October 05 2014, 14:45

A very intriguing review, with digressions into physics and poetry (“Son, look how intelligently everything is arranged in nature—the cat has holes in its fur exactly where its eyes are”, “…don’t be fooled by the big label ‘replaces a steamer’ – a multicooker without this label will resemble a multicooker with the label, just without the label”, about supercritical fluids, Celsius, Strehler, Huygens, and Hooke)

All my life I thought that inside multicookers there was a pressure sensor and, probably, scales. But, it turns out, there is only a temperature sensor installed at the bottom. Consequently, the moment when water boils away is detected by the rise in temperature above the boiling point.

http://boxoverview.d3.ru/comments/603933/

October 05 2014, 07:17

“… After all, we didn’t enter politics completely green. We had experience. I was a bartender before. It’s when you empty all the ashtrays after a party…”.

Very interesting article about Iceland’s “Best Party” led by comedian Jón Gnarr, which with the slogan “More punk, less hell” won the elections and rescued Reykjavik from crisis in four years.

Here are some more campaign promises:

* to provide free towels in all swimming pools;

• to house a polar bear in the local zoo;

• to bring Jews to the country, “so that finally, someone who understands economics might come to Iceland”;

• a drug-free parliament by 2020;

• do nothing: “We’ve worked all our lives and want to rest for four years on a good salary”;

• to build a Disneyland park with free entry for the unemployed, so they “could get photographed with Goofy”;

• more closeness to rural population: “Every Icelandic farmer will have the right to house a sheep in their guest room for free”;

• free bus rides—with a caveat: “We can promise more than any other party, because we will break every promise we make”.

“…On the day of the elections, the Best Party finally stated its sole demand for a coalition partner—to watch all five seasons of the series ‘The Wire’.”

http://style.rbc.ru/person/2014/07/15/18861/

September 28 2014, 11:19

Skating: Who would teach me how to quickly turn around on skates from moving backwards to facing the road? Well, I know how to face the road, but it’s quite a harsh way to stop. I can turn around at speed facing backwards, but then I have to significantly reduce the speed to turn back. I might need to watch some video courses before the next season)

September 26 2014, 04:48

Yesterday, the State Duma approved in the second reading the bill “On Amending Article 4 of the Federal Law ‘On Amending Certain Legislative Acts of the Russian Federation Concerning the Specification of the Procedure for Processing Personal Data in Information and Telecommunication Networks’

(concerning the specification of the effective date).”

In short, all online stores with a Russian version hosted “there” should consider creating a local version here in Russia. And we are always ready.

P.S. I wonder if there will be a third-order nesting of “On Amending…”?

September 25 2014, 01:49

The day before yesterday, I heard a poem by Mayakovsky about clouds at least a hundred times, which Masha found difficult to grasp. And yesterday, I tried explaining it to Alice, who was learning Russian. Indeed, Mayakovsky is untranslatable. So, does anyone have thoughts on what part of speech, or what form the word “сжирав” is? 😉 And the poem is excellent:

Clouds were floating across the sky.

Four little clouds in all:

from the first to the third — people,

the fourth was a little camel.

Driven by curiosity,

a fifth one tagged along on the road,

from it, in the azure embrace of the sky,

elephants scattered after a little elephant.

And I don’t know if it was the sixth that scared them,

but all ten clouds just melted away.

And following them, chasing and devouring,

the sun chased after them — a yellow giraffe.

[1917—1918]