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Monarchies · Observations · Pop Culture · Humour
Nothing so adorns a woman of a certain age, short of a solid property portfolio, as a custom bag printed with photos of her grandchildren
What, you ask, is this stylish item at the entrance to the royal palace in Amsterdam, on which I have cast my eye? Princess Beatrix of the Netherlands! And once again she delights us with a chic look: yesterday, before the dinner for the diplomatic corps, the former Queen of
NB! · Art · Observations · Humour
Weekend assignment: learning from the eighteenth-century Dutch draughtsman Johannes Merken how to react to an encounter with passive-aggressive yappers: we simply keep moving along in our elegant carriage, drawn by a charming little horse
NB! · Books · Observations · Humour
Remember Winnie-the-Pooh in Latin?
Remember Winnie-the-Pooh in Latin? It turns out there is an Ancient Greek version too!
Archaeology · Museums · Humour
The situla, a bucket for rituals and for cooling wine at ancient banquets
To consider oneself a continuator of antique culture, one need not know Pindar and Archilochus by heart. In principle, one may simply carouse from morning till night, reclining on a couch amid handsome youths, beauties and the strains of a pipe, provided one is sipping wine chilled in an elegant
Books · Observations · Humour
Hoffmann's tale of a boy who sucked his finger and a modern retelling with a phone
There is a tale by Hoffmann about a boy who kept sucking his thumb despite his mother's prohibitions. However strictly she watched him, the moment she left the house he was putting his little thumb in his mouth again. And then one day an itinerant tailor appeared and
Faith · Mores
Elder Paisios tells of an Athonite monk who struggled with alcohol addiction all his life
There was a monk on Athos who drank constantly, and it caused conflicts with pilgrims. After his death, one of the faithful told Elder Paisios that he was glad of the death of the drinking novice. Father Paisios replied that he had learned of the venerable man's death
Faith · Art · Madrid · Museums
Nicholas of Tolentino in a Painting by Juan Pantoja de la Cruz in the Prado Museum
Nicholas of Tolentino, 1601, Juan Pantoja de la Cruz. Collection of the Prado Museum. The Catholic saint Nicholas of Tolentino (1245-1305) was an Augustinian monk, renowned for his asceticism, and is depicted in the black Augustinian habit with a star on his breast. The bird standing on the dish
NB! · Archaeology · Geography · Nature
A 2,000-year-old geoglyph of a cat found on the Nazca plateau in Peru
This kitty from Peru is 2,000 years old. The giant geoglyph was discovered a few years ago on the famous Nazca plateau, where there are dozens of figures of people, birds, mammals and other objects and shapes
NB! · Observations · Mores · Humour
After listening for ten minutes to girls discussing their skincare routines
NB! · Archive · Cinema · New York · Pop Culture
Filming Ghostbusters, 1984
Art
Death and Life
Death and Life. Gustav Klimt. The painting exists in two versions, one of 1911 and a later one. The second version is shown in the photograph. It was created under the impression of the gathering storm of the First World War