NB! · Society · Paris · Humour
Section
· 1862 stories
Society
Books · Mores · Society
"That little dog was my only comfort
"That little dog was my only comfort. Carlo slept with me, and in the daytime never left my side for a step, and what clever eyes he had, as though he understood everything. Well, the other day I gathered some scraps by the kitchen and was feeding him, and
Architecture · Moscow · Heritage · Society
Last residential building of the village of Vorobyovo demolished in Moscow on Kosygin Street
Grachev Dacha Demolished on Sparrow Hills in Moscow: the Last Surviving Wooden House in the District. The building at 18 Kosygin Street had been on the list of newly identified monuments since 2005. In March 2025 Mosgornasledie (the Moscow heritage authority) declined to enter it in the register of cultural
Books · Observations · Society · Humour
According to data for 2024, library attendance in Russia has risen one and a half times since 2020, reaching more than 482 thousand people; in 2020 libraries were visited by 288,802 people
Even so, you will understand, half a million people a year is catastrophically few for a literate, educated country of 140 million. Sad, comrades I alone visit some 300 times a year, though it is unclear here whether they counted unique visitors or the total number of visits. If the
Faith · Observations · Society
Vatican approves “Jubilee Report” on external debt crisis in developing countries
The Vatican has issued yet another document of little consequence; or rather, it has endorsed an international report aimed at resolving the external debt crisis in developing countries. The document, entitled the “Jubilee Report”, was presented on 20 June 2025 by the Pontifical Academy of Social Sciences. Among its authors
Art · Observations · Society
Italian government announces cut in VAT on artwork sales from 22 to 5 per cent
The Italian government has announced a cut in VAT on sales of works of art from 22%, the highest rate in the European Union (EU), to 5%, the lowest rate in the EU. The closest to Italy in this respect are Germany and France, with VAT at 7% and 5.
NB! · Society · Humour
Man in a Stalin costume in a metro car and a joke about Beria
Will Stalin come out? Then send Beria down!
Faith · Observations · Society · Saint Petersburg
Petersburg International Economic Forum and the meaning of Sankt in the name of the city
It is indeed odd that the event is called the "Petersburg International Economic Forum" rather than the "Saint Petersburg" one. Even in English it is St. Petersburg. "Saint", after all, is not even a prefix but part of the name, pointing to the city&
The East · Science · Society · People
Alexander Chizhevsky linked wars and revolutions to solar activity
US Intervention in the Middle East Mapped onto the 11-Year Solar Cycle of Sunspot Activity. The theory linking warfare and revolutionary outbreaks on earth with the activity of the sun was first advanced by the Russian Soviet scientist Alexander Leonidovich Chizhevsky (1897-1964), a biophysicist and the founder of
Faith · Society · Rome
Pope Leo XIV posts photos from a visit to the Vatican Radio transmission centre, an extraterritorial possession of the Vatican in the Santa Maria di Galeria area, 18 kilometres north-west of the centre of Rome
And do you know, it is quite an enviable plot of land, 430 hectares in extent, ten times the size of the Vatican itself, which covers 44 hectares. The visit of Leo XIV, together with officials of the Dicastery for Communication and the office of the Governorate of Vatican City
Museums · Heritage · Society · Paris
Today the Louvre was forced to close owing to a staff strike
Today the Louvre was forced to close owing to a staff strike. The strike is the outcome of a mounting crisis that began several months ago, after the leak of a letter from the museum's director, Laurence des Cars, to the French Minister of Culture. In it she
NB! · Books · Society · Humour
Chitai-gorod names the books most often stolen from its stores
Chitai-gorod conducted an internal audit and found out which books are stolen from its shops most often. The list was topped by the Constitution of the Russian Federation. In second place among book thieves came Orwell's dystopia 1984.