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Mar. 3rd, 2007
Google Earth...
Mar. 3rd, 2007 02:38 pm... has eaten my brain. This is SO COOL. I finally broke down and downloaded the Mac OS version, and this is most definitely NOT how I was planning on spending my day, but ... SO COOL! Right now I'm in Kyrgyzstan. I just can't get over the awesomeness of being able to zoom in on these places that I've only read about. I've always loved maps, and this is like maps only about 50x cooler.
Let's see what Tibet looks like!
Let's see what Tibet looks like!
Kostroma Moose Farm
Mar. 3rd, 2007 10:42 pmI ... think this is a serious website.
Kostroma Moose Farm (The farm's in Russia; the site's in English, though there is also a Russian version.)
Some choice quotes:
"...established in 1966, this farm remains the most stable moose milk provisioner in Russia..."
"When the USSR decided to become worldwide, in the 1930s, war-moose were expected to solve the problem of deep snow cross-country cavalry passability."
(While those are not two words that I ever expected to see joined together, I love the existence of war-moose. LOVE it.)
[from page of instructions for tourists to the moose farm] "Do not run, do not cry, do not try to pick up dropped sweets... and be patient with a soft warm tender moose."
Discussing the problems with controlling free-range moose, which die if they're penned up; apparently it was suggested "... to implant a microreceiver (several thousand dollars) into animals' brains and then control their movements through a global satellite system ..."
I really can't imagine why the USSR collapsed ...
All joking aside, though, it's actually quite fascinating to me to consider -- assuming the site is real, and it does appear to be -- that moose are actually pretty easy to tame. They're just difficult to maintain in captivity, and they aren't herd animals in the same way that, say, reindeer are, which makes them a lot less useful as domesticated livestock than animals that exhibit herding behavior.
However, I have GOT to use this in a story sometime...
Kostroma Moose Farm (The farm's in Russia; the site's in English, though there is also a Russian version.)
Some choice quotes:
"...established in 1966, this farm remains the most stable moose milk provisioner in Russia..."
"When the USSR decided to become worldwide, in the 1930s, war-moose were expected to solve the problem of deep snow cross-country cavalry passability."
(While those are not two words that I ever expected to see joined together, I love the existence of war-moose. LOVE it.)
[from page of instructions for tourists to the moose farm] "Do not run, do not cry, do not try to pick up dropped sweets... and be patient with a soft warm tender moose."
Discussing the problems with controlling free-range moose, which die if they're penned up; apparently it was suggested "... to implant a microreceiver (several thousand dollars) into animals' brains and then control their movements through a global satellite system ..."
I really can't imagine why the USSR collapsed ...
All joking aside, though, it's actually quite fascinating to me to consider -- assuming the site is real, and it does appear to be -- that moose are actually pretty easy to tame. They're just difficult to maintain in captivity, and they aren't herd animals in the same way that, say, reindeer are, which makes them a lot less useful as domesticated livestock than animals that exhibit herding behavior.
However, I have GOT to use this in a story sometime...