Observations · Society · Humour
The more time you have to complete a task, the more time it will take
Parkinson's Law
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· 1872 stories
Society
Books · Observations · Society · Humour
Prince Andrey and Speransky on the Commission for Drafting Laws and Lawmaking Today
The Commission on Laws has existed for a hundred and fifty years, cost millions and accomplished nothing. Do you remember when Prince Andrei did not wish to join the commission for the drafting of laws, pleading that it required a legal education, which he did not possess? And Speransky, who
Art · Museums · Society · Saint Petersburg
Lukian Popov depicted army conscription during the Russo-Japanese War
Mobilised (Taken), 1904. Conscription into the army during the Russo-Japanese War. Lukian Vasilyevich Popov. Collection of the State Russian Museum
Faith · Observations · Mores · Society
Pope Francis voices concern over priests and nuns viewing pornography online
Pope Francis has expressed concern that many priests and nuns use the internet to watch pornography. The Pontiff urged his brothers and sisters to be more wary of diabolical temptation. The Catechism of the Catholic Church defines, in so many words, the exploitation of sexual images as an offence against
Archive · Monarchies · Society · Saint Petersburg
Executive Committee resolves to arrest Nicholas Romanov and prevent his departure for England
Resolution of the Executive Committee of the Petrograd Soviet of 9 (22) March 1917:. “In view of information received that the Provisional Government has granted Nicholas Romanov the opportunity to leave for England, it has been resolved to declare forthwith to the Provisional Government the inflexible will of the Executive
Cinema · Society · People
Giuseppe Volpi, founder of the Venice Festival, and the Grand Council of Fascism
The Venice Film Festival was born under Mussolini's warm wing. Its founder, the rather successful Italian politician Giuseppe Volpi, sat on the Grand Council of Fascism until 1943. True, when he spoke out against the alliance with Hitler, he was not merely driven out of every post but
Observations · Mores · Society · People
Nina Khrushchev and Jacqueline Kennedy
Nina Khrushchev and Jacqueline Kennedy. These photographs are often captioned with ironic remarks comparing the two First Ladies, of the USSR and the USA, as if to set Nina Khrushchev in a less flattering light. Well, then. It may be agreed that the wife of the Soviet General Secretary dressed
NB! · London · Monarchies · Society
Queen Camilla photographed with the Paddington bears left at the railings of Buckingham Palace in tribute to Elizabeth II
Queen Camilla photographed with the Paddington bears left at the railings of Buckingham Palace in tribute to Elizabeth II. In all, mourners brought more than 1000 toy bears, and all of them will be handed over to the country's largest children's charity
Almaty · Architecture · Society
Great is Russia, yet there is nowhere to retreat: behind us lies Moscow!
Monument in the Park of the 28 Panfilov Guardsmen in Almaty
Art · Society · People
Van Meegeren sold a forged Vermeer to Göring and confessed to the forgery in 1947
Henricus Antonius van Meegeren is regarded as one of the most ingenious art forgers of the twentieth century. For a long time, van Meegeren's fakes were esteemed in the art world as very nearly the finest examples of the work of such seventeenth-century painters as Johannes Vermeer
The East · Society · People
Ali Kemal Bey, ancestor of Boris Johnson and minister in the Ottoman government of 1919
Among the famous forebears of Boris Johnson is Ali Kemal Bey, a Turkish opposition politician of the early twentieth century, journalist and public figure, who for a brief time in 1919 even held a ministerial post in the post-war Ottoman government. As minister, he signed the order for the
Books · Moscow · Observations · Society · Humour
A flame war is raging around the Mayakovsky Library's post for Yesenin's birthday
A flame war is raging around the Mayakovsky Library's post for Yesenin's birthday. I see a great many angry comments about the supposedly blasphemous treatment of the poet's legacy. What chiefly outraged the public, as I understand it, was the disclaimer "do not