November 01, 2018

Warm Feelings for the Cool Weather


Warm Feelings for the Cool Weather
Some Treats to Offset Any Halloween Tricks

1. Here’s a story that’ll make you wag your tail. A man and his dog in Krasnoyarsk survived alone for three weeks in the Siberian wilderness after a bear-driven wrong turn during a mushroom-picking excursion. Viktor Vinogradov cooked mice for his dog, Thor, and the two shared a half-bottle of cooking oil that they found in a hunter’s hut. Eventually, Vinogradov and Thor found a group of forest workers and then made their way home. If this man and dog weren’t best friends before this, we’re sure they are now.

Thor is home

Photo: Rossiya TV

2. For the love of languages! This week, President Putin signed a decree that established a foundation to preserve the native languages of Russia. The organization will be based in Moscow and will be funded through a mixture of federal funding and donations. This is a response to concerns over the decline of the many native languages of Russia, which were further put at risk by restrictions on education in these native languages. The new foundation will encourage both the preservation and the study of these precious languages.

3. There must be something in the water… shark memes are making big waves in Russia these days. Specifically, Russians are laughing themself silly over Blåhaj, an Ikea-produced stuffed shark, who they like putting in relatable situations. Apparently, something about the shark’s expression makes it the perfect avenue for human expression. However, Blåhaj’s popularity is double-edged, as apparently they are now out of stock!

The sharks of business

Photo: @akula_innokentiy

In Odder News:

Tuapse flooded

Photo: angelika6969

  • This actually is scary: floods in Krasnodar’s Tuapse are taking everything along with them

  • Now for the even worse news: if you like the shawarma joints in Moscow, you’re out of luck. All 252 of them were found to violate health regulations!

  • Hot potato! One Russian official threw his bribe out of the car while being chased by police

Quote of the Week:

“Dad hunted mice and cooked them over a fire for the dog. Later they found a hunter's hut and a half-bottle of cooking oil, which they rationed out between them. It was enough to keep their strength up.”

Tatiana, daughter of Viktor Vinogradov, tells his (and Thor’s!) story


~And a special thanks to David Edwards for the story about Viktor and Thor!~

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Faith & Humor: Notes from Muscovy

Faith & Humor: Notes from Muscovy

A book that dares to explore the humanity of priests and pilgrims, saints and sinners, Faith & Humor has been both a runaway bestseller in Russia and the focus of heated controversy – as often happens when a thoughtful writer takes on sacred cows. The stories, aphorisms, anecdotes, dialogues and adventures in this volume comprise an encyclopedia of modern Russian Orthodoxy, and thereby of Russian life.
Marooned in Moscow

Marooned in Moscow

This gripping autobiography plays out against the backdrop of Russia's bloody Civil War, and was one of the first Western eyewitness accounts of life in post-revolutionary Russia. Marooned in Moscow provides a fascinating account of one woman's entry into war-torn Russia in early 1920, first-person impressions of many in the top Soviet leadership, and accounts of the author's increasingly dangerous work as a journalist and spy, to say nothing of her work on behalf of prisoners, her two arrests, and her eventual ten-month-long imprisonment, including in the infamous Lubyanka prison. It is a veritable encyclopedia of life in Russia in the early 1920s.
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Russian Rules

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Steppe / Степь (bilingual)

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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.  
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