Looks like today is a “Putin says” day in Russia:
Now if Putin says that the Recession is over then I guess it is over… 🙂
He has been busy today!
Windows to Russia!
While we had allot of fun getting cell phones this Sunday! Most of the weekend was spent deep into the night trying to save our blog data. We had a two fold problem.
One issue is that Google has now blocked even more access to our information that is held on all the Google programs such as Blogger etc etc etc. Second issue was that we got a virus in the server of our hosting for certain blogs of ours.
The first issue I have been just a second in time ahead of Google and got finally downloaded 90% of our information in the blogs that we still have access too. But because I was trying to get ahead of Google and the information shutdown by their system, I became sloppy and let a virus into my server. Damn…
Svet and I saw this coming with Google and we have weathered several times before, issues with Russian sites and Google. This time after we lost an unbelievable amount of data and even had ourself locked out of our e-mail with Google. We decided that waiting any longer was going to reap a loss of more data… (We were right)
Svet and I spent several sleepless days and nights transferring and backing up all data to our own hosting and a special computer for our own storage now. We now have set up an old lap top that is running off of linux and only will be used to enter our server from now on.
We had a WordPress php virus that decimated our programs in our sever and that gave me another reason why I dislike WordPress. We still have some blogs on Blogger but all data is now secured and within a short frame span we can be back on line with minimal loss of time and data.
Svet and I are in the process of even creating our own hosting server and not rely on any outside source except our IP. The idea is to become almost totally self sufficient… (Ultimately self sufficient)
I have expressed this before and will express it again. As much as I have loved Blogger and Google, I realize that the control of the internet is changing and internet freedom is starting to be affected. Blogger and Google became to easy to allow them to have control and now we suffered from that control…
This is some of the story that explains why we have switched domains and done so many other adjustments that have hurt the rankings of our blogs. We saw the writing on the wall so to speak. We had to change things or else watch everything ultimately be blocked. We have heard of many people that have lost all their research for their University degrees and other research projects. If you read the Google TOS you will realize that Google owns what you store with them and nothing you can do will get it back. We have several blogs that have been blocked for 2 weeks now and last night Svet discovered that she has lost access to another account that she use to be able to freely access.
Looks like our data loss in in the thousand range of articles and that just is not right!
Windows to Russia!
PS: How was your weekend! Ours was fun…
Hello,
It has been a few days since I posted. We have been busy and had several things to accomplish this weekend. Svet and I got them all done and we are very pleased with the results…
One thing that we needed to do was replace the cellphone that got destroyed last week during the truck trying to run over me. That meant a trip to downtown Moscow on Sunday to get the best price. 🙂
I rely on a camera phone to bring you many of the pictures that are posted on Russian Photo Blog and Windows to Russia.
I had spent way too much money on the last phone and the accident broke it in half. I decided this time to look at Chinese Phones and try one of those variants out. Svet and I wandered to a huge market that has hundreds of cell phone shops and spent a few hours browsing the merchandise. After a while it became apparent that you had four ways to go when buying a cell phone in Russia. First way was to go to a big store and pay a fortune for the phone. Second was to buy name brand at the cell phone market and pay about the same or less as the big store. Third was to buy a used cell phone at same cell phone market. Or fourth was to shop what Svet calls the grey phones at same cell phone market. (Chinese knockoffs that run less than a quarter of the cost of the real thing…)
Yes there is a fifth way and that is to buy from some guys car on the side of the road, a hot stolen cell phone! Or even a sixth way take one from your friend or not friend and do not give it back. 🙂 (Nope not for me…)
So after eating at a wonderful little cafe and talking about what we were going to do. We decided on two little gems from the “grey models” that are fantastic phones. We got two phones with analog TV built in and the TV works great. The first phone is a Nokia TVC1000 and the second phone is a Nokia E71+. Svet needed a new phone and we had decided that since the price of two phones would be much less than half of one from the big stores we got her a phone also.
But Don’t let the Nokia part fool you. Nokia does not even know these phones exist according to their website. These phones are marked made in Finland and Finland has no idea that they make these phones. 🙂 I peeled off the made in Finland sticker inside the battery compartment and found made in China under that sticker.
So what did we get for a couple thousand rubles each?
We got two brand new Quad band(GSM850/900/1800/1900MHz) Dual SIM cards that work at the same time and support for Multi- Languages!
Features:
1. 3.1 inch screen
2. 500 group contacts
3. T-Flash Card support, 761K/256MB for free, support extend TF card to 8GB max
4. dual 2.0 Mega pixel camera for Picture & Video capability,
5. Stereo Loud speaker, 64 chord ring tone
6. MP3 & MP4 player
7. GPRS & WAP connectivity, MMS Transceiver
8. U disk support function to keep the information storage
9. Blue-tooth
10. FM radio
11. Calendar, To do list, Alarm, World Clock, Sport watch
12. Caller picture, caller Ring Tone, caller video
13. Telephone directories: 200groups of contacts, support incoming call with big head sticker, group ring an Messages &Multimedia messaging: SMS, support MMS; Can use downloaded MP3 as SMS rings
14. Schedule power on/off: Support to start/close under set time
15. Alarm clock: 5 groups, support alarm clock when machine’s closed, can set from Monday to Sunday
16. Games: 5 common games (we got three with the phone and installed 75 extra)
17. Mobile TV free… (it works great)
18. Language: English/French/Spanish/Portuguese/German/Indonesia/Vietnam/Turkish/Russian/Arabic/Persian
19. Gravity sensor (screen orientation) and a sliding lock (keypad).
20. It also has shake – which allows you to perform functions by shaking the phone…
The phones are considered identical in specs but they are not identical in real life. So after we set the phones up according to our personal likes and dislikes. We found that we had to trade phones!
Originally I had the phone on the picture on the left. (TVC1000) it was much lighter in weight and had an auto lock keyboard. The TV was also a much higher quality device. Svet’s phone (E71+) had a manual keypad lock and a better camera. So we switched and now are both happy. 🙂
Next post is the unhappy part of the weekend…
Windows to Russia!
Building of Foreign Ministry
Officially announced in Russia today that adoptions of Russian children by U.S. citizens have been suspended for an indefinite period of time. This is according to Foreign Ministry spokesman Andrei Nesterenko, the resumption of adoptions will be possible only after a series of negotiations and signing by both parties a bilateral agreement that addresses the situation.
Russia has requested this agreement for years and this last incident with Artem Saveliev being sent back to Russia improperly was the straw that broke the camels back.
According to statistics from the Ministry of Education (data from 2007), the total number of adoptions of Russian children by foreign citizens, almost half are by the USA. The second and third largest number of adopted children is Spain and Italy in that order.
It was reported earlier that the foster mother Artem Saveliev abandoned the child because of the peculiarities of his mental state, as she did not warn the Russian authorities of his return. In connection with the incident Ministry of Education suspended the activities of the agency that organized the adoption. Now the suspension has been extended to the whole system interconnected with America…
Windows to Russia!
I am drinking my morning cup of coffee and thinking: Yesterday was a fun day!
I was walking to the store and a big truck backed into me and drug me three meters hanging on to the back tailgate for dear life. I sensed at the last second that something bad (because I was looking down at that moment) was happening and was able to look up and associate to the fact that I could grab these metal braces welded to the tailgate of this truck. That kept me from being drug under the wheels. Then they slammed it into first gear and took off down the street. As I was pulled back upright by the truck, I let go of the tailgate braces and was standing there watching the truck disappear into the city. It took a huge chunk of my jeans with it and had crushed my cell phone in my pocket…
No the truck did not have any license and it looks like anyone of millions of these trucks running all over Russia. Yes I hurt and had my pride hurt but I am alive and smiling…
Did they know I was there? Yes, I am 6’3″ and 300lbs of a grouchy bear and I could see the guys face in his rear view mirror and he was wide eyed and scared. He did what so many people have done many times in this world. “High tail it out of Dodge!” as we Americans say.
I was cussing in English at the top of my lungs and the whole neighborhood heard me. They really had no idea what I was saying but it caught their attention. They most likely have not heard that much terrible English all at the same time in their whole life and the driver of the truck could see by my face that I was going to beat him if I caught him…
The worse thing was my wonderful camera cellphone was destroyed. It was bent in half and that made me cry. 🙁
Several drivers did stop and ask me if I was OK. I was and no worse for the wear. As always in Russia if you are OK, life goes on. No one sues anyone, no one calls the cops and no one gets upset. That is the way it should be…
Windows to Russia!
PS: I am sore today! 🙂
Interesting how Western Press can actually get it right: Seems that America has decided to straight shoot on this story and not lie. I am impressed and wish that they would always report like this on Russia. But that would be asking for too much. I noticed that the Western press has even given Artyem his old name back… CNN has this really good video that they put together about Artyem:
The case of Artyem comes after the Russian media focused intense attention on several previous cases in recent years of abuse involving adopted Russian children in the United States. Not surprisingly, some Russians are calling for an end to the practice of foreign adoption.“I am against the idea of sending our children abroad,” said a woman, who gave her name only as Alexandra, as she watched her grandchildren play on a sunny day in a Moscow park.
Russian officials have made public appeals for a temporary freeze of American adoption of Russian children until a proposed bilateral treaty has been signed to allow monitoring of children after they are brought to the United States.
“We don’t have any instrument or tools to control our children which are living in adoptive families,” said Astakhov. “In this situation we have a kind of legal vacuum … we have to freeze all activity in the adoptive process for the United States of America.”
Windows to Russia!
Mother in Adoption Scandal Was Trying for Second Child:
Lets have an update and it looks like the Western Press has taken the story on and is digging the dirt up…
The Tennessee mother who horrified the adoption community when she put her 7-year-old son on a plane back to Russia was in the process of trying to adopt a second child.
Tennessee woman returns 7-year-old boy, claiming he has mental problems.Torry Hansen had turned to a second adoption agency to bring home a child from the Soviet Republic of Georgia, a source with the sheriff’s department told ABC News.
She switched adoption agencies after the agency that arranged the adoption of her first child, World Association for Children and Parents, urged her to wait before adopting again, the source said. The association advised Hansen it would be best to settle in with the boy before adding to her family, the source said.
A few months later, Hansen, of Shelbyville, Tenn., and her mother, Nancy Hansen put 7-year-old Artyem Savilev on a plane back to Moscow in hopes of having the boy’s adoption annulled.
In a letter pinned inside Artyem’s pocket, Hansen told Russian officials that he was violent, had psychiatric issues and that she no longer wanted to be his mother.
Everyday in Russia I use something that is very important to me now. When I lived in America I never dreamed that I would have such a thing to use everyday. The only time that I ever saw such a luxury device was at very expensive hotels as I traveled America and the World.
What am I talking about?
I am talking about a hot water heated towel bar. So far out of the three places that I have lived in or near Moscow Russia. We have a heated towel bar in the bathroom…
In America that simple device was not even considered an addition much less a necessity. It is not pretty, but it is wonderful. There is nothing like having a warm towel to dry yourself with after a shower. Or what better way to dry some cloths real quick…
I am sure that people have them in america. But for me, in all my life. I never had such a thing in my bathroom.
Of course we do not have such a device in our village but I have seen at the store, electric ones for those who can not live without… 🙂
Now you know a little more about Russia!
Windows to Russia!
Seems that the most powerful countries in the world do not cause America to worry. But a little boy who was adopted and then treated like a dog that no one loved has become the issue that caused America to backpedal and hesitate…
The little boy is Artyem (Artem) Justin Hansen or Russian name, Artem Saveliev. You should know what happened by now, but if not go to this link and you will be updated about the fate of this child. (Link) I have lots articles to read about him…
America is doing everything that it can to try to convince the Russian government to return the boy back to American soil. In fact America says the very fact that he stepped on American soil with his new mother means that he is an American.
So according to the acting executive director of the National Council of the United States for adoption Chuck Johnson. 7-year-old Artem abandoned by American parents, is a U.S. citizen. Also according to Chuck Johnson, a boy, automatically became a U.S. citizen when he found himself in the United States after the adoption proceedings in September 2009. From a legal point of view, the child needs to go back to the States, because the right’s of the adoptive parents are still in force. So America wants their kid back…. Oops!
Wait a damn minute! (rewind this) – “the right’s of the adoptive parents are still in force” does he mean to tell the Russians that the mentally unstable Hansen’s are considered to have rights? Didn’t they just send him to Russia like a discarded dog? That is what I thought….)
Also now it seems that Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for Consular Affairs, Michael Kirby is going to visit Russia to try to get the child back to America.
Ok, now it looks like the Hansen’s did the impossible. By the Hansen’s unheard act of shipping a adopted child back to the originating country they have set in motion something that has not been done before and will most likely never happen again. If America changes some laws like I think they will do after this stupid act.
America has only one saving grace and that is to try to get the boy on American soil and cover up the damage that has been done in the International communities eyes. America does not like this kind of spot light shining on her and exposing the venerable skeletons that dance in the closet all the time…
In turn, lets see what the Russian side believes. They believe that the U.S. government has no right to take part in deciding the fate of Artema, because he is not a U.S. citizen. Pavel Astakhov, said that under Russian law, the boy is a citizen of Russia. Also the American side has not provided documents (even after Russia has asked for said documents) that would show the American citizenship of Artem. (It is said that the Hansen’s never filled out proper paperwork.) “Since the child is a citizen of Russia and even if he had dual citizenship, according to our law, he is still a citizen of Russia!” – so said Astakhov. This is making it clear that Russia is not in any mood to listen to crap from America, about what America thinks should be done so that America can get this story buried forever!
Russia looks at this case as being this simple:
Recall that on April 8 Artem, adopted in September 2009, an American Tory Hansen, unaccompanied by parents returned by plane from the U.S. to Russia. With a letter, in which foster mother said that the mental state of the boy is unstable. In this regard, she decided to give up on the adoption and return home Artema to protect themselves and their loved ones. The truth and simple…
Also in the orphanage in Guerrilla (Maritime Territory), where adoptive parent adopted the boy. This news came as a surprise to said orphanage. They stated that they had no difficulty with him. In addition, it became clear that mother (Hansen) had been aware of the health of the boy….
Last words by Pavel Astakhov the man in charge of this whole issue in Russia: “There are three Moscow families who wish to adopt 7-year-old Artyom, after he was sent back to Russia by his adoptive mother in America.”
I think Artyom needs to stay in Russia…
Windows to Russia!
I see this kind of stuff all the time. Almost everyday someone either prints this Freudian slip or speaks out loud about them Soviets…
Senators question future of US-Soviet nuclear pact
(AP) – 15 hours ago
WASHINGTON — The new U.S.-Russian nuclear arms treaty may have a problem getting the vote of at least one independent senator, as well as Republican lawmakers.
Sen. Joe Lieberman, a Connecticut independent, says that America’s nuclear arsenal must be modernized. That might be difficult if President Barack Obama keeps to his pledge not to build new warheads or engage in underground testing.
Lieberman says he doesn’t think the new treaty right now has the 67 votes needed for ratification.
Republican Sen. Lamar Alexander of Tennessee says many questions must be answered before there’s even a vote in the Senate. And he doesn’t think a vote will take place this year.
Lieberman and Alexander appeared on “Fox News Sunday.”
No vote this year? Did I read that correctly? No vote this year…
Well if it on an Nuclear Pact with the Soviet Union, that would be true and in fact they will never sign a US-Soviet nuclear pact! 🙂
Windows to The Soviet Union… er uh: Windows to Russia!
Sorry
PS: Think they will correct it? It has been reprinted a thousand times now all over the blogs and other press… 🙂