The American state of Utah has been “captured” by an invasion of tumbleweeds. The plants in huge numbers have overrun the cities.
The apocalypse has come from where it was least expected. Although everyone in Utah is accustomed to it, it’s like snow in the north during winter and tornadoes in the south.
This morning, the city greeted me with the sound of a helicopter hovering in the air and slightly blocked roads. At our city church (a huge building covering 10,000 sq.m with a hall for 2,000 people), a “celebration of life” ceremony is taking place in honor of Trevor Brown, a firefighter who died while extinguishing a house fire, followed by his funeral. The Governor of Virginia attended the ceremony, and firefighters from all over Loudoun County gathered, totaling up to 3,000 invitees. Flags are lowered throughout Virginia today in honor of Trevor.
Trevor was a volunteer at Sterling Volunteer Fire Company and was the first to respond to a “gas smell” call. There was a large 1500-liter propane tank under the house, a leak from which caused an explosion and the collapse of the house. Trevor died, and eleven others were injured, but it seems that everyone is now recovering.
The word Volunteer in the title indicates that firefighters are not paid for this kind of work, which, as we see, is associated with risks to life and health. I mean, they don’t receive money at all. Not a penny. All of them usually have some other job that they and their families live on. Serving as a firefighter is not just a job, but a matter of great pride and respect.
Besides volunteer fire stations, there are career (non-volunteer) ones. In the USA, there are over 1 million firefighters, of whom, on average, 70% are volunteers. In our county, there are 15 volunteer stations with about 600 volunteers, which makes up about 50%.
It turns out, Christopher in Chinese is 克里斯托弗 (Kèlǐsītuōfú), and Christ is 基督 (Jīdū). Does Petr Didenko adapt to this? The name Barbara is beautifully written as 芭芭拉 and pronounced bā-bā-lā!
I am currently reading about the invention of the microscope, and there’s mention of a scientist whose name I had never heard before – Leeuwenhoek. Went on Wikipedia, and darn it, it’s Leeuwenhoek! Also, remember Ilya Mechnikov? His first name in English is Elie, and his last name ends with off. Adding to the recent discoveries that Bouguereau is Bouguereau, and Coulomb is Coulomb.
Speaking of Mechnikov. He tried to end his life by suicide twice – the first time because of the death of his beloved wife, and the second time – when he married a 17-year-old student who fell sick with typhus, he remembered about those who died on the same day and injected himself with typhus too. He miraculously survived both times. Then he wrote a book called “Studies on Optimism.” Such an optimist! By the way, the book is about extending life.
“come to me, I’ll scoot over” // “иди ко мне, я подвинусь”
Finished drawing today
A few of our critters for your feed
Hmm
“Lecturer comrade Gashev delivers lectures on the history of the CPSU (b) using too much of a ‘bookish language’, employing many foreign words. This flaw is also present in the lectures on ‘Foreign Policy of the USSR’ by comrade Kubyas.
As a result, some listeners use foreign words in seminars and exams without understanding their meanings. For instance, in the exam on ‘Foreign Policy’ on April 6 this year, listener comrade Drozhkin, for greater effect, used the words ‘demilitarization’ and ‘denazification.’ However, when the examiner comrade Kashkovskaya asked him to explain the meaning of these words, he was unable to do so.”
Some listeners…
P.S. By the way, graduates of the University of Marxism-Leninism include Kobzon, Zhirinovsky, Dmitry Rogozin, and Chikatilo.
A very interesting series of three videos about the German WWII encryption machine “Enigma” and the history of its cracking. Roughly three hours of viewing (with occasional glances at the screen). Should be interesting for all engineers, programmers, and simply curious techies.
Took a quick break from work to do a brief research. Someone posted a photo on the left with a note saying that in the past, children in France were given beer and wine according to the Code Soleil — these are methodical and organizational guidelines for schools. Had to Google it, and indeed that was the case. This practice was common because it was widely believed that alcohol warms up the body and kills germs. Such was the curious preventative measure against colds.
The prohibition of this practice was only enacted in August 1956. The Ministry of National Education banned the consumption of alcoholic beverages in schools for children under the age of 14 and ruled to replace it with a glass of warm milk and a sugar cube. Teenagers could consume these drinks if their parents allowed it, but only in dining halls. It was also necessary to strictly observe the norm. It was defined as one-eighth of a liter per person, which is 125 milliliters, that is, one standard wine glass.
Translating the highlighted fragment: “(…) Whether it’s school lunch or not, it’s forbidden to give them (students) anything to drink other than water, milk, diluted beer, wine, or cider, as well as hygienic herbal infusions without the addition of alcoholic beverages.”.
So, diluted beer, wine, or cider were in use. But here it talks about diluted ones).
Hi, I'm Rauf Aliev. 