Plenty of Nothing

Snow Maiden Vodka Flask

A shtof gzhel (ceramic flask) in the form of Snegorochka. Source.

Varezhka (1967)

A fable about the power of neglectful parenting. Watch. Source. If you need more stop action animation after that, look for a commercial after 6:30 minutes in this compilation from last winter.

Katerina Belkina

Source.

Olga Alexandrovna's House

From 1952 to 1960 this bungalow at 2130 Camilla Road, Cooksville, Mississauga was home to Olga Alexandrovna, the younger sister of Tsar Nicholas II.

A Milkmaid

Source.

Bridal Couple

A plate from the State Porcelain Factory, now in the National Gallery of Australia. Source.

Progress 1

Tomorrow marks the 40th anniversary of the launch of Progress 1, the first automated space station supply ship. These things are still flying and have reached orbit 156 times, with three failures. Despite operating Skylab from 1973 to 1979 and maintaining the International Space Station since 1998, NASA has never launched its own uncrewed supply ship, relying instead on the Space Shuttle, Progress, ferries launched by the ESA and Japan, as well as private industry. Source.

Dom Knigi

Art Nouveau figures over the entrance to the Dom Knigi bookstore on Nevsky Prospekt in Saint Petersburg. Source.

Feast of Saint Olga

Saint Olga is commemorated today for her involvement in the spread of Christianity through tenth-century Russia -- involvement that included some arson. From the Radziwiłł Chronicle.

At the Telephone

Alexsandr Rodchenko, At the Telephone (1928).