Things I Find Interesting

What I love What I hate What I feel

[mrorel]

Who Doesn't Like An Ear Rub

When is it my turn?

[mrorel]

Things People No Longer Want

Our local thrift store has so many complete sets of beautiful fine China that no body wants. I still have my parents set and when I'm dead I'm sure it will end up on the same shelf.

[nostalgicamerica]

[mrorel]

Helping people is double edged sword ... at least half of the time (more) you will get cut.

[boozinbroads]

[mrorel]

I would really like to know what this is from. I mean, a topless chimney sweep drinking champagne on the roof.

[hellooldsmelly]

[mrorel]

The original sex kitten.

[adicttive]

[edo1948]

[weantuniverse]

(via Facebook)

[helenvaughans]

[myrandomstuffpage]

[mrorel]

The White House began publicly promoting a new, privately owned chain of gas stations called the Freedom Fuel Network. These stations sell gasoline at below-market prices (e.g., $3.47 a gallon) and are heavily branded with Trump's name and 47th President imagery. The origins and specific financial backers of this chain are currently shrouded in mystery.

[usafphantom2]

Did you know the solid quartz glass of the canopy of the SR-71 Blackbird cockpit was 1.25 inches thick and was hot to the touch from the inside? By Linda Sheffield

To withstand external temperatures exceeding at Mach \(3\), SR-71 windshields were made of \(1.25\)-inch thick solid quartz.

Engineers from Corning Glass Works combated extreme thermal expansion and optical distortion by ultrasonically fusing the quartz directly to the titanium frame using high-frequency sound waves.Key Engineering Adaptations

Solid Quartz Construction: Conventional glass and polycarbonate would melt or warp at cruise temperatures.

Quartz provided superior heat resistance and maintained optical clarity.Ultrasonic Fusion: Because metal and glass expand at different rates, conventional mechanical fasteners couldn’t handle the stress. Fusing the quartz directly to the titanium via high-frequency sound waves solved this.Four-Section

Windshield: the windshield was a little bit more complex.

The canopy featured four smaller panes instead of one large piece. This segmented approach localized stresses and made the quartz less susceptible to failure under extreme thermal and aerodynamic forces.Extreme Temperature Gradients: While the outside glass reached up to \(600^{\circ }F\), the inside faced internal cockpit temperatures around \(150^{\circ }F\). Specialized materials and an advanced air conditioning system managed this difference to prevent the windows from fogging or fracturing

This is a windshield of an M 21. It is located at the Museum of flight Seattle Washington

@Habubrats71 via X

[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

[gerardlesudiste]

Catalina White.

[idieinmydaydream]

Phetcharada Pacharee

[roundedcurves2]

Michelle Angelo

[beautiesofbygoneeras]

Michelle Angelo - Late 1960s To Mid 1970s Eras American Classic Men's Magazine Model.

[guerrillatech]

[mrorel]

Yeah, Chuck Schumer needs to go!

[black-white-and-leather]

Whoever did this is brilliant. Bravo

[masterxdanx]

I don't drink whiskey to forget my problems. I drink to celebrate the fact that I have survived them.

[mrorel]

There is that.