March 28, 2019

Naked Facts about Science, Art and Agriculture


Naked Facts about Science, Art and Agriculture
A snow leopard cub. Denis Guliaev

Throwback Thursday

Bolshoi Theater in early 19th century
The Bolshoi Theater in the early 19th century. / Wikimedia Commons
 

It’s a big day for the Big Theater (that would be a literal translation of the Bolshoi, though maybe “Grand” would be more appropriate). On this day 243 years ago the theater was founded in Moscow. 

(Not) shooting, (not) smoking, (not completely) stripping

1. Hunters are shooting snow leopards in Sailugemsky National Park – with cameras. The World Wildlife Foundation offered six former hunters the opportunity to become wardens back in 2015. It was an ultimate win-win: the hunters, who were trying to feed their families (according to a recent according to a recent interview), gained steady employment, and the conservation efforts benefit from the hunters’ deep knowledge of the animals. Now, the leopard population is rebounding well, and this week new photographs show that three new cubs survived the winter.

2. For Yulia Divnich, leader of the Association of Cannabis Growers, weed is very much not a weed. In a recent interview, Divnich said that Russia certainly has room to grow in the field of hemp agriculture in order to catch up to the rest of the world, which is using the plant in everything from cars to yogurt, as well as in other ways that are currently illegal to “propagandize” about in the Russian press. Advocating even legal uses of hemp is frequently seen as stirring the pot in Russia, but Divnich has reason to hope. This past month she successfully led a conference in Kurgan about how the canna-biz can help solve ecological problems.

3. Russian men this week put out for art and science. The Tretyakov Gallery in Moscow was treated to an “unsanctioned performance” by a nearly naked man, who later gave a vague explanation that actions and art have to do with social problems, one of which is opportunities for modern artists to “integrate into the context of a museum space.” Seems like he hasn’t been getting it lately… that is, museum exhibitions, of course. Meanwhile, also in Moscow, a man tried to board an airplane after stripping naked, shouting that “clothing impairs the aerodynamics of the body,” according to a witness.

Blog Spotlight

Ever wondered why you, a Russophile, love Georgian khachapuri so much? So did Tiffany Zhu, so she dug for answers in “When Russian Cuisine Turns Georgian.” 

In Odder News

  • Heroes come in many shapes and sizes, such as the 19-year-old who ran into a burning building to save a family of strangers, and a conductor who stopped a train in its tracks to rescue a dog tied to the rails. 
Dog on railroad tracks
Luckily, the doggo went free shortly after. / Ovcharka Lakki sbitaia poezdom
 
  • The meme of the week? The head of Russia’s Investigative Committee examining a computer screen with a magnifying glass. Of course.
Bastrykin holds magnifying class to computer
Enhance! / Russian Investigative Committee
 
  • On a popular news program, a political scientist cited dialogue in a film as if it contained biographical facts about the actor. In philosophical Russian fashion, after the fact the political scientist said that the actor “fixed it [the fact] in the role, it is a cultural archetype. The principal meaning does not change.”

 

Quote of the Week

“So what if it's minus 30, we hang out like in Europe while you sit in your office on your ass.”

– A line from a rap song by an Irkutsk grandmother who enjoys winter swims in Lake Baikal.

Thank you to David Edwards for a story idea!

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This compact, yet surprisingly broad look at the life and work of Tolstoy spans from one of his earliest stories to one of his last, looking at works that made him famous and others that made him notorious. 
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Fish: A History of One Migration

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At the Circus (bilingual)

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Bears in the Caviar

Bears in the Caviar

Bears in the Caviar is a hilarious and insightful memoir by a diplomat who was “present at the creation” of US-Soviet relations. Charles Thayer headed off to Russia in 1933, calculating that if he could just learn Russian and be on the spot when the US and USSR established relations, he could make himself indispensable and start a career in the foreign service. Remarkably, he pulled it of.
Fearful Majesty

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.
Chekhov Bilingual

Chekhov Bilingual

Some of Chekhov's most beloved stories, with English and accented Russian on facing pages throughout. 
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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.
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.
The Latchkey Murders

The Latchkey Murders

Senior Lieutenant Pavel Matyushkin is back on the case in this prequel to the popular mystery Murder at the Dacha, in which a serial killer is on the loose in Khrushchev’s Moscow...
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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