NB! · Art · People

Thomas Schweicker (1540 - 1602) was an artist who had no hands

Thomas Schweicker (1540 - 1602) was an artist who had no hands. He worked sitting on the floor, holding a sheet of paper steady with one foot and guiding the pen with the other

NB! · Geography · Observations · People

442 years ago Francis Drake completed his circumnavigation of the globe, which I wish for you too

NB! · The East · Monarchies · Mores · People

In his will Alexander the Great asked that his coffin be carried through all his dominions, with one of his hands left hanging outside, so that all might see that he goes to the grave empty-handed

Archive · Books · Observations · People

John Keats describes the taste of a nectarine in a diary entry of 22 September 1819

On 22 September 1819, the English Romantic poet John Keats wrote in his journal: "Talking of pleasure, this moment I was writing with one hand, and with the other holding to my mouth a nectarine — good God how fine! It went down soft, pulpy, slushy, oozy — all its delicious

Architecture · Paris · People

General Pierre Dominil, who lost a leg at Wagram, defended Vincennes Castle

Major Pierre Dominil lost a leg at the Battle of Wagram and earned the nickname "Wooden Leg". In 1812, by then a brigadier general, he became governor of the Château de Vincennes: and after the capture of Paris by the Allies, he held out to the last and

NB! · Art · People

Invalids, Anatoly Galaktionovich Petritsky, 1924

Science · Society · People

Gennady Yakovlevich Krasnikov, a researcher of microelectronic technologies, very-large-scale integrated circuits and complex semiconductor structures with controllable and stable electrophysical…, has been elected the new President of the Russian Academy

Books · Education · People · Humour

Announcer Ilya Prudovsky wrote a poem for the 80th birthday of Ditmar Rosenthal

First it was great Dal, now great is Rosenthal. Yes, the language, as if out of spite, was clearly unlucky with Russians. There was Baudouin de Courtenay, and beside him, back to back, in Berlin Vasmer published long ago an etymological dictionary. Then came Barkhudaryan, his countryman Hovhannisyan. Every non-

Black and white sketch of a bearded old man in a cap seated in an armchair, resting his head on one hand and leaning on a staff with the other.

NB! · Art · Monarchies · People

Seated Ivan the Terrible in a Sketch by Viktor Vasnetsov

Ivan the Terrible. Sketch by Viktor Vasnetsov

NB! · Archive · People · Pop Culture

Alla Pugacheva in an iceberg costume at the concert "I Have Come and I Say", 1984

Black-and-white photograph of a shirtless man sitting beside a short-haired woman who looks into a bathroom mirror.

NB! · Cinema · Observations · People

In memory of Belmondo, a little over a year after his death

Belmondo died little more than a year ago. One wants to remember him

The East · Monarchies · People

Borodin’s musical picture “In Central Asia” for the anniversary of Alexander II’s reign

During his visit to Kazakhstan, Pope Francis confessed that he had known nothing of Central Asia before, apart from the music of Borodin. To catch the link between, presumably, Alexander Porfiryevich Borodin and the Central Asian region, where the composer never lived, never served and never set foot, is rather