It’s good that there are scientists who can dispel various misconceptions and tell the whole truth.
MYTH: Albert Einstein was not good at math at school and was generally a terrible student.
This is a good story to tell children: even if you do poorly in school, you still have a chance to become a genius when you grow up.
Examples of late-developing talent can be found everywhere, but Einstein is not one of them. He was always excellent at mathematics and other subjects.
Perhaps the myth that he failed the math exam dates back to the time when he failed to enter the Zurich Polytechnic Institute. But then several years had already passed after he graduated from school, and besides, he spoke French poorly, and it was in this language that the exams were held. Moreover, he passed the exam in mathematics, but failed in language, botany and zoology.
There are still many myths about Einstein that have nothing to do with the truth. For example, he learned to read early and had no learning difficulties.
MYTH: Chameleons change color to camouflage themselves.
IN popular culture A chameleon is a spiny lizard that changes the color of its skin to match any shade or pattern in its environment. Because of this belief, chameleons are often called camouflage. military equipment and talented actors. But they mainly use their amazing ability to change color to maintain a certain body temperature and to communicate with other chameleons, and not to hide from predators.
In any case, the cuttlefish has been much more successful at blending into its environment.
MYTH: Christopher Columbus discovered America
The belief that Columbus discovered America is very common. According to a study conducted by the University of Michigan in 2005, 85% of Americans believe that Columbus discovered the continent, and only 2% of respondents were able to answer correctly that Columbus simply could not have discovered America, since Native Americans were already living on the continent. Many historians consider the first European to sail to the shores of America to be the Scandinavian Viking navigator Leif Eriksson, who sailed from Greenland to Canadian Newfoundland around 1000 AD.
Columbus is historically significant because in 1492 he brought diseases to the Americas that killed most of the continent's Native Americans (some estimate as many as 90%) and paved the way for European imperialism into the Western Hemisphere.
MYTH: Certain areas of the tongue can only sense certain tastes.
According to the myth of the tongue's taste zones, different parts of our tongue are designed for different taste sensations. The back of the tongue senses bitter tastes, the tip of the tongue for sweet tastes, and so on.
It is not true. Taste buds are located throughout the surface of the tongue, and they all perceive any taste.
Yes, some taste buds are more receptive to certain types of tastes, but according to the Center for Smell and Taste at the University of Florida, the difference is small, and the location of these receptors does not correspond to the so-called "map of the tongue."
MYTH: Abraham Lincoln freed the slaves
The historical interpretation of Lincoln's emancipation of slaves in the United States is not so much erroneous as it is simplistic. History has it that Lincoln fought in the Civil War against slavery, and the Emancipation Proclamation and the 13th Amendment to the United States Constitution were the legal instruments to end slavery.
But in this story the slaves themselves fade into the shadows, and the main role given to one to the white man. However, Lincoln chose to fight the Civil War and take legal action to grant citizenship former slaves, while the slaves themselves fought for centuries to be officially recognized as people and freed from slavery.
“Lincoln moved slowly and with apparent reluctance to make this war a war for freedom from slavery. At the same time, black leaders, abolitionists, radical Republicans, and the slaves themselves wanted him to move forward,” he wrote in his book “Who Freed the Slaves?” historian Civil War James McPherson.
MYTH: Slavery in America only existed in the South
There have always been anti-slavery movements in America, but slavery existed in every colony. Massachusetts in the northern United States was the first colony to legalize slavery, and in 1720 about a fifth of New York's population were slaves. George Washington and Thomas Jefferson, like the other Founding Fathers, owned hundreds of slaves.
It was not until after the Revolutionary War that the antislavery movement became an important political force. Now each state could independently declare slavery illegal. Vermont was the first, and other northern states soon followed suit. By the time the Civil War began, only the states located behind the Mason-Dixon Line had not abolished slavery.
MYTH: Isaac Newton discovered gravity when an apple fell on his head.
The legend of Newton and the apple is just a legend, but like many legends, it is a somewhat embellished version of what actually happened. The apple did not fall on Newton's head, but he began to think about gravity when he saw an apple fall from a tree to the ground.
This event was described in Newton's memoirs; he recalled going out for a walk with a friend after lunch.
MYTH: Diamonds are made from tightly compressed coal.
Both coal and diamond are formed from carbon under pressure from the earth's surface, which is probably where this myth originated. But the carbon from which diamonds are made is much purer, and the transformation process requires much more heat and pressure.
MYTH: According to all the laws of aviation, there is no way a bee can fly.
As the myth says, the wings of a bee are too small to lift its plump body off the ground. But bees, of course, fly because they don’t care what people think is impossible.
And a bumblebee can fly. The idea could have arisen due to the fact that bumblebees are quite large, they weigh about a gram, and their wings are quite small - about one square centimeter.
But there is a significant difference between a real biological being and its mathematical model. Honeybees, for example, fly primarily by flapping their wings extremely quickly, which is most effective when they have to carry something heavy, as they often do.
MYTH: Witches in the US were cooked like steaks
If witches were burned in France, they were hanged in England. The English tradition reached the American colonies during the Salem witch trials and other anti-witch hysteria.
All those accused of witchcraft were hanged, except one man.
Giles Corey was crushed under huge stones.
MYTH: Pluto is no longer considered a planet
The International Astronomical Union (IAU), the scientific council that defines the term “planet” and similar objects, initially designated Pluto as the ninth planet in the solar system.
In 2005, Eris was discovered - another huge cosmic rock in solar system. It is 27% larger than Pluto, which sent the IAU back to its roots and forced it to decide again what to call a planet.
As a result, the IAU put forward signs of a planet that neither Pluto nor Eris correspond to. Therefore, neither one nor the other object can be one of the main planets orbiting the Sun.
Both objects were recognized as dwarf planets. So yes, Pluto is a planet, only a dwarf planet.
MYTH: The Great Wall of China is the only human structure visible from space
Firstly, the fact that human structures, like the Great Wall of China, are visible from Earth's orbit means nothing, since they are completely invisible, for example, from the Moon.
"The only thing you can see from the moon is beautiful ball, almost white, just a little blue, splashes of yellow and here and there green vegetation,” the astronaut told NASA spaceship"Apollo 12" Alan Bean. “From this distance, not a single human-made object is visible.”
Secondly, what you see depends largely on the weather and how far you are from our planet. In 2003, even a Chinese astronaut admitted that he could not see the Great Wall from space because the weather was bad.
Under certain conditions, cosmonauts on the International space station can see most cities from space, Egyptian pyramids and some big bridges.
MYTH: Raindrops are shaped like tears.
As noted on an American site dedicated to small-scale topographic surveys, raindrops are shaped more like hamburger buns or beans. When they become large, they divide into two. And only then do they take on the shape of a tear, only to soon become like hamburgers again.
MYTH: Oxygen-poor blood is blue.
A common myth is that oxygen-rich blood is red and oxygen-poor blood is blue, but this is a false belief. Looking at your skin, you may decide that the veins carry blood that is not red in color. In fact, the reason is your perception of light and the properties of your skin. Medicine has proven that the blood coming from the heart is filled with oxygen and therefore is scarlet, while the blood going to the heart is dark red.
And although your veins seem blue, green or purple to you, the blood that flows through them is red. Unless, of course, you are an octopus, a leech or a sea worm, whose blood is of exactly these shades.
It is generally accepted that the main source of inspiration for the Monument Valley series is the paintings of Maurits Escher. In fact, there are many more sources. Behind each level of the franchise games there is a piece of art, a photo, or even a music video.
David Fernández Huerta, the game's art director, spoke about what inspired the level designers of Monument Valley 2 in The Work behind The Work blog.
“Objectless composition”, Olga Rozanova
We took a lot from the work of other artists and from history artistic arts. What we did can be compared to an artistic interpretation of something. Change the content and make it your own.
Poster for music album Modern Vampires the City Vampire Weekend, Rostam Batmanglizh
This is a recording that I have at home. While working on the level, I didn't look at the poster, but the image was somewhere in my subcortex. We all carry these things around with us.
Poster of the commune of Saint-Raphael, located on the Cote d'Azur, Tom Morel De Tanguy
Sometimes we sneak these things away from vacation, as I did when I visited Pompeii a couple of years ago.
London National Theater, Denys Lasdun
We also often took inspiration from Bauhaus posters and architectural style brutalism.
Stills from Nicki Minaj's video for the song Super Bass, directed by Sanaa Hamri
One of our artists, Lauren Cason, really loves Nicki Minaj videos.
Concept art for Walt Disney's Peter Pan, Mary Blair
This illustration of The Adventures of Peter Pan is one of Lauren's favorite works and a major source of inspiration throughout her career.
Liquorice assortment
We want everyone on the team to be immersed in art style games. Therefore, we print out a bunch of references and attach them to boards, so that later, when working on a level, we can carry them with us throughout the office (we do not have workstations assigned to employees).
The process usually goes from mockup to concept art and from sketches to the final version. The process is highly dependent on the artist. We try to combine different approaches, which means that everyone works a little differently.
We are always asked how these seemingly completely impossible levels work. Impossibility and optical illusions is the heart of Monument Valley. The secret is that the three-dimensional objects are arranged in such a way that, from the camera's point of view, the path looks possible. When a character passes through certain parts of the path, he is in fact teleported from one point to another.
There has been a howl on the Internet for several months now. The Moscow authorities want to demolish the “Khrushchev” and unlucky “Stalin” buildings in order to build new houses in their place. Residents of old neighborhoods are worried that they will be settled somewhere far from the center, and they will not be able to go to their favorite park or take their child to school, where three generations of the family have already attended school. The prospect of moving from Vernadsky Avenue somewhere to the terrible Butovo, where, as you know, only drunken rednecks live, is terrifying. In general, there is no limit to the Chekist abomination.
The renovation has many supporters. Indeed, how much joy is there in living in a rundown shack with a leaking roof and a small kitchen? And the authorities promise something more decent, and even with repairs. After all, a five-story panel building is really a hut on chicken legs. There are a lot of engineering solutions that exclude the possibility of normal repairs. And there were no plans to repair them. We thought that a bright tomorrow would come, we would move people into palaces, and we would take these chicken coops to the famous mother.
Renovation does not concern me, so I will not fit in with either “for” or “against”. But it’s strange to me - why doesn’t anyone ask why the authorities suddenly decided to stir up this project right now? Well, not out of love for your people, right? And why muddy the waters before the presidential elections?
The answer to this question will surprise you a little. And you will be surprised - how did you not think of such a simple thing?
The construction industry is officially 3% of GDP modern Russia. In fact, much more, because it supports transportation, the service sector, advertisers, financiers, importers of construction and finishing materials, designers, repairmen, etc. and so on. I think the total gain will be 7-8 percent. It's a lot. A lot of. When a country's GDP falls by 3%, it doesn't seem like much to anyone. A drop of 7% is a disaster. Over the nineties, Russia's GDP decreased by 46%, that is, an average of 4.6% per year. Remember what it was like?
Since the early nineties, real estate prices in Russia have been rising. They jumped especially strongly at the beginning of the 2000s. I bought my first apartment in Moscow for a thousand dollars per square meter, and everyone told me – you’re crazy, it’s insanely expensive, don’t rush, it’ll get cheaper soon. What is typical is that when a few years later I bought a second apartment in the same area, where a square meter already cost four thousand, no one talked about the high cost. On the contrary, they were surprised how they managed to find such a profitable offer. In Saratov the growth was in the same proportion.
Naturally, demand generated supply. And in the regions, and, especially, in Moscow. A lot of money was invested in the construction industry. Created production capacity, equipment was purchased, people were hired. Now only in Moscow there are about two dozen factories of reinforced concrete products. You can count it yourself - how many there are in the Moscow region.
The industry has been operating at capacity for two decades. And somewhere in 2014, when the Olympics ended, everything began to end. It began to end back in 2012-2013, but then there were hopes for a revival after Sochi. Hopes were not justified.
And then it suddenly became clear that housing in Russia could not only become more expensive, but also cheaper. And not only in dollar terms, in which prices are simply fucked up, but even in ruble terms. And not somewhere in Penza or Astrakhan, but in Moscow. Right here in the Mother See.
And they began to fall in price because effective demand ended. Well, people don't have that kind of crazy money to spend... square meters. No - and that's it. Everyone who could somehow have already bought it. There will be a few more lucky ones - they will also buy. But the majority of the population is not in danger of buying a house. Sorry for being so blunt. So this nice, smooth price reduction didn’t really bother anyone. Roughly speaking, the price was before the Sun, now it is up to Venus. But people are not even capable of reaching the moon. They don’t take it - that’s all.
The state has been quietly feeding builders for a long time. I travel a lot around Russian cities. There are entire blocks of housing there, built with government guarantees. An amazing sight, especially in the evening. There is a domina with 10 entrances and 20 floors, and it has been standing for a long time, about five years. And two windows in it are on fire. There are hundreds of available apartments, but the prices are such that even a proud resident of the capital would be overwhelmed. Locals won’t buy this at all. Because whoever has money would rather take it in the Moscow region. The prices are the same. And the developer, in general, doesn’t care. A few residents patiently pay for the utilities of the entire house. But the developer himself received the money from the state, and no one really forces him to return it. You can give a couple of apartments to beneficiaries - and everything is fine.
There are also many such houses in the Moscow region. They are building something, but the houses stand empty. The rich regionals have disappeared somewhere, and the locals are not very wealthy either. You know, it’s very sad to live in a house where your apartment is the only living one on three surrounding floors. Yes, and it’s downright dangerous. So, it’s not just that people are buying housing; on the contrary, they are trying to escape.
Of course, you can continue to build boxes with government money. But even our good state began to understand that this was simply burying money in the ground. They built a box, and it was like a cobblestone gurgling into a swamp. There aren't even any circles on the water. It stands empty, the economy is neither hot nor cold from it.
Yes, as property taxes and utility prices rose, investment apartments began to be sold. People want to have fun. And these are hundreds of apartments in Moscow alone. And thousands in the Moscow region.
In this situation, it’s clear that building with such reserves of unsold meters is a little naive.
So what should we do? Don't build? Ask the builders to relax? We have capitalism, right? The invisible hand of the market will come and fix everything in the best possible way.
Not so.
Let’s say some trust stopped building houses. He sent the workers home. The workers are sad. Not everyone will be sad about drinking vodka. Some may do something less socially safe.
The reinforced concrete plant, where the trust bought reinforced concrete structures, will stand up. The workers also go home. Well, or not at home. And they say it is almost impossible to revive a plant of this type that has stopped working after mothballing. It's easier to build a new one.
Friendly transport workers will stand up. Neighbors will stand up. Repair companies will stop. Banks will not lend to the trust and issue mortgage loans. Already issued loans will freeze. And so on. Use your imagination.
That is, roughly speaking, even stopping the work of one developer will indirectly lead to the fact that tens of thousands of people (including families) will suddenly find themselves without a livelihood. This happened before, but due to inhuman hunger, staffing was decided upon in a matter of days. And now everything is a little different.
What if not one developer fails, but five at once? Or ten?
What if we imagine that this has already begun on a national scale?
The renovation program is, in fact, the only option to save the construction industry and everyone who lives off it. The only reasonable one.
The state actually builds new buildings at its own expense. But he doesn’t leave them standing empty, but populates them with people. They will settle in a new place, new businesses will appear, people will make repairs, buy furniture, etc.
Old houses need to be demolished - these are jobs.
In their place, it is necessary to lay new communications - these are jobs.
We need to build new houses - these will create jobs.
Selling housing and premises in old Moscow is much easier than in an open field. This means the same scheme – new businesses, new loans, new movements in the economy.
And this is a long-term story. For 15 years, maybe more. During this time, the construction industry and everyone around it will have something to do. It is important.
And it is quite normal that the state acts as an instigator and sponsor. That’s why it is, in general, a state, to prevent crises. It does not always work. But it looks like it will work out here.
It has been said more than once that this is a pilot project, and it can spread to the regions. I'm sure it will spread. Because there is no choice. The shutdown of one reinforced concrete plant in Moscow is a wasp sting. The same plant in Astrakhan stood up - like a crowbar to the head. Nobody needs this. By the way, the situation with Khrushchev-era buildings in the regions is thinner, and they were often built more reliably. My grandmother had an apartment in the Saratov version - there were walls made of brick and a meter thick. It will stand for a hundred years. Therefore, attention will most likely be paid to dilapidated housing and the private sector in city centers.
The economy needs to be revived. And it is enlivened everywhere by precisely such projects. Not as beautiful as the introduction of nanotechnology in robotics. But noticeably more effective.
You may say, but someone is going to make a lot of money out of this whole renovation! Of course it will cook. And you can’t even imagine how good it is. But they will cook in any case, no doubt about it. This is their job. But only here - at good situation- the profit will go to the whole country.
Well, for a housewarming party.
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The number of victims of the disaster that struck South Asia, is approaching 70 thousand people. Moreover, this is preliminary data. In fact, there are many more dead.
The number of victims of the disaster that hit South Asia is approaching 70 thousand people. Moreover, this is preliminary data. In fact, there are many more dead.
The tragedy took place in a region where popular and expensive resorts are located. Therefore, as the radio station "Echo of Moscow" reports, among the numerous victims of the tsunami there are worldwide famous people and their loved ones who vacationed at fashionable resorts.
Among the celebrities affected by the disaster in South Asia on December 26 is former German Chancellor Helmut Kohl. He was on vacation in the south of Sri Lanka, managed to take refuge in a hotel, and was evacuated by a military helicopter.
Photographer Simon Utley (UK), who was vacationing in southern Thailand with his famous companion, Czech supermodel Petra Nemkova, is considered missing. P. Nemkova escaped, but received severe injuries. She did not have time to reach the hotel, and, according to witnesses, she struggled with the waves for 8 hours.
A Swedish alpine skier, world champion and Olympic Games Ingemar Stenmark. He miraculously escaped death.
Australian rugby player Troy Broadbridge and his young wife went missing in Phuket - they were spending their “honeymoon” in the tropics.
Italian footballers Filippo Inzaghi (Milan), Paolo Maldini (Milan) and Ianluca Zambrotta (Juventus), who were vacationing in the Maldives, miraculously survived.
The grandson of the King of Thailand, Pumi Zhensen, died in Phuket. According to eyewitnesses, he was water skiing when the tsunami arrived.
Famous Hollywood actor and director Richard Attenborough lost loved ones. His 14-year-old granddaughter Lucy was killed, his 17-year-old granddaughter Alice is in hospital, and his daughter Jane and her mother-in-law are considered missing.
Designer Net Berkas died in Sri Lanka.
As Echo notes, this list is certainly incomplete and will be updated.
Let us remind you that total number The death toll in southwest Thailand is rising. By latest information Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Thailand, it reached 1 thousand 543 people, about 9 thousand people were injured and injured.
- How did you, a MGIMO graduate, gold medalist, daughter of a professor, granddaughter of an academician, become a currency prostitute?
- I don’t even know... Probably just lucky!
Anecdote from the nineties
I am now sitting at a meeting of the board of directors of Eastern European Microsoft and in the room with me are several Dutchmen, Americans, two Greek women, several Germans, Englishmen, two Czechs, a Hungarian, a Canadian, a Serbian, French, Italians, a Pole, and the Swiss. And I’m the only one from Russia. Why are there so few of us in Europe, especially in leadership positions, despite the size of the market? Few exceptions, if found in global companies, are more often in companies with Russian roots. But in international companies, examples are very rare.
What prevents our people from building an international career? I will try to answer this question with some comments from my experience. I do not pretend to be objective or complete, this is 100% my subjective experience.
A side note: due to the rise in the exchange rate of the euro and the dollar, we increasingly hear a desire to leave Russia for Europe and the States as quickly as possible. It’s probably worth writing a separate note about this in order to reveal in more detail the idea in which, after several years of living in Europe, I am 100% convinced: in Russia not everything is so bad, but “abroad” not everything is so good. Moreover, the current exchange rate of the ruble brings the standard of living in Russia closer to the European one, taking into account the taxes that exist here. It’s just that under the old course, things were much better here than in Europe, which was not so noticeable from the inside. For more details, see the note.
To understand the specifics of our business, it was very useful for me to look at us from the outside. . They say that in order to understand your native language, you need to study a foreign language. I'm inclined to agree with this. This is why international experience is so valued.
I have been responsible for technical evangelism in the Central and Central Asia region at Microsoft for several years now. of Eastern Europe, which includes Russia and 33 other countries. Working at the regional headquarters allowed me to look at business in Russia and the rules of doing business accepted in Russia from the outside. Understand how the mentality differs in other countries. It was very useful and interesting! I found several interesting moments misunderstandings between “us” and “them”, which is one of the reasons why there are so few “ours” “out there”. Here are some of them:
1. We consider ourselves absolutely unique. In our opinion, there is Russia and there is the rest of the world. Russia is unlike any other country in the world in any way and is one of a kind. We perceive any analogies between us and other countries as, at best, misunderstanding, and at worst, an insult. How could we be compared with some... (any country out of 180). Of course, we have many unique features. But there are no fewer of them in any other country in the world. And we are not unique in this at least. But in fact, we have much more similarities than differences. Our desire to consider ourselves absolutely unique hinders us greatly, since it does not allow us to study and adopt other people’s experience (we consider it inapplicable to us!) Openness to other people’s experience and willingness to study others, to look for similarities, rather than differences, provides very great opportunities for development.
2. We tend to attribute all successes to ourselves, and all failures to external circumstances.. This is probably a property of human nature in general, but in our country it is especially pronounced. We are accustomed to paying a lot of attention to external circumstances instead of thinking about what could be done. For example, sometimes dialogues with the Russian team at various business reviews look very funny:
Russian team:
- Everything is very bad with us.
Headquarters:
- Yes, we are aware, we read the news, we see the indicators.
They don't understand anything again! Things are really very bad here!(and out loud):
- Everything is very, very bad for us!
Headquarters (already accustomed to this approach):
- Yes, yes, we know and understand everything, we root for you with all our hearts! Let's talk, what do you do in this situation?
Russian team (to themselves): They're still bullying! They don’t understand that everything is really, really bad with us!(and out loud):
-You don’t understand, everything is really very, very bad here, sanctions, counter-sanctions, GDP, the dollar exchange rate, trouble, trouble!
Such a dialogue goes in cycles; the parties often do not hear each other. Although in fact everyone understands everything and really wants to discuss what can be done in the current conditions. There are things we cannot influence, so what's the point of talking about them? But there are also things we can and should do. They need to be discussed.
3. We really don't like feedback(feedback) and especially criticism. . This is also a property of human nature in general, but in my experience, this is especially characteristic of “ours”. We take criticism personally and stop being constructive when we hear it addressed to us.
4. We often treat business reviews like an exam at an institute.. (Yes, yes, I know that in Russian you should write “review”, not “review”, but it’s somehow closer to me). During the exam, your task is to show that you are great, know the material, and are ready to answer the questions on the ticket and additional questions. Expectations for a business review are slightly different. The goal is not to test knowledge. Or, at least, this is not the main goal. The goal is to understand the problems, understand what can be done differently, and develop a plan. “Reviewers” (another word that I cannot translate into Russian) sincerely want to help, give advice, offer new ideas. This categorically contradicts “our” approach. Therefore, we always try to present the results of our work better than they are (despite the “difficult external conditions”), hide problems, and not talk about mistakes. And this is very disturbing. We should move as quickly as possible from assessing ourselves as a leader to finding and discussing solutions to problems.
5. As a result, we really don’t like to admit our mistakes.. We don't know how to be self-critical. We all the time live by the principle “you can’t praise yourself, no one will praise you,” which finds some misunderstanding among modest Europeans. And, as a result, they try to help us by reminding us of our mistakes. But for us this causes an extremely negative reaction (see point 3 above) and sometimes even aggression, since we perceive any criticism as a personal insult. We consider ourselves smarter than everyone else and do not know how to learn from others. But we really love to reflect and engage in soul-searching. (That's probably a good thing). At the same time, we do not allow anyone to help us in this process with an outside glance. But if we admit our mistakes, then we also have no equal in self-flagellation. Moreover, we often consider ourselves the best and the worst at the same time. How we do this is the secret of the mysterious Russian soul.
6. We speak English badly. Unfortunately, when compared with other Europeans, this is true. At the same time, we ourselves think that we speak very well! And this is a big nuisance. After all, communication is the most important thing.
7. We love exploits and don’t really like to work quietly. I think there is no need to comment here. This is not bad or good, it’s just another reason for misunderstanding. As a result, we really don't like to plan. Perhaps we have been taught this by the unpredictability of our lives, when planning is truly pointless, but at the same time it is very important to quickly respond to external circumstances. Another consequence of this is that we don’t like to promise. And if we are forced to promise, to predict — then we will try our best to lower the plans in order to then exceed them. Not always understanding that the accuracy of the forecast is sometimes no less important than exceeding the plan.
8. We perceive time differently. We love to reflect, but we don’t like to plan (see above). At the same time, in Western culture They love to plan, but they mainly discuss results rather than actions about the past, rarely returning to plans. And in general they prefer to talk not about what they did, but about what they did. And about what we will do next. We prefer to talk about what we wanted to do (but it didn’t work out due to “incredibly difficult external circumstances beyond our control” — naturally). But there is no point in talking about the future; it is still unpredictable.
But the most important thing, I think, is our reluctance and inability to study and adapt to another culture. Having your own characteristics is not a bad thing. Moreover, many of our features are our very strengths! For example, the same ability to perform feats, even every day. But the reluctance to understand the characteristics of others and adapt to them (without losing our identity) greatly limits us and prevents a large number of very bright minds from Russia from building a career in the West. This is perhaps the main conclusion from this note.
Yes, don’t think that I’m trying to say that all “ours” are like this, and I’m different. No, I'm exactly the same. Unless I admit that I have these shortcomings and try to work on them and, at a minimum, take them into account in my work.
This is obviously 100% subjective and incomplete list, I will continue to work on it and will be grateful for feedback and suggestions. Especially from those of my readers who work in leadership positions in Europe and the States: Anton Antich, Gaidar Magdanurov, Dmitry Sotnikov, Yuriy Larichev, Pavel Ershov, Alexey Badaev, Yuriy Misnik, Alexey Reshtenko, Irina Kozlova, Nikolay Pryanishnikov, Dmitriy Nikonov, Eugene Chigirinsky (please don’t be offended if I forgot someone).
