January 27, 2022

Population, a Pistol, and Pregnancy Problems


Population, a Pistol, and Pregnancy Problems
In Odder News

In this week's Odder News: biathlons, chips for your pets, and a whole lot of Muscovites.

  • Residents of a small village in the Tsumadinsky District of Dagestan carried a pregnant woman in need of medical attention 10 kilometers (6.2 miles) to the nearest hospital. The group took several hours in order to traverse the mountain path with the stretcher, but everything ended well, with the woman receiving help in time. Of course, there's more to Dagestan than remote villages!
  • The preliminary results of the All-Russian Population Census are in, and experts now estimate that over 13 million people are living in Moscow, an increase of 1.5 million from ten years ago. The data will prove useful in understanding the extent to which Russians are leaving smaller cities and regions to move to larger cities like Moscow and Saint Petersburg.
  • Russian athletes Anton Babikov and Karim Khalili placed first and third in the individual biathlon in Antholz, Italy. The Italian stage is the last before the Winter Olympics, set to be held in Beijing in February. World champion of the sport Anton Shipulin congratulated the two athletes after their impressive performance. Of course, this isn't the only type of biathlon that Russians excel in!
  • Unfortunately, not everyone in Russia likes to ski like the two above. A trouble-making teenager in the Novosibirsk Region was goofing around and accidentally shot a classmate with a pneumatic pistol after refusing to participate in skiing classes. The injured boy, who's doing fine, was sent to have an MRI done after being shot in the forehead, and police are investigating the issue further.
  • Plans are starting to be made for all Russian pets to be labeled and accounted for. Currently, the only animals in Russia which need identification are farm animals. However, the State Duma Committee of Ecology believes that the mandatory markings will help with the identification of lost pets and will help bring to justice pet owners which abandon their animals on the street. The markings will be done for free, and pet owners will have the choice between a tag, a brand, and a chip. Just like Putin!

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The Little Golden Calf

The Little Golden Calf

Our edition of The Little Golden Calf, one of the greatest Russian satires ever, is the first new translation of this classic novel in nearly fifty years. It is also the first unabridged, uncensored English translation ever, and is 100% true to the original 1931 serial publication in the Russian journal 30 Dnei. Anne O. Fisher’s translation is copiously annotated, and includes an introduction by Alexandra Ilf, the daughter of one of the book’s two co-authors.
White Magic

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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.
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Chekhov Bilingual

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