In Russia, it’s clear that it matters not only how much firewood you’ve got, but also how creatively you can stack it.

Firewood 1

(It’s Russia. There is no Number 2.)

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Hat tip to Bernard Bernatonis.

Hat tip to Barbara Mackintosh.

Winner: Russian granny

1:09 video (Autoplay would not turn off in the embedded version.)

A wolf attacked 56-year-old Aishat Maksudova near her sister’s home in Dagestan in the Northern Caucusus. Maksudova was on her way to repair a fence, and tried to stop a wolf from attacking a calf. The wolf went after her instead, biting her leg and left hand, and knocking her to the ground. Fortunately, Maksudova was able to bring into play the axe she was carrying to repair the fence. She hit the wolf right on the head, splitting its skull and killing it dead.

Photos and another video at HuffPo.

Loser: wolf

Considerate Russian ice fisherman hands out Snickers bar to wild fox. Location: Yamal Peninsula, Siberia.

Hat tip to Andrzej Stanisław Leśniewski.

The old-fashioned way of stopping enemy ships.

Telegraph:

A Russian ship believed to be carrying helicopters and missiles for Syria has been effectively stopped in its tracks off the coast of Scotland after its insurance was cancelled at the behest of the British government.

The British marine insurer Standard Club said it had withdrawn cover from all the ships owned by Femco, a Russian cargo line, including the MV Alaed.

“We were made aware of the allegations that the Alaed was carrying munitions destined for Syria,” the company said in a statement. “We have already informed the ship owner that their insurance cover ceased automatically in view of the nature of the voyage.”

The Royal Navy blocked invasion of the British Isles by the Spanish Armada in 1588 with cannon-fire and cutlass. So formidable was the Royal Navy’s fighting superiority in 1805 that Admiral Jervis was able to quip: “I do not say that they [the French] cannot come — I only say they cannot come by sea.”

Where in days of yore, England maintained command of the seas with “hearts of oak,” clearly today Britain has succeeded in substituting hearts of ink.

One pictures Napoleon glaring in frustration as Marshall Bertrand reports that Lloyds’ has cancelled the invasion fleet’s insurance, so the fleet cannot embark.

The stories he could tell. (click on picture for larger image)

From Oleg Sandro-Panfilov via Viktorija Ruškulienė (at Facebook).

click on picture for larger image

This came my way on Facebook without attribution or explanation. I tried researching it with small success. The photo clearly comes from Russia, and that front goose looking sideways is a Photoshop addition.

Here is a neat item. A Russian police facial reference sheet used for identifying male subject’s probable nationality.

(click on picture for larger image)
Top row from the left: Russian, Ukrainian, Tatar, Jew, Gypsy, Kyrgyzian.
Middle row from the left: Belorussian, Lithuanian, Georgian, Armenian, Kazakh, Uzbek.
Bottom row from the left: Latvian, Estonian, Azerbaijani, Moldovan, Tajik, Turkmenian

From Galina Sokolovska via Viktorija Ruškulienė.

Video in Russian, mocking the political ads of the regime in power. Be sure to wait for the ending.

Hat tip to Viktorija Daugirdaite.

Two centuries and a bit ago, Thomas Jefferson entertained hopes that explorers might yet encounter Woolly Mammoths trumpeting in the remote Western wilderness.

Frozen Mammoth remains found in Siberia have been fresh enough to be served up as a delicacy at Explorers’ Club banquets.

Now, a British tabloid, The Sun, offers a video, allegedly made last summer somewhere in Siberia, purportedly showing a living Woolly Mammoth, Mammuthus primigenius, crossing a river.

(the embed script is not editable for size, but it doesn’t seem to matter crucially)

Cryptomundo had the same thought I did. The tusks look more like a large salmon hanging from the mouth of a very large bear.

Hat tip to Karen L. Myers.

Claire Berlinski shares a Turkish news report identifying one more vitally important, historically Russian territory which Moscow is determined to defend against “foreign interference.”

Russia will never accept “foreign interference” in Syria’s internal affairs, Syria’s Foreign Minister Walid Muallem told a news conference on Tuesday.

“No one can doubt the strength of the Russian-Syrian relationship,” based on their history and the interests of both people, Muallem said.

“Russia will never accept foreign interference in Syria’s internal affairs. That is the red line,” he added.

Yes, that would be Damascus, the ancestral homeland of the Russian people. You all knew Dostoyevsky was from Aleppo, right?… Russians have been indigenous to Syria since the Mithridatic Wars. Everyone knows that.

More Russian weirdness:

As a thoughtful gesture of admiration and respect for his country’s leader, Sam Nickel set out to touch the breasts of 1000 Russian females. After which feat was accomplished, Nickel proceeded to shake hands with Vladimir Putin in order to pass along the mystical tactile energy produced thereby. Somehow I tend to think Putin got gypped.

Hat tip to Business Insider via Emmy Chang.