Originally published at: https://boingboing.net/2024/05/10/city-bus-carrying-20-passengers-in-st-petersburg-bizarrely-veers-and-drives-straight-into-river-video.html
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The bus driver has since been arrested and charged (for what he was charged with isn’t clear)
I can take a guess.
Showing footage of 7 people getting killed is not a wonderful thing.
Alcoholism in Russia has been cited as being amongst the highest anywhere. Visiting Energomash engineers were drunk when here in the US. They were likely drunk in Russia. Huge problem there, and no guessing required as to why.
I’m sorry to say that BoingBoing left wonderful things behind a long time ago.
For one thing, fully half of the site now seems to be devoted to coverage of the latest outrages perpetrated by the American right, and while this coverage is necessary, it’s hard to call the subject matter “wonderful”. Except possibly in the old sense of something that you wonder at.
Given that much of the right-wing would want many BBers here dead, BB’s stance has become necessary; certain big media are seemingly satisfied to just dance around the sins of the right-wing.
I am totally in agreement with the “sunlight is the best disinfectant” mindset and I have no compunction about indulging in schadenfreude, but fully half of this sort of reporting really is just (deservedly!) spiteful. That makes sense as we collectively watch, often helplessly, as the triple plague of climate change, trump and a literal plague have made everyone a twitching, raw nerve, but it does make me pine for the “wonderful” days.
I blame Kvass: The wide availability and consumption of kvass, including by children of all ages, together with the lacking indication of ABV for kvass on the labels and in advertisements, has been named a possible contributor to chronic alcoholism in the former Soviet Union
Or maybe a tie rod or broken axel.
(I enjoy kvass and I didn’t watch the 𝕏itter video)
… only to find out which St. Pete it was after clicking the link
Stopped the video after 10 seconds. That was plenty.
Another fine job by Tesla FSD!
A friend visited Moscow in the mid-80s, back when it was the capital of the USSR. One thing particularly surprised him: a vending machine that looked a bit like a drinking water fountain / bubbler, with a stainless steel cup attached by a small chain about a foot-and-a-half long. It was a vodka vending machine. You dropped a coin in the slot, held the cup under the nozzle, and pushed the button. A prescribed volume of vodka would drop into the cup. Coming from a culture where drinking outdoors downtown is frowned upon, this was surprising. “This is … ok? And necessary?”
Often it is the sang-froid that upsets me, glossing over deaths to get straight to the speculating.
Room for one more…
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