Month: June 2022

Today, we unexpectedly came across a monument to Pushkin in Rome (Villa Borghese).

The inscription in Italian on the pedestal reads: “Who knows the land where the sky shines with inexplicable blue… Italy, magical land, country of lofty inspirations”

Work by Yuri Orekhov. There’s also his monument to Pushkin in the center of Baku. And in Vienna, Minsk, Yakutsk, Paris. Pushkin never visited Italy.

Today we visited the Borghese Museum. One of the sculptures there seemed very interesting to me. It depicts Pauline Bonaparte in the guise of Venus.

Napoleon Bonaparte had three brothers and three sisters. Out of all of them, Pauline Bonaparte was his favorite.

Pauline garnered fame as the most charming and licentious woman of Paris. She married General Leclerc. That is, at that time he had been an aide-de-camp for three years, in May Napoleon made him a general, and in June Pauline became Leclerc’s wife. Three years later, Leclerc died of yellow fever, and Pauline married Camillo Borghese, a supporter of Napoleon. This 28-year-old Italian, a representative of an ancient aristocratic family, owned two palaces, 40 castles, filled with works of antique and modern art, Roman palazzo, and a collection of rare diamonds. There’s actually an interesting story there, I recommend reading

She was buried in Basilica Santa Maria Maggiore, where we also went today. This year, 2022, marks exactly 200 years since her death. Various sources claim that according to her last will, a statue by Canova was placed next to her grave. I cannot find any confirmation of this, and, moreover, Canova’s statue is not in the basilica, as we see.

So, returning to the sculpture itself. Pay attention to how precisely the mattress is conveyed in stone. The folds, the pattern, the tassels of the pillow, and even what seems to be a stain. And Pauline herself must also be pleased.

A lifehack I’ve been using for a long time is when in a cafe or hotel, if the connection page does not appear while trying to connect to free internet (you know, where they collect emails or personal data in exchange for access), you can usually prompt it manually in the browser by navigating to http://айпи-адрес of the router (settings->wifi->router). And if you add /admin to it, in some cases, you can access the admin panel (after a couple of attempts to guess the password from choices like admin or root). The admin panel isn’t particularly useful, but out of curiosity, I’ve logged in three times without tampering with anything. But I often use the first tip

cute

#fromromewithlove

new JR’s, this time in Rome // French Embassy

#fromromewithlove #absolutelyfantastic

The Vittoriano — A mind in possession of good reigns

#fromRomeWithLove

Hello, Rome!

What prevents corporate messengers like Teams from supporting screen sharing from multiple participants at once and dividing the screen into multiple zones? It would be so convenient. Currently, only one person can share their screen. And that’s what everyone does.

Some observations after driving for almost 7 years in the USA.

– Roads are either being built or upgraded to simplify traffic rules. Essentially, the most important rules are—don’t drive through a red light, don’t veer into oncoming traffic, don’t speed, and don’t cut across lanes. Everything else is dictated by common sense. Situations where you need to use your turn signal are quite rare. Obviously, when changing lanes, but the roads are constructed in such a way that if you are in one of the right lanes, other drivers generally understand that you may soon turn right. There’s almost always an exit pocket ahead with a safe right turn and an acceleration lane afterwards, and using a turn signal seems unnecessary.

– I have never heard of the police nitpicking over anything other than the issues listed above. Red lights, speed—that’s about it. No one in their right mind goes against traffic, and there are almost always dividers. Accidentally brushing a wheel over a double yellow line or stopping beyond the line at a stop sign is not even considered an offense.

– Almost everyone drives after a glass of wine or a can of beer – that’s a given, some drink more. Everyone has their own limits, of course, but usually such an amount isn’t enough to deter them from driving. The limits are 0.07% BAC (Driving While Intoxicated, DWI) and 0.08% BAC (Driving Under the Influence, DUI). If caught above these levels, the fine is $2,500, and you can end up in jail for a year. Technically, 0.08% BAC equals 14 grams of pure alcohol, or four cans of beer (12fl oz) or four glasses of wine (5fl oz). Thus, one can or glass is definitely safe. Two are almost certainly safe, but three or four—you’re walking on thin ice. Ideally, after any amount of alcohol, it’s best to avoid any accidents.

– Turning right on red from the right lane is very convenient. It’s clear that you must yield to all speeding vehicles and pedestrians (who are almost never around in our parts). At some intersections, such a turn is prohibited.

– Turns almost never block traffic. It happens on small roads, but there is always a separate lane for turning left or right only, and separate lanes for going straight. This is very convenient. Often, you can turn left on a green light without a left arrow, yielding to oncoming traffic, unless otherwise prohibited by a sign or a red arrow.

– Simultaneous turns from both directions – like in the attached right picture – are very common. It was a bit scary at first

– Initially, turning left onto an adjoining road across a double yellow line intersecting several lanes (for instance, three or four) really surprised me. It’s considered normal, but it was scary at first; I waited until all the cars had passed. This only applies to infrequent side roads. Usually, a proper turn is made.

– Many intersections have STOP ALL WAY signs where you need to stop and wait until the cars that arrived at the intersection before you pass. Simple logic, and very effective. But it requires time to adapt.

– It’s not advisable to stop along the highway. Not forbidden, but you may encounter a police officer who might stop to ask if everything is okay and if you need help. Thus, to enter something into the navigator often means having to exit the highway. Stopping on the shoulder is often not possible due to the absence of one. There might sometimes be a small strip, but it’s really scary to stop there.

– In our state, Virginia, there are no cameras, but speeding over 20 mph (30 km/h) is very strictly punished (Class 1 misdemeanor – up to $2500 or up to 12 months in jail). Exceeding the limit on roads with a 25 mph limit is usually forgiven (you’ll still have to pay around a $200 fine). Driving above 80 mph (128 km/h) is considered reckless driving and is also punished as a Class . There is somewhere (I think not in Virginia) a highway where 75 mph is allowed, we usually add five on top of the limit, but no more.

–

Interestingly, the ginger Yuki is orange in English, and the ball is also orange. However, English uses a much broader array of words for colors than we are accustomed to in Russian. For example, for shades of red there are scarlet, pink, crimson, rose. There are also purple and magenta, for blue/purple there are indigo, violet, and lilac, and there’s also navy.

So our Yuki is red (red, but sort of ginger), and the ball is indeed also red (but not ginger)