Thursday, March 29, 2007

1984

Some things start getting systemized.

At first I just couldn't accept it with the heart that Winston gave up. Yes, he had gone through many horrible things, yes they had broken his will, yes it all deeply affected his mentality. But broken things could get fixed I believed (and still do - with small correction - not *always*). Maybe not 100% - there would be left scars (mostly psychological) and other reminders; but in general everything would 'accrete'. Like Julia said "they can't get *into* you"; they wouldn't be able to change the kernel. But it wasn't just breaking the will like breaking a stick. It was not breaking at all. They turned him inside out, scraped out everything, every thought, every feeling, and then stuffed him with thoughts and feelings they needed him to have. It was not Winston any more - it was stuffed Winston literally and figuratively. A scarecrow - stuffed with loyalty to the party, doublethinking, hatred against party's foes, love towards the big brother.

Wednesday, March 28, 2007

Russian

How very interesting and exciting. Russian is perhaps the language I speak the best because the majority of books I've read was in Russian, the majority of movies I've seen was in Russian, at home I mostly speak Russian.It became part of me, a habbit and I stopped noticing it or paying attention just like to the air. Now that Michael is studying Russian I kind of rediscover the Russian language, art and literature.

Now after finishing "1984" I was thinking what to read. "1984" is a too strong book to start something right after it - too strong impressions; the book shook me and it will take some time till everything I've read is analyzed, settled down and put in order. Therefore I needed something absolutely different, on a different subject. Suddenly I remembered about the whole world of Russian literature which I well not ignored but haven't investigated thoroughly. It won't be a lie to say i don't know it at all - just have general ideas. It's exactly what I need now. It's absolutely different from European authors because the mentality of the writer is absolutely different. I could have taken smth from Japanese, Latin-American or some other literature but it would not have that hint of familiarity, comfort in it. So, I've made my choice - "the Garnet bracelet" by Alexander Couprin.

How could I have not noticed the whole world of Russian literature? Perhaps the same way Michael didn't notice the park 1000 feet away from his apartment :).

Friday, March 23, 2007

the smallest owl in the world

An extremely rare species of owl discovered in 1976, and known only from a few specimens caught in nets after dark, has been seen in the wild for the first time.

The owl has been named "Xenoglaux," meaning "strange owl," due to the long wispy feathers around its reddish-orange eyes.

The owl inhabits the dense undergrowth of highland forests in a remote region of Peru.

Its population is estimated to be less than 1,000 birds and possibly as few as 250. (From AP report :D)

Sunday, March 4, 2007

Books

2 dialogs about books, discussion why books are better than movies; as usual we have similar views. Right after the conversation I decided to read a bit. "451 Farenheit" by Bradbury. Another coincidence? That book is not only a story with much of philosophy, but also an answer to very many questions including those about books.

Question: Why read if you can watch a movie?

A: What is a movie? It is the way the director imagined this or that story, that is this or that book. Let's take fantasy. You see that alien and he is red on the screen, but maybe if you read the book you'd imagine him green. Why do you think the imagination of director is better than yours? Or how very many times they change the plot, reduce smth here smth there, add this or that character... What remains in the end? Usually mutilated version of the story which actually has nothing to do with the original. Who decides what is vital what is not? The director. And what if what is vital for him is not vital for you? And vice versa. You won't have the opportunity to judge yourself.

B: what movies do you watch? comedy, action, horror, soap operas, ... What do these give to you? Some fun for a day. And then you forget it because another one comes out with more famous "stars", with better effects, then another, and more. Will you ever forget a book like "To kill a mockingbird" (Harper Lee)? You will read it once, but it will stay with you forever. You may forget separate phrases but you'll keep the general idea in mind.

C: Can anyone ever screen "100 years of solitude" by Marquez, "Homo Faber" by Max Frisch, "Animal farm" by Orwell, ... and so very very many others? Even if they do it will be the worst nonsense ever. Nobody will ever get anything from that movie unless they have read the book. In those books every phrase, every word has something more than it means, you must be able to read between the lines, understand the hidden sense. Maybe you'll read and won't get it at once, you'll turn the page back and reread it. In the movie you won't even notice that idea said by a good-looking star who doesn't understand it at all and worries only about his image.
So those who watch movies will never have the opportunity to know what is inside of those books.

D: "With a heavy cavalry walk, in a blood-red tunic, he entered the room" (from "Master and Margaret". I've seen the movie. A man entered with heavy steps in a red tunic. And? Where from could I know that he was from cavalry or that he had blood-red tunic. Blood-red could not only mean red but also that he had killed very many people during the war and that was what was important, not the tunic's being red. So great, the idea is lost but the decorations are great.

E: The language. What is used in books is not used in the movies and in every-day talk. The nuances are lost. Everything becomes rough and simple. It will never make you think, analyze. The book will train your brain, will enrich your vocabulary.

F: Not only the language but also the phrases are simple. They make movies for wide public so everybody must understand the ideas. Everything is said directly. In the book you'd have to understand yourself what was meant by this or that phrase, and you'll have time for it. The action is not distracting your attention from the idea.

Of course a lot more can be said. This doesn't mean at all that I don't like movies or smth. But movies will never be able to replace books. Book has its smell.

Saturday, March 3, 2007

Time...

Such a strange thing.

Sometimes you are afraid of its run, it never waits, never stops, what is gone is gone, you'll never return even a nanosecond.

Sometimes you want it to fly by, you want to skip some space of it, it seems that time is frozen or at best it crawls.

Time is life. Everything has its place there, every age has its fun. No need to be afraid of the run and no need to rush forward. You can't change yesterday, but you can ruin today by worrying too much about the future. Time will dot all "i"s and cross all "t"s.

Even when you still want to stop the time, you don't want this moment to pass by, just keep in mind that new moments will come. No need to spend this very precious moment in worries about its getting away.

Even when you still want it to be a certain period in the future, you'll still have to live in between. It's up to you to live it so that later you won't regret wasting time on doing nothing but waiting it to go by.

(to be continued and/or edited)
______________
Take time to deliberate; but when the time for action arrives, stop thinking and go in.
Napoleon Bonaparte

The time is always right to do what is right.
Martin Luther King, Jr

Learn from yesterday, live for today, hope for tomorrow.
The only reason for time is so that everything doesn't happen at once.
Albert Einstein

Lost time is never found again.
Benjamin Franklin

Friday, March 2, 2007

Math humour

About application of mathematics in linguistics

A teacher of English was ill and a teacher of mathematics replaced him. He began to compose a table of irregular verbs:


Then he said:
- Okay, I mark this form as x . Then it’s possible to compose the proportion:



The shortest distance between two points

At a geometry lesson a teacher asks to represent the shortest distance between the two points A and B on a blackboard:



The teacher asks:
- Johnny, who taught you this ?
- My father, he is a taxi driver.

New about limits

At a mathematics exam a professor asks a student to calculate the limit:


The professor is surprised:
- What is it ? Why ?
The student answers:
- You explained at your lecture that

and I have used this example.
Fast solution

A teacher of mathematics writes an equation on a blackboard and calls a pupil:
- Billy, find x please.
- I have found, here it is! – the pupil answers and shows to x with a finger.

_____________________________

The shortest telegrams in a history

German mathematician Dirichlet was very taciturn. When his son was born, he sent to his father-in-law the following telegram: “2 +1 = 3”. Maybe it’s one of the shortest telegrams in the history. But the shortest telegram conversation ever was between Oscar Wilde and his publisher regarding his new book. O. Wilde wired the single character “?” and received from his publisher the reply: “!”.

Land of total mathematics

In the middle of the XX century Russia was a country, where all people knew mathematics perfectly. In 1965 one newspaper wrote: ”Do you know that a cost of 0.25 liter of vodka, raised to the power, equal to a cost of 0.5 liter of vodka is the number p with accuracy of three first digits ?”. You can convince in this fact yourself, if to consider that a bottle of 0.25 liter of vodka cost 1.49 ruble, and a bottle of 0.5 liter of vodka cost 2.87 ruble in 1965. Check!

Russian facts

  • There are approximately 195 million native Russians living in the world. That is more than the number of native speakers of German, French, Arabic, Korean, or Japanese!
  • Russian is the third most widely spoken language in Europe.
  • In total there are well over 300 million people in the world speaking Russian as their first or second language.
  • Russian is one of the six official languages of the United Nations.
  • More scientific material is printed in Russian than in any other language in the world with the exception of English.
(include in the project: probably)

Riddle 02

A) Three masters of logic wanted to find out who was the wisest one. So they invited the grand master, who took them into a dark room and said: "I will paint each one of you a red or a blue dot on your forehead. When you walk out and you see at least one red point, raise your hands. The one who says what colour is the dot on his own forehead first, wins." Then he painted only red dots on every one. When they went out everybody had their hands up and after a while one of them said: "I have a red dot on my head." How could he be so sure?

B) There are 3 prisoners and a sheriff. Sheriff says, "The one who solves my riddle will be set free". He puts 5 hats, 3 white and 2 black, into a bag. Then he said: "I will turn off the light and put a hat on each of your heads and hide the other hats. When I turn on the light you will have equal chances to win. Each of you will see the hats of the two others, however not your own. If you guess the colour of your hat then you win." He did so. The first guy thought for some time but couldn't answer. The second one thought and couldn't answer either. When it was the turn of the third guy, the sheriff said: "Ahh, ou have lesss chances as you are blind." The reply was: "I know the color of my hat." He names the color, explains how he guessed and is set free. What is the clor of his hat and why?

C) The grand master takes a set of 8 stamps, 4 red and 4 green, known to the logicians, and loosely affixes two to the forehead of each logician so that each logician can see all the other stamps except those 2 in the moderator's pocket and the two on her own head. He asks them in turn if they know the colors of their own stamps:

A: "No."
B: "No."
C: "No."
A: "No."
B: "Yes."
What are the colors of her stamps, and what is the situation?

Thursday, March 1, 2007

Einstein Quotes

# Gravitation is not responsible for people falling in love.

# Two things are infinite: the universe and the human stupidity; and I'm not sure about the universe.

# When you sit with a nice girl for two hours, it seems like two minutes. When you sit on a hot stove for two minutes, it seems like two hours. That's relativity.

# Logic will get you from A to B. Imagination will take you everywhere.

# We can't solve problems by using the same kind of thinking we used when we created them.

# If you can't explain it simply, you don't understand it well enough.

# Reality is merely an illusion, although a very persistent one.

# Setting an example is not the main means of influencing another, it is the only means.

# The wireless telegraph is not difficult to understand. The ordinary telegraph is like a very long cat. You pull the tail in New York, and it meows in Los Angeles. The wireless is the same, only without the cat.

# Intellectuals solve problems, geniuses prevent them.

# If at first, the idea is not absurd, then there is no hope for it.

#
If my theory of relativity is proven successful, Germany will claim me as a German and France will declare that I am a citizen of the world. Should my theory prove untrue, France will say that I am a German and Germany will declare that I am a Jew.