The Coldest City in the World

Yakutsk, Siberia, has a population of 280,000 people, even though the temperature hovers around 40 below zero for several months of each year. The reason a city of such size even exists that close to the Arctic Circle is because of the minerals beneath it: a fifth of the world's diamonds come from mines near Yakutsk, and the area is rich in natural gas, oil, gold, and silver, too. Photographer Steeve Iuncker visited Yakutsk and witnessed the challenges that come with living in serious cold.

Case in point: Iuncker noticed that locals tended to visit one another a lot, but for only a few minutes: “They would come in, take off their first layer, drink hot tea, and have a toast with jam before bundling up again and stepping outside. It was as if their neighbors’ abodes served as relay points along their journey.” Like them, Iuncker had to adapt his working habits to the elements. His camera, a twin-lens Rolleiflex, afforded him only 15-minute shooting periods. After that the winding mechanism would freeze, and the film risked cracking. Which was just as well; by then his fingers were numb.  

Read about Yakutsk and see two galleries of images at National Geographic. -via Mental Floss

(Image credit: Flickr user Maarten Takens)


Comments (5)

Newest 5
Newest 5 Comments

Engine oils are getting thinner and there are probably other improvements. My not special ten year old car starts in the -40 to -35 range with only slightly more effort. Family from the Canadian Prairies grew up with block heaters, and some are still surprised we can visit them in winter without one. I don't know how much colder it could go, and I still come across people with new vehicles (especially trucks, although they maybe didn't have good winterized diesel) that won't start in similar conditions.
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I've written about Yakutsk before ...and read that people drive to work and leave their engines going all day, then drive home to their garage. I'm sure not everyone does that. There are probably some sizable municipal and workplace parking garages. And now we have heating devices to warm engines before starting them.
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At college in Maine one winter it was -45ºF. I tried to start my car and it just groaned.Can't imaging it staying that cold for very long.
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That beat the huge and boring record holder that inserted a glut of words into "A man, a plan, a canal...Panama!" I love the centerpiece, "Be still if I fill it's ebb."

+10, Demetri.
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the words "If I" are the middle point of the palindrome. I mention this because it is also the name of Demetri Martin's comedy special from the Edinburgh Festival which is on Youtube, in its six part glory. I highly recommend it.
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Wow! (How else does one respond to a palindrome like that?)

For some reason it reminds me of Dutch Schulz' dying rant.

By the way, the very first conversation consisted entirely of palindromes. Adam wakes up to find Eve beside him, and introduces himself: "Madam, I'm Adam." Eve is kind of shy and just gives her name: "Eve."
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To whom may be interested, i think the longer one was made by Georges Perec in french, with 1247 words.
This guy, a crazy genius french writer also wrote a novel without the letter "e", critics at time praise the book without even noticing this "exercice de style"
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Longer yet is "2002" by Nick Monfort and William Gillespie, which is 2002 words long and was released on 20/02/2002. You can see it here:

http://www.spinelessbooks.com/2002/
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Too bad it doesn't make any sense. Then it would be impressive. Not too hard to string words together. I'm sure you could get a computer to do the same thing.
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@ Ted:
How Sure are you, on a scale of 1 to 7, that you could get a computer to do the same thing?

And would this computer's hair be a gloriously floppy as Demetri Martin's?
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A computer could actually do it. But if you think this text looks crazy then wait until you see what a computer conjures, Computationally crazy :).
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Weird Al used the "Go hang a salami, I'm a lasagna hog." in his song "Bob" - comprised entirely of palindromes and in homage to Dylan's Subterranean Homesick Blues. Fun stuff.
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Yay.

Here's one. Picture a golf foursome, three guys chatting, the other returning to his golf bag that is being visited by a stray dog:

No deep gab, flog mad dog! Goddam golf bag peed on!

Glad to have a place to put this.
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My favorite palindrome: Picture a mad alchemist saying, "See, Slave! I demonstrate yet Arts no medieval sees!!"

I wrote a longer one, and once I was done I promptly lost it. It wasn't as lucid.
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If you enjoy palindrome poetry, you should check out the work of Mike Maguire. He's the biggest name in that field right now:

http://www.amazon.com/dp/0972424431/
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ummmmmmmmmm. Am I missing something or is the 3rd to last paragraph not a palindrome?:
"“Sir, I deliver. I’m a dog”
Evil is a deed as I live.
Dammit I’m mad."
The very last one is, and the 2nd to last is, but the phrase "Sir, I deliver. I'm a dog" is not a palindrome....

Am I missing something?
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A "Palin" drome Story
A palindrome is a word or phrase which reads the same in both directions.

Sarah Palin is known to reverse positions and this leads to a "palin"drome story.

I wrote this story back in Sept.08

-------------------------

Kayak salad: Alaska yak.
Must sell at tallest sum

Did I do, O God, did I as I said I'd do? Good, I did.

Dammit, I'm mad.
Name tarts? No, medieval slave, I demonstrate Man!

Raw was I ere I saw war.
Too far away, a war afoot.
No, I save on final perusal, a sure plan if no evasion.
No panic... I nap on

Oh who was it I saw, oh who?
so McCain: A maniac cmos
Yo! Banana boy!
Yo! Breed deer, boy!

Rot can rob a born actor.

Revered now I live on. O did I do no evil, I wonder ever?

Deny a god, O gay Ned
No, it never propagates if I set a gap or prevention.

No lemon, no melon.
No cab, no tuna nut on bacon.
No desserts, I stressed on

Is it I? It is I
I saw I was I
Too hot to hoot
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A computer could actually do it. But if you think this text looks crazy then wait until you see what a computer conjures, Computationally crazy :)..
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uhhh...very impressive, except for the not being a palindrome part. Sure, it's spelled the same, but it makes no sense. Computers can make palindromes if you waive the whole "sense" rule. Write a little aimless blank verse and you can say anything. Second rate, though I found a few enjoyable moments.

ice
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I remember this from one of John Ciardi's columns long ago -- said to be the response of a suburban nudist to a neighbor complaining that his wife was getting annoyed:

"Named undenominationally rebel, I rile Beryl? La, no! I tan! I'm, O Ned, nude, man!"

Maybe not the most brilliant ever, but any palindrome that uses a word as long as "undenominationally" deserves credit just for that.
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Weird Al Yankovic has a nice all-palindrome song "Bob", a style parody of Bob Dylan.

BOB

I, man, am regal a German am I
Never odd or even
If I had a hi-fi
Madam, I'm Adam
Too hot to hoot
No lemons, no melon
Too bad I hid a boot
Lisa Bonet ate no basil
Warsaw was raw
Was it a car or a cat I saw?

Rise to vote, sir
Do geese see God?
"Do nine men interpret?" "Nine men," I nod
Rats live on no evil star
Won't lovers revolt now?
Race fast, safe car
Pa's a sap
Ma is as selfless as I am
May a moody baby doom a yam?

Ah Satan sees Natasha
No devil lived on
Lonely Tylenol
Not a banana baton
No "x" in "Nixon"
O, stone, be not so
O Geronimo, no minor ego
"Naomi", I moan
"A Toyota's a Toyota"
A dog, a panic in a pagoda

Oh, no! Don Ho!
Nurse, I spy gypsies -- run!
Senile felines
Now I see bees I won
UFO tofu
We panic in a pew
Oozy rat in a sanitary zoo
God! A red nugget! A fat egg under a dog!
Go hang a salami, I'm a lasagna hog
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Never said that I could get a computer to do it. I don't quite have the programming skills for that.

I doubt "computationally crazy" would be any different from this dreck. It would be just as senseless.
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If a computer made a palindrome it would look something like this:
00110110001100000111111000011111100000110001101100

You know what, I somehow prefer Damien Martin's
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In my halo of a mired rum tin.
I erase many men. Oh, to be man, a sin.
Is evil in a clam? In a trap?
No. It is open. On it I was stuck.
Rats peed on hope. Elsewhere dips a web.
Be still if I fill its ebb.
Ew, a spider… eh?
We sleep. Oh no!

Good!
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Here is another for m of Poetry for you to check out. Visual poetry is poetry that combines motion graphics, film or video, music and of course, poetry. This offers an exciting format where poets, motion graphic artists, actors and other artists can reach out to the public and show off their skills and talents.
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Jockeying for discounted merchandise may intensify this year as rising unemployment makes consumers more desperate for bargains and retailers make more aggressive markdowns to spur sales.
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Just a pedantic point that I think needs to be made...
Why do so many sites say this is 224 words?
It is 222 words.

I guess they’re counting “dammit” as two words?
In that case, it should be 225 – not 224 – as Goddam should be two words as well.

That said, I think it's wonderful.
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