August 30, 2018

The Ancient Past, the Near Future, and a Sheepish Present


The Ancient Past, the Near Future, and a Sheepish Present
Great Scot! What decade are we in?

1. Roads? Where Russia’s going, it doesn’t need roads! This week the Russian company Kalashnikov (yes, that Kalashnikov) revealed a new car that looked like it was from Back to the Future. In other words, decidedly old-school. However, the boxy little cruiser is actually decidedly futuristic: it’s a fully electric car designed to compete with Tesla. While some doubt (and others mock) Kalashnikov’s claim that it will be able to compete with Tesla, this new car demonstrates Russian interest in an electric future. Doc Brown has some wise words to say on this point (if you ever made it to the third movie): “your future is whatever you make it, so make it a good one.”

Kalashni-car

Photo: Kalashnikov Media

2. If you’re an avid reader of TWERF,* you’ll have noticed a recurring theme of interesting things found in Siberian caves. Well, the caverns are at it again: scientists found the remains of an ancient human hybrid in Siberia’s Altai Mountains. So what does that actually mean? Scientists found a 90,000 year old female who was half Neanderthal and half Denisovan (another ancient group of humans). Lovingly named “Denny,” this hybrid is the first instance scientists have found of someone who had parents belonging to distinct human groups. The discovery points to a wide range of human diversity that once existed on this Earth, and it has us excited for whatever the next great Siberian cave discovery will bring.

* If you’re not an avid reader of TWERF, what are you doing with yourself?

Altai cave

Photo: Bence Viola/Max Planck

3. When beauty is the beast: this week Dagestan held a beauty contest for a very specific demographic… its sheep. The event was in honor of the Muslim holiday Eid al-Adha, known as Kurban Bayram in the Russian- and Turkic-speaking world. The sheep were judged based on their physical qualities and the creativity of their owners in adorning them. While the fate of the winner, one Princess Aisha, is unknown, we’re sure that, in the moment, she was just baa-sking in the limelight.

In Odder News:
  • Will Russia’s Snickers alternative still satisfy? A Russian military vendor is about to help people find out

  • Covering up those rock-hard abs: a university in Novosibirsk put some clothing on nude statues in anticipation of a visit from Russian orthodox priests

  • Read about the fascinating Soviet past of a surprising bloom: the sunflower

Quote of the Week:

“We’d almost caught these people in the act.”

— Paleogeneticist Svante Pääbo, on finding the product of a Neanderthal-Denisovan intimate experience

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.

Like this post? Get a weekly email digest + member-only deals

Some of Our Books

The Samovar Murders

The Samovar Murders

The murder of a poet is always more than a murder. When a famous writer is brutally stabbed on the campus of Moscow’s Lumumba University, the son of a recently deposed African president confesses, and the case assumes political implications that no one wants any part of.
The Moscow Eccentric

The Moscow Eccentric

Advance reviewers are calling this new translation "a coup" and "a remarkable achievement." This rediscovered gem of a novel by one of Russia's finest writers explores some of the thorniest issues of the early twentieth century.
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.
Turgenev Bilingual

Turgenev Bilingual

A sampling of Ivan Turgenev's masterful short stories, plays, novellas and novels. Bilingual, with English and accented Russian texts running side by side on adjoining pages.
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.
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.  
Okudzhava Bilingual

Okudzhava Bilingual

Poems, songs and autobiographical sketches by Bulat Okudzhava, the king of the Russian bards. 
Chekhov Bilingual

Chekhov Bilingual

Some of Chekhov's most beloved stories, with English and accented Russian on facing pages throughout. 
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.
93 Untranslatable Russian Words

93 Untranslatable Russian Words

Every language has concepts, ideas, words and idioms that are nearly impossible to translate into another language. This book looks at nearly 100 such Russian words and offers paths to their understanding and translation by way of examples from literature and everyday life. Difficult to translate words and concepts are introduced with dictionary definitions, then elucidated with citations from literature, speech and prose, helping the student of Russian comprehend the word/concept in context.

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