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Interesting lecture. Listen to Morgenstern’s “Cadillac” performed by a string quintet – very unusual and soulful. 53rd minute of the lecture

When I conducted a bit of research about Catherine the Great to remind myself why she is worthy of respect, I stumbled upon the fact that it was she, as an “enlightened monarch,” who made a significant contribution to the formation of a national art collection. Many paintings that we can now see in museums across Russia and the world were purchased by Catherine II from European collections. Rubens, Rembrandt, Van Dyck, and many others became ornaments of the Hermitage during that time. “My museum in the Hermitage consists, apart from the paintings and Raphael’s loggias, of 38,000 books, four rooms filled with books and engravings, 10,000 engraved gems, approximately 10,000 drawings, and a collection of natural science, filling two large halls.”

It turned out that much of this heritage was sold by Anastas Mikoyan to America between 1929-34 to secure funds for the country’s industrialization. A total of 2880 paintings were selected. Among the departed paintings were works by Jan van Eyck, Titian, Rembrandt, Botticelli, and Raphael. For example, “The Annunciation” by Jan van Eyck, “Portrait of Isabella Brant” by Van Dyck, “Adoration of the Magi” by Sandro Botticelli, “Joseph Accused by Potiphar’s Wife” by Rembrandt, and “Venus with a Mirror” (or “Toilet of Venus”) by Titian are displayed in the National Gallery of Art here in Washington. Thousands of works are scattered across museums around the country and the world, many in New York museums.

At the same time, Fabergé eggs and the Codex Sinaiticus were sold. “The Night Café” by van Gogh also went to an American collector and philanthropist Stephen Clark. Incidentally, Yale University won a lawsuit several years ago against a descendant of the Russian collector Pierre Konowaloff, who believed that after the revolution, “The Night Café” had been unlawfully nationalized by the Soviet Union and sought compensation for it.

The initiative for the sales originated from the People’s Commissariat for Trade, which was headed by A. I. Mikoyan in 1926—the same one who later became associated with the meat processing plant. The revenue from the sales constituted no more than one percent of the country’s gross income and did not have a significant impact on the course of industrialization, but on December 31, 1933, all nine workshops of the Moscow meat processing plant began operation, and the following year it was named after Mikoyan. Thus, Doctor’s, Amateur’s, and Tea sausages in Russia ended up being linked with the names of Van Dyck, Rembrandt, and Raphael in such an interesting manner.

Since standard English lessons at my level are no longer interesting to me, we discuss various aspects of American history and culture. Besides expanding my horizons and understanding the context of the country, I manage to address the issue of non-IT related communication. This has always been difficult. For example, I only learned today that “tsar” in English is not “tcar”, but “zar”. I learned that the sentence I saw the man cross the street and the cat jump over the fence is grammatically correct, and cross and jump do not have to be crossing and jumping but can remain such infinitives (By the way, does anyone know what this rule is?).

But the most interesting thing is, of course, the history itself. I realized that I knew almost nothing about it. The roles of Washington, Lincoln, Franklin Roosevelt, Thomas Jefferson, Kennedy, Reagan were totally unclear to me. And then it turns out that the country is proud of them, and many educated people can talk for hours about the mark they left on history.

And I asked myself – we also studied our native history at school. What rulers are we proud of and why? We seem to have one of the highest levels of education in the world: 56% of the population has completed college or university, compared to 35% in the US (at least a bachelor’s degree). I know, most likely every other person in my contacts is educated and remembers at least the basics of Russian history. Who are you proud of?

I tried to answer this question myself and essentially recalled two names. Peter the Great and Catherine the Great. Of course, does this reveal my poor knowledge of history? Or did the other characters just not impress in the textbooks under the “why they should be respected?” section. Or is it complicated? Or did we just parrot the textbook in school and not engage our brains?

Well, with Peter the Great it’s clear. He cut through the window to Europe, shaved beards with an axe, built the Northern Venice, and it seems he brought potatoes but didn’t succeed in fully introducing them.

I also remember about Catherine II the Crimea, reforms, and how she brought the Enlightenment to agrarian Russia, and along with Voltaire and Diderot cultivated culture. Probably I’ve forgotten a ton of other items. But okay, even just for this, she deserves respect – cheers, Katya, remembered and honored.

Not looking at Google, who else? Which of our tsars and princes would a typical Russian person recall fondly?

(In the next post, I’ll talk about an interesting story involving the Bolsheviks, Catherine the Great, and Mikoyan, the one associated with the meatpacking plant)

The accessory for the Breville coffee machine is ready. It’s a detachable nozzle tip to prevent anything from jumping out during grinding. After the coffee settles, it’s removable, of course. This one seems to manage well, but there’s a microcrack. I’ll print another one just like it on the photopolymer printer as soon as it finishes with the Nespresso capsule holder.

I also printed a piece that makes it more comfortable to press the portafilter when I’m tamping the coffee.

On my RAV4, there’s a feature on the rear lamp—a half-centimeter protrusion, black on black. The part is hardly functional: it likely has almost no effect on aerodynamics. But honestly, it doesn’t really impact the design of the car either—it’s too small and unnoticeable.

It looks like a pimple

It’s interesting to fantasize about how and why it was added 😉

P.s. thanks, I have smart readers! Vortex generator https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=4Bmhuq38EYI

This is not cottage cheese. It’s something like Adygei cheese. I have never seen any cottage cheese here other than Baltic. Also, Nadya knows how to make it from milk and starter culture.

A good report on AI. Well done, occasionally very interesting. Although I’m not new to the topic, I kept looking for something to nitpick.

https://youtube.com/watch?v=qAFzK_aTTaw&feature=share

Arthur Clarke, 1964:

“The only thing one can say about the future is that it will be utterly amazing! If what I am about to tell you seems quite plausible, then my attempt to describe it has failed. My vision has a chance of success only if my words seem absolutely incredible to you.

Let’s start with a look at the city of ‘tomorrow’. Some people think that it will be just so, and they are essentially right. Everything you see now already exists. All materials, all ideas—they can all be implemented in practice right now. But what if we try to imagine the city of ‘the day after tomorrow’, say in the year two thousand?

I think it will be completely different. Generally, it may never come to exist. No, I am not thinking about a nuclear disaster and a new stone age; I am thinking about the incredible breakthroughs that will be made thanks to discoveries in the field of communication. Particularly, I am talking about transistors, and above all, communication satellites.

These things will make possible a world in which we can instantly contact each other, no matter where we might be. We will be able to communicate with friends around the world, without even knowing where exactly the person is located.

Conducting your business from Tahiti or Bali as successfully as from London will become possible in this century (or maybe in about fifty years). Managing anything will be possible from anywhere on the globe regardless of distance. I presume that someday a surgeon in Edinburgh will be able to perform brain surgery on a patient in New Zealand.

When this time comes, the world will literally shrink to a single point, and the traditional role of cities as places where people meet will no longer make any sense. Generally, people will no longer make business trips, they will be accessible always and everywhere. People will travel primarily for pleasure, not money.”

Arthur Clarke died in 2008, in his 97th year of life. Thus, he did get to see the internet, robotic remote surgery, and the system of geostationary satellites orbiting, which is named after Arthur Clarke (http://lakdiva.org/clarke/1945ww/).

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KT_8-pjuctM

Turned out to be really good for Russian cinema. Watched it on Netflix in one go. They really can deliver when they want to 🙂 It seems like a typical road movie, but it still draws you in.

https://www.kinopoisk.ru/series/1108682/

I remember how we all watched Felix Baumgartner’s jump from an altitude of 39 km. Back then, everyone was writing about it. And two years later, as I recently discovered in a space museum, Felix’s record was quietly broken by Alan Eustace, the senior vice-president of Google’s science division, who fell from 41 km reaching speeds up to 1320 km/h. Well, not so quietly. He talked about it at TED: https://www.ted.com/talks/alan_eustace_i_leapt_from_the_stratosphere_here_s_how_i_did_it?language=en