US woman develops Russian accent after falling down stairs

Some people fall on their heads and wake up with their memories wiped out. A few revive with their personalities totally changed. Others die. Robin Jenks Vanderlip fell down a stairwell, smacked her head and woke up speaking with a Russian accent.

Vanderlip has never been to Russia. She doesn't remember ever hearing a Russian accent. She lives in Fairfax County, was born in Pennsylvania and went to college on the Eastern Shore. Yet since that fall in May 2007, the first question she gets from strangers is: "Where are you from?" "They say your life can change in an instant," she said in what sounds like a thick Russian accent. "Mine did."

For 42 years, Vanderlip, whose case is being studied at the National Institutes of Health and the University of Maryland, spoke with what NIH neurologist Allen Braun called a typical mid-Atlantic American accent. But since the fall, her clipped way with consonants - dropping the final "s" from some plural words, saying "dis" and "dat" for "this" and "that" or "wiz" instead of "with" - and her formation of vowels - "home" sounds more like "herm," "well" sounds like "wuhl" - identify her more like a transplant from Moscow. The more fatigued she becomes, the thicker her accent grows.

What she has, Braun and other doctors say, is Foreign Accent Syndrome - a legitimate though rare and little understood medical condition that can follow a serious brain injury. "It does sound strange," Braun said. "It certainly does sound like someone has a foreign accent." The syndrome was first described by a neurologist in the closing days of World War II, when a Norwegian woman injured by a shrapnel hit to the head fell into a coma and woke up speaking - most unfortunately for her - with a German accent. (Fellow Norwegians ostracized her as a result, according to the medical literature.) Since then, fewer than 60 cases have been reported worldwide.
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Russian democracy caught in action

A new video has revealed that most Russian MPs cannot even be bothered to go through the motions of democracy but prefer to bunk off and let the few MPs who do turn up vote in their stead. The footage, shot last week in Russia's Duma, the 450-member lower house of parliament, showed three MPs frantically running from empty seat to seat in order to vote for fellow deputies who were playing truant after lunch.

The vote, which made it illegal for motorists to have any alcohol in their blood, was passed by a crushing 449 votes even though there were only 88 MPs, or just over one fifth of the chamber, present. Western critics say the parliament is little more than a puppet chamber that does the Kremlin's bidding. But Kremlin-backed politicians insist it is a serious institution and on Wednesday rushed to condemn the incident as "shameful" while conceding, rather oddly, that such practices were a regular occurrence.



You cannot call a situation where MPs run all round the chamber pushing buttons for absent colleagues anything other than a disgrace," said Sergei Mironov, leader of the Kremlin-friendly Just Russia party.

"Usually, voting in parliament takes place at the end of a session when the cameras have left and the journalists are not in the chamber." This time was different though and a cameraman from Russian TV channel Ren TV caught the farce on camera in a video. One unidentified MP was caught voting nine times. Critics said the abysmal turnout technically made the vote illegal since the rules of parliament itself stipulated that a majority of MPs needed to be present for its activities to be legitimate.

The Most Unusual Metro In The World

Leonid Murlyanchik has been building his metro alone since 1984. All materials are bought for his retired fee. Construction is not over yet. By the way Leonid has all necessary documents and permits for this metro. An entry to the station. Here the ceiling is high and the walls are plastered


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School leavers in Moscow

25 of May is the last day for school leavers. They celebrate it, bathing in Moscow fountains and drinking sham everywhere.




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Russian Lessons. # eight. the first phrases

These simple phrases you can use every day!

URAL Patrol T

One of the premier producers of sidecar motorcycles, Ural's designs, created to handle any type of terrain, date back to World War II. Established in 1939, the Russian brand's origins are muddled with stories of smuggling BMWs from Germany through Switzerland for reverse engineering. But the slightly tamer tale—Stalin bought the blueprint directly from Hitler or the BMW factory thanks to a friendly wartime pact—might be more likely.

The latest model, the Patrol T, is as utility-oriented and durable as Ural's other models, but this updated version works for a variety of riders. The world's only on-demand two-wheel-drive sidecar drive shaft provides increased security for inclement conditions (allowing the sidecar driver to control the wheel and perform like a street-legal ATV), and the ample trunk space offers more room for extended journeys.

The now Seattle-based company still manufactures their motorcycles in Russia, test-driving them through the icy Siberian wilderness. While the sidecar style doesn't offer the flexibility of a café racer or sport bike, the Patrol T has an opposed twin engine that provides major momentum and smooth acceleration for thrill-seekers, and—combined with its fully functional all-terrain capability—off-road adventures abound.

Available in "olive drab" as a reminder of its military roots, the Patrol T sells from dealers around the world for about $12,400.found here

Russian Lessons. # seven. How old are you?

Now, when you’ve already known Russian numbers, we can talk about the age. Englishmen say "How old are you?" , Russian say "Skol’ko tebe let"
In replay you usually hear the number only.

Giant constructivist iPhone sculpture

Russian art collective and electronics hacker group Electroboutique created this giant iPhone Monument to 3G (image left) inspired by Tatlin's Tower (image right), a Constructivist monument designed in 1920 but sadly never built. From the artist statement:

Tatlin's work is considered one of the avant-garde icons, whereas iPhone is a bright techno-consumerist icon of today. Back in the 20's of the last centuries avant-garde artists have invented design as a way to bring art into people's homes. During the 20's century designers were gradually taking artistic ideas and implementing them into product design. Today we see companies claiming their products are art objects themselves; art has to re-define its role in the society again. The Monument to 3G links together the beginning and the current state of nearly a century of art-to-design dialogue and follows the strategy of re-claiming the designers' ideas back into art.

Russian Lessons. # six. Numbers 20-100

! Where English say –ty, Russian say tzat' or -disjat.
20 dva-tzat’
30 tri-tzat’
40 sorok ! attention it is exception to the rule
50 pi-disjat
60 shis-disjat
70 sim-disjat
80 vosim-disjat
90 divino-sta ! attention it is exception to the rule
100 sto

A large photo gallery of a zombie walk in Moscow.

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Russian Lessons. # five. Numbers 11-20

! Where English put –teen, Russian put na-tzat’
11 odi-na-tzat’
12 dve-na-tzat’
13 tri-na-tzat’
14 chityir-na-tzat’
15 pit-na-tzat’
16 shis-na-tzat’
17 sim’-na-tzat’
18 vasim-na-tzat’
19 divjat-na-tzat’
20 dvatzat’

Russian Lessons. # Four. Numbers

It’s time to count, Russian numbers are not more difficult then English ones!
1 odin
2 dva
3 tri
4 chetyire
5 pjat’
6 shes’t’
7 sem’
8 vosem’
9 devjat’
10 desjat’

Dostoevsky images on Moscow metro ‘could cause suicides’

The author of Crime and Punishment never had a reputation for lightness in his soul. Now the Moscow authorities have postponed the opening of a metro station named after Fyodor Dostoevsky over fears that illustrations from his works that decorate it could turn the station into a "mecca for suicides".



The new station was decorated with black and white marble mosaics of scenes from Dostoevsky's most famous novels, including Crime and Punishment, Demons, The Idiot and The Brothers Karamazov. But unsurprisingly for a writer famously preoccupied with death, the scenes include images of suicide and murder.

The opening of the station, which was meant to be today, has been put back indefinitely. The metro has refused to comment but the daily Izvestia claims that it was the transport system's chief who raised the question of changing the decorations when he visited the site last week. Sources at the metro told The Independent that the controversy was convenient cover for the fact that the stations are not ready.
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Russian Lessons. #Three

The most popular question after saying Hello is
- Kak (u tebja) dela? (How are you?)

The most suitable answer is
- Normal'no/ Vse horosho (Ok/Everything is all right)
- A u tebja? (And you)

Russian via Skype

I will teach you to speak Russian via Skype for 10$ / hour. The first lesson will be free! You will start speaking Russian on the first lesson, I promise you:)

Mosquito sculpture made of scrap parts from old cars, bulldozers

It’s a mosquito and fortunately it’s only a sculpture. Has it been live, it’d have been a man eater than a blood sucker. Well, this mosquito with the height of a man is made of scrapped parts from old cars and bulldozers. This bizarre sculpture was located by the Biologists from the Tyumen Regional Museum, who were examining the Noyabrsk area, for creating an eco-tourism route in 2007. Built by Valery Chaliy, a local artist, who was inspired by the millions of mosquitoes inhabiting the neighboring swamps, iron insect is in the compressor station owned by Gazprom.
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Let’s learn Russian. Lesson Two

How to make the acquaintance.
-Menja zovut Julija
-kak tebja zovut? (what is your name)
Usually we tell only the names, men shake hands.
- A tebja? (And you?)
- Ochen' prijatno (Nice to meet you) ' - means soft sign

Death wish pair find love

A broken-hearted fiance planning to throw himself off a bridge found love again - with a girl who was about to jump to her death from the same spot. Devastated Andriej Ivanov, 26, wanted to end it all when his fiancee died in a car crash the day before their wedding by jumping from the bridge in Ufa, central Russia.

But when he got there he found tragic Maria Petrova, 21, climbing the railings after being thrown out by her parents for falling pregnant. She was seconds away from plunging more than 100 ft into the icy Belaya River when Andriej pulled her back from the brink. "Something in my heart snapped and I couldn't let her do it no matter how broken my own heart was.

"I shouted, 'Stop' and ran over to her. She fell into my arms sobbing and I began crying too. We held each other and talked, and talked and talked. That night saved my life - and hers," said Andriej. The couple talked into the night and agreed to help each other mend their broken hearts.
Now they plan to get married after telling their families of their amazing escapes from death. "He is my knight and my saviour," said Maria. "All that pain was worthwhile because it led me to my Andriej," she added.

Let's learn some Russian

I'm going to start short lessons of the Russian language. And I will try to make them interesting and useful. Let’s start with greeting. There are some ways to say Hello in Russian.
If you are close friends or relatives say PRIVET
If your boss or your president is in front of you say ZDRASTVUITE and don’t forget to shake your hands. Russian men always shake hands , but women don't:)