Observations · Science · Nature

The dog Laika, the first living creature in orbit, died of overheating in 1957

A dog named Laika was the first living creature to leave the planet Earth and find itself in orbit. This happened in November 1957. A tragic story, it must be said: a stray dog picked up off the street met every criterion, from height and weight to straightness of limb,

A rat sits on a dark post above the water in a flooded room beside a peeling wall.

Observations · Heritage · Society · Nature

Sympathy for a rat in a photograph and the suffering of urban animals

A state of emergency has been declared in Venice: the water rose to 187 centimetres in recent days, 20 million euros have already been allocated to clear up after the flood, while the mayor puts the damage at 1 billion euros. ps I feel terribly sorry for the little rat

NB! · Architecture · Heritage · Nature

Venice's monuments have suffered badly, but the water has still not receded

NB! · Faith · Observations · Nature

A Nun Feeds the Cats on the Majolica of the Neapolitan Religious Complex of Santa Chiara

Museums · Heritage · Nature · Reportage

An inspection of the trees has confirmed the hypothesis of colleagues from the Pushkin museums that the park at Khmelita may well be a Masonic one

An inspection of the trees has confirmed the hypothesis of colleagues from the Pushkin museums that the park at Khmelita may well be a Masonic one. Every tree and its position means something, though these details will be worked out later; it would be very interesting to see the final

Museums · Heritage · Nature · Reportage

Arborist Aleksey Tikhomirov surveyed the memorial park of the Khmelita estate

A manor park is a very complex organism, which needs not only care but sometimes a proper medical examination and treatment. Over the weekend a most interesting museum event took place: in my beloved Khmelita the park was given a check-up. It should be said that the park of

Observations · Mores · Nature · Humour

Lady Hamilton's poodle Codina and the fashion for poodles during the fall of the French monarchy

Aww, what a darling! Little Codina, the favourite poodle of Horatio Nelson's mistress, Lady Hamilton. In Russia at this time large poodles were the fashion, while in Europe small ones like this were preferred. Poodles came into great vogue precisely in the years of the fall of the

NB! · Archaeology · Geography · Science · Nature

Incidentally, elephant dung is still found on the Alpine passes, and it is this that allows the route of Hannibal's fifteen-day advance to be pinned down more precisely

Faith · Art · Nature

The goldfinch in depictions of the Holy Family and the legend of the crown of thorns

In depictions of the Holy Family, the infant Jesus often holds a little bird, or receives one from the hands of the infant John the Baptist. The bird is a goldfinch, the very one from the legend of Christ's ascent to Golgotha, which alighted on the crown of

A wooden board marked clear and rain, with a thin twig fixed to a log reaching towards it.

NB! · Archive · Geography · Nature · Ethnography

Willow twig barometer at a reindeer farm in Shebalino in the Altai

A barometer on a reindeer farm at Shebalino in the Altai. The secret is that the "barometer" uses a willow twig. As the humidity rises, the twig loses its springiness and droops. Photograph by the American Dean Conger, who travelled in the USSR in 1966-75.

NB! · Observations · Nature · Humour

My cat demands attention and a pouch of food at 7 a.m.

Detail of a painting showing a pug in a white wig sitting on a small table beside a glass and a sheet of paper.

Art · London · Observations · Nature · Humour

Trump the pug, William Hogarth's dog, and how 18th-century pugs differed from modern ones

Trump the pug, dog of William Hogarth. The finest Trump I have ever had occasion to see. Incidentally, how different the pugs of the eighteenth century were from their modern descendants: their legs were longer and their bodies slimmer. And wigs suited them far better, too.