mental_floss magazine
SUBSCRIBE >
GIFT SUBSCRIPTIONS >
DIGITAL SUBSCRIPTIONS >
subscriber services >
Where Knowledge Junkies Get Their Fix
mental_floss magazine
SUBSCRIBE >
GIFT SUBSCRIPTIONS >
DIGITAL SUBSCRIPTIONS >
subscriber services >
Speaking of Super-sized Russian projects. Have you heard about Moscow’s latest? It’s called “Crystal Island” and if built, it will quite literally be the world’s largest building. This thing is unbelievable! Just Google for “crystal island” and check it out. I’m still trying to get my brain around the idea of a single building that big!
posted by Fletch on 1-21-2008 at 12:44 pm
That ground effect thing is really awesome.
Everything else? Kinda kooky.
posted by Andie on 1-21-2008 at 1:50 pm
It’s disappointing that work never continued on ground effect vehicles - I can’t help but think they still might have a part to play in the future of transportation…
posted by Ashe on 1-21-2008 at 6:27 pm
Yep, ground effect vehicles. Purely undriven by greed, sound engineering at its best. The craks in our foundation have only begun to show…
posted by Zardoz on 1-21-2008 at 10:05 pm
I know of a world leader who wrecked an entire country and tried to rebuild it.
posted by grytpype on 1-21-2008 at 10:23 pm
The ground effect vehicles were never economically effective because they were only effective in smooth water. given the speed they go and the nearness of the water I certainly wouldn’t use them for anything out in the ocean. A 3 - 12 ft wave is nothing, imagine at 240 mph it hits an unusually large wave, boom your dead.
posted by Adam on 1-21-2008 at 10:26 pm
it’s a pity work never continued on cathedral and church destruction. That could have been stalin’s greatest legacy.
posted by stalin on 1-21-2008 at 10:35 pm
They are really HUGE.
posted by Rassendyl on 1-21-2008 at 10:52 pm
I know of a poster to this website who has no idea what a wrecked country looks like and cannot see that the country cited still enjoys the highest standard of living for the greatest number of people in the world.
posted by Leroy on 1-21-2008 at 10:57 pm
Oh - I think said poster means IRAQ, not USA. IRAQ most certainly does not enjoy the ‘highest standard of living’.
posted by Glenn on 1-22-2008 at 12:02 am
@Leroy.
I’m relatively sure that gryptype was referring to Iraq.
Nonetheless, just to clarify, George W. Bush is easily the worst president….ever.
posted by Damien on 1-22-2008 at 12:14 am
In Soviet Russia combo super sizes you!
posted by overtoke on 1-22-2008 at 12:26 am
Iraq has the highest standard of living in the world?
I know you people don’t like to talk about Bush and Iraq, I sure don’t blame you for trying to change the subject all the time.
posted by grytpype on 1-22-2008 at 12:42 am
I only wish they had built the 100 mega ton bombs in series. Imagine a stock pile of those puppies. Only one of them is enough to ruin your day.
We need to go back to the megalomanic era. Bush is a good start. Nothing spells hubris as much as starting a war that is ruining your nation. But it needs to be done with style. He should have had big statues of himself erected in the land scape. Something to be remembered by.
posted by Dave on 1-22-2008 at 12:44 am
I think he meant Iceland? Has the highest human development index.
posted by Voice of Reason on 1-22-2008 at 1:08 am
You know, I think the soviets ruined a bigger country than even GW Bush there. And they didn’t even try to rebuild it.
posted by ohnoes on 1-22-2008 at 1:31 am
You know, I think the Soviets ruined a bigger country than GW Bush did, and they didn’t even try to repair it.
posted by ohnoes on 1-22-2008 at 1:32 am
The Caspian seas monster was more than 58 feet long dude. Google.
Oh yeah and the Czar Bomba didn’t weight 100 megatons. Its explosive power was equivalent to 100 megatons of TNT.
posted by AlanR on 1-22-2008 at 3:05 am
7 Super-Sized (And Somewhat Insane) Soviet Projects | Deliggit.com
mentalfloss.com
The Soviet Union decided the best way to show up the West was to build the bigges
posted by Deliggit.com | The social sites' most interesting urls on 1-22-2008 at 4:47 am
Looks like a bunch of stupid projects to me.
posted by Scion on 1-22-2008 at 8:15 am
Destruction of our Economy thats a huge monument to stupidity. “We don’t need a statue to see that” So, the question is, Whats the nuclear half life of the damage GWB did to this country?
posted by I wanna Know. on 1-22-2008 at 9:57 am
Bush ought to be waterboarded. Cheney too, ought to be waterboarded. Aside from those two, I’m against torture.
posted by WaterboardBush on 1-22-2008 at 10:07 am
I think the crazyest one was the 100 megaton bomb. During the time it was built, surely there wasn’t even a plane that could carry it.
posted by Dave Nofmeister on 1-22-2008 at 10:20 am
It probably does not need to be said, but maybe many Soviet leaders have small penises. Or they think ours are bigger in the West. What are they over-compensating for? Its gotta be something. [I know why Ahhrnold drives a Hummer — (see above)] — Surely these building projects are great fodder for psychologists everywhere.
posted by WizardBoy on 1-22-2008 at 1:02 pm
This month’s issue of the art magazine Cabinet did an article about these. Very interesting.
posted by Leggy on 1-22-2008 at 4:35 pm
I lived in Moscow and visited the cathedral replica. It’s pretty ugly, but it shows good spirit. People are STILL indignant over Lenin knocking down the original. Can you imagine what kind of slap in the face that would have been?
posted by Andrea on 1-22-2008 at 4:42 pm
This is a new SuperSized Project in Russia … not the USSR, but a project perhaps worthy of your notice:
Foster + Partners have just been granted preliminary permission to start construction on this volcano-shaped superstructure in Moscow, which will be dubbed “Crystal Island”. In terms of efficiency monolithic buildings like this seem unnecessary, but the proposed dimensions are amazing: it will be 1,500 foot tall with 26,909,776 foot squared of floor space, that’s enough room to house 30,000 people.
posted by Justin on 1-22-2008 at 5:34 pm
Don’t miss the propaganda film of the New Moscow from 1938! People’s Palace included.
Linked in my sig.
posted by jab on 1-22-2008 at 8:36 pm
The Russian expression was - ” They pretend to pay us , we pretend to work”
It is amazing what the country Russia ( former U.S.S.R.) accomplished - especially after all the destruction following the 30’s and then the great patriotic war. Yet in the end everyone had a job in the U.S.S.R. but very few could eat.
posted by A Faithful Employee on 1-22-2008 at 10:21 pm
I can’t believe how many thousands of people worked (and died) on these projects, and how few of them ever came to anything or remain.
And, I have a hunch that if the People’s Palace had ever been built, that the people wouldn’t have been allowed access to it. I’m just guessing.
posted by kitsana_d on 1-24-2008 at 3:04 pm