Not Only is Your Job Probably Safe From Clankers, It Is Probably Safe From Russian Clankers

11/12/25 Telegraph:

Russia’s first AI humanoid robot collapsed on stage seconds after making its debut at a technology event in Moscow.

Video showed the robot, Aldol, staggering onto the stage to the soundtrack of Gonna Fly Now from the film Rocky during a showcase of Russia’s emerging robotics sector on Tuesday.

But as the humanoid lifted its hand to wave at the crowd, it lost balance and fell to the ground, shattering into pieces.

Developers were seen hastily trying to pick the robot back up before giving up and trying to cover it with a black cloth. But this ended up being tangled up with the robot, which was moving erratically on the ground.

Putin drove most of the young techies out of Russia with the Ukrainian War.  Stupidity has consequences.

Again: Do Not Worry

11/18/24 Guardian:

Two undersea fibre-optic communications cables in the Baltic Sea, including one linking Finland and Germany, have been severed, raising suspicions of sabotage by bad actors.

The episode on Monday recalled other incidents in the same waterway that authorities have probed as potentially malicious, including damage to a gas pipeline and undersea cables last year and the 2022 explosions of the Nord Sea gas pipelines.

The 1,200km (745-mile) cable connecting Helsinki to the German port of Rostock stopped working at about 0200 GMT on Monday, Finnish state-controlled cybersecurity and telecoms company Cinia said.

A 218km (135-mile) internet link between Lithuania and Sweden’s Gotland island went out of service at about 0800 GMT on Sunday, according to Lithuania’s Telia Lietuva, part of Sweden’s Telia Company group.

Finland and Germany said in a joint statement that they were “deeply concerned about the severed undersea cable” and were investigating “an incident (that) immediately raises suspicions of intentional damage”.

UPDATE: Danish Navy seizes Chinese ship captained by a Russian for this.

Nothing to See Here, Just Move Along

11/18/24 CNN:

Sweden and Finland have updated guidance to their citizens on how to survive war, as NATO allies bolster defense measures against the backdrop of the Ukraine conflict.

Both nations joined the transatlantic alliance in the past two years, after Russia invaded its neighbor. Many European countries have since ramped up military spending to bolster long-term security in the region.

Booklets distributed to millions of households in the Nordic nations include instructions on how to prepare for the effects of military conflicts, communications outages and power cuts, as well as extreme weather events.

From stockpiling bottled water and sanitary products, to growing edible foodstuffs at home, government authorities offered tips on how residents could sustain themselves in the event of war. The brochures also include advice for parents and caregivers, instructing people to preserve diapers, medication and baby food.

The Swedish government will distribute “Om krisen eller kriget kommer (If crisis or war comes),” to all five million households over a two-week period from November 18, according to the Swedish Civil Contingencies Agency (MSB), a governmental agency that compiled the pamphlet.

The fifth version of the Swedish brochure, which was first published in World War II, will place “greater emphasis on preparing for war,” a statement from the MSB said on Monday. The digital version of brochure, released in October, has been downloaded about 55,000 times, the agency added.

I Think This is Still Saber-Rattling, But Make Sure You Can Prepare with Potable Water and Spare Foodv on Short Notice

 11/19/24 NBC News:

Russian President Vladimir Putin formally lowered the threshold for his country's use of nuclear weapons Tuesday, days after the United States allowed Ukraine to strike inside Russia using American missiles.

The Kremlin announced that Putin had approved an updated nuclear doctrine — a document that governs how Russia uses its nuclear arsenal — including the declaration that Moscow could unleash a nuclear strike if subject to an attack by a nonnuclear country that has the support of a nuclear state.

The Russian Defense Ministry claimed later Tuesday that Ukraine had carried out its first strike on Russian territory using U.S.-supplied long-range weapons, hitting a military facility in the Bryansk region with an ATACMS missile.

I suspect Russian ICBMs and SLBMs may well turn out to be in the functional state as their conventuional forces turned out to be.  Viktor Beleno's MiG Pilot recounts how ground crews used the MiG-25's ethanol coolant for drinking.  I doubt any part ofb an ICBM is drinkable or smokable (yes, I am imagining an ICBM transformed into a really, reaaly big blunt) but still....

"If You Strike a King, You Must Kill Him"

I do not know from where this aphorism comes, but it is very true.  Wagner Group must kill Putin, or turn him over to the West for war crimes trial.  The screeching heads on Russian state media must be having a heck of time figuring out how to spin last month's heroes coming to get Putin.

Ukrainian Ministry of Defense Has Great Marketing

1/17/23 Motor Trend has the Ukrainian MOD's parody of Chevy truck ads suggesting we relabel the Abrams as a recreational vehicle.  Hilarious. 

This May Get Bad Very Quickly

 11/15/22 Daily Caller:

A Russian rocket struck Polish territory on Tuesday, killing two people, The Associated Press reported, citing a senior U.S. intelligence official.

Polish media originally reported that a projectile struck an area of farmland where grain was drying in Przewodów, a village near the border with Ukraine, according to the AP. Polish government spokesman Piotr Mueller confirmed on social media that members of the country’s National Security Council had convened an emergency meeting to respond to a “crisis situation,” according to the AP.

I doubt this was intentional.  Russian electronics.  Also, digging deep into their missile stockpile may mean using missiles past their Best By dates  

Another possibility (remote): "accident" that requires Putin to withdraw from Ukraine rather than fight NATO.

The possibility that no one identified early: Russian-made air defense missiles launched by Ukraine that went astray.  First news reports, as usual, incomplete and potentially misleading.

Question for You Pipeline Engineers

 The variety of experience and knowledge of my readers never ceases to amaze me.  Do pipelines have stop-loss valves?

A->B->C

Idiots blow up pipeline at B.  

If I designed pipelines, I would have sensors at A and C to detect sudden losses of pressure and close the pipeline at A and C, both to prevent loss of valuable merchandise and pollution from the hole at B.  Also, for underwater pipelines, this reduces water pressure on sections that would now depressurize and be collapsed by the water pressure.

How Much Do You Trust CNN's Translations?

I am watching a CNN report about a Ukrainian hotline where Russians can call to see if their loved ones had been captured or identified as dead.  I will not claim that my Russian is terribly useful anymore but listening to the Russian wives and mothers while reading the translated subtitles it was nice to be able to recognize particular words and phrases.  "Ya nye znaiyoo": I do not know.

Why does this matters one?  Some years ago, a friend was studying Arabic while the 2nd Gulf War was under way.  CNN translated an Arab's remarks as indicating the country was hopelessly messed up.  But what my friend could hear him say was, "the whole Muslim world."