It’s been a busy Web 2.0 week in Russia!
Ever thought you could have done a better job coming up with a symbol for the U.S. dollar sign? Well, here’s your chance to weigh in on a currency symbol. The Russian central bank is crowdsourcing (or at the very least allowing Internet voting) on five option for the symbol for the ruble. Here they are as listed on the Russian Central Bank’s Web site:
Source: http://www.cbr.ru/today/?prtid=voterub
The complication here is that the cyrillic letter “R” is written like the latin letter “P”. So the first two symbols build off the cyrillic letter for R, whereas the latter three are based on the latin letter “R”. Of course, as has been previously noted, these last three options may be doubling as thinly veiled advertisements for the ski events at the coming Sochi Olympics.
If currency design is not your thing, you can always sit back, relax, and enjoy the soothing sounds of the Russian Folk Song and Dance Ensemble of the Interior Ministry (aka the Russian police) as they prove it is never too late to add another item to your “didn’t see that one coming” list in performing Daft Punk’s hit “Get Lucky“.
And, oh yes, Russia also livestreamed the launching of the Olympic torch into space:
(Credit: Associated Press)
Normally I’d end a post like this with some sort of outlandish prediction for what they might do next, but honestly can’t top the Russian police singing Daft Punk…
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[h/t to Josh Gordon and Greg Horowitz]