• Road Trip Science

    During my recent road trip to Hutchinson, KS I have measured and recorded the following data:

    Insect Population of The State of Kansas
    Insect Population of The State of Kansas
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  • Retarded Parents Produce Stupid Kids

    I thought that Miley would be someone that my girls who they could look up to, but I guess that I was wrong. Thanks a lot Miley!
    Posted on Kansascity.com

    Many comments left in response to the article about Miley Sirus’ Vanity Fair cover fiasco are way more entertaining than the story itself. These comments are from parents who are upset because their kids’ role model is now disgraced after posing for “inappropriate” pictures for the magazine. What’s inappropriate is their kids even having a role model such as Myley Sirus. What do people even know about her to encourage their kids to look up to her? Is she a future Nobel Prize winner? Maybe she will cure cancer? Is she a great artist, composer, writer? Winner of American Idol? Up-and-coming porn star? (that may be). For all these people know, she could be torturing kittens, be a bully on a rare day when she shows up at school, she could have eating disorders, she could be a pathological liar and steal her neighbor’s paper.How can you possibly present her or any celebrity as a role model for your kids based on her 30 minute show on Disney Channel and an occasional concert is beyond me. No wonder these children have problems when they grow up.

    Of course when I was growing up there were no shortage of role models offered to me and they weren’t some creepy child-actors who could sing and jump on stage. They were bona fide heroes: Pavlik Morozov – a 13-year old boy who denounced his father to the authorities and was in turn killed by his family, Yuri Gagarin – the first man in space, Zoya Kosmodemyanskaya – a 17-year old who was caught trying to sabotage Germans during the war and was tortured and killed, or Alexei Maresiev – a war pilot who was shot down, lost both legs trying to get back to the hospital, then trained himself to fly with prosthetic legs and returned back to being a pilot. There were hundreds and thousands of others. There were books about them, songs, movies, poems, their portraits hung in our classrooms. Years later we found out that some of their stories were nothing but well produced propaganda. Others were true heroes who are still honored many years later. Despite the abundance of supplied role models, I never wanted to be like them or look up to them. I admired their actions, cried when their lives tragically ended but I could always separate the action from the actor. This may not be the case with the false role models of today.

    The only people who I knew in real life were my parents and relatives. They were my real role models. My Father was a doctor with a gift and a selfless dedication to his patients and profession; a writer, a poet, with great sense of humor; a true intellectual. From his childhood in the Jewish ghetto under German occupation, his father never returned from WWII, he went on through discrimination and poverty to become a beloved and respected physician. Many people whose lives he saved or touched came to remember him at his funeral. He was a hero to them. He is a hero to me.

    I hope that if anything my daughter gets from me (besides liking strange-for-Americans Russian foods) it’s enough common sense to tell the difference between someone like Miley Sirus or whoever else Disney Channel thinks she should look up to, and real everyday role models who are around her and not on TV. Miley Sirus’s come and go, sometimes forgotten, sometimes disgraced, their likenesses scattered amidst garage sales and donations to the Salvation Army. That’s not the road you want your child to follow. Or maybe you do. Then reread the title of this post.

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  • Old Photos: Van Cliburn

    The history of the Soviet-American relations includes only a few episodes that achieved a mythical status and were passed down from the people who witnessed these events to their children just like tales were told and retold long time ago. Even though my generation was born or was too young to remember, all of us knew about Khrushchev’s trip to America, Soyuz-Apollo flight, Fischer- Spassky Chess Match, and Van Cliburn winning the First International Tchaikovsky Competition in 1958.

    Nikita S. Khrushchev (C) and wife manhandling (greeting) pianist Van Cliburn (L) at Soviet Embassy reception.©Time Inc. Ed Clark
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  • Our Answer To China

    Since the beginning of the school year my kid has spent a large part of her spare time participating in the First Robotics team. At first I was skeptical, since  I generally despise all after-school activities, clubs, girl- and boy-scouts and youth sports. But gradually, seeing my kid’s enthusiasm and her inexplicable desire to stay in school for 14 hours on some days, I thought that there may be something to this and it couldn’t be any worse than cheerleading. My work schedule and general laziness kept me from stopping by and checking on the progress of the robot the kids were building, but I had a chance to see an almost ready robot few days before it was shipped to Chicago for the upcoming regional completion.

    This was one of the many times when I felt ancient. I thought about my technology-free childhood while staring in amazement at what the kids have built. I am pretty sure the first space station was launched with less processing power than this robot uses to shoot basketballs and drive around the obstacles, and that power is controlled by a group of 15-18- year old kids with joysticks. Many different skills are needed on the team  – from production, to electric design, to programming, to creative and technical writing, to safety, graphic design, team management and fundraising. Instructors and mentors practice hands-off  approach and let the kids take complete control.

    These are the kids who will be this country’s answer to China and others who are rapidly moving ahead in the science and engineering fields. These are the kids who will take this country to the future, not you soccer and baseball-playing children, not competitive swimmers, and definitely not your cheerleaders, unless they are also doing this. Few people  remain baseball players into their adult life and even fewer find employment as cheerleaders. And while these activities are not without a benefit (whatever it is), they are completely irrelevant to the long-term future of this country, its position on the world technology stage, its prosperity and self-respect.

    I had a chance to visit a First Robotics Regional which was conducted in Kansas City over the weekend. Several things there impressed me and managed to wipe out most of my usual cynicism. The sheer number of participants who traveled from 9 states to take part in the Regionals was beyond anything I expected going in. Most of the kids didn’t look like the characters from the the Revenge of The Nerds. The level of excitement rivaled any sport event. The level of creativity, both visual and technical was impressive. There was a large number of handicapped kids and not fake ones like they have on Glee. There were probably equal numbers of girls and boys. There were plenty of involved parents, mentoring, helping and cheering.

    This wasn’t the first time my kid picked something the impressed me over my reservations and general whining. What I saw in the Arena made me feel good about the future.

    Next year I might even write a fundraising letter or two.

    Now for the visual part of this post. First, a short video to give you an idea of what the teams are trying to accomplish.

    httpvh://youtu.be/nOXsdhZZSdM

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  • The West in The Soviet Caricature: Libya Edition

    What I miss in the American foreign policy lately is the pizzaz; intricate covert plots; cleverly planned fully deniable coups; propaganda wars; spy-driven assassinations worthy of a Robert Ludlum novel; secret service dirty deals a la Iran Contra; mind-blowing, daring, underhanded activities that we usually expect from our multiple secret operations.

    Instead, we see mostly ham-handed, simple-minded, anti-creative, doomed from the start, mindbogglingly expensive, unpopular foreign policies, that, until now, only George W.Bush was capable of producing, approving and implementing. Now, in what can be safely called Bush’s third term, we are bombing Libya while producing the lamest kind of bullshit statements to justify it.

    I’d like to point out that I am not a pacifist by any means. I just like our reasons for bombing other countries to be little less obvious. And if you believe that we are “protecting civilians” over there, I have a Red Square for sale.

    Continuing with my earlier post about the Soviet caricature, this set of drawings refers to oil-stimulated activities.

    Scene at the (oil) fountain in Greenland.
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