HDTenEightyP/NetNews huggingface dataset:
From: shimkevi@buchmf.bu.edu (Sergey Shimkevich)
Newsgroups: soc.culture.soviet
Subject: Re: A reply....
Date: 5 Oct 92 21:49:57 GMT
Organization: Boston University Chemistry Department

In article <BvnsCD.1Hs@news.cso.uiuc.edu> didinsky@uxa.cso.uiuc.edu (didinsky
garry) writes: 

>I would dare to add some of that if you don't mind:
>Working with americans, I noticed that the people here, even though very open
>and friendly at first look, become extremely hostile, when your actions touch
>their own wellfare anyhow. For instance, when you try to help somebody, they
>very often feel you are trying to show your superiority.

Maybe I do not understand something, but why would you want to help someone
out of a sudden. Unless the person is keeping the whole team behind and you
have no choice, it would be better to work on your own project and try to
improve your own performance.

 Unfortunately, that
>happens often enough at work. If you just take a closer look at the attitude,
>you will probably be shocked, having learned how often being friendly is no
>more than just a comfortable way of dealing with people here. It is really
>hard to get used to the American national character. 

Friendly people? Not in Boston, that's for sure :-)

>Being extremely money- and
>self-oriented is a normal and preferred way of attitude to life in America.

There is always an alternative way of life. Habitat For Humanity, Peace Corps,
etc. But if you work in a competitive environment, you have to be competitive
to benefit yourself and your family, friends, etc.

>Wouldn't it be much easier for you to be honest with
>others and yourself without that, huh?

I must disagree here. What I like very much about the US is how people here
respect your privacy. I, myself, am a very private person and I was always
itrritated by the people in the USSR who have a tendency to "lezt' v dushu,
kogda ne prosyat".

>Looks like there are two choices:
>-Materially-oriented spiritually deaf society
>-Spiritually-oriented but fisically-helpless "sovok"
>Hard to choose, but...

I will disagree here (yet again). I didn't see any "spirituality" when I lived
in the SU. What I remember was pure and simple "dog eat dog", only in a more
uncivilized manner, as compared to the US.

//////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////
// Ryan: What is it to you, demon?       //// Sergei Shimkevich             //
// Lune: It is Sir, Demon to you, worm!  //// shimkevi@buchmf.bu.edu        //
// -Phantasy Star III                    //// shimkevich@A1.tch.harvard.edu // 
//////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////

P.S. If I am sounding somewhat didactic and condescending, I apologize
Newsgroups: soc.culture.soviet
From: galina@watson.ibm.com (Galina Kofman)_
Subject: Re: Russian Rock
Date: Tue, 06 Oct 1992 20:39:54 GMT
News-Software: IBM OS/2 PM RN (NR/2) v0.11 by O. Vishnepolsky and R. Rogers
Reply-To: galina@watson.ibm.com (Galina Kofman)_
Disclaimer: This posting represents the poster's views, not necessarily those of IBM
Organization: IBM T.J. Watson Research Center

In  <97767@bu.edu>  gdr@csa.bu.edu (dmitry goldenberg) writes:
>
>
>    What I'm getting at is that Yuri Naumov, the Apostle of Heavy Blues, the
> Russian underground guitar guru, is living now in New York.  He and his wife
>
>    So, you may be wondering what he is actually doing now?  Gigging in clubs in
> Greenwich Village

Which clubs?
Newsgroups: soc.culture.soviet
From: didinsky@uxa.cso.uiuc.edu (didinsky garry)
Subject: Re: languages in ex-Soviet Union
Organization: University of Illinois at Urbana
Date: Sat, 3 Oct 1992 19:46:44 GMT
Keywords: Ukrainian, Byelorussian

verbit@brauer.harvard.edu (Mikhail S. Verbitsky) writes:
>About 10% of ethnic Byelorussians use this language. Even less (about
>5%) can write correctly on Byelorussian. This was data from 1988,
>but I doubt the situation changed now. BTW, the president of Byelorussia,
>a physicist by profession, is the most pleasant person of all 
>xSU republics presidents. As far as I know, he never attempted
>to exploit nationalistic ideas, as others (including Yeltsyn)
>did. Byelorussian literature and language are studied
>by students in the school, and most of Minsk monuments
>and dedicated to different Byelorussian writers and poets.
>Of course, most people there can read Byelorussian since
>it is not much different from Russian (at least, I can).

>Misha.

I just heard that in Byelorussia, teachers are incouraged to conduct
their classes in Byelorussian.  A teacher who teaches in Byelorussian
gets additional 15% to his/her salary. (it also could be the other way
around, if he/she is not teaching in Byelo.. they have 15% of their 
salary removed.)  Does anyone know whether there are classes offered
to teacher who do not speak local language, but want to learn.

---Garik the Curious.
From: rog@hpscit.sc.hp.com (Roger Haaheim)
Date: Tue, 6 Oct 1992 14:00:19 GMT
Subject: Re: Where is Sverdlovsk?
Organization: Hewlett-Packard, Santa Clara, CA
Newsgroups: soc.culture.soviet

Have you tried a map?
From: root@tbucks.com (Timothy E. Buchanan)
Newsgroups: soc.culture.soviet
Subject: If you don't like it here.....
Date: 6 Oct 92 00:38:13 GMT
Organization: tbucks.com (private bitty-box)

In the last few weeks, thanks to kind persons in this newsgroups, I have
learned that-

1- Soviet educational system is far superior to that of US.
2- Soviet space program ditto.
3- American movies are not Art, but just technology, and even that is
spoiled by the uncultured audience.

To these I comment-

1- About one-quarter of PhD's are awarded to non-americans, who evidently
come here to make use of our deficient system. This educational system is
good enough to turn out people capable of inventing the microchip, the
transistor, of setting the world standards for computer operating systems,
and so on.

2- American communication satellites brought the world closer together. An
American craft is the first vessel to leave our solar system. Americans
stood on the moon.

3- I am never quite sure how to reply to snobbery of this sort. American
movies are loved around the world. Doubtless some have more artistic merit
than others.

Many of the threads are titled "Is America that bad?" as if it is a given
that America is 'bad' and now we'll decide how bad it is. Complain all you
want; it's a free country. But millions of people have and will vote with
their feet, including some I think in this group. Can someone name ten
people who have emigrated from the US to the XSU, to find a better life?

--
Timothy.


      ------- Time is our only resource, humor our only defense. -------
From: bhattach@quip.eecs.umich.edu (sayan bhattacharyya)
Newsgroups: soc.culture.soviet
Subject: Re: One God in Hinduism?
Date: 5 Oct 92 17:55:53 GMT
Article-I.D.: zip.1992Oct5.175553.1602
Organization: University of Michigan EECS Dept., Ann Arbor, MI

In article <NIKOLAY.92Oct4233512@husc10.harvard.edu> nikolay@husc10.harvard.edu (Philip Nikolayev) writes:
>In article <GOROKHO1.92Oct4221841@husc10.harvard.edu>, 
>gorokho1@husc10.harvard.edu (Zhenya Gorokhovsky) writes:
>> In article <67147@cup.portal.com>, DeVoid@cup.portal.com (David - Lyall) writes:
>>>>There is only one God.
>>>
>>>Hindus will dispute that.
>>>
>>>> 	Gandhi said there was only one God. I assume that he considered
>>>> himself a Hindu. He said that "God is Truth". He then also said that after
>>>> years of study he concluded that the obverse is true: "Truth is God".
>
>> It is clear from your lame remark that you have no clue about 
>> Hinduism, Gandhi or G-d.
>
>>         Oh, my golly goodness!  Ramsey theory in soc.bi - whatever next?
>>         Rimming in sci.math?
>>                                 - Kay Dekker, <idx009@cck.cov.ac.uk>
>
>
>Om, shanti, shanti, shanti,
>Durga-ma, Kali-ma, Shiva-da,
>here's our humble pranam to y'all,
>please smite'em Harvard demons (an' demyns).
>
>Philipji Maharaj.

What is all this doing in soc.culture.soviet ? :)

-Sayan Bhattacharyya.
Newsgroups: soc.culture.soviet
From: galina@watson.ibm.com (Galina Kofman)_
Subject: Re: US/RUSSIAN EDUCATION
Date: Mon, 05 Oct 1992 17:28:22 GMT
News-Software: IBM OS/2 PM RN (NR/2) v0.11 by O. Vishnepolsky and R. Rogers
Reply-To: galina@watson.ibm.com (Galina Kofman)_
Disclaimer: This posting represents the poster's views, not necessarily those of IBM
Organization: IBM T.J. Watson Research Center

I am very happy to see that there are other people who try to diagnose the
problem with education.  I am 100% with Gene on everything he said.
In addition, there is a problem with over-praising, with dividing
children into slow and fast, with children (6 year olds) wasting 7 hours a
day at school, with families not being involved, with 3 hours a day
in front of the television, and probably many more.  I am not going to talk
about this now.

I had a meeting with our son's 2nd grade teacher.  She explained some things
about the curriculum.  It turns out that it is _simpler_ now than
5 years ago.  Here how it works:  as soon as there is a child who does not
keep up with the curriculum requirements, parents come to school and request
something to be done.  If the number accumulates, the curriculum is eased.
They put some fancy lining and philosophy under this, but basicity this is it.

I have been talking with many Americans about this, and people sense that
there is an education crisis.  Parents who have older children see that their
younger children do even less challenging work.  Most of the people don't
understand about the methods of education, but they do realize that there must
be something wrong, when the curriculum is easing-up.

             ====== preaching mode on =======
If you have a child in school, SPEAK UP about the curriculum.  While you are
not saying anything, someone at this time may be complaining about it being too
difficult.
             ======= preaching mode off =====

In my neighborhood there are enough people, who think the same way as I
do to make a wave.  One by one we will be talking to the principle and hopefully
will make a difference.  We are not raising any other issues at the moment -
just bringing math curriculum 1/2 year ahead in the elementary school

I will be very grateful if someone can share her/his experience in similar
situation.

Galina Kofman.
From: galina@watson.ibm.com_ (Galina Kofman)
Newsgroups: soc.culture.soviet
Subject: Re: More education talk...
Date: 30 Sep 92 20:09:28 GMT
Reply-To: galina@watson.ibm.com (Galina Kofman)_
Organization: IBM T.J. Watson Research Center
News-Software: IBM OS/2 PM RN (NR/2) v0.11 by O. Vishnepolsky and R. Rogers
Disclaimer: This posting represents the poster's views, not necessarily those of IBM


 In  <1992Sep30.183915.37862@watson.ibm.com>  oleg@watson.ibm.com (Oleg Vishnepolsky) writes:
 >
 > A person who does not spell well, quite
 > obviously has not read much (unless his/her memory is in bad shape,
 > and then it is a sign of weak brain).
 >
 > Oleg

 How do you react to the posts written by
 poor unfortunate soles whose memories are in bad
 shape, therefor their brains are weak?
 Do you ignore them or criticize the spelling?
 G.
p.s. Yes, to these ones, who don't know how to spell 'soul'.
From: root@tbucks.com (Timothy E. Buchanan)
Newsgroups: soc.culture.soviet
Subject: Re: Americans and movies: something's wrong
Date: 26 Sep 92 18:53:08 GMT
Organization: tbucks.com (private bitty-box)

oleg@watson.ibm.com (Oleg Vishnepolsky) writes:
: American public does not like depressing movies because it was not
: brought up on them and when it sees one, it tries to shield itself against
: it - quite a normal psychological reaction. Laugh it off is a good way of
: closing back doors towards one's consciousness.
: 
: Oleg Vishnepolsky
: 

Not many downbeat or depressing movies are made these days; see 'The
Player' for a satiric comment on this. But they still appear, and I was
certainly brought up on them. 'Easy Rider', 'Joe', 'They Shoot Horses,
Don't They?' come to mind. Earlier, there's film noir.

I have encountered the laughter reaction, of course, and I agree with Misha
that it's annoying. I change seats if I can.

--
Timothy.


      ------- Time is our only resource, humor our only defense. -------
Newsgroups: soc.culture.soviet
From: didinsky@uxa.cso.uiuc.edu (didinsky garry)
Subject: Re: Movies
Organization: University of Illinois at Urbana
Date: Fri, 2 Oct 1992 20:46:32 GMT

sasha@ldgo.columbia.edu (Alexander Krupitsky) writes:

>And finally I have a question to experienced and knowledgeable of this
>group. Watching "Dances With Wolves" and especially "Driving Miss
>Daisy" I've got an impression that they got all those "Oscars" not for
>high quality of work (IMHO both are quite bad, except picture in
>"Wolves") but rather for "political correctness", so to speak. Am I
>right? Or this is just another case of cultural differences?


>			Sasha

Hollywood is a big business and "Oscars" is not a best test for quality
of a movie.  I also feel that those movies won only due to internal politics
of Hollywood.  Although, I think that "Driving Miss Daisy" was just a bit 
above average, "...Wolves" is just a waste of a lot of money.  The only
reason it won is that it is a movie about indians in which indians are
not put down. 

Since I don't watch Oscars, I don't know what was the list of nominated 
movies.  From what I do know, I think that "Silence of the Lambs" was 
one of the better movies.

---Garik.

Newsgroups: soc.culture.soviet
From: bil@burka..aix.kingston.ibm.com (Igor Belchinskiy)
Subject: Re: More education talk...
Date: Mon, 28 Sep 92 14:28:27 GMT
Organization: Be. I am.
Keywords: Russian students, "cookbook recipes."

In article <Bv63r1.Cn3@news.cso.uiuc.edu> didinsky@uxa.cso.uiuc.edu (didinsky garry) writes:
>Not only I have visited a neighboring high school, I have finished one. It was
>nothing out of the ordinary, just one of those Chicago Public schools. After
>I finished it, I went on to U of Illinois, and today I am working on my Ph.D.
>My office mate is a farmers son from Iowa, whose 4 (if I remember right) 
>brothers got Ph.D.s and one of them is a founded of million/year compony.
					      ^^^
>He just go his Ph.D. couple days ago after struggling for 2 years, and soon
         ^^
>he will start working for Ford, who were very happy to take him.  We have few
>other americans in our group, most of whom came from cetral Illinois (farming
						      ^^^^^^
>areas).  All of them do fairly well, considering that they americans :-) from
							^^^^^ - verb?
>central regions of their respective states.

Kind of strange - at least 4 grammar errors in  one paragraph. Should be
tough Ph.D.

>Now back to my former school mates and college mates: They were not all great
>students, but they were not all dumb, as our knowledgeable newcommer friends
							         ^^^
and so on -  it's going, going ... :-)
>
>And now back to you friend: Go to your local high school, and take a good
>look around.

If level of English usage in this posting (after US high school, 
U of Illinois and Ph.D. program now) is representative - 
no reason to go anywhere else :-)

Sorry to mention that, but in Russia Ph.D. was at least associated with
certain level of correct spelling in principal language.

>----Garik.

	-igor
From: vadik@cs.umd.edu (Vadim Maslov)
Newsgroups: soc.culture.soviet
Subject: Re: More education talk...
Date: 29 Sep 92 17:48:00 GMT
Organization: U of Maryland, Dept. of Computer Science, Coll. Pk., MD 20742


In article <1992Sep29.041047.5742@u.washington.edu> nobby@milton.u.washington.edu (Vitaly Shmatikov) writes:
>In article <60714@mimsy.umd.edu> vadik@cs.umd.edu (Vadim Maslov)
writes:


OK, let's cool off. What does `very low' mean? That graduates are
excessively stupid? I don't think so. 


>>>  Student body comprised mostly:
>>>	a. Computer geeks
>>>	b. The folks who flunked Mekhmat entrance exams or were
>>>	   kicked out of there after 1-2 years of study
>>>	c. Idlers who couldn't care less about education, VMiK
>>>	   and all that stuff.
>>Why you, having this level of hatred to your student colleaugues,
>>studied at VMiK for 3 years? It must be very difficult for a bright 
>>boy like you to study among this bydlo. 
>>BTW, to which category (a,b,c) do you belong?
>
>It's definitely not hatred. I do not address personal traits of the
>students. However, I think that most VMiK students (absolutely
>including myself) are inferior (in terms of knowledge and aptitude) 
>to their American fellows from good universities. 
>As for me since I'm not a hacker and never tried to enter Mekhmat
>I obviously belong to the group c :-).

Well, feeling inferior sounds strong. Strange enough, not every
VMiK graduate has these feelings in US. 

>>First, that's just not true. Marks were usually related to knowledge.
>Absolutely disagree. Too often one could see a prepared student
>getting a bad grade because of a biased professor (or just because
>the latter was in a bad mood) and people who knew nothing got A's.
>Maybe it's inevitable drawback of oral exams. In this case it's yet
>another argument in the favor of American system.


Being biased is general trait of human nature. Professors here
also may be biased. However, Americans' great advantage is indeed in
using written standardized exams for evaluation.


>
>>is. I had enough time and freedom to study things I wanted to.
>>Nobody made me to do it. But it doesn't mean that system is this bad.
>
>That's right. But while the American educational system encourages
>independent search the Soviet institutions at best merely tolerate and
>at worst obstruct this freedom. And surely there is no need in American
>school to skip classes in order to study smth yourself. In Russia
>it was necessary because of a hectic schedule filled with content-free
>courses and extensive but superficial practical studies.


I didn't say that American universities are bad. They are good,
some of them very good. I just said that VMiK was lesser evil
than it is portraied by you.


>Sorry, Vadim. If I knew this article would offend anybody I would never
>have posted it.   
>PLEASE direct all subsequent flamage right to me through e-mail. I'm ready
>to accept this hail.


No it was not really flame, just heated reply.
That is, I am not going to defend VMiK `do pobednogo konca'.
I am not VMiK salesman.
If you don't like it, you don't like it.









-- 

Vadim Maslov.
Newsgroups: soc.culture.soviet,talk.politics.soviet
From: sommar@enea.se (Erland Sommarskog)
Subject: Re: ESTONIA existed and exists (Was: "SOME
Organization: Enea Data AB
Date: Sun, 27 Sep 1992 18:41:52 GMT

Yury M. Mukharsky (muh@physics1) writes:
>As well as Chekh kingdom did exist before 1918.

Not really, unless you want to go back to 10th century Moravia.
It is true that Bohemia was a kingdom within the German-Roman
empire, but I'd doubt its Czechness. In any case, it was not
an independent state.

-- 
Erland Sommarskog - ENEA Data, Stockholm - sommar@enea.se
There are many sorts of Macedonians: Greek, Bulgarian, Roumanian, Macedonian...
From: didinsky@uxa.cso.uiuc.edu (didinsky garry)
Newsgroups: soc.culture.soviet
Subject: Winnie the Pooh...
Date: 5 Oct 92 17:20:10 GMT
Article-I.D.: news.Bvns5o.1Fy
Organization: University of Illinois at Urbana

Dear Tovorischi,

  I poluchil this pis'mo:

  >Kto khodit v gosti po utram,
  >Tot postupaet mudro.
  >To tut sto gram, to tam sto gram,
  >Na to ono i utro.
  >-----P'yanyii Pukh.

  Garry,

  My new Russian girlfriend was extremely found of your recitation of the 
  Russian version of the Winnie the Pooh song (and the new ending). She tells 
  me she wouldvery much aprreciate it if you could post the origional version 
  in its entirety, or either to continue your creation.

  Larry Frazier
  Encore Computer Corp.
  San Diego, CA
  internet: lfrazier@encore.com

Please, help me.  I have only limited memories of my childhood, and above
poem was a part of it.  I am afraid that I don't know anything esle.
From: avg@rodan.UU.NET (Vadim Antonov)
Newsgroups: soc.culture.soviet
Subject: Re: CIS on Internet?
Date: 29 Sep 1992 15:12:52 -0400
Organization: Berkeley Software Design

In article <q7cuRB2w165w@halcyon.com> mashina <novost@halcyon.com> writes:
>  I personaly have not seen any indication that kremvax.hq.demos.su
>is on the internet.

NFS still prohibits IP routing to ex-SU. You need to be on a commercial
IP network (like Alternet). Now tell me about advantages of government
programs.

--vadim
Organization: Penn State University
Date: Fri, 2 Oct 1992 20:32:21 EDT
From: <ITF@psuvm.psu.edu>
Newsgroups: soc.culture.soviet
Subject: Need address in Kiev

I need to send mail (the old fashioned type) to Dr. Vladislav Bezrukov who
is Director of the Institute of Gerontology of the Academy of Medical
Sciences in Kiev.  If someone could send me the address of the institute I
would be most appreciative.  Please respond to itf@psuvm (bitnet) or
itf@psuvm.psu.edu (internet).

Thanks,

Allen Glicksman
Newsgroups: soc.culture.soviet
From: didinsky@uxa.cso.uiuc.edu (didinsky garry)
Subject: A reply....
Organization: University of Illinois at Urbana
Date: Mon, 5 Oct 1992 17:24:07 GMT

>------Again, this is a reply that was sent to me, not me writting. 

I would dare to add some of that if you don't mind:
Working with americans, I noticed that the people here, even though very open
and friendly at first look, become extremely hostile, when your actions touch
their own wellfare anyhow. For instance, when you try to help somebody, they
very often feel you are trying to show your superiority. Unfortunately, that
happens often enough at work. If you just take a closer look at the attitude,
you will probably be shocked, having learned how often being friendly is no
more than just a comfortable way of dealing with people here. It is really hard
to get used to the American national character. Being extremely money- and
self-oriented is a normal and preferred way of attitude to life in America.
No doubt, living with constant fear to loose your job makes a negative
impression on anybody. Wouldn't it be much easier for you to be honest with
others and yourself without that, huh?
Looks like there are two choices:
-Materially-oriented spiritually deaf society
-Spiritually-oriented but fisically-helpless "sovok"
Hard to choose, but...
VB

----Garik the Spreader
Newsgroups: soc.culture.soviet
From: Adam Lawrence Salter <adam@zooid.guild.org>
Subject: Read this please. About the directness of SprintMail
Reply-To: Adam Lawrence Salter <adam@zooid.guild.org>
Organization: The Zoo of Ids
Date: Mon, 5 Oct 1992 02:29:36 GMT



  Hello!

  Does anyone here know anything about how long it takes, etc. to send a
message from a direct Internet connection (Leased Line) in Canada to a sprint
account in St.Petersburg? I think my mail to the sprint account is almost
instant but mail from St.Petersburg to me is slower. Is a "live" connection
possible between an internet node and a Sprint account? I mean "talk" or
"chat" or whatever. Also is there any kind of sprint->internet or
internet->sprint data transfer protocol? Like FTP? I realize it can be
UUencoded and sent in E-Mail but I'm lazy. ;->.

                                                        Thanks,
                                                        Adam Salter

adam@zooid.guild.org