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[smjjames]

The Sauron's Eye will appear above Moscow in Thursday.

...

What's that thing for?

[smirk]

ash n͟a̷z̨g͞ d͏̳̣̯͚̖͓ͅu̱̟͙̙̟͕̦ŗ̲b̮a̷̫͖̻͇̼̰t̝̻̳̖u͎̠̠͚̕l̮̝̹̥̻̦͈ư̗̋k̷̤̱̲̜͉̠.̣͖̠.̴.҉̙̩͈̰̖̠͍   ͎̺a̡̩s̢̥͈͎̪̗ḥ̸̺ ̵n̼̟̜̭̥̩a͇̻̼̞̹̩͆̔ͣ̾ͅz͈̥̯̃ͩͧ͂̕ͅģ̯̱̫̌̂̂̎ ͇͉g̥̟̺͙̘̣̞͋̃̋̔̈́i̹͎͇͈̼͙̯͡m͙ͫ̓ͩ͌ͥͫb̧̆̍̃̇̚ȧ͙̳̀͗̎̓̃̏́t͎̜̪̺̖͕̄̏͝ų͚̹̊̄ͤ̈́ͨͮ͌l̲͚̣̙̯̟̉.̘̪͍̩͎͓͎͞.̝̺̪͚̪̭ͧ̄͛ͯ̉ͨͨ.͕̖͓̃̇̊̏̓̎


...google translate tells me it's a promotional thingie for the last Hobbit film. Should look pretty cool if they can pull it off. (Also, I'm doing my level best to resist making "Putin's new foreign policy" jokes. It's just... right there.)

[DJ]

I'm awaiting photoshops of oligarchs as Nazgul.

[Baffler]

I'm awaiting photoshops of oligarchs as Nazgul.

Challenge... considered.

[Sheb]

Well, my Master's thesis will be on the directed evolution of an enzyme in water droplet suspended in oil. Anything to do with synthetic biology would be awesome, whether protein engineering or even more industrial projects.

I know Russia got quite the expertise on phage, and a though I've had for a couple month is that a career in designing phage to target specific pathogen would be pretty cool.

[Guardian G.I.]

Serbian basketball fans troll Ukrainian basketball fans at a Eurocup game between KK Crvena Zvezda and BC Budivelnyk.

[DJ]

I thought they had their fill of flags at sports events

[XXSockXX]

The Sauron's Eye will appear above Moscow in Thursday.

...

Spoiler:  It was inevitable. (click to show/hide)

[nenjin]

That shit has got to be murder on his jowls.

[alway]

So apparently they cancelled the eye of Sauron.
http://www.bbc.com/news/blogs-news-from-elsewhere-30414032

[Sergarr]

So apparently they cancelled the eye of Sauron.
http://www.bbc.com/news/blogs-news-from-elsewhere-30414032

Eh, with the amount of snow that has suddenly filled the streets, the eye of Sauron wouldn't look as good.

[Guardian G.I.]

So apparently they cancelled the eye of Sauron.
http://www.bbc.com/news/blogs-news-from-elsewhere-30414032

Eh, with the amount of snow that has suddenly filled the streets, the eye of Sauron wouldn't look as good.

Well, if you imagine the snow as ash from Mount Doom...

[Mictlantecuhtli]

http://itar-tass.com/en/economy/766529

MOSCOW, December 11. /TASS/. The Russian Central Bank’s decision to hike the key rate to 10.5% is unlikely to help the ruble but will have an adverse effect on the economy, national development bank Vnesheconombank (VEB) Deputy CEO Andrey Klepach said on Thursday.

Russia’s Central Bank made a decision on Thursday to raise the refinancing rate to 10.5% from 9.5% amid accelerating inflation and the depreciating ruble. The regulator said in a statement it was ready to continue raising the key rate, if inflation risks intensified further. “I don’t think the Central Bank needs to further raise rates and I don’t think that the current rate hike will help the ruble. But this will have a negative effect on the economy,” he said.

A key rate hikes generally has a negative effect on lending activity but “the rates are already quite high and therefore one percentage point changes little and this decision will hardly be significant,” he said.

It is more important to ensure that some mechanism starts to work or is established for the provision of long-term money to the economy either through spending from the National Welfare Fund or through other mechanisms proposed by the Central Bank, Klepach said.

“But this does not work so far,” the expert said.The Russian government has possibilities to prevent recession in 2016 and considerably limit its scope next year, the VEB deputy CEO said.

“But for this purpose, at least something has to be done, including the provision of long-term money at affordable rates. But this is not being done so far,” he said.

So.. TASS is reporting this.

[mainiac]

Interest rate hikes aren't going to have much traction unless they cause either a rise in unemployment (which hasn't happened yet) or a significant erosion in worker purchasing power.  The Russian government seems inclined to spend it's savings on averting either of those two possibilities.  It's an odd situation.

[Knit tie]

Ruble collapses, nobody cares.

"We've had worse!", claim Russians. They are right.

Bet you didn't know we had Buddhist temples!