Pair of gold sandals made of thin sheet metal on a grey background: soles with concentric lines, a rosette at the heel, a wide curved strap and a toe post.

NB! · Archive

Pair of gold sandals with engraved decoration

A pair of gold sandals and gold finger stalls laid out in rows on a grey background, with a caption below.

NB! · Archaeology · Museums · New York · Humour

Gold sandals and finger stalls from the tomb of three foreign wives of Thutmose III

If one must stroll the afterlife in sandals, then with closed toes. Sandals and toe stalls of sheet gold, found in the tomb of the three foreign wives of Pharaoh Thutmose III: Menhet, Menwi and Merti. The Metropolitan Museum of Art.

NB! · Cinema · Observations

Mood for This Morning: 2001: A Space Odyssey

Black-and-white photo: a smiling woman in a dark swimsuit and cap stands on sand before a tall wooden surfboard inscribed FRED. Trees are behind her.

NB!

Woman in a vintage swimsuit beside a wooden surfboard marked FRED

Black and white photograph of a woman in a swimsuit standing in sea water, holding a long wooden board in front of a breakwater.

NB! · Mores · People · Humour

Agatha Christie took up surfing during her husband's tour of British Empire countries

Agatha Christie, meanwhile, learnt to surf thanks to her husband, who was busy organising the British Empire Exhibition. Agatha rode the waves on a board in South Africa, New Zealand, Australia and Hawaii. She was most likely among the first Britons to master the sport, somewhere in the neighbourhood of

NB! · Archive · People · Humour

George Bernard Shaw with a primitive surfboard on the South African coast at the age of 75

Heritage · Society · Nature

Petition against wind turbines in France, where their number is to rise from 8,000 to 25,000

A petition has appeared online concerning restrictions on the construction of wind farms in France. The principal complaint is voiced by the Society for the Protection of French Landscapes and Aesthetics. Many country dwellers are convinced that the landscape of their native parts has been degraded by the wind turbines

Architecture · Observations · Humour

The Tower of São Vicente de Belém in Lisbon, early sixteenth century

vs The dacha of the oil magnate Steingel on the southern shore of Crimea, 1912 Incidentally, both structures are considerably smaller in reality than they appear in the photographs

Painted portrait of a woman in a golden dress with two children looking out from behind her shoulders, in a dark wooden frame.

NB! · Art · Humour

Portrait of a Mother with Two Children by John Cooper, 1725

Goggle-eyed children have gatecrashed mummy's selfie. 1725, John Cooper

Books · Observations · Society

Benkendorf and accusations against liberals in journalism on Pushkin's death

Reading journalism on Pushkin's death, I am even frightened by what Benckendorff regards as a real threat, and by how he keeps reaching for liberals as the final accusation. That is to say, Russia really has been stuck in this paradigm of fear of liberalism for centuries 🤦🏽‍♂️

NB! · Archaeology · Art · Cinema · Madrid · Museums · Humour

And More on Amusing Coincidences

And more on amusing coincidences. Princess Leia and the stone Lady of Elche, 4th century BC, Archaeological Museum of Madrid

Observations · Science · Education · Society

New Rules for Postgraduate Study Pass First Reading

New rules for postgraduate study have passed their first reading. Postgraduate study is to become once more the third level of higher education: postgraduates will enjoy the right to deferment from military service, will be able to claim a place in a hall of residence, and will receive a stipend

Alexandr Radayev