Some Fun Facts
Instead of making a boring novel-style story about my 30+ life, I'd like to list some fun facts here. You are always welcome to check my CV if you're interested in learning more.
— I was born in the USSR(!), in the repubic of Udmurtia
— Prior to joining academia, I spent about 10 years working as a QA/software developer/researcher in Parallels, Kaspersky Labs, Yandex
— In 2014, I received a prestigious Fulbright grant to visit the US and participate in the cultural exchange program
— I attended in-person lectures of two great living philosophers: Daniel Dennett (at Montclair State University, 2014) and David Chalmers (Moscow State University, 2018)
— I was also lucky enough to meet Gerald Edelman
— I'm a pescatarian and addicted to Melbourne coffee
— Countries I've been to (longer than 2 days): the US, Mexico, India, Israel, China, Russia, Bulgaria, Ukraine, Romania, Germany, Denmark, Spain, Italy, Turkey, Malaysia, UAE, Finland, Latvia, Estonia, Switzerland, Croatia, Luxembourg. Prior to 2012, I was an active hitch-hiker and a couchsurfer (I guess you may still find me on couchsurfing)
— In literature, I typically prefer sci-fi, especially Stanislaw Lem's novels. Unfortunately, only a few of his most popular ones such as ``Solaris'' were translated into English. But I am trying to improve this shortcoming
— In high school, Richard Feynman and Hypatia were my role models. I very much recommend you reading "You're surely joking, Mr Feynman". Also, Norbert Wiener's ``I Am Mathematician'' is a nice one
— I very enjoy logic and linguistic puzzles. Currently, I run a math circle for 5 to 9 yo kids
— I love poetry
— The evolution of my programmer's entity: Basic > Pascal > Delphi > C > C++ > C#/Java > Python
— I play the guitar 40 minutes a day
— On lazy Sunday evenings I learn Sanskrit
— From time to time my friends switch from science to art. Here I share some that are close to my heart.
— While reading/studying I prefer listening to Strauss' waltzes, Tchaikovsky, Dvořák, Schnittke. I also often attend MSO concerts
— Finally, I enjoy talking to other researchers abour their work. Some pieces I would definitely recommend you are:
— Linguist Nick Evans talking about indigenous languages in Australia;
— Linguist Michael Fortescue talking about Eskimo-Aleut languages;
— Astronomer David Jewitt on his discovery of the first Kuiper Belt object ;
