Monat: März 2018
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Moscow State University at night
Moscow State University’s (MSU) main building, located at Sparrow Hills south of Moscow river, offers an exciting view both at day and night-time. Constructed from 1949 to 1953, it kept the record of being the tallest building in Europe until the 1980ies. And it is still the tallest higher education facility on the globe. A five minutes walk on the extensive camous northbound will bring you to the famous viewing plattform that yields you are glimpse of the truth behind the saying that Moscow never sleeps.
Yet an updated metro plan sticker in all the cities metro carriages (pictured above). Four new station on the yellow line in Moscow’s north-east recently were put into operation. Besides extending the yellow line the four new station interconnect with the light blue line, the violet line and the dark green line.
Parts of the new track simultaneously realize the first chunk of the second belt line that is currently under construction across Moscow.
In public services terms accessibility of public transport increased, yet again.
Moscow’s annual swimming championships on the long course (50m) have been taking place from March 13-16, at CK Olympisky, the former Olympic pool next to Metro station Prospekt mira. Demonstrating strong performance in the competition will yield sportmen and women a ticket for the Moscow team within the Russian national team. Day 3 in the competition (today, March 15) saw the heats for 50m butterfly (men), 100m free (men), 200 free (women), and 200 backstroke (women), as well as some finals. Another highlight were the heats for the 200m breast (men): Current European record holder Anton Chupkov (Антон Чупков) won his heat in the 200m breast with an exciting 2m:11s – this is not far for his 2:09.96 at the FINA championship in Budapest last year (2017) – and this was just in the heats!
The championships have been demonstrating that Moscow’s swimmers are well prepared for upcoming national and international events. On the 100 free distance there were 17 heats today, the best time in the heats was a 0:49.55, I recognized plenty of 0:52 and 0:53, nobody finished with more than 0:58.
Anton Chupkov’s race also demonstrated what makes the difference between good and excellent performance: his four 50m split times were 0:30, 0:33, 0:33, and 0:30 (according to my own time recording). With the first 50m being the fastest due to starting dive, Anton kept a constant pace during his 2nd and 3rd 50m and in the finish. I counted 12 strokes on this second 50m, 14 on the third 50m and 18 strokes during finish.
So get ready for the Russian championships in April – see you at CK Olympiskiy.
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5 months winter, and still counting
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Proactivity v muddling-through
In a post from in October last year (2017) I praised Paris city government’s plans to ban diesel-engine cars from entering the Paris capital. But in a blog post yesterday, 6 months later, in Feb 2018, I argue that imposing diesel bans to combat polluted air in German cities is neither a novel idea nor an effective one.
Why do I appreciate an identical measure in one context (Paris) while I seemingly over critical in another (Munich, Cologne, and Stuttgart)?
Paris city government acted proactively. It tried to find an acceptable solution to a severe ecological and public health issue.
Germany’s federal government simply ignored the same problem for years. Despite EU regulations it took judges to induce any policy actions.
So the difference is between Proactivity and muddling through. I appreciate the former behavior why I disguise the latter one.
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Vote where it suits you most
On March 18, presidential elections will take place in Russia.
Today, I saw a poster sticker in the metro. It reads (own translation): „Vote where it is convenient for you! Application takes less than 5 minutes.
If on March 18 you will not be around your residential adress, or you are not registered at all, cast you vote at any voting station that is convenient to you.
To do so, pick the voting station of your choice a fill the required application form. This will take less than 5 minutes.
Filled application forms can be submitted until March, 12 at:
1. the website gosuslugi.ru
2. At any office of МФЦ.“
(Own translation). My comment: Opting for any polling station across the country one week before voting day is a nice example of the merits of e-government.