NB! · Observations · Humour

When the building's group chat said "the residents' council has resolved", this is not quite what I had pictured

Observations · Nature · Reportage

Botanical gardens and nature parks are among my favourite kinds of sights

Botanical gardens and nature parks are among my favourite kinds of sights. So the first thing I did on arriving in Sochi, where we had come for the premiere of the new season of «Tonky vkus» [«A Refined Taste»], was to head for the Sochi Arboretum, one of the best-

NB! · Observations

Mood of the Day

London · Monarchies · Museums · Observations · Paris

Jewels That Were Not Stolen

The diamond parure of Marie Antoinette, from the exhibition devoted to her at the Victoria and Albert Museum. It is a great pity that I could not attend the exhibition, since I have no English visa, but thanks to a correspondent in England I shall prepare a detailed report all

Art · Observations

Giorgio de Chirico's 1922 painting as an image of an emptied world and symbolic order

Strange Travellers, or Strange Wanderers? Giorgio de Chirico, 1922. A man on a cloud as a symbol of the beings flying on the "comet" Atlas. Like no one else, de Chirico depicts mystery as the necessity of all being. You know, this painting recalls the setting of a

NB! · Faith · Observations · Society

How heartening it is to see American flags against a backdrop of Orthodox crosses and icons ❤️

Observations · Mores

Conversation with a 92-year-old friend, a colonel, who left a palliative care ward alive

I was talking to a friend of mine, who is 92 and was recently moved from intensive care to a palliative ward, from which he emerged alive by some miracle. No one believed in it any longer. A colonel, a highly educated and active man, he said these words: "

Observations · Education · Society

California prisons and colleges since 1980 and doubts about a causal link between them

Since 1980, California has built 22 prisons and 1 university. In fact, three more colleges have opened in that time. Do you think this is a case where correlation points to causation, or not? After all, it is quite possible that the number of criminals in California has grown since

Books · Observations

Kindle stopped opening books, but the reader was restored via USB

I ran into a problem: my Kindle has stopped opening books of any kind. Apparently, many people have encountered it. Some managed to restore everything by resetting the device to factory settings, others blame trouble with Amazon's servers. I, for my part, once again thanked God for my

Books · Observations · Science · People

Evald Ilyenkov on thought and language in Hegel, a paper at the 1974 congress

When it comes to the process of self-cognition carried out by absolute thought in the person of man, it is language that turns out to be the privileged form of outward manifestation in which this process both begins and ends. It is in language that thought finally returns to

Observations · Science · Society

The Academia website has begun automatically generating AI podcasts from uploaded articles

Yet another strange use of AI. For some reason, the Academia website has begun automatically generating podcasts from the articles uploaded to its system. Naturally, all users are already aware of the far from sensible policy of this resource, but now, on top of the extortion, we are to have