Many, many news outlets have broadcasted stories comparing President of the Russian Federation Vladimir Putin with Chancellor of the Third Reich Adolf Hitler. It strikes me that it might be useful to help people figure out the difference! The primer is simple: start from the top and work your way down. -- Is the person…
An early contender for game of 2014 (for me)
Papers, Please, is a magnificent game. The premise is incredibly simple -- you are a border guard between two fictional countries during 1982. These countries are almost certainly Communist. Your job is to process passports and get people into the country or keep them out. If it sounds dull and repetitive, you're a foolish fool…
Hot off the presses: four hundred years is a long time
Today is the День народного единство (Day of National Unification) here in Russia. It celebrates the end of the "Time of Troubles." By the way, that phrase is one of the greatest understatements of all time. The Time of Troubles was a period lasting from 1598 to 1613 in which Russia basically coupled a civil…
Ways Russia is trying to kill me
In no particular order, and this is in less than a month: 1. Horrific air quality 2. Horrific pavement quality 3. Insane drivers 4. People blocking sidewalks and forcing you to use the road 5. People smoking on bridges made out of wood 6. People smoking in general 7. Escalators coming to an abrupt stop…
In Soviet Russia, port closes you!
The only downside about being in Russia thus far (apart from Russian food, which I hate) is that Steam doesn't work on the Wi-Fi network I'm using. All the ports Steam wants are closed, for some reason.
Greetings from the future (or not, depending on when you read this)
I arrived in St. Petersburg yesterday. I will be in Russia until summer 2014, so I'll be commenting here from time to time. (Kevin will still, I imagine, provide the bulk of the actual content). I will try to post at least once a week, just commenting on things in general.
Possibly bad news for Russia
If RFERL is correct, several key landmarks in Russia may be removed from UNESCO's World Heritage list, which would allow developers to build there. This would be a tragedy; of those places, I have only been to Peterhof (which was amazing), but it looks like I'd better try to get the others when I'm there.
Oh, Austriaball!
The UN is getting increasingly nervous about events in the Golan Heights. For those unaware, the increasingly violent and vicious Syrian Civil War has spilled into neighboring Israel, and a UN peacekeeping force finds itself increasingly low on troops. The savior of the region's security is an unlikely one, although sadly, they've been turned down. (Perhaps…
Fun with rankings
While writing for an online forum, I looked up the Wikipedia entry for Churchill to find out when he was born. I found out that he was the greatest Briton of all time, as voted by the Internet, to which I say, "Good show, Interwebs!" I'm perplexed by some of them -- David Bowie is…
Vlad The Impaled
Couldn't have happened to a statue of a nicer man.
36 Chambers - The Legendary Journeys: Execution to the max! 