Even Gorbachev the man with the map of Poland on his head knew better than to use a Soviet-made eraser to remove it. All Soviet-made objects were heavy, metallic and awkward. Soviet movies, which occupied much of my childhood and adolescence, used thousands of extras in ill-fitting armor falling off wide-flanked horses, with crashing metal clunk. Axe-holding men fell first, armor-clad horses on top of them, an endless history of ill-used junk that started in medieval battles and continued through my teen years with giant square tanks and ear-splitting cannons that sprayed corpses as far as the forever snow spread. (Coming Saturday, April 19th, 2025 ADD)