Christina Careaga (R) and Hannah Thielmann kiss as they celebrate during the Gay Pride parade on June 26, 2011 in New York City. The parade took on extra significance following Friday night's legalization of same-s*x marriage in New York, often regarded as the birthplace of the gay rights movement. (Photo by Mario Tama/Getty Images)

Life-size sеx dolls are displayed during the 2016 AVN Adult Entertainment Expo at the Hard Rock Hotel & Casino on January 20, 2016 in Las Vegas, United States. (Photo by Gabe Ginsberg/FilmMagic)

Zappa, a toothless 15-year-old Italian greyhound that looks surprisingly like Sid the Sloth from the animated movie Ice Age, is redefining dog beauty. Owners Sadie and Rosalie Millen, of Pewaukee, Wisconsin, say that Zappa started sticking her tongue out a few years ago when she lost her teeth.

Orphaned mountain gorilla, Ndakasi, lies in the arms of her caregiver, Andre Bauma, on September 21, 2021 shortly before her death, which the park confirmed on September 26. Mr Bauma and others at the Senkwekwe Mountain Gorilla Center had cared for Ndakasi and other orphans for 13 years. Ndakasi had suffered a prolonged illness prior to her death. This is the only mountain gorilla orphanage in the world and takes in mountain gorilla orphans who have lost their families to poaching or conflict. A number of the orphans here were rescued from sales by poachers in sting operations carried out by Congolese National Park Authority (ICCN) rangers. (Photo by Brent Stirton/Getty Images)

The container ship NCL Salten ran aground at Byneset, outside Trondheim, Norway. A man in Norway woke up to find a massive container ship in his front garden. The 135-metre (443-foot) vessel missed Johan Helberg's house by a few metres at around 5am local time on Thursday, May 22, 2025 in Byneset, near Trondheim. Mr. Helberg was only made aware of the incident after his panicked neighbour, who had seen the ship heading straight for shore, repeatedly rang his doorbell and eventually called him on the phone. (Photo by South West News Service)

An Zi, is squashed amongst other commuters in a subway train on his way to work in Beijing, China, November 12, 2015. An, a movie producer, moved to Dongsanqi village in Changping this year. His commute to work can take about 2 hours, with transportation costs topping 200 yuan a month, or about a fifth of his monthly rent. (Photo by Jason Lee/Reuters)

Marion (L) and Nikola (R), members of the Sport Saber League, pose with their light sabers in front of the Eiffel tower in Paris, France, November 26, 2015. Three "Star Wars" fans opened the French Academy of the Sport Saber League in September 2015 due to the increase interest for light saber fighting and the upcoming movie "The Force Awakens" which will premier in Paris, December 16th, two days before its worldwide official release. (Photo by Charles Platiau/Reuters)

While communism, collectivism, worms, dry rot and casual looting failed to destroy the majestic wooden churches of Russia, it may be ordinary neglect that finally does them in. Dwindled now to several hundred remaining examples, these glories of vernacular architecture lie scattered amid the vastness of the world’s largest country. Just over a decade ago, Richard Davies, a British architectural photographer, struck out on a mission to record the fragile and poetic structures. Austerely beautiful and haunting, “Wooden Churches: Traveling in the Russian North” (White Sea Publishing; $132) is the result. Covering thousands of miles, Mr. Davies described how he and the writer Matilda Moreton tracked down the survivors from among the thousands of onion-domed structures built after Prince Vladimir converted to Christianity in 988.