Mysterious structure in Russian forest

by Jerry Guo on

I’d love to hear what people think that thing in the picture is. There’s a whole album you can look through here. Unfortunately no further explanations on that page, though reading through some of the comments is entertaining.

Some enterprising soul used Google Translate, and found that the site may be some sort of experimental electrical project for seeing the effects of thunderstorms. I have a feeling I’m butchering the science here, so please correct me on it.

What’s also fun to look at is the location through Google Maps (satellite version). September 11th conspiracy theorists, where you guys at?

The challenges of winter travel in Russia

by Neil Woodburn on

Traveling in Russia in the wintertime often means wonderful shortcuts when rivers and lakes freeze over and local drivers simply plow right over them. This is particular true at Lake Baikal in Siberia where the water can freeze up to ten feet thick and support not just a highway of cars, but also actual trains: the Russians used to lay temporary rails across the ice at the beginning of winter, taking days of travel time off of skirting the massive lake.

In today’s fickle global warming times, however, ice driving is no longer as safe as it kinda used to be–as you can tell from the above photo. This driver was lucky, however, and was driving near the shoreline where the water is shallower. Had he been crossing Lake Baikal, there’d be no photos to share.

For more photographs of winter travel in Russia, be sure to jump on over to English Russia and check out their gallery.

Photo of the Day (12/3/2007)

by Iva Skoch on

Since Vladimir Putin just won the elections in Russia (can you believe it?), I decided to go with the theme of present-day Russia for today’s photo. Here is a picture by Yuri Mamchur, author of the Russia Blog, of a parking lot by a 5-star hotel in Moscow. It would almost make you believe that Russians like Mercedes cars, wouldn’t it.

Until, of course, you remember that although there are a lot of Mercedes-cruising socialites in Moscow, the average male in Russia has a life expectancy of less than 60 years. And those are typically not exactly Mercedes-cruising years…

***To have your photo considered for the Gadling Photo of the Day, go over to the Gadling Flickr site and post it.***

Independence days and elephants

by Jamie Rhein on

I’ve whipped out my International Calendar to see what might be left to tell about November before it slips away from Eastern Standard Time in a few hours. What I see is a whole lot of independence days and a slew of other politically geared occasions.

  • Nov. 1–Antigua-Barbuda gained independence from the United Kingdom in 1980.
  • Nov. 3–Dominica gained independence from the UK in 1978. Panama gained Independence from Colombia in 1903 and Micronesia gained independence from the U.S. in 1980.
  • Nov. 9–Cambodia gained independence from France in 1953.
  • Nov. 11–Poland gained independence in 1918; Angola gained independence from Portugal in 1975.
  • Nov. 18–Latvia gained independence from Russia in 1918; Morocco from France in 1956.
  • Nov. 25–Suriname gained independence
  • Nov. 28–Mauritania gained Independence from France in 1968 and Albania gained Independence from the Ottoman Empire in 1912, Panama gained independence from Spain in 1821 and East Timor gained independence from Portugal in 1975.
  • Nov. 30-Barbados gained independence from the U.K. in 1966

Other than these, Tonga has had Constitution Day (Nov. 4); Russia, Revolution Day (Nov. 7); Brazil, Republic Day (Nov. 15); and Vanuatu has had National Unity Day, (Nov. 29)

My favorite happening of the bunch of events that occurred this month, though, is the Surin Elephant Round-Up in Thailand.

Seven (screwed up) wonders of the totalitarian world

by Neil Woodburn on

There is something terribly crazy about totalitarian governments and their sense of architecture: monumental, gaudy, pompous, and, more often than not, in extraordinarily poor taste.

That’s whey the fine folks over at Esquire Magazine have compiled a list of what they feel are the world’s most “colossal monument[s] to narcissism.”

The Seven Wonders of the Totalitarian World, as you might imagine, is a rather bizarre assortment of architectural toy things by those drunk with power and devoid of taste. I can’t say I agree with all of them–there are certainly others that should make the list such as Kim Il Sung’s massive bronze statue in Pyongyang (above). But the ones that are included are still worth checking out nonetheless. And remember, when dictators fall, as Esquire points out, their statues soon follow–so be sure to visit soon.

Fist Crushing U.S. Fighter Plane, Libya
Monument to President Laurent Kabila, Congo
Lenin’s Mausoleum, Russia
Monument to President Saparmurat Niyazov, Turkmenistan
Mao Leading the Chinese People’s Liberation Army, China
The Hands of Victory, Iraq
Monument to the Founding of the North Korean Worker’s Party, North Korea