Come Out and Play

Reduce homophobia, reuse plastic, recycle unnecessary homework assignments

1. After a slight kerfuffle, yoga is a yo-go in Russian prisons – as is being gay. Claims that yoga is anti-Christian and causes homosexuality were submitted to conservative senator Elena Muzulina, who allegedly asked for two pilot yoga programs in prisons to be suspended, which she later denied as “fake news.” Deputy Director of the prison system Valery Maksimenko took a justice warrior pose-ition, saying yoga has been linked to a drastic drop in doctor visits and that, although it doesn’t cause homosexuality, even if it did, homosexuality is perfectly legal Russia, important people around the world have “non-traditional, for us, sexual orientations,” and no one has the right to judge someone for it. Prisons will be rolling out the welcome mat for yoga, as the program is expanded to all of Russia. 

2. Soccer games at the World Cup used a lot of plastic cups. Why not complete the cycle of life from soccer, to cups, to more soccer? That’s why Budweiser opened a new soccer pitch in Sochi made from 50,000 World Cup cups. It’s not just an environmentally friendly statement; 2006 World Cup champion Marco Materazzi, who attended the opening, called the field excellent. Budweiser later plans to move the field to Volgogradskaya Oblast, where it will be open to anyone who wants to play. The minister of sports for the region hopes that this will kick off all sorts of creative projects with used plastic. 

3. The Ministry of Education has done their homework on school kids’ stress and decided to recommend lower homework loads. Because children in Russia were working more each week than their parents. A true class struggle. The new guidelines may not be a full-blown revolution, but at least the working class will now be a relaxed class – and also a more individualized class. Earlier, the Ministry of Education proposed creating an online “personal office” for each student, with additional material based on the interests they have indicated on social media.

In odder news

• Moscow government will support entrepreneurs or NGOs creating old-folks’ homes for pets when their owners can no longer take care of them. Who says you can’t teach an old dog to live in a new home? 
• A man in St. Petersburg claims to have caught a fish with a gold ring inside, calling it fairytale magic. Others are saying, however, that based on, you know, scientific facts, about how wide a fish can open its mouth, the story rings false. 

• A meteorite streaked across the sky over Krasnoyarsk. 

Seeing a meteorite always brightens your day. / Kraschp/Youtube

Quote of the Week

“Green-eyed taxi, slow down, slow down,
And take me where they’ll be
Always, always, happy to see me”

– The (translated) chorus of “Green-eyed Taxi” by Oleg Kavsha,
voted “best song to listen to in a taxi” in study by taxi company Citimobil.
If they could only listen to one song on repeat the entire ride, though,
60% of those surveyed went with Despacito. 

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