Those of us living in Wisconsin have been spared the incessant and record-setting snowfalls suffered by residents of the Northeast. What we have is bone-chilling cold. This week our normal high temperature would be at the freezing point, but we have had nights when, if the temperature rose 40 degrees, it would still be below freezing.
This seems like an appropriate time for me to post the material I've been collecting about Siberia. Several months ago I started doing some online research about those "mysterious craters" that were appearing near the Arctic Circle in Siberia. That reading very quickly led me to a new favorite source - The Siberian Times - a remarkably diverse and well-written news site with some refreshingly different material from that which is usually shared endlessly in the blogosphere.
I've written ten posts, with in retrospect a bit of an emphasis on archaeology, one of my hobbies. But we'll start with those craters...
I got slightly sunburned here in Texas. 73 degrees....
ReplyDeleteWe've been heaving a heat wave in SoCal--in the mid 80s for several days. And we need rain so desperately!
ReplyDeleteNot just SoCal. It hit 81 in Santa Cruz yesterrday. Crazy.
ReplyDeleteThanks for your blog. I'm from Siberia and can answer any questions about this region if it is interesting for you.
ReplyDeleteGreetings, StickeR PR -
DeleteDepending on how Siberia is defined (as just the Federal District, or more broadly), TYWKIWDBI gets about 50-100 visits per month from readers there. I believe you are the first one to step forward to say hello. Welcome on board.
An interesting if exhausting collection!
ReplyDeleteI think my favourite is the one about the geoglyph (first item in the linkdump).
As an aside, it strikes me that the Siberian Times makes more references to fringe hypotheses than I expect in a news source (albeit in the context of dismissing them), and I wonder if there are cultural reasons for that.
For example, the geoglyph article states, "While there are similarities to the world famous Nazca Lines, in Peru, and to geoglyphs in England - such as the White Horse in Oxfordshire or the Dorset Giant - the experts believe there are no links." I think the news sources I'm familiar with would not bother to say such a thing, because it would be assumed to be self-evident that prehistoric constructions in different parts of the world are not linked except in the sense that they are all manifestations of an essential aspect of what it is to be human.
Does this say anything about the prevelance of certain ideas in Russian society, or is it simply a quirk of the individual publication?
" ...self-evident that prehistoric constructions in different parts of the world are not linked..."
DeleteI would not consider that to be "self-evident." My own belief is that pre-historic civilizations were linked more than we currently realize. And I don't believe that is a "fringe" attitude.