What makes the FSU so interesting?

[Ooooops]

In conjunction with Ooooops dating photos, here are some funny Russian photos not of dating but just odd life.

I like the beaver photo   

[mendeleyev]

Move over, Pharrell Williams and Daft Punk. It's time for someone else to Get Lucky.
That someone else just happens to be a group of Russian policemen as recorded in a Ekaterinburg performance:

[mendeleyev]

There is a general media blackout from the Miss Universe contest in Moscow as the contest won't air in the USA until 9pm Saturday but we can report that the top 10 are Miss Spain, Miss Philippines, Miss Great Britain, Miss India, Miss Brazil, Miss USA, Miss Ukraine, Miss Ecuador, Miss Venezuela, Miss Dominican Republic.
 


The contestants gathered for their final appearance at Moscow's Crocus City Hall.






Next photo: Miss Ukraine, centre.

 


Next photo: Miss Ukraine, left and Miss Estonia, right.

 

Next: The 3 gals together are Miss Ukraine, Miss Poland and Miss Russia who is not in the finals.

   


Next: Miss Ukraine, left and Miss Russia, right.



 


 
 

[Faux Pas]

C'mon Mendy! Being a member at RWD supercedes any other agreements you have for confidentiality. Plus, membership do have it's privileges. 

Fess up

[mendeleyev]

(The Mendeleyev Journal)

The program will air "live" in approximately two hours and thirty minutes for USA viewers but as a Russian news organization our blackout is over so we'll congratulate the winner of this year's Miss Universe contest from Moscow.






Before we reveal the winner for Miss Universe 2013 it would be fitting to compliment our more local girls. We really fell in love with Miss Russia, Elmira Abdrazakov, this year. What a wonderful personality and representative for this great country.


Elmira Abdrazakov, Miss Russia 2013.
Had we been the judge, Miss Ukraine would have won easily. She was impressive! (Please, somebody throw me a towel, I'm drooling!)



Miss Ukraine, Olga Storozenko, made it to the Top 10 finalists.
Miss Poland and Miss Estonia did well in the semi finals, too.

So are you ready for the winner of the 2013 Miss Universe contest? Then here she is, Gabriela Isler, Miss Venezuela!



Gabriela Isler, whose full name is Maria Gabriela de Jesus Isler Morales is Miss Universe 2013!
This marks the seventh time a contestant from Venezuela has won the title, including back to back titles in 2008 and 2009.



The previous Miss Universe, the United States' Olivia Culpo, relinquished her crown and placed it upon Miss Venezuela. Miss Isler was born in Maracay and works on Venezuelan television.

[Ooooops]

BTW, that crown was a part of married women head dress.  And once married woman wasn't supposed to show her hair, cover it with shawl and kokoshnik.  Pretty much like in Muslim countries, btw. 

[Anotherkiwi]

Mendy, you forgot to add that Miss Poland took the prize for Miss Photogenic.  Miss Ukraine can't have been far off that one, either - she's gorgeous.

[mendeleyev]

Kiwi, sorry for not pointing that out. I agree that both are lovely.

I was disappointed that none of the Slavic or Asian gals made it all the way. As you say, Miss Poland, Paulina Krupińska, is beautiful. Miss Kazakhstan, Aigerim Kozhakhan, was another local beauty as was the extremely beautiful Miss Azerbaijan, Aysal Manafova. Along with Miss Ukraine, any of them could have risen to the top.



 

[mendeleyev]

Trivia questions:

- Which former FSU republics/countries that share a border with Russia had no representative in the Miss Universe contest?

Answer: ___________________ and _____________________ and ______________________



- Which Asian country that shares a border with Russia sent no representative to the Miss Universe contest?

Answer: ___________________

[mendeleyev]

2012 was a rough year for Russian vodka producers as the government stepped up efforts to reduce chronic alcoholism and toughened regulations on the sale of vodka.

Now the government is taking the battle a step further after officials declared that Russians drank 24% less vodka in 2012 than the previous year. The next step is to remove small bottles from market shelves, forcing consumers to purchase larger bottles but a higher prices. Officials believe that the smaller bottles are a favourite of alcoholics due to the price as compared to larger bottles.

As reported in RIA Novosti, one proposed regulation is to force regulators to sell 0.375-liter and 0.5-liter bottles at the same price thus forcing the smaller bottles off the market. Many producers distribute bottles that are less than 0.5 liters as a way to get around the government's minimum price of 174 rubles (approximately 5.30 USD), per half-liter.

[Ooooops]

2012 was a rough year for Russian vodka producers as the government stepped up efforts to reduce chronic alcoholism and toughened regulations on the sale of vodka.

Well, I remember about that big fiasco when that was attempted last time…   Illegal counterfeits will be sold and bought and it's much worse for the population health.

[mendeleyev]

You may be on to something, Ooooops. The counterfeit stuff isn't reported thru the system obviously and that may be a factor in the 24% drop, which is quite a big drop give the culture of vodka in this region.

[Ooooops]

Counterfeits and home made booze. 

Пили, пьём и будем пить. [/size]Нас ничем не удивить !Если водка будет восемь,Всё равно мы пить не бросим !Передайте "Ильичу",Нам и десять по плечу !Ну, а если двадцать пять -Будем снова Зимний брать ! [/color]

[mendeleyev]

 

Ooooops, wasn't that poem from the Brezhnev era anti-alcohol efforts?

[Ooooops]

Ooooops, wasn't that poem from the Brezhnev era anti-alcohol efforts?

Yep.      One of the variations.   There were lot of them

Если водка будет 7, пить не бросим мы совсем,
если водка будет 8, всё равно мы пить не бросим.
Передайте Ильичу, нам и 10 по плечу.
Ну а если будет больше, будет то же, что и в Польше.

And then, of course, was the dry law during Gorbachev's era

[mendeleyev]

(Mendeleyev Journal)
What do a Russian toilet and the IRS have to do with this article?

I took this photo at the famous Jamz Cafe in Moscow to show you the flush button on top of the tank and the metal paper protector roll which are so common in Eastern Europe. The toilet is a good tie-in to the IRS as many American readers will agree.


 
Yesterday I had a sobering conversation with a younger Black American woman, around age 40 or so, who was traveling in Russia. We don't see many Black folk from the USA as it is more common to see someone from Africa.

She had taken part in a tour with an older relative and was headed back to the USA, in the process of moving her small family out of the Memphis, Tennessee area and headed West. For generations her family has lived in and around Tennessee so naturally we were curious as to the reason for the move. Leaving friends and family behind isn't easy for anyone, especially a single mother.

The IRS was her answer. Since graduating from college she has worked for the IRS, a little over 15 years. "Evil" was her next answer. "I see those people who stay and it scares me. If I stayed, I'd eventually become like them."

Knowing that her personal faith was Christian, her bosses thought it fun to give her cases that targeted other Christians, especially pastors and priests. She was yelled at for not being "mean enough" if she helped her audit clients with resources to know their rights as taxpayers. She worked in a "stick it to them" culture.

There were also the parties, the trips, the expense accounts and she described the atmosphere of the office as like an "cloud of oppression." She could have stayed. The pay was good, the benefits and time off were unrivaled in the normal world, and the retirement very secure. But she valued her faith, her dignity and her sense of self worth.

She has a job waiting for her out West and the pay is less than half of what she's used to making and benefits are nowhere close. However she is a woman of integrity and staying in a posh government job was not worth selling her eternal soul to a corrupt government.

Why not a whistle-blower? She is scared, very scared and made us promise not to reveal her identity. "They are evil and will stop at nothing to protect their culture" was her genuine fear.

It isn't everyday that you meet a real American hero, especially a Black American in Russia, but there is always a first time for everything and yesterday was the first.

[mendeleyev]

Money makes the world go around, or so they say.

Here is the Mendeleyev Journal tutorial on Russian money, assisted by the able guys of REAL RUSSIA television.

The official form of currency in the Russian Federation is the ruble, or рубль in the Russian language. A ruble is just one and anything more takes on the plural form, рубли́ which is spoken as "ru-bli."

The official abbreviation for the ruble is (RUB) expressed as руб in the Cyrillic alphabet and you'll find that in advertisements and some stores:



руб = rubles. The number shown below the price is the amount of kilograms for each beverage.

In other advertisements and in some markets and stores you'll find a single p, the letter R in Russian Cyrillic to mark prices in rubles:



A single ruble equals 100 kopeks and one kopek is копейка, spoken as "ka-pek-ah."  The plural Russian form is копейки and sounds like "ka-peki."

For the moment there is no official sign or logo for Russian currency although the Bank of Russia is holding a contest in which citizens can submit drawings and logo ideas for the ruble.

Some say that the term "ruble" was taken from the Russian word руби́ть, "ru bit" which is translated as to “chop.” Supposedly a "ruble" was a small chip of silver that had been chopped from a silver ingot, known as a grivna. That is indeed interesting because "Grivna" is the name today for money in Ukraine.

And how about those Russian coins and bills--how do they look and what is their story? For that we turn to Sergei and Sergei from REAL RUSSIAN television:

[mendeleyev]

Over the years maybe you've noticed that a certain Russian artist appears on the Mendeleyev Journal pages from time to time. That is no accident as she bears my last name and I'm very proud of her. It is a wonder that I don't feature her work more often. Maybe I should!

Photos from a Moscow exhibition:



She has always melted my heart in pink and that hasn't changed a bit. Her agency arranges several of these exhibits annually and at this one she was the feature of the entire exhibit so the hall was filled with her art, portraits on one wall, still-life paintings on another, etc.



Photo 2 is genius: a self portrait of herself and a mirror so that whoever stands to observe the portrait is seen as standing with her.

Her latest project is one that has been ongoing for a couple of years as she is part of a small handful of artists contracted by the Russian Military Museum to interview, photograph, and paint surviving heroes from the Great Patriotic War (WWII). Upon completion of each portrait there is a presentation at the museum in Moscow to honour the hero and afterward the portrait is displayed for several months before going on rotation to other museums across Russia.

Read the entire article with a few more photos at the Mendeleyev Journal.

[mendeleyev]

Last Saturday the city of Moscow honoured the long history of the motorized троллейбус (trolleybus) in Russia.



Moscow: 1936 modelTrolleybuses run on electricity drawn from power lines above the street and are quieter and produce less pollution than fossil fuel powered vehicles. They were invented by a German scientist in 1882.





The parade featured retro trolleybuses to commemorate the 80th anniversary of the service  as the show began at the First Trolleybus Park on Leningradsky Shosse.


(Photo: Martin.LiveJournal)





Media crews interviewed older passengers who remembered the antique vehicles. (Photo: Martin.LiveJournal)Media reporters were there to document the event and it was obvious that riders were enjoying the experience.





(Photo: Andrey Kronos.LiveJournal)

Crowds gathered along the parade route to ride the old trolleybuses. Along the parade route were a variety of trolleybus models since their launch in 1933. In the photo below, a statue of Karl Marx watches over the parade.


(Photo: Andrey Kronos.LiveJournal)



(Photo: Nikita Miroshnichenko)

The oldest working trolleybus in the parade was a MTB-82D model from the year 1954. Unlike electric trams which travel on rails, the trolleybus uses rubber wheels just like a bus and has a driver who steers the bus.


(Photo: Andrey Kronos.LiveJournal)

Crowds gathered at each stop to ride the trolleybuses despite the cold and rain.


Trolleybuses still play an important role in providing transportation for Europe's largest city. The newest addition to the Moscow trolleybus fleet is a group of new TrolZa models, produced earlier this year.

The trolleybus system in Moscow today:

[mendeleyev]

These guys are a hoot! The Russian Hackers are going to hack a lot of stuff, but probably no computers. We'll start by hacking some tuna fish:

[mendeleyev]

How to peel a potato like a Russian. Hmm, very novel idea:

[Ooooops]

Terrible…   

[mendeleyev]

Ooooops, if you think that is bad, watch their episode on boiling an egg in a thin plastic cup. It works, they're a hoot, and I was blown away by the last 30 seconds on how he "peeled" the egg after it was boiled. 

[Ooooops]

Ooooops, if you think that is bad, watch their episode on boiling an egg in a thin plastic cup.

Not sure if I have the nerves for that…   

[mendeleyev]

Try it...you'll like it!