Stalin's rigged billiard table in Sochi: Flickr Focus of the Week
As with so many things surrounding Stalin, there's more than meets the eye in the billiard room of his dacha (villa) in Sochi, Russia.
But it probably comes as no surprise that Rule No. 1 of playing pool with the dictator was: He wins.
Measures were taken to ensure that. Its height was altered to make the game easier for him (he wasn't more than 5-foot-8, and possibly more like 5-foot-4, according to some reports), and he had a specially made pool cue that was weighted and took into account his poor vision in one eye. That favorite cue is still on display there. Visitors can even take shots.
Through Friday, Yahoo Homes will be looking at Stalin's Sochi dacha as our Flickr Focus of the Week. Come back each day to see another space in the residence, plus the story behind it:
Monday: The grounds of Stalin's Sochi dacha.
Tuesday: Stalin's study.
Wednesday: Stalin's indoor pool.
Thursday: Stalin's billiard table.
Friday: A slideshow wrap-up.
More about Yahoo Homes' new Flickr Focus of the Week feature
Each week, we're going to select one Flickr user's home, work and/or project to feature on all five weekdays. Loosely, our plan is to start with a broad slideshow on Monday, then take slightly deeper dives into specific aspects of the Flickr user's photos on the successive weekdays.
We'd love your feedback and suggestions as this work in progress evolves. You can email us at yahoohomes@yahoo-inc.com. Or, if your questions are specific to one week's focus, leave questions and suggestions at the bottom of the blog posts. Yahoo Homes promises to keep a close eye on the comments section -- and sometimes, the person whose home or work we're featuring will also participate in the comments to answer your questions, too.
For future installments, we very much welcome your submissions at http://bit.ly/yahoohomesflickr. Toot your own horn or someone else's! This would be a fantastic opportunity to spread the word about a designer, contractor (before-and-after pictures would be fabulous), home stager, blogger, even perhaps real estate agent (maybe one who specializes in period properties?) -- anyone who does creative home-related work that can be illustrated in photographs. Just go to http://bit.ly/yahoohomesflickr to join Yahoo Homes' Flickr group and share photos; that's where we pull our photos from.
