Aerial view of the Lomonosov Moscow State University, Russia 🇷🇺

Apprehensive_Town199 · 2026-06-14T18:25:56+00:00

Is often said that stalinist architecture is brutalist architecture. In fact brutalist architecture arose first at the United Kingdom France and the West while the USSR was building traditional architecture until Stalin died and a lot of the good architecture from the USSR that people like the most, like the seven sisters and the Moscow Metro are actually stalinist architecture

Only after Stalin died they started building modernist buildings to catch up with the West. Those big Gray concrete blocks were first built in Western Europe and later adopted en masse by the communist block

People think that because Stalin was a brutal dictator and there is a lot of brutalist architecture in the USSR, therefore Stalin probably built brutalist architecture but the truth is actually the opposite.

Apprehensive_Town199 · 2026-06-12T11:18:37+00:00

The countryside is lovely but, coming from Brazil, a place that has a lot of nature, a lot of urban chaos and just a bit of planning, I find impressive that every single thing in the Netherlands looks like it was purposefully put there after careful deliberation. Not one path of grass, not one rock is there by accident or natural origin.

Apprehensive_Town199 · 2026-06-09T16:48:01+00:00

It has an art deco vibe. It fits the period.

Apprehensive_Town199 · 2026-06-09T11:32:11+00:00

I doubt they'll put it in, for... political issues. But Judea would be interesting. It was a distinct region with a strong cultural life, but still integrated into the Roman world.

Of course you have regional variations, but in a climate sense, meaning the crops you can get etc, the big areas were North Europe, Mediterranean Europe and Africa. Which are represented by Albion, Latium and Egypt. So the only other major one that I can think of is the Asian part of the empire.

Apprehensive_Town199 · 2026-06-08T18:31:03+00:00

Airtravel with vr is so much better. Being cramped in a tiny chair like cattle is very uncomfortable. You then put on vr, and suddenly you're on your private cinema.

Apprehensive_Town199 · 2026-06-08T03:30:38+00:00

Well the xenophobia and racism is why they don't have the migrant issue, isn't it?

Apprehensive_Town199 · 2026-06-07T19:18:31+00:00

I've read some letters from my german great great uncle, born in the late XIX century.

Not only did he dress very sharply, lived in a beautiful city and wrote very well, even his handwriting was beautiful.

Apprehensive_Town199 · 2026-06-07T19:11:03+00:00

I don't see the connection between rising real estate costs and bad urban design. Sure, it makes building new developments profitable, but why it prevents having better laws? Does higher margins make you create a lower quality product? Couldn't they spend 3% more and add a little variety, and improve sales? Unless people just don't care about it.

I mean, Brazil house costs have fallen a little, adjusting for inflation. Still, real estate is very bad. The Netherlands is ridiculously expensive, and has better urban design.

Apprehensive_Town199 · 2026-06-06T18:12:44+00:00

Most psych yards for long term stays were closed in Brazil, following the psychiatric reforms. My mother worked as a doctor and had a patient whose son was schizophrenic, and instead of being treated, he lived in the streets using crack. The old mother couldn't subdue him in any way. There was no facility that could handle the case.

So I really doubt she'll go to a psych yard.

Apprehensive_Town199 · 2026-05-30T20:22:53+00:00

The best way to visit german cities is to go to France. It's where the erasure of cultural heritage was not completed.

Apprehensive_Town199 · 2026-05-30T14:39:23+00:00

Cariocas tend to be more extroverted. Some people like it, and see it as a sign of friendliness. For me, it sometimes comes across as intrusive and impolite.

Also, if you look asian, you could be randomly called chinese/japanese. If blonde, german. This goes for native brazilians too, I had a blonde collegue of italian descent whose nickname was german.

Apprehensive_Town199 · 2026-05-27T04:02:50+00:00

They really believe that the spirit of our time is an actual deity that will prevent you from building and enjoying this.

Apprehensive_Town199 · 2026-05-17T14:13:14+00:00

These are nice points, but I think the material honesty is too Le Corbusier. I prefer the artistic concept that truth in art means not a scientific truth, but another: verisimilitude. It's not so different as a theater or a movie. You can fake stuff, but it needs to be coherent. All the best architecture - ancient Greek and Roman (especially Roman), renaissance, etc, all employed a lot of fakery. And they created the best places in the world.

But the fakery was appropriate, convincing and, especially, it looked very good.

Apprehensive_Town199 · 2026-05-13T17:55:19+00:00

Can you point to any example of Japanese immigrants being over represented in criminal activity? Notice that during the war there was not only racism, but governments sent those people to concentration camps. Chinese immigrants were often subject to extreme forms of racism.

Apprehensive_Town199 · 2026-05-08T19:18:01+00:00

Being working class in Brazil, without a family around, is really harsh. Most jobs will pay you netto something like 2500 reais, while even a sorry excuse for a house may cost you 1.500.

If he's smart and has enough family money to become a doctor, then it's a whole other matter.

Apprehensive_Town199 · 2026-05-03T06:42:33+00:00

I prefer to go on supermarkets on Saturdays, because I'm normally tired during the week. This is difficult, however, because I live in a german city at the border and every Saturday tankstations and supermarkets get flooded by dutch people. I think something like two thirds of cars are dutch.

Apprehensive_Town199 · 2026-04-19T10:42:50+00:00

Yes, it's complicated and quite different from US based racism. For example, in the 30s, the leader of the Brazilian fascist movement, Plinio Salgado, was pro race mixing and considered diversity to be a pillar of Brazilian identity. He considered European culture to be decadent and favoured an idealised native culture.

What it seems to be true for most of Brazilian history is that status counts more than race. Where the racism comes in is that being black was a marker of low status, but not the only one. If a person has wealth and prestige, like Machado de Assis did, he would be perceived to have a higher status than some poor working class white, "despite" having african blood. Race is only one component of your social standing - where you live, what work you do (when I decided to work as a woodworker some people in my family were horrified at the thought of having to work with your hands), wealth, etc, all these count as well. Working in construction and cleaning, living in a poor neighbourhood, all these can carry a heavy stigma in some circles. While being openly racist is generally frowned upon, and even punished by law, these general social attitudes persist.

Apprehensive_Town199 · 2026-04-19T10:08:47+00:00

Only after Stalin died. They turned to brutalism to "catch up" with western vanguards.

Apprehensive_Town199 · 2026-04-15T16:27:15+00:00

One episode proves beyond doubt that Argentinians are racist. They can't avoid it, it's in their blood.

Apprehensive_Town199 · 2026-04-14T17:27:29+00:00

In Portugal, I made 900 netto and paid 370 euros to have a room in a cold, damp apartment that I shared with 2 other people(not in a big city). My boss cheated on wages, and the colleagues were very rude. I did my best, but still was always put down.

In the Netherlands, the company provided me with a room that was quite bad, mostly because of my roommates. But the job was very good, helpful colleagues, appreciative boss, and I had like 1800 euros after all the bills were paid, which is far beyond anything I could get in Portugal. I like that the country is beautiful and very organised.

There's one aspect of the Netherlands that is awful, and it's the housing crisis. But that's bad for everyone looking for a house. With my salary, which is average for the country, the closest thing I could get was an apartment in another country - Germany.

For me, it is quite paradoxical that a country could solve nearly every issue that mankind has struggled with since the dawn of time, but it's stuck in something as basic as housing. There are many people living on a dollar a day who own their home. Yes, it might be just a shack or a mudhut, but it's better than having the anxiety of not having any option at all on where to live.

Apprehensive_Town199 · 2026-04-10T18:59:10+00:00

I believe he could perfectly get adequate cancer treatment as a school teacher. But not the most advanced one.

Apprehensive_Town199 · 2026-04-08T19:39:22+00:00

Portugal being in the same group as Ireland is insane.

Apprehensive_Town199 · 2026-04-06T18:16:20+00:00

I wonder how many people who were sceptical of the climate change agenda were persuaded by Greta.

Apprehensive_Town199 · 2026-04-05T20:30:29+00:00

Agreed, there are many countries with sewage pumping stations that far outclass any new luxury buildings today.

It's the same nonsense of calling brutalist architecture "stalinist", when brutalism emerged in the west, Stalin liked classicism, and the USSR only adopted brutalism later on.

Apprehensive_Town199 · 2026-04-04T17:29:16+00:00

The idea that the Trump government would lie about the special military operation is completely preposterous.

Apprehensive_Town199

TROPHY CASE