• Old Photos: Moscow 1930’s

    Every once in a while I get a link to the beautiful color photos of Russia made in the early 20th century by Sergei Mikhailovich Prokudin-Gorskii. For these photos he used a complex technique called digichromatography involving making and then combining three separate shots using red, green and blue filters.

    In the 1920’s and 30’s Branson DeCou used a different method – hand-tinted slides to document his trips, including his tour of Russia.

    Kremlin. Courtesy, Special Collections, University Library, University of California Santa Cruz.
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  • Dusseldorf and Cologne

    Preface:

    Germany wasn’t on my bucket list. I don’t even have a list. The only reason I use it to name my travel posts is because I like the way they look on my travel page, all nicely lined up.

    The original plan was to stop at Bruges on the way from Amsterdam to Paris, but the prospect of spending a day with my childhood friend, riding on an autobahn, while still adding another country to the itinerary outweighed my desire to see the exact spot where the body of a killer plopped down from the tower in that one movie. A chance to see the famous Cologne Cathedral in person and me having only a vague idea of how to make the trip from Amsterdam to Bruges and still make it to Paris the same night tipped the scale and the next morning we were on the way to Düsseldorf.

    Face:

    I was underwhelmed by the autobahn. Besides not having a speed limit in some places it wasn’t that much different from the stretch of I-70 between Kansas City and St.Louis. My friend drove fairly fast on some stretches, but just like here we were frequently slowed down by construction and slow drivers in the passing lane. My eye was missing my favorite highway entertainment – the billboards. It took about 2.5 hours to arrive in Düsseldorf.

    Düsseldorf turned out to be a lively town with an interesting but fairly generic historic center and a large and expensive shopping district. That one restaurant downtown with a German name serves the best liver I’ve ever had. Make sure to check it out while you there.

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  • Retailers Use Anal Rape To Deter Shoplifting

    This photo from a recent article in the Star shows a training exercise used by security to detain shoplifters. Several employees hold down a pretend perpetrator while another security guard straddles him and simulates anal rape.

    Keep this in mind while shoplifting during this holiday season. And wear protection.
    Merry Holidays!
    shoplift

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  • Behind The Iron Curtain: Letters To The Editor

    Soviet citizens of various ages often engaged in letter-writing campaigns. Whether they were supporting various political prisoners, protesting against Israel, or just wishing for the world peace, the dwellers of communal apartments and tireless builders of communism spent their time writing group or individual letters to anyone with a mailing address. When I was growing up® the sincerity of these letters was questionable and they became one of the many semi-mandatory activities in schools and pioneer organizations. Lack of sincerity wasn’t an obstacle when such important things where at stake.

    Below you will see a few pages from a kid’s magazine “Murzilka”  which was very popular and widely subscribed by the Soviet children.

    Murzilka-Cover Page June 1982
    June 1st-International Children’s Day. Let There Always Be Peace
    To The President Of The United States Mr.Reagan

    Murzilka has been asked by the children of the Moscow Region to publish this open letter.

    To The President Of The United States Mr.Reagan.

    Mr.President,

    We, the Soviet girls and boys are sending this message of protest against the war through the magazine “Murzilka“. You are telling the whole world that the Soviet people are preparing for war. That’s a lie! Our mothers and fathers, grandmothers and grandfathers – everyone is fighting for peace. We know that the majority of the American citizens also want peace, and we ask – don’t deceive the people!

    Peoples of the world remember that our country defended peace in the Great Patriotic War (WWII), millions of people died for peace. But you are manufacturing rockets, neutron bombs and other dangerous weapons. This is not very nice on your part. You are destroying the peace!

    We don’t want kids to die in El Salvador or any other corner of the Earth. We are asking you to stop your policy because it’s the worst policy in the world. We are calling on all the children in the world to say “No to War!” together with us. We support the Soviet government and everything it does for peace.

    We ask you, Mr.Reagan to accept the proposals made by the leader of the Communist Party and our State Leonid Illyich Brezhnev. We demand the end to the arms race.

    We need peace!

    Signed by the 3rd grade students of the middle school in Moscow Region.

    I am pretty sure Mr.Reagan went to his grave without reading one issue of Murzilka.

    And now the song: “Before it’s too late” with lyrics “to the sunny peace – yes, yes, yes; to the nuclear explosion – no, no, no!”

    httpvh://youtu.be/PMHfoH6Ukjc

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  • Study in Design: Pronounce This

    This sign bothered me for weeks. According to the Wikipedia “@” is pronounced “at” in this country and anything from “snail” to “strudel” everywhere else.

    So what is it: Ashcroft, Ashcraft, Ashcratft, Ashcrstrudelft? Is it a little light bulb under the “@”? What is trying to say?

    Yours truly kcm€€sha.

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