Philip Allfrey
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drpda.bsky.social
Philip Allfrey
@drpda.bsky.social
Heraldist by night, web developer by day. Lapsed particle physicist. Occasional palaeographer. Accidental digital humanist. He/him
There are also some ceremonial trowels (from laying foundation stones) if you're interested digitalnz.org/records?text...
Ceremonial trowel | Records | DigitalNZ
digitalnz.org
October 21, 2025 at 7:52 PM
I'm sure I have seen some of these here in New Zealand, but this is the only one I can find at the moment
collection.pukeariki.com/objects/1757...
Shovel
A small ceremonial shovel. The shaft of the shovel is polished wood with a small curved handle. The head of the shovel is polished silver, with engraved text " PRESENTED TO / S.G. SMITH ESQ. / By Contractors J.T. Julian and Son / On the occasions of turning the first sod / ON THE MANGAMAHOE DAM CONTRACT / 25. 3. 29 ".
collection.pukeariki.com
October 21, 2025 at 7:51 PM
There is a clone of Arc called Zen which is based on the Firefox browser engine, which I need to check out.
zen-browser.app
Zen Browser
Beautifully designed, privacy-focused, and packed with features.
zen-browser.app
September 26, 2025 at 9:32 PM
I've been using it for the past year or so, and I find the workspaces and side bar make it easier to manage all the (many, many) tabs I have open. Unfortunately the company has decided to discontinue active development as of a few months ago. browsercompany.substack.com/p/letter-to-...
Letter to Arc members 2025
On Arc, its future, and the arrival of AI browsers — a moment to answer the largest questions you've asked us this past year.
browsercompany.substack.com
September 26, 2025 at 9:31 PM
Excellent, will do that!
September 15, 2025 at 9:50 AM
September 15, 2025 at 3:37 AM
Do you mean de facto, or was there an official naming change? (Very apropos as I'm currently workin pn the definition of an "identifier" database field for a local history project focusing on that very area)
September 15, 2025 at 12:36 AM
You're very welcome! I'm thrilled I was able to identify it! I thought I'd got as far as I could with the text, then tried one more search, on Google Scholar for "Nicolas de Pistorio" (with quotes and no h) and there it was! Will be very interested to see how it matches up with the Liege text.
September 6, 2025 at 10:46 AM
I found a match! The document is from 1 March 1412. It was another Nicholas, the secretary of pope John XXIII.
See "Notice d'un cartulaire du clergé secondaire de Liège", Bulletin de la Commission royale d'Histoire, 1872 Vol 14 p.360
www.persee.fr/doc/bcrh_077...
September 6, 2025 at 4:46 AM
Sorry, I miscounted. Nicholas is on image 19, 5 lines from the bottom, and the date is at the bottom of image 20
So I would say it dates to the second half of the 13th century.

What looks to be a place name Colmen/Colomen also occurs twice if that's any help
September 6, 2025 at 4:36 AM
In image 18, 3 lines from the bottom it reads "dilectum filium nostrum magistrum Nicholam de pistorio". Nicholas de Pistorio apparently died in India after 1291.
In image 19 the last line reads "... martii pontificatus nostri anno secundo", i.e. March in the second year of our pontificate
September 6, 2025 at 4:28 AM
A few years ago I took my boys on a tri-modal public transport outing in Auckland: bus to the bus station, change twice to get to the farmers market, ferry to the city, onto the train for a jaunt two stops up the line and back (didn't exit station = free ride) & double decker bus home on the busway!
August 28, 2025 at 9:12 PM
I agree this would be the way to do it, though really you would think anyone interested enough to read the article would recognise the abbreviations (I do, but then I can also tell you the associated academic dress at more than one institution!)
August 27, 2025 at 8:21 AM
"One day in this last dream of all she would see the little white horse, and he would not go away from her. He would come towards her and she would run towards him, and he would carry her upon his back away and away, she did not quite know where, but to a good place, a place where she wanted to be"
August 21, 2025 at 10:09 AM
Very sorry for your loss 💜
August 21, 2025 at 10:08 AM
I've come across a couple of TEI projects in passing which may be suitable:

github.com/BetaMasaheft...

github.com/srophe/persons
GitHub - BetaMasaheft/Persons: Authority files for each person
Authority files for each person. Contribute to BetaMasaheft/Persons development by creating an account on GitHub.
github.com
August 19, 2025 at 10:36 AM
This project is one part fun (writing new lyrics for popular songs to describe elements of digital humanities), one part engaging with the preoccupation of the field in defining what constitutes Digital Humanities (via examples) & one part provocation (does this project count as DH? why or why not?)
August 12, 2025 at 1:28 AM
Number 39!
July 26, 2025 at 8:25 AM