Archive · Faith · Art · Humour
A Centaur Complains to Saint Anthony
A centaur complains to Saint Anthony. About the monkey, presumably. From a fifteenth-century manuscript on fantastic beasts
Latest
NB! · Observations · Humour
If you have ever wondered whether a union between a man and a centaur is possible
Books · Education · Society
Mikhail Pogodin, in an 1832 lecture, on Russia's primacy among the European powers
Having looked upon Russia in a moment of her repose, let us now consider one of her deeds, accomplished before our very eyes. All Europe, having made ready for several years and gathered its forces, in the persons of twenty tongues, burst through undefended frontiers into the very heart of
NB!
Fireboats spraying water on burning storage tanks at a waterfront industrial site
NB! · Geography · Science · Society · Nature
On 11 March 2011 a magnitude 9 earthquake, the strongest in Japan's history, triggered a tsunami that led to an accident at the Fukushima nuclear power plant, as terrible as the Chernobyl disaster of 1986
Books · Observations · People
Turgenev on Cosmopolitanism and Nationality in “Rudin” of 1856
Rudin's misfortune is that he does not know Russia, and it is certainly a great misfortune. Russia can do without any one of us, but none of us can do without her. Woe to him who thinks so, and double woe to him who actually does without her!
NB! · Aristocracy · Archive · People
Nikolai Yusupov, principal heir to the Yusupov fortune and to the princely title of his mother, Zinaida Yusupova, Count Sumarokov-Elston
Nikolai Yusupov, principal heir to the Yusupov fortune and to the princely title of his mother, Zinaida Yusupova, Count Sumarokov-Elston. Elder brother of Felix Yusupov. Killed in a duel in 1908, aged 25
Art
Viktor Vasnetsov paints a portrait of his son Boris, aged nine
Viktor Vasnetsov. Portrait of his son Boris. In the year the portrait was painted, the boy was 9 years old
NB! · Observations
In Any Unclear Situation, I Return to Academic Work
NB! · Art
William-Adolphe Bouguereau’s painting “Homer and His Guide”
Homer and His Guide. Adolphe William Bouguereau
NB! · London · Mores · Humour
Macarons or macaroni, after all?
Macarons or macaroni, after all? In the middle of the eighteenth century, the word "macaroni" in England denoted neither a pasta nor even a dessert, but dandies who laboured diligently to dress up as French aristocrats. A macaroni could be recognised by the tiny hat perched atop a
Society · Humour
It is a disgrace that all the people who know how to run the country are busy driving taxis or cutting hair
George Burns