Just a right way how to deal with Russian police
Deutschland Uber Alles
Well, as I promised to continue with my travel story I am going to write about Germany now.
Germany! This country means much for me. When in 18th century young German princess Sophie Auguste Friederike von Anhalt-Zerbst-Dornburg became Russian empress Catherine II she invited her own team from Germany to live and work in Russia. There was a lot of famous families among that settlers: von Benckendorffs, von Krusenstierns... and my ancestors Yahtenfelds. So in some way I consider Germany as my motherland (as well as Poland :)). This summer I intended to visit Munich, but there were some difficulties and my route was changed so I need to go to Nuremberg - the other old german city which is situated in the same region - Bavaria. Actually the only thing I new about Nuremberg before is the fact that it was the place where German officials involved in the Holocaust and other war crimes were brought before an international tribunal. But after my trip I realized that it was my luck that I visited this city. Well the city is very old, it was established around 11th century it is filled with ancient churches, castles and the other buildings. The fact is the majority of these buildings are not so ancient they were restored in 50s-60s as Nuremberg was completely destroyed by American Air Forces during the World War 2. Each building in Nuremberg was destroyed and each building was rebuild! Germans did the great job saving their cultural treasures! The most amazing places in the city are that three churches: Frauenkirche, Lorenzkirche and. Btw there is information for the Christian part of my friends: I attended Holly Mass in one of Catholic Churches of Nuremberg and was nicely impressed how many people were there, significantly more then in Prague. Even our guide said that people here take G-d seriously! So the Frauenkirche is famous because of its not-installed spire. The story says that when that extremely beautiful spire was created the money which required for its installation ran out, and Nuremberg's officials decided to reconfigure it and use as fountain.
Well, beer lovers there are many places of interest for you because Nuremberg is famous with its Smoked beer which you can buy only here. A long time ago there was a fire in a farmer's warehouse and as a result a half of his barley was destroyed and the other part was smoked, however the thrifty farmer decided to use this defective barley for beer production and the result was surprisingly tasty!
I mentioned a fountain before, well there are a few other fountains in the city, for example this "Family Carousel"
it's inspirited by one of Hans Sachs' mastersongs (Hans Sach was a German "mastersinger", poet, playwright and shoemaker.)
The idea here is quite witty to show different stages of marriage, from: "I can't live without you!" up to "You are bustard!!!"
The Marketplace is also a very interesting part of Nuremberg - it's the square surrounded with some beautiful medieval houses and full of delicious and extremely chip fruits, vegetables and snacks. Actually it is the most famous marketplace in Germany as it's the place there the famous Christmas bazaar takes place. The sad thing here is the way how it was build - in 1349 more then 600 Jews who had lived around were burned alive and even the ground on that their houses appeared was collected and removed.
And the final detail I noticed: this building is a special nursing house for seniors and just across there is student's residence. It was a special idea to accommodate seniors together with noisy young neighbors to make their last years not so boring.
Germany! This country means much for me. When in 18th century young German princess Sophie Auguste Friederike von Anhalt-Zerbst-Dornburg became Russian empress Catherine II she invited her own team from Germany to live and work in Russia. There was a lot of famous families among that settlers: von Benckendorffs, von Krusenstierns... and my ancestors Yahtenfelds. So in some way I consider Germany as my motherland (as well as Poland :)). This summer I intended to visit Munich, but there were some difficulties and my route was changed so I need to go to Nuremberg - the other old german city which is situated in the same region - Bavaria. Actually the only thing I new about Nuremberg before is the fact that it was the place where German officials involved in the Holocaust and other war crimes were brought before an international tribunal. But after my trip I realized that it was my luck that I visited this city. Well the city is very old, it was established around 11th century it is filled with ancient churches, castles and the other buildings. The fact is the majority of these buildings are not so ancient they were restored in 50s-60s as Nuremberg was completely destroyed by American Air Forces during the World War 2. Each building in Nuremberg was destroyed and each building was rebuild! Germans did the great job saving their cultural treasures! The most amazing places in the city are that three churches: Frauenkirche, Lorenzkirche and. Btw there is information for the Christian part of my friends: I attended Holly Mass in one of Catholic Churches of Nuremberg and was nicely impressed how many people were there, significantly more then in Prague. Even our guide said that people here take G-d seriously! So the Frauenkirche is famous because of its not-installed spire. The story says that when that extremely beautiful spire was created the money which required for its installation ran out, and Nuremberg's officials decided to reconfigure it and use as fountain.
Well, beer lovers there are many places of interest for you because Nuremberg is famous with its Smoked beer which you can buy only here. A long time ago there was a fire in a farmer's warehouse and as a result a half of his barley was destroyed and the other part was smoked, however the thrifty farmer decided to use this defective barley for beer production and the result was surprisingly tasty!
I mentioned a fountain before, well there are a few other fountains in the city, for example this "Family Carousel"
it's inspirited by one of Hans Sachs' mastersongs (Hans Sach was a German "mastersinger", poet, playwright and shoemaker.)
The idea here is quite witty to show different stages of marriage, from: "I can't live without you!" up to "You are bustard!!!"
The Marketplace is also a very interesting part of Nuremberg - it's the square surrounded with some beautiful medieval houses and full of delicious and extremely chip fruits, vegetables and snacks. Actually it is the most famous marketplace in Germany as it's the place there the famous Christmas bazaar takes place. The sad thing here is the way how it was build - in 1349 more then 600 Jews who had lived around were burned alive and even the ground on that their houses appeared was collected and removed.
And the final detail I noticed: this building is a special nursing house for seniors and just across there is student's residence. It was a special idea to accommodate seniors together with noisy young neighbors to make their last years not so boring.
The doorbell
Hey everybody! I'd read the similar story on a Russian programmers web-forum before, but only today I've found a good illustration for it. So enjoy!
My European tour: final review
So, finally I'm seating in my office, trying to do something smart and creative after all that shit I was occupied with on Monday and Tuesday (I mean there was a real flood in my office - the tube which goes through the room there all our servers are situated was cracked and water ran down to the servers!! Fortunately there isn't such a big damage for our infrastructure except a processor's fan which was collapsed by the
circuiting). That two weeks before our domestic apocalypse were quite calm in office: nothing big, no new projects except that one I had to start ...this Monday lol!!!
Anyway I've celebrated my 25th birthday first with my colleagues, my parents and with some of my friends. There are also many little funny details or happiness in my life for this two weeks, but I guess it's much more interesting to write about my European adventures...
I'll try to continue since that moment I finished my last post, just after check-in... So, the boarding was the big surprise for me as my ticket definitely said that Aeroflot is our air company, but we were boarded on CSA plane... well, that's great! The CSA's services are known to be as good as Lufthansa's ones are. We were met by extremely friendly Czech crew and had a save flight to Prague. All passport/customs control procedures were quite standard and the only thing that impress me at the airport was airport itself. It looks very similar as my favorite Pearson international in Toronto, so lovely, with big open spaces, huge glass walls and the glass roof. I'm not sure, but I guess Israeli architect who designed Pearson also worked in Prague :) The Citibank ads everywhere said me exchange problems will not annoy me in Prague. Great job btw! :)
The hotel. We lived in the very nice 3* hotel, called Merlin. The hotel was settled mostly by American teenagers and it was its great advantage - no drank/noisy Russians or Germans. The hotel have a free wireless internet access point (that is extremely important for me, I even could call Mike, my dad and chat with Marina and some other folks) and friendly and helpful staff... ha, it was a funny episode when one girl from reception advised me to join any englishspeaking group on Staramestska square if I would be fed up with my group.
Prague. Actually I'm not going to write how beautiful is it or to describe all that fabulous places I visited, but I want remember some small episodes. So, the first one it's a myth that Czech people live and work in Prague - the majority of salespersons, waitress, drivers, etc. are either Slovak or Ukrainian\Vietnamese\Arabian immigrants. Obviously Czech people exist, but inhabit only in Hrad (Czech government buildings area). :)))
The other myth says that natives don't like Russians, well it's a nonsense ...but only partly. The biggest part of Russians think that everyone in Europe should praise them because they saved Europe from Nazism, but they tend to forget about the year 1968 and other adventures of Red Army during next 50 years... So, if you want peace don't recall that historical issues and don't try to prove that Russians are the greatest and most peaceful nation in the world. The second and most important tip is to be friendly, just smile (not with VVP like smile :)), try to speak Czech - people always like if you show respect to their language and culture. And finally if you're looking for WC in Prague, you should know that it isn't free, usually it costs 10-20 Kz (around $1), the two free WC in Prague-1 which I know are in Starbucks on Staromestska and Narodna (near Vaclavski namesti). There are also a good cheep buffet on Vaclavski namesti (unfortunately I don't remember the name, but it has a dark green signboard).
Vaclavski namesti is one of my favorite places in Prague, it isn't far from all sightseeing places and here you can find all you need: cheep food and drinks, WC, WiFi, excursion office, jezdenki (tickets)... We even found Vladimir Panosovsky near there :))).
Prague. Jezdenki. Be careful when you buy them, here you may save your money or be in trouble. There are different types of ticket which are valid for different period of time. I used to buy 20 min/5 transfers ticket for 18Kz if it takes more than 20 minutes to reach your destination you need to buy more expansive 40min ticket. The nice place to buy it is the subway station on Vaclavski namesti, guys there looks like Dagestanians so it isn't problem to buy ticket even if you don't speak English. And the last tip if you'll travel in June you need go to Charles Bridge not from Staramestska but, by most beautiful Parzhska street or through Jewish city and you may smell stunning Prague's linden-trees while they blow.
Austria. Vienna. What can I write about Vienna? It's absolutely magnificent place, wide streets surrounded by thousands of trees and blowing bushes, seems very powerful (Gabsburg's capital you see!), it also seems very similar to St. Petersburg (Peter addicts I know you understand me!). Also I was so glad to listen "Deutsche sprach" around, yeah my roots... The other cute place I've visited is Vienna fair - I was full with sausages, famous Vienna strudel and so tasty Austrian apple juice and punch. The only trouble was - we hadn't enough time to explore the city and its places of interest. I was trying to find any gift for Masha which is connected with famous lippizian horses, but unfortunately there were no show that day :(
Well, I think it's enough for today, I wanna continue my report later as I still have Germany to describe, but I can't promise...
My trip to Europe
June 25th, around 2am: So, my trip is starting and I'm going to update my records in this post. Now I'm sitting in Kurumoch International Airport waiting for check in. Obviously KUF couldn't change radically since my last flight last October. It's still a kind of country shop or farm, but now they have really fast and FREE wireless internet ...that is absolutely oposite to Frankfurt International! Shame on them!
City day fireworks
Well, last Saturday (30th May) I had a chance to visit city day fireworks with some of my friends. Basically I didn't use to visit this type of street festivities as the common sense says me that it always has regrettable results in Samara. But... Ok... I've gone as there are some folks I want to hang out with.
So, the beginning was quite inspirational: nice dinner in a sushi place, walk to embankment and even beautiful firework. We were on embankment near Polevaya and people there were relatively calm (except for one drunk freak who were constantly yelling: "Hooray! Samara-Samara! Glory to Russia! CSKA(??????!) champion!"). Also we didn't see the laser show, but it might be our fault as it promoted to be near Ladya, so we might stay to far away.
But real comedy started after we caught a tram to back home. So, we have a really mucky tram with a unconscious guy with bleeding broken head accompanied by his stupid girlfriend (she just stroked his shoulder, kissed him instead of getting him to the hospital which is just opposite the tram stop!) as a background. Me and Katie fortunately took our seats, Tom was standing... sorry Tom.
What's next? In the next 20 minutes I fully realized who made Russian revolution - the masses. So the masses - the crowd of drank freaks (who were totally drunk long before the fireworks - thanks to the soccer match :))) quickly filled the entire car. With the fabulous aroma of beer and urine they also bring total chaos in the tram: they block the exits, constantly press the emergency brake button, knock at the door... windows... roof, yelling, etc.
All this situation seems to be pathetic and funny but only until the moment when they turned off electricity and engine, saying that the tram is broken because of frequent emergency brake button usage... well, my travel companion seems not to be very happy... but in a few minutes the engine started work fine! It was just a psychological trick to make that clowns in the car more calm! After that point things went much better - "the masses" start leaving the tram, it goes without the accidents. We safely came to our homes.
But, I have a few conclusion:
1) crowded events are evil;
2) crowded events in Russia are doubly evil as a lot of drunk idiots want to show their boldness;
3) crowded events in Russia on the day of soccer match and two days after the frontier guard forces day are triple evil;
4) using municipal transport in such situation is an awful idea;
5) and the last thing - never believe tram drivers, they always ready for kidding!!!
And as a soundtrack for that event:
So, the beginning was quite inspirational: nice dinner in a sushi place, walk to embankment and even beautiful firework. We were on embankment near Polevaya and people there were relatively calm (except for one drunk freak who were constantly yelling: "Hooray! Samara-Samara! Glory to Russia! CSKA(??????!) champion!"). Also we didn't see the laser show, but it might be our fault as it promoted to be near Ladya, so we might stay to far away.
But real comedy started after we caught a tram to back home. So, we have a really mucky tram with a unconscious guy with bleeding broken head accompanied by his stupid girlfriend (she just stroked his shoulder, kissed him instead of getting him to the hospital which is just opposite the tram stop!) as a background. Me and Katie fortunately took our seats, Tom was standing... sorry Tom.
What's next? In the next 20 minutes I fully realized who made Russian revolution - the masses. So the masses - the crowd of drank freaks (who were totally drunk long before the fireworks - thanks to the soccer match :))) quickly filled the entire car. With the fabulous aroma of beer and urine they also bring total chaos in the tram: they block the exits, constantly press the emergency brake button, knock at the door... windows... roof, yelling, etc.
All this situation seems to be pathetic and funny but only until the moment when they turned off electricity and engine, saying that the tram is broken because of frequent emergency brake button usage... well, my travel companion seems not to be very happy... but in a few minutes the engine started work fine! It was just a psychological trick to make that clowns in the car more calm! After that point things went much better - "the masses" start leaving the tram, it goes without the accidents. We safely came to our homes.
But, I have a few conclusion:
1) crowded events are evil;
2) crowded events in Russia are doubly evil as a lot of drunk idiots want to show their boldness;
3) crowded events in Russia on the day of soccer match and two days after the frontier guard forces day are triple evil;
4) using municipal transport in such situation is an awful idea;
5) and the last thing - never believe tram drivers, they always ready for kidding!!!
And as a soundtrack for that event:
Study Shows "Secret Questions" Are Too Easily Guessed
Several high-profile break-ins have resulted from hackers guessing the answers to secret questions (the hijacking of Sarah Palin's Yahoo account was one). This week, research from Microsoft and Carnegie Mellon University, presented at the IEEE Symposium on Security and Privacy, will show how woefully insecure secret questions actually are. As reported in Technology Review: 'In a study involving 130 people, the researchers found that 28 percent of the people who knew and were trusted by the study's participants could guess the correct answers to the participant's secret questions. Even people not trusted by the participant still had a 17 percent chance of guessing the correct answer to a secret question.
Schneier pointed out years ago how weird it is to have a password-recovery mechanism that is less secure than the password.
via Slashdot
