How Cities Learned to Eat Their Young

ChatGPT Image Feb 20, 2026, 10_11_12 AM

They tell you the city is where the life is. The jobs. The pulse. The “opportunity.” And maybe it is. But the first thing the city does now—before you learn the metro map, before you find the café that feels like yours, before your new badge stops being shiny—is invoice you for the privilege of existing within its radius.

Not for luxuries. For space. For air that doesn’t feel borrowed. … Read the rest

On The Subject Of Taxis

Контент 18+ Taxis and taxi drivers are among the things in life that I generally hate. Which does not mean that I lump them together as a single evil force or that I would cast them, one and all, in a concentration camp if I could. As in all walks of life, the odd Good Samaritan may pop up in one of those meter-machines, plenty of decent sorts are just … Read the rest

Russian Karenina: some thoughts about Russian women (What do you think of Russian women?) – Part 2

This is part two. Read part one here.
Контент 16+

It is one thing to describe the desirable physical attributes of women (Russian or otherwise), and quite another to talk about their character. Again, it seems…somehow…an invasion of privacy, and one risks making a fool of oneself. At best it is like tasting some exotic new soup which you can't say immediately if you like it or not; at worst … Read the rest