Electrodynamics is a branch of physics that studies the electromagnetic field in its most general form (that is, variable fields that depend on time) and its interaction with bodies that carry an electric charge (electromagnetic interaction). I copied that from Wikipedia. What does that have to do with my now-traditional Sunday post about the need to register and vote for our bill banning the purchase of "luxury" cars with public funds? I don’t understand either why we should all be buying a Toyota Land Cruiser Prado for the Federal State Budgetary Scientific Institution "Institute of Theoretical and Applied Electrodynamics of the Russian Academy of Sciences".
Electrodynamics is wonderful; we all love science and want scientists to hurry up and invent a "Gauss rifle" like in *Fallout* and flying cars like in *The Fifth Element*. But what does this very much non-flying $90,000 car have to do with any of that?
And as you can see on Toyota’s website, they chose the most expensive trim level available. For 2.7 million rubles.
So where exactly is a representative of the Institute of Theoretical Thermodynamics going to drive in a 2.7 million-ruble SUV? Into the African jungle to look for a lost Professor Maxwell? What kind of brazen behavior is this? They keep shouting about the chronic underfunding of science, and then buy cars like this. Wouldn’t it be better to give that money to a promising young scientist so he doesn’t leave to work in the United States? Or at the very least, for one quarter of that money they could build a decent website for the Institute of Electrodynamics and use it to talk about our achievements in this field. What currently passes for that website brings to mind only things like "mainframe computer," "punch card," and "Pac-Man." It’s a disgrace that a scientific institution of the Russian Academy of Sciences has a website like that. An even bigger disgrace is that a scientific institution of the Russian Academy of Sciences has a website like that and spends money on luxury SUVs. RosPil (an anti-corruption project) will definitely challenge this procurement, and we will also send an outraged letter to the newly elected head of the Russian Academy of Sciences. And those of you who still haven’t voted for our bill—shame on you. Because of you, all sorts of shameless people living off state money still have the opportunity to buy themselves cars like this and, so to speak, undermine the theoretical and applied foundations of electrodynamics by wasting funds on personal luxury. We still need 15,000 more votes. Register right now and vote. http://navalny.ru/roi/