My First View of the Pacific From the Left

It is pretty big. I flew longer than I've ever flown in one stretch- 13 hours. Then I flew another two hours here, to Vladivostok. The bay makes the air moist and fresh, when the diesel isn't suffocating you. The air is warm, even though the sky doesn't get light until after 7:30 am. They say the swimming is great.

I have seen Korean graffiti here, and in English "I hate this faking world." I've seen ads for Gold Bond brand tea and Maxim brand coffee.

In the lift you are forbidden to use "fiery things" or to try to "libirate yourself" in case you get stuck. Aside from those restrictions, it's a pretty nice budget hotel.

That is all.

Stalking Vladivostok

Here is Vladik's very useful Virtual Tourist site for people looking at Vladik like a tourist destination, which I am not. It is where I will be working for the next two weeks, at environmental conferences.

Here is Vladik's very own lesbian chat site, where apparently the lezzie club 'Drive' is getting reviewed, and you need to have your own car to get there! I hate that. Here you have to dance until you sober up enough to drive, there you probably have to dance and drink until you have the courage to face the Russian roads.

I've only found one reference to a bellydancing place - a Chinese restaurant, of all places. Russia is one of those places you find out "Asian" means everything from Istanbul to Vladivostok, from Baikal to Sri Lanka. Half the world.

Welcome to the lesbian web-portal of Vladivostok.

I have four more days before I leave for Vladik (as it is called) for two weeks of environmentalist conferences. I have to get going with my social card.

Cash Inspires Anti-RNC Action

Behold the photos of the Johnny-Cash-themed Man In Black protest group in NYC this past week at www.defendjohnnycash.org.

My Old Boss, Discovered as a New Species

Ananova reports on a furry frog-like shark discovered in a German aquarium.

I thought [P. E.] was still living in New York.

New Feature: George's Best Ringlish This Week

Several points of my coworker George's weekly report were outstandingly cobbled-together. Including one point that he, for some reason, included, but censored. You don't need to know the context of his work to enjoy his Ringlish, and his lack of a sense of appropriate use of the weekly report format. I do not get his use of quotes at all, from a Russian or English perspective. But I can still enjoy those. His ability to brag about his computer skills remains intact, despite all his lack of language skills, or good sense in general (he "penetrated"? a board?). Is he trying to predict an invasion of Russia by the US there in the end? It's like reading Nostradamus, isn't it?

- "Penetrated" the TRN board. Felt sorry for Solveig, the coordinator of TRN conference.

- Fully reloaded my computer (which is a useful thing to do at least once a
year)

- CENSORED

- Thought about those three terrorist acts in Russia last week (two airplane crashes and a bomb blow at a buss stop in Moscow) and about Russian perspectives. Adepts of Euro-Asian exceptionality say that Russia's fight against terrorism has nothing in common with the American one. Adepts of Anglo-Saxon Supremacy support the idea strongly. Russian society instability increases. Russia moves simultaneously in four opposite directions [It is not spreading, but shrinking in four separate spills, the size of each will determine Russia's future.]:
(1) building open democratic society,
(2) restoring imperial dictatorial ambitions,
(3) Africanization, when raw materials are the only source of revenue, and
(4) planning to improve living standards.

This physics law violation (simultaneous movement in the conflicting directions) is possible in Russia due to overrating of administrative governing and people's failure to speak out. We need to communicate more and convince further about world-wide problems. Russians are open for our communication yet and we should wrap it in a good way. Though this "Country of Unpredictable Future" owns the world second WMD arsenal and has the next after Saudis oil reserve volume, I hope the policy of preventive strike will not prevail. [We have a "wounded ant" in Iraq. We do not want to deal with a "wounded bear."] We have many common problems to resolve together with Russia.