Windows to Russia

The beginning for this great Cathedral started after Napoleon tried his hand at ruling Russia (Napoleon walked into Russia with 600,000 plus men and only about 30,000 survived,) but actual physical construction was not started until 1839. Originally dreamed up by architect Konstantin Ton, whose talents also developed the Grand Kremlin Palace and the Kremlin Armory. The huge cathedral was finished in 1883…

But alas it was destroyed by the Soviet government in 1931, leveled to the ground and even deeper, to build another dream that never happened, The Palace of Soviets…

That dream failed and as the Cathedral was gone, nothing happened until after World War Two. Then it became a spot for the largest swimming pool in the world. Which due to it being heated year around, was a fog bank of delight and everyone hated the pool, except as rumors state, “The mafia loved the pool!”

What you see now in its original place (and a lot safer than a thick fog covered swimming pool) is a rebuilt Cathedral started after the fall of the Soviet Union. Then Moscow Mayor Yuri Luzhkov ramrodded and with the Orthodox Church’s desires. They resurrected the cathedral to a tune of $360 million…

What you see in the photo above is the finished Cathedral in 2000…

So this one is not that old, but it is very beautiful. inside and outside…

This number two in the series of Churches from Russia, that I am going to post…

Number one is here… (Church of the Transfiguration: Island of Kizhi, Karelia… (1))

Posted by Kyle Keeton
Windows to Russia…

I was drinking a delicious cup of coffee on this cold and snowing day in Moscow. Russia is cold. The news reports are full of stories about cities in the Siberian Region that have lost power and it is -45C. degrees below zero. That is about -49 degrees F. Brrrrrrrrr….

As I was drinking this hot cup of coffee, I thought about Santa, Saint Nick, Father Frost, Grandfather Frost, Ded Moroz, Santa Claus, Chris Kringle, Pere Noel, Papai Noel, Viejo Pascuero, Dun Che Lao Ren, Kerstman, Joulupukki, Weihnachtsmann, Kanakaloka, Mikulas, Babbo Natale, Hoteiosho, Julenissen, Swiety Mikolaj, Jultomten and Father Christmas! Yes all Santa in different parts of the world.

I remember well the letter that was written by a young girl (Virginia O’Hanlon). As we grew up we were taught about things like this. I grew up in a world that it was OK to believe. You were expected to believe…

There are now people who feel that Santa should not be believed in.

In fact Russia had to stand up for Father Frost: there was a TV ad that was banned in December of 2007. The ad for Eto electrical stores stated Father Frost, Russia’s version of Father Christmas, did not exist.

But because Russia stood up for Father Frost (Santa) the Western press had a hay day with this and put Russia down for censoring freedom of speech. The Western Press says that the Eto Electric company had a right to say there is no Santa. Russia says that the company is not the one responsible to tell children that there is no Santa. That their actions undermined parental authority, trust and respect!

Russia still stands by the decision to leave the telling of “No – Father Frost to the parents.”

I agree…

I grew up in a world that even if you did not think Father Frost (Santa) was real, you would never announce it to the world. You had more respect for the kids and not kids who believe or at least want to believe.

The world has more important issues than trying to destroy Santa Claus and good or bad, believing in Santa is the least of the evils that we have tossed at us on a daily onslaught…

I for one do not care what he is called. I believe in Santa Claus and feel he is an important part of growing up.

Since I am under a 100 years old still, I have a lot of growing up to do and I still believe in Santa Claus…

Posted by Kyle Keeton
Windows to Russia…

PS: You have any names I missed for Santa let us know and I will add them…

This kozinaki recipe is so good! You can find this in all the Russian stores, but that is not the same as if you make it yourself. It really is a brittle type candy. Russians love their candies of all types and this one is a winter special. It has lots of nutrition due to the nuts and it has lots of sugar for the energy boost as you try to survive the long hard winter in Russia…

Lets make kozinaki

Ingredients:
1 pound total of shelled sunflower seeds, shelled walnuts, shelled almonds or shelled peanuts, all together or singularly,  all finely chopped…
2 cups (16 ounces) of pure honey…
6 tablespoons of sugar beet sugar or what ever sugar you have…

Lets make kozinaki:
Preheat oven to 350 F. Spread the chopped nuts in a single layer on a sheet pan and toast them in the oven for 8 to 10 minutes, stire them occasionally to get browned evenly. I like to get them very brown and almost burnt, many just like to heat them up. The idea is to get them toasted real well…

Put a 2-quart sauce pan on the stove top to heat the syrup in. Put the honey and sugar in the sauce pan and stirring constantly, while bringing to a boil. When the syrup reaches 220 F. (Remember the set point is 220 and go a little higher to set harder or go less and set softer!) on a thermometer, lower the heat and stir in the nuts. Stirring often, cook for 15 minutes at medium heat…

Brush the inside of an 8- to 9-inch round pie tin or pan with ice cold water and pour in the hot nut mixture. Push the lumps flat and set on the window sill, uncovered, to cool down. When hardened, reheat the outer side of the pan by dipping it in hot water. Turn upside down onto a large plate and it should fall out with a plop. Then cut with a heated knife dipped in hot water, cut into rectangles. Refrigerated covered and it will keep weeks. Sitting on the counter at room temperature it will last about a week or as long as it takes the family to eat it all…

That is about one day… 🙂

Posted by Kyle Keeton
Windows to Russia…

-10 below zero and the wind is blowing at about 20 kph. That statement called for a second cup of coffee today, as I still am trying to adjust my old bones to the weather this year. Boza has grown his winter coat and he also seems to be already adjusted to the frozen ground with his paws. To be truthful, winter has been for over a month, but the snow has stayed away. Then the first day of winter came officially and the snow decided to follow…

Taking Boza for a walk today in between my writing on my novel and such. Was interesting. I had the new cell phone that I have talked about over the last month and took a couple of pictures. I was not sure if the pictures would be any good. for many Chinese phone cameras really plainly suck. I am very surprised…

It all started with Boza finding a little snowman or as Russians say, “Snow Women!”

Then as I looked around, I focused on the fact that it was seriously winter and we would not see the ground for at least 6 months now…

Oh by the way, do not believe any weather reports about Russia. Everyday it says “Sunshine” and there is a huge bright sun on my smartphone weather widget. Today was no exception. I realize that somewhere in Russia it is sunny, but in Moscow, sunshine is as rare as a dandelion blooming in the middle of winter…

This is a sunny day in Moscow and that is not very sunny…

Boza and I had a good walk, the camera works great and we are home warming up. Have a good day…

Posted by Kyle Keeton
Windows to Russia…

I have been posting a lot of recipes. I am trying to get them done before the holidays get to far into a full swing and I seem to be running out of time. This is a simple Jello as we call it in America. The Russians eat very little varieties of jello or Jelly as they call it. It is interesting to get to live in two societies…

Jelly in Russia is jello in the USA! In America jelly is spread on bread. In Russia, jelly is molded gelatin. But we both have jam, which is jelly with real chunks of fruit in it. A Russian does not understand a jam like a jelly with no fruit in it… 🙂

Lets make a chocolate version of jello…

Ingredients:
3 oz chocolate (Real chocolate!)
2 cups milk
3 tbsp sugar
1 tbsp vanilla (Fake is okay because you will rarely find real, in America! In Russia use real vanilla.)
2 tbsp plain unsweetened colorless gelatin

Method:
Pour over gelatin cold first boiled water (use – 1 part gelatin to 9 parts water). Use a sauce pan as you will reheat it…

Leave the gelatin to sit for 40-60 minutes and then warm on a very low heat, do not boil. Some say to strain the mixture and if using low quality gelatin please do so…

Then bring the milk to almost a boil (Milk will scorch, so be cautious.). Dissolve the chocolate, sugar, vanilla and then pour in the gelatin liqiud…

Stir carefully and pour into small bowls or a holiday type mold. Cool down in the refrigerator, then eat…

This is a product that can be found almost anywhere in Russia, Russians love chocolate and this is just another way to satisfy that sweet tooth that many Russians have…

I still have 6 more recipes to post before Christmas…

Posted by Kyle Keeton
Windows to Russia…

PS: I know you just said, “But they have jello in the store in a box and it is chocolate flavored!”

Sorry it is not the same and flavor is correct…

Kizhi Pogost is amid one of the many abounding islands on pleasant Lake Onega in the near arctic part of Karelia. The pogost, or enclosure, contains two amazing wood board churches dating from the eighteenth century and a towered belfry was constructed in the nineteenth century. Distant Churches like the Kizhi Pogost, were accustomed to serving the extensive community in size, but sparsely populated regions like Karelia. The onion-shaped cupolas are prolifically in Russia and the Orthodoxy and the cupolas are covered with narrow, diamond-shaped aspen shingles, which accept acquired a argent blush with the access of time. Wood architectonics is basic to Russian architecture. Thanks to approved repairs, the Church of the Transfiguration has survived into the twentieth century…

I am going to start posting images of the beautiful Russian churches as I find them on the internet…

Posted by Kyle Keeton
Windows to Russia…

I agree that perfect maybe too strong of a word, but it really is a perfect phone for me. After fighting with Samsung on numerous occasions and wearing out another half dozen phones. I have come across the perfect smartphone for everyday use…

It is Chinese made and the android inside is Chinese developed. It still is Android Gingerbread 2.3.6 and the Chinese have taken the plain Jane Android and tuned it up. Actually I should say that Konka did the tuneup…

I am not going to say what they did is the best, but they gave me a very solid core to work with and I have polished the Gingerbread that is in the phone…

They fibbed about the CPU speed and I overclocked the CPU to 806 MHz. That got the CPU to what they say it can do and it does it all day long. I just do not understand why they did not set it up that way to begin with…

I rooted the phone and did some ROM backups, so that if I destroy the OS, I can reinstall it. I also figured out how to get a CWM recovery installed and the phone is humming happily now…

One thing that is definitely an issue for someone like me, is the fact that it does have 4 G of ROM, but that really does not do the phone justice. The operating system eats almost all up and you have maybe 512 mg left over to install apps. I ran into the same thing on my Note, but it had 16 G if ROM and I had 11 G left over. So you see, you have to be careful about the ROM game. Lucky for me Konka has another great software trick and any and all app can be installed to the SD card and it does it automatically. The SD card is the same thing as ROM to this phone. It works good, except speed wise. Little bit slower…

It is a dual Sim phone and I have yet to decided to get another Sim card or not for it. I have tried two Sims and found that it works flawlessly and either Sim can be used as the main Sim. Konka has a little program built in that really does the job. It allows complete control over what and how you want your Sims to react and interact with each other. I am impressed…

The phone has wonderful reception and I am not sure if it has anything to do with the steel frame that is throughout the phone, but it has been a long time since I have had such good reception on a phone. This includes the GPS. The GPS has a little Chinese app called YGPS and it is the best GPS signal gatherer that I have ever seen. The first time that I started up GPS, it locked on in less than a second. I have never seen that before. I have since discovered that the little app gathers information from the net and GPS and saves it for a rainy day. It updates everyday and it is called the EPO and AGPS settings. This app allows me to adjust everything in detail and it just plain works. I realize that the hardware inside the phone has to be good also and as you can tell by what I just said, the hardware is up to the job…

Konka also fibbed about the dual UI and the Windows side of things is messed up. I am sending Konka an e-mail and try to get some help with that aspect of the launcher. I am not sure if my launcher is corrupt or it just does not work in all the phones of this type. I am using Zeam launcher and it does the job so well, that I may just keep it forever…

The phone is a plain and solid. The touch screen is sensitive enough for me and while it is much smaller than my Galaxy Note, it is much easier to carry and it laughs at rain, snow, sleet or shine. Kinda like a postman…

I am updating about this phone because, amazingly or not to you, people have commented and looked at the pages on this phone thousands of times. It caught me off guard, as I never figured anyone would care about a phone like this. A Chinese made, Gingerbread and rugged type phone…

I guess I am wrong and from what I am seeing, there should be more phones made that are waterproof, dust proof and shockproof…

Konka W880 is really a great phone…

Posted by Kyle Keeton
Windows to Russia…

PS: More information on the phone here…

Konka W880 Rough and Tough Smartphone has arrived…

Konka W880 A Tough Phone…

This video is Russia! I see this kind of way of life, everyday that I am here. Life in Russia is a “Bowel of Cherries” and no one cares about the pits. Or better yet, “This is Russia in a Nutshell!”

Lets salt the sidewalks and lets do it from the street and lets salt about 50% of the sidewalk and the cars…

I had to add this video (below) after the effect. I have seen them do things like this a hundred times here…

Now I know Russians and they would just take all this with a grain of salt (so to speak) and tell you, “It is a miracle that they are salting the sidewalks!” or they would say, “Good! Don’t need a stoplight there anyway!”

You know! They are right!

That is why I love Russia…

Posted by Kyle Keeton
Windows to Russia…

I really do not care how true these 10 statements all are below, just as I do not care that others keep telling me that coffee is terrible for you. So I am going to spout some good facts for coffee that are all over the internet. When I am done, you may just decide a cup of coffee a day is good for you. Or maybe two, three, four or more cups a day are better…

I figured that since coffee is one of the biggest search words that Windows to Russia has. I would actually write an article about coffee and what good it does. I have tried to kick the habit of sipping coffee everyday, but it is just too good and really seems to be good for me. As I only drink it in moderation, two cups a day whether I need it or not…

Coffee:

1. Possibly prevents Parkinson’s Disease…

2. Give dental cavities a kick in the mouth…

3. Headaches say goodby…

4. Workout Pain is lessened when drank about an hour before a workout…

5. Makes your skin health, wealthy and wise…

6. Vascular Health with lowering blood pressure…

7. Cholesterol levels, like tea, coffee contains a lot of antioxidants…

8. Increase that reaction time. If you are a gunfighter like in the wild west. Coffee gives that edge…

9. Risk of Liver Cancer and Cirrhosis is knocked down a notch…

10. Controlling Type II Diabetes is given a big boost of help by coffee and its chemical makeup…

As with anything coffee is the same and should be dealt with in moderation. If you think it is helping you, then do not get the notion that 10 cups of coffee a day will help you more…

I always look at our vices this way…

Way back in the old days we used saccharine in lots of stuff we ate or drank. Then some smart intelligent people experimented with mice. The researchers fed laboratory mice sweetened water that was equivalent to 800 cans of saccharin/cyclamate every day from birth until death. They came to the conclusion after stuffing enough saccharine in a mouse to kill it a hundred times over, that saccharine causes cancer… (Tidbit of information: saccharin and aspartame are and were owned and marketed by the same company- Monsanto. :()

So since I can not believe anything that is said by anyone called important. I ignore all that they say and then post and believe what I want to. That would be a good thing for you to follow also…

Coffee is good for you!

Oh! Tea is good for you also…

Posted by Kyle Keeton
Windows to Russia…

The only reason why the US is able to finance its debt is because it prints enough US Dollars to finance that debt. The only reason why its able to print as many US dollars as is necessary, is because many of those dollars aren’t in circulation, but in reserve in foreign nations. When one of these countries starts spending those dollars into circulation for whatever reason, either hugely high interest rates, hugely high inflation, or both, will begin to occur…

“It’s no longer in China’s favor to accumulate foreign-exchange reserves!” Yi Gang, a deputy governor at the central bank, said in a speech organized by China Economists 50 Forum…

This is important and why? Because its dangerous to the American way of life. What do you think will happen if other countries join in on China’s ideas? Suddenly nobody wants anything to do with US treasury bonds and the dollar is not in anyone’s interest. I think many Americans will do wisely in quietly leaving this sinking ship before the government loses all control and goes berserk…

Extension of function equality:

In mathematics, extension means that the A set that includes a given and with similar set such as a subset B. Hence sets A and B are equal if and only if they have precisely the same elements. Thus China is creating as the years go by a equal subset to the A set that we see in America. This explains why China extends the inevitable and it also plainly labels what will happen after the equality is met. The dollar is no longer necessary and will be replaced due to the fact that you have a new set of A. For the dollar will have become a subset in the process…

I find it very fascinating that this isn’t a bigger story in the main stream news. This could be the beginning of the end. Especially if it turns out that the major buyer in operation twist was china. I say that because as the US was selling short term debt for long term debt, the Chinese could have been rolling over longer term debt into short term. If that’s the case, the Chinese would never have to sell their debt, they could just wait for it to mature. Collect their devalued dollars, and purchase American assets. Most especially agriculture. (Which they are doing by the way!) The Chinese have said repeatedly that they were ready to allow market forces to raise the RMB. I also think this will be a catalyst for other emerging markets, awash in American exported inflation, to follow suit.Such as Russia, India, Brazil and many others. No matter how small the amount that a certain country has accumulated of US dollars, the end result of everyone cash the chips in, is a devastation…

Who is going to finance American debt in the future?

For we can not and should not be financing ourselves! That is what we are doing and if you as an individual tried the same. Jail would be your new home…

The bottom line:

This way of doing business by the USA is a time bomb. Our currency’s value is maintained by the fact that most countries have huge currency reserves of US dollars in their coffers. No country wants to acknowledge the value of US currency going down because in doing so, their own treasuries (that which is held in US securities) goes down in value. At the same time, its a “hot potato” to hold onto, because as we inflate our currency, we are essentially taxing these reserves held by other nations. This move shifts the balancing act, as the foreign holdings of US dollars diminishes, these countries are not given any incentive to continue to prop up the dollar. The end result of this will be the value of our currency will drop, and trigger stronger inflation. If other countries follow suit, it could quickly trigger runaway inflation and they will run to the next world currency with open arms…

That then will start the processes all over again…

Posted by Kyle Keeton
Windows to Russia…