Russian experiments in the 40's

Fake or not it is indeed pretty creepy. The British scientist J. B. S. Haldane appears in the film's introduction and narrates the film, which contains Russian text with English applied next to, or over the top of, the Russian. The operations are credited to Doctor Sergei S. Bryukhonenko. Since its Prelinger Archives release, the film has provoked much controversy. Ken Smith, author of Mental Hygiene: Classroom Films 1945 - 1970, believes the film is fake. He mentions, among other things, that the decapitated dog scene shown in the film could have been produced with simple special effects. Smith cites only his reaction to the film as evidence. Others are skeptical of J. B. S. Haldane's ties to the Communist party; they propose that the film was produced as Soviet propaganda.

Dr. Bryukhonenko's research was vital to the development of open-heart procedures in Russia. He was one of the leaders of the Research Institute of Experimental Surgery, where Professor A.A. Vishnevsky performed the first Soviet open-heart operation in 1957. Bryukhonenko developed a new version of the autojektor (for use on humans) in the same year; it can be seen today on display at the Museum of Cardiovascular Surgery at the Scientific Center of Cardiovascular Surgery in Russia.Bryukhonenko was awarded the prestigious Lenin Prize posthumously.

bats in a russian household :)

My Russian friend Valeriy and I were working on remodeling my house when this bat flew into an open door. It kept flying around trying to find a way out. We opened windows and doors for it, but it just could not seem to find the exit. I guess we confused its sonars completely, as we probably resonated differenly then walls and returned sound resembling the open doors :). So it kept trying to fly THROUGH us.

For the first time in our lives we applied the knowledge we acquired from "Young Naturalist" a TV show we used to watch while growing up in USSR back in the old days.:) The bat got really exhausted after flying around non-stop, landed on the floor, just crawled outside through the door and then flew away later. We were afraid that that my cat would try to catch the crawling bat, but the cat got freaked out by all of the comotion of two grown men running around with the cameras and evacuated itself into an open vent in the kitchen for a few hours.

Another Russian Army Hazing video

Well, what can I say about the hazing in the army in my country. I guess some "initiation" traditions are present in any army, navy, certain sports or even sometimes schools. Some of such practices possibly carry some symbolic value and signify passing into adulthood or becoming a part of a certain group. Some of these rituals, however, seem just out-right senseless and doubtfully carry anything but the senseless violence and a source of some sadistic form of entertainment for the utterly bored men who happen to be in a senior position to the ones being "intiated." I'd be curious to hear what other people think about this.