Wow Russia

Found this very strange and absolutely hilarious site by Elena Marus an art student in Moscow. Check out this quote from the site.

"Russia is the biggest country in the world... Everybody knows there are two cities in Russia - Moscow and St. Petersburg... The rest of the country is called Siberia...

So what else do we have in Russia? We have bears, of course. Lots of different bears... We do have the biggest problems with the street bears. For they cause the greatest traffic jams ever, especially in Moscow. So we have the special bear-movement schedule and our government has to keep special shoulder strap werewolves on duty to control the bears."

Lots of other weird and satirical information on Russia, can be found on the site. You really should check it out.

Wow Russia

Homemade guns from Chechnya

Found this very interesting photo blog with a bunch of weapons that have been confiscated from rebels in Chechnya. Most of the weapons are hand made from materials not originally meant to be weapons. Chechnya rebelled against the Russian Federation shortly after the fall of the Soviet Union. While the rebellion was ultimately a failure, there is still a great deal of unrest.
Check it out: Chechen Self-Made Weapons
For a little history on the fighting in Chechnya, read this Wikipedia Article: Chechnya

Largest Open pit Diamond mine in the world

Found this article about a diamond mine in Russia. The thing is seriously massive. The picture above hardly gives it justice. The mine is so big, that it generates a downdraft into it, that caused several helicopter crashes before overflights were banned. Check the article out for more pictures.

Via BLDGBlog: Worlds largest diamond mine
Here is a link to the Google satellite map page: Diamond Mine

Russia wants to build tunnel to Alaska

Russia has proposed the building of a tunnel connecting Siberia with Alaska in the Bering strait. The project is estimated to take between 10 and 15 years to complete. It will also cost about $65 Billion to build. The tunnel, if built, would be huge. It would contain a high speed rail line, a full size highway, an oil pipeline, a natural gas pipeline, electricity cables, and fiber optic data cables. The tunnel would be 64 miles long. which makes it twice as long as the UK France tunnel under the English channel.
Currently the project has strong supporters in the Russian government, and supporters in the Alaskan state government. It hasn't really been pitched to the US federal government. So there is no time table on when this will happen or if it will happen.

Via Gizmodo:Tunnel Between Russia and Alaska in the Works and Bloomberg: Russia Plans World's Longest Tunnel, a Link to Alaska

Pictures of Soviet Bus stops

Soviet Russia was a very strange place. Some of the things the government did were odd and really tacky. One of those things were the bus stops. From big birds, to miniature pagodas. The bus stops are just plain weird.

Polar Inertia has a bunch of pictures of some of the more bizarre ones. Check it out: Soviet Roadside Bus Stops