Matt, pozdravlaju!
Ja ne mogu goborit’ po-russkiy…nu…ja ne hochu.
[quote]Edevus wrote:
Matt, pozdravlaju!
Ja ne mogu goborit’ po-russkiy…nu…ja ne hochu.
[/quote]
Thanks, man. It is so weird seeing my language written in latin characters. It is really hard to do so. Did you mean to say that you want to learn? Get your hands on a Cyrillic keyboard and I can help. (Oh, and “nu” transliterated into Cyrillic script comes out close to “nude,” well, a weirdly spelled version of it anyway. If you meant “but” the best way to write it in Latin script is “no” or maybe “na” but “no” is closer).
[quote]Dr.Matt581 wrote:
[quote]imhungry wrote:
Congrats again, Doc. I’m really happy for you.
When you saw what and how much food was available, what were the foods that you wanted to eat the most?
[/quote]
Everything. I seriously wanted to stay at the supermarket and eat everything. I was most tempted by the stuff that had colorful labels and such, so candy and soda were high on my list of things to try first. That and all the different meats. My grad school actually paid a really good stipend. Well, not really, but it was more than my family had to live off of per month in the Soviet Union, so I thought it was. But it was enough that I could afford to try all kinds of different foods that I never could growing up. That very same day, my escort took me to get a burger at a local restaurant, which was the first time in my life that I had tasted beef. That is probably why to this very day, my favorite food is bacon cheeseburgers. I eat them all the time when I am not dieting.[/quote]
Bacon cheeseburgers are hard to beat.
Have you tried Texas BBQ?
[quote]Dr.Matt581 wrote:
[quote]Edevus wrote:
Matt, pozdravlaju!
Ja ne mogu goborit’ po-russkiy…nu…ja ne hochu.
[/quote]
Thanks, man. It is so weird seeing my language written in latin characters. It is really hard to do so. Did you mean to say that you want to learn? Get your hands on a Cyrillic keyboard and I can help. (Oh, and “nu” transliterated into Cyrillic script comes out as “nude,” if you meant “but” the best way to write it in Latin script is “no” or maybe “na” but “no” is closer). [/quote]
Nope, I meant what I said, I don’t really want to talk it.
Many people here write Russian in latin characters due to the lack of Russian keyboard (at work, by phone, whatever).
“No” has the same meaning in Estonian, so maybe that’s why I went for “nu”, because it didn’t sound right to write it as “no”.
[quote]Edevus wrote:
Nope, I meant what I said, I don’t really want to talk it.
Many people here write Russian in latin characters due to the lack of Russian keyboard (at work, by phone, whatever).
“No” has the same meaning in Estonian, so maybe that’s why I went for “nu”, because it didn’t sound right to write it as “no”.
[/quote]
Ah, that is understandable. The difference in dialects among the different Slavic people makes for some pretty misinterpretations in conversation! In the Moscow dialect of Russian, that is a slang way of saying nude.
[quote]Tex Ag wrote:
[quote]Dr.Matt581 wrote:
[quote]imhungry wrote:
Congrats again, Doc. I’m really happy for you.
When you saw what and how much food was available, what were the foods that you wanted to eat the most?
[/quote]
Everything. I seriously wanted to stay at the supermarket and eat everything. I was most tempted by the stuff that had colorful labels and such, so candy and soda were high on my list of things to try first. That and all the different meats. My grad school actually paid a really good stipend. Well, not really, but it was more than my family had to live off of per month in the Soviet Union, so I thought it was. But it was enough that I could afford to try all kinds of different foods that I never could growing up. That very same day, my escort took me to get a burger at a local restaurant, which was the first time in my life that I had tasted beef. That is probably why to this very day, my favorite food is bacon cheeseburgers. I eat them all the time when I am not dieting.[/quote]
Bacon cheeseburgers are hard to beat.
Have you tried Texas BBQ?[/quote]
No, I haven’t, but I do love BBQ. I have actually completely embraced American cuisine. I love it so much. There are so many choices and they almost all are delicious.
[quote]Dr.Matt581 wrote:
[quote]Edevus wrote:
Nope, I meant what I said, I don’t really want to talk it.
Many people here write Russian in latin characters due to the lack of Russian keyboard (at work, by phone, whatever).
“No” has the same meaning in Estonian, so maybe that’s why I went for “nu”, because it didn’t sound right to write it as “no”.
[/quote]
Ah, that is understandable. The difference in dialects among the different Slavic people makes for some pretty misinterpretations in conversation! In the Moscow dialect of Russian, that is a slang way of saying nude.
[/quote]
I know that Russians here use many Estonian words in their everyday talking. Same for Estonians, especially “davai”.
[quote]Edevus wrote:
I know that Russians here use many Estonian words in their everyday talking. Same for Estonians, especially “davai”.
[/quote]
That is one of those fun words that people learning Russian or other Slavic languages always seem to have trouble with at first. Depending on the context and dialect (especially the Saint Petersburg dialect) it has several different meanings.
Saying goodbye by phone? Davai! Leaving some place? Davai! Telling someone to hurry up? Davai! Agreed to do something? Davai!
It has like a million meanings…
[quote]Edevus wrote:
Saying goodbye by phone? Davai! Leaving some place? Davai! Telling someone to hurry up? Davai! Agreed to do something? Davai!
It has like a million meanings…[/quote]
Yep, and it almost always trips up beginners. It is good for a chuckle, although not to their face (that would be a little messed up).
[quote]Dr.Matt581 wrote:
[quote]Chushin wrote:
[quote]Dr.Matt581 wrote:
[quote]imhungry wrote:
That’s awesome, Doc!! Congrats!!!
Will she be surprised?
[/quote]
I think she knows something big is going to happen, but I don’t think she quite knows that I am going to propose. I am taking her to this really nice restaurant called Isabela on Grandview that has a wonderful view of the city. I am pretty sure she will say yes (her parents are 100% sure), but I am still pretty nervous.
[/quote]
Great restaurant choice, Matt! :-)[/quote]
For special occasions, there is none better in the area. For just regular eating, though, I prefer Sauce in Bridgeville. Huge ass burgers covered in cheese, bacon, and all kinds of other tasty things. Nothing like it, especially after a hard workout.
[/quote]
You didn’t take her to Primanti’s? 
CONGRATS Brother!
[quote]SteelyD wrote:
[quote]Dr.Matt581 wrote:
[quote]Chushin wrote:
[quote]Dr.Matt581 wrote:
[quote]imhungry wrote:
That’s awesome, Doc!! Congrats!!!
Will she be surprised?
[/quote]
I think she knows something big is going to happen, but I don’t think she quite knows that I am going to propose. I am taking her to this really nice restaurant called Isabela on Grandview that has a wonderful view of the city. I am pretty sure she will say yes (her parents are 100% sure), but I am still pretty nervous.
[/quote]
Great restaurant choice, Matt! :-)[/quote]
For special occasions, there is none better in the area. For just regular eating, though, I prefer Sauce in Bridgeville. Huge ass burgers covered in cheese, bacon, and all kinds of other tasty things. Nothing like it, especially after a hard workout.
[/quote]
You didn’t take her to Primanti’s?
CONGRATS Brother!
[/quote]
LOL! Great sandwiches, but not really the place to propose. And thanks.
Wow, this is an amazing thread, I wish Id come across this a while ago when it started. Pretty stark contrast to what life in America (North America) is like.
[quote]Dr.Matt581 wrote:
It could lead to kids starting to think that socialism or communism may be a good idea again and a repeat of the Soviet Union. Capitalism and democracy may not be perfect, but they are millions of times better then communism or socialism.
[/quote]
But doesnt everyone need to “pay their fair share” and have gov’t health care and regulations to stop the greedy 1% from depriving the majority of the population?
Dude, don’t spoil the thread by starting that type of shit.
Whoever thinks Obama wants to lead the sheep straight to red pastures is a loony and knows nothing about history and human cultural behaviour.
[quote]Schwarzfahrer wrote:
Dude, don’t spoil the thread by starting that type of shit.
Whoever thinks Obama wants to lead the sheep straight to red pastures is a loony and knows nothing about history and human cultural behaviour.
[/quote]
come at me BRO
Dr. Matt, do you vote here? Curious on your opinion of American politics
[quote]Aggv wrote:
[quote]Dr.Matt581 wrote:
It could lead to kids starting to think that socialism or communism may be a good idea again and a repeat of the Soviet Union. Capitalism and democracy may not be perfect, but they are millions of times better then communism or socialism.
[/quote]
But doesnt everyone need to “pay their fair share” and have gov’t health care and regulations to stop the greedy 1% from depriving the majority of the population? [/quote]
Lessons that should be learned from communism and socialism:
-
There is a big difference between “paying your fair share” and communism or socialism. People should pay income taxes proportional to their earnings, and so should businesses. That is not communism or socialism, that is just fair.
-
A government has no purpose dictating things like health care or controlling markets. One big takeaway from communism/socialism in the Soviet Union and elsewhere is that free market > socialist or communist “markets.” If you don’t believe me, google “Collectivized farming.”
-
When you give a person or entity power, they will want more power. If we allow the government to start dictating personal choices like health care, what is to stop them from making other choices like what we can eat and when, what job we will have or how much we earn, and other things. There were a lot of “this is for the good of the people” speeches in the Soviet Union, but mostly what the government did was for the good of those in power and their friends.
-
When you concentrate a lot of power in a few hands, say a government, those people will use that power first for their own good and then for others. Unfortunately, we as humans generally wind up wanting more. This leads to less and less for others. This happens in all societies no matter what. All that happened under communism and socialism is that the people at the top changed and things got much worse for those at the bottom. The communist/socialist solution to this problem was tried and failed miserably. There is no need to try it again and hope for different results. We need to find other solutions.
The biggest take away of all from this post is that concentrating a lot of power into a few hands is NEVER a good idea, not even in America. Keep in mind that this same government system that kids today seem to think can be trusted to look out for their best interests is the same government system that launched nuclear weapons at cities that were mostly civilian, engaged in dealing with and helping drug dealers expand their enterprise (google Contra), allowed the racist persecution of entire races, put thousands and thousands of American citizens in internment camps just because of their race, and many other things.
NOTE: The above paragraph was not an attack on America, I love this country and have no desire to live anywhere else, but that does not mean we should allow the government to keep consolidating more power unto itself. That happened in the Soviet Union and look what happened there.
[quote]Schwarzfahrer wrote:
Dude, don’t spoil the thread by starting that type of shit.
Whoever thinks Obama wants to lead the sheep straight to red pastures is a loony and knows nothing about history and human cultural behaviour.
[/quote]
Yes. I started this thread in GAL for a reason, and that is because I was asked to share my experiences in the Soviet Union, not to debate socialism in the US.
[quote]Aggv wrote:
[quote]Schwarzfahrer wrote:
Dude, don’t spoil the thread by starting that type of shit.
Whoever thinks Obama wants to lead the sheep straight to red pastures is a loony and knows nothing about history and human cultural behaviour.
[/quote]
come at me BRO
Dr. Matt, do you vote here? Curious on your opinion of American politics [/quote]
I am now an American citizen and yes I vote. I answered your other question in my above post.
[quote]Dr.Matt581 wrote:
[quote]Aggv wrote:
[quote]Dr.Matt581 wrote:
It could lead to kids starting to think that socialism or communism may be a good idea again and a repeat of the Soviet Union. Capitalism and democracy may not be perfect, but they are millions of times better then communism or socialism.
[/quote]
But doesnt everyone need to “pay their fair share” and have gov’t health care and regulations to stop the greedy 1% from depriving the majority of the population? [/quote]
Lessons that should be learned from communism and socialism:
- There is a big difference between “paying your fair share” and communism or socialism. People should pay income taxes proportional to their earnings, and so should businesses. That is not communism or socialism, that is just fair.
[/quote]
Corporations do not pay taxes.
How could they, they do not exist.
A legal abstraction is as likely to pay taxes as the big bad wolf.