Category: History

Aluminum: From Precious Metal to Everyday Marvel | August 03 2025, 01:09

The USA imports aluminum mainly from Canada because aluminum leaves Canada and arrives in the USA. And from Europe, it would be alumin𝒊um!

Also, sapphires and rubies are essentially rusty aluminum, where in the process the new material becomes much harder than the original. In interaction with oxygen, different varieties of the mineral corundum are formed, which chemically is crystalline aluminum oxide (formula Al₂O₃). And bulletproof glass is essentially transparent rusty aluminum, aluminum oxide, but with aluminum nitride.

Also, aluminum was the most valuable metal on Earth until the 20th century. When Napoleon III entertained guests, they ate with golden spoons, while he used an aluminum one. And the “cap” of our Washington Monument is made of aluminum for that very reason.

Understanding American Politics Through Washington’s Farewell Letter | July 23 2025, 23:33

To better understand American politics today, here’s a fact. Since 1862, the farewell letter of the first president and founding father George Washington is read annually before the opening session of the Senate.

Among other things, it includes the following (I’m paraphrasing in my own words because the oddly complex sentences, in which it’s hard to track what is being talked about, are the normal written language of that time. I hope I didn’t misrepresent):

* Foreign interference is one of the worst threats, and you must constantly be paranoid about it. However, be cautious to be fair and wise in this matter, otherwise, you will focus so much on one country that you will slide into alliances with others.

* Avoid permanent alliances and foreign policy commitments. Trade with everyone, but avoid permanent political and military alliances with other countries, especially European ones. This allows you to avoid being drawn into others’ wars and conflicts. We obviously must keep our promises, but let’s try not to make new ones in the future.

* Europe has a bunch of problems that mean nothing to us. So they will fight, and we must make sure we do not get involved on any side. We can make ourselves unpleasant enemies, which we do not need.

* Since we are here, across the Atlantic, we can mind our own business. And if we just hold together a little longer, we might become strong enough to stand up for ourselves. And if we are cool enough, other countries will not want to start anything, so the choice of starting a war or maintaining peace will be ours.

* Political parties are evil. Namely, the party system leads to infighting, distracts from real problems, weakens the government, and exposes the country to foreign influence, as other countries can manipulate one of the parties.

* It is impossible to build a successful state and trust people (e.g., their oaths) if there is no strong moral and religious foundation in society.

* Do not accumulate large state debts during peacetime. It is necessary to pay bills on time, and for this, taxes are necessary, which citizens should approach with understanding.

Rediscovering Peder Severin Krøyer: The Overlooked Impressionist | July 23 2025, 22:40

I haven’t posted anything about artists in a while. Today, I want to talk about an Impressionist you’ve probably never heard of, yet he deserves to be ranked alongside Degas, Manet, Monet, and Renoir. His name is Peder Severin Krøyer, a Danish painter from the second half of the 19th century.

Interestingly, a film about his wife, Marie Triepcke, was released in 2012. She was considered the most beautiful woman in Europe, and he — at least in Denmark — the most talented painter. She was an artist too, but eventually stopped painting entirely in his shadow. According to some sources, not without the influence of her brilliant husband, who actively convinced Marie of her lack of talent.

Posts like this are grouped under the hashtag #artrauflikes, and on beinginamerica.com in the Art Rauf Likes” section you can find all 152 entries (unlike Facebook, which forgets — or ignores — nearly half of them).

Seattle’s Monorail: A Vintage Transport Still in Motion | July 22 2025, 16:28

Seattle’s two-station monorail (a world record!), reportedly self-sustaining and extremely popular among tourists despite being arguably the city’s most pointless form of transportation, features the same Alweg trains that have been in operation since its inauguration 63 years ago for the World Fair.

Interestingly, even the one-station monorail has a driver. I recently saw a job posting for a Monorail Driver, paying $20/hour (with a minimum wage of $18.67). Roughly the same hourly rate can be earned by stocking shelves in any supermarket in the USA.

However, the only major accident on the Seattle monorail in 2005 was due to a driver’s error. According to authorities, the driver of a train heading into the city failed to yield to another train at a spot where the tracks are too close together for simultaneous passage.

The problem was that the tracks were installed without the gap necessary for the free passage of trains. Imagine that! At one spot, just so:) This was deliberately designed to allow loading ramps to extend beyond the carriages. For 40 years, careful attention ensured that trains never traveled simultaneously on this section. But then one day, a driver decided to leave early — and the rest is history. As always, Murphy’s Law applies.

Nearby in 1988, the construction of the Westlake Center mall uncovered an issue just days before its scheduled opening. Engineers found the west track was two inches (50 mm) closer to the platform and building than it should have been, making it impossible to use. The issue came to light when a retractable loading ramp at the terminal scratched the blue train during a trial run; the misalignment was caused by a pin in a hinge that did not fold properly. The ramp was repaired in November, but other technical issues and prolonged safety inspections delayed the new terminal’s opening by four months. To avoid redesign, trains were simply not allowed to run simultaneously. As of 2025, bi-directional movement is still NOT anticipated above the narrow gauge section at the southern (Westlake) station:-)

By the way, exactly a month ago, the monorail at VDNKh in Moscow, opened 21 years ago, was permanently closed. There, too, nobody understood its purpose, and moreover, it was brutally unprofitable.

In the photo, Nadia enjoys Seattle

Historical Insights into the Legendary Seven-League Boots | July 17 2025, 16:42

Here you have the real “fast-walking boots” or, as they were called in Europe, “seven-league boots,” France/Germany, 19th century. Remember, Mr. Ogre in “Sleeping Boy” wore them. You wouldn’t be mistaken to say that they were difficult not only to run in, but even to walk in. Why are they called “seven-league” then?

This is interesting. Actually, their original name in French is „bottes de sept lieues (seven-league boots), and in German — Siebenmeilenstiefel (seven-league boots), from which the name came into Russian.

Regular postal communication in France started in the 15th century when postal stations with horses for exchange were built. The distance between the stations initially was 7 leagues/lieues (about 30-35 km).

Transportations were performed by coaches that had from 4 to 6 horses. The coachman managed them, and on the lead horse sat the ‘fourrier,’ who set the pace of the journey. The work of the fourrier was more dangerous, as in the event of an accident he had more chances of being injured, falling under the carriage wheels or being crushed by a falling horse compared to the coachdriver.

Therefore, fourriers were entitled to special tall and sturdy boots, which, according to some data, were attached to the saddle (but this is not certain). When mounting, he would wear these boots. That is, in these seven-league boots they didn’t even walk, but sat.

These boots were sewn from several layers of treated leather, with wooden soles and iron inserts. In such boots, it was difficult to fall from the saddle, even if one fell asleep, and if one fell sideways, they could withstand the weight of a horse, protecting the rider from serious injuries.

Naturally, such large and heavy boots, which were often dried by the fire, raised questions among children, and the fourriers, smoking their pipes and smiling, would tell them about the magical seven-league boots that one could put on and leap seven leagues in a blink. Undoubtedly, one of these children must have been Charles Perrault 😉

From Forbidden Fruit to Linguistic Roots: The Curious Case of Currants and Smorodina | July 17 2025, 13:09

You know, 99.9% of Americans have never tried blackcurrant. It was legally banned here in 1911 because blackcurrants carried a disease that killed pine trees. And along with it, gooseberries and Kinder Surprise were banned too. It even got to the point where in the USA, purple Skittles are grape-flavored, while in Europe, they taste of blackcurrant.

But today I am thinking about something else. I wondered why in Russian blackcurrant is called ‘smorodina,’ and in English, it’s called ‘currant.’ It turns out that ‘smorodina’ is related to the word ‘smrad,’ which meant a strong smell because, according to our ancestors, it smelled bad. ‘Smrad’ used to mean any strong smell. I don’t know how unpleasant it was for them, but this differentiated it from gooseberries, both of which grew along rivers, hence in Ukrainian and Polish, it’s also called ‘porzeczka’ and ‘porichka,’ especially the red and white varieties. To me, gooseberries even smell stronger.

The English name is also interesting. The English ‘currant’ stems from the Middle English ‘rayson of Corantes’ (‘grapes from Corinth’), where ‘Corantes’ is a distortion of the Greek city Corinth. In the Middle Ages, small dried grapes were actively imported into England from Greece (specifically the region around Corinth) and these dried berries were called ‘raisins of Corinth,’ which later shortened to ‘currant.’ Originally, ‘currant’ referred specifically to raisins, dried grapes (essentially, small raisins). And it still means that in some places.

But then a shift in meaning occurred. Later, when shrubs of the Ribes genus (currant bushes), specifically Ribes rubrum (red currant) and Ribes nigrum (black currant), began to be cultivated in Northern Europe, they were given the same name, since their berries were also small and dark like the Greek raisins. Thus, the word ‘currant’ came to be used to denote both currants and gooseberries 🙂 but later on they were differentiated. Yes, gooseberries and currants turned out to be related both biologically and etymologically.

And do you remember the fairy tale about the good heroes and warriors Dobrynya Nikitich, who fought the three-headed Chudo-Yudo on the Kalinov Bridge spanning the River Smorodina? Well, that river, Smorodina, marked the boundary between the world of the living (Yav) and the world of the dead (Nav).

The Multi-Functional M1 Helmet: Beyond Battlefield Protection | July 14 2025, 02:26

Today I learned from the museum that in field conditions, soldiers used the steel body of the M1 helmet as makeshift dishware: they boiled water, shaved, washed clothes, etc. The helmet consisted of two parts: a steel outer body and a separate inner plastic or fiber liner (liner), which could be worn separately (for instance, for ceremonies). By the way, it was in military service from the beginning of WWII until the 1980s.

Unveiling the Mystery of the Original Declaration of Independence | July 04 2025, 02:36

Tomorrow is July 4th – Independence Day.

I’m currently reading about it. It turns out that the authentic Declaration of Independence is lost to history, and the document labeled “Original Declaration of Independence” in the National Archives is actually a copy.

By the way, about 80% of the text of the declaration lists why the king is bad. Literally. He doesn’t do this, he doesn’t do that, he forgot about us here, he didn’t remember there. It’s just a straight protest of no kings. The last paragraph of the long text essentially says, in sum, forget him. We want to handle it ourselves.

Jefferson prepared the draft of the Declaration of Independence with all the usual revisions—crossed out words, inserts in the gaps, etc., all written in his poor handwriting. This document exists and is very interesting.

The rest of the committee approved the text, and Jefferson then created a fair copy (still in his bad handwriting and just the size of a regular sheet), which was presented to Congress, voted on, adopted, and received its first signatures. This “fair copy” was the real original Declaration of Independence—and it is precisely this one that is lost.

Later, Congress decided that a version suitable for publication was needed—bigger and, of course, not written in Jefferson’s terrible handwriting. For this, they hired a professional copyist. When he made his copy, Congress held a re-signing. This version by the copyist has the label “Original Declaration of Independence” on the back and is the one currently displayed in the National Archives. It was “original” only in the sense that it served as the master copy for printing.

So what happened to Jefferson’s “fair copy,” the genuine original Declaration of Independence? No one knows. It might still be somewhere in the archives, lost among other documents. Or perhaps someone took it home and preserved it, or maybe it was destroyed by time and circumstances, such as when the British burned Washington.

In 1989, a man named Michael Sparks bought an old painting at a flea market in Pennsylvania for $2.48. When he removed the frame, he discovered a rolled-up piece of paper behind it. This turned out to be one of the rare “Dunlap Broadsides”—the first 200 printed copies of the U.S. Declaration of Independence, printed on the night of July 4 to 5, 1776, by John Dunlap.

This find was in excellent condition and was sold at a Sotheby’s auction in 1991 for 2.42 million dollars (and later resold for even more). This isn’t Bitcoin!

A bit about the dates. On July 2, Congress voted for independence. Not the 4th. On July 4, it was formally ratified by Congress, they spent two days making minor formal amendments, having already decided on the substance. No signatures yet. The date on the document, of course, is the 4th. Copies were printed and sent out the next day. Eventually, the ones sent out were signed by the delegates only on August 2.

Three of the first five American presidents died on this day. Jefferson, Adams, Monroe. Jefferson was in fact the father of this declaration, with Adams, they found the time. So maybe July 2nd would be a more appropriate day to celebrate.

Yes, also—technically—America did not gain independence in 1776. It happened only after the signing of the Treaty of Paris (September 3, 1783), when Britain said: “Alright,” and recognized America as a separate state.

If the War of Independence hadn’t turned in favor of America, Washington (like most of the founding fathers) would likely have been executed for treason. But since it turned out otherwise, they picked that day.