KZBlog is going down (2)
After some thought, I have decided not to renew KZBLog’s lease. As you may have noticed, I don’t do a lot of posting here anymore. I don’t have time to blog regularly. Thus I am taking the site down–it does generate some ad revenue but not as much as it costs to keep it up. […]
Culture
- Yurts Are High Fashion and Slum Fashion Too
2011-12-05 - Apples, Sure. But THC is from Kazakhstan too?
2011-10-05 - Naked Man Pot
2011-09-23
- Yurts Are High Fashion and Slum Fashion Too
Resources
- Oh, CNN
2012-07-21 - What Do You Know About Kazakhstan?
2012-07-19 - Books for Kazakh Students
2011-11-06
- Oh, CNN
Politics
- Image
2011-07-28 - Sub Rosa Endorsement
2011-07-26 - The Naked Truth
2011-06-12
- Image
News
- KZBlog is going down
2013-09-10 - Oh, CNN
2012-07-21 - Repentence
2012-07-15
- KZBlog is going down
Fun
- What Do You Know About Kazakhstan?
2012-07-19 - Yurts Are High Fashion and Slum Fashion Too
2011-12-05 - House Hunters Bishkek
2011-12-02
- What Do You Know About Kazakhstan?
Tourism
- Asian Games Torch
2011-01-12 - Wikitravel
2010-08-07 - ALZHIR, the Soviets and Democracy
2010-07-30
- Asian Games Torch
Life in KZ
- Photo Gallery: Almaty Subway
2011-12-07 - Healthcare and the Private Sector
2011-11-30 - Naked Man Pot
2011-09-23
- Photo Gallery: Almaty Subway
Redbubble
Media Sensationalization or Damning Evidence? (1)
A local Virginian paper has an update on the death of Kyril Denyakin, including some questionable posts on Facebook by the officer who shot Denyakin.
While the name of the officer hasn’t been released officially, the Virginian Pilot article identifies him as Officer Stephen D. Rankin. I believe I saw earlier reports indicating the officer was a female, but apparently not. Apparently Officer Rankin, whose Facebook page has been taken down, made some online posts that taken together indicate a not so nice guy, including a picture of a lynching with the caption “Doing whatever is necessary” and a picture of his guns with a comment, “That’s rankins box of VENGEANCE!…would be better if i was dirtying them instead of cleaning them!”
Is this the media searching for something to write about or are these posts indications of an officer who views himself as a Dirty Harry cleaning the streets of scumbags? What do you think? I will note that the majority of the comments on that article seem to be missing the point–it isn’t that he had guns or that he liked punk music but that he liked a song called, “Can I Go and Kill Tonight?” I am willing to bet that if the victim had posts about sneaking past the US borders or songs like Copkiller on his profile, people would see it as relevant.
Letter to Obama From Kazakhstan (Comments Off on Letter to Obama From Kazakhstan)
Activists marched to the US Embassy in Almaty the other day, and delivered a letter to President Obama demanding an investigation into the death of Kyril Denyakin. Denyakin was shot by a police officer answering a 911 call. The officer fired when, allegedly, Denyakin did not respond to commands and moved toward the officer in a threatening way.
Students Are Chewing More Pencils (Comments Off on Students Are Chewing More Pencils)
The national school leaving exam (ENT or NUT) will be held this year in the first ten days of June. This is the time of year when high school students get nervous as their ENT scores will determine whether they get into university, which universities they can go to, and how much government aid they will get.
As students are studying their exam tables and practice books, they got some bad news:
The tests will be harder [RU]. More questions will added to the humanitarian subject tests But the minimum score necessary to be admissible to university, 50 out of 120 points will not change. Nor will the format, multiple choice, despite calls from parents, teachers and students to change to a less structured format that better tests knowledge.
Furthermore, security will be enhanced [RU] including on-duty police at test sites, metal detectors, and cell-phone jammers.
Sounds like even more fun for high school graduates this year.
Billiards is Not Pool (Comments Off on Billiards is Not Pool)
I finally got coerced into playing billiards the other day. I’ve tried to avoid it after hearing how hard it is and because the whole thing is too confusing. I had always thought billiards was the game with only two or three balls. But it turns out that’s British billiards; Russian billiards is a whole other thing. As an American I am of course mainly familiar with pool, where all the balls are different colors, making the whole thing much easier to figure out.
But the other day at a restaurant I got cajoled and harassed and dared and eventually almost pushed to the billiards table. The table is bigger, meaning you often have to hit the balls harder but accurately. And the pockets are basically the same size as the balls, making sinking the balls harder.
But billiard supplies an interesting challenge because basically you can sink any ball using any other ball as a cue ball. So you have thousands of possible shots laid out on the table before you (15! I believe). That makes it easier to sink a ball, but it also makes finding the best shot and the best strategy for the next shot a serious challenge. It seems to me that anyone can be decent at Russian billiards but few can be great.
Suicide Bomber in Aktobe (1)
This morning a suicide bomber blew himself up near the headquarters of the KNB (former KGB) in Aktobe. No one was killed except the bomber himself, but two or four people were injured (depending on which account is true). One victim, Zhenisbek Mauldin, is in serious condition [RU].
The General Prosecutor’s Office has released the name of the bomber [RU], Rakhymzhan Orynbasarovich Makhatov.
At least one account says that Makhatov ran into the waiting room before blowing himself up. A KNB lieutenant who tried to stop him was wounded in the attack along with Mauldin, who was just leaving the office with some documents. Witnesses said that four people were injured, but the Prosecutor’s Office stated that two were injured, aside from Makhatov.
I believe this is the first suicide bomber in the history of Kazakhstan. No one knows the motive yet but speculation is rife. The KNB has made no statement and will not do so. The Chief Imam of Aktobe oblast (province) condemned the incident [RU], even though it is unclear whether the attack was religiously motivated, saying, “Islam prohibits any act aimed at the destruction of people. The murder of one man is equal to the murder of all mankind”
But in a press conference, Zhandos Umiraliyev, spokesperson for the Prosecutor-General’s Office said Makhatov is suspected of being part of a criminal group and blew himself up to avoid being caught by police. Kazakhstan prides itself on its ethnic and religious tolerance, so a religiously motivated attack would belie that reputation.
Am I Going Bananas? (Comments Off on Am I Going Bananas?)
According to an article on Eurasianet, a Kazakh farmer in South Kazakhstan managed to grow 2000 bananas in a greenhouse. Apparently they’re small but sweeter than normal bananas. This could be the start of Kazakhstan as an alternative, closer (and therefore cheaper) source of tropical fruits for Russia and Europe!
I really hope I can find a picture of this!
Congratulations, Azerbaijan (Comments Off on Congratulations, Azerbaijan)
for winning Eurovision. A dubious honor I suppose:
This is one of the few Eurovisions that actually featured a band I like, Zdob si Zdub. There’s no way a hard rock song could win, but I like bands that use horns and traditional instruments in rock genres. And I’m glad they at least got to participate.
Weird Car Question (Comments Off on Weird Car Question)
Does anyone happen to know if they sell Curt trailer hitches in Kazakhstan? Or any kind of trailer hitch? We were looking into cars and we like the smaller cars for the gas mileage and lower cost but every now and then you need to haul something big. We were thinking that we could get a good trailer hitch so we could always rent a trailer if we need to buy furniture or bigger things.
No idea if that’s actually workable in Kazakhstan or not. But we definitely can’t afford an SUV (or as they call it in Russian, a jeep).
Richest Man in Kazakhstan? (Comments Off on Richest Man in Kazakhstan?)
Apparently it could be Bulat Utermuratov, former advisor to the President, and former chief of staff. Forbes estimates he is worth US$1 billion but a bit of market dealing may make him $2 billion richer.
Glencore, a private Switzerland-based commodities trader, the biggest company you’ve never heard of, is a joint owner of KazZinc with Verny Capital, run by Utermuratov. Recently Glencore announced they would buy out Verny Capital’s 42.3% share for around US$3.2 billion, which would make Utermuratov around $2 billion (so they say). Now it looks like they’ll be trading cash for gold, by using the money to buy shares in Altyntau Gold, currently owned by Glencore and headed by Utermuratov’s son.
Business is apparently a good business.
Unhealthy Lifestyles (Comments Off on Unhealthy Lifestyles)
I came across an interesting article about Russia and lifestyle diseases. According to the WHO, a large number of deaths in former Soviet states are caused by strokes and heart problems, which are themselves linked to lifestyle choices such as smoking, drinking, eating badly, and not exercising. And the picture is apparently particularly striking compared to the much lower incidence of strokes in developed countries. Of course, a lot of this ties into some of the things I’ve said about medicine in other posts: preventative care is not a major priority in Kazakhstan and neither is holistic medicine where doctors advise on diet and giving up bad habits.
Among other things, apparently strokes account for 3% of disabilities in the group of countries in the study. I would assume injuries and accidents would be much more significant causes, but it does make you wonder if you should take out disability insurance, even if you don’t have a dangerous job.
« Newer Entries Older Entries »
Or go to the Archives page.
