Thanksgiving report, yes

Now we just had to go visit them. We visited them on Thanksgiving, three or four years ago; they looked an exception for us, already getting used not to expect much from wild Californians who do not read any books, cannot tell Gaugin from van Gogh, and seriously think that San Jose ballet is a ballet. This couple was different, with shelves of books, de Sad and Sagan, Vonnegut and Kafka, in short, our kind of guys.

This time there they were again, all their five boomer kids, at least some with their spouses (females doing noticeably worse than males: one probably never had any, another just found hers in a bed with their daughter's friend - males, on the other hand, acquiring some trophies, the arrogant liberal Steve from New York got Natacha from Argentina, and Tom the bum, after three unsuccessful marriages, got from Eastern Europe the best one could ever imagine... detailed description omitted); the kids brought their kids, totalling about 30, and just three friends, we two, and Carlos, a sleazy smiling well-educated musical instrument dealer that frequently visits Central America.

All these people were crowded in a small living room, around the sofa where the patriarch was sitting; he was the reason why we decided to come. He had probably several weeks left. Deeply sedated, he still extended his will on the whole family, and beyond. He insisted that we came.

He was unable to shake hands, but could not stop hugging. Then he asked me if I ever was a communist.

Was I? Spiritually, yes. If you are young and stupid and honest, how can you not be a communist, for a while? Then you get your responsibilities, you grow older, you get maybe a little bit smarter, and you see that communism is for the lazy, for those that like watching other people work. I actually like to work while others are watching. But, thanks God, never a communist formally. There was a temptation once - but no, too much to betray, way too much.

The guests, the whole crowd, went to the kitchen, after it was announced that the food is ready. No, this time no formal thanksgiving at the table, like it was always before. On one hand, as a guy on KFOX said, they in Baltimore do not have much to thank for, but we in California... Yes, we in California - but maybe not this time. We still stayed with him, me and his eldest daughter, the one that has just lost her husband in the battle.

It was all calm now, we sitting on two sides of the man, talking in hushed voices - and he started nodding and fell asleep. This reminds me something. A week before I enjoyed the company of a plump young guy, very young, 2.5 months old, and he fell asleep too after I started talking to him. Do you feel like taking a nap now? Go ahead.

The daughter told me to go eat something; so I did. Okay, okay, not everyone was in the living room. More people were coming from the football field, where they played until it got totally dark. It was getting very dark now, and it started drizzling, and the Bay could not be seen anymore. The guys, aged 10 to 20, went through the kitchen in a row, and joined the party immediately. We instinctively made a "Russian corner", and watched Ed, 10, who came to US a couple of months ago, and whose English that he learned from a teacher in East Europe was enough to make him undetectable from others. Is not it rather fast, two months, to pick up the language and drop the accent? Well, some people are obviously smarter than me.

The patriarch called us back again - he woke up and wanted us to make noise. So we gathered in the living room, and gradually started talking, and Steve took a guitar and started playing some country music. The first song was about a hospital where the hero is going to die. The second song was about Laredo, TX, and there she lied, her beautiful dead body, etc. How nice. Probably they picked it from ancient Egyptians, singing these farewell songs. Only in this case the person in question was still alive - but on his way, yes, definitely on his way. Is it something in the culture? People in this country are not afraid of cold, humidity, and even, wow! - of death. They learned it from the Natives, I guess.

Or maybe it is just a lack of understanding of what is going on.

When we were leaving, Tom said to me: "and thank you for turning my father into a drug addict". It was his joke. We drove back in silence.

чушь всякая

Вчерась по новостям показывают репортаж с какой-то встречи с кандидатом в мэры Сан Франциско. Вдруг поднимается плакат - первая строчка телевизионщиками размыта,
вторая строчка: ВАШЕГО МЭРА,
третья строчка опять размыта.

Да, по-русски. Стали этта мы реконструировать, учитывая, что Сан Франциско, и что как раз 25 лет как Москоне убили.

Первая строчка должна бы обозначать действие, а третья - направление действия. И тогда понятно.

И еще Альцхаймеру отдельное спасибо за список кинофильмов.

Those Who Burn Fires Afflict Ozone Layer

Well, we have all heard how bad President Bush is, he even refused to admit that carbon dioxide is a poisonous gas, insisting that it is good for the plants. The problem is, the gas, emitted as a result of all kinds of human activity, is actually a greenhouse gas, and is causing the global warming on our planet. The polar cap is melting, the water level goes up. Or rather "will" go up, some time later. It was supposed to cover Venice to the roofs by year 2000, but here we are, in almost 2004, and so far not much of the ocean level increase. See http://co-ops.nos.noaa.gov/sltrends/slrmap.shtml - 10 cm/century. More historical, and less reliable source (http://www.planetark.com/dailynewsstory.cfm/newsid/15039/newsDate/18-Mar-2002/story.htm) says that "In about the last 10,000 years the ocean level has risen about 130 meters" - look, 1.3 meter average per 100 years, and they did not have no SUVs, no powerplants back then!

On the other hand, other reliable sources claim that 99% of carbon dioxide these days is the result of human activity.

There is one more problem with global warming. Mars has one too. Any SUVs on Mars? Just two, one Soviet, one American - but they could not have done that. Mars's polar cap is melting (or rather evaporating, since it consists of carbon dioxide) (http://members.aol.com/utahspace/usa_marsicecap.htm). What is it? May it be the Sun?

Now look at this: http://www.blackwell-synergy.com/links/doi/10.1046/j.1468-4004.2003.44520.x/abs/;jsessionid=eMs4oDCTUhd-
"solar activity is peaking at about the present epoch, and we expect solar activity in 2100 to resemble that in 1900 when a small minimum in solar activity took place, rather than increasing as has occurred in the last 100 years"

Don't we already know that during high solar activity there are rains, hurricanes, and all sorts of los niños (a little bit of Spanish: the plural for "el niño" is "los niños"). Solar wind, the result of this activity, is the most effective "greenhouse gas".

Am I wrong? Unfortunately, there is no President Bush in the picture, he has no influence on solar activity - neither has President Putin, who seemed to be as skeptical about Kyoto scam as President Bush.

And I have an advice for the environmentalists. Go learn something. Go google at least. We are not in the dark ages these days, and it is becomes harder and harder for the shamans to sell the tribe their fears. But your times may return. For two thousand years after Eratosthenes (http://www-gap.dcs.st-and.ac.uk/~history/Mathematicians/Eratosthenes.html) had measured the Earth diameter people believed that the Earth is flat.

От Советской Женщины Помогает Дарвин

Ну предположим, что эта страшная российская женская болезнь, бесчувственность, распространилась в России после гражданской войны, когда гражданкам сказали, что они теперь должны не любить, а ненавидеть: буржуев, вредителей, спецов, немцев, евреев, китайцев, кооператоров, демократов, американцев.

В результате что? В результате, как позднее подтвердилось в опытах на обезьянках, дети, вырастающие или в госяслях, или при эмоционально глухонемых матерях, чьи эмоции сводились к требованиям кого-нибудь разоблачить или разбить головы каким-нибудь финским милитаристам, эти дети, лишенные ласки в первые полгода жизни, становились такими же железными, можно даже гвозди делать, ну или кол на голове тесать.

Казалось бы, зачем вообще таким железным женщинам дети? А социальный диктат. Типа, вы должны. К социальному заказу добавлялся и сталинский указ, не без этого. Если бы не Сталин, в России, небось, раза в два народу меньше бы было. И вот эхо гражданской войны, через младенцев нескольких поколений, докатилось до конца двадцатого века и до конца коммунистической тирании.

Но прощли железные времена; теперь никто никому ничего не должен, и люди такого сорта выходят потихонечку из эволюционного процесса. Началось это давно, еще при Хрущеве, конечно. Но происходит это медленнее, чем следовало бы ожидать. Потому что природа так исхитрилась, что даже железная самка находит себе подходящего самца; не настолько лоха, чтобы дал себе оторвать голову, как какой-нибудь скромный паук, но достаточно податливого, чтобы обеспечить ей существование и социальный статус, заботиться о потомстве, и при этом чувстовать себя виноватым, а то и по гроб жизни благодарным.

Однако, с постепенным внедрением свободы в головы граждан, процент таких дураков неуклонно снижается. Не то чтобы их нет, они, конечно, есть - но они постепенно меняются, в отсутствие давления. У них появляется возможность выбора.