#hero of kazakhstan

[vivianbernadetteaurora]

Taurus, films and TV shows♉️🔔😍🌟🍡🍹

Hero, some TV shows and films for Taurus a lot of the time to Taurus is like things that are just reality or gritty or real life, Shameless brilliant and shows life of a single dad who is an alcoholic and has many kids where the mother has ran away and their daily ups and downs and how they get through with the local gangsters and council state life, Borat, great, funny, slapstick, kind of comedy, but it’s actually real life, where a man who is from Kazakhstan, goes to America to find Palmer Anderson, and find out what life in America like, and he has a really good time. It’s kind of like a reality show and TV program. He went around with a secret cameras to these places in America just to find comedy. The last one I’ve chased for you is Greece it’s a cold classic showing the different friend groups of the 50s and the different crowds of the tea, birds and the pink ladies, and the transformation of a girl who’s come from Australia to live with her dad and fallen in love over the summer with a with a guy in the same high school, not that she knows until she gets there because she think she’s going back to Australia.

Bring it on another fast pace comedy where they go and enter a competition for cheerleaders and it gets very competitive whether they are held up by challenges of other chair groups but is fast paced action but is a good comedy. A good feel good comedy with the falling in love teen, drama, kind of thing

[rikeijo]

Today's translation #566

Yuri!!! on CONCERT pamphlet, Symphony no. 9

Matsushiba Taku commentary

Beethoven: Symphony no. 9, 2nd Movement "Advent" - Genesis Edition -

Part 1.

At first, the order for this music got me at my wits' end. The order was to create music with enough power to found a country, and I remember well that the whole music team didn't know what to do with this order.

As an explanation, I've heard that it should be music that represents power that is strong enough to found a country, charisma, and majesty of a king, so the order that we've got was very fitting for Otabek Altin, who is the Hero of Kazakhstan.

Otabek is portrayed very well in the anime itself. He's the tough type, an athlete with the mind of a warrior that can't be subdued. That's why I nodded in agreement that such an outstanding character should skate to music that represents founding of a country. At the same time, I couldn't think about how should I write this music right away, so I needed to think about this a lot.

And then the idea that we should re-write and re-arrange Beethoven appeared. It was Umebayashi-san's idea, but it quickly won over the team and it was decided that we should use Symphony no. 9.

[news4dzhozhar]

A podcast in Kazakhstan is under controversy for inviting a friend of the Boston Marathon bomber

On August 4, one of the most popular YouTube podcasts in Kazakhstan, Zamandas, released an episode with Dias Kadyrbayev, who is notorious for being one of the close friends of Dzhokhar Tsarnaev, responsible for the 2013 Boston Marathon Bombing in Boston, USA. On the podcast, Kadyrbayev shared how he first met Dzhokhar, what happened to him before and after the attack, as well as the court process and serving his prison sentence.

Ten years ago, on April 15, 2013, a 19-year-old Dzhokhar and his 26-year-old brother Tamerlan Tsarnaev detonated two bombs at the finish line of the Boston Marathon, killing three and injuring 281 people. During the manhunt, the Tsarnev brothers shot dead one police officer; another one died a year later from the injuries sustained while trying to arrest them. Dzhokhar ran over his brother and two police officers, killing Tamerlan before escaping. He was arrested on April 19, after a shootout with the police.

Later in court, he explained the attacks as retribution for the US wars in Iraq and Afghanistan and claimed that they were not members of any terrorist organization. Dzhokhar received the death penalty in court.

Along with another student from Kazakhstan, Azamat Tazhayakov, Kadyrbayev was convicted of obstructing US justice during the investigation of the terrorist attack. In practice, he was found guilty of destroying evidence that could aid the investigation.

Several days after the attack, when the police released a video footage of suspects without revealing their identities, Kadyrbayev texted Dzhokhar asking if it was him or not in the news, which he neither confirmed nor denied. He told Kadyrbayev to go to his dorm room and take whatever he wanted and stopped replying to messages.

Kadyrbayev, Tazhayakov, and another friend went to his room, searched it, and took Dzhokhar’s personal belongings: laptop, flash drive, headphones, a white hat he wore on the day of the attack, ashtray, backpack, fireworks and bottle of Vaseline, which in theory could be used to make explosives. Kadyrbayev later threw all these items into a trash container.

Tazhayakov and Kadyrbaeyev were sentenced to three and a half and six years of prison time respectively. Kadyrbaev served four years of his sentence in the US and the remaining two in Kazakhstan after being extradited in 2018.

His appearance caused controversy on social media. The critics viewed the episode as an attempt to whitewash a criminal by providing him with a platform and not asking tough questions. On the podcast, Kadyrbayev presented his actions as dumb mistakes he committed at a young age without thinking of their possible consequences. In court, he had pleaded guilty. His retelling of the events excluded the key detail of taking the Vaseline bottle and fireworks from Dzhokhar’s room, which the hosts also did not ask him about. This crucial detail changes the whole narrative.

I was surprised with many positive comments [about the podcast] that I decided to break down this whole story into facts (from the court case files) and Dias's version (he omitted very important details).

Contrary to the critics, another group of listeners welcomed his appearance, highlighting his inner strength to go through hardships of prison life and how his experiences can serve as lessons to youth.

Zamandas did not try to whitewash Dias and make him a hero. He served his prison sentence. The case is closed now. The goal of the podcast was that young people and students and other people from Kazakshstan do not repeat the mistakes of Dias and Azamat.

The episode seems to have taken place with the attitude “He may be a bastard, but he’s our bastard” without regard for its consequences. In the last decade, Central Asia has come under the negative limelight numerous times whenever its natives committed or attempted terrorist attacks in the US and European countries. These events have contributed to securitizing the region, presenting it as an exporter of terrorism and violence. Kadyrbayev’s appearance on Zamandas does not do any good for Central Asia’s image abroad.

[devoted1989]

the true story of laika the space dog - lies and deception

Whether it be zoos, circuses, puppy mills, elephant rides or the origin of our food, denial allows us to live in comfortable oblivion and allows us to live our lives blissfully unaware.

Here is just one story of the public being sold a story that they chose to believe because the alternative was too horrible to imagine.

During the 1950s and 1960s the Soviet space program launched missions with passenger slots for at least 57 dogs. Sputnik 1 made history, becoming the first man-made, unmanned object to orbit the Earth in October 1957.

Laika was plucked from obscurity on the streets of Moscow and rocketed to international fame aboard Sputnik 2, the space satellite that was launched from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan. She was the first dog to be sent into orbit. Sadly, her death during the 3 November, 1957 mission was expected from its outset.

Soviet engineers planned Sputnik 2 hastily after Premier Nikita Khrushchev requested a flight to coincide with November 7, 1957, the 40th anniversary of Russia’s Bolshevik Revolution.

Using what they had learned from the unmanned Sputnik 1 and often working without blueprints, teams rushed to build a ship that included a pressurized compartment for a flying dog.

The Soviet canine recruiters began their quest with a herd of female stray dogs because females were smaller and believed to be more docile. Initial tests determined obedience and passivity.

Canine finalists lived in tiny pressurized capsules for days and then weeks at a time. The doctors also checked their reactions to changes in air pressure and to loud noises that would accompany liftoff.

Eventually, the team chose the placid Kudryavka as Sputnik 2’s dog cosmonaut. Introduced to the public via radio, Kudryavka barked and later became known as Laika, “barker” in Russian.

Doctors performed surgery on her, embedding medical devices in her body to monitor heart impulses, breathing rate, blood pressure and physical movement.

Engineers believed the ship’s 1,120-pound payload, six times as heavy as Sputnik 1, could be kept within limits by feeding its passenger only once.

According to a NASA document, Laika was placed into the capsule 3 days before the flight. On November 3, Sputnik 2 lifted off with g-forces reaching five times normal gravity levels.

With a pounding heart and rapid breath, Laika rode a rocket into the Earth’s orbit, 2,000 miles above the Moscow streets she knew. Overheated, cramped, and frightened, the space dog gave her life for her country, involuntarily fulfilling a canine “suicide” mission.

Scientists expected Laika to die from oxygen deprivation - within 15 seconds - after seven days in space.

She reached orbit alive, circling the Earth in about 103 minutes. After 4 circuits the loss of the heat shield made the temperature in the capsule rise unexpectedly, taking its toll on Laika.

Sputnik 2 continued to orbit for five months.

During and after the flight, the Soviet Union kept up the fiction that Laika survived for several days. The official documents were falsified. Soviet broadcasts claimed that Laika was alive until November 12. It was widely reported that she died due to oxygen depletion - or as the Soviet government initially claimed - that she was euthanised prior to depletion.

It was only in 2002 that the real facts of Laika’s flight and death were revealed.

Tragically, even if everything had worked perfectly, and if she had been lucky enough to have plenty of food, water and oxygen, she would have died when the spaceship re-entered the atmosphere after 2,570 orbits.

Laika became a hero in her homeland; stamps bearing her image were issued across the Soviet empire and a brand of cigarettes was even named after her. More recently, a monument to Soviet cosmonauts was erected at Star City, near Moscow - and peering out from behind them is Laika.

Her story is related with adulation in books about dogs and on canine websites.

The story of Laika, the first dog in space, had been romantisised to conceal the facts and keep the public comfortable. Despite the hype and excitement surrounding her journey the public was lied to.

Laika was seen as a hero, going from the cruel streets of Moscow to the fame of being the first dog in space. In reality, her safe return was never an option.

Sources: Smithsonian Magazine, Britannica, Time Magazine and Wikipedia.

 

[brookstonalmanac]

Holidays 4.15

Holidays

Anime Day

Anniversary of Tarija (Bolivia)

AR-15 Day

Ariadne Asteroid Day

ASL Day (American Sign Language Day)

Banyan Tree Day (Lahaina, Maui, Hawaii)

Bija Mangala (Field Cultivation Festival)

Buck Rogers Day

Children’s Day (Spain)

Criminal Investigation Department Employees Day (Ukraine)

Da Vinci Day

Day of Love (Georgia)

Day of People (Aysellant)

Day of Radio-Electronic Fight Troops (Russia)

Day of the Sun (North Korea)

Father Damien Day (Hawaii)

Fluff Appreciation Day

415 Day

Freak Out Day

Gallaudet Day

Good Roads Day (Illinois)

Great Stichwort

Hardware Freedom Day

Hillsborough Disaster Memorial Day (Liverpool, UK)

Himachal Day (India)

Historical City Day (Malacca)

Hug Your Boiler Day

Income Tax Pay Day

International Biomedical Laboratory Science Day

International Pompe Day

Ivory Soap Day

Jackie Robinson Day

Kim Il Sung Day (North Korea)

Lilac Day (French Republic)

Lover’s Day (Kazakhstan)

Mariah Carey Day (California)

Melaka UNESCO Heritage Day (Malaysia)

Microvolunteering Day

National Anime Day

National ASL Day

National Collegiate Recovery Day

National Griper’s Day

National Hookup Day

National Keaton Day

National Laundry Day

National Poet Day (Peru)

National Rubber Eraser Day

National Security Education Day (Hong Kong)

National That Sucks Day

National Titanic Remembrance Day

One Boston Day

Purple Up Day

Quantum Teleportation Day

Rubber Eraser Day

Swallow Day (UK)

Take a Wild Guess Day

Tax Day (US)

Tax Resistor's Day

That Sucks Day

Tipsa Diena (Traditional start of plowing; Ancient Latvia)

Titanic Remembrance Day

Type 1 Diabetes Day

Universal Day of Culture

World Art Day

World Tiny Art Gallery Day

Food & Drink Celebrations

Fast Food Day

McDonald’s Day

National Glazed Spiral Ham Day

National Takeout Day (Canada)

3rd Monday in April

Boston Marathon Day [3rd Monday]

National Stress Awareness Day [3rd Monday]

Landing of the 33 Patriots Day observed (Uruguay) [3rd Monday]

Patriots' Day (Maine, Massachusetts, Wisconsin) [3rd Monday]

Sechseläuten ends (Six Ringing Festival; Zurich, Switzerland) [3rd Monday]

Weekly Holidays beginning April 15 (3rd Week)

National Work Zone Safety Awareness Week [thru 4.19]

Undergraduate Research Week [thru 4.19]

Week of the Young Child [thru 4.19]

Independence & Related Days

Independence Day Holiday (Israel)

Unitedlands (Declared; 2022) [unrecognized]

Vishwamitra (f.k.a. Children’s Group; Declared; 2007) [unrecognized]

New Year’s Days

Day after Sidereal New Year (South and Southeast Asian) (a.k.a. …

Bengali New Year (India)

Bohag Bihu (Parts of India)

Himachl Day (Parts of India)

Lao New Yar (Laos)

Masadi (Parts of India)

Nababarsha (Parts of India)

New Year Holidays (Myanmar)

Sarhul (Parts of India)

Songkran (Thailand)

Water-Sprinkling Festival continues (Yunnan, China)

Poila Boishakh (Bengali New Year)

Festivals Beginning April 15, 2024

Boston Marathon (Boston, Massachusetts) [3rd Monday]

Coquina Beach Seafood & Music Festival (Coquina Beach, Florida) [thru 4.17]

Singing in the Sun (Myrtle Beach, South Carolina) [thru 4.20]

TED Conference (Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada) [thru 4.19]

Feast Days

Abbo II of Metz (Christian; Saint)

Arshile Gorky (Artology)

Bananas with Everything Day (a.k.a. Banana Day; Pastafarian)

Basilissa and Anastasia (Christian; Martyrs)

Day of Tellus Mater (Pagan)

Elizabeth Catlett Mora (Artology)

Father Damien (The Episcopal Church)

Festival of Hero/Bast (Ancient Egypt)

Festival of Matsu/Mazu (Goddess of the Sea; Taoism)

Fordicidia (Old Roman Festival of Fertility to honor Ceres)

Henry James (Writerism)

Hippachus (Positivist; Saint)

Hunna (Christian; Saint)

Jeffrey Archer (Writerism)

Kanamara Matsuri (Iron Phallus Festival; Japan)

Leonardo da Vinci (Artology)

Munde (Christian; Saint)

Padarn (Christian; Saint)

Pammy (Muppetism)

Paternus of Avranches (Christian; Saint)

Peter Gonzales (Christian; Saint)

Ruadan of Lothra (Christian; Saint)

Rusalja (Celebration of River Spirts Rusalki of the Lemko People of Carpathia; Starza Pagan Book of Days)

Tellus Mater (Old Roman Mother Earth Festival)

Vlad Tepes Day (Church of the SubGenius; Saint)

Lucky & Unlucky Days

Fortunate Day (Pagan) [14 of 53]

Sakimake (先負 Japan) [Bad luck in the morning, good luck in the afternoon.]

Uncyclopedia Bad to Be Born Today (because the Titanic Sank and it’s also Tax Day.)

Premieres

The Adventures off Marco Polo (Film; 1938)

Aftermath, by The Rolling Stones (Album; 1966)

The Art of Real Happiness, by Norman Vincent Peale (Book; 1950)

The Black Island, by Hergé (Graphic Novel; 1938) [Tintin #7]

Catalogue d’Oiseaux, by Olivier Messiaen (Pieno Pieces; 1959)

Colors (Film; 1988)

Dark Command (Film; 1940)

Donald’s Nephews (Disney Cartoon; 1938)

Don’t Speak, by No Doubt (Song; 1996)

84, Charing Cross Road, by Helene Hanff (Novel; 1970)

El Amor Bruno (Love, the Magician), by Manuel de Falla (Ballet; 1915)

Fantastic Beasts: The Secrets of Dumbledore (Film; 2022)

Fargo (TV Series; 2014)

The Fitzgeralds and The Kennedys, by Doris Kearns Goodwin (Book; 1987)

Flashdance (Film; 1983)

Flowers for Algernon, by Daniel Keyes (Short Story; 1959)

Genghis Khan (Film; 1965)

Girls (TV Series; 2012)

The Hypo-Chondri-Cat (WB MM Cartoon; 1950)

The Little Goldfish (MGM Cartoon; 1939)

Little Red School Mouse (Noveltoons; 1949)

In Living Color (TV Series; 1990)

The Last Emperor (Film; 1988)

The Lumberjack (Oswald the Lucky Rabbit; 1929)

The Moon and Sixpence, by W. Somerset Maugham (Novel; 1919)

Mouse Come Home (Andy Panda Cartoon; 1946)

Outer Banks (TV Series; 2020)

Outer Range (TV Series; 2022)

Rattus Norvegicus, by The Stranglers (Album; 1977)

Ride ‘Em Plowboy (Oswald the Luck Rabbit Disney Cartoon; 1928)

Rio (Animated Film; 2011)

Robinson Crusoe’s Broadcast (Terrytoons Cartoon; 1938)

Rock & Rule (Animated Film; 1983)

Rock for Light, by The Bad Brains (Album; 1983)

Stage Fright (Film; 1950)

St. Matthew’s Passion, by Johann Sebastian Bach (Oratorio; 1729)

Think, recorded by Aretha Franklin (Song; 1968)

To the Finland Station, by Edmund Wilson (Novel; 1940)

The Twenty-One Balloons, by William Pène du Bois (Novel; 1947)

Whole Lotta Shakin’ Goin’ On, by Jerry Lee Lewis (Song; 1957)

Wild, by Cheryl Strayed (Memoir; 2012)

Today’s Name Days

Anastasia, Damian, Una (Austria)

Rastislav, Teodor (Croatia)

Anastázie (Czech Republic)

Olympia (Denmark)

Uljas, Uljo, Verner, Verni (Estonia)

Linda, Tuomi (Finland)

César, Paterne (France)

Anastasia, Damian, Una (Germany)

Leonidas (Greece)

Anasztázia, Tas (Hungary)

Anastasio, Annibale (Italy)

Aelita, Agita, Balvis, Gastons (Latvia)

Anastazijus, Liudvina, Modestas, Vaidotė, Vilnius (Lithuania)

Oda, Odd, Odin (Norway)

Anastazja, Bazyli, Leonid, Ludwina, Modest, Olimpia, Tytus, Wacław, Wacława, Wiktoryn, Wszegniew (Poland)

Aristarh, Pud, Trofim (Romania)

Fedor (Slovakia)

Telmo (Spain)

Oliver, Olivia (Sweden)

Mstyslav, Mstyslava (Ukraine)

Kenya, Octavia, Tavia, Tucker (USA)

Today is Also…

Day of Year: Day 106 of 2024; 260 days remaining in the year

ISO: Day 1 of week 16 of 2024

Celtic Tree Calendar: Saille (Willow) [Day 2 of 28]

Chinese: Month 3 (Wu-Chen), Day 7 (Ji-You)

Chinese Year of the: Dragon 4722 (until January 29, 2025) [Wu-Chen]

Hebrew: 7 Nisan 5784

Islamic: 66 Shawwal 1445

J Cal: 16 Cyan; Twosday [16 of 30]

Julian: 2 April 2024

Moon: 50%: 1st Quarter

Positivist: 22 Archimedes (4th Month) [Varro]

Runic Half Month: Man (Human Being) [Day 6 of 15]

Season: Spring (Day 28 of 92)

Week: 3rd Week of April

Zodiac: Aries (Day 26 of 31)

[pyrasterran]

Another superhero commission batch Angolan heroine Livia, Kazakhstan hero Golden Warrior, and ancient hero Melqart

[adrl-pt]

Boycotts of Putin's Inauguration and Victory Parade. How Did Victory Fanaticism Appear? Screening of the Film "The Hardest Hour."

You are watching news from the weekly rally at the Russian Embassy in Lisbon. Today is May 11, 2:30 PM.

The ambassadors of the USA, Great Britain, Germany, and many other countries did not participate in the inauguration of Vladimir Putin on May 7. https://apnews.com/article/russia-putin-president-inauguration-ukraine-355bd36a2e833800187af848dc24a7dc

On that day, Yuri Ushakov, an assistant to the Russian President, remarked that the ambassadors from Western countries who did not attend the ceremony had forgotten whom they were accredited to and why they are in Moscow. https://www.vedomosti.ru/politics/articles/2024/05/07/1036019-posli-chetireh-stran-bili

On May 9, the Victory Parade took place on Red Square. Standing with Putin on the podium were the heads of nine countries: Belarus, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan, Cuba, Guinea-Bissau, and Laos. https://www.interfax.ru/moscow/959674

The number of guests at the parade has dwindled over the years. In 1995, representatives from over 50 foreign countries attended the celebrations. By 2005, for the 60th anniversary of the end of the war, representatives from about 30 countries and international organizations were present. https://rtvi.com/news/glavnokomanduyushchiy-i-gosti-kto-nablyudal-za-p0aradami-pobedy-v-noveyshey-istorii-rossii/

In his speech on May 9, Vladimir Putin called Victory Day the most important holiday in Russia. https://www.mk.ru/politics/2024/05/09/putin-nazval-den-pobedy-samym-glavnym-rossiyskim-prazdnikom.html

Previously, this holiday was celebrated "with tears in our eyes," remembering the fallen and wishing for peace.

On May 8, on "The Breakfast Show," anthropologist Alexandra Arkhipova discussed how the "Immortal Regiment" movement has made people romanticize war and how the phrase "Never Again" has turned into a form of victory fanaticism. She explained, "They constantly tell you that somewhere in the West, they don't believe in our victory. So we must increasingly demonstrate our pride together. By portraying soldiers with our bodies, we feel proud… The result is that we are proud of the war." https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0jI5ukZnNMA

On Thursday, May 23, at 7 PM, in Lisbon at the Sputnik bar on Rua Andrade 41A, there will be a charity screening of the documentary film "The Hardest Hour." This film, created by Ukrainian director and screenwriter Alan Badoev with the 1+1 Ukraine channel, is based on videos sent by 12,000 Ukrainians from their phones and DVRs. https://maps.app.goo.gl/uQseM5w78gyvvvoF7

Journalist Dmitry Gordon, in an interview with Alan Badoev released on March 7, described the film as "very dynamic, very accurate… You made the audience, me in particular, empathize." Alan also shared in the same interview how the screening of this film at NATO went: "I always know what this film does to people because it is honest… They told us, 'You don’t understand what you did—people here are all cynical, they are engaged in war.' And they hugged and asked, 'How do heroes do?'" https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6a9DQj1_yuM&t=6591s

I watched this film with friends two weeks ago, and I believe that Russians definitely need to see it. This film is not so much about war, but about life—life as it was before February 24, 2022, and what it became for tens of millions of people. We think we see this war every day, but to truly understand how Ukrainians experience it, you need to communicate with them or see it through their eyes in this film. It even includes scenes from Portugal. Be sure to come. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TJN1XLz2Ypo

Proofs and links are in the description. Subscribe and help.

[pixelgrotto]

Cool Cold War Ninja

Capcom's Strider series holds the distinction of starring one of the coolest ninjas in video games. Hiryu feels like he was designed to look as rad as possible, from the blue suit to the red scarf to the tonfa-esque cypher blade, and his appearance was partially influenced by Spawn (another hero engineered to radiate style) because Capcom character designer Harumaru saw some Todd McFarlane books one day. Even Hiryu's name (飛竜, "flying dragon") is cool, mostly because it taught me that 竜 is the Japanese simplified form of the Chinese 龍, a character in my own name.

But despite his coolness, Hiryu is better recognized for cameos in the Marvel vs. Capcom series instead of his own franchise. This is most unfortunate, especially considering that Strider's one of the earliest video game examples of a cross-media property. Way back in 1988, Capcom greenlit a Strider comic with the help of the Moto Kikaku mangaka group while also assigning two internal divisions to helm an arcade game and an NES title. The intent was to make Hiryu into a hero who would span multiple mediums and be recognized everywhere, from the printed page to the pixelated screen. And that sorta worked, but not as well as Capcom hoped.

The first and most famous Strider - the 1989 arcade release - begins with Hiryu gliding onto the towers of the Kazakh Soviet Socialist Republic in a truly iconic bit of spritework. Within three seconds, you're hit with an array of action as Hiryu strides forward, explodes enemies in half with his cypher, and does a signature flip where all of his limbs flail outwards in a mid-air cartwheel. The action and setpieces never let up, and over the span of the game's five levels, Hiryu fights a council of politicians who morph into a multi-limbed robotic centipede, runs from mountain avalanches, explores dinosaur-filled Amazon jungles, hitchhikes a ride on an airship, and battles robotic anti-gravity cores in the fringes of outer space.

Strider is a blend of a hundred different things that the developers considered cool. But beyond all of the set pieces, the factor that sticks out to me the most is the Cold War futurism that drips from every level, feeling original but somehow dated at the same time. What other games start with your character infiltrating the "Kazakh Federation" and end with them fighting the sorcerous Grand Master Meio, a dude who seems like a thinly-veiled stereotype of a communist dictator gone wild? What other games commit to their "born in a geopolitical era of tension" vibe by featuring speech samples in multiple languages, including Russian, Japanese and Mandarin? Strider came out right before the fall of the Berlin Wall, and you can feel it. On that note, I don't think Kazakhstan has appeared in any other franchise as much as Strider. Honestly, the world would probably be a better place if more people associated Kazakhstan with Hiryu's adventures instead of Borat.

Strider didn't receive a decent conversion for home consoles until the Sega Genesis/Mega Drive in 1990, and the NES "port" that came out around the same time wasn't a port at all. Instead, NES Strider is an early Metroidvania, and one that I actually enjoy a fair bit. This opinion goes against the norm, since while I can recall NES Strider getting lots of promo in Nintendo Power when I was growing up, popular internet consensus these days tells you that it's a broken game with controls that feel like they're stuck in a beta phase.

I can't refute that - NES Strider's controls stink, especially when you're forced to pull off a wall jump that's impossible to do unless you have perfect timing. (Thankfully it's only a mandatory move at two points.) The game's also got a weird glitchiness about it, with enemies respawning at an utterly aggressive pace and the edges of the screen flickering way too much every time Strider moves an inch. The bugginess of NES Strider supposedly kept its impending Famicom port from ever being released, making it a rare example of a Japanese game that sold in North America but not in its native country.

And yet, the ambition to NES Strider is admirable. The trend of backtracking through levels and using items to unlock previously inaccessible areas might be commonplace now, but it wasn't in 1989. The plot, while burdened by a messy English translation, also features far more of a story than any other game in this franchise thanks to its heavy basis in the Strider manga. (Which is pretty cool, by the way, and partially readable in English thanks to a fan scanlation of its first three chapters.) Instead of simply facing Grand Master Meio, Hiryu's got to dig out corruption from the ranks of his organization, and it's nice to actually get some insight into his companions, from a fellow Strider named Kain to a guy named Ryuzaki who left his Attack-Boots in China.

Strider never blossomed into one of Capcom's sequel-studded franchises of the '90s. The NES game was a bold but flawed experiment that didn't get much traction, and while the arcade game performed okay, many of its key developers left the company soon after its release. In the European market, though, arcade Strider received dozens of ports for home computer systems that really couldn't handle it, like the ZX Spectrum. Tiertex, a local developer behind a handful of these ports, got the rights from Capcom and made Strider II, a sequel with shockingly bad level design which also goes under the name Journey from Darkness: Strider Returns. Capcom effectively retconned Tiertex's work with an in-house Strider 2 in 1999, riding off of the wave that Hiryu received from his inclusion in Marvel vs. Capcom.

Released for the arcade and Playstation, Strider 2 seems to take place two thousand years after its predecessor, with the Hiryu the player controls a clone of the original. It's never entirely clear, as the plot was clearly just an excuse to have Hiryu fight a reincarnated Meio. Forgettable story aside, the game spans as many environments as the first Strider, and the opening level sees Hiryu fighting terrorists in Neo Hong Kong to the beat of some darn good music which sounds suspiciously like the Ozzy Osbourne song Shot in the Dark. There's also a rival Strider named Hein who wears an all-white uniform in a nod to Hinjo, the main character from Tiertex's Strider II, which is a polite ode to a game that Capcom has all but disowned nowadays.

My biggest issue with Strider 2 is that each level is divided into small chunks, with the player forced to sit through loading screens while the next segment loads. Most PS1 games released during this era suffered from long loadtimes, but it's annoying to deal with the same thing in an arcade game. Maybe the load screens are meant to give players a breather before the next spree of button mashing, but I feel like the game's pace suffers tremendously. It's hard to fall into the same "blaze through, slice 'em with the cypher, do a billion flips along the way" rhythm that the first Strider inculcated when you've got to wait five seconds after every major encounter.

Strider 2 released during a period when action platformers were nearly nonexistent in the arcades, and a 30-minute experience - which is about how long it takes to beat the game once you know what you're doing - wasn't going to really cut it on the PS1. And so the series went back into dormancy until 2014, when Capcom once again enlisted the services of a third party. Double Helix Games' Strider is yet another retread of Hiryu versus Meio, but there's a surprising ton of DNA from NES Strider present. These go from the music, which features an awesome remix of the NES game's level 1 Kazakh theme, to the decision to make Hiryu's journey into a full-fledged Metroidvania.

Double Helix clearly poured a lot of love into their work, and I give 'em props for that NES inspiration. But there's something missing from the experience, which is probably why you don't often see 2014 Strider on lists of the best recent Metroidvanias. Unlike the world-spanning levels of the other Striders, this one takes place solely in Kazakh, which is large but very samey. As a result, the game feels padded despite not being terribly long, and the in-game map is far too confusing due to different planes that Hiryu can jump across. While Metroidvanias are one of the few genres that tend to activate my completionist tendencies, I never felt the need to explore every nook and cranny or snag every ability. It's a shame, because Double Helix was almost there in melding Strider's disparate gameplay styles and finally bringing Hiryu back to mainstream stardom. But they didn't stick the landing, and Amazon Game Studios bought Double Helix right after Strider released, ensuring that the devs probably won't ever get the chance to improve on their formula.

It's been almost a decade since Hiryu got his own game. He most recently showed up in Marvel vs. Capcom Infinite, and Capcom threw Strider fans a bone with the character Zeku in Street Fighter V, who has a Hiryu-style skin and is said to be the dude who founded the entire Strider order. All of this is neat, but it's baffling that Hiryu - despite being one of the coolest ninjas in gaming - has never had a solo title truly take off since his debut. Some of this might be due to the fact that Capcom has to credit (and presumably pay) Moto Kikaku whenever Hiryu appears, and one could argue that the original arcade game's balls-to-the-wall action and high difficulty don't have a place in Capcom's catalog any longer, or at least aren't as money-printing as new Monster Hunters and Resident Evils. But I think you could easily make something like Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice starring Strider Hiryu, and I wish someone would. After all, we're talking about one cool ass Cold War ninja here, and he deserves to shine once more.

[bogreader]

13 books tagged by @aceofthegreenajah thank you!

1) Last book I read

Harrow the Ninth by Tamsyn Muir. All the reveals at the ending oh shit! oh fuck! I’m starting Nona the Ninth soon

2) A book I recommend

City of Brass by S.A. Chakraborty! The Tumblr fandom is too small, you guys are sleeping on the Daevabad trilogy!

3) A book that I couldn’t put down

Network Effect by Martha Wells. Read it in one day which is rare for me with books that aren’t novellas.

4) A book I’ve read twice (or more)

The Way of Kings by Brandon Sanderson, I’ve read 3 times

5) A book on my TBR

The Grey Bastards by Jonathan French. A fantasy about gritty warrior half-orcs riding giant war hogs, sounds like a lot of fun!

6) A book I’ve put down

The First Law series by Joe Abercrombie. I put the series down at The Heroes. I don’t know what it is about his books but they always feel disappointing and anticlimactic. The only thing I get out of them is the humour and that’s not enough to carry me through the series, even though I’m kinda interested to get to the Age of Madness trilogy.

7) A book on my wish list

The Judas Blossom by Stephen Aryan. It’s a historical fiction about the Mongol invasion of Persia. I’ll probably hold off on it cause I don’t want to start a series that isn’t fully released yet.

8) A favourite book from childhood

Silverwing by Kenneth Oppel. My old copy is completely falling apart lol.

9) A book you would give to a friend

Same choice as the moot who tagged me, All Systems Red by Martha Wells. One of my top 3 favourite series.

10) The most books you own by a single author

I own the most books by Robert Jordan and Brandon Sanderson because of the Wheel of Time and the Cosmere. After that I own the most books by Robin Hobb.

11) A nonfiction book you own

A History of Inner Asia by Svat Soucek. I’ve read about halfway through. I’ve wanted to read about the histories of Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, Mongolia, and Uighur culture for a while and I thought this would be a good introductory book.

12) What are you currently reading

The Fifth Season by N.K. Jemisin. I see a lot of potential for the trilogy but so far I’m mostly just invested in one POV.

13) What are you planning on reading next?

This Is How You Lose The Time War will probably be soon because everyone is telling me to read it and I just bought a copy.

My shelfies:

Tagging: @im-surviving-off-of-tea11 @readingwitharthur @tragediegh @ravenousgf @theamberarchive @mistbjorn @zellixir

[yoificfinder]

Happy birthday to the Hero of Kazakhstan, Otabek! 🎉 Here are some Otabek-centered fics to celebrate.

But I'm Not There Yet by sarahyyy [T, 5K]

“Are you not going to read the article?” she asks, flopping onto his bed. “Look who ranked second, just after Phichit Chulanont.”

Otabek reluctantly scrolls down, and oh.

#2 - Yuri Plisetsky

In the embedded Instagram photo just under that subheading, a very grumpy Yuri is cuddling a very grumpy-looking cat. The caption reads: I found the cat version of me at the shelter today. #iknowisaidnomorecats #canyoublameme

(Or, the AU where Otabek and Yuri don't becomes friends in Barcelona, and there are years of pining.)

fermata by perbe [T, 3K]

When one is patchwork of growth plates and bruises, it is inevitable that one must admire boys with words a size too big, as if they know down to their bones that they are meant for something greater.

I used to burn for you, Otabek thinks.

(A character study on Otabek's reaction to his placement at the Grand Prix Finals.)

Hamster in Kazakh is Still Hamster by mousapelli [G, 1K]

Otabek has a hamster. Yuri regrets teaching him how to use instagram.

in which otabek is a (dog loving) criminal by sshibal [G, 2K]

“I can’t believe you were getting dicked and didn’t tell me,” JJ says when he catches Otabek sneaking out of Seung-gil’s hotel room.

Seung-gil kind of/sort of runs illegal dog cuddling sessions during competitions; Otabek is his unlikely partner in crime. Or three times Otabek introduced people to Seung-gil's dog on accident and one time he does it on purpose.

otabekaltindaily reblogged your post by (orphan_account) [T, 5K]

OTABEK ALTIN DAILY

Giving you a daily dose of Kazakhstani Worlds bronze medalist Otabek Altin.

Click HERE for 2014-2015 Season Schedule

Click HERE for livestreams

Click HERE for the Discourse Post TM

icon by: otabaealtin

Or: Otabek's fans aren't half as rambunctious as Yuri's fans are, but they're just as dedicated as Yuri's Angels - not to mention protective.

[bu1410]

Good afternoon TUMBLR - April 9th - 2024

''Mr. Plant has owed me a shoe since July 5, 1971."

Aksai, Kazakhstan - July 2000 - December 2001.

Part 3.

TUNGUSH As often happens in all parts of the world, when an oil field expands, the risk is of incorporating pre-existing villages in the area. A small village inhabited by about a hundred souls, nestled on the banks of a small lake where carp and trout were fished, Tungush was evacuated after the commissioning of the enormous crude oil treatment plant. The inhabitants were provided accommodation in Aksai at Microrayon 10 apartments, and were given a small monetary compensation. Thus they lost forever the place where their ancestors had lived, a place that, despite being lost in the steppe, had something pleasant about it. During the construction of the Oil Processing Units, some of the inhabitants of Tangush had worked with us. Simple, strong and honest people. On the occasion of their Nowruz celebration, on March 21st, they used to invite us for a barbecue or as they say in those parts ''''shashlick''. They grill chicken, lamb, pork - all accompanied by rivers of beer, and the grand finale is based on local desserts and artisanal vodka. I have very fond memories of those people, with whom it was difficult to communicate - many of them didn't even speak Russian, only Kazakh - but with whom the spontaneous language created an atmosphere of friendship and sincere camaraderie.

SAMARA

Like many other cities in Russia, Samara has also changed its name over the decades - until 25 January 1990 it was called Kujbyšev, in honor of the Soviet revolutionary Valerian Vladimirovič Kujbyšev. With 1,160,000 inhabitants, Samara is the sixth largest city in Russia. It is located in the central eastern part of European Russia, known as the Volga Federal District, at the confluence of the Volga River and the Samara River. Despite a past as a closed city, today Samara has become an important city, especially from a social, political, economic, industrial and cultural point of view. The city is located on the left bank of the Volga river, and is accessed from the eastern part via a long bridge, always crowded with fishermen. Near the bridge, some children offer passers-by large fish, mostly carp and trout. Our Company was always looking for alternative routes to/from Italy, given that the only direct flight to Uralsk was the AGIP charter, but there were not always seats available. I was therefore chosen as a guinea pig to test the Samara – Frankfurt – Milan flight, operated by Lufhtansa. The problem was the distance of Samara from Aksai: 390 km, which became impossible during winter. I left accompanied by the driver and the Director's personal bodyguard, a former Russian professional boxer. The journey was quite boring, the monotonous landscape of the steppe, the rare traffic and the comfort of the Toyota Land Cruiser made it easy to sleep. We arrived in Samara well in advance, so we went to visit the bazaar. The city appeared like many others of the Soviet era: the usual microrayons, the usual crumbling prefabricated buildings, the center with the eternal statues of some ''hero'' indicating the ''future ''. The bazaar was crowded (the era of shopping centers had not yet arrived in Russia in 2000) and the stalls selling all sorts of goods – from dried fish to Chinese-made plastic shoes – were all run by huddled women (it was April , but the cold was still biting). Samara was an important city on the ancient Silk Road, which connected China to Europe. Its inhabitants, therefore, are the most varied one can imagine, following the passage of travelers and merchants. Above all, I noticed women with eyes of incredible colors, never seen again anywhere else in the world. I learned that the airport was quite far from the city, because it served the Samara – Togliattigrad industrial area (the city renamed in honor of the Italian Communist politician, and home to the FIAT factories where the Zhiguli' is still built, a Russian copy of then Fiat 124). Once at the airport, I greeted my traveling companions and proceeded with the boarding formalities. Once arrived at passport control, here's the ''unexpected'' (can the unexpected be missing from a trip through Great Mother Russia?). The Russian VISA at the time was printed on a blue card stapled to the passport, and when the border policeman (a tall, thin guy with a mustache like a French actor supporting Louis De Funes in comedy films) checked my VISA , he noticed an inconsistency: instead of reporting my date date of birth – 14.10.1951 – on the card it was written (in pen) 10.14.1951. When the policeman pointed out that the dates did not coincide with the one on the passport, and I ''kindly'' replied that: 1 – The month ''14'' did not exist 2 – The mistake was made by the Russian clerk at the Embassy in Almaty, who had filled out the VISA. Daa…kaniashno…the policeman replied, but we have to check anyway, so follow me to the office.

Reluctantly I followed him into his ramshackle office, he made me sit on a wooden chair in front of his desk, where two black rotary telephones ''towered''. And here it must be said that it was Saturday, and that normally the Embassies work until Thursday afternoon. The policeman began a long and exhausting sequence of attempts to call the Russian Embassy in Almaty, with the dial of the phone making that "taratatac" noise when it was released (which I hadn't heard in ages). Every time he finished the sequence of numbers, the policeman held the phone to his ear and after a while he handed it to me, so that I could verify the ''tuu…tuu…tuu'' and that no one answered. Then whle I was giving back the phone, the policeman repeated:

Patom… (after I will try again…) We went on like this for about 40-45 minutes, the plane's take-off time had passed. At one moment a police officer entered the office, and the policeman jumped to attention. The officer apparently asked what was going on, and the cop showed him my passport and VISA. At which the officer raised his voice, giving peremptory orders to the cop, who snapped back to attention, saying in a loud voice:

YES SIR........SURE SIR!! And he gave me back my passport, making me understand that we had to hurry, because the plane was late (as if it had been my fault…) I then got on the plane, greeted by a murmur of impatience from the passengers, all of whom had been sitting waiting for almost an hour for someone .................

RETURN FLIGHT Milan – Frankfurt – Samara. The return on the same route was characterized by two curious facts. First one happened when I was sitting outside Gate 38 waiting for the flight to be called. Near me I noticed three gigantic Nigerian women: dressed in multicolored traditional costumes, heads bandaged, and dozens of bags and packages on the ground. I wondered how they managed to avoid the surveillance of the security scanners and bring all that merchandise to the boarding gate. The flight to Lagos was called at Gate 39 and all passengers passed the final check before boarding the bus that would take them under the plane. But the Nigerians didn't move. The ground hostess called over the loudspeaker:

Last call for flight LH 357 to Lagos! All of a sudden the Nigerians sprinted in unison, throwing all the luggage, bags and packages on the other side of the X-ray machine and pressing with their large bodies on the two hostesses who were trying to resist the breakthrough maneuver. In the meantime, many of the bags that landed on the other side of the scanner had opened, revealing their contents: old shoes, clothes, jeans, chains, T shirts etc. Two policemen had come to help the hostesses, but the Nigerians had started screaming in their loud voices:

You can't touch me I am a woman!! Remove your hand from my bodyyyyyyyy!!! A drama both hilarious and vulgar at the same time, as only Nigerians can do. And who won in the end? Them, the women of course! They passed through check point with all their merchandise and got on the bus. I think the German policemen thought: ''Let the Nigerian policemen handle it…''

But that wasn't the end of it, Frankfurt had the second episode of the day in store for me shortly thereafter. After going through security, I got on the plane to Samara and immediately realized that there were 4 drunk Russians on board. Coincidentally I was sitting in the seat right after them. After repeated attempts by the hostesses to calm down the agitated Russians, the plane Caètain himself intervened. At the Captain's request to stay seated and fasten their seat belts, the Russians responded with laughter, belches and pats on the back, and offered the officer vodka. The Captain returned to the cabin, and shortly thereafter he decided to call the airport police. Two green and white vans arrived under the plane, from which five policemen got out. Once they got on board and identified the drunk Russians, they wasted no more time: they grabbed three of them, dragged them into the corridor of the plane, they throw the guys from the ladder without letting them almost touch the steps, then bringing them inside the van and going away. A spontaneous applause broke out inside the plane, but the fourth russian had managed to get away with the toubles, remaining hidden between the seats rows. Now he sat down again, fastened his seat belt and remained calm, while the stewardess gave him a last look. Shortly after take-off the Russian, sitting in front of me, turned his head and said in a ''conspiratorial'' way, laughing out loud:

But they haven't seen these!!! (showing me the three bottles of vodka and one of brandy that he had managed to hide under the seats)

Let's drink them together!! He said.

No thanks bro.......it's too early for me, but thanks anyway! The rest of the trip was fairly uneventful. I arrived in Samara late in the afternoon. My driver Sacha was waiting for me, and together we began the long journey that led to Aksai. In the evening we stopped at a strange ''service station'' along the state road. It wanted to be a bit ''American style'' and had a couple of railway carriages in the vast car park, perhaps as an attraction for the children of passing tourists. We arrived in Aksai late at night, after having crossed the Russia – Kazakhstan border without any problem.

BRITH HSE GUY There was a guy, Mr. Alan Robertson, an Englishman in his 50s, tall and stocky, with a mustache - his occupation was HSE Supervisor. I'm write about him to make people understand the substantial difference how people are treated, according to their nationality, in any context of international projects. First of all, as mentioned several times, these people generally have 28/28 work shifts: that is, 28 days on site, and 28 at home (one of Mr. Zinno's most famous sentence was '' 28/28 rotation is such good working shift that it's not even done in Heaven…). Than salary wise there's no comparison: any Supervisor, as long as he was British or American, during Karachaganak project earned around 20,000+ USD/month (plus food, accommodation, paid flights, pocket money). While an Italian Supervisor did not earn more than 5-6000 USD/month. Returning to our Alan, he was married for the second time to a Spanish woman (what the latter found in him will remain a mystery forever). During his "28 days at home" Alan worked in his wife's restaurant on the Costa Brava as waiter. When he returned to his duty in Aksai Alan used to be very tired. Given his size (and the color of his nose also betrayed his habits) Alan certainly didn't feel like banging himself too much. During meetings he used to fall asleep dramatically, but he had the foresight to always sit next to his friend the Superintendent. - so when the exhausted Alan leaned on his shoulder, his friend would stomp him under the table, suddenly waking him up.

[unhonestlymirror]

This is the skull of the Kazakh national hero Kenesary Khan, who fought for independence against russia.

He was beheaded. The killers have been rewarded.

The skull of Kenesary as a trophy is in the museum.

Moscow refuses to give it to Kazakhstan.

Don't be surprised that they still cut the heads.

The photo shows the skull of Hadji Murat, a politician who fought for the independence of the peoples of the Caucasus from russia. The russians cut off his head and gave it to Nicholay I as a trophy. The skull is still in the museum. Cutting off the heads of those who fight for independence from russia is an ancient russian tradition.

[rikeijo]

Today's translation #190

Pash! Illustration file 2017, Hiramatsu Tadashi's comments & interview

Otabek Altin

He's the Hero of Kazakhstan, so his image is that of Central Asians, Mongols' strength. His design is almost the same as Kubo-san's original design. The distance between his eyebrows and eyes is short, and his face is quite flat. His expression is that of constant worry, so it's hard to know his emotions looking at his face. He isn't particularly tall, and his limbs are quite short - a body type characteristic for Asians. I draw him in a way to emphasize his masculinity and that he is the strong, silent type, in contrast to slim and delicate Yurio.

Jean Jacques Leroy

Kubo-san and the Director pointed out to me that he's the character that gets on your nerves. But he himself is certain that he's the popular guy (laugh). This personality of his is well visible in his strong eyes and eyebrows, as well as in his big mouth. His facial expressions and gestures have the most grandeur in them. He has a strong build and his limbs are quite thick - a macho body type. It was difficult to show that he's still a teenager, because his face tends to look like an adult's face.

Christophe Giacometti

He has a fine butt. His limbs are long and while he's quite well-muscled, I imagine his muscles as soft muscles. His facial expressions looks quite kind too. His hairstyle is blond undercut, but his roots are chestnut color, so he probably bleaches his hair? To not make him look "weird", I was drawing his facial expressions carefully, with fine lines.

Phichit Chulanont

The important points are corners of his eyes going smartly upwards and thick, straight eyebrows. He is a natural happy-go-lucky person. He's a character that contrasts Yuuri's character - he's a cheerful person, without any gloominess. He has a surprisingly small build and he isn't very well-muscled. Just like Otabek, he's very proud of his home country and he's unashamed of that.

[Notes: These are all the characters that Hiramatsu-san commented on! The interview is next!]

[eruverse]

Golden Horde is actually so damn strong. This is an understatement alright, but I would read books and stuff and get mindblown by the fact that it outlasted the other khanates, even Yuan Dynasty. Not to mention Golden Horde is the only one with successor states still existing independently as countries today like Kazakhstan, and I would say Uzbekistan too as the Khans of Uzbeks were largely Jochids, but territory wise Uzbekistan is of Timurid (who got the territory off Chagatai Khanate actually). So basically Uzbekistan is a successor state of both Golden Horde and Timurid I guess? Though I think in general Uzbekistan would readily associate itself with Timurid more than Golden Horde unlike Kazakhstan (who is of pure Golden Horde lineage) as Uzbekistan is so damn proud of Tamerlane and even regards him as a national hero. But anyway, basically Golden Horde has 2 successors who are sovereign states today, which is no small feat considering the general fate of Mongol Khanates and territories after the dissolution of Mongol Empire. In this case, most would either disappear or get absorbed into neighboring larger countries as provinces (therefore not wholly sovereign).

Especially in regards to Nationverse, I like to think that having two sovereign successor states isn’t only a testament to Golden Horde’s strength as their progenitor, but most importantly it is a testament to Golden Horde’s desire for independence. Golden Horde was strong because he only wished to rely on himself and none others. The Mongols had a tradition to send their eldest sons farthest away from his parents, with their youngest sons the closest (child of the hearth I think is called? They would also inherit the ancestral seat) so following this Golden Horde had his territory as far away from Mongolia as possible. But of course, Golden Horde took it to another level that he cut (basically) all familial links — economical, culture, and political — to Mongolia early on. I think Mongolia was both horrified and impressed by his tenacity. Where else Golden Horde got all his rebelliousness from, anyway?

Economical link here is a qubi system in which part of the wealth that one division of Mongol Empire accumulated such as from trade and taxes would be distributed to other territories and in turn each territory would get their share from the others, and separation from it means economical independence. Golden Horde was able to achieve it from many elaborate and careful dealings on his end. Cultural separation was cemented with Khans of Golden Horde adopting Islam which also speaks of alliances nurtured with the Islamic world often at the expense of other Mongols on the quest of fulfilling Golden Horde’s own interests. With political links severed, Golden Horde would defy orders of the Great Empire (Mongolia + Yuan), and his Khans wouldn’t need to be confirmed by the Khagan in order to ascend the throne anymore. Golden Horde would go on to keep his Mongol roots, but at the same time he also transformed into something else of his own making.

Today Golden Horde is gone but Mongolia could still see him in Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan. Kazakhstan is a wealthy nation, more wealthy than Mongolia, and in Uzbekistan he sees a certain tenacity to protect one’s independence to the extent isolating himself from his brothers at times. Mongolia is not close to any of them, perhaps mirroring his severed relationship to Golden Horde, but he continues to watch them from afar (and Kyrgyzstan) just like how he used to with Horde, and wishes with all his heart that they would thrive well in an increasingly uncertain world.

[understanding-hold-on]

you know it is so funny seeing english discourse about what books are good and what aren't and what children books should contain in them while I in Kazakhstan genuinely cannot find a book in Kazakh that would interest me.

Like yes there are always the classics but sometimes I do not want to read a historical-drama-tragedy. I do not want to read yet another translation.

I just want to read something I can relate to in my mother tongue. I just want to read about some silly teen doing silly stuff and getting into silly situations in Kazakh. Something that I would actually want to understand and translate and understand the plot of where the main hero is not another middle-aged man fighting against the world.

And then maybe there is someone doing that! The book might be lying in a bookshop but everything is so expensive and I just want to read something from my phone and I would even pay for the god-forsaken pdf, BUT THERE IS NO SITE. THERE IS NOTHING.

[brookstonalmanac]

Holidays 5.9

Holidays

Aso ote Tala Lei (Gospel Day; Tuvalu)

Birth Control Pill Day

Cameltoe Day

Damita Jo Day (Auton, Texas)

Dianetics Day

Earls Court Day (IA, KS, MN, VA, WY)

Europe Day (Schuman Declaration; EU)

Goku Day (Japan)

Hanswijk Procession (Mechelen, Belgium) [Sunday before Ascension Thursday]

Hurray for Buttons Day

John Brown Day

Lawn Mower Day

Liberation Day (Guernsey, Jersey)

Lost Sock Memorial Day

Make Believe Day

Marukh’s Day (Elder Scrolls)

Muppets Day

National Alphabet Magnet Day

National Childhood Depression Awareness Day

National Day (Alderney)

National Home Front Heroes Day

National Sleepover Day

National Teacher Appreciation Day

Ode to Joy Day

Peter Pan Day

Piccolo Day (Dragon Ball Z)

Royal Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Fairies Foundation Day

Schuman Day

Sophie Scholl Day

State Flag and Emblem Day (Belarus)

Tear the Tags Off the Mattresses Day

Vast Wasteland Day

Victory and Peace Day (Armenia)

Victory Day (Azerbaijan, Belarus, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Georgia, Israel, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Moldova, Russia, Serbia, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, Ukraine, Uzbekistan)

Victory Day Over Nazism in World War II (Ukraine)

Webcomic Day

Xotira va Qadirlash Kuni (Day of Remembrance and Honors; Uzbekistan)

Food & Drink Celebrations

Butterscotch Brownie Day

Lawn Mower Beer Day

National Bake Sale Day

National Cookie Dough Day

National Foodies Day

National Moscato Day

Punch's Birthday (London, England) [Sunday closest to May 9]

2nd Tuesday in May

Childhood Depression Awareness Day (a.k.a. Green Ribbon Day) [Tuesday of 1st Full Week]

National Slow Down Move Over Day (Canada) [2nd Tuesday]

Independence Days

Romania (from Ottoman Empire, 1877)

Feast Days

Beatus of Lungern (Christian; Saint)

Beatus of Vendome (Christian; Saint)

Brynoth I, Bishop of Scara, Sweden (Christian; Saint)

Christopher (Eastern Orthodox Church)

Fabricius (Positivist; Saint)

George Preca (Christian; Saint)

Gerontius of Cervia (Christian; Saint)

Gina’s Blot (Pagan)

Gregory of Nazianzen (The Episcopal Church (US) and traditional Roman Catholic calendar)

Hermas (Christian; Saint)

Kermit the Frog (Muppetism)

Lemuralia, Day 1 (Ancient Rome; Dedicated to Eradicating Malevolent Spirits of the Dead)

Lost Sock Memorial Day (Pastafarian)

Medea Day (Church of the SubGenius; Saint)

Nicholas Albergati (Christian; Saint)

Nicolaus Zinzendorf (Lutheran)

Oedipus Day (Church of the SubGenius; Saint)

Olympieia (Zeus Festival; Ancient Greece)

Pachomius the Great (Christian; Saint)

Remembrance for Gudrod of Gudbrandsdal (Slavic Pagan/Asatru)

Tudy of Landevennec (Christian; Saint)

Wear Odd Socks Day Day (Pastafarian)

Yom Yerushalayim begins (Jerusalem Day; Israel) [Iyar 28]

Lucky & Unlucky Days

Butsumetsu (仏滅 Japan) [Unlucky all day.]

Lemuria (Day 1of 3; Ancient Rome) [Unlucky to Marry.]

Premieres

Ant Pasted (WB LT Cartoon; 1953)

A Burnt-Out Case, by Graham Greene (Novel; 1961)

Down with Love (Film; 2003)

The Draft Horse (WB MM Cartoon; 1942

The Fall (Film; 2008)

The Fifth Element (Film; 1997)

For Whom the Bulls Toil (Disney Cartoon; 1953)

Friday the 13th (Film; 1980)

A Good Time for a Dime (Disney Cartoon; 1941)

Hey There Delilah, by Plain White T’s (Song; 2006)

Hot Rod and Reel! (WB LT Cartoon; 1959)

In the Jungle of Cities, by Bertolt Brecht (Play; 1923)

Kojak Variety, by Elvis Costello (Album; 1995)

Legends of Oz: Dorothy’s Return (Animated Film; 2014)

A Mighty Wind (Film; 2003)

Neighbors (Film; 2014)

Short Circuit (Film; 1986)

Sleepy Time Donald (Disney Cartoon; 1947)

Speed Racer (Film; 2008)

Vertigo (Film; 1958)

The Winthrop Woman, by Anya Seton (Novel; 1958)

Today’s Name Days

Beatus, Caroline, Volkmar (Austria)

Beata, Dionizije, Izaija, Mirna (Croatia)

Ctibor (Czech Republic)

Caspar (Denmark)

Kahru, Ott, Otto (Estonia)

Timi, Timo (Finland)

Pacôme (France)

Beat, Caroline, Theresia, Volkmar (Germany)

Christoforos, Essaias, Isaias (Greece)

Gergely (Hungary)

Beato, Duillio, Gregorio, Luminosa (Italy)

Einārs, Ervīns, Klāvs, Rebeka (Latvia)

Austėja, Edita, Grigalius, Mingailas (Lithuania)

Jesper, Kasper (Norway)

Beatus, Bożydar, Grzegorz, Job, Karolina, Mikołaj (Poland)

Isaia, Nicolae (România)

Roland (Slovakia)

Gregorio, Isaías (Spain)

Reidar, Reidun (Sweden)

Christopher (Ukraine)

Casandra, Cassandra, Grizelda, Kasandra, Kassandra, Zelda (USA)

Today is Also…

Day of Year: Day 129 of 2024; 236 days remaining in the year

ISO: Day 2 of week 19 of 2023

Celtic Tree Calendar: Saille (Willow) [Day 24 of 28]

Chinese: Month 3 (Bing-Chen), Day 20 (Ding-Mao)

Chinese Year of the: Rabbit 4721 (until February 10, 2024)

Hebrew: 18 Iyar 5783

Islamic: 18 Shawwal 1444

J Cal: 8 Bīja; Oneday [8 of 30]

Julian: 26 April 2023

Moon: 82%: Waning Gibbous

Positivist: 16 Caesar (5th Month) [Camillus]

Runic Half Month: Lagu (Flowing Water) [Day 15 of 15]

Season: Spring (Day 51 of 90)

Zodiac: Taurus (Day 20 of 30)