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
Missing Link Found in the Altais (Comments Off on Missing Link Found in the Altais)
A finger bone was found in the Denisova cave in Sibera in the Altai mountain range which covers China, Kazakhstan, Russia and Mongolia. Anthropologists believe this finger bone may belong to a new humanoid species that would have lived around 30,000 years ago and lived at the same time as Neanderthals and modern humans:
Scientists at the Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology in Leipzig, Germany, ran genetic tests on the bone fragments and were stunned to find it did not match the DNA profile of Neanderthals or early modern humans.Johannes Krause sequenced DNA from mitochondria, the sub-cellular bodies that carry genetic material passed down only the maternal line. Because the DNA came from the mother, they called the creature “X-woman”.
“It really looked like something I had never seen before. It was a sequence which is similar in some ways to humans, but still quite distinct,” Krause said. It is the first time a new type of human has been identified from DNA alone.
By comparing the DNA with sequences from Neanderthals and modern humans, Krause’s team concluded that modern humans shared a common ancestor with the creature a million years ago. Humans and Neanderthals diverged from an ancestor that lived 500,000 years ago.
Indian Medical Students Like Kazakhstan (2)
An article I’ve had sitting around in my inbox waiting to be posted on. What’s interesting about this article is that Kazakhstan is popular among Indian students, although the main point is that the Medical Council of India has tightened restrictions for students who study abroad.
It’s a bit sad that Almaty Medical Institute, one of the best medical schools in Kazakhstan, is viewed as a cheap and less challenging alternative to Indian medical schools. But then, Indian medical schools are trying to compete at a world class level and it’s still a good source of potential income and even a chance to steal some top Indian students for Kazakhstan!
New Media in Kazakhstan (3)
KplusTVeng is a news show broadcast on Youtube. It isn’t clear who is behind it, but it’s very professional and the first time I’ve heard of locals using new media in such a high quality format.
I’m sure the rumors will start about who is funding it and in what way it is biased. But as the government Kazakhstan is accused of restricting local press freedom more and more, these alternative news sources should be flourishing.
The latest episode, which I’ve embedded below, covers a few subjects I haven’t really discussed: Mukhtar Ablyazov’s accusations of corruption on the part of Timur Kuliabayev and the strike in Zhanausien.
Hot Gossip (1)
Kazakhstan celebrities in the news: Hayden Panettiere is dating Wladimir Klitschko, who was of course born in Semipalatinsk, Kazakhstan. He is often considered Ukrainian because he is ethnically Ukrainian but in fact he is Kazakhstani! Klitschko is also a world champion boxer who recently defended his IBF, WBO, IBO and Ring Magazine heavyweight title.
The article cites the star of Heroes point of view: she likes dating a big boxer, she feels safe, he doesn’t make her feel unfit. But what are the benefits of dating Hayden Panettiere? Well, he’s 33 and she’s only 20, for one thing. And she’s made Maxim‘s list of hottest celebrities as well as People‘s most beautiful people. And if he makes her feel a bit out of shape, perhaps she makes him feel really, really tall, since he’s 6′ 6″ and she’s 5’ 1! So it’s working out good for him as well.
I’ve mentioned Wladimir Klitschko once before, when he pretended to beat up Sasha Baron Cohen
Sports.kz (Comments Off on Sports.kz)
Just discovered Sports.kz, a website that covers Kazakh sport, both national and international. Unfortunately it’s in Russian. Some other useful links on that page:
RSS feed
Asian Games category
Newsreader a downloadable desktop app
And thanks to this site, I just found the national football team site: Sbornaya.kz Sbornaya is the Russian word for team, not the name of the team.
You know it’s Nauryz in Astana (Comments Off on You know it’s Nauryz in Astana)
…When it only snows twice in one day and the temperature gets all the way up to freezing!
Everyone knows that Nauryz in Astana is always cold and rainy. For the past five years I’ve been here, it’s the same thing. This year, it was cold and snowy. Everyday this week it has snowed, and yesterday it snowed in the morning and in the evening. So please, can someone tell me when spring is coming?
Not til the 31st of March apparently.
Adopted Girl Finally Makes It (2)
A sad adoption story I’ve been holding onto for a while. A girl was adopted from Kazakhstan by American parents, who proved to be jealous of her heritage. But fortunately she survived and made it to become a freshman at Baylor University. The comments from her past classmates and teachers prove that she did have people who cared about her.
A sad but thankfully untypical story with a happy ending.
Nauryz! Nauryz! (Comments Off on Nauryz! Nauryz!)
Happy Nauryz!! Nauryz meriam kuti bolsyn!
Nauryz 2010 Celebration in Astana. Click for more photos of Kazakhstan.
Reservoirs Dogs (Comments Off on Reservoirs Dogs)
The Prime Minister is calling for better monitoring of dams and reservoirs in Kazakhstan, which makes sense given the recent tragedy. However the planned proposal, to have observation towers at each dam, seems a bit simplistic. The PM was quoted by Gazeta.kz as saying, “There should be people near each reservoir”
One wonders what these people will do. I’m not an expert by any means, but I would think that physically watching the dam won’t give too much useful information. I’m sure the government is calling for technical monitoring as well. Are there any engineers in the audience? Does having observation towers help prevent dams from bursting?
Commemorative Tenge (1)
As usual in Kazakhstan, whenever the government plans to do anything rumors spread and everyone prepares for the worst. So it was a few months ago when I was told by several people that they were planning to replace the 1000 tenge bill. Everyone was trying to use up all their 1000 tenges.
As it turns out, what really happened is that the National Bank has issued a commemorative 1000-tenge bill in honor of Kazakhstan’s 2010 chairmanship of the OSCE. So stop panicking, there won’t be any replacements. This is just a special issue. 10 million bills will be printed and I got my first one today. It’s very pretty. Looks nothing like the usual 1000 tenge bill.
Also I couldn’t photograph this, but that space over Bayterek is clear when you look at it, but if you put it up to the light it becomes a silvery hologram of animal shaped rock drawings. Very cool looking.
In case you were wondering, the OSCE element is very subtle. Under Bayterek, it says “OSCE 2010”. I think that’s a lot more classy than if the note had a big picture of the OSCE headquaters on it or huge letters saying, “Kazakhstan OSCE 2010” or something.
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