Archive · Books · Observations · Society

The concept of punishment in the 1930 Small Soviet Encyclopedia and in criminal law today

The Small Soviet Encyclopaedia of 1930, in its article "Punishment", offers, besides the definition, a rather colourful gloss:. "bourgeois 'justice' still makes use of the doctrine that punishment, being retribution for guilt, 'atones' for it, although the class task of the capitalist criminal

Observations · Society

The Starost v Radost Foundation Organises Leisure for Elderly Care Home Residents

How sweet! Thanks to the support of the charitable foundation "Starost v Radost" ["Old Age Is a Joy"] and the daily work of its team, the elderly residents of care homes have cultural organisers who devise such diverting pastimes with them that the heart never has

Brick vaults in a dark underground space lit by a torch, with a smaller arch and a heap of broken bricks below.

NB! · Architecture · Moscow · Observations · Reportage

Visit to the underground vaults of the Kitay-gorod Wall, with a lower level filled with bricks

Visited the underground chambers of the Kitay-gorod Wall. Atmospheric, slightly eerie: a whole city beneath the earth indeed, with yet another city below it, though that one has long since been filled in with bricks.

NB! · Books · Observations

Marietta Chudakova: Incomparable All the Same

NB! · Books · Observations

Mockingbird on Ozon's bestseller lists 😊 Most gratifying

NB! · Observations · Saint Petersburg · Humour

On the one hand, the 250th anniversary of Leningrad sounds absurd, but how else is one to put it?

On the one hand, the 250th anniversary of Leningrad sounds absurd, but how else is one to put it? Surely not the 250th anniversary of the city on the Neva, presumably

NB! · Art · Observations · Humour

A handsome goat, to be sure, but I would not say the figurine looks alive

A handsome goat, to be sure, but I would not say the figurine looks alive. And how wearisome is that ubiquitous addendum, “price in DMs”. Whom, pray, are we hiding from, dear comrades?

NB! · Archive · Observations · Society

A very clear article from 1998, still relevant today, "The Humiliation and Dignity of Man": the struggle for freedom is always a search for dignity, while humiliation is the usurpers' answer

A very clear article from 1998, still relevant today, "The Humiliation and Dignity of Man": the struggle for freedom is always a search for dignity, while humiliation is the usurpers' answer. But in the end, through thorns and malice, good prevails. Amen

NB! · Books · Observations

Bubnovalyetovtsy or Bubnovalyetsy: how to name members of the Jack of Diamonds

If we go by usage in literary fiction, it is the Bubnovalletovtsy after all. From the standpoint of word formation, too, this is the better justified form

Cinema · Observations

Showing a film is not enough, viewers must also be told about the screening in advance

I would have come, but I never heard or saw any announcements. That, too, is important work in our day; merely showing the film is not enough

Marble relief of a seated woman with two children, with a seated man in a face mask and mittens added on the right by photomontage.

NB! · Observations · Rome · Humour

Montage with Bernie in mittens on a relief of the Altar of Peace

Let us hope it is no accident that Bernie fits so well into the Ara Pacis. To all 🧑🏼‍🎄💋

Museums · Observations · Humour

Estonia's top museum award Aasta Muuseumirott takes the form of a rat statuette

The principal museum award in Estonia is called Aasta Muuseumirott, that is, "Museum Rat of the Year". The winner receives a statuette of a rat with its paws planted on its hips. The size of the figurine depends on the rank of the award, and the largest rat