Nature

Steller's sea eagle of Kamchatka and the Kurils is larger than the American bald eagle

The bald eagle was made America's national symbol as long ago as 1782. But Russia has an endemic raptor of its own from the hawk family, Steller's sea eagle, and a far more majestic and larger one than the American beauty. Steller's sea eagle

Geography · Books · Science · Nature

Dutch origin of the words sluice and dam and land drainage in the Netherlands

The words "sluice" and "dam" exist in many languages of the world, and they came from Dutch, as did certain other hydraulic terms such as "polder" and "crane". The concepts owe their wide diffusion to the invention of land-drainage technologies and

NB! · Moscow · Observations · Nature

In Moscow an unheard-of cold snap by the standards of our times, in Versailles, fogs

Art · Books · Nature

Black hellebore in a painting by Charles Cope titled after a line by Coleridge

This picture by the Victorian artist Charles Cope takes its title from a line of Samuel Taylor Coleridge's poetry, which might be rendered as "Hopes and fears that kindle hope". It is a fairly typical Victorian subject, a pining young woman, in which the details are

Snow-covered winged sphinxes on pedestals at the entrance of a columned museum building with wrought-iron doors during a snowfall.

NB! · Madrid · Museums · Nature · Humour

Snowfall in Madrid, the first in 10 years, closes the National Archaeological Museum of Spain

The National Archaeological Museum of Spain has been given a dusting. For the first time in 10 years, snow has fallen in Madrid. The official announcement: the museum is closed on account of a climatic cataclysm. We would put it differently: what a stroke of luck!

Science · People · Nature · Humour

Speaking of feline co-authors, one cannot fail to recall the beloved cat of the great scholar Yury Valentinovich Knorozov: Asya, whom Yury Valentinovich quite seriously regarded as his co-author and signed accordingly, though obstinate editors refused…

Mores · Society · Nature

Ban on henbane in beer under the 1516 Purity Requirement in Germany

Until the 16th century, black henbane was added to beer in Germany, which induces hallucinations and euphoria and, should the dose be increased, death. In 1516, on account of the large number of fatal intoxications, the Purity Law was adopted, which strictly regulated the recipe for beer and forbade the

Moscow · Observations · Heritage · Society · Nature

Maria Survillo drew attention to the felling of trees at the Donskoy Monastery in Moscow

The remarkable Moscow scholar Maria Survillo has drawn attention to the destruction of trees on the grounds of the Donskoy Monastery. Dreadful, tragic, irreparable. How cynically and methodically the image of old Moscow and the evidence of its former beauty are being destroyed 😣 P.S. To the champions of the

Art · Cinema · Observations · Nature

When I see the work of the British naturalist artist Charles Tunnicliffe (1901-1979), who spent most of his life on the island of Anglesey at peace with the world around him, drawing scenes from the lives of birds and animals, I am invariably reminded of

When I see the work of the British naturalist artist Charles Tunnicliffe (1901-1979), who spent most of his life on the island of Anglesey at peace with the world around him, drawing scenes from the lives of birds and animals, I am invariably reminded of the Soviet cartoon of

Museums · Science · Palaeontology · Nature

The Maiasaura nest in Montana was the first proof that dinosaurs cared for their young

A mother dinosaur watches over her brood. This is a photograph of the display at the Museum of the Rockies, where in the 1980s and 1990s the skeleton of a Maiasaura stood beside a model of a dinosaur nest with growing hatchlings. The point is that a nest of just

NB! · Museums · Heritage · Nature

The mummified cat and mouse of the late seventeenth century in the Museo Correr, Venice: pets of the celebrated commander, Doge Francesco Morosini

Archive · Monarchies · Museums · Nature

In 2015 the Rijksmuseum first showed Willem II's stuffed horse Veksi, a Waterloo veteran

In 2015 the Rijksmuseum displayed the stuffed horse of Willem II to the public for the first time. The beloved horse of the King of the Netherlands, Wexy, took part in the Battle of Waterloo together with his gallant master, and the two were wounded together. After the favourite'