tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6096844366367766843.post7972662107308827822..comments2024-03-14T23:12:03.829+00:00Comments on Idiotic Hat: Moscow RulesMike C.http://www.blogger.com/profile/11279776665185060446noreply@blogger.comBlogger3125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6096844366367766843.post-54007015789607280812017-04-09T21:43:57.529+01:002017-04-09T21:43:57.529+01:00Terman was one of those bona fides geniuses that g...Terman was one of those bona fides geniuses that got sent to a special jail for scientists, where the could try to invent their way back in to favor. Terman sort of succeeded, with the bug he invented and I guess some other stuff.<br /><br />But yes, it was not fun to be an enemy of Stalin's, and Terman did not have any fun at all being one.<br />amolitorhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15743439184763617516noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6096844366367766843.post-5069353734405948252017-04-09T19:07:16.319+01:002017-04-09T19:07:16.319+01:00If so, he was very lucky: by and large, people Sta...If so, he was very lucky: by and large, people Stalin didn't like didn't live very long, unless they had powerful friends (Gorky intervened on behalf of a number of writers and artists). Although I see he spent most of the 1930s in the USA -- good move!<br /><br />Mike<br /><br />Mike C.https://www.blogger.com/profile/11279776665185060446noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6096844366367766843.post-28880397070446625122017-04-09T18:34:56.178+01:002017-04-09T18:34:56.178+01:00This is apropos of not much, but it is one of my f...This is apropos of not much, but it is one of my favorite stories so I will inflict it on you.<br /><br />Lev Termen, the inventor of the theremin and many other interesting things (including a completely passive electronic bug that lived in the US Embassy in Moscow for *years*) joined the communist party very very late in life, after trying to join it for many years. Stalin didn't like him, you see.<br /><br />Finally, as the USSR is collapsing and everyone else is leaving the party, he is permitted in after being required to attend night school in Advanced Marxist-Leninist Theory or something for a time.<br /><br />We was asked "Lev Sergeyevich! Why are you joining the party NOW of all times?!!" and he replied with the best conceivable answer "I promised Lenin" which he almost certainly had something like 70 years earlier.<br /><br />amolitorhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15743439184763617516noreply@blogger.com