Category: USA

Hippos in America: The Wild Idea of 1910 | September 20 2026, 03:06

Today I learned that in 1910, the U.S. seriously considered importing hippos and releasing them into the wild to (1) eat invasive water hyacinths and (2) be eaten by Americans. The bill, H.R. 23261, also known as the “American Hippo bill”, was introduced in 1910 by Congressman Robert F. Broussard of Louisiana. Funnily enough, the bill itself makes no mention of hippos. It wasn’t actually about hippos. It was a “give us the money and we’ll figure it out” kind of law. The committee politely thanked everyone for a “very interesting morning” and dispersed. There was no vote. Never.

Mastering the Art of Russian Paints: A Guide to Rare Pigments and Where to Buy Them | September 15 2026, 00:29

I brought the paints. It’s a rare case when something made in Russia is worth buying and bringing to the USA or Europe. So, if you have artist friends, you can bring them some, they’ll be 100% happy (but only the Master-Class brand). Moreover, even China doesn’t make decent paints that you could order cheaply from AliExpress with shipping to the USA. To be precise, there are some, but they aren’t highly valued by artists outside of China.

The most valuable here is Volkonskoite. It’s a rare mineral pigment, mined almost exclusively in one place in the world (Perm region), and in tubes, it’s essentially only made by “Nevskaya Palette”. The only option on our market — dry pigment Rublev Colours: Volkonskoite Pigment, from $26.40 for 10 grams (raw material from the same place, Yefimych in Perm region), needs to be ground into oil by oneself. In Russia, I bought it for 1200 RUB ($14).

Second is Glauconite — another natural Russian green earth paint. You can buy alternatives, but basically, only from Rublev. You need to order it, plus there are many imitations, but this is pure pigment (Rublev writes that most “green earth” paints from other manufacturers are not natural minerals, but a mix of chromium oxide and ochre).

Third — Pink Ultramarine. This pigment is rare, offered by literally two or three brands – about $17-$25 plus shipping. In Russia, I bought it for 780 RUB ($9).

Two cobalt violets (dark and light) are expensive in their own right — cobalt violets everywhere fall into the highest price group, but buying them in America is not difficult (Winsor & Newton, Gamblin, Williamsburg, etc.). The value is more in the price than in the rarity. For example, Williamsburg Cobalt Violet Deep 37 ml costs $46.01 (Michaels / Jackson’s), it’s currently $53.68 at Jerry’s with a list price of $76.69. And I bought it for 1200 RUB ($15).

Cerulean. In the USA, you can buy the same class Gamblin Cerulean Blue 37 ml, from $28.80, while I paid $15. Like cobalt blue, they’re just wonderful, absolutely standard paints, easy to find anywhere. I just bought them at the same time, it turns out cheaper that way.

All these paints are artist grade, the very top. The brand “Master-class”. In Serbia, I went into five Art Supplies stores and from the Nevskaya Palette range, they only had “Sonet” – those are the simplest ones in their line (there’s also Ladoga, between Master-Class and Sonet).

After 2022, “Nevskaya Palette” almost disappeared from American and European stores. You can carry them on a plane, but in case someone objects that you can’t bring such items onboard, it’s advisable to have an SDS with you (I have one, can send it). But they’ve survived three flights over the last week, and successfully so.

Exploring the Booming Business of Pet Waste Removal Services | August 13 2026, 02:05

By the way, a car with the logo Pet Waste Removal periodically drives up to our neighbor’s place. It was a revelation to discover that in the USA there is an entire niche—special services that clean up lawns from dog poop so that little children can more safely run around the same lawn. There are dozens of such companies around me. I never imagined such a thing existed.

(But the funny thing is that the neighbor has a cat. And here my imagination really took a hit. I don’t know, maybe he just has a friend working there, but there are litter box services. They come once or twice a week, completely change the filler, disinfect the litter box, and take away the waste)

So, Pet Waste Removal is indeed a huge industry with a rich internal culture. They have their own professional association — aPaws (Association of Professional Animal Waste Specialists), which holds an annual International Pooper Scooper Week” in April. Some franchises cost tens of thousands of dollars to join, and the market is estimated at hundreds of millions. The logic is simple: the average dog produces about 100 kg of waste per year, there are nearly 90 million dogs in the US, and most owners genuinely hate this part of dog ownership.

There’s even a surreal branch—PooPrints service. Residential complexes and HOAs require residents to submit their dogs’ DNA to a database, and when an “unidentified” pile is found on the lawn, it’s sent for genetic testing to identify the offending owner. Fines range from $150 to $500.

Our Yuki has never (or seems like once in five years) done his business in the yard. Well, never at home, even as a puppy, and never once made a puddle. So he, too, looks at all this with puzzlement. And in the US, dogs are let out through a door, they do their thing, run around— and back inside. Many dogs in the suburbs for years do not know what it’s like to walk on a leash in the usual sense familiar to us.

From Bar Joke to Millionaire: The Unbelievable Success of the Pet Rock | August 05 2026, 00:55

Today I found out that the most successful product of Christmas 1975 was a rock. Just a regular rock. Gary Dahl, an advertiser from California, was sitting in a bar and listening to his friends complain about their pets – feeding them, walking them, cleaning up after them – and jokingly said that he had the perfect pet – a rock. It doesn’t need feeding, doesn’t poop, doesn’t die. The joke turned into a business plan over the course of the evening. Dahl bought smooth pebbles from Rosarito Beach in Mexico for about a cent apiece and sold them for $3.95 each. Every rock was shipped in a cardboard carrying box – with air holes “for breathing” and straw bedding inside. And here’s the kicker: the product wasn’t the rock. The product was the accompanying 32-page care and training manual, written stone-faced (pardon the pun): commands like sit” and lie down” are learned instantly, come here” and fetch” are a bit harder, and it executes the command “die” brilliantly.

Within a few months, over a million units were sold, Dahl became a millionaire, he was written about in magazines and invited on television. By early 1976 it was all over, warehouses remained filled with unsold rocks, and attempts to replicate the success with other novelty products failed. Dahl died in 2015, but the Pet Rock brand lives on: the rock in its original packaging can still be purchased today.

(How I came across this. I am currently reading Gone Girl by Gillian Flynn and came across the phrase “They were the Pet Rock of parenting.” – referring to Amy’s parents. I did not understand it and went to google what this Pet Rock was.)

Exploring Forgotten Wilderness: Venturing Where Few Dare | August 02 2026, 21:44

In my childhood, it seemed there wasn’t a place where the foot of some teenager hadn’t trodden in the last seven days. If no one had clambered into someplace for more than a week, it became the most enticing part of plans for the following week. We climbed everywhere – secured territories, garages, forests, basements, attics.

Around me, where I live, there is a forest park area. There, foxes, deer, and ticks live. This area is a minute’s walk from home and you can walk there for half an hour (or even an hour – if you “guess” the direction) without encountering any signs of civilization.

So, there are virtually never any people there. And it seems almost never to be. I say almost because I have walked there after all. But there are no paths, except for those trodden by deer. There are abandoned houses that seem to be from the mid-last century, rusty remains of cars, and four years ago I even stumbled upon a relatively recent jeep, oddly covered with plywood sheets (no signs of life. Reported it to the police).

It’s uninteresting to walk there, plus there are definitely a lot of ticks. You have to dress specially appropriately. So, there are places like this in the USA – probably 99% of the territory. That is, if someone dumps a body there, if they find it, it will be in about 10 years. Along the roads, no one ever parks cars – apart from the fact that it’s not allowed, there’s also no need. Forests along the roads are quite common.

That means, really, 90% of the territory is just unknown to people. Nobody ever goes there, and if there’s anything interesting there, it’s almost certainly not going to be noticed for years. Perhaps, if people disappear, someone ends up there, but that’s only speculation.

If some homeless person sets up a tent there, no one will ever notice for sure. Mainly because a typical forest isn’t visible from 15-20 meters away due to the abundance of vegetation.

Effectively, it’s the territory of wild animals. People don’t belong there. And that’s not a bad thing. Deer, foxes, skunks, raccoons, squirrels, and many others.

It was very unusual for me. Now I’m used to it.

The CIA’s Secret Role in Promoting American Avant-Garde Art | July 28 2026, 05:15

Today I learned that the popularity of American avant-garde worldwide turns out to be the result of a CIA program—at least in part. During the height of the Cold War, starting in 1950, the CIA secretly funded magazines, concerts, and exhibitions throughout Europe through the “Congress for Cultural Freedom” and front organizations (the most famous being the Fairfield Foundation). The idea was simple: to demonstrate that the free West produces bold experimental art, while the USSR produced only state-controlled socialist realism. For example, when London’s Tate Gallery couldn’t afford the “New American Painting” exhibition in 1959, a “generous patron” Julius Fleischman suddenly appeared—though the funds actually came from the intelligence budget.

The most astonishing fact is that the artists themselves had no clue. Pollock, Rothko, de Kooning, who came from the left-wing bohemia of the 1930s, despised the government and the era of McCarthyism, and would have considered it insulting to work for the intelligence. The CIA didn’t propose: they didn’t pay the artists or dictate anything, they simply “promoted them in the dark,” paying for the infrastructure of fame through two or three layers of intermediaries. It reached the point of absurdity. While one hand of the government secretly transported their canvases across Europe as a symbol of American freedom, the other—the FBI and conservative congressmen—kept files on the modernists and branded their art as “communist smears.”

Protected Sea Turtle Nesting Grounds in Florida | July 12 2026, 03:47

How sweet. On a Florida beach, a square meter is surrounded with ribbons and there’s a sign that reads:

DO NOT DISTURB! SEA TURTLE NEST HERE. VIOLATORS SUBJECT TO FINES AND IMPRISONMENT!

Florida Statute

Chapter 379.2431(1)

No person may take, possess, disturb, mutilate, destroy, cause to be destroyed, sell, offer for sale, transfer, harm, or harass any sea turtle, its nest, or eggs at any time.

Upon conviction, an individual may be incarcerated for up to 60 days or fined up to $500, or subject to both penalties simultaneously, plus an additional fine of $100 for each sea turtle egg destroyed or taken.

The US Endangered Species Act of 1973

No person may take, harass, harm, pursue, hunt, shoot, wound, kill, trap, capture, or collect any sea turtle, its nest, and/or eggs, or attempt such conduct.

Any person who knowingly violates any provision of this Act may be subjected to a civil penalty of up to $25,000 or a criminal penalty of up to $100,000 and imprisonment for up to one year.

If you witness a violation, see an injured or stranded turtle or disoriented hatchlings, please contact the FWC (Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission) at 888-404-FWCC (3922), *FWC or #FWC.

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Next to this site, some Mexicans were sitting and talking loudly. I jokingly asked if they were disturbing the eggs. It seems they didn’t understand English, but they moved away just in case.