There will be more writing here with time going in both directions - the future and the past. I need some time to go through tens of thousands of e-mails and notes and links that I accumulated over the last few years.
Legal disclaimer: All 'grammatic' errors and dead links are intentional. However if you find one e-meow to
val@ghost-cat.com
January 12, 2004
Now I have something to tell the people who say that I stink.
http://www.newscientist.com/news/news.jsp?id=ns99994555
Fits perfectly with what I said earlier about using chemicals in food. Convincing scientists that they don't know enough to do something on a large scale is an impossible task, not to mention that the people who will use the chemicals know even less. Reminds me about the time when I was working as a dishwasher and the kitchen help in one of the very famous restaurants in Connecticut. I was terrified to see how many cleaning chemicals end up in food. Of course, the amounts were not big enough to cause the immediate health problems but what do we know about the long term effects of exposure to even small dozes of those chemicals. And some very rich people ate there every day. Well, what else you'd expect if you allow your food to be grown, handled and prepared by minimum wage employees. What do they know about chemistry and biology?
January 11, 2004
From the article on http://www.geocities.com/eckcult/lane_live/lotus_feet.html
"I believe the world desperately needs a new, totally experimental mysticism that will set all the traditional theories on one side and try to find out, more in the spirit of science than of religion, what factors really bring about awakening, which can only happen if those who've experienced awakening eschew the Master-role and discuss their firsthand knowledge openly, lapses
and all."
In other words the world needs something like what Carlos Castaneda described.
October 17, 2003
Today was a warm sunny day so I decided to catch up om tanning. Unfortunatelly I was attacked by flesh eating ladybugs. Those cute little things were landing on me and immediately started chewing on my skin. Before I realized what was happening I was bleeding in dozen places. What in the hell is going on? Another government experiment went wrong? Monsanto invented some new persticide that drives bugs crazy? Or the nature is simply biting back?
I would advice anyone not to leave sleeping babies without constant supervision in a backyard. The bite may not be painful enough to wake up the baby and it would take only 15 minutes and a dozen of these new ladybugs to do severe damage to your baby's face and hands.
October 9, 2003
I think I am becoming a redneck. 'No ma'm. Ai cun't sin' a thin' but ai cun whisle.'
October 9, 2003
I got a little bit tired of being self-employed and I am thinking about the career in film making. All I need is a talent and the money to move to Hollywood. The money is the difficult part here, the talent I can borrow, just like the guys who "borrowed" from the movie 'Deep Core' and made a movie 'Core'. Uhmm...wait... I think it is called 'The Core' and the 'Core' was the title of the book from which the writers of 'Deep Core' stole. Anyway, I already got the idea, and at the current rate, a dime a dozen, I have a seed capital of 10/12 of a penny or $0.0083333333... in metric system. Or is it a decimal system. Damn it! You know, those guys from NASA should clean up that mess with inches and centimeters before they get involved in an upcoming penis size competition with the Russian Space Agency, otherwise they might embarrass our nation. There is an ass in embarrassment. I would not worry much about Chinese thou.
October 8, 2003
Let me help you to spell the word imagination correctly. I Magi Nation. Got it?
August 27, 2003
From: "JonquilJan" <***@imcnet.net>
> The 'theory' is that when animals move around - like they would outside -
> the energy they use is wasted on the movement instead of going into meat,
> milk or eggs. The bottom line is money - more meat, eggs, milk - more money.
>I have been in dairy barns where the lights are on around the clock, the radio
>is playing music around the clock and hay available around the clock.
> More hours awake, more hay eaten, more milk.
Hmm... Reminds me of KGB "farming" technique - a small cell, the music and the light 24 hours a day. Except of the food, of course. I guess they were short on hay.
Speaking of music, I am feeling the song being born, - 'Flying to the mo-o-o-o-on, and chewing hay along the way...' August 14, 2003
The thing that I miss the most about monarchy - no hassles with the election. Just turn the TV on one morning and... "My fellow comrades! Our beloved King tripped over the garden hose last night and does not feel like gardening anymore..."
August 13, 2003
Once there was a funny incident. There was a time when it was cheaper to buy a ticket and come to pick up the stuff in the US than to ship it to Russia so for couple of years one of my Russian friends did just that. He came to NY every month to pick up a couple of thousand CDs and because he came here empty-handed he decided to re-use the good boxes and the styrofoam chips so he started bringing them back. And during one trip he was asked by the US customs to open one box for inspection because it was suspiciously light. The customs officer was digging in the box full of chips for a while and then, puzzled, asked,
- Is there anything here but chips?
- No, sir, just chips.
- All four boxes?
- Yes, sir.
The officer looked at him suspiciously, trying to figure out what this strange Russian is up to, and then asked,
- But why?
- Recycling, sir.
August 12, 2003
Something reminded me about the issue with the writers - the people who supposed to be a conscience of the nation. They stubbornly oppose the sale of used books because they don't profit from it. They were doing it quietly, trying to put the pressure on Amazon through the publishing houses and the distributors. I guess the pressure was high enough for Jeff Bezos to plead his case to his customers directly. He sent a personal email to millions of customers asking them to get involved. I don't remember environmentalists being very active in this dispute which, of course, is understandable, their leaders are often writers themselves.
August 11, 2003
I remember we often ate young corn raw, as kids. I can't remember how many times I got lost in the corn fields. They were one of my favorite playgrounds. Once a neighbor caught me in his field and brought me to my father by holding my ear, complaining that I damage his crop. Being angry at him for such cruel treatment, I said, - "When you will sleep, I'll break all your corn". "Just look at this terrorist," - said the neighbor. I think that was the first time I've heard the word "terrorist".
August 10, 2003
I always felt that the History was kind of like a compost. I knew it was very useful, I just did not feel like eating it. I mean, once upon a time the stuff was surely edible but that was a long time ago.
August 8, 2003
People, you better be sitting when you read this. (Is anybody out there who's using this home computers like me - standing?)
Bible: People multiplied, got corrupted, disrespected God (symbol: Evergreen Tree) and He caused the flood.
Science: Population increase leads to deforestation which has been statistically linked to the increased frequency of floods.
The study of Chinese archives for the last 2000 years showed that the frequency of floods closely followed the fluctuation of the populace, ranging from 2 to 362 floods per century.
Could it be that the Bible is not a religious book but the scientific book, the collection of the knowledge of previous generations or even civilizations, presented in a religious fashion? So it was not the Tree that symbolized God but the Tree was spoken of as the Lord. Just like we would call a lion a King.
August 7, 2003
I like the way animals identify plants - by smell. I am pretty sure that Urushioil, the ouchy component of Poison Ivy, has a specific smell. I have some Japanese lacquer so I will try to dry a little bit on a paper and compare the smell. Not sure if it will work but it never hurts to practice. If I can id the garlic by smell then there is a hope for me yet.
August 6, 2003
If you have to use some pills for seven years than it is not a medicine, it's a food.
***
Just wait until the miraculous immune booster pill will be discovered from a seaweed in the next few years. The scientists are already using it to feed the cattle and at soon someone will get the idea to look at the some specific proteins and figure out how exactly the seaweed can give a huge boost to the immune system. Most of the drugs will disappear after that. The secret resistance from the medical establishment will be huge but who can possibly stop the "longevity pill" that works. It will be ironic if the miracle cure will come from veterinarian research and the people will have to go to the vet to get a prescription "for my ageing kitty". There is no business like gray market business.
August 5, 2003
I believe that if you can not say it with laughter you might as well not say it at all. After all we became the laughing stock of the animal world after we lost our tails and we probably would not make it if not for the sense of humor.
August 3, 2003
I personally believe that any adding chemicals to the food should be outlawed. One hundred year ago people did not even have refrigerators and they did not add any artificial preservatives to the food. There is no reasonable need to do so except immoral and malicious intent - to make money at the expense of possible health problems of the customers.
As a former chemist I know that not all chemicals are bad, however I would not want them in my food anyway unless it is an emergency. Do we have such an emergency every day? Of course not. Then why we had to eat additives every day?
I'd rather have a food poisoning once a year than a cancer once in a lifetime.
People are concerned about genetic engineering lately but why worry, we all have been genetically modified already by what our mother ate.
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2003/08/030801081754.htm
This is a groundbreaking discovery by the way. I am afraid that most people just don't get it yet. And the "experts" are suspiciously quiet on the subject. They must be in a state of shock'n'awe.
August 1, 2003
Most people do not want to be "informed" or "educated". They want it easy and cheap. There are only a thousand of us, and we mostly sharing the information among ourselves. There are hundreds of millions of people out there who ignore this information and will ignore it because it requires an effort.
The only education you can do is to show others what can be achieved by personal example. If you succeed by living in harmony with the nature many will copy your success. If you fail to live up to your own ideas then either your ideas are wrong or you have no business of being an "educator". The teachers who can not deal with their own children can not possibly teach the children of others anything good.
There was a short period in Soviet Russia when the government was pushing an education in order to reach 100% literacy and catch up with the west technologically. The teachers became heroes and the best of the nation became teachers. The results were astonishing. But then the policy has changed and scientists, engineers, aviators, cosmonauts became new heroes. Being a teacher became a lousy job. And the next generations wasted the inheritance that was created by their fathers.
It is no surprise that we call police "nation's finest" and the cops are the heroes of our time. If we would promote education the same way we promote crime fighting we might need no police at all. They have jobs only because the "educators" failed to do their job. And why wouldn't they. Who wants to be a teacher. There is no glory in that. This has to change.
The only thing that can make a country better is better next generation, and I assume it is the goal of ours and of our government. Therefore if we watch to achieve any progress then bringing up a better next generation should be a priority #1. That's where most of the money and attention should go. Smart bombs are only as smart as the guy who decides when and where to drop them. Soon we would have to replace those guys with the computers because the computers are getting better with every generation while most of the people are not.
July 31, 2003
There is an archeological site in Russia, a few cities, 4000 years old. Each dwelling has a deep cellar (refrigerator) with a pipe coming to the house (air conditioning). Some dwellings have a copper smelting furnace with the pipe coming from the basement into the furnace. This way they managed to create strong draft without any external air pumping devices. The ancients were quite inventive people.
Still I find it hard to believe that they could built pyramids. The Cheops pyramid has 2,300,000 blocks of stone with an average weight of 2.5 tons each, and supposedly it was built in 30 years. 2,300,000/30 years/365 days = 210 blocks a day. Assuming the 14 hours working day they would have to carve, move to the site and raise up 15 stone blocks an hour or one block every 4 minutes. Come on!
July 30, 2003
I saw an interesting house in my dream. The water was flowing from the roof down to the row surrounding the house like a waterfall. It was done to cool the roof and the walls in a hot weather. From outside the house looked like it was inside of the transparent waterfall.
Any brave architects out there?
That's what I thought.
July 27, 2003
There is an island in Northern Russia, Solovki. Not much sun over there but the day lasts six month :)
There is an old monastery on that island and the story goes that the monks were growing pineapples there. They made a greenhouse with a shallow basement where they put tree branches, leaves, manure etc. While the wood and the leaves were rotting they provided heat for the greenhouse so the atmosphere inside was hot, humid and had a high concentration of carbon dioxide and methane. Imagine that, they were growing organic pineapples beyond the arctic circle. Smart monkeys :)
July 26, 2003
The American Bamboo Society has a page describing a bamboo bike.
http://www.americanbamboo.org/GeneralInfoPages/BambooBicycle.htm
It's nice but what about the safety. One can end up with a sharp bamboo stick in his crotch.
On the other hand, we do need to clean our gene pool.
July 23, 2003
Once I had an experience. This spring as a matter of fact. After checking with my lawyer I feel it's safe to share it. Some fly-looking insect flew into the house through the back door and was hitting the glass in the window on the opposite wall, right behind the TV. It was a usual thing, they rarely find their way out and usually die there in a couple of days. The window is too high too open. And suddenly I managed to focus and made an imaginary line in the air leading from the window, past my chair and through the basement, to the back door. The insect immediately turned around and flew straight along that line out of the house. It was a wonderful feeling but I was not able to repeat it. I know what is lacking but don't know how to get to that level of concentration again. It is all about focusing attention on the task.
I hope it was not a coincident.
July 22, 2003
I have tons of ants in my backyard. When I sit outside and work they always run on my feet doing something, cleaning pores or drinking sweat. I don't know what exactly they do. Tickling a bit but I got used to it. I was bitten just once when I was wearing slippers. The ant got stuck between my foot and the slipper and bit me desperately several times because I was too dumb to notice the first bite. I got a huge blister. Now I only walk barefoot outside. Ants are not a problem, they bite only when threatened unlike mosquitoes. We all got used to living on autopilot, we don't watch where we step, we don't pay attention where we put our hand, and we blame everything else for getting in our way. The thing I hate most about modern people is their attitude - If you don't like something, kill it. Thank God we have the law against killing people otherwise we would have July 4th every day.
July 14, 2003
I don't understand why some people call cops the pigs.
The government people are actually more like dogs. Take lessons in dog training and you will see how easy it will become to deal with cops, politicians and other government folks.
April 21, 2003
I'm back from the dead. Nothing cure depression better then a spade and a couple of hundred of square yards field. My hands are covered with blisters, my back is burned by the sun but, baby, I feel good!
Yesterday's storm broke off the large branch from an old mapple. It landed on the fence. The landlord sent a couple of guys with a chain saw and they cut it in small pieces. Unfortunatelly they also damaged my lawn with their truck tires. What you gonna do? People are just not aware of what they are doing.
Speaking of being aware, the other day I was watching squirrels eating the peanuts that I left for them and suddenly I realized that I put a very little thought in the process of feeding squirrels. I left the peanuts in the shade while squirrels probably would like to stay in the sun after a cold night. I also paid no attention to the wind so they squirrels ended up not only in the shade but also on windy side. So much for awarenness.
I also found out that couple of weeds that I destroyed last fall are very useful. One is a known medicinal plant used for treatment of macular dystrophy and the other produces sweet edible berries in June. So not only I destroyed the food source for many wildlife but also denied myself of gifts of nature. Hopefully she will fix my mistake.
March 20, 2003
I just love this war. It will be studied in military academies for years to come. What a magnificient game.
On the second thought, this war better be short. If everyone will be glued to their TVs watching the greatest show of all times, live from Baghdad, instead of working, it will surely drive the economy in deep 'recessiot'.
March 13, 2003
Survivalists, here are the people with extremely low self-esteem. If all you think is "survival' then our society is the fine example of survival. All you have to do is to fit in it. No need to learn the tracking skills. Better learn some useful profession or figure out how to cheat others successfully.
For some reason survivalists believe that living in the wild is easier to learn than any profession. Nothing can be farther from the truth. It takes years of hard work, huge sacrifices and enormous discipline. Apply the same within our society and you will get much better return.
Survivalism is a sport nowadays, and unless you are willing to make a rigorous training a part of your daily routine then you better stick to watching it on TV.
February 12, 2003
In a desperate attempt to fight the depression I have decided to bake a bread. Something I have not done for 12 years since I left Russia. Baking bread is actually very easy. Any lamer can do it. All you need is an oven. Most people already have it. Even single men. It just have to be cleaned. Not because of germs (they all will burn at 450 degrees) but to avoid adding any unpleasant aroma to your bread. Do it once guys and then forget about cleaning ovens unless you will decide to bake something made of meat someday.
Here is the list of things any geek would have to buy to bake a personal loaf of bread. First, get a wooden board. Then get a pack of flour (any kind, don't worry about it in the beginning), a pack of yeast (it is usually located in the same isle with the flour), a bottle of oil (also any kind except of motor oil), a few onions, and a pack of long thin round wooden sticks. If you feel like dedicated to baking bread for a while, you can get different kinds of flour and some spices, like caraway seeds. I don't mention sugar and salt because most of you already have it. Most of you also have a large salad bowl. If you don't - get one. The heavier, the better.
Now pour a glass of warm water, mix in a couple of spoons of sugar, and then add 1 packet of yeast. Put it in a warm place for a couple of hours. Make sure that you use something that can hold at least three cups of water otherwise it will run over. Do not cover it, or cover it with a peace of cheese cloth.
When your yeast got tired of reproducing, or more likely you got tired of waiting until it gets tired, pour half of it in your large and heavy salad bowl. (Keep the other half for breeding, which is as easy as adding water and more sugar). Add a pinch or two of salt to the bowl, a couple of spoons of oil, and a couple of cubic inches of minced onion. Now put the flour to the left of the bowl, use your left hand to grab a handful of flour and add it to the bowl while mixing with your right hand. Keep doing it until the dough stops being sticky and can be easily taken out of the bowl. sprinkle some flour on the wooden board, place the dough there and start doing what you would do with the silicone breasts if any sane woman would allow you. See, now it is getting interesting. Keep sprinkling the board with flour when the dough start sticking to your hands again.
At some point you either get tired or figure out that the dough is mixed well enough. Tear it apart and make a few pieces size of the penis you would wish you'd have. Be realistic though. Mind the size of your oven. Grease the surface of the metal pan with the oil, put the peaces of the dough there, flatten them to less then one inch thick, gently cover them with a thin layer of oil too, take a knife a make a few shallow cuts on the top surface. Put it aside and let it stay for ten minutes or so while you will be preheating the oven to 400 - 450 degrees. After the oven is hot put the pan with the dough inside. You better use thick gloves or something. Remember, you are a geek and you are clumsy, and hot ovens are much hotter than hot women. Even Sandra Bullock can not burn you that bad (unless she uses a propane torch).
30-40 minutes later check on your project. Outside should look like Sandra's butt after a month on Caribbean islands. To check if the bread is ready inside use a thin wooden stick. Do not use your fingers!!! The difference between bread and women is that in case of bread it should not be wet inside. No dough should stick to the wood when you take it out. If it's dry, the bread is ready. Take it out, put it on the wooden board, cover with a towel (a clean one) and let it stay until it cools down. Then eat it.
P.S. After you get comfy with baking a basic bread you can get creative. Mix different kinds of flour, different kinds of oil, use beer instead of water, or milk, or even some sour milk. Add spices, crushed nuts, minced vegetables. Try different kinds of yeast. Do not use baking soda. It is for lamers. You don't want that much sodium in your body. Experiment with the temperature and the timing. Don't forget to write down what you did in case if you bake something you can brag about later. Teach other geeks how to bake bread. They might need it in a brave new world that's coming.
February 11, 2003
Yesterday I found the stray cat who lived in my barn in the middle of the road, run over by a car. Finally I could take a picture of the cat but the batteries died too.
yet another day
large and fluffy snowflakes
cover little grave
January 26, 2003
Depression is a funny thing. When it downs on you there is nothing one can do but sit and wait. It's been said that depression is a sign of the need for a change. It's nice to know that but how one can take advantage of that when he has no energy to do anything. Kind of catch 22.
It's not like I had nothing to write about. I just could not lift my hands to the keyboard. Even watching movies was too much of a strain. Only couple of days ago I rented two movies. The first one was so so but the second one, Simone (or S1m0ne), was a real treat. Luckily for me I felt too exhausted to check the reviews on www.imdb.com otherwise I might never rented it. I find it very strange that of all three wonderful movies of Andrew Niccol, Gattaca failed miserably, Truman Show did not do as good as it deserves in spite of the presence of Jim Carrey at the peak of his popularity, and now Simone flopped in spite of heavy weight Al Pacino in their corner. And the movie goers reviews?! Geez! Had the editors selected the entries of the dumbest viewers? And that's not like the people in USA are stupid. They all learned how to drive a car, even passed exams, so they do have brains. But for some reason they get upset when they are forced to use their brains. They use them at work just fine but as soon as they get off the clock their brains go into "don't disturb" mode. Maybe that's the problem. Our brains are over exploited at work. That explains the paradox that puzzles foreigners - how such seemingly stupid nation could possibly build and maintain such sophisticated and powerful economy and culture. They tried to attribute it to immigration but the numbers don't add up. Most immigrants don't do very well, and the second generation cannot be considered immigrants, strictly speaking.
Well, that's life. You gain some, you loose some.
January 11, 2003
You must think I have nothing better to do then sitting next to the campfire staring at the flames like a bum after a couple of beers. But there is a reason for that. Hold this one.
red hot coals
don't last forewer
baked potaotoes
This is what I live for. This haiku will last forever, whatever forever means. Hey, man! This was the day worth living. I wrote two more haiku that night, they are on New Haiku page.
Speaking of haiku, here is a link to a very interesting conversation between leading Japanese haiku poets.
January 10, 2003
I don't know what it is about fire but I can sit there for hours doing nothing, watching the wind playing with the flames, the little fireworks of sparks and the red hot coals. Can any jewels in the world rival their beauty? Yeah, the diamonds last forever but you can not even see them in a dark. And they are cold. You can not bake potato in the diamonds. Plus they are overpriced.
Some animal sneaked past me in the dark making a lot of noise with dry leaves. A little bit bigger than a cat. Probably a raccoon. Cat's don't make that much noise and the dog would stop and say hi. Dogs just can not pass you by without stopping and saying hi. Many people get immediately scared because they don't understand dog's language. They think if the dog is barking then it is aggressive. No, when dogs want to show aggression they growl. You won't mistake that growl for anything else.
January 9, 2003
Another fine day. Lots of sunshine, mild temperature. The wind, of course. Well, you can not have everything perfect. I went to the thrift shop and got tons of books and a powerful blender for $5. I'll see if I can make a porous concrete in my kitchen. Just have to figure out what will produce the strong foam. The concrete bricks are sold in Home Depot for $1 each but they are not porous therefore are very heavy. Considering that most gardening work is done by women the lighter porous concrete brick might sell brisk. I might as well make them in different colors. I got plenty of poke weed growing around, that will give a nice purple color. Just what should I use as a foaming agent? Egg whites? Could be. They have been used in masonry long time ago. And they are cheap. 90 cents a dozen. If you only eat two eggs a day, you can live on 15 cents a day. This is probably the second cheapest food after rice. $7.99 bag of rise once lasted me the whole month. Can you imagine that? One month on eight bucks. Can not say that I was hungry. Just grew tired of plain rice by the end. I guess I'll go sit next to the camp fire again today. Bake some potatoes. Maybe write a haiku.
January 8, 2003
No much to write about today except that it was a beautiful day. I think I will go to the backyard and sit next to a fire for couple of hours. But first I have to watch Enterprise on TV unless it's an old "new episode". I hope today is Wednesday. I really like that Vulcan chick. I wish I could find a woman like that on Earth. No emotions, just pure logic. But, no luck so far. They all are nuts, even the ones that were cold like fish. Bloody aliens! Where are you? Can't you just send one here? You must have overpopulation anyway. Let's produce some little humaliens. By the way, I am an alien too. I even have an ID. It says Resident Alien. I would get a citizenship five years ago but I like being an alien. It's cool. You should visit us sometimes. Just don't come all loaded with guns and ammunition, like you might saw on our TV. Not a good idea. Just drop in my backyard, plenty of landing space there, and we will sit next to the fire, trade some stories. Just like in good old times. Don't worry, I don't need any technology. I am scared at single thought that every teenager with acne would have at his disposal a source of power that can wipe out the small town. God forbid! If our government is hiding some sources of unlimited free energy from us, we should be only grateful. I don't want some pilot who lost his pension savings in stock market to crash his size of Manhattan airplane in Louisville. I'd rather walk to New York that allow that kind of power in hands of Joe Average. No, Sir! Do you mind if I call you Sir? Of course. That figures.
January 7, 2003
Had an interesting dream in which I was trying to solve a problem of the newly designed engine. Often it could not start when it was cold and I figured out that the problem was caused by the water accumulated on the walls of the exhaust pipe. It was sucked back into the engine. On waking up I suddenly remembered that I had this dream before and that I found a solution for the problem then. I think that we have the recurring dreams quite often if not always. We just don't remember. It's like we have two personalities, a daytime one and a nighttime one, and the lack of diplomatic relations between those two is the reason why they don't remember much of each other lives (or dreams for that matter). So if you want to remember your dreams you have to befriend the nighttime yourself. The more you are aware about your subconsciousness the better you will recall your dreams. But I don't think that it is a good idea to boss around in your dreams. You don't want your nighttime double to be a backseat driver during the day, do you? I thought so. Just be a silent partner and in time when your will become like brothers (or sisters) you will be given a voice and then you can do things together. What kind of things? How would I know? It's your dream. I am just sitting and typing here.
Speaking of engines, I always had this idea that the future is in multiple engines. Instead of one powerful V8 or one jet engine a thousand of tiny ones. The engineers told me that small engines are not efficient. I don't know. I think they just did not try hard enough. Some of my friends were into airplane modeling and you won't believe how powerful and efficient were their little motors. One of them had an ingenious solution to overheating. He had one engine drive the propeller full force while another was cooling down and then they switched. He used something similar to automatic transmission to couple them together. The nighttime me was once busy building a flying disc which had a lot of holes with tiny propellers in each of them. They were controlled by the computer which made sure that the disc stays steady at all times. Basically it was a copter with hundreds of propellers instead on one huge, and with this design it did not need a tail propeller to keep the whole thing from rotating in opposite direction. It was also very safe, one or few engines could fail and the computer will make sure that you will hardly notice that. All engines were working during lift off, half during horizontal flight, and while landing the idle half was even recharging the battery. The cabin itself was like a glass ball located in the very center of the disc and it could rotate so if you want to fly upside down for whatever reason, you flip you cabin and not the whole thing. I even wanted to make a model from spare computer cooling fans that I have lying around everywhere but never found a time to glue them all together. At least they would make a unique ceiling fan. And a very noisy one at that. Can any Einsteins out there solve this damn problem of noisy computer fans? Come one guys, it's been thirty years since you invented PCs! Cover the bloody blades with feathers or fur or something. Maybe that will help. I can not stand it anymore. Ssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssshhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh....
January 6, 2003
Got fire, man?
Mr. Fire Piston
and his competitor Jeff Wagner.
January 5, 2003
Found long forgotten site Viewzone. A lot of fun reading, especially this one, Devil Lived.
That reminded me of a very funny invention called a Sulphur Lamp. Funny enough, it's never picked up in spite of great promises. They did begin production of 1000 watt version, in Taiwan of course, offering it for... $2000! Just how exactly a stripped $100 microwave oven plus a tiny quartz bulb filled with cheap argon and a little amount of even cheaper sulphur added up to a couple of grand? But this is not what I meant when I said funny. Sulphur was associated with Satan since times immemorable. One of Satan's other names is Lucifer. The Lightbringer! Buha-hah-hah-hah! This is getting really interesting.
On a more serious note there is something wrong with the scientists when it comes to accounting. I remember once upon a time I tried to purchase a piece of porous graphite, the new material that promised to revolutionize a lot of things, including your car's radiator, which will become twice smaller while twice more efficient. No more steam from under the hood on a hot summer day. First I was quoted something like $60 per cubic inch. Without even reaching for my calculator I quickly figured out that 10"x20"x2" radiator would cost me $24,000. I shared my concerns about the revolutionary material's future in automotive industry with Mr. Salesman, PhD and was relieved to hear that the costs will go down when they reach mass production volume. Two years later, the price was down to $20 per cu. in. I think I'll give them a call next millennium. First I blamed it on a lack of competition, and true, soon I found a competitor who quoted me a similar material less then a $1 per cu. in. I put aside a hundred bucks for 12"x10"x2" piece and e-mailed the order. He responded with the invoice for $1200. Grrr... I mean, meow! PhD your mama!
I now choose to see it all as a distraction from our spiritual evolution. Or the toys for us to play while we are growing. Are we?
January 4, 2003
Had a huge cat fight with Gary S, the Poet. It was stupid but very educational and real fun. He is a nice guy but such an asshole. Accidentally, he thinks the same of me. Well, partially. To be honest, I started it with reference to his intellect. His is a Jew, so I knew it's gonna hurt.
Here are some gems. (I am not including his because he might have copyrighted them. DMCA is not a joke.)
'Gary S., avant-garde is not about the forbidden fruit, it's about an unexplored territory. In your case it is obviously your head.'
***
Nope. I don't think that you are a dimwit. If fact, I think you are too smart for your own good. If my messages or e-mails gave you the impressions that they are written for a slow mind, your assumption is incorrect. They are written in such way because I am this way. That's why I am writing haiku. It's easy for me, I don't have to slow down too much to achieve stillness and see the moment.
***
Maybe I am overly sensitive to the whole issue because, being born in the Soviet Union, I have lived under the real dictatorship or maybe just the opposite, being Russian...err.. Ukrainian, I am not sensitive enough to detect the slightest signs of the authoritarianism. Probably both.
***
My friend once told that bare critique that offers nothing constructive is just a form of slander. I might not agree with that 100% but he's got a point.
***
Here you go. I did it, and I don't feel like I wasted any of my creative energy thinking about my own haiku's place in the world. In fact, I think I even gained some. Oh, wait... that's not extra energy, that's extra beer. I gotta go. Bye, bye.
January 3, 2003
My picture at my 404 page.
Necessity is a mother of invention. Well, sometimes a step-mother. When one uses Yahoo! PageBuilder, even paid version, it quietly adds a couple of web bugs to the end of your pages for the innocent purpose of "collecting statistics". It also contains a funny warning/disclaimer -- "Text below generated by server. PLEASE REMOVE". Here! You see, we are not to blame, the SERVER did it. All we could do is to ask our server to add "please remove" line. How could it be our fault that you are a dimwit and can not read the code?
Now, that's an idea. Imagine an electrician offering a free service but secretly installing a bug in your socket so he can listen to your conversations to collects a statistical information. That's outrageous and illegal. What if a car repair shop fixes you car for free but sticks a transmitter under your bumper so they can collect statistics about your movements? Well, there is not much use of that statistics, unless every store has some kind of device which sends his unique ID to the fender bug. Even better if you can carry the bug into the store, and somehow it can collect information about what you actually purchased and how much you paid. Wait a moment. Such bug already exists. It's called a credit card. Damn! You just can not invent anything new these days.
January 2, 2003
The task of recreating blog for the last several years seems to be huge. A few hard drives filled with gigabytes of info. How did I manage to collect all that? I was working all the time, in fact, I was so busy that I kept postponing the writing a blog for years, and yet... Talk about the efficient use of one's time. I just have to put all that stuff to good use.
January 1, 2003
Damn barn cat! I can't take a picture of it. It runs away as soon as it sees me. And it always sees me. Anyway, the picture on my "donation" button is just like the cat that lives in my barn. If you thought it was me you are wrong. I am not B&W, I am Hi Color, Hi Res, 3D and translucent. Well, maybe a bit blurred at times.
12-31-2002
I just don't know what to expect from the new year. The last one was a disaster financially. For what it worth I have learned some new skills, wrote tons of haiku, and, overall, have not died. I guess that's what should be my New Year's resolution. More haiku!
True, finding a job or some sort of income would not hurt too. And I also should quit smoking... and finally learn Japanese, it has been 20 years and I am still where I was when I started. But if all that fails, I think I'll be quite happy with writing a few good haiku.
10-14-2002
It's my birthday and I am still ill. Nothing got unpacked except of the most needed things. The good news - my toes are back to normal color so won't be cutting off my leg online as I promised earlier. I am afraid I might gave someone a bad idea. Do not cut off any part of your body for any money. You might need it some day. Well, unless it's a foreskin. I guess a lot of people would pay money to see the circumcision online. That's good idea. But I ain't gonna do it, it has a sentimental value for me, plus I grew tired of the entertainment business.
9-8-2002
It's been 12 years since I moved to USA. If I would learn one word a day I would know 4,380 English words by now. Just how many words I do know now, by the way? When the blog gets big enough I should write some program that will count all unique words. I think I forgot even Basic, not mentioning C++, Pascal and Assembler. There must be some new languages by now. I should look at what has happened with programming languages over the last 12 years. I remember there was a lot of noise about something called Java a while ago and I tried to look into it but I did not have time figure out what was that. Instead I learned a lot about coffee and quite a few things about chocolate along the way.
I remember there was a private coffee shop somewhere on Garden Ring in Moscow in the first years of the reform. The made damn good coffee in turkish pots placed on a hot sand in a pan. It was rather expensive but they always had a full house and often people were drinking coffee on the porch because it was too crowded inside. I haven't seen such places in USA. And don't tell me about Starbuck. I can make better coffee in my car.
However I have seen a very good chocolate store when I lived in New York. It was just a block away from me on Metropolitan Ave in Queens, not far from 71st Ave. Some strict looking lady runs it. She must be a Norwegian.
9-2-2002
http://www.natur.cuni.cz/~vpetr/Broom.htm
8-15-2-2002
Finally moved. And sick again. I don't understand what's wrong with me. I felt ill the next day after I started moving so it took me two weeks instead of a few days. Thanks God, the landlord did not bug me and did not request any additional money. I managed to fall couple of times, once when I carried a heavy JBL speaker (it got damaged a bit but it's out of the view - one of the rear corners), and the second time when I was carrying a box to the second floor. Hurt my toes. Now they are black and blue. If this get any worse I better get a video camera for my computer so I can cut off my leg online and make a fortune. The warrior should turn his disadvantage into the advantage. Meanwhile, I learned a lot about balancing while carrying boxes and using one leg. I have a feeling that I will not be doing much unpacking for the next few weeks.
8-1-2-2002
Finally moving. My landlord, the one from whom I rented the office found me a house that sits on 1 acre of land, in fact there are 7 acres, most of it wooded, however only one comes with the house. Nevertheless I can make a good use of all of it for now because he has no immediate plans to develop the remaining 6 acres due to uncertain economic forecast. And he required no security deposit from me. That was very kind of him. The money are tight.
If you are looking for a house or an office in Louisville you should consider Ken Thieneman. He's not cheap but he runs a tight operation, treats his employees well, and I've seen how efficient they are servicing their customers. My former office was next door to his office. I wish I knew something about real estate or construction. His company seems like a very good place to work.
7-10-2-2002
Not much happened since my last entry. And don't remember much. I was very ill for no apparent reason for most of this time. Something like a pneumonia or similar crap. Without a health insurance you won't even know what you have died from.
Tried not to watch a TV, they keep talking about anthrax. Just what a person who can not breath wants to hear. Of all antibiotics I can only afford garlic.
Spent most of the time lying on the floor in the back room of my office. Missed half of the summer and a nice spring, not mentioning the winter. I can not comprehend how in the hell I managed to pay my bills all this time. Apparently somehow I did. Anyway I got to move to cheaper place. All office smells of garlic and me. I desperately need a shower.
10-23-2001
Things I find in my litter box...
http://members.aol.com/phikent/orbit/circe.html
9-22-2001
I have to confess that I had mixed feelings when I've heard about WTC because I've been told that Jerry Springer was on one of the planes.
9-14-2001
I can hardly remember the last three days. All I remember that I went to bed on September 10 thinking, - 'Things just can not get worse.'