NB! · Art · Museums · Observations · Paris · Humour

A familiar face in the painting "The Madonna of Chancellor Rolin" by Jan van Eyck, 1435

A grey tabby kitten lies on old engravings showing a plan of Moscow and figures in traditional costumes.

NB! · Observations · Education · Humour

A kitten on old engravings with a plan of Moscow and costumes of the peoples of Russia

There is the post of assistant to a professor, and there is the assisted professor; both are abbreviated simply as asst. prof. In this case, of course, we are dealing with the second

NB! · Art · Observations

Night Visions, René Magritte

Detail of a painting: a peeled fruit with a white spiral of pith, a wheat ear above and small insects below.

Art · Observations · Humour

A lemon or an orange in Jan Davidsz de Heem's painting of 1665

A magnificent lemon, if we trust the title of the painting, or an orange, if we trust our own eyes. By the master of the Golden Age of Dutch painting Jan Davidsz. de Heem, 1665 Have you ever seen a fruit peeled in so unusual a fashion?

Brick industrial buildings with chimneys and furnace structures stand by a lake, with a domed church and white town buildings to the right.

NB! · Architecture · Books · Observations

View of the former Stroganov cast-iron foundry on the lake in Satka, Chelyabinsk Oblast

Photographed an extraordinary view in the town of Satka, Chelyabinsk Region, on the shore of a genuine factory lake, straight out of Alexey Ivanov's "Mining-Works Civilisation". The photograph shows the Iron Foundry, founded by a Stroganov, though I do not know to which period this

Black-and-white photograph of an elderly man in a dark suit and tie standing beside a large round disc on a stand, with bookshelves behind him.

Observations · Science · People

Nikola Tesla on intuition that runs ahead of exact knowledge

“Intuition is something that goes ahead of exact knowledge. Our brain undoubtedly possesses extremely sensitive nerve cells, which allow us to sense the truth even when it is not yet accessible to logical deduction or other mental effort.” Nikola Tesla (1856-1943)

Books · Observations · Humour

Sasha Chorny on a visit to an exhibition, anger at mediocrity and boredom

Went to an exhibition. Seethed. Cursed the mediocrity and the lies. Dined. Out of boredom got drunk And swayed like ripe rye. Literal translation Sasha Chorny

NB! · Observations · Mores · Humour

Whom, do you suppose, does this hostess hope to deceive by passing off a bowling ball as a Christmas pudding?

Aged sheet with ink drawings of bat-like wings and a small human figure in the machine’s frame. Columns of handwritten text run across the top and right.

NB! · Observations

Handwritten sketch of a flying machine with flapping wings and notes

Observations · Science · Education · Humour

The Minister of Education and Science Has Turned to Nature-Like Technologies

The Minister of Education and Science has decided to turn to nature-like technologies. Though, to be fair, Da Vinci was at it more than five hundred years ago. It used to be called bionics, bioengineering, biomimetics and biomimicry. Now it is "nature-likeness" (prirodopodobiye), presumably under the

Art · Observations · People

A Little Dog, Biscotti and a Chinese Cup on the Scarlet Tablecloth

A little dog, biscotti and a Chinese cup on the scarlet tablecloth. The flies, quite rightly, decided there could be no better place for a rendezvous and for the delivery of a letter. Thanks for this picture go to the seventeenth-century Italian painter Giovanna Garzoni

Books · Observations · Humour

The saddest advertisement for selling books: ideal for crafts, for creating atmosphere, and they can even be read

In the spirit of Meghan Markle, just a little