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Moscow · Observations · Society · Paris
It feels as though ticket prices of 45 to 65 euros for a concert by a second-tier ensemble in the Église de la Madeleine in Paris are about twice what they should be
One must learn to value the accessibility of culture and to attend events with more humane prices more actively: firstly, this supports the loyal institutions, and secondly, it helps to keep prices low. By way of comparison, not an entirely fair one, of course, tickets for the anniversary concert of
Archive · Books · Observations · Science · Paris
In an eighteenth-century alchemical manuscript, "The Wisdom of the Ancient Philosophers, or Their Teaching on the Supreme and Universal Medicine", once kept in the Capuchin library on the Rue Saint-Honoré and describing a universal medicine capable of pre
Let us take four from the many scenes: Fermentatio, Putrefactio, Solutio, Calcinatio. They show, first, the substance: a toad half-submerged in water and speckled with rising bubbles. This is the textbook visual representation of the "putrefaction of matter, often accompanied by the release of gas. Putrefaction is followed
NB! · Observations · Paris · Pop Culture · Humour
The Matiere fecales brand, its unusual aesthetic and Rick Owens's wife in the front row
A fashion I do not understand. The brand Matiere fecales distinguished itself last season too, with its peculiar aesthetic and the delighted wife of Rick Owens in the front row. As for the name, put it through a translator yourselves; my hand refuses to translate it here.
Observations · Society · People
How the names of ships seen from a dacha window changed over forty years
Alla Demidova on ships and their names:. For more than forty years now I have watched from my dacha window this picture of ships sailing past. We had a game: who could make out a name first. Little by little I grasped a certain regularity: the two-deckers were given
NB! · Observations · Pop Culture · Humour
The new Versace collection is really not bad at all; I would happily try on some of the looks
The new Versace collection is really not bad at all; I would happily try on some of the looks. But the women's handbags… Gentlemen, it is high time we put an end to this fashion; we have played long enough, and that will do
NB! · Moscow · Observations · Paris · Humour
The Paris Métro Weeps Bitter Tears When It Thinks of the Moscow Metro
Archaeology · Observations · Nature
Homo erectus meeting the Flores man as a possible source of myths about hobbits and dragons
A pity about this good-natured fellow. In the first place, of course, he has a wife and children back in the den; and in the second, imagine yourself a fairly sturdy East Asian Homo erectus, in possession of a large brain, meeting a Flores or Luzon man, representatives of
NB! · Observations · Mores · Humour
One should not, of course, compare the ballrooms of 1725 and 1925 with those of 2025; it will be better for everyone
NB! · Geography · Observations · Nature
Who would have thought Lake Titicaca was quite so high!
Who would have thought Lake Titicaca was quite so high! It turns out to stand at 3,812 metres above sea level. Baikal lies at an altitude of 455 metres. Lake Superior, of the American Great Lakes system, lies at 183 metres
Architecture · Observations · New York · Society · Humour
Trump accuses UN of embezzling billions in Secretariat building renovation
Trump has berated the UN for pocketing several billion on renovating the very building that houses its Secretariat. One has the feeling that the embezzlement of repair funds is the most elementary corruption practice in the world, running from the endless levies at school for redecorating a classroom to, as
Monarchies · Observations · Mores · Society
The King meets 116-year-old Ethel Caterham and the British custom of honouring the very old
The King of Britain has met the oldest of his subjects, 116-year-old Ethel Caterham. I sometimes remark on this gesture of British rulers: attention and respect towards the elderly, with special meetings for veterans, visits to the long-lived, and congratulatory messages. Much of this exists in our