Welcome to WordPress. This is your first post. Edit or delete it, then start blogging!
Hello world!
July 17th, 2010noyta CCCP
July 6th, 2010noyta CCCP is found on stamps from the former Soviet Union.
The writing on Russian and Soviet stamps is in the Cyrillic alphabet, and should properly be written as ‘????? CCCP’ – noyta is just the closest approximation that we can manage in the Roman alphabet used in the USA and Western Europe today. To properly write (or transliterate) the words ????? CCCP in the Roman alphabet, we should really write Pochta CCCP, or even Pochta USSR.
Translated, ????? CCCP means ‘Mail USSR’. (????? means mail and CCCP, as you will remember from your history lessons and many movies with communist bad guys, means USSR).
Russian stamps have a fairly long history – they were first introduced into Imperial, or Tsarist Russia in 1858 as an imperforate stamp, printed in tow colours (brown and blue) and bearing the Russian coat of arms and, over the years many more stamps were issued by the Tsarist Russian government.
Following the fall of the Tsarist government, and then the Provisional Government in 1917, Russia fell into Civil War, and stamps were issued by many of the short lived republics and countries that briefly rose and fell during that period, including stamps from Batum, the Far Eastern Republic and the Transcaucasian SFSR. You could even get Siberian stamps.
The first stamps of the Soviet era could be said to be the first stamps issued by the Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic, in 1918. Oddly enough, because of the chaos in the country at the time, although many were printed, few were actually used. Because of this, a used stamp from this era is actually worth more than a mint, unused stamp.
Once the Soviet government had established its control over the entire country of Russia and consolidated its position, though, stamp production began in earnest. The first stamps of the Soviet Union were issued in 1923 and, as noted on rossia.com, they were oddly enough commemorative stamps, and not ‘regular’ stamps – the first Soviet stamps were issued to celebrate an Agricultural Exhibition in Moscow. This approach to producing stamps was quite common in the Soviet Union, and many stamps were produced to commemorate events – past or current – or for propaganda purposes. Notable among these are stamps used to celebrate the achievements of the Soviet space program, such as the illustration in this article, which commemorates Yuri Gagarin’s first flight into space.
Soviet stamps are highly valued among philatelists, and you can buy them easily today by simply browsing the eBay page dedicated to Russian and Soviet stamps.
NOYTA
July 6th, 2010Noyta (?????) is the Russian word for mail, and can be found on many Russian stamps and Soviet stamps.
Noyta actually isn’t a real word – because Russia has a different alphabet to the USA and most of Europe, it’s just what the word looks like in the Roman alphabet. The correct spelling in the Russian Cyrillic alphabet is ?????, which is pronounced as ‘Pochta’.
Russia adopted the use of stamps to pay for its mail quite a bit later than the rest of the world – the Russian government first decided to use stamps in 1858, nearly two decades later than they were first introduced in Great Britain. The first stamps were quite expensive, costing 10 kopeks, but lower denomination stamps (1, 3 and 5 kopeks) soon appeared to help to standardise pricing for international mail.
The first Russian commemorative stamps were produced in January 1913, to commemorate the 300th anniversary of the Romanov dynasty.
Stamps continued to be used during the Soviet Union. On the whole, Soviet stamps were typically more colourful than their Imperial Russian predecessor, typically because of advancing in printing technology, but also as a small part of the effort to show how advanced a country the USSR was. Commemorative stamps were popular in Soviet Russia as well, and stamps commemorating Soviet space exploration were especially popular. In the example shown, which commemorates the first flight into space by Yuri Gagarin, you can clearly see the words ????? and CCCP (the Cyrillic Russian spelling of USSR, which stood for Soyuz Sovetskikh Sotsialisticheskikh Respublik, or Union of Soviet Socialist Republics.
If you are a stamp collector, then you may be interested to know that it is actually very easy to find and buy examples of Russian and Soviet stamps – online auction site eBay has an entire section dedicated to them.
Other uses of the word ????? (Pochta, or Noyta) include in the name of the Russian postal company Russian Post (????? ??????), who employ almost 400,000 people, and have a reputation for not being very reliable any more, and in ?????? ????? (Adskaya Pochta or Hell’s Mail), which was a satirical magazine published by Fyodor Emin in 1769 – the magazine was essentially a series of correspondence between two demons exposing the corruption and exploitation of Tsarist Russia.
Capitalism versus Communism
July 5th, 2010The ideological battle of capitalism versus communism was perhaps the defining debate of the twentieth century.
At the heart of the debate is the question of who owns property and the means of production. Under a capitalist system, property can be privately owned, and pretty much anyone can set up a business and sell their product on what is called the ‘free market. Under a communist system, all property and means of production are (theoretically at least) owned by the people, in the guise of the state.
In a pure communist system, all decisions about what should be produced and what policies should be followed are made by society as a whole, in the best interests of society as a whole. The ideology of Communism was most famously outlined by Karl Marx. In practice, in a country like Russia, with hundreds of millions of people, decisions needed to be devolved to a small, select group of people who acted in the interests of the people. At least, this is the theory. In practice, of course, the communist governments of the 20th century tended to be corrupt and incredibly inefficient in most areas.
Following the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991, Communism is seen a discredited economic model, and capitalism has become the predominant economic model in use today.
Capitalism can take different forms, and no countries in the world currently have what economists would call a pure capitalist system. Perhaps the most capitalist country in the world is the United States of America, and this country was the leader of the Capitalism vs Communism debate of the 20th century.
Today, with the fall of the Soviet Union in 1989, most countries in the world have a capitalist economy of some form or another.
The most notable communist country was, of course, Russia, in its Soviet Union guise. The Soviet Union was established on December 30, 1922, following the Russian Revolution and Russian Civil War – not, as is commonly assumed, in 1917. Following the collapse of the Soviet Union (which many historians now equate in many ways to an Empire), Russia is transitioning to a capitalist economy, a process which is fraught with challenges for the country and its people.
Other important communist countries include many of the countries of Eastern Europe, which were forcibly converted to communism following the second world war, and China, which became a communist or socialist state led by Mao after the Chinese Civil War. China is still nominally a communist country, although in reality, it is rapidly opening up to the free market, while remaining a one party state.
North Korea is perhaps the most well known communist holdout – it’s brand of Stalinism endures, although many will say that it is actually a country under the rule of a dicator.
Basso Profondo From Old Russia
July 5th, 2010Basso Profondo is a bass singing, or a bass voice of an exceptionally low range. It is especially popular among Russian singers, hence the term Basso Profondo or sometimes the more colloquial Russian Bass. The English equivalent is sometimes known as Dramatic Low Bass.
Bass singers usually have a range from the second F of middle C to the E above middle C. However, Russian singers became especially well known for being able to sing an additional octave lower, giving rise to the distinctive Russian Bass sound.
As far as I can tell, no-one has ever made the comparison, but to my mind, there are also similarities in overall sound with Tuvan Throat singing, a type of overtone singing popular in Tuva, and other parts of Siberian and Mongolia – I wonder if some Russian bass singers draw at least a little inspiration from Tuvan throad singers at times, even if their musically disciplines are on the face of it so wildly dissimilar.
Popular Basso Profondo roles include Il Commendatore from Mozart’s Don Giovanni, Marke from Wagner’s Tristan und Isolde, and Hagen from Gotterdammerung (also Wagner).
Famous Basso Profundo singers include Jesse Delos Jewkes, who many will have un-knowingly heard as the voice of God in the Hollywood film The Ten Commandments (starring Charlton Heston). He also starred in a number of other US films over the years.
The most famous Russian Basso Profundo is Yuri Wichniakov, who is now late in his very well regarded 30 year career. As well as in the video below, he performed in the Rachmaninov All Night Vigil in 1986, where he performed with the USSR Ministry of Culture Choir. Other well known Russian Bass singers include Vladimir Miller and Vladimir Pasuikov.
If you want to find out more about what Russian Basso Profondo sounds like, you might also want to listen and watch this video, starring Russian Basso Profondos Yuri Wichnaikov and Vladimir Pasuikov – in the video they hit notes as low as Ab1 and G1.
For a longer example of Russian Basso Profondo, you could check out the Basso Profondo From Old Russia CD, which is typically available from online music retailers such as Amazon or iTunes. This album features the Orthodox Singers Male Choir, and is conducted by Gueorgui Smirnov. On the recording, the Choir perform a number of well known Russian hymns.
Amber Easton and Samara
July 5th, 2010Adult stars Amber Easton and Samara recently starred together in an adult video.
Both Amber and Samara are relatively new to the adult industry. Amber has been working since 2006 (this is not her date of birth as most profiles oddly claim!), and has built quite a reputation.
Samara on the other hand, is best known as Samara Lauys – she’s been working in the industry since 2008, and has been in 9 films to date.
Samara Lauys
July 5th, 2010Samara Lauys is a transsexual adult film star. Samara is a 5′3″ tall Brazilian, who was born in Sao Paulo, Brazil, and she has been active in the industry since 2008. According to the IAFD, Samara has so far starred in nine adult movies, including Shemale Bride, her 2008 debut, Tricked By A Tranny and a popular film starring both Amber Easton and Samara.
Samara is also known by the following names: Sammara Lauys, Samara De Macedo, Samara Lays and just plain Samara.
Denrus Tours Russia
July 3rd, 2010Denrus Tours Russia are a travel company that specialize in tours in the Baltic area, including Baltic Russia excursions.
Established in 2002, Denrus Russia are particularly well known for organizing St Petersburg excursion for passengers on a baltic cruise, and they are able to offer these tours for passengers without needing a Russian visa, which is a significant advantage.
Most of their St Petersburg tours are either two or three days long, but one day and even half day tours are sometimes possible. A typical tour itenerary includes a visit to the Catherine Palace (built for Catherine I, while she was still Peter the Great’s wife), the Peterhof Palace, the Peter and Paul Fortress, and a tour of St Petersburg canals.
As well as tours of St Petersburg, Denrus offer tours of many other Baltic cities, including Copenhagen, Helsinki, Oslo, Gdansk, Stockholm and Tallinn.
For longer trips, Denrus Tours can also provide assistance, including Russian visa support and Russian visa invitations, and they can help you to book events such as concerts and theatre when you are on holiday.
Denrus Tours Russia also provide a great deal of useful information on their website, including a calendar of cruises in the Baltic and a Forum for travellers to the Baltic area.
Dmitry Kugryshev
July 2nd, 2010Dmitry Kugryshev is a young Russian ice hockey player who is fast developing a reputation as a future star of the game.
Kay stats: Kugryshev normally plays on the right wing, and shoots right. He is 5′11″, weight 193, and was born on 18 January 1990 in Moscow, Russia.
In the 2008 NHL Entry Draft, Kurgyshev was drafted by the Washington Capitals in the 2nd Round (he was the 58th overall pick) after impressing in the 2008 World Junior Championships. He scored 4 points in seven games, helping the Russian team on their way to an eventual Bronze medal. That year he was also an integral member of the Russian team that won silver in the IIHF Under 18 World Championships.
Kugryshev’s pre-draft career in Russia was, as befits his young age, short – he played one season for the CSKA 2 team, in the Russian 3rd Division, scoring an impressive 58 points across 35 games.
Since being drafted by the Capitals, Kugryshev has spent the past two seasons learning his trade at the Quebec Remparts, who play in the Quebec Major Junior Hockey League. Again, he impressed in Canada, playing 123 regular season games for the Remparts, bringing in a haul of 161 points. He has also played 9 post-season matches, scoring 9 points. HIs first year with the Remparts was especially fruitful, as he won the Michel-Bergeron Trophy for Best Offensive Rookie.
Kugryshev’s time at the Remparts has now come to an end, and it was recently announced that he would spend the forthcoming season with the Hershey Bears, one of the Capitals’ affiliate teams, playing in the much more competitive American Hockey League. The Bears are one of the AHL’s strongest teams (they’ve won the last two Calder Cups) so if Kugryshev can break into this team (and there is every indication that he will) he will get a fantastic education.
For another profile of Dmitry Kugryshev, you might want to check out this article at hockey blog Ravings of a Rink Rebel, which contains a profile and a video interview conducted earlier this year.
Interesting News Russia
July 2nd, 2010There are many sources of interesting news from Russia that you can use. This article explains a few of them.
One of my favourite sources of Russian news is my own website, Russian News Online. It is an aggregator of news stories from many top news sources that cover Russia. Sources available at Russian News Online include Russian newspapers like Pravda (the infamous Communist mouthpiece that tends mostly towards trash journalism nowadays, independently owned Kommersant, and English language Russian news source the Moscow Times. Others include the state owned news providers, such as Interfax and RIA Novosti. The site also contains details of the latest news about Russia from global newspapers such as the New York Times and the Guardian of England. As an additional benefit, Russian News Online contains a page with the latest posts from all of the best Russia blogs that are currently being published, so that you can get a more informal viewpoint on the day’s news.
Another popular way of getting interesting news Russia is to watch it. RIA Novosti have a small video-channel, but the only true Russian news channel in English is Russia Today, now more commonly known as simply RT, in an attempt to entice viewers who don’t care about Russia one way or the other. RT can be viewed online, or via most major satellite and cable companies including Sky TV and Freeview in the UK, Time Warner Cable in the US, and Bell and Rogers in Canada.
Russia Today was launched in 2005, with setup costs of around $30 million, and is thought to cost about $60 million to run each year. Because it is a free news channel that carries no advertising, and is officially a non-profit organisation, all of these costs must be subsidised by the Russian Government.
In recent years, RT has branched out from only offering English language television news into offering Arabic and Spanish news through RT Arabic and RT Spanish.
