Diaspora of Tuva - Museum Events

The National Museum of the Republic of Tuva has launched a series of events dedicated to the Diaspora of Other Nationalities in Tuva, in honor of the Year of Hospitality.

The first event is scheduled for February 26 at at 14.00, where representatives of the Kyrgyz diaspora will be present in Hall 5 on the second floor.

The representatives of the Kyrgyz diaspora will tell about and show their customs and traditions. A special role will be allocated to traditions of hospitality. They will present their traditional cuisine (dastarkhan), national costumes, dances and music, national games, musical instruments and folklore (tales).

Employees of the National Museum in cooperation with the representatives of Kyrgyz diaspora will speak about Kyrgyzstan and esteemed and distinguished representatives of Kyrgyz nationality.

The representatives of Kyrgyz diaspora will include Egen-Dergieva Tamara Kalinovna, folk healer.

Kongarl-ol Ondar - private performance at the Kraft House

It's been too long since Kongar-ol Ondar passed away... here is a video taken by Robert Kraft, of an impromptu private performance.   Near the end the song he shifts the rhythm of the guitar accompaniment in way I've not heard on other recordings, and then I think there is a segue into another song.

"The Quotable Feynman" now available for pre-order

"We are so used to looking at the world from the point of view of living things that we cannot understand what it means not to be alive, and yet most of the time the world had nothing alive on it. And in most places in the universe today, there is probably nothing alive.”

--Richard P. Feynman

If you are reading this news item, you don't need to be informed of who Richard Feynman was, or convinced of his quotable character.  However, you might not be aware of the forthcoming publication of The Quotable Feynman,  a treasure-trove of profound, provocative, humorous, and memorable quotations on a wide range of subjects.

Here is a description of the book cadged from the Amazon website:

Carefully selected by Richard Feynman's daughter, Michelle Feynman, from his spoken and written legacy, including interviews, lectures, letters, articles, and books, the quotations are arranged under two dozen topics--from art, childhood, discovery, family, imagination, and humor to mathematics, politics, science, religion, and uncertainty

The book features a foreword in which physicist Brian Cox pays tribute to Feynman and describes how his words reveal his particular genius, a piece in which cellist Yo-Yo Ma shares his memories of Feynman and reflects on his enduring appeal, and a personal preface by Michelle Feynman. It also includes some previously unpublished quotations, a chronology of Richard Feynman's life, some twenty photos of Feynman, and a section of memorable quotations about Feynman from other notable figures.

Features:

• Approximately 500 quotations, some of them previously unpublished, arranged by topic
• A foreword by Brian Cox, reflections by Yo-Yo Ma, and a preface by Michelle Feynman
• A chronology of Feynman's life
• Some twenty photos of Feynman
• A section of quotations about Feynman from other notable figures

Available for pre-order now at your favourite local bookseller, or online at the usual places - search on "the Quotable Feynman", ISBN 978-0691153032


 

Feynman Van to feature in the Big Bang Theory

Entertainment Weekly has broken the news that an episode of Big Bang Theory will feature Richard Feynman's van.  From Spoiler Room we take the following quote:

“There will be a fun road trip to Mexico for the guys early on,” EP Steve Molaro tells me. “The road trip will be taking place in [the late theoretical physicist] Richard Feynman’s van and it will actually be Richard Feynman’s real-life van that we have access to — his actual van from the ’80s with the equations that he had painted on the outside of it.”

More news to follow!

The Fantastic Mr Feynman

This documentary is a great BBC Scotland / Science Channel / Open University co-production from 2013.

https://youtu.be/LyqleIxXTpw

Hidden cameras catch pics of snow leopards on Tuva's borders

In this great article from The Siberian Times, we see photos of a snow leopard taken by a camera hidden on the Chikhacheva Ridge, on the border between the Altai Republic and Tuva

See http://siberiantimes.com/ecology/casestudy/features/f0124-more-images-of-rare-big-cat-captured-by-hidden-cameras/ for the full story.

You have to love the images where the cat is staring right into the camera - there's no fooling her!

Snapping Spaghetti - why it never breaks into two pieces

Feynman fans will know that he was interested in all sorts of everyday questions, including the matter of how uncooked spaghetti breaks into multiple pieces when it is bent.  (Google spaghetti and Feynman and see just how many articles have been written on this topic!).

Why doesn't it break into two pieces, like a hockey stick does when it is overstressed?

Destin at Smarter Every Day has applied his high speed camera to this phenomenon and can show us in slow motion exactly what happens.

Does this explanation satisfy you?

Enjoy!

The Rest Of The Lectures Now Free Online

The portion of the Feynman Lectures that were not previously made available online for free are now on the internet at no charge to the reader.

Go forth and study!

http://www.feynmanlectures.caltech.edu/

Links to video of the lectures can be found here!

A different Feynman gains fame

Who knew there was another well-known Feynman?

http://www.straitstimes.com/lifestyle/television/story/hong-kong-actor-francis-ng-does-not-mollycoddle-only-son-20141011

I suppose fans of this Feynman might have no idea of the physicist.

QED to be presented in Philadephia

The Lantern Theater Company will present QED from
November 20  to December 14, 2014.

If you're going to be in the Philadelphia area, why not take in the show?

See Broadway World for details!

New Ondar Recording - with Dirtwire

Greetings, friends of Tuva and fans of Ondar,

On the night before his return to Tuva after riding in the Rose Parade in 2013, Kongar-ol Ondar recorded some tracks impromptu for Dirtwire artists Evan Fraser and David Satori, who are big Ondar / Tuva fans.  

The result can be heard -- free -- here: http://www.dirtwire.net/music/ondar-ep/

There is a free download on their site (for the moment), and if you're so inclined, you can buy the EP for $5 at BandCamp, a great site that supports artists well. (A portion of the proceeds will go to Ondar's legacy in Tuva.)

You can find more of Ondar's music, along with recordings of the godfather of the Tuva adventure, Richard Feynman, here: http://kongar-olondar.bandcamp.com

The remixes of Dirtwire might not be everyone's cup of tea, but I like them a lot -- and I know Ondar was always keen to expand the horizons of his artistry and the reach of Tuvan music (witness Genghis Blues and Back TUVA Future), so I'm sure he would have enjoyed this EP.  

What a tragedy that Ondar left us so soon -- he had so much energy, it seems his body couldn't hold it in.

Tuvanly yours,

RL

Feynman Van on Display Until June 26

Teh Feynman van (gloriously restored!) is currently on display at Fermilab, until June 26, in connection with the Edward Tufte exhibit there:

http://www.fnal.gov/pub/tufte/

RichardFeynman.com

The official site of Richard Feynman, RichardFeynman.com, has been launched.

This site contains exclusive historical photos, a bibliography of notable works, and contact info for those interested in licensing opportunities.

Visit today!

Xöömei Symposium and Festival - June 2014

A Xöömei Symposium and Festival that will take place in Kyzyl this summer. The dates are set, June 27-28th.

What other details do you need?

If you're interested, алдар тамдын (Aldar Tamdyn) would have more info.

Soviet-era Maps of Tuva Online

Lots of cool maps of Tuva are available for free online:

Soviet Military maps

http://mapn46.narod.ru/map1   for the maps in square N-46

http://mapm46.narod.ru/map1 for the maps in square M-46    and so on for maps in the scale 1 : 100 000

You will find maps in different scales here

http://mapn46.narod.ru/index.html

for N-46 and so on.

The maps are from the Soviet era but the best to get.

For Tuva you need the squares N-46, N-47, M-45,M-46 and M-47

Or try

http://www.afanas.ru/mapbase/
you will find the same maps but all of one square in one zip file.

Saving the Feynman Van

Great article online about saving the Feynman van - read all about it at http://www.symmetrymagazine.org/article/may-2014/saving-the-feynman-van

Bady-Dorzhu Ondar with Kongar-ol Ondar - on the Chevy Chase Show, 1993

A video of Bady-Dorzhu Ondar performing on the Chevy Chase show (with Kongar-ol Ondar) has been available on Youtube for many years, but the audio was somehow corrupted.

The VHS tape has been accessed again and a fresh copy uploaded and available for your enjoyment at

http://youtu.be/TnFT8bNBg0U

Discovery channel promotional item about The Challenger Disaster

The Discovery Channel has shared their promotional piece on The Challenger Disaster movie.

Watch it and see if you recognize anyone! :-)

Olympic Torch Makes It To Tuva

Today, November 28, the Olympic torch was scheduled to be in Kyzyl en route to Sochi.   Paralympic archer Mikhail Oyun was one of the athletes scheduled to carry the torch in the Tuvan leg.

The only media coverage I've seen of this is at the Around The Rings website - but there are several great photos at the official torch relay site, http://torchrelay.sochi2014.com/en/city-kyzyl#! - the source of the photos shown here.

"The Challenger Disaster" airing in Canada next month

You read it here first... The Discovery Channel will be showing "The Challenger Disaster" in the next month.  Details to follow.

And of course it will be on the Science Channel in the USA on Nov. 16 at 9PM.