A visit to Lenin's Tomb in smoky Moscow is a trip into the paradox of Russia's past and its present.
Russia
Moscow: Red souls in repose
Wild fires still raged around Moscow in mid-August and the smoke clouds above Red Square hung heavily over the brown marble block that sits below the ominous red walls of the Kremlin. This is the final resting place of the leader of the October revolution, the event that changed the world in 1917. Here lies Vladimir Ilyich Lenin looking as fresh as a daisy.
Lenin died in 1924 but his body has been kept intact ever since and on display in the polished Red Square crypt. The guide books tell us that his brain has been sliced into thousands of pieces and is preserved for scientific purposes. Was it perhaps to decode and bottle the revolutionary spirit? The rest of him is kept from deteriorating by various treatments and is, in effect, mummified.
Apps4Russia
Apps4Russia is a competition for application developers to create projects, based on open government data, for public use. Most importantly, the contest stipulates that projects must be beneficial to Russian society, as well as encourage transparency and government accountability.
The Apps4Russia competition is non-commercial, non-governmental, and non-political. The contest will run from June 30, 2011, to October 1, 2011.
Tak-tak-tak
The creation of a web development company and Siberia's Press Development Institute, the 'Tak-tak-tak' project exists as an online meeting place for discussions about social change in the Russian Federation.
The social advocacy network encourages Russian citizens to share their problems on a range of social issues: copyright, real estate, access to information, freedom of speech, family life, healthcare, military service, citizenship, etc. In return, participants receive free legal advice from experts. An investigation may commence if additional information is required to arrive at a solution.
