Hi, I'm Rauf Aliev.

Finished the first season of The Morning Show. Great series! Highly recommend.

Occasionally, I caught myself realizing that the English wasn’t 100% clear. That is, the context helped, but the nuances slipped through. So, I decided to rewatch the first episode “with a pencil in hand.” Meaning, without subtitles and stopping the video every time I didn’t understand even a single word or expression, and then diving into figuring out what was unclear. At the same time, I decided to keep a record, which added about ten seconds per phrase, but ultimately gave a more complete picture of how much I had missed. Watching it for the first time in this mode is impossible. It would take 2-3 hours per episode.

Almost everything highlighted in yellow was new to me. Then I inserted interpretations.

For example, the expression “Hello, pot. I’d like to introduce you to kettle” was new to me. Alternatives are “hi pot, meet kettle” or “The pot calling the kettle black”. Literally translates as “The pot calling the kettle black”, but essentially it means “The pot calling the kettle black”.

And other phrases/expressions/words like

– shoehorning

– on the back-burner

– to drag the feet on

– sweeps, cue in, touch a nerve, and various such words from news tv

– jack shit

– hearsay

– hot soup coming through

– repudiation and navel-gazing

– that makes two of us

– to go through a rough spot

– nipping at our heels

I wonder why banks do not offer the option to set a card so that all transactions require confirmation from the phone, until the feature is turned off. It’s very convenient when you can’t find it but aren’t sure you lost it.

P.S. Nadia, I haven’t lost it;)

Made cushions for the chair. Well, the first pancake isn’t a total mess; it’s even usable. But most importantly, I figured out the technology and gained some experience and bumps along the way. Probably, that was the main goal, and the cushions are just a byproduct.

Creating something out of fabric is quite an interesting engineering project, even more complex than crafting something from wood. Millimeter precision and attention to detail – I still lack these, but they really are the key to success.

From an economic standpoint, it would have been easier to throw out the chair and buy a new used one. The cushions cost about $70, including fabric, foam, thread, a zipper, and about 6 hours of work – that’s taking into account another 20 hours spent on various other things beforehand, to ensure the cushions were more or less correct on the first try.

Any ideas what the sound might be? It doesn’t start right away; it takes about 10-15 minutes of driving. The sound only occurs under load. There are two possibilities – a bearing (and needing to change the wheel) or the tire is flapping. At first glance, the pressure seems normal, but it can’t be checked or confirmed (without disassembling the wheel). The fact that it only appears after some time makes me think that the tire warms up and begins to flap. It might also be contributed to by a possible drop in tire pressure (it doesn’t look low, but who knows). If it’s the bearing, logically the sound should start earlier. If you spin the wheel with your hands, it turns for about a minute without any sounds. Only under load and after some time do sounds appear. It drives fine even with the noises, but darn it

Any ideas?

Researched what this Schengen is all about. Turns out, the “Agreement on the Gradual Abolition of Checks at Their Common Borders” was signed by Germany, France, and the Benelux countries (Belgium, Luxembourg, and the Netherlands) in 1985 aboard the “Princess Maria Astrid” on the Moselle River near the village of Schengen, located in the very bottom right corner of Luxembourg. So at that moment, they were just passing a small town with a population of 2,500 people, and now this town is a star. The photo shows a stele at the border of the three countries in Schengen, smoothly transitioning into a tree.

For myself and others: If you need to paste without formatting (Paste and match style), there is already a keyboard shortcut for this on a Mac: Option+Shift+⌘+V. It effectively pastes plain text, and in some applications like Outlook, it preserves links but not formatting. Very convenient.

Last weekend, we took the cat along with Lisa to Blacksburg. It took Yuki two months to suppress his hunting instincts and make friends. In recent days, it was no longer necessary to watch them closely or worry that Yuki might eat him.

Yuki misses the cat and Lisa. In their room, he crawls under the bed and sits there exactly as he did when playing with the cat. But the cat does not come out. Somehow, we had to explain to Yuki that the cat is on vacation.

I called Lisa with video, and now Yuki understands that the projector can show not only all kinds of gibberish that he does not understand, but also his fluffy ginger friend. Lisa needs to get used to the projector at her place too, so the cat doesn’t forget.

Interestingly, many have noticed that projectors are more understandable to pets than even large televisions.

Yuki has found another buddy beyond the fence: a little rabbit. Our neighbors have long moved out, and their backyard has grown over with tall grass, and the rabbit has taken to a spot under a bush on the other side (The fence is almost opaque, so no video with the rabbit will be available). Now Yuki runs to the fence many times a day trying to dig a tunnel to rescue the bunny, and communicates with it in various ways until the rabbit goes off to lunch. I’m not sure if the rabbit misses Yuki. So, that’s his own pet now.

At a Roger Waters concert with two friends! Electrifying! Very heavily laden with political and social themes. It seems like Waters started his 2022 tour because he has something to say, and he sings there too

Major chains, including Walmart, Wegmans, Kroger, CVS, Walgreens, Aldi have removed free bags at the checkout. Now they cost something symbolic, like 50 cents. Result: everyone started bringing their own bags. Despite the fact, for instance, that Wegmans is like a smaller-scale “Azbuka Vkusa” in a neighborhood wealthy like the Russian “Rublyovka,” and my typical bill there is about $80 (that’s a full basket of basic staples like pasta, patties, etc.). And yet, shoppers prefer to carry bags. Whether it’s for saving money or being eco-friendly, we are just glad that these bag wastes are no longer clogging our kitchen cabinets.

Tried a new AI tool for photo restoration — link in the comments. Quite decent. The photo shows my great-grandmother and great-grandfather. 1914, Kherson.