9 February 2015. It’s An Old School Russian Winter

“Winter SaniDay-2015” festival sledge slide in Mitino Park in Moscow (Mitino Raion. Northwestern Administrative Okrug. Federal City of Moscow. Central Federal District) RF, in February 2015.

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Troika competing in the first round of the Moscow Winter Russian Championship in Moscow (Federal City of Moscow. Central Federal District) RF.

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Rehabilitative and educational programme “On the Way with the Huskies” in Sokolniki Park in Moscow (Sokolniki Raion. Eastern Administrative Okrug. Federal City of Moscow. Central Federal District) RF.

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Dogs at the starting line of the “In the Land of the Sampo” in Petrozavodsk (Republic of Kareliya. Northwestern Federal District) RF, on 24 January 2015.

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A couple looks at images from Siberian photographers on an ice wall, during an exhibition part of the “Magic Ice of Siberia” International Competition of Snow Sculpture along the banks of the Yenisei River in Krasnoyarsk (Krasnoyarsk Krai. Siberian Federal District) RF, in January 2015. The ice sculpting competition, which was in its third year, saw teams from Russia and China competing against each other.

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A man fishes through a hole in the ice on frozen Abakan Bay of the Yenisei River in Krasnoyarsk (Krasnoyarsk Krai. Siberian Federal District) RF.

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Ded Moroz (Grandpa Frost) at the Semenkovo Architecture and Ethnography Museum (Vologda Oblast. Northwestern Federal District RF).

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A child stands next to lit polar bear figures in Tverskoi Boulevard in central Moscow (Tverskoi Raion. Central Administrative Okrug. Federal City of Moscow. Central Federal District) RF.

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A hardcore hockey fan at a KHL regular season match between KhK SKA St Petersburg and HK Slovan Bratislava in St Petersburg (Federal City of St Petersburg. Northwestern Federal District) RF.

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Children on the Anichkov Bridge after a snowfall in St Petersburg (Federal City of St Petersburg. Northwestern Federal District) RF.

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A young “walrus” prepares for a winter swim in Veliki Novgorod (Novgorod Oblast. Northwestern Federal District) RF.

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Elderly woman on a bench watches a religious procession in Stavropol (Stavropol Krai. North Caucasian Federal District) RF.

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A man rides a bicycle at a city park in Stavropol (Stavropol Krai. North Caucasian Federal District) RF, temperature -8 degrees (17.6 degrees Fahrenheit).

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A scientist stands on the edge of a newly formed crater on the Yamal Peninsula in northern Siberia (Yamalo-Nenets Autonomous Okrug. Tyumen Oblast. Ural Federal District RF). A group of scientists went on an expedition initiated by the Russian Centre of Arctic Exploration to research the crater after pilots captured it on video in July 2014, which attracted the public’s attention. Participants descended about 16 metres (52.4 feet) to reach the frozen surface of the base of the crater, which was a lake at least 10 metres (32.8 feet) deep. Experts, including geologists and historians, haven’t yet decided about the funnel’s origin.

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Time to pack up your woollies and head on down to Russia… Sandals in the Caribbean isn’t for you. You’d rather hang with the frozen chosen in Yakutsk… different strokes for different folks…

BMD

30 January 2015. EVERYBODY Loves Them Firemen…

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In Russia, the fire guys are a lot like their American cousins. After all, they face the same dangers and the same situations, without exception. Some years ago, I posted about a hero-fireman in Moscow who died in the course of his duties. He was a colonel, with no need of being out on the line. However, he went out with the bros, because that’s the sort of guy he was. He died because the floor collapsed from under him (Patriarch Kirill served Pannikhida for him). That’s why NOBODY dislikes firemen. They put their lives on the line every day and they hurt no one… indeed, their job is to save lives, not take them. If I had to choose between a lawyer, a politician, a salesman, a media pundit, or a fireman as the sort that society needs, I’d pick the fireman and shitcan the rest. I do daresay that I wouldn’t be alone…

BMD

3 February 2014. RIA-Novosti Presents… The Polar Bears Bag Some Zs with Winter Dreams and Other Animal News

A Polar Bear sleeps in the snow in his enclosure in the Berlin Zoological Garden Berlin (Freistadt Berlin) GERMANY

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Penguins were in costumes on the eve of the Lunar New Year at Yokohama Hakkeijima Sea Paradise Yokohama (Kanagawa Prefecture. Kantō Region) JAPAN

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Pope Francisco blesses Amore the Parrot on 29 January 2014 in St Peter’s Square VATICAN CITY

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A keeper at the Giza Zoo EGYPT helps a young visitor to feed a hippo

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A trainer and a pony at a Beijing PRC equestrian club

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A man with a tame python on a beach in Colombo SRI LANKA

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A horse near the entrance to Central Park in New York (Borough of Manhattan) NY USA

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Tractor scattering feed for cranes in Hula Lake Park ISRAEL

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Cops captured a puma inside a residential house in Santiago de Chile CHILE (where it’s summer, but what the hey…), but no one was hurt. The cops took the big cat to the local zoo, whilst the authorities tried to figure out how it got into the building.

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At Circuit de Spa-Francorchamps raceway in Spa (Province de Liège. Région Wallonne) BELGIUM, fans of Michael Schumacher held a vigil in support of their idol

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2 February 2014

RIA-Novosti

http://en.ria.ru/photolents/20140202/187080004_3/Polar-bear-winter-slumber-and-other-animal-news.html

25 January 2014. A Blast from the Past… LOL Cats from 1914 by Harry Whittier Frees… NO LIE!

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Here’s some stuff from the Father of All LOLCats, Harry Whittier Frees. It’s really from 1914… Frees was THE pioneer in this sort of thing. Yes, Virginia, there were LOLCats prior to the web’s Creation. In the Beginning, there was Formlessness and Void. Then, there was Frees…

BMD