Commended. In late May, about a quarter of a million snow geese arrive from North America to nest on Wrangel Island, in northeastern Russia. They form the world's largest breeding colony of snow geese. Photographer Sergey Gorshkov spent two months on the remote island photographing the unfolding dramas. Arctic foxes take advantage of the abundance of eggs, caching surplus eggs for leaner times. But a goose (here the gander) is easily a match for a fox, which must rely on speed and guile to steal eggs. “The battles were fairly equal”, notes Sergey, “and I only saw a fox succeed in grabbing an egg on a couple of occasions, despite many attempts”. Surprisingly, “the geese lacked any sense of community spirit”, he adds, “and never reacted when a fox harassed a neighboring pair nesting close by”. (Photo by Sergey Gorshkov/Veolia Environnement Wildlife Photographer)

Nino, a ten-year-old toreador apprentice of the French Tauromachy Centre, nicknamed El Nino, touches a practice bull at the bullring of Garons, near Nimes, September 25, 2013. Since 1983, the French Tauromachy Centre in Nimes has trained some 1,000 youths in the art of bullfighting. Twenty of them have gone on to become professional matadors, facing fighting bulls in the arena. Twice a week, students take courses with a matador to learn the movements and gestures of the bullfighter in the ring, but without an animal present. Students train with calves in the surrounding fields during spring, and regularly participate in beginner's bullfights (becerradas) without killing calves. Solal has been taking courses for three years and Nino, for just a year now. Both are normally enrolled in French public schools, but have one thought in mind – bullfighting. They share a passion linked to the city of Nimes, famous for its ferias and bullring. (Photo by Jean-Paul Pelissier/Reuters)

(L-R) Senior Drum Major Betts of the Scotts Guard, Bugler Lee Kidd, Guardsman Adam Deer of the Coldstream Guards and Lance corporal Michael Strong of the Princess of Wales's Royal Regiment pose in their full ceremonial attire at Wellington Barracks on March 21, 2012 in London, England. The group make up part of the ceremonial military personnel who will play a key role during Her Majesty the Queens Diamond Jubilee celebrations between June 2–5. (Photo by Dan Kitwood/Getty Images)

Fighting Infections (single image) | Fighting Pandemic by Sudipto Das. “It’s exhausting. A tram conductor in Kolkata, India, wears protective clothing from head to toe even in the heat of a summer afternoon. This was when restrictions were easing after India’s first Covid-19 lockdown – public transport was running, but staff were advised to suit up like this. We’ve all grown used to saluting the efforts of healthcare workers, but plenty of other people in public-facing jobs have performed gruelling duties too to keep people safe”. (Photo by Sudipto Das/Wellcome Photography Prize 2021)

Carine Louis-Jean, 22, poses for a photograph in her destroyed house after Hurricane Matthew hit Jeremie, Haiti, October 17, 2016. “The roof of my house is completely gone and some of walls were destroyed. I have lost everything I had, but I thank God that I have a friend who is letting me stay at her house. I could say I'm lucky, because none of my family died during the hurricane, but I do not think I'm lucky”, said Louis-Jean. (Photo by Carlos Garcia Rawlins/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.

“Serebro (Серебро, Silver) are a Russian trio, formed in Moscow, Russia in 2006. Serebro is currently one of the most popular Russian bands. They are also famously known as the band who finished third in the Eurovision Song Contest 2007 in Helsinki with the song “Song #1”. On 30 July 2011, Serebro premiered their eighth single, “Mama Lover” at Europa Plus Live. It is their third official English language release after “Song #1” and “Like Mary Warner”. On 15 September 2011, the music video for “Mama Luba” (Russian version of “Mama Lover”) was released”. – Wikipedia

Photo: Russian trio «Serebro», 2008

Daring Captain Kevin Oprey is seen standing beneath the soaring hull of Cunard’s flagship Queen Mary 2.