Windows to RussiaI remember there was a time were I had friends that told me they watched a movie that was based on a true story. I asked them how do you know it was a true story? They told me it said, “Based on a true story.” in the beginning of the movie so it must be true…
Now we have literally whole populations of people in countries saying, “They said it was based on a true story!”
Wake up people…
WtR
One day we will have the Sammy the Volga cardboard model with us in Moscow. Russia…
I think she is a beautiful model and a very nice job was done…
WtR
Russia has eliminated US currency from its National Wealth Fund while boosting the share of the euro, the Chinese yuan and gold, the country’s Finance Ministry announced on Tuesday.The proportion of US dollars in the fund was reduced from 35% to zero, while the share of the British pound was lowered to 5%. The shares of the euro and the Chinese yuan were increased to 39.7% and to 30.4%, respectively. The share of the Japanese yen stands at 4.7% and the share of non-cash gold is 20.2%, the official statement by the Finance Ministry reads.
Source: Russia’s sovereign wealth fund cuts US dollar reserves to ZERO — RT Business News
and…
“On July 7, Charge d’affaires of the Estonian Embassy in Russia Ulla Uibo was summoned by the Russian Foreign Ministry. The Russian side expressed resolute protest in relation to the activity tied to the collection of intelligence data incompatible with the diplomatic status of Consul of the Estonian Consulate General in St. Petersburg Mart Lyatte. The aforementioned employee of the Estonian Consulate was declared persona non grata, he is to leave the territory of the Russian Federation within 48 hours,” the message says.
Hmm…
WtR
I guess I am too damn old and remember lots of issues from the old days that have been fixed by vaccines…
Polio, Mumps, Tetanus, Rubella, Diphtheria, Pneumonia, Hepatitis, Whooping Cough, Papillomavirus….to name just a few…
So if life is better because of vaccines, how did so many get to be so backwards as to become Anti-Vaxxers?
What? Would you refuse to take the Polio Vaccine?
WtR
Cheap, efficient, standalone and self-powered cameras for security are fun to use and maybe it will keep some issues at bay?
I am talking with Svetochka on the phone, as I made this video…
Solar powered with battery backup and a 4G sim card inside allows Sveta and I to be in Moscow and watch what is happening in our TRV. The Chinese made camera even triggers/responds as I walk near the gate and then it alerts us through our smartphones as to the bad bear walking around… 😉
Sveta has a funeral to go to today. Her and her sons Moscow University math mentor died in his late 80’s (?), so she will be busy with that. It upset her and I understand. I found it interesting that he taught her and her son…
I also find it interesting that he decided at his age to study English in the last few years and did so up to his death…
Covid-19 killed him!
I have the interesting issue of finding car wax in the Big Village. I have to wax Sammy the Volga and finding things like a decent car wax is really hard to do. Just like years ago….for the life of me, I could not find a mouse pad…
The sunflowers are almost ready to bloom. Two varieties, one about 8 to 9 feet tall and the other 6 to 7 feet tall, for now. I believe one will reach 10 foot tall! 78 plants have flourished…
I have talked about these trees before…
Police came out last night to the Tiny Russian Village…
People yelling at each other, people drunk, people stupid and one of those people called the police. Now for them to have shown up after being called, means that it was hours earlier in the day that everything went to hell at the top of TRV. (Normally) Response time is based on days and I was impressed at only a four or five hour response time. Must have been really bad? I dunno, I stay out of things like that. I don’t drink and don’t party and I stay away from all that fun stuff! ~~
Covid-19:
Whooping Russia’s Ass right now…
Sveta’s son Misha, has had a good friend hospitalized by Covid-19. He has only 50% of his lung capacity and he passed out at his home. His wife has it also. They were anti-vaxers…
People who say King Covid-19 is a joke and lie are fools…
Lordy, we have seem a bunch of fallout with sick and dying people from King Covid-19…
So maybe today I will go to the Big Village and fill up with benzine in Sammy the Volga and try to find a decent car wax for Sammy also?
WtR
It started out as a theme called “Only Coffee” it is now still called an unimaginative, “Only Coffee” and it has been years in the adjusting. It was a theme that has transformed from a non reflexive, cellphone pathetic and Google Pagespeed of 50 to a max Google Pagespeed of 100, on both cellphone and desktop…
While I try to modernize? Between WordPress upgrades and idiosyncrasies, lack of support by ClassicPress (which I had to remove) and attacks by my loving country of origin….nothing else survives the time like this poor template….I keep patching it and altering it…
It is like an old friend that tolerates you as you look at shiny new prospects and friends….yet, I know deep down that stability is only as good as your theme and this theme has been stable. I think I will just stay friends with this theme, at least until something makes it not possible…
Maybe I should rename the theme to, “A new pot of coffee”? and market it as if you like your coffee black and plain? This theme is for you…
WordPress is simply terrible and nothing they do changes that, in fact all they do is reinforce my feelings about how terrible they are…
How to switch to a new content manager at this point? I have 8000 posts and that is literally, without spending a fortune in cold hard cash, an impossibility for us to do. Svetochka might be able to do it if she had the time and desire, yet for me, it would be like me trying to produce a ton of pure grade gold out of the air. It ain’t gonna happen people…
Every WordPress upgrade takes me one step closer to oblivion and it seems nothing else can hold up against the odds…
I will keep piecing this theme together as they change the rules and keep plucking away…
WtR
I went to the Big Village this morning. I did not feel good, had a very bad night. Yet something told me to go…
I took images of Pyaterochka the one in this article:
One of the local cops went by and he waved at me as I was taking the pictures. I waved back, I have been stopped several times in the past by him and he is a nice guy. Then I drove farther into town and went to Magnet to shop. I would have gone to Pyaterochka without thinking, yet after the bull yesterday, I made a deliberate detour to Magnet. Bought what I wanted and was standing at the back of our Volga and the cop I waved at earlier pulled up…
He got out and had a folded up plastic wrapped papers in his hand!
полис (policy) – This was after a few weeks ago…
He shook my hand and I was standing kinda flabbergasted. Thanked him and he went to work…
Somehow and I will not question how and why, but the cop who took my policy paper for insurance must have decided that he better figure out how to change what he did….dunno? and don’t care enough to pursue it….as my grandma would have said, “Don’t look a gifted horse in the mouth!”
Hmm….this was after Svetochka and I had just solved the problem yesterday when I was in town and had copies made of files of the insurance papers. Yet this is the original and just is much better yet…
The young cop who saw me taking pictures, ran to the station and grabbed my insurance papers and found me to give it back…
That was when I realized what happened. Everyone knows me in the Big Village. I am the crazy American who loves Kommuna the smallest village around. Someone in the police recognized my name and knew me and someone did the right thing and someone, someone, someone…..you know? I said to myself, “Self maybe the one who did the nasty deed whom was from Ryazan and maybe….Maybe he got in trouble?
I just love Russia and yes, even when the bad egg pops up once in awhile, there are lots more good eggs in the basket…
WtR
I talk about the Big Village here on WtR:
I am funny in that I believe all people are the same and should all be accounting & accounted for everything/all things as the same. Murder is murder, assault is assault, no matter who you are. The rules apply to all, no matter who you are…
Yesterday I went to a grocery store (Called Pyaterochka) and we need to wear a mask. It is the Russian law and it is the way it is….King Corona has upset the whole world for the most part…
So at the door was young man telling us as we came in to wear a mask. Fine, put on mask! Yet as I walked in with a mask on the young man was telling another man to use a mask or leave….The young man, an employee, did not have a mask on, Hmm…
The manager was standing at the registers with hands on hips and yelling at people in the store to put on mask. She did not have a mask on.…in fact no employee had a mask on….the lady cleaning the floors? No mask. The two ladies putting up stock? No mask. The guy bring pallets of stock out? No mask!
The one cashier had a mask, she was the only one and yet that mask was around her neck….link below about what I have said about people and their masks…
Seven employees that I saw and no one had a mask on and or if they did, the mask was around their neck. Yet they demanded that we wear a mask. The customer was not allowed in the store without a mask. But…
Now in my world that I have decided to embrace….if you tell me that I have to do something? You have to do the same!
Therefore, being the type of funny that I am, I will not cater to Pyaterochka anymore at this particular location. I am funny that way. You act decent and I will spend my money with you as a support of the business and or lend my help to you as an individual. But, don’t take my support in whatever form I give as unending. You act like an ass and I will leave you standing….As you say, “What did I do?”
Therefore, in the Big Village, I want Pyaterochka to know that I will not spend my money there anymore. It is this one store and I realize that you as a company have many stores and I do not hold the company, which is trying to follow the rules set by the government, at fault. I do hold this particular store at fault…
There are three Magnet and one more Pyaterochka in the Big Village. All full size grocery stores, with everything you desire…
So tell me why would I spend my money at a place that does not cater to the customers? Why do the employees get to be better than I am and or you are?
I will tell you that the issue is the manager and I have noticed that she is on a power trip and it is getting worse everyday. Managers have to remember that their employees are only as good as they themselves are and companies have to monitor their managers or you get what I saw yesterday in the Big Village…
X5 Group is a leading Russian food retailer that manages the retail chains Pyaterochka, Perekrestok and Karusel, as well as the digital businesses Vprok.ru Perekrestok, 5Post, and Okolo. The Company also operates its own logistics services, direct import and a number of digital services for partners.
Source: X5 Retail Group
Off to Magnet/Magnit (Магнит, “Magnet”) I go…
WtR
Sometimes you have to stop and stare dumbly at what seems impossible…
Hollywood eat your heart out and see your special effects have nothing over when you mess with Mother Nature…
I was waiting for a god to float up out of the center of the fire…
So the ocean is literally on fire – Biblical is it not?
WtR
“About 600 representative offices of foreign companies in Russia localized storage of personal data of Russian users to date,” the regulator added.
“Google did not localize the data of Russian citizens on the territory of Russia,” the press service said. “On June 30, the regulator prepared an administrative protocol in respect of Google LLC under Part 8 Article 13.11 of the Russian Administrative Offense Code [breach of Russian personal data laws – TASS]. The management of the US company failed to confirm the fact of localizing databases of Russian users on the Russian territory,” it noted…
Well I for one will be glad if they block Google….it censors search results anyway…
Move the data to Russia. Unless you are hiding something? It is definitely not because you believe in freedom of speech and freedom of data…
Almost 600 companies have complied, OK Google…
WtR