In a country 11 years removed from the last major terrorists attack that is working through economic problems, why would a virus that has been eradicated in the wild for over 30 years prompt the government to spend nearly half a billion dollars to acquire enough antiviral to treat two million people? It’s a question that many are asking. The answers all sound pretty fishy. The smallpox virus once terrified the majority of the world. With a death rate of 1 in 3, it’s over thirty times more deadly than the worst forms of flu. Even today, it strikes fear into those who remember the 1940s and 1950s when smallpox…

In Russia, a huge percentage of cars on the road are equipped with dashboard cameras. The trend has spread to other countries as well as insurance fraud and law enforcement abuses prompt the need to keep a digital record of what’s happening in front of you when you’re behind the wheel. “You can get into your car without your pants on, but never get into a car without a dash cam,” Russian motorist’ rights activist Aleksei Dozorov told Radio Free Europe. Many Americans were amazed by last month’s Russian meteor footage. It wasn’t just the spectacular streaking light show itself that blew people…

Around 250 people have been reported injured as a spectacular meteor blazed across the sky in the Urals region of Russia near Chelyabinsk east of Moscow. Even during the day, it was clearly visible on several dashboard cameras. Conflicting reports are coming in about whether or not it was shot down by the military. Despite shaking and explosions in the sky, the National Earthquake Information Center reports no major earthquakes in the area indicating that it disintegrated before hitting the earth. There are peculiarities in the reports and videos as described below. The damage shown above…

It’s said that most jokes made by politicians have a touch of reality hidden beneath. Russian Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedec told a whopper of a joke on air the other day and the details have some questioning whether the references weren’t at least partially factual. At first, he gives a detailed explanation of how Russian Presidents exchange the top secret documents at the changing of the guard. One folder included is devoted to “the strangers who visited our planet.” It is enthralling and to those who believe in aliens living among us, it might seem completely plausible. Then, he delivers the…

One of the things that Americans take pride in is the way that the country and its people are technologically advanced when compared to the rest of the world. Many of us have smartphones, tablets, computers, cars, and other advanced gadgets and gizmos that keep us occupied and often informed. This does not, however, translate very well in the political arena. A year ago, most would have thought that there was no way that California could possibly vote against Proposition 37. In a state that is generally so liberal and whose people strongly condone healthy eating habits, it wouldn’t be possible…

From Russia with visuals, Google has expanded their Street View product to include Moscow and St. Petersberg. The cities, largest and second-largest in the country, feature historical sites that people can now explore from the comfort of them computer or mobile device. The Kremlin, Red Square, and Peter and Paul Fortress are now within (most) everyone’s potential view. The image above shows Troitskaya Tower in the center of the northwest wall of the Moscow Kremlin. As with everything Google does these days, they’re pitching Google+, prompting people to share places from Street View on the…

It has been 5 years since a British leader has visited Moscow. On the eve of the first visit since a Kremlin critic was killed in London, the website for the Russian Embassy in London was attacked by a distributed denial of service attack. British Prime Minister David Cameron has been very vocal in the past about the killing of Alexander Litvinenko who was poisoned in 2006 by radioactive polonium-210, but has worked in the last year since taking over as Prime Minister to mend the relationship with Russia and President Dmitry Medvedev. “Prior to the visit of Prime Minister David Cameron to Russia,…

Meanwhile, in Russia… If Google translate is to be trusted, a Russian publication has claimed that Prime Minister Vladimir Putin has signed an order to transition the technological “power structures and the federal budget to free software” starting in the second quarter of 2012. The 17-page document, “Transition Plan of the Federal Authorities and Federal Budgetary Institutions to Free Software,” covers the period from 2011 to 2015. According to Deputy Head of the Ministry of Communications Ilya Massuh, the document describes a complete transition of the federal government and state…

The images here have gotten some real currency on the net by this point, but they are too good to pass up. These Russian guys do LARP better than I do LIFE. Look me in the face and tell me you wouldn’t be freaking out with joy if you were sitting around this fire pictured above, dressed appropriately and pretending to understand what is going on. …