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- TheRingmaster, on 10/12/2007, -6/+233Uh, golden shower? No thanks.
- RuffRidr, on 10/12/2007, -31/+103In Soviet Russia, plane takes golden shower on you!
Ugh, sorry to keep these Soviet Russia jokes going, but I couldn't resist. - limbo1334, on 10/12/2007, -5/+55A plane.
- Gregd, on 10/12/2007, -1/+48Wow that plane is ugly...but then there's no accounting for taste is there? Having worked on cabinets for airplanes at one time, I can also attest to the fact that people like to show their wealth in odd ways. That is not the first plane I've ever seen, much less worked on, that hasn't been decked out with gold trim. In fact, it's quite popular among the rich and famous. I personally found it to be over the ***** top, but to each his/her own I guess.
That being said, most of that planes cabinetry is made from honeycomb aluminum, bondo, and wood veneer. The honeycomb aluminum is extremely strong and lightweight and epoxy resin(bondo) is used to fill in the edges. Just about everything that you can think of inside of an airplane like that is EXPENSIVE. You know the plastic trim that goes around a jet's passenger window that's no bigger than a toilet seat? About $800 each! For PLASTIC. The subframes for each of those seats are anywhere from $10,000 to $25,000 EACH without any upholstery. They have to withstand certain G forces.
Anyway, I just started rambling on because these pictures weren't accompanied by any text and I thought I'd provide a little insight..
Peace out - masgrada, on 10/12/2007, -22/+58In Soviet Russia, you keep the Soviet Russia jokes going.
Stop. - inactive, on 10/12/2007, -1/+31LOL. All that gold and the ironing board is held to the wall with bungie cords! AHAHAHAHAHHAHAa
- unicronband, on 10/12/2007, -0/+26Even the snakes are gold.
- illu45, on 10/12/2007, -0/+25Paraphrased quote from English Russia:
This plane was mainly used by president Yeltsin, the first president of Russia.
It cost $300,000,000 to make and $40,000,000 of it went for inner decoration.
These days Vladimir Putin uses another plane and the plane on photos is used as a reserve one. - benijuana, on 10/12/2007, -3/+21I can name quite a few Russian friends and acquaintances who would love to give putin a golden shower
- washingtonydc, on 10/12/2007, -3/+20I guess the polonium shower is for others.
- greatblackowl, on 10/12/2007, -25/+41@RuffRidr
Don't worry. In America, the Soviet Russia joke keeps us going. - AllnightChemist, on 10/12/2007, -3/+17It wasn't about style or taste, that's for sure.
- inactive, on 10/12/2007, -3/+17Wow, are you naive. In Russia, the government has ALWAYS showered gifts upon itself. This was the cast when the Czars ruled, it was the case during communism (Soviet government officials lived a life of luxury while the people queued up for 5 hours to buy bread), and it most definitely is the case now, in this post-Communist transition.
The government's self-indulgence has actually gotten worse since Putin took over. The various palaces in the Kremlin have received extremely expensive make-overs to make it look good on camera for official state television, and Putin's subordinates more and more frequently are demanding that their "ruler" be given nothing but the best.
It's hard to tell whether all of this is going on specifically at Putin's request, but there's a clear belief of his political party that he be treated more King-like to convey a more centralized image of power. His party are big-time nationalists, and glorifying their President is an extension of that.
Plus, I don't know if anyone ever told you, but Russia has some of the richest supplies of natural resources of any nation on Earth. They just haven't been able to fully capitalize on it because the concept of Communism sort of prevented that. - nextlevel233, on 10/12/2007, -2/+11It's "Putin's plane" not "Putins plane".
- mitrovarr, on 10/12/2007, -0/+8Actually, gold is nearly twice as heavy as lead (19.3 g/cm for gold vs. 11.34 g/cm for lead.) Like a lot of people wrote above, it's plating. Pure gold is a pretty crappy material for making most things, as it weighs a ton and isn't very strong.
- ProximaC, on 10/12/2007, -4/+12wrong reply
- jazbek, on 10/12/2007, -0/+5Ok, the comment thread on that page is cracking me up:
Anonymous said...
That's mostly polished brass morons.
DevilBoy™ said...
A "polished brass moron". Never saw one of those...
Diamond said...
Maybe they made it all by melting down a bunch of these...
http://www.x-coin.com/catalog/images/zongtong/tn_PG43-1.jpg - inactive, on 10/12/2007, -0/+5BabyWookie:
I didn't just make it up. If you couldn't tell, I was born and raised in the USSR (though am now an American citizen). Though I wasn't around in the 60s or 70s (I'm in my mid-20s now), I vividly remember standing in line with my parents for hours just to get the basic food items like bread and milk. It's also worth noting that this situation varied depending on where you lived. I myself did not live in Moscow, but it sounds like maybe you have.
As for what's going on today... yes, it's true that their economy is strengthening. However, even by internal estimates, I think something like 80% of the population of Russia's wealthiest city -- Moscow -- is living below the poverty line, and the situation is far worse in smaller towns and villages. But obviously there are different ways to quantify economic growth. It's true that many private businesses are thriving and are quite profitable. It's also true that the government is becoming very wealthy, since they provide very few services (which are all poorly funded) -- see, it's easy to save taxed money when you don't like spending it. But the average Russian citizen doesn't feel much economic prosperity, unless they compare their life now to how it was in the 80s when things were at their worst.
Yes, stores in Russia now have many consumer goods and lots of choices (there's no longer just one brand of coffee, or just one brand of refrigerator, etc). But the average Russian doesn't make enough money to afford most of these things, so who cares? Russian businesses and much of the economy is subsidized by the wealthy minority, who have entire stores that cater to them and ONLY to them, going so far as to prevent the average person off the street from entering the premises. There is virtually no viable middle class at all. The country isn't exactly an economic success story. - BabyWookie, on 10/12/2007, -3/+8Sorry, but we never had to stand in bread lines for 5 hours. In fact, I don't recall any bread lines. The big lines only became a problem when the economy was collapsing right before the break-up of the USSR, in the late 80's. Even during the worst of it, when there was some produce rationing and big lines, no one went hungry. It was ***** and inconvenient, but survivable. Life in the USSR was a whole lot better under Khrushchev and Brezhnev though, especially during the oil crisis in the 70's.
As far as the financial state of Russia right now, it's actually pretty good. The economy is experiencing a very wealthy growth, becoming less dependent on natural resource sales and the government has a major budget surplus. - Uberdork, on 10/12/2007, -0/+5Yes, that's really tacky, but, then, so is having so many things gilded. The whole interior is something only Liberace could love.
- kolobcreek, on 10/12/2007, -0/+4I hear all that gold makes the plane fly better. Speaking of which those 220v commy power outlets look really safe. They always spark and pop, Its like your very own lighting storm when you plug something in. Keep your vodka off at a good distance when you plug in your Stallin branded dell laptop.
- gwinerreniwg, on 10/12/2007, -1/+5Putin clearly must have hired Donald Trump's decorator. Yuk!
- inactive, on 10/12/2007, -1/+5tacky
- blackjack75, on 10/12/2007, -0/+3Well, post pictures of yours... maybe you'll make it to the frontpage too, depending on your cleaning habits.
- rubberbrush, on 10/12/2007, -2/+5Elvis Putin?
- espek, on 10/12/2007, -0/+3Actually, kitsch is the wrong word... wrong usage. But I know where you were going with it.
- ProximaC, on 10/12/2007, -4/+7It's good to be the King...
- OBKenobi, on 10/12/2007, -0/+3With all the tacky bling-bling it looks like something Snoop Doggy Dogg would fly.
Does Putin have a pimp cane? Does it have a red button on it to trigger thermonuclear war? - mutatron, on 10/12/2007, -0/+3The apostrophe is your friend. Learn how to use it, it isn't that difficult.
http://www.apostrophe.fsnet.co.uk/ - notfred, on 10/12/2007, -0/+3The altar was interesting, but other than that, it's difficult to imagine anything uglier.
But remember, this was Yeltsin's taste. Marked inaccurate. - enivid, on 10/12/2007, -0/+3Does anyone know what airplane model that is? I know AF1 is a 747.
- Fr0gKing, on 10/12/2007, -1/+4Hahahah, I was going to say the same thing about the ironing board. Also, they have all that gold and a lackluster ironing board to boot! You'd think it would be silky with gold legs not to mention attached to the wall in a more fitting way!
- gwinerreniwg, on 10/12/2007, -1/+3shazbot : Spoken like a member of the privileged majority. Easy to say eliminate welfare, when you've never gone hungry because your mom was forced off due to mandatory limits. Or if you've never had to make the choice between not working to receive govt. benefits to care for your critically ill child, or take a $5.50 an hour job to try to lift yourself up, yet have no health benefits and let that child get sicker. Despite your ignorant perspective, welfare does good for the vast majority of enrollees. I suggest you focus on eliminating the welfare CHEATS, not the program that has helped so many. Or better yet, when was the last time you volunteered at a homeless shelter to see what people who need help and education really look like? I suspect never.
- jcrewyayo, on 10/12/2007, -0/+2ballin out of control
- shazbot, on 10/12/2007, -1/+3Stop crying. Raising the pay to $7.50 will not help anything. Cutting off welfare, would. Maybe people would actually apply themselves in school instead of expecting to get a welfare check. Inflation is bad enough like it is. Keep it at $5.15.
- inactive, on 10/12/2007, -1/+3yellow gold is ugly.... platinum and rhodium however aren't
- paralleljay, on 10/12/2007, -0/+2In soviet russia, gold plates you!
- OBKenobi, on 10/12/2007, -0/+2Are they Georgians, Ukranians, and Chechens?
- PhillyMJS, on 10/12/2007, -1/+3@texpundit:
That was me you quoted-- I googled the phrase and saw your blog entry on it, too. Love it when something I write sticks with someone like that. Thanks! - whiffen, on 10/12/2007, -0/+2Where's the golden polonium dispenser ?
- trovoltex, on 10/12/2007, -0/+2@BabyWookie
I don't agree with you. USSR had difficult situation with food supplies. Perhaps you lived in the city, my parents usually went there to make purchases.
But now it's going better and better. You should come (but maybe after we unite with Ukraine and Belorussia). - Davebo, on 10/12/2007, -0/+2Gold is a common theme in big iron executive aircraft.
See here.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/91514628@N00/
This one actually has 24k gold threads running through the carpet. - antdude, on 10/12/2007, -0/+2This reminds me of Donald Trump's place with gold.
- Asystole, on 10/12/2007, -0/+2It's an Ilyushin Il-96:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ilyushin_Il-96 - Ademan, on 10/12/2007, -2/+4I'd hijack it.
- polumrak, on 10/12/2007, -1/+3I bet you're one of them idiots I heard so much about
- BabyWookie, on 10/12/2007, -1/+3@ ilyag:
Actually, I lived in fairly small, provincial city in Ukraine. We were very poorly supplied compared to Moscow or Kiev, but there were always ***** "bulki" at the bread store, even when we did have to stand in line for chickens, sausage, wine, etc. I remember in the late 80's buying 9 kopek bulki to feed the pigeons in the town square.
You sound like you hate Russia and want to see it fail at everything. 80% of all Moscow residents living bellow poverty line? That's a ***** statistic, if I ever heard one. From what I read, about 26% of all Russians live bellow poverty line, but the rate is much lower in Moscow. I know plenty of middle class Russians these days, people with good apartments, cars, who take vacations in Turkey and Egypt. These people are not olygarchs. They are college professors, scientistist, small business owners, engineers and computer programmers. They are doing quite well in Russia and have no desire to live in the US or anywhere else. Also, the amount of Russian women seeking to come to the US and other Western countries by the means of marriage has dropped dramatically in the past few years.
Yes, Russia is not an economic success story just yet, but it's getting there. The living standarts, levels of education and social development are a lot higher than in China or India, so it is not some third world country. It takes time to transform a huge country like Russia with all the logistical problems that it has, but I believe that in the following decates, Russia will assume a place among the richest, most progressive countries in the world. - polumrak, on 10/12/2007, -0/+2That was in a bad taste, actually.
That golden shower remark, I mean.
And it's yellow, not gold. Traditional color for Russian rulers, you know. - yonas, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1All that gold makes it look so damn tacky.
- brianbennett, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1Tacky, but not gaudy enough to be newsworthy.
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