Luzhkov's plan is to spray clouds with a chemical mist — made of cement powder, dry ice, or silver iodide — before they reach the city, causing the clouds to dump their snow loads on the surrounding suburbs. The advantages, he claims, are numerous: Moscow residents won't have to contend with congested streets, the agricultural regions will receive more precipitation, and the whole project is considerably less expensive than the current cost of clearing Moscow's streets.

The plan is only to keep blizzards out and allow smaller snowfalls to occur inside the city, but environmentalists aren't pleased with the project's rapid approval by the City Council. Also less than thrilled are the residents of Moscow's suburbs, who will now be enjoying all the snow that Moscow turns away.

This is hardly Moscow's first foray into climate hacking. Each year on Victory Day and City Day, Moscow pays the air force to prevent rain falling on the city's celebrations. And several years ago, Luzhkov spearheaded a project to reverse the flow of the River Ob through Siberia to help irrigate other Central Asian regions, a plan that met with limited success.

[Yahoo! News]

Conventional wisdom might have it that this was the Moscow that never existed, but plenty of the ideas here did survive, even if the buildings didn't.

People's Соmmissariat of Heavy Industry, A. Vesnin, V, Vesnin, S. Lyaschenko, 1934:

Another competition produced this design, which has a more modern version in this Moscow apartment building:

The Рalace of Technology А.Samoylov, B.Yefomovich. 1933:

The fact the Russian showcase for achievement in science never came about in actuality is ironic, but you can be glad that the design sense of this Palace, which was to sit at the edge of a river, was carried over into the Ice Palace:

Building of the People's Defence Commissariat, Lev Rudney, 1933:

Though this monster never came to pass, Lev Rudnev designed many buildings in the city, including this one, which incredibly belongs to a University.

Palace of Soviets, Boris Iofan, 1934

160 entries were submitted for the Palace of the Soviets in 1933. Today there's a new palace on the block, and it's called the Russia Tower, which will be completed in 2012:

In the rubble of the collapse of the Soviet Union, Moscow turned to Norman Foster for a new vision with this tower. While some lament the demise of Russian's architectural history, we have always been scared of giant penises in the sky.

Unrealised Moscow [Schusev State School of Architecture]

Just to make it clear, I'm not talking about this Space Olympics, nor am I talking about this Space Olympics - Although, I have to admit, I really want to find out more about the latter one; I mean, come on: Batman never cheats. No, I'm referring to the real Space Olympics, an annual 10-day crash-course hot-housing of today's students in a suburb of Moscow that makes them realize that space really is the place.

Running since 1994, the Russian International Space Olympics for Students (to give the event its full title) takes place this October and is available for students from the US, UK, Russia, Australia and Europe who, judging by one particular application form, are verbose enough to give great essay:

The opportunity to participate will be competitive based on a student’s research project, grades/courses taken, and answers to questions in the application package... The research project and student presentation of the project are an important part of the International Space Olympics. The topic identified for research is space exploration. To assist applicants in considering topics, the broad NASA research areas are presented. However, the applicant may use research data from any viable source. These four research areas are:
Human Exploration and Development of Space;
Earth Science;
Planetary and Space Science; and
Transportation Needs in Space.

Research should reflect the scientific investigation process that is a part of the Science Standards of Learning (ES.1, ES.2, BIO.1, PH.1, PH.2), which includes:
develop a question;
form a hypothesis;
recognize that evidence is required to evaluate hypotheses and explanations;
use technologies, including computers, to collect, analyze, and report data to demonstrate concepts and simulate experimental conditions;
construct and defend a scientific viewpoint;
explain that observation and logic are essential for reaching a conclusion; and
interpolate, extrapolate, and analyze trends to make predictions.

The research process of the English Standards of Learning (11.10) should also be used. This process includes:
evaluate quality and accuracy of information;
synthesize information in a logical sequence;
edit writing for clarity of content and effect;
document sources of information, using a style sheet, such as that of the Modern Language Association (MLA) or the American Psychological Association (APA);
edit copy for grammatically correct use of language, spelling, punctuation, and capitalization; and
proofread final copy and prepare document for publication or submission.

The research project should be explained in a paper that should be a maximum of ten pages in length, single-spaced, using 12-point font, and one-inch margins.

(Other qualities necessary to attend include "open-mindedness" and "ability to cope with adverse conditions," which suggests that someone somewhere expects something to go wrong at some point during the trip, or has a low opinion of Russian lodgings.)

Successful applicants will get to present their research projects at the Space Olympics, as well as meet Russian Cosmonauts, visit Russia's Mission Control Center, hang out at the Kremlin and, hopefully for all involved, hook up with other space geeks from exotic foreign countries. All of which sounds more attractive - and productive - to us than watching someone jump around on the parallel bars for hours on end.

Space Olympics [Spacedu.org]