Official Sochi Disaster Thread

[sonatine]

Journalists just started arriving.

- Cant drink the water, when it runs.

- Very few rooms are ready.

- Many of the hotels dont even have floors yet.

- Stray dogs wandering in and out of hotel rooms.

[DirtyB]

CNN reserved 11 rooms and has been offered 1 so far. One of the hotels does not have a lobby. You get your key from the owner, who is staying in one of the rooms.

I hope a major event venue is either not at all ready, or like falls over.

[sonatine]

[LLL]

[Walter Sobchak]

CNN reserved 11 rooms and has been offered 1 so far. One of the hotels does not have a lobby. You get your key from the owner, who is staying in one of the rooms.

I hope a major event venue is either not at all ready, or like falls over.

But not with people in it.

Like I said in the other thread, this is pretty standard for Russia. Having an Olympics there is a



Isn't the Euro soccer championship there soon, maybe in 2020?

[LLL]

Not quite a disaster in the traditional sense:

Embedded Tweet

https://twitter.com/wyshynski/status/430734034113536000

[4Dragons]

http://www.weeklystandard.com/blogs/...ed_778718.html

Richard Engel reported last night on NBC that all visitors to the Sochi Olympics are getting hacked as soon as their electronic devices connect to any Russian network:

"As tourists and families of athletes arrive in Sochi, if they haven't been warned, and if they fire up their phones at baggage claim, it's probably too late to save the integrity of their electronics and everything inside them. Visitors to Russia can expect to be hacked. And as Richard Engel found out upon his arrival there, it's not a matter of if, but when," reports NBC's Brian Williams.

Engel says, "The State Department warns that travelers should have no expectation of privacy. Even in their hotel rooms. And as we found out, you are especially exposed as soon as you try and communicate with anything."
"One of the first thing visitors to Russia will do is log on," says Engel. "Hackers here are counting on it."
They test the system in the report -- and are, as one might expect, immediately hacked the moment the test computer connects with the Russian network.
"Malicious software hijacked our phone before we even finished our coffee, stealing my information, and giving hackers the option to tap and record my phone calls."

[Gordman]

[Gordman]

[sonatine]

During an episode of “Breaking Bad,” Walter White memorably declared, “I am the one who knocks.” During my first night in Sochi, I got a visit from the one who doesn’t.

The only sound I heard was a key going into the lock and, at around 4 a.m. Wednesday, the door to my hotel room opening. Half asleep, I looked up and saw the light shining in from the hall. But by the time I sat up to see who was there, the door had been shut again. The one who doesn’t knock scurried away without uttering a word.

Do housekeepers work graveyard shifts here? Was it a construction worker, assuming something wasn’t quite finished in the room? Who else would both have a key and be using it at 4 a.m.?

In Sochi, those are questions better left unasked. Or at the very least, they will remain unanswered. I tried calling the front desk, but the phone didn’t work. And really, given the much more serious hotel issues others have experienced, I wasn’t about to complain.

I dozed off again until around 5 a.m., when the sound of stray dogs barking began to echo outside, like a tree filled with birds singing just before sunrise, albeit less soothing. Stray dogs are part of the scene in Sochi, roaming the streets and occasionally chasing after pedestrians.

Giving up on sleep, I decided to walk down the hall and take the elevator five floors down to grab breakfast. Inside, a sign listed “elevator user rules” that included a ban on “explosive, inflammable and toxic substances in non-factory packaging.” Fortunately, all my toxic substances were properly packaged. At the end of the list, this message appeared in bold red letters: “Please REMEMBER: Elevator is the equipment of increased danger!”

Suddenly, the one who doesn’t knock didn’t seem so dangerous.

[sonatine]

Jesus was a black man.

[LLL]

Reports coming in that every single cell phone and portable device that connects to the wireless networks in Sochi is _immediately_ hacked and backdoored.

Moonlanding.

[nunbeater]

Moonlanding your own thread is pretty impressive, in a way.

[sonatine]

I have no idea what LLL is up to but its slanderous and I wont stand for it in my thread.

[Gordman]

My biggest question is why they don't allow fishing in the toilets anymore and what everyone was trying to fish for

[4Dragons]

In b4 the USA Bi-Athlon Team ends up being a CIA hit squad sent to 'deal with' Snowden.

[nunbeater]

My biggest question is why they don't allow fishing in the toilets anymore and what everyone was trying to fish for

Pretty insane how they predicted Phillip Seymour Hoofman's death

[PLOL]

Compilation of the many tweets from journalists documenting the fails in Sochi:
http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/...l-experiences/

[rickastley]

great weather for a winter olympics

[rickastley]

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-26061903

The US has warned airlines flying into Russia for the Winter Olympics that explosives hidden in toothpaste tubes could be smuggled on to planes. The Department of Homeland Security told US media the alert affected direct into Russia as it prepares for the games in Sochi. The agency said it was not aware of any specific danger to the US at this time. It is the latest reported threat against the region, which has beefed up security surrounding the games. The Department of Homeland Security said in a statement to the BBC that it "regularly shares information with domestic and international partners, including those associated with international events such as the Sochi Olympics". The US has also placed two warships in the Black Sea in case of a security threat during the games, scheduled for 7-23 February. Fears were raised following two suicide attacks in Volgograd in December, and numerous threats from Islamist militants in the Caucasus region.