Angus

Battle of Britain A Bridge Too Far Shaun of the Dead - funniest movie of all time. Bridge Over the River Kwai Lawrence of Arabia

When they stop murdering rape victims, that's a conversation we can have. Until the most basic human rights are provided to women, however, I don't give a good goddamn how offended Afghans may be or whatever Western problems may be foisted upon them. Seriously, it's as if Afghanistan is trapped in some bizarro parallel dimension where bad is good and injustice is just.

I always thought Firefly was pretty good when it came to the science - they didn't warp around the galaxy but instead were kept to STL travel around one solar system. And for once in a sci-fi series, there was no sound in space.

Is this Detroit or Pripyat? http://www.viceland.com/int/v16n2/htdocs/schools-out-forever-625.php

She's not insane! That's simply the state of conservative punditry in the US today.

Russian Railways: http://eng.rzd.ru/ Travel times from St. Petersburg to Moscow range from 5 hours to 11 hours. Moscow Metro map: http://www.godzillashostel.com/images/maps/metromap.gif St. Petersburg Metro map: http://www.petersburg-lodging.com/Petersburg/metro_map.gif You'll certainly see a lot of signs of the Soviet past, especially in Moscow's metro, where you can't turn around without running into a statue or mosaic or bas-relief depicting some part of Soviet ideology or history. In my experience people are friendlier in China than in Russia. There were numerous occasions when strangers went out of their way to help me during my travels there. In Russia, not so much. Russia is cleaner than China in terms of litter, but it's still a problem. China's built environment is in much better condition, however - a lot of Russian buildings don't look too good either inside or outside. IIRC, parts of Mozhaisk (about 100 km from Moscow) didn't have running water when I was there in 2004.

*facepalm* Germany declared war on us after Pearl Harbor.

It is when you seem to discount the accidental nature of history, the fallibility of its actors, and the unforeseen consequences of their actions. The Iron Curtain was not something planned - what were the Western Allies supposed to do about the Soviet Union's takeover of Eastern Europe? Start a new world war right after finishing the second one?

I would imagine there are more flights to Shanghai originating in Moscow than St. Petersburg, so I would recommend flying into St. Petersburg first, then going to Moscow. Take Aeroflot. They use Boeings on their transatlantic routes and will probably be the cheapest option, unless some other airline has a sale. You'd have to get to JFK first, though. You should take a train to go between the "two capitals." When you figure in the time you spend getting from the city center to the airport, checking in, etc., you don't save much compared to the train and go through a lot more hassle, not to mention the money you have to spend on the taxi rides. Taking a night train is the best option; that way you won't waste any sightseeing time. There are a bazillion departures: http://tinyurl.com/ybfoolx (from poezda.net, a good online train schedule) There's nothing much to see from the train IIRC, so you wouldn't be missing much. A place in a four person berth or "kupe" should be about $50 IIRC. Platzkart would be even cheaper and is perfectly acceptable if you don't have much luggage. http://www.seat61.com/Russia-trains.htm Or you could go to Pskov or Velikii Novgorod first for a taste of provincial city life and some interesting architecture, and then continue to Moscow. If you don't have time to go to Kubinka (I've never been), Park Pobedy in Moscow has a small free outdoor museum with about 40 tanks and aircraft, IIRC. I lived in Moscow for four years and did a little traveling around European Russia, as well as spending a few months traveling around China for that mater, so if you have any questions ask away. :-)

I think it's the latter. I would act as their representative office in the US and receive payments from customers directly to my account, as "according to US law" US customers can't make international payments. I would thus give these guys my account info, and then wonder where all my money went the next day. What struck me is how this is so much more insidious than the get rich quick schemes coming out of Africa, as by now, I certainly hope everyone dismisses them on sight. If you're looking for a job as I am, you'll check out the link, complete with descriptions of other available positions at the company, mission statements, galleries of random bits of architecture, etc., and you might just be suckered in. Certainly if they had put a little more into their web design, they could hook a lot of people. And boy, using a scheme like this at a time like this to scam job seekers is especially repugnant.

Boy, is today my lucky day. I've just been told I'm the perfect match for the position of Financial Manager at the Design Build Company, based in Moscow. All I have to do is cash checks for them here in the US! My salary will be 5% of the payments I handle, so it'll be anywhere from $3000 to $5000 a month, and all for just 3 hours of work a week! They have scans of their business license and incorporation papers, so it must be legit. http://desbuildcompanysite.com/ This seems like a significant step up from the usual Nigerian MP looking for help. They have a website, and if you gave it a very cursory overview, you might think they're legit.

Didn't the stars used by the Nazis have six points? They look nothing like Ebay's stars.

But North Korea has never launched anything into orbit. They claimed to have done so, but that was never confirmed. The only other comparable countries are China in 1970 and India in 1980. I'd say that except for oil, Iran had fewer human and material resources than those countries.

There's a video here, with about 10 replays in a row. http://tinyurl.com/df7zmp After they finally show the rocket gaining altitude, it sounds like they're shouting "Allahu ackbar" in the background. That's not disturbing. This site has a track on the satellite: http://www.n2yo.com/?s=33506 Why shouldn't this be a big deal for Iran? They managed to join the spacefaring club with fewer resources than any of the other members.

The costume says "Don't Burn. Recycle!" It's a good thing the cops were there to suppress such a radical message.