American vs Soviet school reading, thoughts on.

Looking back retroactively,  I see that the USSR reading was too narrow minded and encyclopedic. The US reading was very open.

American school reading
(https://photos.app.goo.gl/CU3orsqEGp17aSnv8)

I imagined what the kids did in their free time. The USSR kids played less, and were less socialized. The American kids read imaginative material, even the theatricized geography lessons.

Then you look at the outcome. The US reading included the Victorian tales of conniving princesses, but that prepared children some basic skills ind dealing with social life. The USSR life and economy was based on the stories of the Russian suffering through the lesson of theoretical communism. The super smart USSR reading was powerless in the face of the American mindgame of nuclear strategy and star wars. The mindset cannot fathom the business savvy of the game and the culture of golf. Cannot educate itself out of the oil-gas revenue addiction and rescue the economy.

The Ivan reading book was written at the peak of the perceived fear of the USSR's missile and military, when the US really had the advantage and also in strategic bombers. B-52s still flying, Soviet bombers all broken up long time ago. etc etc

Plane spotters spot a Concordsky

case in point: this clip about Russian plane spotters and aviation fans booking a flight around Moscow on the noisiest plane (Tu-134) that otherwise has genius features. So noisy it got banned at Euro airports.

They also landed at an airport housing a Soviet Tu-144, a Concorde equivalent that was also banned. The planes had the most powerful engines, which cannot be retrofitted, replaced, etc. and preclude all the chances of reinstating the planes that are otherwise the smartest and most innovative in a narrow-minded way. The point: the USSR was so bent on proving its intellect that they did not see far enough into the future, no strategic thinking, no multipurpose features, no parts interchangeable with anything else, no more parts available, all tailor made, one-time, one-model design.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ap5gVB3FZ7c

Reference Shelves of a Synagogue, Mapped.

A reference shelf of the Pinto Synagogue, mapped
Akiva Eiger, Harosh, Tzitz Eliezer, Badei Hashulchan, Shaagas Aryeh, Hasam Sofer, Nodeh BiYehuda, Avnei Nezer:

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