Architecture · Cinema · Observations · Heritage · Society
Trump Plans to Rebuild the Reflecting Pool, the Very One Between the Lincoln Memorial and the Washington Monument, Along Which Forrest Gump Ran to Jenny and Around Which a Crowd of Two Hundred and Fifty Thousand Listened to Martin Luther King. I've probably built more than a hundred
Architecture · Observations · New York · Society
Have you come across reels criticising the new skyscraper in New York, which is being berated for blocking the view of the Empire State Building from Fifth Avenue? These lamentations have been turning up in my feed for a week now, and New Yorker acquaintances confirm that everyone is indeed
Archaeology · Observations · Heritage
At the Greek Consulate General in Chicago, an American family handed over to Greece's Minister of Culture, Lina Mendoni, a collection of antiquities purchased in the 1970s and 1980s. Among the items returned are two black-figure Attic vases, an amphora, a jug, a bronze mirror, a headless
Books · Observations · Society · Humour
The woman who denounced the writer Vladimir Sorokin has spoken about censorship in literature, expressing regret at having started her campaign against him and asking:. Who wrote two million denunciations? Well, all of us "wrote" them No, madam (and "esteemed" is the last thing you are)
Architecture · Moscow · Observations · Society
When it opened in 1962, the MKAD (the Moscow Ring Road) was considered a cutting-edge highway by Soviet standards. It had two lanes in each direction and a broad grass strip down the middle as a divider, and 33 cloverleaf interchanges were built along its length. It was said
NB! · Architecture · Observations · Humour
A most worthy idea for the shower room. It remains to find out from Guy Goodfellow, the author of the interior, who makes such cubicles
NB! · Architecture · Moscow · Observations · Humour
My beloved Foreign Ministry is being cleaned again. In a couple of years it will be all white
Faith · Books · Observations · Humour
Has everyone heard of the medieval demon professionally attached, so to speak, to the guild of scribes? His name was Titivillus, and he served a double function. His first task was to listen to church services. The monks sang psalms, and there were always some who swallowed syllables, hurried, skipped
Observations · Heritage · Mores · Paris
Léonard Lipp opened it after the Franco-Prussian War, when he left occupied Alsace and came to Paris. He brought his recipes with him: sauerkraut, sausages, cold beer. This was Alsatian cooking in its most direct form, hearty, unpretentious and at a reasonable price. The Saint-Germain quarter of that
NB! · Architecture · Faith · Observations · Heritage · Paris
Books · Observations · Society
From 20 May 2026, owners of Kindle e-readers released in 2012 and earlier will lose access to the Amazon store. The devices will no longer be able to buy, borrow or download new books through the Kindle Store. The restriction affects every model from the very first Kindle of
Books · Observations
It all comes down to thoughts. Thought is the beginning of everything. And thoughts can be controlled. And so the chief business of self-improvement is to work on one's thoughts Leo Tolstoy