Things apparently happening in this large country where I reside:

Once again, courtesy of Mike "always in the know about weird shit" Broderick. I have highlighted my favorite tidbits in red:


THE GIRL WITH X-RAY EYES

Natasha Demkina has an extraordinary gift that means she can quite literally see right through people. Her story sounds like it has come straight from the pages of a science fiction comic book, but doctors have yet to disprove her amazing abilities. Natasha is able to look into people’s bodies and correctly diagnose their medical problems, without any help from ultra-sound or x-ray equipment.

Natasha’s mother, Tatyana Vladimovna, says that her daughter appeared to be like any other child as she grew up, although she was mature for her age. Natasha learned to do things more quickly than other children; she was able to talk at just six months and by the time she was a year old she could recite Pushkin. At three she had learned the alphabet and mastered how to operate a snow mobile.

When she was ten Natasha went into hospital to have her appendix removed. There were complications and it was discovered that cotton swabs had been left in her abdomen. Natasha had a second operation to remove the swabs and one month later she began to remark on the fact she could see inside people. She told her mother she saw what looked like a vacuum cleaner hose, two beans and a tomato inside her. Tatyana believed that, although Natasha didn’t know the correct words, her daughter was describing her intestines, kidneys and heart.

At the children’s hospital in her hometown of Saransk, Western Russia, doctors ran a battery of tests to find out if the little girl really did have x-ray vision. In one case Natasha drew a picture of what she saw inside a doctor’s stomach, marking a dark spot exactly where he had an ulcer. She also disagreed with the diagnosis of a cancer patient, saying all she could see was a small cyst. Further tests on the woman proved that Natasha was correct.

Natasha was brought to England by a national newspaper and she successfully spotted all of the fractures and metal pins in a woman who had recently been in a car crash. The woman was fully clothed and had no visible signs of how or where she had been injured.

Natasha is an icon in Russia. She receives dozens of phone calls each day and people queue outside her parents tiny flat to wait for consultations. Natasha wants to go to medical school in Moscow, so she can continue helping people. But the only way her family could afford to send her to university was to charge 400 roubles (£8) for each consultation she gave. Natasha often has headaches after these sessions and finds it emotionally exhausting because of the illnesses she diagnoses.

This could very well be a scam, as the Russians are quite good at that kind of thing, but it's still an interesting article nonetheless. Thanks, Mike.

Also, the most exciting part of my day I think was in разговор (conversation class) when Emily told me that Hillary Clinton is going to be Obama's secretary of state. I'm quite pleased with this news, and kind of think it's funny that half of the past four secretaries of state would have been Wellesley graduates then (Madeline Albright = Wellesley class of 1959).... but once again, of course, men always get to be the president -- now, apparently, no matter what their race -- and women are still stuck working as secretaries. Ho, hum.