What makes the FSU so interesting?

[Ooooops]

Try it...you'll like it!

I would never take food advise from somebody who's fingers look like that!   

[mendeleyev]

So you're out of Lake Baikal where the ice freezes up to (or in this case down to) nine feet deep. But you hit a soft spot of ice not far from shore and the SUV you're driving sinks into the water.

How do you retrieve your vehicle without heavy equipment? This is interesting; just watch:

[Anotherkiwi]

So you're out of Lake Baikal where the ice freezes up to (or in this case down to) nine feet deep. But you hit a soft spot of ice not far from shore and the SUV you're driving sinks into the water.

How do you retrieve your vehicle without heavy equipment? This is interesting; just watch:

Very ingenious!     I really love the frame to protect the underside of the car.

[mendeleyev]

The biggest lake in the world is home to a lot of things, like the only freshwater seals on the planet and some 1700 species of animals, fish and plants, of which 1300 are not found anywhere else in the world. It is a Siberian wonder, containing 20% of the earth's fresh water reserves.

Lake Baikal creates its own weather systems and freezes around nine feet deep in winter. Waves seemingly freeze in mid-air and recently a unique group of musicians have discovered that the ice has its own unique sound characteristics as well. Listen:

[calmissile]

Very clever and entertaining.

[SANDRO43]

Those ice sounds remind of a xylophone, a percussion instrument made of wood rather than solidified water .

Percussions were probably the first musical instruments ever devised - it being simpler to make sounds by knocking on a stone, a hollow tree trunk, an empty gourd, etc. than from other natural materials - and mostly they provide 1 of the 3 basic elements of music, rhythm, the simplest of which is the 2/4 imitating our heartbeat, which incidentally was that used by the Baikal ice players.

Here's a learned and authoritative dissertation on the gradual development of musical instruments :

[mendeleyev]

Russia Beyond the Headlines has just released some interesting information on Siberia at this link.

[ML]

This looks a little scary . . . if you don't think about music.

Anyone remember Marie's sculpture on "Everyone Loves Raymond?"

[mendeleyev]

(Mendeleyev Journal)

Some say that she is a bull in a China shop. We find her entertaining, and of course easy on the eyes. This TV journalist on Ukrainian television is also a fashion model and represents a contemporary fashion clothing designer and represents a line of designer travel luggage, too.



 
She is Olga Freimut, Ольга Фреймут, the Inspector, Ревизор, and her TV show travels to cities around Ukraine as she and her camera crew video the good, the bad and the outright filthy.




She examines public facilities, mainly restaurants and hotels, and her coveted white glove award is proudly displayed by those establishments fortunate enough to meet her standards.





Have a favourite restaurant? You might change your mind after watching this inspector go to work with her white gloves. She has a nose for cockroaches and doesn't run when restaurant owners call the police. She stays and shows the result of her work to police officers who can't seem to make up their minds on how to handle this roving television journalist.



 

Hotels? She strips sheets off the beds and looks under sofas to find bugs, leftover food and other things that the housekeeping staff missed.




Olga does have somewhat of a connection to the mail order bride industry, too. She is said to be among the top five Ukrainian models whose photos are stolen and used in fake dating profiles. Given her stunning looks, somehow we're not all that surprised.

[mendeleyev]

After a year of contests and publicity, the Central Bank of Russia has unveiled the new symbol for the Ruble.



The market place had given way to several common symbols previously, from the simple Russian "r" which is expressed like this Рр in the Cyrillic alphabet to an abbreviation of the term ruble (рубль) like this, Руб.

Today the Central Bank introduced the symbol to the left, one that has resembles the Russian (r) P, but also has an element of the Russian (f) ф as well and if that was the logic then it would make sense as the abbreviation for Russian Federation is those two letters: РФ.

A contest was held during the past year to encourage ideas for a symbol for the ruble, one of the few world currencies which had no official symbol. Participants took part in voting over a 30 day period from 5 November to 5 December.


sravni.ru/novost/2013/11/25/rossijane-vybirajut-novyj-simvol-rublja/

Bank officials say that the new Ruble symbol will begin appearing next year as new coins and banknotes are printed.

Will the new symbol be confusing? To native Russians likely not as the ruble has existed without an official symbol for so long. While some critics say it will confuse visitors since the Cyrillic letter P (r) looks like the letter p to tourists from most Western countries, supporters say that the new symbol will give the currency a common and recognizable symbol worldwide.

Russian officials say that eventually the Ruble symbol will be added to new Russian keyboards and mobile phone devices. The symbol and it's approved variants were designed by the Art Lebedev agency, the artist group that designs maps and symbols for the Moscow Metro system.




(Art Lebedev Studio.)

[mendeleyev]

So our friends at REAL RUSSIA produced a video on pedophile activities in Russia, exposing some of the adult males who seek out and stalk underage children on the Internet. However YouTube has decided that the video was guilty of bullying a class of individuals (the perverts) and has banned that particular broadcast.
 
 Thanks YouTube. Given all the porn you allow, you've shown your true colours. Now we know.
 
 http://www.youtube.com/user/realrussiablog

[mendeleyev]

Here is a photo I have entered for a contest by Russia Beyond The Headlines magazine. The photo showcases the beautiful blue domes of the Kazan Cathedral at Kolomenskoe Park, an outdoor museum/reserve created around the ancestral summer home of the grandparents of Peter the Great. This beautiful church took 5 years to build, 1649-1653, and is breathtaking both inside and out.
 

 
The young Peter (the Great) hunted in the nearby woods which have been converted into a large outdoor park and nearby are sprawling shops and tall apartment buildings. Catherine the Great brought her grandchildren here to spend summers with her family. As one walks the grounds of this beautiful place it is hard to comprehend that Ivan the Terrible spend his childhood summers here at Kolomenskoe.

Daughter Kseniya took some time off to assist me the day I took a series of photos here and not only was she a competent assistant, but it was enjoyable to spend the afternoon with just the two of us. Later that evening we sat down inside one of the outdoor museum's little village cafes to drink tea and relax.

[mendeleyev]

Bristol: You know Брiстоль (in Ukrainian) as a 150 year old fine Hotel in Yalta, Ukraine along the shores of the Black Sea. This is the mountain city of Yalta and near the palace where Stalin, Churchill and FDR divided up Europe as the spoils of war with FDR giving Stalin the countries of Eastern Europe in exchange for his joining the fight against Japan.



(photo: Anna Panchenko)

In Odessa there is another hotel named Bristol, spelled in Russian as бристоль, an elegant 5-star hotel is popular. And, it is beautiful.

Of course there is the college named Bristol in England (UK) which is named for the city of Bristol there. Bristol literally means "the place at the bridge" in English and refers to the trading town founded around the year 1,000 in what is now modern day England.
 
 But did you know that there is a "Bristol" in the southern USA? Complete with a speedway, the southern USA Bristol is located in two states, it straddles the lines of Tennessee and Virginia. It is where we used to go Christmas shopping when I was a kid--it had a "five and dime" store, the only one within a day's drive back then.
 

[mendeleyev]

Paris Hilton in Russia?

Ufa even! Ufa is not some small village and it is the capital of the Bashkortostan Republic, but it is a distance from Moscow. It is the only Russian city linked with Moscow by 2 federal highways.

We've crossed the Urals and so the Asian influence is very evident here as is the Muslim faith whose adherents outnumber the Orthodox of the 4.1 million residents of this republic. The city itself is over a million in population. A third of the population speak the Tatar language in addition to Russian. The city has two professional hockey teams and a minor league team.

We'll join Sergei and Sergei of Real Russia at the июнь shopping mall. июнь is the month of June and spoken like i-YUN. The "e" is sounded at first but not accented as the accent is on the YUN sound.

[mendeleyev]

I am captivated by a fascination with Joseph Stalin. This pig, coward, mass murdering criminal, was quite an extraordinary person of history.

That is not a single good thing one can say about the man. Even his victories of the great war against Nazi aggression were not really his victories as much of those behind the scenes and often countless lives were lost due to his very evil nature, but even so he had the power to cause those close to him to tremble in submission.

We have visited the Mysra dacha in Abkhazia. One could imagine him sitting in the parlor or on the expansive porch or strolling to the kitchen where food was delivered via tunnel from a secure staff building nearby as the man who constantly feared everyone around him, checked to see whether his taster still lived or had died from some poison. Outside one could look to the valley below and relax at the beauty of summer...but soon the seeming ghost of a child starving to death in Ukraine would spoil the mood.

Stalin had five dachas in Abkhazia, but the Mysra was where he liked to be the most when in that part of the world. It had three identical suites consisting of a bedroom, an office, and a bathroom. Guards were never told in which suite the dictator would sleep as Stalin was afraid of even his security.

So it was interesting to watch Professor David Reynolds on the BBC with "1941, Stalin the Man of Steel." One cannot use such adjectives as "enjoyable" with anything having to do with one of the world's most evil mass murderers, so in absence of a good description we'll simply invite you to watch and learn.

[Lily]

[mendeleyev]

Visit to an unmanned Norway-Russia border checkpoint:

This short video will give up a view of the roadway up to the checkpoint and is interesting as the road conditions and views of nature change along the way. At the checkpoint there is a turnabout with a couple of signs, border markers, a metal fence and a single padlock.

Roadway sensors at the checkpoint alert a single Norwegian soldier who lives nearby and he swings by briefly on an ATV to see who is at the border. His brief exchange is edited out as it was uneventful and so the car turns around and drives back into Norway.

Kinda cool.

[mendeleyev]

We've been a tad busy lately and so have invited the half-decent journalists (their self description) from Russia Alright to come to RWD and update our audience and readers by reading singing the end of the year news from Russia. Here is news anchor Marina Vodka:





I've really enjoyed getting acquainted with this talented young group of aspiring Moscow-based "half-decent journalists" and invite you to like them on facebook and/or visit their website: http://bearsandvodka.com/

[mendeleyev]

Travel correspondent from Janna's Travels is going to take us shopping in a typical small town market area.

[mendeleyev]

For those who have not yet traveled, here is a beginning guide to how public transport works in Russia. (We'll cover Metro systems soon.)

[mendeleyev]

 For those who haven't heard, Russia is now accepting volunteers for a permanent colony on Mars set to lift off in 2018. Volunteers sign agreements acknowledging that they will never return to earth and believe it or not, the programs already has enlisted people.

More info here: http://rbth.ru/science_and_tech/2014/02/03/mars_or_bust_two_ordinary_russians_prepare_for_the_ultimate__33769.html

[jone]

I find the idea of signing up as a colonist intriguing. 

The question that I have for any reading this forum:  What is a life worth in the pursuit of the upward march of humanity?   A mainstream film examined this question last year in a movie called:  "Europa Report".   I will not spoil the movie for those who might want to watch it.  But it does raise the question that if you were faced with an idea that you could advance man's knowledge and place in the universe by sacrificing your life, would you?

The other question that comes to mind is the Jamestown / Botany Bay type question.  The first settlers to a new world will forever be enshrined as the forefathers (and mothers) of their new homeland.  Is that not something worth spending a lifetime (although it might be a short lifetime) pursuing?

I grew up reading the great sci fi authors.  These authors wrote lovingly about the challenges of colonization and securing our place among the stars.  Robert Heinlein was perhaps one of the best colonist  writers.  I can remember three of his books which discussed the first people to venture on a colonization mission:

1950 - Farmer in the Sky
1955 - Tunnel in the Sky
1963 - Orphans of the Sky

These are timeless in advancing the ideals of striking out into the unknown with no probable return to Earth.  Today these books would seem rather 'campy' but they are still a good read.

(what was affectionately known as his 'Sky' series)

[Anotherkiwi]

For those who have not yet traveled, here is a beginning guide to how public transport works in Russia. (We'll cover Metro systems soon.)

I found it very interesting that Sergei never described the shared taxis as "marshrutki," but only by the manufacturer's name (GAZ-el).  Is this common, or just a localism?

[mendeleyev]

Good question. Not so common and I'm guessing that in his attempt to describe and explain that he felt compelled to describe the bus rather than its role as a form of transport.

He is a car owner and doesn't ride public transport in Ufa often and that may have something to do with it as well. Now that both have moved to Moscow they'll find that car ownership has a many disadvantages in where to park it at night, vandalism, and traffic conditions that make riding public transport a real plus.

[mendeleyev]

The Russian Duma's Committee on Culture is recommending that Parliament pass a bill that would ban foreign words from being used in public speech or advertising.

Lawmakers representing the LDPR (Liberal Democratic Party) want to protect the purity of the Russian language, making it a crime to utter foreign words in public or for companies to use them in advertising and the State Committee on Culture, which rejected such a bill last year, has this time given lawmakers the green light.

Which leads one to ask, what about a company like Burger King? Will they be forced to find a new name? Somehow "Blini Tsar" just doesn't fit the bill.
As detailed recently in the Moscow Times the law, if passed, would make the use of 'linguistic imports' punishable by a fine of up to 2,500 rubles ($73) for ordinary citizens, and up to 50,000 rubles ($1,460) for companies or organizations. What is unclear at the moment is whether the intent is to ban words and phrases such as "fat free" and "ipad" or "iphone" and branding for Western companies such as Coco Cola, McDonalds, etc.

Will Prime Minister Medvedev be forced to surrender his coveted Apple iphone?

Some linguists estimate that as much as twenty-five percent of the Russian vocabulary consists of cognates, borrowed words, and thus we doubt that the purpose of such a law truly targets foreign words as much as it seeks to ban foreign ideas. According to documents posted on the Duma's public website, efforts to eliminate banned words would include the confiscation of books and other publications containing foreign terms.

Many of Russian language borrowed words are French such as "toilet". For example in the photo below "Cafe" and "bistro" seen here in Russian Cyrillic spelling are borrowed words.
   
The list of foreign or borrowed words in Russian is extensive, easily in the hundreds. Terms such as журналист (journalist), видео (video), меню (menu), секс (sex), экзамен (exam), директор (director), aлфавит (alphabet) and hundreds of others would have to disappear if the law were truly about protecting the Russian language.

If true that the real intent is to ban Western influences, then the question also looms over what would happen to hundreds of thousands of street and Metro signs that have English tranliterations in Russia's drive to attract more tourism. Will lawmakers ban those too?

One of the most beloved features of large Russian cities and especially in places like Moscow is the famous transportation system, the Метро (Metro). That too is a foreign term. Would such a law cause the Metro to be renamed? No, we already know the answer to that question.

As the Guardian's Moscow correspondent Shawn Walker noted, In the near future, if two Muscovites go for a biznes-lanch, they could be fined. If they then order a gamburger, they could be fined again. And if they get out their smartfon to check their Feisbuk, there could be serious trouble.

We suspect that the bill has less to do with language purity but instead is yet another thinly veiled piece of anti-Western legislation driven by the current insane frenzy of nationalistic zealotry. In fact some critics of the legislation inside Russia admit that the motivation is an attempt to isolate the Russian people from Western ideas and also to punish Western companies who do business in Russia in response to Western sanctions over the annexation of Crimea.

Just last year the same Duma committee had refused to advance similar legislation saying then that there was no need to protect the Russian language from foreign words and phrases. Keep in mind however that this is the same committee that spearheaded legislation passed in 2010 that outlawed the use of the Roman/Latin (Jaŋalif) alphabet letters used by the Tatar language in places like Tatarstan, so for now we'll wait and see.

Meanwhile I'm going to Vendy's as all this talk of food has me hankering for a беконатор (baconator) about now.

(From the Mendeleyev Journal)