March 15, 2018

Cats, Cars, and Non-existent Countries


Cats, Cars, and Non-existent Countries
A Purr-fect Prophet, a Flashing Flashmob, and an Imaginary Island

1.  Picking brackets just got a whole lot easier, at least when it comes to this summer’s World Cup. The Hermitage Museum of St. Petersburg has chosen Achilles, a deaf snow white cat, as its Official Oracle of the World Cup. Achilles, a veteran seer, will choose between two bowls of food, each with the flag of a competing country on it. A paws-itive response from Achilles is sure to guarantee the favored team a win, leading to the question: how is the museum (not to mention FIFA) ensuring that Achilles won’t be bought off?

Photo: The State Hermitage Museum

2. Putin is a middle-of-the road candidate. At least, he was for a night. Over 250 drivers gathered in the city of Khabarovsk to create a portrait of Putin with their cars. They only had enough for half of his face, but still, the result is impressive. The organizers were quick to note that this in-car-nation of Putin had nothing to do with the upcoming election (which, by the way, is Sunday). In other words, don’t take this as their hint for Putin to hit the road.

Photo: Типичный Хабаровск

3. What’s the problem with passports from the Kingdom of the Free Island of Aspi, a small Pacific nation? Well, said small Pacific nation doesn’t exist. That didn’t stop four Russians in St. Petersburg from selling Aspi passports and driver’s licenses to undocumented foreign workers for 15,000 to 100,000 rubles (about $260 to $1,750). They’ve been doing this for three years, even winning a court case when the court could not prove the Kingdom of Aspi didn’t exist. The four were recently arrested, and it’s likely that any hopes of deportation to their “home” country are just aspi-rational thinking.

In Odder News: 
  • A Russian psychic on the run was just arrested (and in possession of “magic salt”). Why didn’t he see this coming?

  • St. Patrick’s Day doesn’t offer enough green for snow-covered Moscow: they need a whole Irish Week.

  • Two men rigged up a fake currency exchange booth and stole one million rubles from an unsuspecting victim: talk about a cents-less crime.

Quote of the Week:

“His character traits include a tendency to choose, to analyze… suggesting that he can foretell anything.” 

—Maria Khaltunen, assistant to the General Director of the State Hermitage, explaining why Achilles the Cat makes a good oracle.

Want more where this comes from? Give your inbox the gift of TWERF, our Thursday newsletter on the quirkiest, obscurest, and Russianest of Russian happenings of the week.

You Might Also Like

Hermitage Cats
  • March 09, 2006

Hermitage Cats

A look at the cats that guard one of the world's great museums.
Like this post? Get a weekly email digest + member-only deals

Some of Our Books

Survival Russian

Survival Russian

Survival Russian is an intensely practical guide to conversational, colloquial and culture-rich Russian. It uses humor, current events and thematically-driven essays to deepen readers’ understanding of Russian language and culture. This enlarged Second Edition of Survival Russian includes over 90 essays and illuminates over 2000 invaluable Russian phrases and words.
Russian Rules

Russian Rules

From the shores of the White Sea to Moscow and the Northern Caucasus, Russian Rules is a high-speed thriller based on actual events, terrifying possibilities, and some really stupid decisions.
White Magic

White Magic

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.
Dostoyevsky Bilingual

Dostoyevsky Bilingual

Bilingual series of short, lesser known, but highly significant works that show the traditional view of Dostoyevsky as a dour, intense, philosophical writer to be unnecessarily one-sided. 
The Frogs Who Begged for a Tsar (bilingual)

The Frogs Who Begged for a Tsar (bilingual)

The fables of Ivan Krylov are rich fonts of Russian cultural wisdom and experience – reading and understanding them is vital to grasping the Russian worldview. This new edition of 62 of Krylov’s tales presents them side-by-side in English and Russian. The wonderfully lyrical translations by Lydia Razran Stone are accompanied by original, whimsical color illustrations by Katya Korobkina.
Jews in Service to the Tsar

Jews in Service to the Tsar

Benjamin Disraeli advised, “Read no history: nothing but biography, for that is life without theory.” With Jews in Service to the Tsar, Lev Berdnikov offers us 28 biographies spanning five centuries of Russian Jewish history, and each portrait opens a new window onto the history of Eastern Europe’s Jews, illuminating dark corners and challenging widely-held conceptions about the role of Jews in Russian history.
The Pet Hawk of the House of Abbas

The Pet Hawk of the House of Abbas

This exciting new trilogy by a Russian author – who has been compared to Orhan Pamuk and Umberto Eco – vividly recreates a lost world, yet its passions and characters are entirely relevant to the present day. Full of mystery, memorable characters, and non-stop adventure, The Pet Hawk of the House of Abbas is a must read for lovers of historical fiction and international thrillers.  
The Little Golden Calf

The Little Golden Calf

Our edition of The Little Golden Calf, one of the greatest Russian satires ever, is the first new translation of this classic novel in nearly fifty years. It is also the first unabridged, uncensored English translation ever, and is 100% true to the original 1931 serial publication in the Russian journal 30 Dnei. Anne O. Fisher’s translation is copiously annotated, and includes an introduction by Alexandra Ilf, the daughter of one of the book’s two co-authors.
The Latchkey Murders

The Latchkey Murders

Senior Lieutenant Pavel Matyushkin is back on the case in this prequel to the popular mystery Murder at the Dacha, in which a serial killer is on the loose in Khrushchev’s Moscow...
Davai! The Russians and Their Vodka

Davai! The Russians and Their Vodka

In this comprehensive, quixotic and addictive book, Edwin Trommelen explores all facets of the Russian obsession with vodka. Peering chiefly through the lenses of history and literature, Trommelen offers up an appropriately complex, rich and bittersweet portrait, based on great respect for Russian culture.

About Us

Russian Life is a publication of a 30-year-young, award-winning publishing house that creates a bimonthly magazine, books, maps, and other products for Russophiles the world over.

Latest Posts

Our Contacts

Russian Life
73 Main Street, Suite 402
Montpelier VT 05602

802-223-4955