Russia Is Bigger Than Pluto

Russia Is Bigger Than Pluto

     Russia covers over 17 million square kilometers, making it the biggest country in the world. In comparison to Canada, the second largest country that only covers 7.2 million square kilometers. The country is so big it has nine different time zones. The establishment of land began with the Vikings, but Ivan the Terrible made the most significant additions to growing the country. Although ranking number one in the size it only holds around two percent of Earth’s inhabitants. 

     To help with understanding the size, Russia’s surface area is bigger than Pluto’s. Russia has a surface area of 17 million kilometers, while Pluto has 16 million kilometers.

   
                

Hedgehog in the Fog: A look at one of Russia's most famous contributions to animation.

Hedgehog in the Fog (Ёжик в тумане) is a famous animated short based on a Russian folktale. The short was created in the Soviet Union in 1975, produced by the Soyuzmultfilm studio in Moscow. The film was directed and animated by Yuriy Norshteyn (Юрий Норштейн) and written by Sergei Kozlov (Сергей Козлов), who also published a book under the same name. The film concerns a Hedgehog, on his way to meet his friend, the Bear cub, so they can sit by a fire, count stars, and drink tea with raspberry jam. The Hedgehog spots a white horse standing in a large cloud of fog, and goes to investigate out of curiosity. He soon becomes lost, and the rest of the story concerns his frantic struggle to find his way  to his friend while navigating this landscape of frightening noises and shapes while he can barely see his own paws in front of him. Possibly the most interesting part of this film is the visual style, looking very much like stop motion animation of the illustrations from a children's book. The actual method of animation that Norshteyn used is even more impressive, involving multiple glass planes to give his animation a Three-dimensional look. The camera was placed at the top looking down on a series of glass planes about a meter deep (one every 25–30 cm). The individual glass planes could move horizontally as well as toward and away from the camera (to give the effect of a character moving closer or further away). The film has won three awards, one for "best animated film" at the Frunze All-Union Film Festival in 1976, another for "best animated film" at the Tehran Children's and Youth Film Festival in 1976, and another for "Number 1 Animated film of all the time" by an international film jury in Tokyo in 2003. A statue of the main character (the Hedgehog) was built in the city center of Ukraine's capital, Kiev, in 2009. The opening ceremony for the 2014 Winter Olympics also referenced this work, listing it among other signature Russian accomplishments and artists.

The Origin of Tetris (unit 1)

I was playing Tetris the other day and discovered that the concept of Tetris actually originated in Soviet Russia. Tetris was created by Russian programmer and artificial intelligence researcher Alex E Pajitnov in 1986 who was working for the Society Academy for Sciences. His job was to test the limits of various hardwares by writing simple programs. He decided to code a puzzle game using tetriminos, shapes that are formed by putting four squares edge to edge in seven possible arrangements. As the game became more elaborate and addicting, Pajitnov began to think of the idea of selling the game for profit. Unfortunately, Soviet laws made it nearly impossible to make private sales of a product, so they ended up just giving the game out for free. After the game became somewhat well known in the Soviet Union he later managed to give the rights to the state. The rights were then loosely juggled around between various developers which soon made it hard to tell who actually owned it. Pajitnov was somehow able to reacquire the rights from the state who said that the rights were never given away. Pajitnov then sold the rights to Nintendo who immediately released it for the Gameboy, selling almost 35 million copies. Pajitnov eventually moved to America where he was able to finally make some money off the rights by founding the Tetris company, which got rid of all illegal Tetris clones. It was amazing how hard the Soviet Union’s regulations made it for Pajitnov to finally make some profit off his creation, even after he moved. Another detail I found interesting was how Pajitnov was extremely opposed to the soundtrack used for Tetris. The music was based off the Russian folk song Koobeihiki, which other developers liked because it showed the game’s origins. Pajitnov however was afraid that the song would come to lose its history and be known only as the Tetris song, a prophecy that has unfortunately come true.

                                                         Tetris creator Alex E Pajitnov

Beef Stroganoff

Fun Fact!: Beef Stroganoff was named after a Russian diplomat, Count Stroganoff from the court of Alexander III.  With cooler weather hopefully coming our way, many people look for warm hearty meals. Try this one out!

Ingredients for Russian Beef Stroganoff:
2 lbs steak – I used: “beef round bottom round thin sliced” or any kind of sirloin should work. 1 tsp Mrs. Dash seasoning1/8 tsp pepper1/2 tsp salt1/8 tsp paprika2 Tbsp Olive Oil1  1/2 Tbsp Soy Sauce1  1/2 cups water1 large garlic clove, finely grated or pressed1  1/2 cups whipping Cream2 Tbsp butter1  1/2 Tbsp all-purpose flour

Preheat Oven to 350 degrees F 

1.  Trim beef of excess fat and slice it into 1/2-inch strips
2. Fill a medium pot ⅔ with water and bring to a boil. Add beef and return to a boil. Boil until impurities rise to the top. Skim off impurities with a spoon. Remove from heat and rinse the beef in a colander.
3. Place the beef in a dutch oven (for baking) or a regular pot with a tight fitting lid.
4. Stir in Mrs. Dash, Pepper, Salt, Paprika, Olive Oil and Soy Sauce. Add 1 cup water. Cover and bake for 1 hour and 30 minutes (at 350°F). Check meat after 1 hour - if the meat has absorbed most of the water, add another ½ cup water. (For stove-top cooking, put on tight fitting lid and cook over medium heat until meat is soft, occasionally stirring and checking the water level). There should be enough water to keep the meat moist - remember it's not a soup
5. After the meat has been baking for 1 and ½ hours, remove from the oven and add the grated/pressed garlic
6. Stir in 1½ cups whipping cream
7. Melt butter, then blend flour into butter using a fork than add butter mixture to the pot and stir to combine.
8. Bake an additional 25 minutes. Beef should be very tender and sauce should have a gravy texture. You can add more cream if it gets too thick.

Cамые популярные имена 2012 года--Most popular names in Russia for 2012

A new list of popular first names in Russia for 2012. 

Unsurprisingly, Alexandr (Александр) continues to be the most popular name for newborn boys, and Anastasia (Анастасия) for girls. (In Moscow, on the other hand, Aleksandr has lost out to Artyom, a name that ranks fourth in popularity in Russia as a whole.)  

Interestingly, for both sexes, "old-fashioned" and religious names are on the rise: For boys, Bogdan (Богдан), Timofei/Timothy (Тимофей), Matvei/Matthew (Матвей), Gleb (Глеб) and Zakhar (Захар). The last two in particular strike me as assertively national. 

For girls, old fashioned names like Taisia (Таисья), Arina (Арина), Varvara/Barbara (Варвара), Uliana (Ульяна), Aksinia (Аксинья), Avdotia (Авдотья), Pelegeia (Пелагея) and Vasilisa (Василисa) are on the rise. Some of those names are very old, Greek in derivation, and therefore connected directly with an Orthodox mindset. 

In recent years in America, "unique" and non-traditional first names have become popular. They remain very rare in Russia, but this article mentions the following names in Moscow as Редкие, единичные имена ("rare and singular names"): For boys, Мир, Космос и Огнеслав (Peace, Cosmos and something like Glory to the Flame, respectively). For girls, Легенда, Лёля и Челси (Legend, Lyolia and Cheslea (!)). I think Lyolia is a doll's name... 

Here's a graphic of popular names...

Loop the loop!

Have you heard? They've taken away Misha's lilies! 

SPREES tees

These shirts are totally круто, cool. If you want one, they're available for purchase ($15, cash, charge card, or check to Stetson University).

Great gifts for friends and family!

From Wikipedia...

In Slavic folklore, the Firebird (Russian: Жар-пти́ца, Zhar-ptitsa; Ukrainian: Жар-пти́ця, Zhar-ptica; Serbo-Croatian: Жар-птица or Žar-ptica; Bulgarian: Жар-птица, Zhar-ptitsa;Macedonian: Жар-птица, Žar-ptica; Polish: Żar-ptak; Czech: Pták Ohnivák; Slovak: Vták Ohnivák; Hungarian: Tűzmadár) is a magical glowing bird from a faraway land, which is both a blessing and a bringer of doom to its captor.
The Firebird is described as a large bird with majestic plumage that glows brightly emitting red, orange, and yellow light, like a bonfire that is just past the turbulent flame. The feathers do not cease glowing if removed, and one feather can light a large room if not concealed. In later iconography, the form of the Firebird is usually that of a smallish fire-colored peacock, complete with a crest on its head and tail feathers with glowing "eyes".

Cursive Russian alphabet.... Пропись

These two videos from Master Russian cover how to execute the cursive versions of all 33 letters in the Russian alphabet... It's slow, but thorough... If any letter is giving you trouble, just skip ahead to the right place in the videos... Enjoy!

Important dates for Elementary Russian 101, Fall 2015

Add these to your календарь!

• Alphabet and Phonetic quiz (word recognition): Tuesday, September 1, 2015.
• Vocabulary Quiz (based on ex. 1-11 in your textbook): Wednesday September 2, 2015 (lab).
• First Portfolio: Wednesday September 16, 2015. (Tuesday is Values Day.)

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