Scott Rose

Turns out they don't make guacamole at your table here. No one knows who that guy was.

The Pushkin job: unmasking the thieves behind an international rare books heist The long read: Between 2022 and 2023, as many as 170 rare and valuable editions of Russian classics were stolen from libraries across Europe. Were the thieves merely low-level opportunists, or were bi...

an incredible story about a Georgian crime gang that stole scores of rare and valuable editions of Russian classics (Pushkin, Gogol, etc.) from libraries across Europe.
www.theguardian.com/books/2025/o...

'NIQ’s Russia business in June used its social media channel to tout coverage of beer sales in “the new territories of the Russian Federation” — the regions of Donetsk, Luhansk, Zaporizhzhia and Kherson, whose annexation Russia announced in 2022 despite not fully controlling them'

Should've used this photo

Robin Williams’ Daughter Tells Fans to ‘Stop Sending Me AI Videos of Dad’: It’s ‘Gross’ and ‘Not What He’d Want’ Zelda Williams tells fans not to send her AI recreations of father Robin Williams, calling them "gross."

Zelda Williams: “And for the love of EVERY THING, stop calling it ‘the future,’ AI is just badly recycling and regurgitating the past to be re-consumed. You are taking in the Human Centipede of content, and from the very very end of the line”

variety.com/2025/film/ne...

This Little-Known Appeal Could Force Your Insurer to Pay for Lifesaving Care. Here’s How to File It. When a health insurer refuses to pay for your treatment, you may have the right to have the denial reviewed — and potentially overturned — by an independent provider. Here are six steps experts sugges...

The US healthcare system seems to be increasingly stacked against patients. This is a great explainer from @propublica.org on how to challenge your insurance company's denials of necessary care

www.propublica.org/article/heal... by @deldeib.bsky.social

“where’s the whale? did he get the whale yet?”

Archive photo from Novaya Gazeta, her newspaper, of Politkovskaya sitting at her desk with a pen. She is pictured from below, with a stack of papers in front of her.

On Oct. 7, 2006, Novaya Gazeta reporter Anna Politkovskaya was assassinated in her apartment building in Moscow. 19 years ago today. At least one of the men who planned her murder, a former police officer, has since been pardoned for going to kill again in Ukraine.

Also today, Putin turns 73.

📣 Germany's close to reversing its opposition to mass surveillance & private message scanning, & backing the Chat Control bill. This could end private comms-& Signal-in the EU.

Time's short and they're counting on obscurity: please let German politicians know how horrifying their reversal would be.

fortunately all our politicians are in their late 70s and 80s so they'll all be around to answer for any mistakes im sure

i just wish more people knew about the race to the north pole of 1909

Macron Blames Russia as Drone Kills French Photojournalist in Ukraine - The Moscow Times A drone killed a French photojournalist on assignment in eastern Ukraine on Friday and wounded a Ukrainian reporter, officials and media groups said.

Antoni Lallican, 37, was embedded with Ukraine's military near the front line in the Donbas region when he was killed in a drone attack on the area, said Ukrainian authorities.

www.themoscowtimes.com/2025/10/04/m...

but hang on a mo,

A very funny paper mentioned in Matt Levine's most recent column, studying the LinkedIn Finance Guy

papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers....

Today marks the 7th anniversary of Jamal Khashoggi’s murder.

Done staring at a screen [professionally], I think I’ll relax by staring at a screen [recreationally]

I keep coming back to @theonion.com, from August 2007:

The Smug Little Shit Behind The Latest Internet Phenomenon
theonion.com/the-smug-lit...

the new york times had some odd picks in their 25 most influential magazine covers. what was missing?

www.nytimes.com/2025/10/01/t...

If all of this transpired -- EU takes/uses the frozen assets and Russia takes whatever is left from Western cos -- and they still want to do energy deals... the money would find a way?

Probably Russia would be turning off the gas on Dec. 24 or Dec. 31 anyway. Tradition calls for it

Screen grab of the top of a Bloomberg article linked in post above: Russia may nationalize and swiftly sell off foreign-owned assets under a new privatization mechanism in retaliation for any European moves to seize Russian holdings abroad, according to a person close to the government. President Vladimir Putin on Tuesday signed an order allowing for fast-track sales of state-owned assets under a special procedure. The decree is intended to speed up the sale of various companies, both Russian and foreign, the person familiar with the matter said, asking not to be identified because the information isn’t public. Should the European Union begin seizing Russian assets, Moscow may respond with symmetrical measures, the person said. Hundreds of western companies working in sectors from banking to consumer goods still operate in Russia, including UniCredit SpA, Raiffeisen Bank International AG, PepsiCo Inc, and Mondelez International Inc.

I don't think there's a ton left to take. And whatever is still there is going to be peanuts in the scheme of things compared to the assets Europe has frozen. From the top of the article:

Russia Drafts Plan to Seize Assets If EU Acts on Funds Russia may nationalize and swiftly sell off foreign-owned assets under a new privatization mechanism in retaliation for any European moves to seize Russian holdings abroad, according to a person close...

I dunno... Signaling you'll nationalize the Russian units of Raiffeisen & UniCredit kinda sounds like threatening EU regulators with a good time
www.bloomberg.com/news/article...

Traders at their stalls minutes after an exploding Russian drone hit the roof of an indoor market in Kramatorsk, Ukraine. 📸REUTERS/Thomas Peter

Jailed journalists turn the spotlight on Azerbaijan’s prisons Since November 2023, around thirty journalists have been arrested in Azerbaijan. From behind bars, these journalists have revealed the appalling conditions of the prison system, something previously i...

What happens when you lock up independent journalists behind bars on bogus charges? Well, they continue reporting even from behind bars.

My latest for @balcanicaucaso.org on corruption, rights violations and other shenanigans inside Azerbaijani prisons

www.balcanicaucaso.org/eng/Areas/Az...

most recently: david ellison

and yet it was clearly made by someone deeply familiar with eastern bloc animation

I acknowledge Worker and Parasite supremacy

YouTube video by MrRosen86 Stewie - Shoe and shoelace

later take on the same joke: www.youtube.com/watch?v=NZ7H...

very good

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