raids – particularly, the one source cited on that page which notes that the majority of girls' parents knew, or had a suspicion of their children's "work" – and none of them went to the police.

Actually, the fundamental flaw was the comrade-tards who decided to turn off all the safety systems and use one reactor to power the other's pumps, in an experiment. They tried it before, but the safety systems shut everything down. I think they were running one reactor at about 6%, which apparently is very dangerous. When they disabled their safety systems, then yes, the graphite-tipped control rods combusted with the steam bubble that built up, then they melted and went boom. If they had built a reactor with a positive reactivity coefficient (or was that negative?) that meant reaction speeds went down as heat went up, such as American/French/Canadian designs do, it wouldn't have gone critical. If they had bothered to build what's called a sarcophagus (concrete bunker) around the reactor, then the very small explosion would have not produced a vent of radioactive material. If they had bothered to build an energy-producing reactor, instead of a breeder reactor (Chernobyl was not a power plant, it was a weapons factory), then really, none of this would have been possible. Still, I blame the comrade-tards, and their hatred for the West. This is why Socialism is so bad. It breeds hatred for capitalism and free will, which includes freedom of religion. Please, American Democrats, think about this when you decide whether or not to re-elect a Marxist for a president. Hear the Warning from Soviet Russia! Or, if you prefer, Read it.

You are a complete moron to not even being able to google stuff like this before forming your opinion in 2 seconds.

No pain is a very serious genetic disorder.

http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/42140.php
http://www.cnn.com/2006/HEALTH/conditions/01/27/rare.conditions/index.html
http://english.pravda.ru/science/19/94/377/14726_pain.html

"Those people, who do not feel any pain at all, usually die before they turn 25"

"A lot of parents would be happy to have a baby, who does not wake them up at night."..."When Ashlyn's teeth started growing at the age of six months, the girl shredded her own lips with them."

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/6379795/

âoeSome people would say thatâ(TM)s a good thing. But no, itâ(TM)s not,â says Tara Blocker, Ashlynâ(TM)s mother. âoePainâ(TM)s there for a reason. It lets your body know somethingâ(TM)s wrong and it needs to be fixed. Iâ(TM)d give anything for her to feel pain.â

The untreatable disease also makes Ashlyn incapable of sensing extreme temperatures â" hot or cold â" disabling her bodyâ(TM)s ability to cool itself by sweating. Otherwise, her senses are normal.

So yes, your opinion is quite stupid.

Xinhua extensively fabricates stories that could be considered demoralizing to the PRC. It's still more reputable than the KNCA or Pravda, though.

You forgot Pravda!

http://english.pravda.ru/science/19/94/378/16465_.html "About twenty years later the head of the Istanbul National Museum Halil Edhem found an old map while revising the library of Byzantine emperors in the old sultans palace. The author of the map depicted the Western coast of Africa, the Southern coast of South America and the Northern coast of Antarctica. Halil was astonished. The ice edge of the Queen Maud Land south of 70th parallel was free of ice. The author mapped a mountain chain at this point. The name of the cartographer was well known to Edhem. It was the admiral of Ottoman Empire Fleet Piri Reis, who lived in the first half of the 16th century." "Piri Reis himself explained on the margins of the map that the map was based on a lot of previous sources, some of which belonged to his contemporaries, while others could be dated with as early as the 4th century B.C. One of the sources, for instance, belonged to Alexander the Great. Thus Reis could not be made responsible for the data presented on the map."

Interestingly, authorities in Italy (according to a Russian News site) are voicing a similar concern, but with what sounds like an Open Source twist: "The encryption system used in this computer program is not being uncovered by a developer which strongly complicates the work of law-enforcement agencies." Are they just looking for the source code? Or are they looking for developer cooperation in making the crypto crackable? The likely Italian-to-Russian-to-English translation makes it hard for me to guess the answer.

Want to find any other crap quotes to share?

Chavez loves ripping the USA, and pravda is the type of paper to print bigfoot stories. In fact here is one they just put on the webpage:
http://english.pravda.ru/society/anomal/17-12-2008/106840-weird_females-0

Is Obama given the authority to regulate businesses - specifically hiring practices. If we allow Obama, et al, to come in and under "anti-trust" provisions penalize these companies for NOT hiring away top talent then our nation has taken a drastic turn towards Marxism. The "hiring truce" is in no way anti-competitive in the sense that it does not affect the marketplace. We still have complete choice between any search engine. Ironically, the one oddly missing from this hiring truce is Microsoft, who is the only one to be convicted of violating anti-trust law! There is no way employments functionally produce a way to maintain market power. If you could put someone else similarly competent, in the position, you'll get a similar result.

The Russians were amazed when Obama "fired" the CEO of GM!

I don't want to hear that it "keeps wages down" or that it is a form of "non-compete". Anti-trust laws are not about jobs. They are about markets. I can use any search engine - google, yahoo, bing(wtf?) and I have plenty of hardware choices. Where I don't have enough choice though is in PC OSs. Thank you, Microsoft.

We are embarking down a dark path as a nation. Government interference in hiring practices? I can understand racial discrimination (marginally so) but a hiring truce? Give me a break.

"so the rest of the world looks at us in a better light."

Yes, the rest of the world just LOVES us and our shiny new suit.

http://english.pravda.ru/opinion/columnists/107459-0/

The English don't think too much better about your secular Messiah after he dumped all over the Queen, the Prime Minister, and the British press for daring to criticize his administration. Take off your ideological glasses and think like an adult once in a while.

radio contacts, radios and taximeters are somewhere between 5.0 and 6.0

Radio stuff, sure - but taximeters have been around since Roman times. When I was a kid I had an encyclopedia with a diagram of one, showing wooden cogs (actually wheels with wooden pegs on the face) gearing the axle rotation down and driving something that released a pebble every x revolutions of the cart wheel. The fare was (obviously) based on the number of pebbles spat out during the journey.

See, for example, the fourth post here:
http://engforum.pravda.ru/showthread.php?t=219450

I read this article a few hours ago from Drudge ... and while the article may be 100% accurate and irrefutable, there was another article that was also on there, also published today:

Earth on the Brink of an Ice Age

I'm not sure if the left hand knows exactly what the right hand is doing ... but to me, it seems like two completely different scenarios.

Obviously, the earth has cooled before ... and it's warmed up before. Nobody is disputing this fact.

Certainly, in the past few decades, CO2 has risen. And, for the past 650,000 years, it has been fluctuating, but topped out around 360ppm. Though if you go back even further, you'll see that CO2 has been much higher (see pg 23) than recent times. One has to question what is the optimal level for the Earth? Is it now ... at 385ppm, or in pre-historic times at over 1000ppm?

By using 7g of CO2 emissions per search, the article really gives such a vague scare of global warming. By my interpretation, we should shut down that evil CO2 emitter, at least thats what they are implying. Alternatively, just create a new tax obviously, this will reduce levels ... somehow.

As far as a solution for the "global warming" problem ... I'll have to think about it while I turn up the heat in the house while I shovel snow outside.

BTW, yes I do know that Weather != Climate ... but currently, it is just fsck'n cold.

http://english.pravda.ru/science/earth/106922-0/

...don't forget about women who think that being a barbie doll is sexy.

Erm... There's a war starting and all I see on /. is a joke article about it? This makes me sick. I hope you /.ers are intelligent enough to realize that not everything you're seeing in the news about this conflict is true and that the Russian troops that were first fired upon were there at the behest of the UN. Here's another interesting tidbit: http://english.pravda.ru/hotspots/conflicts/09-08-2008/106046-russia_georgia-0

One of the relics of an overturned empire...

Is this related? If so, what does it have to do with a "mining" mission to the moon?

Sure! Most people would pay quite a bit to get an advantage. Especially those that already have the money. Here's a list of services in Hollywood and some relative fees: Here. And it would be the Hollywood types that would be paying the Playwrights and song writers.

Of course the next question is: How will Hollywood get their income if they have to give movies away for free?

And the one after that is: if anything a writer writes is public domain immediately, then wouldn't all writers intentionally release less content until they land a gig? And if so, would that end up impoverishing our society?

This creepy thing is most likely a freakishly deformed puppy, but I'm sure it will be good for some tabloid news stories.

The topic of the submission was "Russian Software Piracy Crackdown Restricts Free Speech". Every couple of weeks there are articles in russian press about police raids and confiscations of counterfeit CDs. I don't see any of these news here on /. But when the "free press" (which BTW is just as corrupt and self-involved as the ones they bash) is concerned, suddenly there's an article in WP and a helpful submission of our own "reporter".

Q: The authorities regularly report on yet another successful operation against the illegal manufacture and sale of audio and video materials. About 21 thousand tapes and videodisks were confiscated late January in St. Petersburg. Still, the pirates play their game. Can you tell us why the situation remains unchanged?

A: As far as I am concerned, the authorities talk a lot, but do too little. The police can shut down a wholesale warehouse stacked with illicit products but it is likely to be back in business one day after. Provided that payoffs are paid on time. You can even get back two-thirds of your stuff that was confiscated if you pay them an extra. Various police departments are supposed to combat the sale of pirated CDs and DVDs in Veliky Novgorod. Every time they would launch their "surprise" raids on the retail market, as a rule they do it once a year at the end of summer, we would be fully prepared to see them. A maximum fee for selling counterfeit products at retail is 4,000 rubles. My personal experience shows that the amount of fee can be subject to negotiation. Your punishment can be reduced to a warning if you are smart enough to offer some latest flick to an inspector you are dealing with.

There is an article today on the pradva (in reply to the parent funny post) explaining that according to the russian intelligence the mysterious meteorite was actually an american spy satellite destroyed in orbit, and that the illness cases seen in Peru were caused by the plutonium from the main power generator falling out.

http://english.pravda.ru/opinion/feedback/20-09-2007/97410-american_spy_satellite-0

country's information minister, Yermukhamet Yertysbayev, has vowed to purge Kazakh sites of "dirt" and "lies."