August 16, 2018

The Dog Days of Summer and the Crazy Things They Bring


The Dog Days of Summer and the Crazy Things They Bring
Samara’s Scarlet Letter

1. It’s a different kind of pyramid scheme! The utility company in Samara recently started planting three-ton concrete pyramids in front of debtors’ houses. The pyramids, which bear slogans such as “Here lives a debtor!,” have been quite successful in compelling the outed debtors into paying off their debts in order to remove the pyramid and at least some of the shame. Well, one such debtor recently decided to pay a freight truck to cart away the pyramid, rather than pay off the debts. As with all pyramid schemes, this could only last so long: he is now charged with felony theft and could even receive time in jail.

debtors' pyramid

Photo: RKS-Samara

2. There’s a lot of buzz surrounding the work of scientists in Tomsk, or at least there should be. These scientists are building robotic bees, which are expected to take flight in 2019. These bees will do what bees do best, pollinate the fields around them. They don’t come cheap, as the first 100 mechanical bees are expected to cost 100 million rubles ($1,488,000). The cost may well be worth it, though, given the widespread decline of bees. For that reason, let’s hope the scientists don’t bumble around too much and can help give Tomsk something to bee proud of.

3. A new type of animal has been seen in Moscow’s Zaryadye Park: Shakespeare’s famed “beast with two backs.” To put it plainly, people are having sex in the park, and the city government (for the most part) is none too happy about it. The park’s security cameras have captured an apparent uptick in couples doing the deed, potentially thanks to warm summer nights. While the city’s chief architect lauds the fact that people feel free in the city, other officials have been less enthusiastic, comparing the offenders to “feral animals” and suggesting various punishments. All this has sparked, of course, a plethora of jokery online, with many expressing a renewed interest in spending more time outside.

In Odder News:

wooly mammoth hat

Photo: The Siberian Times

  • Talk about an old hat: one man made the world’s only wooly mammoth hair hat out of hair that is tens of thousands of years old

  • A dangerous book indeed: a boy made an accidental illegal crossing from Abkhazia to Russia while trying to find a nice place to read his book, Catcher in the Rye

  • I’ll drink to that! Russians celebrate a birthday on the peak of Mont Blanc with champagne, which is much more dangerous than it sounds

Quote of the Week:

“The city gives people the opportunity to feel free, safe, and comfortable”

Sergei Kuznetsov, Moscow’s chief architect, on what people having sex in the park indicates about the city

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The Little Humpbacked Horse

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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.

A Taste of Russia
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A Taste of Russia

The definitive modern cookbook on Russian cuisine has been totally updated and redesigned in a 30th Anniversary Edition. Layering superbly researched recipes with informative essays on the dishes' rich historical and cultural context, A Taste of Russia includes over 200 recipes on everything from borshch to blini, from Salmon Coulibiac to Beef Stew with Rum, from Marinated Mushrooms to Walnut-honey Filled Pies. A Taste of Russia shows off the best that Russian cooking has to offer. Full of great quotes from Russian literature about Russian food and designed in a convenient wide format that stays open during use.

Fearful Majesty
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Fearful Majesty

This acclaimed biography of one of Russia’s most important and tyrannical rulers is not only a rich, readable biography, it is also surprisingly timely, revealing how many of the issues Russia faces today have their roots in Ivan’s reign.

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