living and learning

you never know where the wind will take you.

[roughentumble]

my friend just told me that there's a secret second dashboard that solely contains posts from people you've turned on post notifications for, and when i click the link in the messages it opens it within the tumblr app, so the tumblr app also has a secret second dashboard for post notification blogs, and the only way to access it is to open the link for it within the app.

i literally love tumblr

[thulium]

What the hell tumblr.

[quichelotta]

Maps Show Where Tourists Go—and Where Locals Do

GEOGRAPHY If you want to find tourists snapping pictures, you probably know where to go—Times Square in New York City, the Embarcadero in Sa

This is cool. The one for DC seems pretty accurate, anyway:

More maps here.

[alo83]

Accurate.

[fuckyeahchinesefashion]

OP: Why couldn’t traditional Chinese Yinpiao银票/silver drafts be forged if they were merely slips of paper? (cr大明宝钞，渐越)

Traditional Chinese yinpiao/silver drafts were paper vouchers issued by private banks starting from the Song Dynasty(960–1279). People could exchange these slips for physical silver at bank branches across the country.

Silver drafts were made in multiple copies with matching serrated seal edges. One copy went to the customer and others stayed at the bank. All edges had to fit perfectly together to withdraw silver. The unique split edge marks were almost impossible to copy.

This mechanism is known as qifeng骑缝 (split-joint seal) in China. It first originated in the Western Zhou Dynasty (1046–771 BC). The Rites of Zhou records that contracts were written on bamboo or wooden slips in duplicate. Notches and marks were carved in the middle before splitting the slips, with each party keeping one half. The two halves would be matched by their notches for verification.

During the Spring and Autumn and Warring States periods (770–221 BC), this idea evolved into hufu虎符/tiger tally tokens. A military tally was split into two pieces with identical inscriptions carved along the split edge. Troops could only be deployed if the patterns and characters on both halves perfectly aligned, serving as a metal version of the split-joint anti-counterfeiting system.

The technology matured in the Tang Dynasty (618–907). Government documents and private contracts commonly used split-joint seals stamped across the dividing line. The Chinese character "hetong合同" (contract) was written across the middle before the paper was torn apart, so the complete characters would only appear when the two halves were put together. This split-coupon system was later adopted for Song Dynasty (960–1279) jiaozi paper money and yinpiao/silver drafts of the Ming and Qing dynasties (1368–1912).

Official Song dynasty paper money (Jiaozi交子) was abolished in 1107. Private silver drafts issued by Qing-era piaohao票行 (ancient exchange banks) vanished completely in 1951, hit hard by modern banks and currency reforms. Nowadays silver drafts no longer circulate as currency. Their collectible value depends on their rarity and physical condition.

Split-joint seals (骑缝章qifengzhang)are still widely used on important paper documents in modern China, an anti-tampering technique passed down from ancient times. They are applied across the edge of multi-page contracts, bidding documents and official archives. If any page is removed or replaced, the broken seal pattern can prove the file has been altered.

[ariaste]

OMG I got so excited about this because they used a really similar (though far less refined) version of this for contracts in the European medieval period!

First they were called "chirographs", but later the word "indenture" (in its earliest meaning as just a legal document of any kind between two people) came to be used, originating from the practice of a contract being written twice on a single piece of parchment and then cut in half with serrated edges (as in dent, "teeth" -> indents -> indenture) in order for each party to take one half, so they could later piece them together and verify that there had been no forgery -- same as the Chinese silver drafts!

(Charter of the Clerecía de Ledesma, 1252, showing the serrated indents at the top -- presumably they are cutting rather than tearing because they're using parchment, which I expect is much harder to tear than wood-pulp paper like the Chinese were using)

Delights me when human beings find similar ways to solve the same problem at two different ends of the world. <3

[alo83]

Accounting emailed me to ask for a summary of a project including what is in the 2026 spend. So I sent a project summary that said this is what the project is, here’s what is our responsibility, here’s what the 2026 spend is covering, here’s the timeline of the project going forward.

She replied i am over achiever and only wants the one sentence of what the 2026 spend is.

Okay- well 1) seen. 2) then just ask for what’s included in the 2026 spend not also a project summary….

[yorgen-sh]

[cronenburger]

[dailyrothko]

And this post here shows there are a couple of different replies there of course were hundreds of replies. I even replied which I will now put here but besides making a joke about the famous quote, it was also Bloomsday

[alo83]

One of my Dad’s childhood friends passed away this week. He was one of my favorite humans growing up. He came to our house 2x a year for most of my childhood. But he got married and moved to AZ and we saw less and less of him the last twenty years or so. He went by his last name - Logger - and had the lives of a cat. So he recovered from things many people wouldn’t have when he was younger. But at 74, he must have hit his 9th and final life. The world is a bit less bright without him. I hope he’s playing golf and has all his mobility and toes back in the afterlife.

[tendie-defender]

We should bring back forest green.

[greenekatgrey]

My bedroom is this color 😌

[alo83]

My grandmother’s kitchen was that ivy wallpaper- prob done in the late 80s.

Our entry / stair has a green wall.

[alo83]

Our puppy ran away today. I found her and got her back an hour later.

But I am exhausted and I feel like I lost a year off my life.

Full story below the break if you want to know.

My husband was gone for work last night. So this morning I got us up, had breakfast, and did some work.

Then i take the doggos for a walk before it gets too hot today. Which, she was not great on, but there were BIRDS everywhere which is one of her favorite things to chase.

After we got back, I walked outside to water our front garden. She came out with me, and normally she just smells and looks for birds in our garden area between our town houses and the ones across from us.

I was messing with the hose for like 2 minutes to add a third time to our automatic waterer. And when I stood up and turned around she was gone. I called her name and nothing.

This is 11:30.

She doesn’t have a collar on. She should have been exhausted after the walk, but she’s gone.

We live in an urban area and there was so much traffic today, all I could think was she’s going to get hit by a truck! I walked our shared front garden area calling her name. I walked the back alley, and the other side of the other townhouses. Nothing.

I called my husband because he is 2 hours away working, and I was like what do I do? He said to call the microchip people and just start circling our block and asking anyone if they’d seen her.

So I called the microchip people and they put out a lost dog alert for her- they can’t gps track her sadly. I barely held it together and thank you to that woman who said I would find her.

So then I just started walking. I circled the block at least twice, went to the park. Nothing out of the ordinary.

Our neighbor down the way had landscape people today so I asked one if they had seen a small dog, and he said no. So I kept walking around the block, maybe twice I don’t know. When I came back to that street, he came and found me and said his nephew who was helping him had seen a black dog go south on the street north of our house. So I headed that way.

I kept walking but there was no commotion. Nothing out of the ordinary. We are two blocks from the Main Street. So I asked the people standing outside one of the stores if they had seen a black dog. She said no. But a minutes later someone who worked there came out and said to leave my information and description of the dog. So I did.

I kept walking down the street the landscaper had seen her go- maybe six or seven blocks down. Not sure if she would have turned off the road or where she would have gone. I didn’t even know where to go. I just kept walking.

J called back and said to just circle the blocks bigger each time. So I headed back to the Main Street.

Our town is very touristy so I was on the Main Street trying to figure out who worked there vs. who was just wondering by. It all seemed to be tourists. I stopped by the other park but it was flooded due to the high tide.

Nothing out of the ordinary. And I kept looking in the street for a hurt animal. But nothing.

I have no idea where she would go- she’s not like our other dog who would head to the treat spots. Simone would follow a bird and get lost.

Then it started to rain- not hard but enough that my glasses were collecting droplettes. So I decided to head back to the Main Street to just see if I could find any more shopkeepers and ask if anyone had seen her to get better direction.

So I go back and am looking for people who seem like they belong there. There is a woman doing some gardening outside of the store across from the one I had talked to earlier. I asked her if she’d seen a dog, and she said she had only been out there for 10 minutes and hadn’t seen anything. I said thank you and to watch out for a small black dog.

As I am walking away, a woman comes up and says “did you just say you lost a dog?” And I say “yes, my dog ran away. Shes a small black dog.” She goes “ can you describe her I found a dog a bit ago and just called animal control.” So I describe Simone and say she doesn’t have a collar but she is microchipped. We live two blocks away and some landscapers had seen her run down the street right there.

At this point animal control is arriving and the woman goes, I think I have your dog. So we tell the animal control guy and she takes me in the store and upstairs to find Simone in her bathroom. She said Simone had followed her for a few blocks so she brought her to the store to keep her safe. It’s Simone.

I fully started crying when I saw her. The woman is so nice, and says she has dogs and would have wanted someone to grab her dog if one ran away. She gives me a hug and continues to give Simone pets. I don’t know how we got so lucky.

Everyone in the store is so nice and saying nice things about Simone, but she continues to be a punk and almost runs out the door without me again. So I pick her up and we walk home saying hi to everyone I had talked to about her- the store across the way, the animal control guy, the guy at the smoothie shop, the landscapers.

And at just over an hour we were back home. I cried on the couch and our other dog- who is not empathetic - was definitely trying to make me feel better. Simone just decided to play with her toys.

Girl is sleeping now after her adventure, and I could use a nap as I feel like I lost a year off my life.

But she’s home. This is the proof of life picture I sent J.

Such a punk. No more freedom for her. I already ordered new collars and tags with a wifi tile holder for Simone.

[alo83]

The stadium is over half empty and still a bunch of yahoos feel the need to gather and take their shirts off. I really hope they all go home alone tonight.

[househunting]

$2,300,000/3 br/2 ba

Alexandria, VA

Built in 1880

[househunting on substack]

[househunting on instagram]

[alo83]

This house sold for $1.3m in 2020… real estate in my town is bonkers…

[alo83]

HOA drama.

I live in a small community of 27 houses and we have an HOA. Our homes all share parking in an alley and a “garden” at our front doors. So that’s mainly what the HOA manages. Our annual fee is very minimal- and they raised it for the first time in over a decade in 2023.

When we moved in here in 2020, the HOA president saw me and immediately saw a sucker and asked me to join the board. I said no as I was in grad school but I would consider when I was done. I did join in late 2022 when I finished school as I wanted to know more about the community.

In 2024 I offered to get some contractor quotes to complete a project that our maintenance report said needed to be completed in 2026 (this year). This is a large project in our “garden” and the quotes came back very high, meaning we would have to do an assessment to do the work. When we told the whole HOA about this in 2025, the old people flipped out. “You just raised our dues, this isn’t necessary, etc”

So in 2025 basically nothing happened, and the HOA president at the end of last year was like we need to do something now. She got approval from the community to do ANOTHER study that will likely just say we need to do this project. And the original plan was to form a committee to distribute the work and plan next steps. HOA president did not do that and just went about it herself with ChatGPT. And now she wants me to get back involved and clean up what she has received from civil engineers as she doesn’t actually understand construction.

I’m sorry. You not following the plan does not mean I now get to bail you out. Also, this is a waste of our money when we have a large project that needs to be completed.

She emailed the board asking to meet while I was out of town, and I said proceed without me. She then emailed me directly asking when I could speak on my return, and I said proceed without me I have no bandwidth to help. And now she called and left a vm being like I need your help.

I don’t know what else to do as I am tired of picking up other peoples pieces. I WORK a full time job. I can’t drop things to talk to you at 11 just because that’s between your appointments (hair, dr, dentist, whatever). My job may be flexible, but I’m not using that flexibility for you.

I’m OVER it. Do the project; don’t. I don’t care. But I don’t want to be involved. Just leave me alone.

[alo83]

J is flying back to my parents to meet me today. The dog woke me up at 4:30 and I thought about calling him to see if he was up, but thought- no he is an adult he can make his 6:30 am flight on his own.

Well flash forward to now (6:30 am), and he called because he got rebooked because he wasn’t at the airport early enough to check his bag (he’s flying with puppy). So now he doesn’t have a direct and won’t be here till noon.

Ugh, I guess I should have called ?

[alo83]

Vague work post ahead.

We are working on a task with outside people. But the outside people are annoying and incompetent. So I routinely have to be like “no, this is incorrect. The right answer is x. Please see page z of the attached y document which has been shared previously for confirmation.”

Thankfully my colleagues are like “Abbey will know the answer and she’s always right.” But like man, how are YOU so incompetent at YOUR job? And why are you making my day have a million dumb emails that didn’t need to exist.

Anyways, it is nice to have colleagues who respect you. But outside people need to stop so I can do my actual job.

[alo83]

I went to breakfast this morning with my oldest friend- my bestie from grade school who I stayed in touch with even when we went to separate high schools. I realized I hadn’t seen her since our wedding in 2022 (where we did not get to catch up as much as I would have liked) and before then probably was 2019. Her oldest (twins) are turning 10. And she had another baby a few months ago?!?

She hasn’t changed. It was like being back in our rooms when we were 14 - gossiping and chatting and figuring out lives. Now we’ve figured out some things but have others to still navigate. I don’t know if we would have pictured our lives then as it is now, but man did it feel good to connect again.

I need to be better about keeping in touch. Pre Covid I worked insane hours. Then it was grad school and wedding planning. Then it was two years of being dumb and in my own bubble trying to figure out my own shit, followed by the last two of illnesses and fighting to feel normal again. I’m finally on that other side and can remember that I used to be better about calling and catching up. That is important and also a way to show up for myself.

Here’s to more of that in 2026 and beyond.

[my-dailydreams]

[alo83]

I put on a shirt

[movementnudge]

Movement nudge, tai chi edition

Source

[alo83]

This looks like the am stretch I need to start doing daily