Category: Russia

Wow it is zero degrees C. this morning and so nice out. Boza and I walked for almost two hours and now we are back inside where it is comfy and warm. Therefore, I decided to write a post and do some thinking, not that that will do any good… 😉

The coffee is fantastic and since I had stocked heavy, because coffee is one of those items that went sky high in price, I still have a bunch of coffee left and can enjoy. I use to stock up in America, because coffee price seems to be one of those items that can all of a sudden explode in pricing. I have noticed that Russian packers have taken up the slack and several Russian packed brands I have tried are damn good and I will buy more of them when I can…

I had no less than a dozen e-mails this morning and they were all good and helpful. I am amazed at how it took me so long to get a system that worked with communication to my readers. it has been a nightmare in the past and I know people could not see it as I see it, because I am the one getting all the crap, they did not understand the full extent of the issue. Knock on wood, the issue is solved, may it stay that way…

But back to the e-mails. It seems that we have some LADA Niva lovers and people who can help with getting Bronco rims (yesterday,) if they were for me, then I could answer better, but for Vova it will be a different story. The big issue is getting rims from the western world shipped to here. The weight alone would be worth 10 times what the wheels are worth and that is not cost productive. If they could come from China, then I could ship them dirt cheap. Shipping from almost anywhere in the world is not bad pricing, to Russia, except from so called western world countries. I know, I have shipped items and even a two pound item will cost near a hundred dollars to ship and that is cheapest way to ship. You might think things are cheaper, but in the end, one way or another the cost is astronomical to ship to this side of the world. I have even shipped cars to America and the cost is four to five times the cost of the car. I shipped everything trying to help people in America get things and it is not a pretty picture when you get the bill. Fact is, I hardly ever spend any shipping costs when I get items from China and such…

One e-mail in particular gave me some real information about exactly what rims to use and how. I was even sent a picture of his Niva and I have to say, it looks as good in America as they do here. 😉 The Niva is one tough little 4×4 and really gets around. Well it gets around until someone tries to drive through a 5 foot drift, but we won’t talk about that today…

I really appreciate the information and people trying to help solve the issue with snow and such. Cost is a big factor and I was given some very good info;

“yes it fits an older bronco but it also fits ford cars from a model A up to a half ton ford pickup from the thirties into the 80s it also fits a Willys jeep which most of them are 16 x 5 to 16 x 6 and I am assuming there are some of them left over from the war mine has aftermarket white spoked wheels in a 15 x 6 size”

So see the first e-mail from Iceland, that gave me solid information, has led to a dozen e-mails and now I have options that are available in Russia to solve the issue. I always want to learn and learning is the key to survival in this world…

I noticed on the image I was given of a Niva, the tires definitely are wider and it looks to sit the same as having 16 inch rims on it. If the guy will okay it, I would post his Niva on the site. I love to see Russian made cars in other parts of the world. I shipped a Volga 3102 to America and it was a sweet heart of a car. I like doing stuff like that and we know everyone to do the job, if you have the money? And that is big dollars to ship a car to America or anywhere for that matter…

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I have to mention New Hampshire Primary and the Iowa Frocus Crocus;

CHORUS
Ta-ra-ra Boom-de-ay!
Ta-ra-ra Boom-de-ay!
Ta-ra-ra Boom-de-ay!
Ta-ra-ra Boom-de-ay,
Ta-ra-ra Boom-de-ay,
Ta-ra-ra Boom-de-ay,
Ta-ra-ra Boom-de-ay,
Ta-ra-ra Boom-de-ay!

Remember we get who we vote for and when nothing worth voting for is available, then we must demand new and better. I am tired of the same old same old and not a one of the candidates are anything better. Too many skeletons in the closet, too many ties with outside sources, too many issues and too many puppet strings attached to all of them. When are we going to learn to study the situation for what it truly is and not allow the media to play our minds with propaganda and sweet chaos?

Serious issue is that; “What sane person would really want the job of president?” Something to think about…

Heaven forbid, we could have had what I see now and had voted Ralph Nader in many years ago… ~Sarc~ and a LOL…

WtR

We climbed the mountain today. It was not without mishap, I broke a walking stick today, my favorite one! It really was only good for summer, but it was light and strong and that is a good thing for the strength. Boza and I were on a huge snow drift and truthfully, I should have not been there, but we like to crawl up things and see what is on the other side. I had walked up the hill without breaking through and decided everything was cool. I got to the top and actually the picture “The top looking down,” is where I went almost under. You can see the edge that is not covered in snow at the right, that edge was also under me and I was out in the deep drop off. I was stepping gingerly to get a good shot and after I took the image, the ice cracked under me. I dropped the camera and it skittered away down the hill. I had the walking stick in my left hand and pulled it across my chest horizontal. That was where I ended up, almost to my shoulders in a drift and could feel no bottom under me. 🙂

The walking stick held for now and with a Boza licking my face, I decided how to get out and after a few moments; I got myself raised slightly and used the back of my neck to snap the stick. Then I had two, almost sharp sticks to use as spikes to pull myself out of the hole. Therefore, it was spike in the snow and pulling myself along. I finally got to where it quit cracking under me and was able to crawl. Then my knees quit breaking the ice and I got up. I was sad my stick was no more…

Then Boza and I had to go down the hill and find the camera. Camera came out okay (slid like a sled, never hit a tree and traveled a good 200 meters into the woods, skittered on ice all the way) and I was glad of that. Sveta bought me that camera and it is my favorite camera of all…

I found another stick as I walked and it is better yet than the one I had just destroyed. This is a nice stick and believe it or not, it was a stick that someone in the summer had cut to us as a long spike somewhere and left it…

What a wonderful way to live life. No wonder I am getting better and better everyday. Life is meant to be lived, not hiding and scared. Boza and I live life and that is that…

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Yesterday Vova had buried his Niva in a deep snow drift. I am not sure why he thought he could get his vehicle out, but he soon found out that it was definitely too deep. I spent another morning helping get a car out of the snow and felt that exertion this morning as I got up, ouch! It was strange, after I got home I found an e-mail about LADA Niva and what wheels to put on instead of the stock rims. Then you can put better tires on the Niva. I was told that Ford Bronco rims are wider, an inch less in diameter and fit perfect. this allows a better tire and much wider tire, for the footprint… Interesting… The information came from a man in Iceland and he worked with Niva as a work vehicle for many years. He would know… Now to find a Bronco in Russia?

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Father Pavel came by yesterday. He wanted to say, Hi! He was going to the monastery and check on his bees. They have 20 or so beehives at the church. I noticed that bees, honey and Orthodox goes together almost everywhere I see a monastery. Honey in Russia is highly valued and considered almost medicinal in use and purpose. Father Pavel is a good man and I really like him…

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That is it today, I am going to sand on my new walking stick and get it better suited to use. I love walking sticks and Boza and I will have to send our favorite stick on a good burial. It might have saved my life, for at the very least it allowed me to not go in over my head and use it as a way to escape easily. that is why I do not walk without a good strong stick to help keep balance and use in emergencies…

Have a nice day…

WtR

I feel better everyday from getting the flu and today Boza and I walked a good long walk. We checked everything from one side of the village to the other…

The hog carcass had to be a left over from hunters a few months ago. The foxes finally found the remains and the other night, Boza and I could hear the fighting, crying and yelping of a large group of foxes. We found what they were going after and yes, it stunk… 🙂

I really like this cabin below and would love to see inside…

Have a nice day…

WtR

I have talked for years about the resurgence of Russian agriculture…

http://windowstorussia.com/for-years-now-i-have-talked-about-russian-farming-resurgence.html
http://windowstorussia.com/a-small-carp-at-the-russian-fish-farm.html
http://windowstorussia.com/want-a-place-to-invest-or-put-your-money-try-russian-agriculture.html
http://windowstorussia.com/agrarian-of-or-relating-to-farms-and-farming.html
http://windowstorussia.com/our-russian-fish-farm-loving-those-sanctions.html
http://windowstorussia.com/i-have-talked-about-john-deere-in-russia-before.html
http://windowstorussia.com/agriculture-production-is-up-in-russia-lets-talk-sugar.html
http://windowstorussia.com/russia-and-growth.html

And many more about this interesting issue going on in Russia…

I sit at the front row with things related to Russia. I am unusual in that I actually live in rural Russia and see the real Russia. I see the Russia that you do not, I see a Russia that is not attached to Moscow. Moscow is not Russia and I have said that many times before…

I see the new factories, new farms, new industries and new ideas first hand. I drive the roads and I see with my own eyes. I saw and watched the games being played with grain in the last few years and realized that for all my time of 10 years in Russia, there has been a plan in effect to wean Russia from the west and set Russia as a industrial and agricultural powerhouse. Reminds me of the old days in America…

That is why I love Russia; Russia is part of the future of the world…

Shouldn’t us Americans be part of that future?

WtR

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/PAK_TA

Not much info yet, but enough to keep me busy for the last few months reading all I can about this craft. Looks like Putin has just given a nod to development and I realized this morning that this is what sets the US and Russia apart now…

It is all the mental issue and when your whole society is stuck inn an iPhone mode, things like this craft become secondary. Russians have iPhone, but they seem to have a better understanding that iPhone technology is the answer and not the games to be played on that iPhone. I just used the iPhone as a example. You can introduce any item you feel into the equation and it comes out the same…

Not your Soviet father’s ugly cargo plane… 😉

WtR

Dear readers,

Today is the eve of the New Red Fire Monkey Year (starts 02/08/2016,) according to the ancient Chinese calendar. In the East people believe that this creature combines contradictory traits such as high intelligence, wisdom in conjunction with an inclination of creating unexpected steps that may challenge cloudy and dull days.
In an imperfect world we have a tendency to live in, one would want both of these traits to be true. However, taking into consideration the deterioration of matters within the East Asia, WtR wants to hope that Red Fire Monkey will be showing a lot of wisdom in the year 2016. For the course of event during this region will have an excellent influence on the remainder of the globe for many years to come…

We want to wish a Happy New Year to all of our readers, even if they’re are not dwelling in Asia, so that they can enjoy this holiday…

Sveta, Boza and Kyle Keeton

This morning we had a visitor. It was 4:30 a.m.and outside in our trees was a Hoot owl. He was busy calling to another Hoot Owl (or barred owl) deep in the woods and one nearby in Brown Home area, he did not mind us stepping outside to listen to his calls…

He or she did not fly away as I turned the light on and it gave me about 20 seconds to see it before it decided that there are better places to be, than around a couple of noisy buffoons like Boza and I…

It was a Great Horned Owl and simply beautiful. It was also darn big and kinda scary that early in the morning…

This seemed like a territorial issue and not a mating issue. For I think the owl in our tree was actually the outsider and the others where telling it to go back. It was cool and was perfect to listen to on a crisp -7 morning. The sky was clear and the air carried the sound perfect. I just wish that I had better recording equipment, but it worked and he hooted away for us…

What a wonderful start to a day…

WtR

Boza got upset and we went out at six a.m. to see what was going on. Boza somehow heard the guy way down in the valley stuck in his car. Boza is amazing and we took off to see if he needed help. Many hours later and lots of digging, we got him turned around and he could go back the way he came…

Then…

After all said and done. Boza and I are happy guys. We helped someone get out of the deep snow and ate good food with a good friend…

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I had to do some work on the donation button coding and actually I should say my better half (Svetochka,) is the one who finalized the code. She keeps me calm while I get grouchy and grumpy when something does not work right. The donation code was defaulting to Russian and it should have been English and finally with a snippet of code it seems to be working correctly. I hope for those that could not send their donations, it now works okay for them. Strange, but oh well…

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Still weak from the flu and going to take a nap. Boza is already sleeping and I am going to join him. I guess not too many thoughts from me today. but some good pictures…:)

WtR

by John Stanton

“Synthetic biology also appears likely to open up opportunities in the human performance modification field through the potential to make regulatory molecules in laboratories or, more directly, inside the body. For example, bacteria that live in the human digestive system already convert food into neurotransmitters and other molecules that influence performance; by engineering these organisms to sense the levels of compounds in the body and to supplement or counteract them when needed, it may be possible to enhance physical, cognitive, and socioemotional (or interpersonal) performance.” DOD Office of Technical Intelligence

The mainstream media, the public and financiers are agog over the Zika virus (Zika) which is wreaking havoc on thousands of families and newborns in the vicinity of Piracicaba, Northeast Brazil. Zika cases have already been reported in Texas, Florida and Virginia.

According to the US Center for Disease Control, “In May 2015, the public health authorities of Brazil confirmed the transmission of Zika virus in the northeast of the country. Since October 2015, other countries and territories of the Americas have reported the presence of the virus.”

Opportunistic Zika is being presented by the mainstream media and some government agencies in the same manner as the beheading of an ISIL/Daesh prisoner, and with all the drama, color commentary and propaganda of the War on Terror, the War in Afghanistan, the War in Iraq, the War on Drugs, the War on Crime, the Cyber War, and the reemerging War against the twin Red—though capitalist—Menaces Russia and China.

Is it possible for the United States of America to do anything other than wage war?

At any rate, Piracicaba, Brazil, according to an Intrexon briefing at a JP Morgan sponsored conference, was the site of the “world’s first municipality to release Oxitec organisms [genetically modified organisms (GMO’s)] into the wild. The organisms were genetically tricked-out male mosquitoes and the release of the flying critters took place in April of 2015. Oxitec is a subsidiary of Intrexon.

The is no established link between Intrexon’s release of genetically modified mosquitoes and Zika or the birth defects attributed to Zika that are ravaging the families and children of northeast Brazil. But there is a link, however, between Intrexon’s timely purchase of Oxitec in August 2015 for $160 million, and the windfall that Intrexon expects to gain from its genetically modified killer mosquitoes. Already, Wall Street investors, business publications and media outlets are praising the use of GMO’s like those of Intrexon’s to wipe out malaria, dengue and other diseases even though there remains much scientific uncertainty over the long term effects of inserting GMO’s into the ecosystems into which human animals are embedded.

GMO’s Taste Great!

Science writer Phillip Ball writes that “If the idea of introducing a turbo-boosted method of genetic modification into the wild sounds alarming, it should. In 2014, before it was even clear whether gene drives would work in insects, a group of US researchers recommended some safety guidelines and called for regulation and extreme caution before unleashing such a powerful technique in a natural ecosystem. The subsequent publication of a gene-drive system in flies led the same researchers (including those who did that work) to recommend lab containment procedures.

In similar fashion, another of Intrexon’s business units, AquaBounty’s AquaAdvantage Salmon, received approval in 2015 from the US Food and Drug Administration to produce and harvest genetically engineered salmon and sell it in the US without warning labels. The GM salmon will be produced in Panama and Canada. However, the US Congress stepped in and indicated that it would not allow the sale of GM salmon in the US without a labeling regime. According to the National Law Review, “Reversing course from the end of 2015, FDA recently announced an import ban on genetically engineered (GE) salmon until such a time as comprehensive labeling guidelines are introduced. Despite FDA’s approval of GE salmon in November 2015, the agency appears to have bowed to congressional pressure and placed a hold on the importation of the AquAdvantage Salmon pending resolution of the labeling guideline controversy.”

Further, documents received by foodandwaterwatch.org through a Freedom of Information Act request reveal that some staff at the US Fish and Wildlife Service expressed reservations about Intrexon’s GE salmon and the impact on native salmon: “…I think the idea of genetically engineered animals that will be consumed is a bad idea anyway but it is done all the time. I think the uncertainty of what will eventually happen to a species if genetically altered animals mix with native stocks is reason enough to oppose this at least until such times as that controlled experimentation takes place…no matter what precautions you take fish escape and once they do, there is no closing that door. So that being said, I think it is a bad precedent to set.”

Lobbyists, Genes, Investments and Defense

Sitting on Intrexon’s board of directors is Cesar Alvarez of Greenberg Traurig (GT). His biography indicates that “Mr. Alvarez has served since February 2010 as the Executive Chairman of the international law firm of Greenberg Traurig, LLP, and previously served as its Chief Executive Officer from 1997 until his election as Executive Chairman.” If the name Greenberg Traurig sounds familiar, that because it was home to Jack Abramoff who brought in millions of dollars to GT while Alvarez was, ostensibly, in charge as GT’s CEO. According to GT’s website, “During his tenure as CEO, which began in 1997, he directed the firm’s growth from 325 lawyers in eight offices to approximately 1850 attorneys and government professionals…” GT has been involved in a number of unsavory activities over the years, many of them under Alvarez’s watch.

The Pentagon and US Intelligence agencies are looking into synthetic biology in some sense the way they used to look into hallucinogenic LSD and atomic weapons: Theorize, test on humans, and then see what happens all before regulators get nosy. In January 2015 the Department of Defense’s Office of Technical Intelligence produced a report titled Synthetic Biology. The field is described as this: “Synthetic biology is an emerging field in which scientists modify or ‘engineer’ DNA to improve their ability to understand, predict, design, and build biological systems…Thus, it is not a new field, but it is new in its approach – holistic engineering of biology – and its promise…Due to DoD’s unique missions, there are many special needs for advanced materials, and this area has low regulatory hurdles.”

Intrexon gets a few mentions in the Synthetic Biology study, always a good thing for a company looking to relieve the Pentagon’s research and engineering units of some cash. Here’s one: “Intrexon, a synthetic biology company that designs and produces organisms for agricultural, medical, and industrial applications, conducted an initial public offering (IPO) this year that valued the company at more than $2 billion.” Here’s another: “The R&D Services group is similarly young and has received lower levels of investment, with the exception of one big winner: Intrexon, which has attracted $500 million dollars in investment, was omitted from the analysis above because of the degree to which it skews this group.”

According to opensecrets.org, Supreme Court Justice Samuel Alito has $100,000 to $250,000 “assets” with Intrexon and US Senator Mark Warner has $500,000 to $1,000,000.

Intrexon looks like a buy!

John Stanton can be reached at captainkong22@gmail.com

I had a question answered this winter…

What is life?

There is a little bird that I have called George from the day he was born. George has stayed around Boza and I since he was born. He follows us as we walk and he seems to be our friend. George likes us and this winter George needed a few nights inside…

It got cold people! There were few nights of -35 to -40 and George somehow sneaked inside our outer room when I left the door open. The first time I did not realize it until the next morning, but the second and third time, I helped him get in. He would stay quiet and not make a fuss and he was a good guest. He just stayed the night as the wind blew, the snow fell and the temperature became deadly. Then he would leave the next morning and sing away as he thanked Boza and I for letting him stay the night…

That is life and that is what is important…

Boza tries to sit as close to me as possible as I work on the websites I have. I have made a spot for him on the couch near me and he can lay his head on my lap as I work…

That is life…

I found several sparrows after the heavy super freezes, they were dead… (Boza and I buried them together!)

That is life…

The sun came out from hiding and feels so warm on the face…

That is life…

The second time George stayed at our home, I put seeds from a few plants on the table. they were all gone in the morning…

That is life…

Cracking the surface of the water covered with ice, to even get water…

That is life…

A cat I found living nearby, under a village home, was given a big fat fish to eat. He said hello this morning and Boza chased him around awhile…

That is life…

Sveta is coming to see me on the 12th of February…

That is life…

Then today after feeling better from having the flu and being sick as a dog. I discovered life and it was all around me and we needed each other to survive and that is year around…

It became clear to me that life is simple and easy to explain. It is humans that make it hard and confusing…

That is life…

WtR