September 28 2019, 12:21

Boston Dynamics demonstrates the incredible, but to fully understand how we can create roboclones of humans and animals, it is worth recalling that in the 21st century, no one really knows a simple thing: how a snake moves. This morning, I was curious to find out the details – I scoured through scientific publications on the topic. The closest and most plausible explanation is different friction coefficients of the scales, wave-like weight transfer. But this doesn’t help in making a robosnake. It’s interesting how soon we will reach the prototype stage.

https://youtu.be/_sBBaNYex3E

September 22 2019, 17:04

The Houston Museum of Art really delighted with an excellent exhibition-installation by Ragnar Kjartansson, “The Visitors”. Nine screens simultaneously show nine musicians in the rooms of one large house (historical Rokeby Farm House in Hudson Valley, New York), who together play enchanting music. Each room was recorded separately, and then all of it was mixed together, creating the coolest 3D effect, when a musician from one of the screens – and for me – from the corner of the room – starts to solo slightly, and all this is live improvisation.

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=qOxG711lb0E

September 21 2019, 23:07

In Virginia, the law prohibits the sale of raw milk. However, farmers have come up with a cool way to legally circumvent these restrictions. You can rent a share of their cow community, which makes you a bit of a farmer, and allows you to get raw milk every week from technically your own cow, in an amount proportional to that share. One “share” costs $40 a year and $40 a month and allows you to receive a gallon of milk every week. Thus, 52 gallons amount to $520, or approximately $10 per gallon – but that’s only if you don’t get lazy and go pick up your share throughout the year. Indeed, there is also delivery (additional $7). You also need to return washed bottles and caps, or be ready to pay for them separately (about $3). At the store, pasteurized/sterilized milk (no other kind available) costs about $6.

As regular customers, we were offered this today at the farmer’s market 🙂


preview

Winchester farm paved the way for ‘raw milk’ in Virginia
https://www.dcnewsnow.com/news/local-news/virginia/winchester-farm-paved-the-way-for-raw-milk-in-virginia/

September 21 2019, 11:20

The school choir raises money for trips across the country. The event is called a fundraiser car wash, and this particular one is organized by the Langley School choristers. For car owners, this is not just a wash, but a way to donate money to a good cause, not just giving it away, but letting the kids earn it. Most of these kids live in homes worth millions of dollars (in our area, and especially in the Great Falls area where this photo was taken, mostly such; in Moscow, this would be roughly equivalent to the Rublyovka level)

An unimaginably complex concept in Russia. However, children of millionaires also rarely go to work as waiters, but in the states, it’s quite common.

September 21 2019, 01:39

Three and a half years into living in the USA, my family has a debate at half past one in the morning about how to properly write – “in a thousand cinemas” or “in a thousand cinema”. Well, if the answer seems obvious, replace “cinemas” with “kilometers”. Is it “a thousand kilometers from Moscow” or “in a thousand kilometers from Moscow”?