I am Russian. Ask me anything.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I understand that you were raised to floss, but by now you should know better. Why not adopt better habits? Are you teaching your kids to floss?

I am too lazy!
I also think the importance of flossing is overrated; there must be a dental floss lobby at work. I also suspect that influence of toothbrushing on healthy teeth is also overrated - it has more to do with genetics, but I brush of course - because I feel the need. I floss on the needs basis too.
Why are you so obsessed with flossing anyway?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Were you and DH raised in middle or upper middle class homes? What did your parents do for a living? What about DH's family?

Don't forget we were both raised under the soviets, there was no such thing as class basically there were blue collar job families (working class), collective farmers (lived in the countryside), white collar families (plus academia and arts people), and party elite.
We are both from white collar families, our parents are an engineer, a physics teacher, and geologists.
My family was not very well off, his did much better. But we grew up in similar types of housing, for example.
After perestroika my family became outright poor, his again did better because his parents were able to change careers eventually, but they also went through a rough patch.

Just like here in the US!

--German OP from other thread.

Really? didn't know that! (honestly, not being snarky at all)

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I understand that you were raised to floss, but by now you should know better. Why not adopt better habits? Are you teaching your kids to floss?

I am too lazy!
I also think the importance of flossing is overrated; there must be a dental floss lobby at work. I also suspect that influence of toothbrushing on healthy teeth is also overrated - it has more to do with genetics, but I brush of course - because I feel the need. I floss on the needs basis too.
Why are you so obsessed with flossing anyway?

Not PP but studies have shown that people who floss regularly live longer, healthier lives. Of course, maybe regular flossing is a habit of people who also adopt other healthy habits so that is the real reason they live longer.

[Anonymous]

What American food do you like?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I understand that you were raised to floss, but by now you should know better. Why not adopt better habits? Are you teaching your kids to floss?

I am too lazy!
I also think the importance of flossing is overrated; there must be a dental floss lobby at work. I also suspect that influence of toothbrushing on healthy teeth is also overrated - it has more to do with genetics, but I brush of course - because I feel the need. I floss on the needs basis too.
Why are you so obsessed with flossing anyway?

I understand that with your background it's easy to suspect conspiracies, but this one is ridiculous. Dental hygiene is the biggest factor in having healthy teeth, stop blaming genetics and whip out the floss, PLEASE.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I understand that you were raised to floss, but by now you should know better. Why not adopt better habits? Are you teaching your kids to floss?

I am too lazy!
I also think the importance of flossing is overrated; there must be a dental floss lobby at work. I also suspect that influence of toothbrushing on healthy teeth is also overrated - it has more to do with genetics, but I brush of course - because I feel the need. I floss on the needs basis too.
Why are you so obsessed with flossing anyway?

I understand that with your background it's easy to suspect conspiracies, but this one is ridiculous. Dental hygiene is the biggest factor in having healthy teeth, stop blaming genetics and whip out the floss, PLEASE.

Not OP. Wow, you are obsessed. Do you work for the ADA?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:What American food do you like?

Burgers, tuna sandwich, steak, Texan BBQ are my favorites, I also like coleslaw and mac and cheese sometimes.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I understand that you were raised to floss, but by now you should know better. Why not adopt better habits? Are you teaching your kids to floss?

I am too lazy!
I also think the importance of flossing is overrated; there must be a dental floss lobby at work. I also suspect that influence of toothbrushing on healthy teeth is also overrated - it has more to do with genetics, but I brush of course - because I feel the need. I floss on the needs basis too.
Why are you so obsessed with flossing anyway?

I understand that with your background it's easy to suspect conspiracies, but this one is ridiculous. Dental hygiene is the biggest factor in having healthy teeth, stop blaming genetics and whip out the floss, PLEASE.

Thanks for really wanting me to live a "longer, healthier life" as per PP.
I really need to exercise and diet, too!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:that is interesting to me, that jews in Russia are not members of the jewish religion but were still discriminated against. I always thought the WHOLE point/origin of discriminating against jews was the religion - persecution of Jesus, charging interest on loans, involvement in banking (when christians did not charge interest).

So if you were a christian jew, why wouldn't you intermarry with other christians? and how does your face identify you as jewish? would natalie portman look jewish in Russia?

I'm a Russian Jew and I am actually going to disagree with OP on this point. Sure, some Jews in Russia baptized and became Christian, and many others aren't particularly observant, but most Russian Jews (at least the ones I know) would certainly consider themselves Jewish. Under USSR, all religious practice was essentially outlawed (not just Jewish but Christian and Muslim as well), so most people who grew up in the Soviet times were not religious. Atheism was the official position of the Soviet government (it was thought that you could not be a "proper" Communist and be religious). Now that you can practice religion, many people are going back. Persecution of Jews in USSR had more of an ethnic rather than religious feel to it.

BTW, there is no such thing as a "Christian Jew" - if you belive in Jesus Christ, you are a Christian. Not a Jew. So if you marry other Christians, it is not "intermarrying".

Wrong. You can go through the process of converting to Christianity, but you can never convert out of being a Jew

Yikes. Nazi Party.

[Anonymous]

Have you studied socialism?
I touched on the subject in school when I lived in a european country, and found it very interesting. Pity that it is banned and nobody seems to know anything about it.
One thing I found interesting is the story of how it was funded, the almost never before told story that has come to light

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Have you studied socialism?
I touched on the subject in school when I lived in a european country, and found it very interesting. Pity that it is banned and nobody seems to know anything about it.
One thing I found interesting is the story of how it was funded, the almost never before told story that has come to light

No, I haven't really, except as part of Russian history in HS. But at that time I didn't really care.
What I regret is not studying Marxian philosophy and economics. I should do my reading I guess.

[Anonymous]

As for funding, I think it depends on what particular group or movement in socialism we are talking about.

[Anonymous]

I was wondering about the money the movement got at the turn of the century

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I was wondering about the money the movement got at the turn of the century

Right now there's a theory that the German government was involved. But I am not sure if there's solid proof.

[Anonymous]

"that is interesting to me, that jews in Russia are not members of the jewish religion but were still discriminated against. I always thought the WHOLE point/origin of discriminating against jews was the religion - persecution of Jesus, charging interest on loans, involvement in banking (when christians did not charge interest)."

Oh my goodness. No, across Europe these have been traditional excuses used to justify persecution of an "other". In fact, in today's self-righteous Europe, where historical persecution of Jews and other minorities is minimized in public discourse and recent-memory anti-Semitism is pushed off exclusively on the "inexplicable aberration" of WWII-era German Nazis (really, even Austrians try to pull this shit!!), one hears shades of this in statements like Russian OP's accusation that Jews have played dirty pool wrt. asylum procedures (not that she has anything against Jews other than the problems they create for themselves with their greedy crookedness. Such enlightened Europeans assure all of us that persecution against Jews in modern times was really no big deal.)

Even German OP, whose lifetime of public, cross-generational penance imposed by Germany's acknowledgement of Holocaust guilt ('cause they did it all by themselves, dontcha' know) has taught her to speak with more discretion, tells us it makes her blog boil to think of immigrants who refuse to assimilate. Europe remains painfully intolerant of its "others".

It needs to be said that Jewish involvement in finance and moneylending grew out of medieval laws barring Jews from others ways of making a living. That whole social role was a set-up.

I don't know enough about politics in the ancient world to discuss who may have been responsible for the persecution of the historical Jesus, but I can assure you that directing Christian outrage for his martyrdom toward the Jewish community was an explicit project of the Catholic church beginning 1000 years ago.