This is the video from the Live Music of the Silent Film event arranged by Kostas Danilov for cine amateurs in EPL’s Diamond House Cafe in Yakutsk (Yakutia / Russia) a couple of weeks ago.

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The Mirninsky Region Toponomy website screenshot, the winner of the first school kids online project contest held in Yakutia, Russia, in 2011.

It’s getting really interesting. It seems the eYakutia – English blog is getting popular in my hometown, Yakutsk. Here is the news I was asked to share with you. I like it much, because it is about what I love, actually. It is about motivating school kids to promote their lovely regions with the means of Internet.

A week ago, the Republic’s Complementary Educational Center (SakhaEdu.Ru) successfully finished the 1st “My Homeland” Internet projects contest among high schools in the Republic of Sakha (Yakutia), Siberia / Russia.

The contest mission was simple. Children were assigned to create websites dedicated to their homelands, i.e. regions, towns or villages. As a result, 19 schools from 10 Yakutian regions submitted their online projects for the republic competition.

So, who are the winners? See the list below.

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Yakutsk Virtual Tour Demo at VisitYakutia.com

The beginning of this week is amazingly full of interesting startups. On Monday, I wrote about YakutiArt’s Yakutia Wild Life comic strip project.

This time I am proud to announce the appearance of the new project called Yakutia Virtual Travel Guide. Check it at VisitYakutia.com.

On that resource, you will be able to see Yakutsk, the administrative center of Russia’s Republic of Sakha (Yakutia), and walk across the city virtually.

Use arrows “<" and ">” to turn around. Choose places to view in the navigation bar located at the right top or on the map at the left top. You can also click on the white sphere you see in a image and teleport into that spot. Enjoy!

It’s only the demo. The virtualization of Yakutia is just started and it will be intigrated in the bilingual Yakutia Travel Guide website VisitYakutia.com. We need your support. Please, share the news!

By the way, the project is done in cooperation with Egor Fedorov, the almighty Yakutsk-based website developer and founder of PicaRus Studio.

PS. Yesterday, we installed the analytics… and, you know what, more than 1100 unique visitors from 35 nations for one day!

Yakutia Wild Life, a new comic strip project done in English. P.S. Click the photo to see in the origin size.

A friend of mine, Arsen Tomsky, initiated the new project called Yakutia’s Wild Life. It is the series of black-and-white comic strips about living in the coldest Siberian region. Done in English and in the way of positive jokes. Read the rest of this entry…

Near Yakutsk ice on the Lena River is already passing, reached the settlement of Kangalassy in the North, and everything was fine in Lensk in South Yakutia.

Ice float on the Lena River is like a big event in Yakutia, Russia’s Siberian & Far-Eastern Republic. People are happy about it and worry at the same time.

Happy as it means the spring culmination, the start of constant warm weather and a good reason to go out for shashlik (Russian BBQ), gather snowdrops and admire the beauty of ice drifting along the mighty Lena River. An awesome nature show, indeed!

Worry as spring ice melting and floating might bring the devastating flooding. You might be heard of Lensk that drown totally in 2001 and reconstructed lately by the Russian Emergency Ministry.

Last spring was full of waters and some destructions. Read the rest of this entry…

A polar bear in the Arctic seashore of Yakutia, Siberia, Russia. Photo by Boris Gorokhov.

Polar bear population in Yakutia increased over twice as much. The experts believe that the bears may migrate because of the climate changes, informs vladivostoktimes.com. They are coming to Yakutia’s Arctic seashore regularly and it is not an extraordinary event anymore.

The experts who took part in the action “Spring Tracks” on counting of the polar bears’ dens in Yakutia registered that the beast population in the area increased over twice as much, RIA Novosti reports with the reference to the Sakha Republic (Yakutia) Ministry of Nature Preservation Biological Resources Department.

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There are a few interesting people living in the Republic of Sakha (Yakutia). Andrey I is Russian TV celebrity, explorer and PR expert. German Arbugaev is entrepreneur, travel enthusiast, the Chochur Mouran ethnographic complex owner, Yakutian laika dog breeder, and a man of the Arctic (he lived many years in Tiksi). Sergey Sobolev is director of DASAAF Yakutsk Affiliate, ice diving and underwater hunting instructor. All of them are experienced divers.

What happened when they gathered together this year? Right. They’ve got an idea and arranged the so-called Target Shooting Under Ice Festival on the Amga River near the village of Abaga in South Yakutia, Siberia / Russia. It happened last week and… as they say… for the first time in the world.

Two men got courage to join such a Siberian challenge. They are Elshan Nazarov, constructor, and Alexey Voronzov, metalworker. They are also ice divers, but never tried hunting and target shooting under the ice river cover in winter.

Below, please, see pictures of divers’ shooting targets (artificial fishes) under ice. The outdoor temperature was -17C, water temp around 0 degree Celsius. Assignment was to swim 12 metre and hit targets from spearguns.

Well, it has all elements of ice diving, underwater hunting, spearfishing, and target shooting… and… that’s in a frozen Siberian river. Cool, isn’t it?!

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A $3 million Hublot Geneve BB Watch with Yakutian diamonds

This week Hublot Geneve, the Swiss watchmaker, presented the 2 MILLION € BB watch with Yakutian diamonds.

More than 140 carats. 637 baguette diamonds. 1 rose cut diamond on the crown. As the company says, a Vendôme Tourbillon movement to appeal to more expert eyes.

All diamonds were mined and polished in Yakutia. The way to go! Yakutian diamonds are worth to rock the world!

“This is a unique piece, a one-off, an even wilder gamble, a breathtaking expression of expertise providing a level of purity, colour, cut, finish and uniformity of the whole piece which is a truly rare feat,” says Hublot Geneve.

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YAKUTSK, March 21, 2011 – Today ALROSA Airlines’ cargo plane delivered 30 wood bison (10 males, 20 females) at Yakutsk Airport in Russia’s Siberian region of Yakutia from Edmonton, Canada.

Direct flight lasted 8 hours. The plane landed at Yakutsk Airport at 01.00 pm. The temperature was -5C. Many officials and mass media representatives met the IL 76 cargo plane with Canadian buffaloes.

Further, please, see more info, photos and video.

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Enjoy khomus (Yakut Jew’s harp) music and images of Yakutia in the amazing video slideshow created by Marianna Leontieva in 2008. The author lives in Moscow and she called the video “Khomus… A Yakutian’s Nostalgia…” Think, no additional info is required.

By the way, Yakutsk will host the 7th International Jew’s Harp Society Congress on June 23-26, 2011. It will be held right before the Yasyakh national holiday celebration in the area of Ys Khatyn near Yakutsk. My god, my fingers are crossed, don’t want to miss this must-be-awesome event.

Download the Congress Program (pdf, 525 Kb).