Month: June 2015

Made it on a board from Serpukhovskaya to Tverskaya, popped into “Ziferblat” to play and accidentally came across a sketching class. They’re talking about Katsushika Hokusai. Interesting so far 🙂 great day 🙂

Learned a bit! Cruising around the center of Moscow. Spent about half an hour on training to enjoy it and not dismount every 30 meters. Awesome!

Can anyone explain why a Moscow State University student can’t relocate permanently to another country, on her own initiative, even if it’s recognized by many other states as “bad”? More than 8 million people live in ISIS, and their army consists of about 200,000. There seem to be no proofs that she was sent there as a terrorist. What if a person likes the Sharia laws and the caliphate, what’s the point of forcibly bringing them back? Would anyone care if she were 50 years old? Where is the line?

The only reasonable cause for her return, in my opinion, would be evidence that she didn’t go there to live and have children, but to kill people (using TNT or rifles – doesn’t really matter). But so far, no one mentions that (which means nothing)

I’ve been pondering the peculiar way Microsoft numbers its versions.

First there came three versions of Windows 1, 2, and 3 (not counting 2.1 and 3.1), and then there was an immediate leap to 95 and 98. Next, they opted for letter names – NT, ME, and XP. That didn’t last long either, and along came Vista.

It seems their creativity ended there, and Microsoft decided to return to using numbers. They figured the next version should be Windows 7, followed by Windows 8, continuing the numbering.

One would think the next version would be 9, but Microsoft decided to call it 10.

I just opened my Windows version window, and on my Windows 7 it shows version 6.1. http://clip2net.com/s/3iShYGb

Yet, the latest Windows 10 is NT version 10. Where version 9 went, only Microsoft knows.

It turns out that in MS there are separate versions, and separate commercial names, which are very similar to the versions.

Windows 95 is NT 4.0,

Windows 98 is NT 4.1

Windows 2000 is NT 5.0

Windows XP is NT 5.1

Windows Vista is NT 6.0

Windows 7 is NT 6.1

Windows 8 is NT 6.2

Windows 8.1 is NT 6.3

Windows 10 is NT 10

The earliest version I extensively worked with was Windows 3.11. Interestingly, version 3.2 only exists in Chinese.

Today marks exactly one month since I decided without any apparent reason to stop eating anything containing sugar and flour. It’s certainly not possible to completely eliminate both, but I managed to ensure that the bulk of my calories come from other foods. The hardest part was learning to drink unsweetened tea and not to eat the crispy crusts of freshly baked bread in restaurants. Pastries, cakes, and candies have never evoked much of a feeling in me. As a result, I don’t eat sandwiches and don’t drink various colas. Now, cola seems so “bleh” that I wouldn’t drink it even if I was dying of thirst:) Beer, noodles in soup, and sugar in pickled chili don’t count as restrictions.

As a side effect, almost five kg down.

http://lifehacker.ru/tag/zdorovoe-pitanie/

Early in the morning I had English, translating a fairy tale. Here’s a little task for you: how would you translate the phrase “Жалко старику старуху, жалко сына и дочку.”?

See, that’s just how you are. You took a big piece for yourself and left me a small one.

– And what would you have done?

– I would have taken a small piece for myself.

– Well then, why are you yelling? I gave you exactly that.

Thought it was the perfect time to watch some horror movies, so I watched James Wan’s The Conjuring (2014) in its original version. Scary and interesting. Supposedly based on real events.

Should I also watch his Insidious? Saw? What other movies of this kind should I definitely watch? Suggestions?)

http://www.kinopoisk.ru/film/468994/

Interesting facts. Before posting here, I made sure to fact-check. Overall, everything looks close to the truth, see the links below.

— In 2 years, China produced more cement than the USA in the entire 20th century. From January to December 2014, China’s cement industry produced 2 billion 476 million tons of cement. And over the last two years, 4 billion 890 million tons (4.9 gigatons). In recent years, the USA produces about 80 million tons of cement per year (30 times less than China), Russia produces 65 million tons.

— The length of roads in China is 4 million kilometers. It is the largest road network in the world. The recent growth rate is about 10 thousand km of expressways per year.

— 300 thousand bridges across the country, of which 1000 are longer than a kilometer. And by 2016 a bridge from Hong Kong to Macau will be built.

— Every year, the number of cars increases by 20 million, and in Beijing, you can only enter if the last digit of your license plate is allowed on that day.

— Every year, 100 airports are built.

— Huge viaducts, 150 km long (Danyang–Kunshan Grand Bridge). Or consider a tunnel that is 32 km long (New Guanjiao Tunnel).

— A train from Guangzhou to Guiyang crosses 510 bridges and 236 tunnels at a speed of 250 km per hour in one hour.

— Over 30 years, the Chinese have increased the residential area of the country by 8 times.

— In 10 years, China will have 220 cities with a population of more than 1 million people.

A very interesting article – “China’s Cement Meters”, http://aftershock.su/?q=node/311149

“Until 1957, there had been no bridges across the Yangtze River. The ‘First Bridge’, as it is called, was built in 1957 in cooperation with engineers from the USSR. However, they had to leave before finishing the work due to emerging political disagreements between our countries. The bridge has two levels — a railway track on the lower level and a four-lane highway on the upper level. Additionally, there is even a museum on the bridge that tells the story of the creation of the first crossing over the Yangtze River. Possibly, the future bridge in Crimea will be somewhat a copy of this bridge.

Now there are about 80 bridges over the Yangtze River, including more than 10 bridges that are world record holders in various categories. Such as: the largest arch bridge in the world, the largest concrete arch bridge, the largest double-deck railway viaduct, the largest double-deck railway bridge, etc.”

“The colossal leap in the development of HSR (high–speed rail) over the last 10 years has been made by China, leaving its closest competitors from Europe and Asia far behind. China now has the largest network of high-speed and very high-speed railways in the world, exceeding those in Japan and Europe combined. The vast network of high-speed railways gradually covers all of China, and huge viaducts extend up to 100–150 km in length. The Danyang-Kunshan Viaduct, part of the Beijing–Shanghai HSR with its 165-kilometer length (of which 9 kilometers are laid directly over Yancheng Lake) — is absolutely the world leader.”

“The current urbanization in China is a colossal and unprecedented process in scale in history. The living space per capita in cities has increased from 4 square meters in 1980 to 31.5 square meters in 2010, although this is much less than in the USA (65 square meters per person), it is already more than in Russia (24 m2 per person).”

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cement_industry_in_China

http://www.statista.com/topics/1195/cement/

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_road_network_size

http://www.ft.com/cms/s/2/fedb9308-8501-11e3-8968-00144feab7de.html

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_long_tunnels_by_type

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_cities_in_China_by_population

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Danyang%E2%80%93Kunshan_Grand_Bridge

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hong_Kong%E2%80%93Zhuhai%E2%80%93Macau_Bridge</p