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December 2, 2014 Prachi Gupta

While China was off banning the use of puns, Russia has banned all artwork and translations of albums by death metal band Cannibal Corpse, reports the Guardian. On November 28, a Russian district courts declared that the Buffalo, New York band may “damage the mental health of children,” and made it illegal to distribute the […]

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November 26, 2014 Backdoor Pharmacist

Phenibut (brand name Noofen) is an anxiety-relieving drug that feels sort of like GHB or alcohol, and has been gaining attention recently because it’s 100% legal and has chillaxative properties. It’s a derivative of the GABA neurotransmitter that mediates the effects of drugs like alcohol, GHB, and benzos. Widely sold on the internet as a […]

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November 19, 2014 Rhett Jones

Another explosion was captured on dashcams in the rural skies of Eastern Russia. About 1500 miles from Moscow, in the Sverdlovsk region, a huge bright orange flash hovered above. No one is entirely sure what it was. The Russian government is denying any involvement, but after they lied about the toxicity of the strange noxious cloud […]

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November 11, 2014 Rhett Jones

On Monday, reports of a horrible smell permeating the whole city of Moscow began popping up on social media. The Emergency Ministries Spokesman was compelled to make a statement and he said it was basically no big deal, “The smell of hydrogen sulfide is not dangerous.” What’s that? Hydrogen sulfide? Moscow’s top toxicologist concurred, “The […]

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November 3, 2014 Amy K. Nelson

Since January 2013, the Russian people had celebrated the technological wonder that is the iPhone by erecting a statue of the device outside of a St. Petersburg university. But following Friday’s announcement by Apple CEO Tim Cook that he is gay, the statue has been torn down. The ZEFS corporation was responsible for putting up […]

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October 20, 2014 Rhett Jones

The St. Petersburg-based artist who nailed his scrotum to the ground at Red Square last year, just pulled a Van Gogh as part of a new political protest in Moscow. Petr Pavlensky climbed the wall of a psychiatric institution on Sunday and proceeded to cut off his earlobe. Pavlensky was taken to a hospital by police and […]

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October 7, 2014 Marina Galperina

As Russia’s Putin-lovers collectively wet themselves in glee over the president’s birthday, this particular thing stands out. Behold this “art exhibit” by Moscow politics student Mikhail Antonov who admins Putin’s Facebook appreciation page filled with user-submitted fan art and memes. “Here you can see how mythological events of ancient Greece can be applied to events in contemporary Russia,” he says in […]

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September 29, 2014 Marina Galperina

In this 20 second video, a burning gas rig collapses in Siberia. Meanwhile, workers calmly exchange these observations: “Aye, it fell now.” “Us, we gotta get to the canteen.” They proceed to the canteen. Usually, these Russian rig accident videos show people getting violently blown up and blown away by smoking, gyrating equipment. So let’s take half a moment and enjoy […]

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September 25, 2014 Marina Galperina

Patriarch Kirill I, the leader of Russia’s Eastern Orthodox Church, has a very particular taste in art. He considers contemporary art a sign of the Apocalypse — just like gay marriage and that Pussy Riot “doing the work of Satan!” At an Orthodox festival on Wednesday, Kirill ranted at length about his specialized notions of aesthetics. The Moscow Times reports: According to the patriarch, art […]

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September 2, 2014 Rhett Jones

On the 19th of July, one male gecko and four female geckos set out to become the first geckos to have an orgy in space. After a month and a half in orbit, their satellite returned to Earth. All five astronaut-reptiles were mummified. The space geckos came to the attention of the world when Russian mission […]

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