Day two of Sochi horror stories. Stacy St. Clair of the Chicago Tribune on DANGEROUS FACE WATER:

It was already 5:50 a.m. and I couldn’t fall back to sleep so I figured I would just begin my day. I turned on the water to brush my teeth, but nothing came out. Just the gagging, asthmatic sound of pipes wanting to produce water.

I tried to flip on the shower. It wouldn’t work. The toilets wouldn’t flush either.

I called the front desk.

“It will be fixed in 40 minutes,” the sympathetic man at the reception desk told me. “But when it comes back on, please do not use on your face because it contains something very dangerous.”

Welcome to Sochi 2014, the dystopian-like Games where a simple shower poses a threat to your face, fire alarms ring constantly and several hotels remain unfinished. Russian President Vladimir Putin spent more than $50 billion on these Games — the most expensive Olympics, winter or summer, ever — yet he seemingly forgot to pay the water bill.

Silly Stacy. Vladimir not forget, he recycle toilet water for face! Going green, Russia is. “You flush, you brush!”

But for real, Puuts™ is in over his head. And he’s got bigger fish to fry– like the looming spectre of a massive terrorist attack, international spying… and dogs. Ah yes, those dogs. They’re still around, standing guard over Old Mother Russia like a disembodied spirit haunting a wooden dwelling. They’re menacing, terrifying… AND ADORABLY CUTE!
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Awws. Problem is, as you’ve likely heard, they’re doing everything they can to capture and kill “relocate”… doing everything they can to relocate these dogs. At a press conference today, officials said healthy stray dogs were being taken into custody, not killed. Of course, taken into custody in the Caucasus may be a fate worse than death. Unless they go with these guys, who are rescuing dogs that are bound for the gas chamber.

Anyway, the dogs are cute and I think they should stay. All part of the experience, Russ. Just like brown face water.

dog pics via (@TVBroadcast), (@oflyynkevin), and (@blatchkiki)