A cyclist’s dream: a straight 70km bike track with hardly any slowdowns or hills. My average speed on a 14-km section was 28km/h, and that’s just because the dew hadn’t dried yet and it was scary to go any faster. Over the weekend, I covered 80 km on such tracks, 30 today and 50 yesterday. Someday, I need to ride a hundred in a day
It’s hard to believe, but this is our winter
I was wondering, isn’t it curious that one of the four nitrogenous bases that make up the DNA of any organism is named (in Russian translation) “gavnin” (guanine)? There’s something to it 🙂
(Julius Bodo Unger isolated it from bird droppings, which he studied to develop better fertilizer, hence it was named guanine)
My younger daughter’s passport name is Mariia. And I finally listened to how we often call it when it’s necessary to spell it out “letter by letter”: “It’s Maria, but with two Is in the middle” or “with double Is in the middle.” And yet, no one from the call center operators has turned on their imagination or pictured it 👀
My “catch” in Russian bookstores. I specifically avoided translated editions, since they’re easier to buy leisurely on Amazon, including in the original language (PDF/Epub), while our own authors are often impossible to purchase in America. I devoured “The Brain Is Material” and “Who Would Have Thought” by Asya Kazantseva within a few days, highly recommend. I will take my time with the rest once I’m back in the States.
From the category – this can only be released in Russia.
There are books that can be found only in Russian stores. I bought a bunch to take with me. I will publish them in the next post. But some on the shelves just bring joy—
Here stands a nine-meter-long machine from 1915 in the T-34 tank museum on Dmitrovskoye Shosse. It’s unclear why this contraption, which failed its very first ‘field’ tests, is a source of pride: due to incorrect weight distribution calculations and insufficient engine power, the tank’s rear wheels got stuck in sandy soil. It was also shown that the vehicle could be disabled by shrapnel hitting the spokes. The Tsar Tank was dismantled soon after the failed tests.
The funds for the construction were raised by the state. Kind of like a startup. They sold the prototype to Nicholas II and got enough money for a full-size version. Two years later, the designer, who turned out to be incapable of anything else, moved to America, and his subsequent fate remains unknown.
Interestingly, the construction of a useless project with government money and the subsequent escape to the states left the hero’s name in history, while a replica of the failed Tsar Tank became a pride of the tank museum.
Happy New Year! I wonder, does every single light structure in the world, intended to be a backdrop for photos, lack lighting for the person next to them? And does no one consider how people will take pictures against the backdrop of various beauties, be it an ancient fortress or city’s night decorations? It’s so simple to set up, yet it’s absent everywhere.
Moscow, dude decided to cross Tverskaya at an improper place just now
Hi, I'm Rauf Aliev. 