Antiwork

Apparently in the time of King Louis XVI, Marie Antoinette had a play farm where servants would take, clean and replace chicken eggs under the hens so Marie Antoinette could gather them later. Many nobles in France had such play farms. The pond story reminds me of this tidbit.

We know the Qu'ils mangent de la brioche scandal was fabricated (though a lie used to turn opinions against the royal family). In truth it was the failure pf Church and King in the Estates-General to read the room and then the King's failed effort to escape France that sealed the Queen's fate in the Place de la Révolution.

Queen Marie Antoinette was by far not the worst of spoiled nobles, just in way over her head.

I'd think the sounds of random pond slapping would be more annoying than frogs, but I guess I'm not rich enough to have the correct opinion on this

Russia has been a horrible place to be a peasant for a long time. In most of Europe peasents gained a lot of freedoms after the black death. But in Russia peasents, or serfs as they were called, only suffered worse. The serfs in Russia couldn't even marry or move without the permission of their lord. The lord, or boyar as it was called locally, had pretty much full ownership over you. Russia pretty much enslaved their whole population until the mid 1800s. Complete disregard for the life of the commoner has been a constant theme of Russian life for a long time and it arguably continues to this day.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Serfdom_in_Russia?wprov=sfla1 Some dark but enlightening reading about the historical situation of peasents in Russia. Peasents were de facto enslaved there for far longer than anywhere else in Europe. I can't imagine living through such a time. Dedicating your whole existence and work to serving some fat boyar who cares nothing about you. At any time you could get drafted for a deadly war which you probably are not going to be returning alive from. This arguably still happens there today.

Anyone knows which book they're referring to? It sounds a bit like Chekhov.

I wonder if the ultra rich understand just how much genuine malice is directed at them.

People were cheering for the submarine to implode.

It really seems like the world is full of tinder, waiting for a spark.