While the lido was described as bringing “modernism to the masses” on the British coast it was just the latest example of a trend that had been developing since Victorian times – transforming seaside towns into resorts for leisure and entertainment. In the latter half of the nineteenth century, the fashion was for local authorities to build great piers stretching from the promenade out into the sea. The Eastbourne Pier, pictured here in May 1931, was erected between 1866 and 1870 to an ingenious design by Eugenius Birch, which saw the structure sitting on special cups allowing the supporting struts to “move” in bad weather. Arranged on the pier's 1,000-foot length were kiosks, a theatre, a ballroom and a camera obscura. 1931. (Photo by Aerofilms Collection via “A History of Britain From Above”)

“The inspiration for this book came to me one afternoon as I watched my son, Hudson, playing with his toy bus. I was trying to keep pace with his three-year-old mind as he got deeper and deeper into a fantasy involving nothing more than a yellow plastic box and armless figurines. At least that’s what I saw. He saw frantic commuters rushing to catch the 77 local bus to Australia. He jumped in place, mouth open and slapping his knees, joyously reacting to a world I couldn’t see, but one powerfully present for him...”. – Jordan Matter

Photo: “Dancers Among Us”: Macys, NYC – Annmaria Mazzini. (Photo by Jordan Matter)

A cadet lies on the grass after collapsing during a promotion ceremony at a police school in Bogota December 7, 2012. (Photo by John Vizcaino/Reuters)

Photo: Vladimir Ilyich Lenin (1870 – 1924) lying in state in the Kremlin. (Photo by Hulton Archive/Getty Images). 1924

Important! For the same article in Russian language click here.

Something quite intriguing is happening within Russian-speaking internet during the last few – should you type a fully academic inquiry (at least, according to Russian academic requirements) in national search engines for "Lenin's mausoleum" – the first thing you get (even in top 10 searches) is website pages talking about black magic and occult. Website authors view this construction differently, but unconditionally agree on one thing: the mausoleum of the "leader of the world proletariat” – the essence of a magical artifact, a sort of “energy vampire”. It was built with a certain purpose: to drain the energy out of miserable Soviet citizens on one hand; and to poison the anthroposphere of one-sixth part of the earth with its vibes (the exact territory that was occupied by the former Soviet Union), depriving the Russian people of will to resist on the other hand. Complete nonsense? No doubt. Nevertheless, an intriguing one. Well, probably because some oddities do exist in mausoleum's history. These oddities are the thing we are going to discuss this time. First, let me refresh you memory on the subject.

A boy sits on the back of a crocodile on May 19, 2018 at a pond in Bazoule in Burkina Faso, a village which happily shares its local pond with “sacred” crocodiles. Crocodiles may be one of the deadliest hunters in the animal kingdom, but in a small village in Burkina Faso it is not unusual to see someone sitting atop one of the fearsome reptiles. According to local legend, the startling relationship with the predators dates back to at least the 15 th century. The village was in the grip of an agonising drought until the crocodiles led women to a hidden pond where the population could slake their thirst. (Photo by Olympia de Maismont/AFP Photo)

A wounded servicemen of Ukrainian Military Forces looks on after the battle with Russian troops and Russia-backed separatists in Lugansk region on March 8, 2022. The number of refugees flooding across Ukraine's borders to escape towns devastated by shelling and air strikes passed two million, in Europe's fastest-growing refugee crisis since World War II, according to the United Nations. (Photo by Anatolii Stepanov/AFP Photo)

Two women kiss as they hold up a placard that reads in Turkish: “I live free. Who's the fool who will put me in chains? I would be shocked” during the LGBTQ Pride March in Istanbul, Turkey, Sunday, June 26, 2022. Dozens of people were detained in central Istanbul Sunday after city authorities banned a LGBTQ Pride March, organisers said. (Photo by Emrah Gurel/AP Photo)

(L-R) Russian actor Semyon Serzin, Russian actor Yuriy Borisov, Russian actress Yuliya Peresild, Russian actor Yuri Kolokolnikov, Russian actor Ivan Dorn and Russian actress Chulpan Khamatova jump as they arrive for the screening of the film “Petrov's Flu” at the 74th edition of the Cannes Film Festival in Cannes, southern France, on July 12, 2021. (Photo by Johanna Geron/Reuters)