Bad postcard of the week: As Sochi Olympics come to a close, we look at mysteries of Russian construction projects and Star Trek

The smoke stack probably worked better than the Olympic rings during the opening ceremonies.

As we know from watching the Winter Olympics in Sochi, Russians are pretty proud about the stuff they build.

Oh, sure. We've seen a problem or two or 100.

Sometimes athletes got stuck in their bathrooms and had to break out by smashing through the doors. But hey, that’s why they made those fancy double potties. Help is always nearby.

And they can move suspended things along giant tacks on the roof, which works most of the time.

Buzzfeed has been keeping track of these issues, so there’s no need for us to get into detail. But the Russians are excited by their construction projects.

I know this from a postcard I received this month from a new Russian friend through Postcrossing. It will serve as this week’s bad postcard, as the celebrated, but not entirely functional Winter Olympics draw to a close.

It’s a little difficult to figure out what is going on here.  But through the magic of Wikipedia’s translation, I was able to determine that this is a paper mill in Dubrovka, a town near Moscow.

I have to say, that’s one impressive smoke stack.

The writing on the back from my new friend doesn’t shed light on our spectacular paper mill.

Chakotay

“Hi Dave.  On your profile  pic you look like Chakotay from “Star Trek: Voyager” and as smiley as John S. Barrowman does. I hope you don’t mind this. Live long and prosper.”

I confess I have only a vague reflection of the characters in that Start Trek franchise other than Seven of Nine. And I’m not exactly sure who John S. Barrowman is, even after looking at his website.

I’m going to assume both comparisons were intended as compliments, so I thank my Russian postcard pen pal.

Comparisons are, of course, subjective. Kind of like figure skating judging. The Russians do seem to have trouble with that.