Month: October 2023

Some beautiful photos from today.

Nadya and I celebrated Halloween in the most American way today #ghostbusters

Please do not steal the hay. Someone worked much harder than you for it to be here

Folks, I’m here writing a parser for the output of “ls -lR” and “DIR /S” into virtual hierarchies, which can be compared with each other, from which you can generate scripts for archiving selected files, etc.

If anyone understands at least something and you have Windows, could you send me a DIR /S (for Windows) of any folder with subfolders, preferably a large one, to r.aliev@gmail.com or in a private message. The contents of the files are obviously not transmitted, only the name, creation date, sizes are needed. I don’t need the ls -lR output. Ideally, it would have long filenames with spaces.

I came across a very interesting article written by Garrett Hardin, published back in 1974 in “Psychology Today”, which correlates highly with the events in Israel and Palestine. In short—the article discusses how aid to poor countries can be ineffective and even harmful in the long run. Hardin uses the metaphor of a “lifeboat” to illustrate his point—what do you do if you’re shipwrecked and can only take 10 people in the lifeboat, but there are a hundred outside? What would you do? He explores various scenarios, and then expands this to the topic of aiding poor countries.

In his view, if wealthy countries unconditionally aid poor ones, it could lead to overpopulation and resource degradation in those countries, ultimately exacerbating their problems.

I translated from English as best I could, using, of course, an automatic translator, and edited the result as I read. So excuse the imperfections, I was reluctant to spend more than an hour on reading and editing at the same time.

I will attach the link later. Right now, I’m experimenting with the format—here it’s a gallery of 23 pictures, which should be easily readable on a phone or screen.

Deleted

“A monster vast, mischievous, enormous, stack-huge, and barking”

Zdzislaw Beksinski (Polish, 1929-2005)

Untitled, early 1970s

Oil on fiberboard

90 x 70 cm

It appears there was no text provided after the filename. Please provide the text that needs translation or let me know how else I may assist you!

From “Determined” by Sapolsky – some interesting facts about overcoming adversity

1) When Oprah Winfrey was a child, her family was so poor that she often wore potato sacks because buying clothes from the store was too expensive.

2) Harland Sanders, the founder of KFC, received 1009 rejections before someone agreed to accept his recipe.

3) In December 2018, Eliud Kibet was second in the Malaga Marathon, but his legs gave out just a few meters from the finish line (literally a few) and he lost the silver medal. He crawled those few meters, finishing in 2:11:25.

4) Hyvon Ngetich crawled the last 300 meters at the Austin Marathon 2015. Check the YouTube video “Austin Marathon Hyvon Ngetich Crawling to Finish.” She ultimately finished (crawled) third in her group (3:04:02).

5) An interesting story about Mario Renato Capecchi, a molecular geneticist and co-winner of the 2007 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine. At four and a half years old, during World War II, his mother was sent to the Dachau concentration camp, which eventually led to Mario spending nearly four years living on the streets as a child, periodically ending up in orphanages and almost dying from malnutrition.

6) There is also a reference to an interesting story about Helen Keller, marked as w-a-t-e-r. Apparently, Sapolsky assumes that all American readers are aware of it and no explanations are needed. Of course, I’ve heard about Helen Keller, but not about the w-a-t-e-r story. Helen was blind and deaf from childhood, and Anne Sullivan was her teacher and mentor. Understandably, when you cannot see or hear from childhood, it is not entirely clear how you are to be taught at all. The moment hinted at in this phrase occurred when Anne Sullivan helped Helen Keller realize the connection between words and objects in her world. This story is famously known as the “w-a-t-e-r” moment. When Helen Keller was at a water pump at her family home, Anne Sullivan made her feel the water while simultaneously spelling out the letters “w-a-t-e-r” on her palm. This moment was crucial for Helen Keller as it helped her understand that words are connected to the world around her. This moment was an important step in her education and conscious understanding of communication, and it is often cited in her life story. Eventually, Helen Keller learned to communicate with the surrounding world using sign language, Braille, and even verbal speech. She received an education and became a famed author, an advocate for disability rights, and a public figure.

7) Madeleine Albright sold bras in a supermarket in Denver.

8) Jorge Mario Bergoglio, also known as Pope Francis. Born in Argentina, he worked as a janitor and a bouncer before becoming Pope in March 2013.

I can’t remember when I last watched Russian TV series. I think it was “To the Lake,” and before that, “The Master and Margarita.” And now it seems something worthwhile has appeared. The guys did something conceptually new and it’s quite fresh; surprisingly, some scenes even made it past the censorship. Honestly, the first two episodes did raise some questions regarding the script, but then it got better. I recommend it. Look for the first two episodes on YouTube, the rest are on Google.