April 17, 2020

Drones on the Front Lines


Drones on the Front Lines
What a cute little guy! Perfect for quarantine enforcement. U.S. Air Force, Public Domain

Every day we inch closer to living in a science-fiction film.

Entrepreneurs at the Russian Venture Company reported that tests are underway to determine the effectiveness of coronavirus-fighting-by-drone. Drones could be used throughout Russia in the near future to deliver medical supplies, disinfect streets, provide information to citizens, and generally monitor the streets during quarantine, like little robotic vigilantes.

The problem, it seems, is air traffic control. Current tests, conducted in Tver Oblast, focus on providing each drone enough airspace in which to operate without colliding with another drone. Working out this problem would allow for a new front in the fight against the pandemic.

Frankly, the possibility of seeing some cute little flying Robocops in the future has us tickled. And scared too, of course.

 

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The Life Stories collection is a nice introduction to contemporary Russian fiction: many of the 19 authors featured here have won major Russian literary prizes and/or become bestsellers. These are life-affirming stories of love, family, hope, rebirth, mystery and imagination, masterfully translated by some of the best Russian-English translators working today. The selections reassert the power of Russian literature to affect readers of all cultures in profound and lasting ways. Best of all, 100% of the profits from the sale of this book are going to benefit Russian hospice—not-for-profit care for fellow human beings who are nearing the end of their own life stories.

Fish
February 01, 2010

Fish

This mesmerizing novel from one of Russia’s most important modern authors traces the life journey of a selfless Russian everywoman. In the wake of the Soviet breakup, inexorable forces drag Vera across the breadth of the Russian empire. Facing a relentless onslaught of human and social trials, she swims against the current of life, countering adversity and pain with compassion and hope, in many ways personifying Mother Russia’s torment and resilience amid the Soviet disintegration.

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The thirteen tales in this volume – all written by Russian émigrés, writers who fled their native country in the early twentieth century – contain a fair dose of magic and mysticism, of terror and the supernatural. There are Petersburg revenants, grief-stricken avengers, Lithuanian vampires, flying skeletons, murders and duels, and even a ghostly Edgar Allen Poe.

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