Yesterday I was hosting a meeting at work for some co-workers spread out across the country, including some high-level managers within my organization. My laptop was hooked up to project on to a screen in our conference room as well as wired to broadcast its contents out over the internet for the remote meeting participants. The mail program I use is Microsoft Outlook. As Outlook users are probably aware, when you get a new message a tiny box fades in at the bottom right hand corner of your screen that has the name of the sender and the subject line of the email (yes, I realize now I can turn it off). After about five seconds it fades back out. In the middle of the meeting, overlaid on top of the most important Powerpoint slide, popped up the following message notification:
From: Mona
Subject: a way to solve abhi’s girl problems…..
The blood rushed to my face and I think I went deaf for a few minutes after that.
So what was this article that was going to solve my “girl problems?” I wasn’t aware I needed any help.
Desperate to reverse a steep decline in their numbers, Russians are coming up with some bold ideas on how to overcome Russia’s demographic crisis.
A Russian feminist has proposed a radical solution to the falling birth rate — importing Indian bridegrooms for Russian girls. Maria Arbatova, writer and TV moderator, who married an Indian businessman a few years ago “after 25 years of keeping marrying Russians”, thinks Indian men make ideal husbands.
“They are crazy about their family and children,” she said presenting her new book, ‘Tasting India’, here. “What is more, Indians, like Russians, are Indo-Europeans, and many Sanskrit and Russian words have the same roots.”
Indian bridegrooms can help ward off a Chinese demographic invasion in Russia, says the feminist: “If we do not balance off the Chinese with Indians, Africans or aliens, by 2050 China will annex Russia’s Siberia up to the Ural Mountains…” [Link]
Was my friend right? Is this what I need?
Yesterday Amardeep wrote a post about Putin (he was writing about Putin, I am quite sure). Today Putin did two things of note. The first is that he dissolved the Russian government, paving the way for his anointed successor to become Prime Minister. The second thing he did (through one of his provincial cronies) was MUCH more relevant:
The governor of a central Russian province urged couples to skip work on Wednesday and make love instead to help boost Russia’s low birth-rate.And if a woman gives birth in exactly nine months time — on Russia’s national day on June 12 — she will qualify for a prize, perhaps even winning a new home.
”It’s normally something for the home — a fridge or a television set,” Yelena Yakovleva at the Ulyanovsk regional administration press office, said…Regional governor Sergei Morozov told employers to contribute to a Kremlin campaign to boost the birth rate by giving couples Wednesday off to have sex. [Link]
No wonder Putin is so popular despite poisoning his detractors with radioactive waste. In America we work longer hours than ever before, whereas in Russia I can take the day off to do the dirty with a woman who mail-ordered me AND I get a free fridge out of it. This useful new knowledge makes up for the embarassment at work…I think.
