NB! · Observations · Society · Humour
Good Lord, it turns out today is still a day off. How much longer? Can anyone explain why there are so many non-working days? It literally paralyses every form of business activity; surely people have rested enough by now?
Monarchies · Society · Humour
The arms of the Faroe Islands, a silver ram, and of Greenland, a silver polar bear, both of which had shared a single field since 1819, now occupy fields of their own. To make room, the three crowned azure lions with hearts had to go, symbolising as they did the
Architecture · Society · Saint Petersburg · Humour
Just in time! A triumphal column is to be erected in Saint Petersburg in memory of Russia's victory in the Great Northern War of 1700-21. The idea of a triumphal column is more than three hundred years old: the first design was drawn up under Peter himself,
Science · Society
The Right to Issue Currency Has Always Been a Source of Colossal Revenue for Those Who Held It, and of Incredible Injustice for Everyone Else. In medieval Europe there existed a practice of withdrawing coins from circulation. It happened constantly, sometimes twice a year. People were obliged to hand in
Archive · Mores · Society
The calendars of 1928 and 1945. Spot the difference? Until 1940 in the USSR, as in many countries of the world, the first day of the week was the day of rest, Sunday. The Russian word for week, nedelya, originally meant Sunday, and the days that followed were named by
NB! · Society
NB! · Faith · Observations · Society
The Pope calls for the debts of poor countries to be forgiven, paradoxically supposing that this is a way of helping their development. But economics, as it happens, is arranged a little differently
Archive · Books · Observations · Society
And then, like a distant sobbing, Like a farewell to the soul's joy, It began to sound, full of repentance, And vanished in some unknown backwoods. It perished in some wild field, Buried under a merciless blizzard... And my soul cries out in pain, And my black telephone
Art · Museums · Heritage · Society · Saint Petersburg
Finnish customs conclude investigation into Russian cultural treasures detained in spring 2022. Finnish customs officers detained vehicles carrying works of art from Russian museums in April 2022. More than 200 exhibits were placed under arrest, among them items from the collections of the State Hermitage, the Tretyakov Gallery, and the
Almaty · Faith · Society · People
Metropolitan Joseph was a man whom many tipped for Patriarch of All Russia after the death of Alexy I. He is also the author of the legendary retort to the remark that Yury Gagarin had flown into space and had not seen God, which ran thus: “Yury Gagarin did not
Archive · Faith · Books · Monarchies · Society
Some Excerpts from the Book "Freemasons as Enemies of the Christian Church and the State" ...Preaching complete non-interference in religious and state affairs, Freemasonry, with its closed character, its secret signs and rites, constituted a kind of separate secret state, which in governments was bound to arouse
Faith · Books · Society · People
Author of the Famous Book "Freemasons as Enemies of the Christian Church and State": Hieromartyr Pavel Dernov (1870-1918) of the Synaxis of the New Martyrs and Confessors of the Russian Church. Father Pavel Dernov was a priest, preacher, writer, regular contributor to the Vyatka Diocesan Gazette and