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

NB! · Observations · Mores · Humour

After listening for ten minutes to girls discussing their skincare routines

Engraving of a woman in a cap and ruff changing a baby’s nappy in a room with a fireplace, baskets and a sleeping dog.

NB! · Art · Mores · Humour

Willem van de Passe’s 1624 engraving of a mother changing a baby’s nappy

Changing nappies has always been an equally agreeable pastime. Willem van de Passe, 1624

NB! · Archive · Mores · People

Holiday mood with John Fitzgerald Kennedy Jr., summer 1986, Hyannis Port, Massachusetts, home of the Kennedy family residences

Art · Monarchies · Mores · People

In some portraits of Napoleon's sister Pauline Bonaparte, known as one of the three crowned courtesans, Pauline has short hair

In some portraits of Napoleon's sister Pauline Bonaparte, known as one of the three crowned courtesans, Pauline has short hair. In this portrait by Robert Lefèvre, attention is drawn to an unusual headdress: brocade ribbons adorn Pauline's closely cropped head. The story of Pauline's

Archive · Faith · Mores · Humour

What Did Our Ancestors Think of Those Who Drink Their Own Urine and Eat Beavers?

One of the oldest monuments of Russian polemical writing, the eleventh-century Epistle of Theodosius of the Caves to Prince Izyaslav Yaroslavich on the Latins, counsels not merely abstaining from intercourse with the Latins and not giving them one's daughters in marriage, but also, mark this, neither drinking

NB! · Observations · Mores

A Brief Word on the Habit of Dragging Small Children Everywhere

Archaeology · Mores · Rome

The naumachia of Augustus in Rome, an artificial lake for staged naval battles

Can you picture a stadium in the middle of a city, filled with water and twelve times the size of Luzhniki? The ancient Romans could, and they passed their time at such a stadium very agreeably indeed. Naumachia, from the ancient Greek for "naval battle", was a specially

NB! · Mores · Pop Culture · Humour

Yves Montand, Édith Piaf and Permanent Make-Up

NB! · Mores · Humour

And now these women are calling somebody a prostitute, from their bench by the entrance

NB! · London · Monarchies · Observations · Mores · Humour

Only just spotted this epic 2000s telly at the Queen's Windsor Castle, complete with oval side table, which every granny ought to have at home

Only just spotted this epic 2000s telly at the Queen's Windsor Castle, complete with oval side table, which every granny ought to have at home. Yesss👌🏽

A woman in a dark jacket and hat checks the bathing suit of a young woman on a sandy beach, with bathers in the background.

NB! · Archive · Mores · Society

Checking the length of a woman’s bathing suit on a beach in Chicago in 1921

A policewoman checks a girl's bathing dress against the regulation length for bathing costumes. Chicago, 1921