<summary type="html"><![CDATA[Welcome to the 145th edition of The Newsletter Leaf Journal, the official newsletter of the perennially virid online writing magazine, The New Leaf Journal. This newsletter comes to you as always from the waterproof keyboard of the editor of The New Leaf Journal, Nicholas A. Ferrell.
This will be an unusual newsletter since I did not actually publish any articles this week. I was busy with work and plagued by sinus issues. I do have an article in the pipeline, but I have not gotten around to publishing it yet. (Next week will likely be on the quiet side as well, albeit busy compared to a week of no publishing.) But we need not let the lack of publishing at The New Leaf Journal hinder its newsletter cousin...
The Old Leaf Journal
While I did not publish new articles, we can dig into the arc…]]></summary>
<summary type="html"><![CDATA[Welcome to the 144th edition of The Newsletter Leaf Journal, the official newsletter of the perennially virid online writing magazine, The New Leaf Journal, with content too amazing for Bing and DuckDuckGo. This newsletter comes to you as always from the waterproof keyboard of the editor of The New Leaf Journal, Nicholas A. Ferrell. I published a decent number of regular articles this week (not too many short posts, however), and we will review those below in conjunction with links from around the web and other news and notes.
Leaves from the week that was
I published five normal articles.
Installing Non-Listed Programs in PlayOnLinux: A step-by-step guide to running Windows programs with the help of PlayOnLinux (the guide is probably applicable to PlayOnMac as well)
<summary type="html"><![CDATA[Last year, I wrote a guide for Linux users on how to configure a Japanese language environment for three graphical interfaces […]
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On DRM-Free Games on Steam
On Improving the Environment For Gaming On Linux
Digital Purchases as Indefinite Rentals
LoveChoice Visual Novel Review
Kaori After Story - Visual Novel Review
The Mystery of Sōseki and Tsuki ga Kirei
ACE Academy - Visual Novel Review
Return to Shironagasu Island Review
The al|together and Insani Visual Novel Translations]]></summary>
<summary type="html"><![CDATA[For whatever reason, my computer won't suspend or hibernate. I have generally assumed it has to do with using DisplayPort for my primary monitor and HDMI for my secondary... but never quite figured it out. It is not a big deal since I turn my computer off when I am not using it anyway. Instead of continuing to dig into the weeds... I decided to install Xscreensaver and enable almost all of the screensavers. Left my computer for about 20 minutes and returned to Pacman on my primary monitor and a dancing wireframe box on my secondary monitor. Highly recommended.
<summary type="html"><![CDATA[What does it mean from an American perspective to have been "born overseas"? I thought about this when I saw ESPN describe NBA Hall of Famer Tim Duncan as having been born overseas. Duncan was born in the U.S. Virgin Islands. While this is indeed over a sea, the U.S. Virgin Islands is an unincorporated territory of the United States. All persons born there are citizens from birth by operation of statute, and it is within the judicial jurisdiction of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the First Circuit. After reflecting on the issue, I concluded, for reasons stated in my article, that Duncan should not be described (from a U.S. perspective) as having been born "overseas."
<summary type="html"><![CDATA[MikroTik is a Latvian-based company that produces networking equipment and maintains a proprietary Linux distribution for networking devices called RouterOS. RouterOS […]
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Signing into Winbox
An Introduction to RSS and Other Feed Formats
How to Find Substack RSS Feeds and Other Notes
RSS as a Facebook Alternative
IndieWeb Standards, RSS, and Atom
What is an "Android Alternative"?
The American Bee Journal World's Fair Report
Replacing soundbar and re-configuring universal remote for…
<summary type="html"><![CDATA[If the consigliere of New York City's Colombo crime family cannot log off, what hope is there for the normies? I present the story of the unfortunate consequences of "oversharing" for a mob boss on the run. (Note: Problems in this particular case could have been avoided by not engaging in criminal racketeering.)
<summary type="html"><![CDATA[I wrote about the discontinuation of Google’s Stadia, a game streaming service, back in the context of game ownership. In that […]
<summary type="html"><![CDATA[The star ratings that we dole out for Preview Guide aren't indicative of a show's overall quality, of course; we've only got one or two episodes to go on, after all. Instead, they indicate how good of a job a first episode does at convincing viewers to keep on watching in the coming weeks.
James Beckett of Anime News Network explains how he scores series in the ANN season preview guides, noting that the purpose is to offer readers an opinion on whether a series is worth following based on its opening episode.]]></summary>
<summary type="html"><![CDATA[Before watching episode 2, I review the animation in episode 1 of The Girl I Like Forgot Her Glasses, one of the new anime series of the summer season. I was inspired to write the piece when I saw some dramatically different takes on the animation, ranging from crediting the first 3 minutes for having more frames than entire episodes of other shows to describing those same 3 minutes as being a crime against humanity. On the whole, I offer some qualified praise for the style and attention to detail while also highlighting technical issues (inconsistent 3D assets, bad shadows, glitches) that are a bit concerning going forward.
<summary type="html"><![CDATA[Welcome to the (syndicated) version of The Newsletter Leaf Journal edition 143, originally mailed on Saturday, July 8, 2023. This newsletter […]
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The Newsletter Leaf Journal at 100
Justin & Justina: The Most-Read New Leaf Journal Content of…
Justin and Justina review 2022 at the NLJ
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The New Leaf Journal Celebrates Its First Birthday
The New Leaf Journal Newsletter
How to Find Substack RSS Feeds and Other Notes
The Newsletter Leaf Journal VIII
New Leaf Journal Third Birthday Reader]]></summary>
<summary type="html"><![CDATA[I had some difficulty explaining how to use PlayOnLinux (and by extension, PlayOnMac... probably) to my friend via text chat. I was going to send a guide after I remembered myself -- then I figured I ought to just publish the guide on the NLJ. Note that I personally use Lutris (and occasionally Bottles) as a WINE GUI, but PlayOnLinux still works fairly well and is certainly the better choice for a 2007 MacBook with 1 GB of RAM running Bodhi Linux.
<summary type="html"><![CDATA[Welcome to the 143rd edition of The Newsletter Leaf Journal, the official newsletter of the perennially virid online writing magazine, The New Leaf Journal. This newsletter comes to you as always from the waterproof keyboard of the editor of The New Leaf Journal, Nicholas A. Ferrell. We had a warm week to begin July here in New York City. But weather aside, I published several new articles. You will find links to and descriptions of our new article along with our usual assortment of links from around the web and other news and notes.
Leaves from the week that was
I published four regular articles since mailing Newsletter 142.
Most-Visited NLJ Articles of 1H 2023
Many of the featured pieces on our 24 most-visited articles of the first half of 2023 will comes as little surprise to newslett…]]></summary>
<summary type="html"><![CDATA[Our 24 most-visited articles of Jan 1-June 30, 2023, with links to each. Note that the ranking comes with the caveat that statistics come from Koko Analytics, which is an entirely local WordPress page counter with no third party scripts or connections. It respects Do Not Track and does not work for users who block JS, so it is (by design) not as robust as commercial solutions. However, I have found that its recording of Google referrers is usually fairly close to what I see in Google Search Console (formerly Webmaster), so I'll count it as close enough for all normal, non-creepy purposes.
<title type="html"><![CDATA[New 'Threads' App Successfully Combines Everything You Hate About Twitter With Everything You Hate About Instagram]]></title>
<summary type="html"><![CDATA["After years of research, our engineers have created a revolution in social media technology: a Twitter clone on Instagram that offers the absolute worst of both worlds," said a VR headset-wearing Zuckerberg in an address to dozens of friends in the Metaverse. "At long last, you can read caustic hot takes written by talentless idiots, while still enjoying oppressive censorship and sepia-toned thirst traps from yoga pants models with obnoxious lip injections. You're welcome!"
Babylon Bee article with made up Mark Zuckerberg quote touting the virtues of Threads. This is some of the Bee's finest writing and not at all inaccurate.]]></summary>
<author>
<name>Hypothesis Stream</name>
</author>
</entry>
<entry>
<title type="html"><![CDATA[New comment by nafnlj in "Show HN: Blogs.hn – tiny blog directory"]]></title>
<summary type="html"><![CDATA[On April 12, 2023, the New York Post reported on the NYPD’s rescuing a coyote from the East River. Police departments […]
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Duck and Duckling Rescue Stories From Around the Web
NLJ Brooklyn NYC pigeon rescue story
The Heroic Fallen Trash Can Rescue in Gowanus
Justin & Justina: Most-Read NLJ Content of 2020
Heights in “The Dangers in My Heart” Anime
Justin & Justina 〜 4th of July Grill Sacrifices to the…
The NYPD's Duck Family Rescue in Midtown Manhattan
Transferring Photos From My BlackBerry Classic Using KDE…
The L-Shaped Desk on Hamilton Avenue, Brooklyn]]></summary>
<summary type="html"><![CDATA[In 2021, I wrote a mini article centered on a photo I took of a banana bench outside a home in Gowanus, Brooklyn. I don't think anyone really read it (such is the fate of small photo posts). However, according to my local privacy-friendly analytics tool, Koko Analytics, I suddenly got a large number of referrals from Facebook (unusual, if not unprecedented) all pointing to the banana bench article. I guess someone shared it. However, I don't have Facebook, so the source will forever be a mystery. You too can enjoy the banana bench.
<title type="html"><![CDATA[I stopped using Thunderbird for task management (I had been [using it with Radicale-DecSync](https:/...]]></title>
<id>https://memos.emucafe.org/m/24</id>
<link href="https://memos.emucafe.org/m/24"/>
<updated>2023-07-07T04:30:04.000Z</updated>
<summary type="html"><![CDATA[I stopped using Thunderbird for task management (I had been using it with Radicale-DecSync), both because I found it cumbersome and I had some sync issues. While I don't think I need a task management app per se, I decided to see how Zim works. I set up a new Planner notebook with the tasks and journal plugins enabled. I am getting the hang of it, but it has a neat, simple syntax out of the box. Thinking about some ways to turn it into a full-fledged planner.
Zim Task List plugin docs: https://zim-wiki.org/manual/Plugins/Task_List.html
#zimwiki #planner #decsync]]></summary>
<author>
<name>Emu Café Memos</name>
</author>
</entry>
<entry>
<title type="html"><![CDATA[Using FreshRSS to “Like” blog posts via Webmention (2019)]]></title>
<summary type="html"><![CDATA[I have a long list, so I'll choose a few personal favorites that may be of interest to HN readers:
https://nicole.express/feed.xml (tinkering with old games and game hardware)
https://shumplations.com/feed (translations of Japanese game developer interviews)
https://www.loc.gov/collections/global-legal-monitor/?fo=rss (summaries of legal news from around the world)
https://reason.com/people/josh-blackman/feed (legal analysis and commentary from Josh Blackman)
https://yukinu.com/feed/atom.xml (charming small web site with links to interesting sites, tech experiments, and looks at old tech)
https://feed.tedium.co (well-researched essays on a variety of topics)
https://blog.sakugabooru.com/feed (detailed essays on the anime industry and production)
htpps://perishablepress.com/feed/atom (personal website of WordPress developer Jeff Starr)
https://ai.mee.nu/feed/atom (daily tech news with strong opinions)
https://www.washingtontimes.com/rss/authors/stephen-dinan (one of the best reporters on immigration law/border issues)
https://liliputing.com/feed (news about mini PCs and mobile devices)
https://worldofmatthew.com/index.xml (essays on digital ownership and random musings)
I would also humbly recommend my own writing project, link in my profile if you're interested
I also recommend looking at Morss.it (https://morss.it/) if there is a site you want to subscribe to without a feed. It generally works very well (RSS Bridge and RSS Hub serve the same purpose if you want to self-host).]]></summary>
<author>
<name>nafnlj</name>
</author>
</entry>
<entry>
<title type="html"><![CDATA[New comment by nafnlj in "Ask HN: What are your favorite RSS feeds?"]]></title>
<summary type="html"><![CDATA[You may be interested in Osmosfeed: https://github.com/osmoscraft/osmosfeed
It is a static site feed aggregator primarily designed to go with GitHub Pages. I host one to aggregate my own writing on different sites. I think it may fit your use case because your Osmosfeed site itself outputs a single Atom feed. So, for example, if I have an Osmosfeed site that aggregates feeds 1, 2, and 3, the Osmosfeed site has a single feed which will include the three individual feeds. Mine has about 10-12 feeds and it has worked perfectly thus far with no issues. Not sure if it would have problems at higher numbers.]]></summary>
<author>
<name>nafnlj</name>
</author>
</entry>
<entry>
<title type="html"><![CDATA[An elegant new orchid is found hiding in plain sight]]></title>
<summary type="html"><![CDATA[*odds going into 03-04, not 02-03... my guess was based on the perception of the state of affairs in the NBA between 02-03 and 03-04]]></summary>
<summary type="html"><![CDATA[In a companion article, I told the story of the 1997 trade which netted the Pistons the #2 pick off a 50-win season in 2003. The trade, which saw the then-Vancouver Grizzlies trade a future, lightly protected first round pick, for a 35-year old Otis Thorpe nearing the end of his career (note the Grizzlies were coming off a 14-68 season) was so bad that one need not even qualify a critique of the trade with "hindsight is 20/20." Had anyone stopped and thought for a moment, all of the sights would have advised not making that trade.
<summary type="html"><![CDATA[Last week, I commemorated the 20th anniversary of the 2003 NBA Draft by addressing a hypothetical -- should the Detroit Pistons, who lucked into the second overall pick despite coming off a 50 win season thanks to a trade from 1997, have drafted Carmelo Anthony? As we know, the Pistons drafted Darko Milicic, who played little in 2.5 seasons with the team, but they won the 2003-04 championship. After considering all the factors, I concluded in a long, stat-filled article, that with perfect hindsight, the Pistons should not have drafted Anthony, but I do offer some alternatives.
(PS: I was proud of myself when I guessed the championship odds ranking going into 2002-03 and found that the betting odds rank on Basketball Reference matched my guess perfectly.)
<summary type="html"><![CDATA[It was raining quite a bit in NYC yesterday. I will venture that may have led to some outdoor 4th of July gatherings being imperiled. For those who had a 4th of July event deferred, I present my 2021 (fictional) dialogue on the PURPOSE of July 4 grilling. As one of the three major characters in the dialogue argues -- the purpose is very clearly ritualistic sacrifices to the Founding Fathers ("argues" is the operative word).
<summary type="html"><![CDATA[I opened your home page. The two guinea pig headlines were enough to convince me I should add this to my RSS feed list and read more.]]></summary>
<author>
<name>nafnlj</name>
</author>
</entry>
<entry>
<title type="html"><![CDATA[New comment by nafnlj in "Ask HN: Could you share your personal blog here?"]]></title>
I started NLJ back in 2020. It is built with WordPress (hosted on Hetzner VPS and managed with Cloudron). I have published more than 800 articles and 350 short-form posts (almost all posts by me, but my friend has published 30something articles). I write about whatever interests me (I tell myself this means there is something for everyone). Common topics include, but are not limited to, tech (digital ownership, open source software, feeds, and my learning Linux), history (usually American or Roman), old books and poems, anime, visual novels (mainly English translations of freeware NScripter/KiriKiri novels), photos from my walks, fictional dialogues, and occasional commentary about life in NYC.
https://memos.emucafe.org/u/2
I am testing out Memos (https://github.com/usememos/memos) for short-form notes and microblog-style posts, but very much a side project next to NLJ. Neat little tool.]]></summary>
<author>
<name>nafnlj</name>
</author>
</entry>
<entry>
<title type="html"><![CDATA[The Eagle, the National Seal, and turkeys]]></title>
<summary type="html"><![CDATA[Coolidge's July 4, 1926 speech is fairly well known by the standards of presidential speeches. Less well known are the remarks he delivered on July 4, 1918, as Lt. Gov of Massachusetts. The subject of the speech was broadly relations between the United States and Japan, and specifically the story of a certain Manjiro Nakahama.
<summary type="html"><![CDATA[On July 4, 1926, then-President Calvin Coolidge delivered a speech to commemorate the 150th anniversary of American independence. I discuss the speech in detail in my article. Fun additional fact... July 4, 1926 was also Coolidge's 54th birthday.
<summary type="html"><![CDATA[On July 4, 1923, a Reverend Charles W. Lyons delivered an Independence Day oration titled "The American Mind" (the title was inspired by a Jefferson quote). In a 2021 article, I re-printed the entire oration and offered my own commentary. Having put my thoughts in the article, I submit a fun fact for Mastodon. Lyons, who was a Jesuit priest, is the only man to have served as president of four different American colleges (Gonzaga, St. Joseph's, Boston College, and Georgetown).
<summary type="html"><![CDATA[Welcome to the syndicated version of Newsletter Leaf Journal 142. You can see the original version here. Our July 1 newsletter […]
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The Newsletter Leaf Journal at 100
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The New Leaf Journal Newsletter
How to Find Substack RSS Feeds and Other Notes
The New Leaf Journal Celebrates Its First Birthday
The Newsletter Leaf Journal VIII
Most-Visited NLJ Articles of 1H 2023]]></summary>
<author>
<name>Nicholas A. Ferrell</name>
</author>
</entry>
<entry>
<title type="html"><![CDATA[Briar Desktop now supports MacOS]]></title>
<summary type="html"><![CDATA[I published an article about anime romances with significant height differences between the main romantic pair back in March (see height […]
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Height differences in anime romances
Futaba Igarashi's Hair Is Naturally Green?
Anime Recommendations of the Decade (2011-20)
The Best Anime Series of 2021
Anime romantic comedy gimmicks...
Lateral thinking to extend game console life-cycles
Perspectives From Japan On Watching Movie Credits
What Makes a Depressing Anime? Discussion and Selection.
The Questionable NYC Mayoral Campaign About Page of Maya…]]></summary>
<summary type="html"><![CDATA[Back in 2021, my friend and I had two Independence Day-themed Pokémon in Sword (my friend) and Shield (me). I recorded the battles and posted them to LBRY. This article includes links to the battles and my commentary, including details about my team set-up and EV spreads. Come for the battles and stay for the side commentary.
<summary type="html"><![CDATA[Welcome to the edition 142 of The Newsletter Leaf Journal, the official newsletter of the perennially virid online writing magazine, The New Leaf Journal. This newsletter comes to you as always from the waterproof keyboard of the editor of The New Leaf Journal, Nicholas A. Ferrell. We welcome July with today's newsletter, and you can expect some new leaf fireworks (or at least links to some of our 4th of July posts) to go with the usual assortment of links from the week that was, links from around the web, and other news and notes.
Leaves from the week that was
I only published three full articles since mailing newsletter 141, with one being our June review. In my defense, however, the combined word count of these articles was above average.
<summary type="html"><![CDATA[Welcome to the syndicated version of Newsletter Leaf Journal 141 (see original, sent June 24, 2023). Below, you will find the […]
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The Newsletter Leaf Journal at 100
Justin & Justina: The Most-Read New Leaf Journal Content of…
Justin and Justina review 2022 at the NLJ
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The New Leaf Journal Newsletter
How to Find Substack RSS Feeds and Other Notes
The New Leaf Journal Celebrates Its First Birthday
The Newsletter Leaf Journal VIII
An Introduction to RSS and Other Feed Formats]]></summary>
<summary type="html"><![CDATA[I read a Washington Times article about NBA star (and legend) Kevin Durant taking the initiative when some people on Twitter […]
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Reviewing the Mastodon Twitter Crossposter
Against Twitter as a Content Curator
Kevin's "Goodbye Salad Days" Photos at Brooklyn Bridge…
<summary type="html"><![CDATA[On June 11, 2023, the New York Post reported that the NYPD has stepped up enforcement against public drinking in 2023. […]
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Justin and Justina review 2022 at the NLJ
History of Thanksgiving Proclamations in the Philippines
Anna Jarvis and the Origin of Mother's Day in the United…
Kaori After Story - Visual Novel Review
Justin & Justina: The Most-Read New Leaf Journal Content of…
Social webs of personal websites
The Pigeon in the Puddle
Justin & Justina 〜 4th of July Grill Sacrifices to the…
<summary type="html"><![CDATA[Today is primary day in New York City. The main attractions are City Council primaries and primaries for District Attorney in […]
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One Man, One Vote, Two "I Voted!" Stickers
You Can't Fix Stupid - King Baby
The "King Baby BKF" Sticker in Gowanus, Brooklyn
The Enigmatic Life and Death of Emperor Otho
The Downed Stop Sign in Vinegar Hill
An Unpleasant Voting Odor
The Inspiring Political Comebacks of Byron Brown and Vito…
Call in the Oligarchs to Restore Trust in Media? A Peculiar…
Benjamin Harrison's Memorable July 4, 1888]]></summary>
<summary type="html"><![CDATA[The strange story of how a poorly thought out 1997 trade by a 14-68 team for a 35-year old power forward led to said team losing the #2 pick in the 2003 NBA Draft.
Possibly related posts...
Should the Pistons have drafted Carmelo?
ESPN States Tim Duncan was "Born Overseas"
Version history of Aru Fuyu no Monogatari
Playing Through Cancer in Silence: Shawn Respert's NBA Story
The Enigmatic Life and Death of Emperor Otho
Oldest Golfers to Contend for Majors Between the 1968 and…
Justin & Justina: The Most-Read New Leaf Journal Content of…
The al|together and Insani Visual Novel Translations
Nintendo Power's 1999 Yoshi in Pokémon April Fools Prank]]></summary>
<author>
<name>Nicholas A. Ferrell</name>
</author>
</entry>
<entry>
<title type="html"><![CDATA[Should the Pistons have drafted Carmelo?]]></title>
<summary type="html"><![CDATA[In a 20-year retrospective, I offer my opinion on whether the Detroit Pistons should have drafted Carmelo Anthony with the second pick in the 2003 NBA Draft.
Possibly related posts...
1997 Otis Thorpe trade and the 2003 NBA Draft
ESPN States Tim Duncan was "Born Overseas"
Version history of Aru Fuyu no Monogatari
Playing Through Cancer in Silence: Shawn Respert's NBA Story
Upcoming Ferrell Vs Gurbo Pokémon Draft Battle
Why Would Anyone Believe Michael Jordan?
Justin & Justina: The Most-Read New Leaf Journal Content of…
Oldest Golfers to Contend for Majors Between the 1968 and…
A Winter's Tale - Visual Novel Review]]></summary>
