the third who walks always beside you

Call me Vega. This is a blog for stuff I like. chaotic good neutral aesthetic

[thicque]

i was at dinner earlier going on an impassioned rant about pop music when the waiter came up to our table in the middle of me saying "carly could easily have made 1989 but taylor could never even touch the heights of E•MO•TION"

and he said "yes diva speak your truuuuth" and comped me a free tequila soda thank u san francisco i love u san francisco

[ralphlanyon]

happy odyssey weekend

[prinnay]

Mountain Mint

I love this majestic plant so much. You can never have too much Pycnanthemum around.

...Until you have too much Pycnanthemum around. Then you have a mint party

Inks and acryl-gouache on paper

[malnedott]

door details

[timrousbeastie]

[achilleius]

Me: *buys a new book* OH MY GOD I CANT WAIT TO GO HOME AND READ IT, IVE BEEN WAITING FOR THIS TO COME OUR FOR YEARS!!

Me: *takes 2 years to pick the book up*

[danceundersparklinglights]

i’m going to be really honest with you guys i think the tendency to read the absolute worst possible intentions into every action you don’t agree with is getting too automatic and it’s eating you from the inside out

[fagstaynight]

heartwarming: transfem named mary sue and transmasc named gary stu have had a beautiful nonbinary baby named donut steel

[yeoldenews]

The other night I reorganized the folder on my computer where I keep all the weird New York Herald personal ads I post.

Over the years I've been clipping these I've come across a handful of personals that were just straight up written in code.

As I was going through the folder I noticed that almost all the coded ads were printed within a year or two of each other (specifically between 1850 and 1852). Looking a bit more closely I also began to realize that the same coded words and phrases were appearing across multiple personals - suggesting they were all written in the same code (which appeared to be a basic substitution cipher), likely by the same person/people.

Possessing multiple samples of the code, struck by the type of confidence that only hits at 11:30 at night, and having the little know-how remaining from a special interest in cryptology in middle school, I thought... I bet I can crack that.

So I took the longest coded personal I had at the time (the image directly above - I've since found a much longer one), cracked open a notebook and got cryptoquip-ing.

I had a few little hitches due to words being mispelled in the original ad and a few unclear letters due to poor quality newsprint, but I soon found myself with a mostly decoded message...

"This morning at elevn[sic] precisely be at Carter's bookstore two eighty five Broadway. As a prete?h ask for their directory. Don't fail."

I made myself a key (V and W are Q and Z, but as neither letter is ever used in an ad there's no way to tell which is which.)...

...and got to decoding the other personal ads and putting them chronological order.

Let's see what was worth encoding 175 years ago...

July 16, 1850 -

"You have arrived by this time I suppose my own dearest Josie. I shall wait ivpatiently[sic] for the Asia hoping to hear from you. I went to vespers Sunday and sat in your pew. You are never out of my thoughts. I have written down all that has occurred which I thought would interest you. We will read it together on our first drive after your return. I kiss this on which your eyes will rest. Do not forget your own fond devoted Jerry."

---

September 12, 1850 -

"Welcome my dearest Josie; when can k[sic] see you."

---

September 17, 1850 -

"Not one word from you dearest while away or since you returndd[sic]. Have your feelings then changed, See last Thursdays Herald. I dare not see you for the first time at home."

---

October 10, 1850 -

"I’m sick with anxiety about you, love. Will you not see me."

---

The ads then skip almost two years (I'm planning to go through the intervening microfilm by hand at some point to make sure there aren't any sneaky ones I missed)...

June 3, 1852 -

"Dearest - I was very ill whne[sic] you wrote."

---

July 4, 1852 -

"Deareft[sic] - Just return[sic] from Albany write again to me box in post office."

---

July 7, 1852 -

"Today three oclock Jersey City ferry house."

---

July 8, 1852 -

"This morning at eleven south ferry New York side."

Street cars and omnibuses wait outside the South Ferry terminal in New York City, circa 1865.

---

July 13, 1852 (the original message I decoded) -

"This morning at elevn[sic] precisely be at Carters Bookstore two eighty five Broadway. As a pretexh[sic] ask for their directory. Don’t fail."

Carter's Bookstore (indicated by janky arrow) as seen in a panoramic view published in Gleason's Pictorial, March 18, 1854.

---

Another time skip, this time 5 months.

December 14, 1852 -

"Give me a da y[sic] dear."

---

And the final message (that I've found as of writing this)...

December 25, 1852 -

"Mnray[sic] at elevn[sic] Catharine Ferry New York."

It may not be the most thrilling of Victorian espionage, but it still feels pretty cool to read something no one else has read in 175 years.

I've gone through about 3 months worth of microfilm by hand and found two more coded ads that weren't picked up by the text recognition due to blurry newsprint, but it's a slog so it's going to take a while.

So what are our theories? Did these two crazy kids make it? What was keeping them apart? Why the two year gap? What were all the meetings for?

[bruzum]

[lastvalyrian]

This is literally what people are talking about when they say AI will be used to mainstream widely held bigotry. LLMs are trained on frequency and probability -> straight relationships are more well represented in the dataset -> straight pronouns and terms become the "correct" normal.

This is a form of backdoor bigotry from both normative facts (there are more straight than gay relationships) and well represented bigoted beliefs (men are superior to women).

Combine this with the mass of people inclined to believe (and being encouraged to believe) that if AI says and does something it must be correct

[cozyrogue]

the "rip ___ you would have loved ___" meme is inherently more fun with ancient characters. rip clytemnestra you would have loved morse code. rip theseus you would have loved the airtag. rip callisto you would have loved wearing shorts.

[newsiesiswhyimhere]

rip Icarus you would have loved parachutes

[destiel-news-network]

(Source)

Graham was a homophobe and was seen as one of Trump's closest allies in the Senate. His death will not meaningfully impact the partisan balance of the Senate, as South Carolina's Republican governor can immediately appoint a replacement to serve out the remainder of his term.

Graham's death, which was unexpected, comes as the nation is expectantly waiting for the death of former Republican Senate Leader Sen. Mitch McConnell — who was hospitalized weeks ago and has mysteriously not made any public appearances, statements, or updates since.

[officerhaughtstuff]

You’ve heard of the Roaring 20s........

now get ready for the Screaming 20s - coming to a decade near you in 2020

[heterokatedison]

is it too early or can we start screaming now

[heterokatedison]

in retrospect perhaps we should have started sooner

[jorolle]

this post is the equivalent of a newspaper from the day of the outbreak being blown past by the wind after you wake up in a post apocalyptic world

[inthefallofasparrow]

[inthefallofasparrow]

[inthefallofasparrow]

[inthefallofasparrow]

[inthefallofasparrow]

[horsefigureoftheday]

Nova's tips for beating the heatwave:

1. Check that you have good access to shade trees, a shelter custom made to fit you and all your friends, and plenty of good airflow

2. Find the hottest, sunniest, and least windy part of you pasture and lay down

3. Make sure you look as much as possible like you have died of heatstroke

4. Get your friends in on it

[prince-of-goths]

A horse's biggest purpose in life is to make you think they died

[64mpg]

ads targeted to women: omg you are thirtyyyy. kill yourself

[flannelgirlfriend]

I love this post so much my friend put it on my 30th birthday cake

[parkchanwoohoo]