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 ;

Semirandom Books

Lewis Carroll. Alice's Adventures in Wonderland. Donald Knuth. The Art of Computer Programming. Martin Haspelmath, Andrea D. Sims. Understanding Morphology Marvin Harris. Cows, Pigs, Wars, and Witches. Christopher Bishop. Pattern Recognition and Machine Learning. Stanislaw Lem. The Star Diaries.

Poem (by Yosano Akiko)

その路をずつと行くと
死の海に落ち込むと教へられ、
中途で引返した私、
卑怯な利口者であつた私、
それ以来、私の前には
岐路と
迂路とばかりが続いてゐる。

Acknowledgement

Sulphur Crested Cockatoos

I acknowledge the Wurundjeri people of the Kulin nation who are the traditional custodians of the land on which I live, work and write.