AP released the photos of the Russian rocket Soyuz TMA-14 being prepared for the launch on March 25th (click the photo for more).

Some of you may be old enough to remember the Apollo-Soyuz Test Project (coincidentally called “Soyuz-Apollo” in Russian) launched in 1975. Years before the International Space Station Americans and Russians shook hands in space.

I don’t have much recollection of the flight, I was 5 years old, but Soyuz-Apollo became a familiar phrase in Russian and the mission insignia still was around years later.

Trivia:”Soyuz” means “Union” in Russian, as in the Soviet Union.

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There are multiple predictions about the future of the Earth after the humans are no longer populating it; scientists, writers, movie directors are guessing how long it will be before the Planet erases all the traces of our existence. These predictions are not very hard to make: there are multiple examples of abandoned and lost cities from the ancient times and not so ancient like Chernobyl.

And then there is former Benchmark Express Furniture store in Olathe, KS – a slowly deteriorating reminder of a failed business I drive by several times a day. The store closed around 4 years ago, when the economy was still doing fine and people still were spending the money they didn’t yet know they didn’t have. Recently one of the large signs fell down and I thought it was a good time to stop by and take a few photos.
Apparently the letter X is the first to go:

This sign crashed a month or two ago:

No one backed up to the loading dock for a long time:

Concrete is slowly converting back to its original ingredients:

Customers are long gone…

…and trespassers are not welcome:

Grass is growing on the parking lot:

This sign may last a year or two before it falls:

Formerly grand facade is sprouting cracks:

Even the parking lot signs are tired of standing idle:

Wind is blowing through the banner:

Soon after the final sale was over with and the store was closed for good, the developers promptly constructed more retail space across the street.

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For thousands of years alcoholic beverages drastically improved countless holiday parties on every continent in every political and social system. Here is an appropriate illustration from the Life Magazine Archives taken in Leningrad in 1956.

Before:

After:

Caption reads:A party at the home of a so-called “typical Soviet worker”, the Dmitriev family. The father, a skilled metal worker, is actually a member of the Communist Party & does much side work for it, so they live far above working class average. (the line about side work for the Communist Party doesn’t make any sense to me, not sure what it means).

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Continuing with the alcohol theme, here are some photos depicting a sobriety test experiment performed in Kansas City in 1941. The cops slowly liquor up a test subject and then perform sobriety tests on him using a precision “drunkometer”.

The rest of the sobriety test photo shoot.

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I think I know a thing or two about the circus. When I was growing up© my parents took me to the circus 4-5 times a year and it wasn’t a traveling circus or a tent. My city had a permanent circus building and every few months a new program would come to town to perform for sell-out crowds.

I was there during the golden age of the Soviet circus – world famous magicians, clowns, exotic animals, ground-breaking acts, daring performances.

No wonder that many performers in the Cirque Du Soleil shows are from the Russian/Soviet school of circus. I attended three Cirque Du Soleil shows so far and they turned out to be some of the best shows of any kind I’ve seen in my life. Everything from costumes and specially composed music to the highest quality acts is perfectly matched to create a magical show. This song from the show Alegria is probably my favorite. Something about the dramatic music and raspy tragic voice of the singer; sometimes I keep playing it over and over….

httpvh://youtu.be/jhWQLV-S3js

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