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New York Times Has No Shame

New York Times published an article on Sunday, entitled "Putin’s Iron Grip on Russia Suffocates Opponents". The article itself is ok, I thought, though I didn't read much of it, finding it a bit boring. Not great, mind you, but ok. A bit overdone, with some strange phrases like "far-flung places like Nizhny Novgorod, 250 miles east of Moscow." (Excuse me? In Russia "250 miles east of Moscow" would be pretty much Moscow suburbs. Now, 4,000 mi - that's "far-flung.") If you've followed Russian politics at all, then there would be nothing to see here. But then they did an interesting PR move: they asked Russian Live Journal users for comments.

LJ is crazy popular in Russia, kind of like Orkut in Brazil. It sometimes seems like in Russia LJ=Internet. In fact, in case you haven't been following social networking sites news, LJ was recently bought by a Russian company. So, with some help from Russian LJ leadership, New York Times got over a thousand comments. Which they then selectively translated into English and put up on the NY Times website. Apart from amazingly crappy translation (sometimes translating sentences to mean nearly the opposite), what I found sad is how the mix of the comments was rebalanced to make it seem like the Russian LJ community was split between the different opinions about the article: some people loved it, some hated it. Nothing can really be further from the truth: if the LJ's opinion of the article can be summarized in one word, the world would be "shit". Not "shit" as in "shit! we screwed" but as in "why do they publish such shit?" In fact, that's literally a word that a good 10% of the posters seemed to use to describe it. Again, I don't think the article deserves that designation, but if NY Times bothers to ask Russians for their opinion, it should present this opinion as is, or say "The words that the Russians used to descibe express their opinions of the article are not fit to be printed in a family newspaper."

I went through the first ten posts translated by NY Times and the first 10 top-level posts in LJ and translated each of them roughly into "A-F" rating, where "A" would mean "You are right" and "F" would mean "Go write about your own f***ing Guantanamo instead." Then we get:

LJ comments:         D,D,F,F,F,F,F,F,C,C
Translated comments: D,F,C,D,A,C,C,D,D,A

Now, one can say that "Sad shit" is not a very mature comment, or that the first post was would have been to hard to translate ("And those people tell us to not put our fingers up our noses!" a reference too a joke where a kid says this after seeing his parents having sex.) NY Times could have said that from over a thousand comments, of which the overwhelming majority were extremely negative, they picked those that weren't too offensive and made sure to include some of the positive ones to represent the minority opinion as well. But to just translate the comments like that and say those were the highlights...

The worst thing is that while ostensibly trying to help bring democracy to Russia by criticizing Putin's regime, New York Times suddenly became Putin's greatest aid, providing his supporters with yet another argument that American media simply can't be trusted and that Russians should just rely on the Putinstate-owned sources instead.

Filed under: Russia

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A Three-Letter Candidate

The sign above (in Russian) could be translated roughly as "They want a check mark, but they'll get dick." The sample ballot shown underneath has what Russian's call "the three letter word" written on it. (A bit like writing "f*** you" in English.) The call to "write in" Mr Three Letter Word seems to be all over the Russian internet and is a twist on the Other Russia's more politically-correct call for simply tearing up the ballots or throwing them in the trash:

Here is the back story on Mr Dick and how he got to figure so prominently in the Russian elections. (And why he will likely win!)

In early March Russia will again stage a show called "Presidential Election". As was the case in 2000 and 2004, everything is done to make sure that there are no surprises and the right man is guaranteed to win with a substantial margin. (The right man is different this time, which I suppose is a step in the right direction.) In all three cases, the list of candidates got carefully trimmed to make sure there is electable opposition. This year, for instance, the voters get to choose between Putin's heir, a corrupt communist, a clown and one guy nobody ever heard of. So, what does one do?

Faced with a similar situation in 2000, part of the opposition united in asking people to vote "against all." At that point if enough people voted "against all," the elections had to be re-done with a new slate of candidates. Mr Against All ended up getting around 2% of the vote.

In 2004, there was even less suspense about who would get elected, and many expected very low voter turn out. In other words, there was no question about who would get elected, but there was uncertainty about whether enough people will bother to go and vote, given that the outcomes were predetermined. The government put a lot of effort into encouraging people to vote (for Putin). The opposition then decided that people who vote against all might just end up making the quorum, so they asked them to simply stay at home. There were slogans along the lines of "Putin can elect himself. Spend the day with your kids." The government cracked down on that, however, the universities and employees "encouraged" people to vote, and eventually they got the numbers they needed.

In preparation for the 2008 election, Putin decided to tweak the election law: removing the "against all" option and the requirement that a certain minimum number of people vote for the elections to be valid. Which is to say that once the only liberal candidate was removed (just yesterday), there is no option other than choosing from among Mr. Teddy Bear (the future President), Mr. Communist, Mr. Clown and Mr. Random Guy. Or one write in Mr. Three Letter Word. Writing an obscenity into the ballot is of course not going to have any effect on the outcome, but then neither would any other course of action.

Yet, paradoxically, Mr. Three Letter Word is expected to win in a sense. There is a Russian saying going back to Soviet times that has been repeated quite often recently on the Russian websites: "Golosui ne golosui, vse ravno poluchish ...". ("Vote or not, either way you'll get ...") There is only one short Russian word that fits into that ellipsis and completes the rhyme, and Russian will get that in March whether or not they write that word on the ballots. Might as well have some fun.

Filed under: Russia

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Alternative Subway Maps

I spent a week in NY around the New Years Eve, which gave me ample opportunities to complain about NY subway. Don't get me wrong, I wish San Francisco had something like that instead of the joke that we call "BART," but when I compare NY subway with real subway systems, like the one in Moscow, many flaws seem apparent. The main of those for me is utter lack of "user-friendliness." NY subway is with anyone but the first time user in mind. Consider, for example, that there are no maps in the stations, so you basically have to take your chances with a train, and then in the train find out that you got on an express. Not that the maps are any good. Which brings me to the main story. I mentioned my frustration with the NY subway map to a friend and he mentioned that one designer has been campaigning for an alternative.

It does seem to me that the "KICK" map since 2004. It's a big improvement, in my opinion, and brings a semblance of order to what at the base is a completely chaotic subway network.

Last night I run into an alternative map of Moscow subway on a Russian blog. The first below is a part of the official map, the second is the redesigned. Click on both images to see them full-size.

I agree with the author of the alternative diagram that his version is both easier to understand and is also more pleasing esthetically than the traditional "bike chain" version. As he says: "The diagram looks simple, clean and light. The subway appears to be what it should seem like to a person - a magic teleportation system."

So, I am glad the Moscow subway now also has a diagram worthy of being framed and put on a wall.

Filed under: USA 2007 , USA , Russia , New York

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С Новым Годом!

Happy new year!

(This is a Soviet New Year card from 40 years ago. It shows strange obsession with space exploration, which persisted as an element of New Year card design well into my childhood. For more space-themed Soviet New Year card see see this forum post. )

Filed under: Russia

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Russia vs Venezuela

First, a joke posted yesterday on a Russian website:

- So, 50?
- Nah... 50 is too little...
- 100?
- That's a bit too much...
(In case you are missing the cultural context, Russians would assume at this point that the parties are discussing whether to have 50g or 100g of vodka each.)
- Then how much?
- Let's do 64. Modest, not too round, realistic.
- Deal, I'll call them. Hello, Churov? Ok, here's the deal. Write "United Russia - 64%"

It does seem like the question that occupies many Russians after the weekends' election is "Why 64?" If you are making up a number, why not go for a constitutional majority? Is that some sort of pretence at the democracy?

Overall, though, the "elections" went as expected. The election committee gave United Russia (pro-Putin) 64%, for some strange reason just a bit short of constitutional majority. The Communists (the only remaining opposition party) got quite obviously less than their support rate, but roughly what everyone thought the election committee would give them. The only two other parties that made it to the parliament were Zhirinovsky's Liberal Democrates (the official clown party, pro-Putin but with a twist), and "Fair Russia" (also pro-Putin, basically in competition with United Russia to be "the" pro-Putin party).

Venezuela had its election the same weekend. The referendum to give Chavez the right to run again got defeated narrowly. I didn't know Venezuela was still a democracy, but apparently it is.

Venezuela: 1, Russia: 0.

To quote Lermontov, "this would be very funny if it wasn't so sad."

Filed under: Russia

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Putin's Plan

Russia is having parliamentary elections tomorrow. For the last four years, the parliament didn't really have any role in Russia, but now things are slightly interesting, since Putin is promising to not run again and the general opinion seems to be that that he will try to control the country through parliament, where his party is expected to win anywhere from 60 to 75% of the vote. The rhetoric seems to be that due to this strange thing called Consitution, "Putin's Plan" for Russia is in danger, yet being the noble supporter of democracy that he is, Putin is not going change the constitution even though the people would want him to. So, the conclusion, if you want "Putin's Plan" to continue, you are supposed to go and vote for party, so that god forbid they don't end up with less than a qualified majority in parliament.

A band from Vladivostok with a somewhat untranslatable name "Korean LËDchiki" came up with a rather amusing song, entitled "Putin's Plan," exploiting the fact that the Russian word for "plan" also happens to be a slang for marijuana. I hope the author's won't mind my attempt at loose translation into English (the Russian original is here):

Let our enemies squirm in their hatred,
Let them secrete bile in the impotence,
Very soon their pitiful days will be over:
Putin's Plan is the plan for Russia's restoration!

There are really are no alternatives to the president,
There is one national leader: Vladimir Putin.
Under his guidance the Russian world would unite,
President Vladimir Putin is hour hero and model.

Russian people are greeting him with an ovation:
He can do everything, the country is his hands.
Putin's Plan will open new horizons.
It's stop destroying and to start creating.

The presidents address is the holy word,
Outlined by him at the moment of highest enlightenment.
Glory to Russian and glory to Moscow,
Putin is a knight of legends.

We believe in our strength, and this is the most important.
We know that with Putin's Plan everything is possible.
Our great Christian country is rising.
Putin, God and United Russia are with us.

Refrain:

Putin's plan is the real thing.
People sing songs and tell legends about it.
Take a hit and pass it on,
Putin's Plan, all the way from the Chui Valley.

The morning didn't spare light for Kremlin's walls,
It's gray and empty and dull in President's office.
He is sitting in an armchair, reading "Limonka", pretending to be busy.
He just smoked and is waiting to feel the effect.

He picks up the phone: "Hey, I am feeling munchies"
The president takes another hit, then he feels it.
Nano-spaships crossing the vastness of nano-universe.
Starting with today, "nano" is *ing awesome.

We are getting oil on Venus and gas on Alpha Centauri,
A rouble is worth a pound of dollars - that's hilarious.
A summit in Vladivostok? Why waste time?
APEC summit on Moon! The roads are just as goo there.

Putin's Plan is a straight road from here to happiness.
The Olympic rings of Omnipotence are shining on his fingers.
All the medals in all kinds of sport, as a set.
All Olympic games will now be in Sochi - winter and summer.

Hustler is fighting with Playboy for who would get to publish President's photo.
Putin's Plan wins all the time.
What successor? Ok, fine, what about Konni.
Or, if you prefer, Sergei Ramzanovich Medvedev.

We are a superpower, washing BigBlintzes with Coca-Kvas.
Where is Europe, we need some service.
The President is happy, he already sees Russia as a paradise.
Putin's Plan is the best - just feel the effect.

The President is slouching in the arm chair - it's letting go already.
Glory to Russia and Chui Valley!

Filed under: Russia

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AK-47 at 60

It's 60th anniversary of AK-47, arguably the worst weapon of mass destruction ever made. Al Jazeera has a great program about this, full of grim humour, almost as if scripted by Russians.

(Part 2 is here.)

It's so scary that a man who invented it is still in denial about the amount of deaths the weapon caused, and had the audacity to write a book entitled "Kalashnikov is Peace." I mean, I wouldn't blame someone for inventing - at the time of war - an excellent machine gun, so simple that a child could use it (and many do). I wouldn't expect him to kill himself over this. But to stay in denial about how it's been used and being concerned instead about the fact that Chinese fakes are not a not as good (meaning presumably that they kill less kids per round ammo), just really really makes me sick. And what worth is that it's not just one sick old man - they are celebrating this anniversary in Russia big time. Vzglyad quotes the head of Rosoboroneksport saying that AK-47 "together with brothers Wright's plane and Ford's automobile is in the top 3 of the 30 inventions of 20th century that have radically changed the life of humankind." No, f*#@ing kidding! The nuclear bomb is presumably #4 on that list.

Filed under: Russia

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More on Russian OS

This is a follow up to the earlier post about Linux in Russia. (All links in this post are to blog posts in Russian.)

It looks like Alksnis' attempt to get the parliament to issue a ask Putin to attend to the creation of "Russian OS" didn't go very far (in general in Russia the parliament speaks to the President when spoken too). The parliament voted with 66 votes for, 1 against, and 383 not showing up. However Alksnis declared a small victory when the prime minister issued a resolution asking the Ministry of Education to provide a package of basic software to all schools and see that this software is used (there are PDFs in Russian on Alksinis' blog). The request mentions free software only as an option - it basically says that the Ministry of Education should line up the software either by licencing it, by finding free software, or by ordering custom development. At the same time, it may be an important step. As many have pointed out in the past, MS software wouldn't be so popular in Russia and other countries with similar or lesser wages if it wasn't so easy to pirate. Currently it seems that schools pirate software individually. This resolution requires that either the government licenses all the software properly - a big bill - or they tell the schools to use free software. In the very least there won't be more cases of underpaid school teachers being sued for installing pirated Windows so that they could teach students about computers.

Filed under: Russia

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Russia's 'Russian OS'

Slashdot linked today to an article talking about Russia's Minister of Communications' plan to put Linux-based "Russian OS" in all schools in Russia by 2009. The Russian government had not shown much love for Linux in the past and the article was rather incoherent and not particularly convincing, so I went to look in on the Russian internet to figure out what was going on.

First, to lay to rest Slashdotters' fears about Russian government's lack of imagination when it comes to names, "Russian OS" seems to be just a case of mistranslation, perhaps due to Russians' persistent difficulties with English articles. The project is "a Russian OS," and no name has been proposed for it. Apart from that, it seems the indeed the minister is talking about putting "a Russian OS" in schools. And yes, what they really seem to mean by that is a Russian Linux distribution. They want to hire a Russian company to do that and pay them 750 million roubles (US$25mil). This all makes sense, since Russia kind of agreed to crack down on pirating Windows and where are they going to get the money to for licenses for all the Russian schools (of which the majority now run pirated Windows, or so people say). What's strange about this is of course the talk of this being "a Russian OS" or "an operating system developed in Russia". I am not particularly averse to government support for Russian software (though getting out of its way would be perhaps a better first start) or to them making a bit deal about software developed in Russia. I am also all for Linux in Russian schools. But let's not confuse the two, please. Fixing a few localization bugs in Linux (and how much of an "operating system" can one build for $25,000,000?) and putting it in Russian schools is fine. Calling that "software developed in Russia", however would be strange to say the least.

After some surfing, however, I started figuring out where this came from. Apart from Leonid Reiman, the Minister of Communication, and Dmitri Medvedev, a vice prime minister, another name kept coming up often in connection to this news: Viktor Alksnis, an nationalist MP who apparently has been a pushing for open source since May this year. (Before that he was apparently too busy fighting with Russian anti-fascists in complaining about hacker's breaking his LiveJournal.) Now, let's say that if I could pick a Russian politician to be a friend of Linux, Viktor Alksnis would be pretty much at the bottom of my list. Think of the sequence of slogans: "For a Russia free from homosexuality! For the Russian way of life!" and then suddenly "For a Linux-based Russian OS!" Strange, right? It's a bit like Pat Buchanan suddenly becoming a major Linux supporter in the US... But it's an interesting story, so let's get started.

Like some other Russian politicians, Alksnis has a LiveJournal. And unlike some US politician's "blogs" that are obviously written by their PR department, reading his blog gives one an impression that: (a) he writes it himself, (b) he writes whatever the hell comes to his mind, in terms bordering on crude, (c) he reads his readers comments. This part (c) is important. On May 11 Alksnis posted a call for building a Russian OS. It mentions that the operating system "should have open architecture", should be "compatible with Windows", and that the license should belong to the Russian government. Apart from the term "open architecture" there is little in the call to suggest that Alksnis had heard about open source. It is really is above all a call for Russia to build its own operating system and stick it to the imperialists. Not surprisingly, his readers pointed out that building a brand new OS from scratch is not a very good use of government money and nearly unanimously suggested that making a Russian distro of Linux for Russian schools would be a much better idea. So, two weeks later he announced on the his LJ a new version of the proposal, this time specifically talking about a Linux distro. Mind you, it still asks the government to start a new "national project entitled "Fatherland Operating System." (Ok, to be fair the Russian word "otechestvennaya" can mean different things, from "fatherland" to simply "domestic".) The proposal still suggests that use of "foreign software" should be limited only to cases where there are no domestic alternatives. Obviously the reaction from the readers was a lot more positive, and further corrections were suggested a lot more politely. E.g., someone suggested correcting the clause about restrictions on the "use of foreign software" to "use of closed source foreign sources". Another two weeks he posted another revision of the proposal, this time calling for a national project entitled "Russia's Information Independence" (a bit more reasonable, if you ask me), and mentioning things like ODF.

In June Alksnis shares with his readers his excitement about ReactOS - a "Windows-compatible" free OS developed in Russia. His readers find it amusing. A week later Alksnis is reading about Debian. In early August is calling his readers to help translate GPL v. 3 to Russian. Finally on Sept 12 there is an announcement of things moving and the Ministry of Information and Communications planning on doing something. The post has extensive quotes from some MIC document that seem to show that whoever wrote it actually understands the issue. Interesting.

To be continued, probably.

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Lua and Nginx

My main academic interest is software development communities outside the United States and their relationships with the global world of software. And it was my new (academic) year resolution to dedicate a bit more space to this topic on this blog.

So, first, a few words about Lua. Lua is a programming language developed at PUC-Rio, a university in Rio de Janeiro. Until recently it seems that hardly anyone had heard of it, in Rio or in San Francisco. When I first came in contact with it in Rio it was because I knew someone who knew someone who was using it because they were a former student of the author of the language. It seemed seriously local. I later learned that a few large companies in US were using it in their products (Blizzard's World of Warcraft and Adobe's Lightroom as the most commonly cited examples today). And then just in front of my eyes Lua started climbing in TIOBE Programming Community Index. When I got to Rio I was told that it had just moved from #44 to #25 for the March ranking, it made it to top 20 in June and has climbed to #15 this months.

There is a major gap in popularity between Lua and #14 (Delphi), so even though Delphi is going down I imagine Lua's won't move up in this ranking at quite the same pace.

"What is Lua good for?" you might ask. This question we'll have to leave till later. For now, I wanted to mention another project that has been growing in popularity. This time a web server from Russia. (Yay, we rock.) nginx has recently been mentioned in Google Online Security Blog which attributed to it rather surprising popularity, making it the #3 web server worldwide:

Read the blog post for the rather interesting stats on which servers are more popular in different countries, for both all servers and just for those distributing malware. Again, more on nginx later.

Filed under: Russia , Brazil

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