June 27, 2019

Duck, Duck, Owl?


Duck, Duck, Owl?
It’s a bird! It’s a plane! It’s an owl drone! TV Zvezda

Throwback Thursday

Battle of Poltava, painting
The Battle of Poltava by Denis Martens the Younger (1726). / Wikimedia Commons

You might know what happened at the Battle of Poltava 310 years ago today. (Peter the Great routed the Swedish army in an early showing of Russian military might.) But did you know that Pushkin wrote a poem about it and that there’s a Soviet joke about it? Find out more, right here on Russian Life.


Perched on the Ledge Between Foul and Fowl

1. The new dining alfresco. A man sits at home drinking vodka, with a carpet on the wall behind him. But you’re not watching a Soviet film. You’re watching Arseny “Is He a Pest?” on Instagram. And he’s not at home — he’s on the side of a building. Arseny is a performance artist working on a project exploring how a single square meter of space impacts people’s lives. Notwithstanding the Soviet imagery, the project critiques the capitalist penchant to “buy houses in anthills and burden yourself with mortgages for half your life.” In other words, he’s not sweeping any critiques under the carpet.

Man drinking vodka on square-meter platform on side of building
Did he take a magic carpet ride up there? / vreditel_li

2. Giving a duck about ducks. While driving down a Petersburg highway, a driver witnessed a car crash. This was distressing, but the reason they crashed was even worse: A family of ducks was trying to cross the highway. The driver left the car and hurriedly escorted the ducks to the side of the road. However, the baby ducklings couldn’t jump over the curb, and they cried until the mother duck came back to street level. Fortunately, several passerby noticed their plight and lifted the ducklings to safety. They really ducked a catastrophe on this one!


The heroic rescue. / Sergey Karasyov

3. Three hoots for high tech! The latest Russian military drone looks like an owl. Unlike most owls, it looks like it’s permanently screaming, but don’t be fooled: it’s designed to be able to approach up close without being recognized. The drone primarily detects targets using a laser and satellite navigation, so if it flew at night, you could say it’d be a real night owl. And for those who are fans of (f)owl-inspired tech, the military plans to create a falcon-shaped drone that plays the cry of a falcon. Let’s just hope these drones don’t engage in fowl play…

Blog Spotlight

Do you like museums? Do you like tech? Discover some of the best Russian museums that incorporate multimedia technology.

In Odder News

5000-ruble notes
A million, million, million scarlet rubles… / Pixabay

Quote of the Week

“IS IT SERIOUSLY THAT HARD FOR YOU TO USE THE RIGHT FILTERS FOR SWEAR WORDS IN MEDIA????? WOULD IT KILL YOU TO DO THAT????? IS IT THE END OF THE WORLD????? NO, B****, NO!!! SO THEN WHY, @, DON’T YOU USE THE RIGHT FILTER?????!!!! OUR EYES ARE ROLLING, YEAH GO F*** YOURSELF!!!”

— The official Roskomnadzor Twitter account, demonstrating how to correctly self-censor profanities when rage-tweeting

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Some of Our Books

Steppe / Степь (bilingual)

Steppe / Степь (bilingual)

This is the work that made Chekhov, launching his career as a writer and playwright of national and international renown. Retranslated and updated, this new bilingual edition is a super way to improve your Russian.
Maria's War: A Soldier's Autobiography

Maria's War: A Soldier's Autobiography

This astonishingly gripping autobiography by the founder of the Russian Women’s Death Battallion in World War I is an eye-opening documentary of life before, during and after the Bolshevik Revolution.
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.
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.
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.
Murder and the Muse

Murder and the Muse

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Driving Down Russia's Spine

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The story of the epic Spine of Russia trip, intertwining fascinating subject profiles with digressions into historical and cultural themes relevant to understanding modern Russia. 
The Latchkey Murders

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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.  
Fish
February 01, 2010

Fish

This mesmerizing novel from one of Russia’s most important modern authors traces the life journey of a selfless Russian everywoman. In the wake of the Soviet breakup, inexorable forces drag Vera across the breadth of the Russian empire. Facing a relentless onslaught of human and social trials, she swims against the current of life, countering adversity and pain with compassion and hope, in many ways personifying Mother Russia’s torment and resilience amid the Soviet disintegration.

The Little Humpbacked Horse
November 03, 2014

The Little Humpbacked Horse

A beloved Russian classic about a resourceful Russian peasant, Vanya, and his miracle-working horse, who together undergo various trials, exploits and adventures at the whim of a laughable tsar, told in rich, narrative poetry.

Steppe
July 15, 2022

Steppe

This is the work that made Chekhov, launching his career as a writer and playwright of national and international renown. Retranslated and updated, this new bilingual edition is a super way to improve your Russian.

Driving Down Russia's Spine
June 01, 2016

Driving Down Russia's Spine

The story of the epic Spine of Russia trip, intertwining fascinating subject profiles with digressions into historical and cultural themes relevant to understanding modern Russia. 

How Russia Got That Way
September 20, 2025

How Russia Got That Way

A fast-paced crash course in Russian history, from Norsemen to Navalny, that explores the ways the Kremlin uses history to achieve its ends.

Frogs Who Begged...
November 01, 2010

Frogs Who Begged...

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.

Davai! The Russians and Their Vodka
November 01, 2012

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.

The Samovar Murders
November 01, 2019

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.

A Taste of Chekhov
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A Taste of Chekhov

This compact volume is an introduction to the works of Chekhov the master storyteller, via nine stories spanning the last twenty years of his life.

Russian Rules
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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.

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