Tag: facebook

Jet Trails as Weather Predictors: A Phenomenon of High Altitude Humidity | January 24 2026, 02:34

Walking with Yuki, I see across the sky a very distinct and narrow streak clearly (apparently, an airplane had passed by), and usually a contrail disappears quite quickly, but today it is unusually sharp and long.

I started to investigate and it turns out this is a reliable indicator of changing weather, specifically the arrival of snow or rain: as we are actually expecting a sudden knee-deep snowfall tomorrow. In short: the airplane trail acts as an indicator of humidity at high altitudes.

Here’s how it works:

For a contrail not to evaporate but to start “smearing”, the air at an altitude of 8–10 kilometers must be very humid (saturated with moisture). If the air is dry, the ice crystals from the engine quickly turn into invisible vapor (sublimate). If the air is moist, the crystals have nowhere to evaporate. Instead, they start attracting extra moisture from the surrounding environment and grow. High humidity at high altitudes is a sure sign of an approaching warm atmospheric front.

A Decade Later: Snow, Survival Shopping, and American Winter Woes | January 23 2026, 15:56

Exactly ten years ago, on this day, my family tried to enter the USA, but it started snowing. The day after a plus 12°C

snowfall came and blocked all the roads.

And now it’s all happening again. Waiting for snow. Nadia just sent a message that there are three times more people in the grocery store than usual. Americans, when a possible zombie apocalypse approaches, stock up on food and ammunition. Ten years ago, the roads were cleared the next day, but schools, universities, and almost all offices remained closed for another week. Grocery stores opened fairly quickly (but not immediately)

To me, it’s just a typical winter

My Ambitious 2026 Plan: From Galapagos Travel to Academic Achievements and Creative Pursuits | January 20 2026, 04:44

My plan for 2026:

– Travel to the Galápagos Islands, Ecuador for a week (summer)

– Finish and release a book on Information Retrieval (also summer, progressing slowly, first couple of chapters are already written. Already spent about 50-100 hours on this, the easy part)

– Release at least one scientific paper, probably on Data Mining (spring). Ideally, submit it somewhere to a journal (challenging). Already spent about 30 hours on this topic, a lot left to do.

– Make a step towards a PhD. Find professors, visit universities, understand the cost and assess my capabilities and resources.

– Continue studying fundamental mathematics and not die (linear algebra, calculus, probability theory, statistics, classical ML). In 2025, I spent about 200-400 hours on this topic.

– Continue studying Deep Learning and reach the “can teach” level. In 2025, I spent about 100-200 hours on this topic.

– Continue studying Data Mining/NLP.

– Update my book on RecSys, releasing version 2.0 with updates and corrections (autumn 2026)

– Make noticeable progress in painting and playing the piano. Specifically, learn Schubert’s serenade (Ständchen, D 889) completely and create at least one canvas that I wouldn’t be ashamed to give as a gift.

Spam Tactics: Money for Forms and the Illusion of Payouts | January 20 2026, 01:30

Spam in the mailbox. The letter says here’s some money, if you fill out a three-minute online form on the internet you’ll receive twice as much back through a digital gift card;) technology, darn it

US Visa Freeze for 75 Countries Amid Public Charge Concerns | January 14 2026, 15:23

If Fox News is to be believed, the US State Department is indefinitely suspending the processing of all types of visas for citizens of 75 countries, including Russia. Supposedly these measures will come into effect on January 21, 2026, and will remain in force until the department completes a full reassessment of verification procedures. It is stated that exceptions to this rule will be extremely rare and possible only after a thorough completion of all checks.

The reason is the aim to tighten the fight against “potential burdens on the American social security system”. Consular officers must deny visas to those who may become a “public charge”. Age, health status, English language proficiency, and financial situation are among the criteria.

P.S. Curious why there are so many chairs. Ten minutes ago, I sent Nadya a message on iMessage (!) “let’s buy a chair for mom on Ozone” after discussing chairs with mom on Signal. It seems like iMessage has not been known for leaking topics. Before this, I had no interest in chairs at all for many many years. Either advertising networks adapted quickly or it’s such a coincidence, I don’t know.

Unveiling Scientific Misnomers: A Cross-Cultural Exploration | January 14 2026, 04:46

Today I was surprised to learn that the Coriolis force is pronounced as CoriolIs force, not coriOlis force as we were taught in school. I started to investigate what else was wrong, and discovered something amazing.

It turns out what we called Gay-Lussac’s law is known as Charles’s Law in the rest of the world, and what we called Charles’s Law is known throughout the world as Gay-Lussac’s Law.

The Cartesian coordinate system here is Carthesian. Cartesius is just the Latinized name of René Descartes.

In our textbooks, the law of conservation of mass is called the Lomonosov-Lavoisier Law (what enters the chemical reaction = mass of the substances formed). In the rest of the world, it is exclusively the Law of Lavoisier (Lavoisier’s Law). Lomonosov got included here only because “whatever is taken from one body is added to another”.

Also, it turns out that if you have to explain Pythagoras’ theorem to someone in English, without a hint, it’s absolutely impossible to guess that it’s Pythagoras. Greek names are generally a mess. Thales here is pronounced as Teelis.

For some reason, in physics Roentgen is called RentgEnom, although it’s Röntgen with the emphasis on ö.

In Russia, a trapezoid is a quadrilateral with two sides parallel and two not. In the USA, our trapezoid is known as Trapezoid, and the word Trapezium here refers to a quadrilateral with no parallel sides at all. In the UK, it’s the opposite. Our trapezoid is Trapezium, and the “skewed” quadrilateral is Trapezoid.

Federal Reserve Under Pressure: Jerome Powell’s Video Address on Presidential Influence | January 12 2026, 21:43

In the Russian-speaking segment, this news is somehow not visible at all, none of the media outlets are writing about it. Yesterday, Jerome Powell, the chairman of the U.S. Federal Reserve, released a video message on the official Federal Reserve website’s homepage, stating that the president’s administration is putting pressure on him and his system, and part of this pressure involves trying to charge him for the building’s facade repairs.

The Federal Reserve System is the “bank of banks” and the main printing press of the world. Since the 1950s in the USA, there has been an unwritten rule: the president does not interfere with the Federal Reserve’s operations. If the Federal Reserve starts printing money or lowering rates just because the president needs to “boost” the economy before elections, the dollar will depreciate, and inflation will become uncontrollable.

Quote:

“I deeply respect the rule of law and accountability in our democracy. Of course, no one, including the Chairman of the Federal Reserve, is above the law, but this unprecedented action should be viewed in the broader context of threats from the administration and ongoing pressure.”

“The threat of criminal prosecution is a result of the Federal Reserve setting interest rates based on our best judgment of what serves the public interest, rather than according to the President’s preferences. The issue is whether the Federal Reserve can continue to set interest rates based on data and economic conditions — or whether monetary policy will be determined by political pressure or intimidation.”

If the pressure continues or if Powell is removed/arrested, there is a high chance that the loss of the Federal Reserve’s independence could lead to a sharp drop in the dollar’s value and an increase in the prices of gold and other assets.

As Nikolai Chapaev said in the textbook “Introduction to the Course ‘Philosophy and History of Education'”, “God forbid you live in an era of changes”…