4 ms·

Alexey Chervonenkis found dead

50 points by reinhardt 12y ago

hoopism 12y ago
I read about him just now, admittedly was not aware of him prior. My first thought though given the location was "so what was this guy doing the government didn't like?".
- benologist 12y ago
  Wikipedia has very sparse information about this man but at 76 years old even stumbling can become a fatal accident.
- chc 12y ago
  "Given the location"? What is it about a forest that makes you think the government was involved? Or do you mean that every death in Russia is a suspicious death?
  - hoopism 12y ago
    My comment was exactly that... Basically saying that as someone uneducated on foreign affairs my gut reaction to a death of a prominent Russian scientist is to suspect that the article is about suspicious conditions. Not sure why this got negative feedback... I bet a lot of people immediately thought that was the purpose of the story.
    - grimtrigger 12y ago
      People seem to be interpreting your comment as an accusation, rather than an admission of bias.
      - hoopism 12y ago
        Thank you. I think you are right. Felt like somehow what I said was inflammatory. If anything it's admission of ignorance... but one I thought was worth mentioning.
- agrostis 12y ago
  If you were a native Russian, your would look out not for malice but rather for negligence and indifference on part of the authorities. Which is why I, for one, think the right question to ask is: how did it come that a person so evidently in distress could not be located quickly in a place like that? No doubt, Losiny Ostrov is a large park (it is about the same size as Pinnacles State Park in California), but it is surrounded on all sides by urbanized territory and should have excellent mobile coverage. Given that Chervonenkis had a phone on him, couldn't Search and Rescue have the mobile provider determine his location (qv. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mobile_phone_tracking http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mobile_phone_tracking) with at least the accuracy that would allow for a small ground team to find him?
japaget 12y ago
Link to Wikipedia article: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alexey_Chervonenkis http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alexey_Chervonenkis
- mdda 12y ago
  Not in his individual Wikipedia article (yet) : He name is the 'C' in VC-dimension : http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/VC_dimension http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/VC_dimension
huhtenberg 12y ago
In brief - There's a very large park in Moscow called Лосиный остров ("Moose Island"), more of a forest really. On Sep 21st he went out for a walk in this park and around midnight called his relatives and told them he got lost. They called the police and the emergency services. Tried calling him back as well, but he didn't answer. On Sep 23rd his body was spotted from a helicopter that was involved in a search and it was ID'd by the relatives. The rest of the article is fluff. [0] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Losiny_Ostrov_National_Park https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Losiny_Ostrov_National_Park
- melling 12y ago
  Лосиный means elk? Moose is американский лось I've been working on a Russian language app. It's kind of important that I understand the nuances.
  - xyzzyz 12y ago
    I don't know Russian, but if this is any similar to Polish, then Лосиный will be an adjective form of the noun лось. американский just means "American".
  - vkb 12y ago
    There's no real differentiation between moose and elk in Russian, since elk is the only one of the two indigenous to Russia and moose is a North American thing, so there's no real need to "split hairs" so to speak if you're talking to someone who grew up in the Russian language. They'll assume you're talking about elk. You could theoretically call both лось and have it sound ok to a Russian speaker. It's not something you'd pick up from the language as much as from knowing Russian culture/flora/fauna.
    - melling 12y ago
      I've got several iOS language apps so I need to "split hairs". http://appstore.com/h4labs http://appstore.com/h4labs. Even getting the nouns right in many languages was harder than I thought it would be.
curtis3389 12y ago
I suppose this is a good time to mention hiking safety. Boy Scouts of America Hiking Safety Recommendations: - Always tell someone where you are going and when you will return. - Never hike alone or at night; use the buddy system. - Dress properly for the weather and environment. - Wear sun and insect protection - Take an extra pair of socks in case you need to change. - Obey traffic signs and signals. - Avoid hiking along roadways. - Stay on the trail. - Be alert to your surroundings. - Don't litter as you hike. - Be alert to dangerous animals, insects, and plants. - Never touch a wild animal. - Take 1 pint of water for each hour you will be hiking. - Never drink untreated water.
mturmon 12y ago
Chervonenkis had an appointment at Royal Holloway College, and their site has more: http://www.clrc.rhul.ac.uk/people/chervonenkis/ http://www.clrc.rhul.ac.uk/people/chervonenkis/ I slightly knew Vladimir Vapnik for a while when he was at AT&T research, and he was a very kind, approachable, and passionate guy. You just had to not let his rather formidable reputation (VC dimension, uniform convergence, and the SVM, which at the time was just emerging) get in the way.

50 points by reinhardt 12y ago

I read about him just now, admittedly was not aware of him prior. My first thought though given the location was "so what was this guy doing the government didn't like?".

benologist 12y ago
Wikipedia has very sparse information about this man but at 76 years old even stumbling can become a fatal accident.
chc 12y ago
"Given the location"? What is it about a forest that makes you think the government was involved? Or do you mean that every death in Russia is a suspicious death?
- hoopism 12y ago
  My comment was exactly that... Basically saying that as someone uneducated on foreign affairs my gut reaction to a death of a prominent Russian scientist is to suspect that the article is about suspicious conditions. Not sure why this got negative feedback... I bet a lot of people immediately thought that was the purpose of the story.
  - grimtrigger 12y ago
    People seem to be interpreting your comment as an accusation, rather than an admission of bias.
    - hoopism 12y ago
      Thank you. I think you are right. Felt like somehow what I said was inflammatory. If anything it's admission of ignorance... but one I thought was worth mentioning.
agrostis 12y ago
If you were a native Russian, your would look out not for malice but rather for negligence and indifference on part of the authorities. Which is why I, for one, think the right question to ask is: how did it come that a person so evidently in distress could not be located quickly in a place like that? No doubt, Losiny Ostrov is a large park (it is about the same size as Pinnacles State Park in California), but it is surrounded on all sides by urbanized territory and should have excellent mobile coverage. Given that Chervonenkis had a phone on him, couldn't Search and Rescue have the mobile provider determine his location (qv. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mobile_phone_tracking http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mobile_phone_tracking) with at least the accuracy that would allow for a small ground team to find him?

japaget 12y ago

Link to Wikipedia article: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alexey_Chervonenkis http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alexey_Chervonenkis

mdda 12y ago
Not in his individual Wikipedia article (yet) : He name is the 'C' in VC-dimension : http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/VC_dimension http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/VC_dimension

huhtenberg 12y ago

In brief - There's a very large park in Moscow called Лосиный остров ("Moose Island"), more of a forest really. On Sep 21st he went out for a walk in this park and around midnight called his relatives and told them he got lost. They called the police and the emergency services. Tried calling him back as well, but he didn't answer. On Sep 23rd his body was spotted from a helicopter that was involved in a search and it was ID'd by the relatives. The rest of the article is fluff. [0] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Losiny_Ostrov_National_Park https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Losiny_Ostrov_National_Park

melling 12y ago
Лосиный means elk? Moose is американский лось I've been working on a Russian language app. It's kind of important that I understand the nuances.
- xyzzyz 12y ago
  I don't know Russian, but if this is any similar to Polish, then Лосиный will be an adjective form of the noun лось. американский just means "American".
- vkb 12y ago
  There's no real differentiation between moose and elk in Russian, since elk is the only one of the two indigenous to Russia and moose is a North American thing, so there's no real need to "split hairs" so to speak if you're talking to someone who grew up in the Russian language. They'll assume you're talking about elk. You could theoretically call both лось and have it sound ok to a Russian speaker. It's not something you'd pick up from the language as much as from knowing Russian culture/flora/fauna.
  - melling 12y ago
    I've got several iOS language apps so I need to "split hairs". http://appstore.com/h4labs http://appstore.com/h4labs. Even getting the nouns right in many languages was harder than I thought it would be.

curtis3389 12y ago

I suppose this is a good time to mention hiking safety. Boy Scouts of America Hiking Safety Recommendations: - Always tell someone where you are going and when you will return. - Never hike alone or at night; use the buddy system. - Dress properly for the weather and environment. - Wear sun and insect protection - Take an extra pair of socks in case you need to change. - Obey traffic signs and signals. - Avoid hiking along roadways. - Stay on the trail. - Be alert to your surroundings. - Don't litter as you hike. - Be alert to dangerous animals, insects, and plants. - Never touch a wild animal. - Take 1 pint of water for each hour you will be hiking. - Never drink untreated water.

mturmon 12y ago

Chervonenkis had an appointment at Royal Holloway College, and their site has more: http://www.clrc.rhul.ac.uk/people/chervonenkis/ http://www.clrc.rhul.ac.uk/people/chervonenkis/ I slightly knew Vladimir Vapnik for a while when he was at AT&T research, and he was a very kind, approachable, and passionate guy. You just had to not let his rather formidable reputation (VC dimension, uniform convergence, and the SVM, which at the time was just emerging) get in the way.