Russian vodka still the fuel of local heroes

A Russian man has miraculously survived drinking eight bottles of vodka.

The percentage of alcohol in his blood was at least twice the lethal dose.

Doctors said that it must have been the man's bulk that saved him - the alcohol's hero is two meters' tall and weighs about 100 kilograms.

That is nothing short of a miracle, admittedly. However, while this may reinforce the stereotype of the typical Russian as a vodka-drinking warrior, the reality may be different:

The image of an average Russian man as a vodka-swilling booze lover is a myth, says a leading physician.

Evgeny Bryun, Moscow’s chief physician, said that it’s an undeserved myth that Russians drink more than most people.

Bryun’s comments stand in stark contrast to a report released last year that revealed a sharp rise in Russians” alcohol consumption.

The average Russian drinks 15 litres of alcohol per year up from 5.4 litres in 1990, the report by Russia’s chief physician, Gennady Onishchenko, found.

Oh well, as in most cases, the myth lives on - with or without reality.

Kazakhstan welcomes aliens

The Republic of Kazakhstan in Central Asia is in the process of building the world’s first alien embassy according to some local media reports. If these reports are to be believed, the authorities have already allocated a large plot of land in the city of Almaty for this ambitious project. Facilities to be built within the complex will include a guesthouse, theatre and translation service. A purpose built UFO landing pad and checkpoint will be attached to the embassy.

Kazakhstan’s government believes open contact with aliens is imminent and by being the first nation to specifically create such facilities they are convinced they will reap enormous financial and economic rewards. The Kazakhstan Government also see this as a chance to demonstrate their nations forward thinking policies.

The head of Kazakhstan’s space agency, Talgat Musabayev, is said to be heavily involved in the embassy project. Musabayev is an ex-cosmonaut who has spent many hours in space and is an ex-colleague of Gasimov. It is believed that he possesses a large amount of information on the aliens currently visiting earth.

That's not a miracle though, only a very strange way of trying to create a progressive foreign policy - if alien contact can be classified as foreign policy. Obama, trying to score soft points with Chavez, may have something to learn here. I mean, if he's aiming for hyper-inflation, why not spend the money on something interesting like the new space race or alien embassies?