NB! · Observations · Mores · Humour

Byron's Venetian Apartment Makes One Reconsider the Standards of Airbnb Accommodation

Detail of a painting showing the torso of a nude man and white drapery, with the face only partly visible.

NB! · Art · Observations · Humour

Orestes in Bouguereau's painting, cropped to exclude the Furies pursuing him

I rather wanted to rescue Orestes, pursued by the Furies, from his importunate company. Really, without these charming ladies Bouguereau's painting is far better

NB! · Cinema · Observations · Pop Culture · Humour

The only consolation is that Daenerys finally flew too close to the sun

NB! · Observations · Humour

When Someone Turns Out to Be a Supporter of the Normanist Theory

Cinema · Society · Nature · Humour

Wolf photographed for the first time in Luxembourg, where the species was exterminated in 1893

A wolf has been photographed in Luxembourg. What of it, you ask? Firstly, the picture unmistakably shows the wolf from the cartoon "Once Upon a Time There Was a Dog" [Zhil-byl pyos], voiced by Armen Dzhigarkhanyan. Secondly, wolves were exterminated in Luxembourg as long ago as 1893,

NB! · Museums · Humour

And Why Did the Museum Attendants Start Shouting TIME, GENTLEMEN, PLEASE?

A white fluffy cat sleeps on its back on a white fluffy rug lying on a grey tiled floor.

NB! · Archive · People · Humour

A joke about Kerensky in 1917 and a white cat blending into its rug

1917. Kerensky in a ladies' dress shop

NB! · Observations · Humour

When people want to visit me at home, but I am prepared to show only a corner of the desk

Observations · Mores · Humour

The smoking cap in the 19th-century male wardrobe and its purpose

Velvet caps like these, with embroidery and rich decoration, were a common item of the male wardrobe in the nineteenth century. To the modern eye, admittedly, they look somewhat odd. But the headgear served no merely decorative purpose: this is the so-called smoking cap, worn in smoking rooms or

Faith · People · Pop Culture · Rome · Humour

Pope Francis visits a music shop without a cortege, arriving in a Fiat 500 with Vatican plates

Yesterday evening the Pope slipped out of the Vatican and was caught leaving the StereoSound music shop near the Pantheon. Francis likes not only mischievous escapades but also classical music, Beethoven, Mozart and Bach above all, so why not combine the two passions, he thought? All the more so as

Humour

"You're so reckless, ma chère"

"No, I'm just working remotely."

NB! · Monarchies · People · Humour