Nuclear-powered train in Russia…


Remember as a kid and reading Popular Mechanic or Popular Science magazines. They were always full of articles about things that you could verily imagine.  Such as things that Russia spouts about all the time, even now. Now Russia says that they will build a Nuclear Powered Train…

Russian Railways (RZhD) and the Russian Federal Atomic Energy Agency (Rosatom) intend to create a nuclear-powered train, reports Interfax. According to RZhD vice-president Valentin Gapanovich, the train, consisting of 11 carriages, will house scientific exhibits. (Link)

What a wonderful thought. A nuclear powered train, that would be like something out of a science fiction book that I read as a kid… 🙂

That really is cool and I only hope that they fulfill what they say. You know they just might be able to do it. They have that very successful floating nuclear power plant and with a little tweaking on size they could adopt it to a train…

That is why I love Russia. Maybe someday we will travel Russia on a Nuclear Powered Train…

Windows to Russia!

Putin is a Mountain…


windows to russia

Tian Shan mountains...

The lawmakers in Kyrgyzstan approved February 17, 2011 to apply Putin’s name to a 4,446-meter (14,672-feet) mountain peak in the Tian Shan mountains south of the capital, Bishkek…

A whole mountain peak named after Putin! Does Putin get to play on the mountain? Would Putin want to play on the mountain? It looks like a pretty rugged set of mountains and might not be good for skiing and relaxing… 🙂

It is somewhere in “that there” mountain range picture?

Hummm – could they be wanting something from Putin?

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Medvedev Meets The Pope…


Dmitry Medvedev met with Pope Benedict XVI and Vatican Secretary of State Tarcisio Bertone.

This was the first official visit of a Russian leader to the Vatican since establishment of full-format diplomatic relations. Following his brief working visit to the Vatican on December 3, 2009, Dmitry Medvedev signed an executive order on establishing diplomatic relations at the level of a Russian Federation Embassy in the Vatican.

The discussion focused on prospects for humanitarian, social, scientific, educational and cultural cooperation. Besides, the parties reviewed opportunities for promoting dialogue among confessions. (Link)

Now that is just way to cool. What a fantastic photo…

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Russia Today and Peter Schiff…


Peter Schiff...

As I sip my coffee and enjoy the aroma and flavor. I have been thinking about the fact that Peter Schiff has a column now on Russia Today…

I find that RT has an unbelievable wealth of information (good or bad) for those not “afraid” to look at and accept something different than the sheeple controlling main stream medias. I realize that RT is fairly mainstream in a sense in Russia and very Westernized by Russian standards. It is obvious that RT wants to be a media powerhouse in America and their slow and steady integration into the American media market is starting to cause some concerns out of the media giants in the West…

It seems that the refusal of the main stream media to acknowledge certain sources of information have left a opening for RT to gain traction in their endeavors…

RT likes to ask Americans why?

And that is not a question that certain people liked asked. It is one thing for bloggers such as me to ask why and believe you me there are a lot of bloggers asking why on a lot of issues. But when an news agency backed from Russia, has made huge headway’s into the public sector of America as RT has done…

In fact here is the link to RT’s USA section of their website. Just as the main stream media has a section on Russia for Russian news. RT has a section on the USA for USA news. Not news about the whole world all mixed together but news that allows you to concentrate on just America and her exploits of the day… 🙂

Now we have Peter Schiff writing a column for RT. I hope that he writes often and lays it all on the line…

I like RT and it is fun to watch their news programs. Sometimes they are so into their “Bad America” reports. That you chuckle at the obviousness.  Many of the RT reporters who are foreign, are present all over the city (Moscow) and they are no strangers to me or anyone else. They seem to have good attitudes and enjoy working for RT.  Unlike the hidden journalists from the Moscow Western press powerhouses…

One problem is that RT does not have the mass audience yet that can sway the masses in America. But they will and that has some heads turning in concern…

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Mil Mi-38-OP transport-passenger helicopter can fly to the heavens…


New Russian helicopter can land on top of Mount Everest…

A prototype of the Mil Mi-38-OP transport-passenger helicopter, developed at the Mil Moscow Helicopter Plant, is currently being tested in the Moscow Region. Designers say the helicopter’s performance is quite unique, that it will not age. Special wear resistant composite materials are used on the helicopter’s fuselage. Originally intended as a replacement for the Mil Mi-8 and the Mi-17, it is being marketed in both military and civil versions. It flew for the first time on 22 December 2003…

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Putin Keeps Laying the Groundwork for the Future…


When the old mayor was fired by President Medvedev and the new mayor installed was Putin’s right hand man in the Russian government. I said then that the new mayor, Sergey Sobyanin is an up coming future presidential prospective candidate…

Prime Minister Vladimir Putin has suggested that Mayor Sergey Sobyanin lead the ruling United Russia’s branch in Moscow. “As far as I know the leader of United Russia’s Moscow organization has not yet been elected,” said the premier, who heads the party. (Link)

It reminds me of something George Orwell said, “He who controls the past commands the future. He who commands the future conquers the past.”

Makes sense to me…

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Coffee and the Double Dip Flu…


I am drinking my morning cup of coffee and thinking about the flu. Any flu: Influenza, commonly referred to as the flu, is an infectious disease caused by RNA viruses of the family Orthomyxoviridae (the influenza viruses), that affects birds and mammals. The most common symptoms of the disease are chills, fever, sore throat, muscle pains, severe headache, coughing, weakness/fatigue and general discomfort. Although it is often confused with other influenza-like illnesses, especially the common cold, influenza is a more severe disease than the common cold and is caused by a different type of virus…

If you ask me, I think that this flu should be called “Death warmed over!” And I know about death warmed over. I have been brought back several times by defibrillator and felt better then, than I do right now… 🙂

So as I sip my coffee and pluck away at this article. I came to the realization that I had a double dip flu. (Like a double dip recession and the second dip is worse than the first…) In the last few weeks I had the flu and got very sick. I was down and out for several days. Sveta took care of me and as I started to feel better, then Sveta came down with it. I then took care of her. Then I got hit again. Then I lost several days and am not really sure about much of what happened during those days. I guess Sveta canceled my teachings and other appointments. I know that I was incapable and I know that I was as sick as I have ever been in my life and somewhere Sveta felt good enough to take care of me again… (Bless her heart!)

Poor Boza has been beside himself with worry. He is not use to me being bedridden…

I do remember one thing from the last few days and found the remains of it in the refrigerator. Sveta made chicken/cabbage soup. She calls it her magic healing soup. She says that she puts her soul into making it and it will make me better…

Since I lost 5 kilos this week. I am going to try to eat some more of that magic soup. It seems to be working and because it sure sounds good today… 🙂

It is a beautiful day in Russia…

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Al Jazeera English, The Real Coverage on Egypt…


UPDATE:

Hosni Mubarak, the Egyptian president, has resigned from his post, handing over power to the armed forces and ending a 30-year grip on the largest Arab nation.In a stunning reversal of fortunes, Omar Suleiman, the new vice-president, announced in a televised address on Friday evening that the president was “waiving” his office, and had handed over authority to the Supreme Council of the Armed Forces. (Link)

Al Jazeera is really the only true coverage of the issues in Egypt. Al Jazeera is being slammed by Mubarak and followers. I have even heard derogatory remarks from America and Israel. But the truth is this is the real situation and no cover up is intended and allowed…

Watch a few minutes of streaming live video. At least while we can still get such true pictures and coverage. If my site gets the video blocked try the link below. It leads to the main Al Jazeera site…

http://english.aljazeera.net/watch_now/

Makes you think doesn’t it? They are really down on America and it is getting worse. Our (American) involvement now and in the past has backfired hugely. This is a real example of why we need to keep our nose at home and take care of ourselves first and foremost…

Ron Paul said, “This is a typical example of what happens when we run on intervention-type foreign policies. We get in the middle of these fights. We’ve been in the middle of this for 30 years now. We’ve given Mubarak $60 billion. We’re responsible for a lot of the mess that is over there,”  (Link)

Hummm… (Powder keg comes to mind as I watch this video streaming live…)

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We Lost Our Cars This Last Snow…


We lost our cars in the snow fall we just had the last few days. I was walking the dog tonight and realized that it had finally stopped snowing. Then I realized that all the cars everywhere were buried in tons of snow. You can see several rows of cars here and one row is totally buried with no sign of a car. Way in the back of the photos there are cars that have been dug out and they are parked in the middle of the road actually. It is not clear where roads are right now so everyone just drives and parks anywhere. I am really not sure how everyone is going to get their cars out. To top it all off as you can see a plow and tractor shoved piles of snow on the right side of the pictures. That is about a solid pack of snow just outside of the picture. They just dumped the snow on top of hundreds of cars all over the place. I know that I will just wait and take public transport…

The wind is blowing and it is reaching some dangerous cold levels. I tried to freeze my hands because I had to take them out of my gloves to take this picture. I took a total of 10 pictures and realized that I could no longer work the camera phone. Boza looked at me like, Lets get going I am freezing! So we got home and after warming up my hands I decided to post these two pictures…

For your information the car at the front of the pictures is a Mercedes and it was a very nice car… 🙂

These were all cars that were being driven several days ago…

It is so cool… (literally)

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Coffee and the Laundry…


Front-loading washing machine

Common Russian Washing Machine...

Russia has a way of bringing back many memories from the old days in America. I have said many times and will most likely say a whole bunch more times, “Russia is just like America was 40 to 50 years ago…”

This is true in almost all aspects of life in Russia. Russia is strange in that way…

You can find the most advanced things on earth in Russia but when it comes to everyday life. The simpler things in life prevail. So as I was drinking that morning cup of coffee and trying to get some housework done and be quiet at the same time. (Sveta has the flu now…) I was thinking about the contrasts between Russia and America…

I grew from a dirt poor farmer type family with teachers for parents, to a very successful business man in America. I have had the world by the tail and have lost that tail several times. That is America! I see the same in Russia but with a major concession…

Russians for the most part have not let go of the old way of doing things. An example that comes to mind is, laundry. You will find Russians do have a washing machines. But a dryer is another story. Drying clothes by a machine is just not considered that good. Drying clothes outside is the best. So even though they can afford the dryer, you just do not see a lot of them around… (even for sale at the stores)

Now when I say a lot of Russians have washing machines that may be a lot of fallacy on my part. I should say that people in Moscow have washing machines. It is so common to do laundry by hand in the bathtub, that at a big shopping store, when you go to the detergent aisle, you will find,  many times as much detergent for washing clothes by hand than with a machine. In fact in Auchan one of the biggest stores in Russia, they have a huge aisle that is full of nothing but laundry detergent. One side is all hand wash detergent and the opposite side is machine wash. The hand wash is cheaper detergent and I use it for machine washing also… 🙂

Now lets get back on the trail of this particular story. I was thinking more in line of that fact that Russians like to hang their clothes outside even in the winter. I have acquired that habit now and have strung clothes lines up in our small balcony area. It is as cold as the outside and I crack the window to it for ventilation. I am doing what 75-80% of the flat complex does and we dry our clothes as close to the outside that we can. If you live in an older part of the complex they have trees and such. You can find clothes lines strung between all the trees and frozen clothes are hanging everywhere. It is really a neat sight to see sheets frozen stiff and bent in the breeze…

We ourselves have frozen clothes (just more hidden) and they sublime the ice away over several days and finally become dry. They also always smell so fresh and not like dryer perfume scented sheets…

Oh and on our floor there is 5 flats and only two of us have washers. No dryers! That seems to be a pretty good example of what I see elsewhere in the city…

Why do they not have washing machines and dryers when you can afford them? Simple, they feel that the clothes are better washed by hand and dried in the open air. It is better for you and the clothes… (And they are not a lazy people on top of it. Why not do it by hand? It falls into the way they clean rugs: Take them outside and beat the dirt out of them. Forget vacuum cleaners! But that is another story…)

That is why I love Russia…

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