Over at The New Leaf Journal, my January 5, 2024 article, which was about drug-enhanced professional cycling results, became the sixth New Leaf Journal article (going back to February 2021) to appear on Hacker News page 1 (only after a stop in The Browser newsletter). It reached as high as 11th on HN and was […]

Pro-Hamas protesters spent January 15, 2024 loudly protesting outside of Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center in Manhattan, yelling that the cancer hospital is complicit in the so-called “genocide” in Gaza, or even “supporting” it. Far be it from me to offer any sort of advice to supporters of a foreign terrorist organization, but in light […]

While I am very much in the pro-video game ownership side of things, I had to call foul on a headline taking a seemingly anti-ownership quote by a Ubisoft executive out of its original context. Possibly related posts... History of the Mario Party Gloves Searching for the "Libertarian Moment" Leaving the Phrase "Reach Out" in the 90s Recording a Test New Leaf Journal Pokémon Sword and… The Last Nintendo Wii Games The Aborted Nintendo-Minnesota Lottery Scheme Ambiguous Killer Hallucinogenic Weed Headline Two Independence Day-Themed Pokémon Battles: Ferrell… On Nintendo's Pro-User Cartridge-First Strategy

I did not get around to publishing a review of episode 2 of season 2 of Bottom-tier Character Tomozaki-kun after publishing a brief review of the first episode. The second episode had a dramatic tonal shift — segueing from the social game shenanigans that began in the first episode to bullying. I had some issues […]

A 2022 post featuring my photographs of the Freedom Tower, shrouded in fog, from a morning walk across the Brooklyn Bridge. https://thenewleafjournal.com/freedom-tower-in-the-fog-from-the-brooklyn-bridge/ #NYC #Brooklyn #Manhattan #BrooklynBridge #FreedomTower #Fog #Photography

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Justin comes across FOPEAS's "I'm sorry but I cannot fulfill this request it goes against OpenAI use policy. My purpose is to provide helpful and respectful information to users-Brown" on Amazon and asks Justina for her take on the product. Possibly related posts... The Enigmatic Life and Death of Emperor Otho Anime Recommendations of the Decade (2011-20) ACE Academy - Visual Novel Review The Best of Anime in 2022: Year in Review 2023 Anime Year in Review The al|together and Insani Visual Novel Translations The Angel Next Door Spoils Me Rotten - Anime Review Justin and Justina review 2022 at the NLJ Four May Issues of The Nursery Magazine (1873-81)

Let's check in on how Amazon and brand FOPEAS are doing... Fictional dialogue inspired by the "product": https://thenewleafjournal.com/shopping-on-ai-spamazon/ Internet Archive: https://web.archive.org/web/20240112170316/https%3A%2F%2Fwww.amazon.com%2Ffulfill-request-respectful-information-users-Brown%2Fdp%2FB0CM82FJL2 #Amazon #AI #Spam #newleafjournal #thenewleafjournal

WordPress founder Matt Mullenweg published an interesting “birthday post” asking people to create blogs for his birthday. The idea is that […] Possibly related posts... Matt Damon's Brooklyn Heights Crane Game Around the Web 〜 Alternative Software and Services Resources The New Leaf Journal Celebrates Its First Birthday Justin and Justina review 2022 at the NLJ New Leaf Journal Year-In-Review: 2023 The al|together and Insani Visual Novel Translations Justin & Justina: The Most-Read New Leaf Journal… 100 Articles and Counting at The New Leaf Journal Searching for the "Libertarian Moment"

I came across a blog post titled Just Blog by Frank Meeuwsen. This post alerted me to an interesting “birthday” project by WordPress founder Matt Mullenweg. Mr. Mulenwig asked for people to blog for his birthday and link to his post. Ideally, the links should show up as pingbacks on his article. His post said […]

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Welcome to the 169th 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. I am running a bit behind schedule today, so let us cut straight to your regularly scheduled newsletter content. Leaves from the week that was I published three new articles since mailing Newsletter 168. 2023 Anime Year in Review My third annual New Leaf Journal review of the year that was about anime, and it features my ranking of the top six series of 2024, notes on additional series, and category-specific awards. You can either use my article to find something to watch or as a prompt to become angry bec…  ( 7 min )

A short report on reports about the temporary closure of the Carroll Gardens Library with original photographs. Possibly related posts... A Walk Across the Hamilton Avenue Footbridge Justin & Justina 〜 4th of July Grill Sacrifices to… A Trip Across Brooklyn's Summit Street Bridge Historic Districts and Looming Tall Buildings Balancing Bear Topiary in Carroll Gardens American Beauty Pasta Mural in Brooklyn Flying 12-Foot Witch in Carroll Gardens The Unfortunate Car in Carroll Gardens Evergreen Carroll Gardens Christmas Tree

The story of then-President Abraham Lincoln's decision to pardon Frank Judd, the son of Lincoln's Minister to Prussia, sparing him from what would have been execution for desertion. https://thenewleafjournal.com/lincoln-spares-frank-r-judd-in-1864-65/ #AbrahamLincoln #History #USHistory #CivilWar #Desertion

This will come as a shock to all of our readers, but I (N.A. Ferrell) do not approve of requiring Instagram usage for school assignments. Possibly related posts... The dangers of adapting school to tech The Enigmatic Life and Death of Emperor Otho Anime Case Against Japan's Population Loss History of the Mario Party Gloves The New Leaf Journal Celebrates Its First Birthday Searching for the Figure Behind the Blob Dylan Tags… New Leaf Journal Third Birthday Reader An Early Review of Pixelfed - Instagram Alternative April Fools, Sonic and Tails in SSB Melee  ( 9 min )

I published my third annual review that was of the year in anime. In the article, I ranked what I think were the six best series of 2023, included notes on 12 additional series, and gave out five category-specific awards. I made sure to get it done close to New Years because I know the whole industry was waiting for this. https://thenewleafjournal.com/2023-anime-year-in-review/ #Anime #AnimeReview

A 2021 post about my 2020 photo of a pigeon on a limb looking for a snack... and a reminder that pigeons are heavier than sparrows. https://thenewleafjournal.com/the-pigeon-on-a-limb/ #Pigeon #Bird #NYC #Brooklyn #Photography

I published an article on The New Leaf Journal about doping in cycling during (and before) the Armstrong era. I noted in my Saturday newsletter that it unexpectedly blew up (by our standards) within hours of its publication. I was not immediately able to identify the source, but I figured out from our referrals that […]  ( 2 min )

I starred this very insightful comment by Hacker News user marcinzm about search engines. The commenter noted the obvious, that big tech search shows ads because its purpose is to generate revenue through ads. But I appreciated the commenters putting it in terms of means and ends. Ideally, the user wants a search engine to […]

This was the first completely new (as in not subsequent season) anime I am trying in the Winter 2024 season. These days, not involving “another world” or “reincarnation” is a good place to start. We have a girl, Himari Momochi, who is an orphan. When she turns 16, she learns her late parents left her […]

N.A. Ferrell ranks the top six anime series that concluded in 2023, lists honorable mentions, and gives several category-specific awards. Possibly related posts... The al|together and Insani Visual Novel Translations New Leaf Journal Year-In-Review: 2023 Justin and Justina review 2022 at the NLJ A Dream of Summer - Visual Novel Review New Leaf Journal Third Birthday Reader The New Leaf Journal Celebrates Its First Birthday History of New York's Evacuation Day Narcissu (Insani version) VN Review Flood of Tears - Visual Novel Review  ( 39 min )

Welcome to the 168th 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, like the newsletters of 2020-2023, from the waterproof keyboard of the editor of The New Leaf Journal, Nicholas A. Ferrell. Despite being under the weather for the early days of 2024, we still had an eventful week of the new year at your favorite green online writing magazine. Without further ado, let us begin with the first newsletter of the new year. Leaves from the week that was I published four new articles since mailing Newsletter 167. December 2023 at The New Leaf Journal Just in case you have to catch up on 2023 before starting on 2024. New Leaf Journal Year-In-Review: 2023 Our annual year-end r…  ( 9 min )

Some websites stealth edit. Other websites issue in-article corrections. We issue full article corrections. Possibly related posts... Expert Gamer's 1999 Yoshi in Pokémon April Fools Prank Recording a Test New Leaf Journal Pokémon Sword and… Dragonair Safari in Pokémon Yellow Bill's Secret Garden - A Pokémon Generation 1 Urban Legend EGM's 2001 Sega Neptune April Fools Joke Yoshi's Story at 25 April Fools, Sonic and Tails in SSB Melee The Mystery of Sōseki and Tsuki ga Kirei The Two Decade Mario Party Finally Ends  ( 8 min )

Addressing an interesting argument that because Lance Armstrong was the best stage racing cyclist in a largely doped field, he would have been the best clean cyclist in a clean field. Possibly related posts... Most-Visited NLJ Articles of 1H 2023 The Best of Anime in 2022: Year in Review Golf and Immigration: Matter of Masters Anime Recommendations of the Decade (2011-20) Analyzing BIA Decision in Matter of Salama ACE Academy - Visual Novel Review Bottom-tier Character Tomozaki S1 Anime Review New Leaf Journal Third Birthday Reader The Poor Little Bird - Visual Novel Review  ( 26 min )

I re-watched the first season of Bottom-Tier Character Tomozaki (after having watched it as a simulcast in 2021) for two reasons. Firstly so I could write a review and secondly so that I could refresh my memory for the second season. I watched the first episode of season 2, titled The best games make reconnaissance […]  ( 4 min )

Presenting the 54 most-visited New Leaf Journal articles of 2023, in dialogue format. For WordPress admins out there, I use Koko Analytics, an open source and entirely local page counting solution for stats. https://thenewleafjournal.com/new-leaf-journal-year-in-review-2023/ #Blogging #WordPress #OpenSource #Links #KokoAnalytics

I opened Steam because I am purchasing at least one visual novel while it is on sale. Steam prompted me to ask whether I wanted to participate in the Steam hardware survey. I said yes. I did my part to represent EndeavourOS. But what about my specs? OS: EndeavourOS CPU: AMD Ryzen 5 3600 6-Core […]  ( 2 min )

Justin and Justina review the 54 most-visited articles at The New Leaf Journal in 2023. Possibly related posts... The New Leaf Journal Celebrates Its First Birthday The al|together and Insani Visual Novel Translations The Newsletter Leaf Journal at 100 Should the Pistons have drafted Carmelo? Justin & Justina: Most-Read NLJ Content of 2020 The story of our Bing blacklisting Justin and Justina review 2022 at the NLJ A 2021 List of Alternative Search Engines and Search… Oldest Golfers to Contend for Majors Between the…  ( 28 min )

What better way to spend New Year's weekend than to catch up on The New Leaf Journal's fresh December 2023 content? Possibly related posts... The New Leaf Journal Celebrates Its First Birthday The al|together and Insani Visual Novel Translations io [Christmas Eve] - Visual Novel Review Justin & Justina: Most-Read NLJ Content of 2020 A 2021 List of Alternative Search Engines and Search… Oldest Golfers to Contend for Majors Between the… The Newsletter Leaf Journal at 100 Justin and Justina review 2022 at the NLJ History of New York's Evacuation Day  ( 12 min )

My final newsletter of the year includes links to a week's worth of new articles and short posts, 21 links from around the web, and news and notes about what I am working on as we look ahead to 2024. https://buttondown.email/newsletterleafjournal/archive/167/ #newsletter #buttondown #blogging #anime #reviewsystems

Welcome to the 167th 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 New Years Eve for the last newsletter of 2022, but we will have to settle for New Years Eve Eve in 2023. But while we missed the holiday this year, I think we nevertheless have some holiday-tier content to bring 2023 to a close. Leaves from the week that was We (actual "we" this time) published five new articles since mailing Newsletter 166. Victor V. Gurbo's "Christmas & You" I included links to Victor's two YouTube videos of his recording of his original song, Christmas & You, with last week's new…  ( 11 min )

A full and complete review of the first season of Bottom-tier Character Tomozaki, which aired in 2021. Possibly related posts... Anime Recommendations of the Decade (2011-20) The Angel Next Door Spoils Me Rotten - Anime Review The Best Anime Series of 2021 New Bottom-Tier Character Tomozaki Anime The Best of Anime in 2022: Year in Review Leveling up Yamada-kun at Lv999 to Linux ACE Academy - Visual Novel Review Dialogue: Dinosaur fight tier-lists The al|together and Insani Visual Novel Translations  ( 24 min )

With season 2 of The Dangers in My Heart just around the corner, I review season 1 of the middle school romance with an antisocial boy and a popular model. Possibly related posts... Heights in “The Dangers in My Heart” Anime Height differences in anime romances The al|together and Insani Visual Novel Translations The Best of Anime in 2022: Year in Review On Review Scoring Systems The Best Anime Series of 2021 The New Leaf Journal Celebrates Its First Birthday New Leaf Journal Third Birthday Reader The Angel Next Door Spoils Me Rotten - Anime Review  ( 18 min )

I checked by 404 logs over at The New Leaf Journal. I found an interesting user agent among the myriad web crawlers: PoorlyConfiguredWebCrawler I appreciate that the crawler advertises that it is not well configured. You get the feeling that whoever released the poor thing on the internet is asking us to not be too […]

Back in January 2022, I wrote a dialogue (using fictional characters) explaining why I was moving the NLJ off Bluehost shared hosting to a small VPS server. Nostalgic, and in terms of site performance... definitely turned out to be the correct decision. https://thenewleafjournal.com/slow-leaf-journal-outgrowing-cheap-hosting/ #WordPress #WebHosting #VPS #Bluehost #Dialogue

Inspired by a series of recent blog posts, I offer a proposed set of best practices for media review scoring systems. Possibly related posts... The Angel Next Door Spoils Me Rotten - Anime Review The al|together and Insani Visual Novel Translations The New Leaf Journal Celebrates Its First Birthday New Leaf Journal Third Birthday Reader al|together Visual Novel Reviews and Posts Justin and Justina review 2022 at the NLJ ACE Academy - Visual Novel Review Justin & Justina: The Most-Read New Leaf Journal… Kaori After Story - Visual Novel Review  ( 17 min )

My privacy-friendly local page-counting solution for WordPress, Koko Analytics, picked up a referral from snapchat.com over at The New Leaf Journal. Snapchat? Really. I thought this was for sending photos. No no, don’t correct me. I am happy living in ignorance. I will just go on living under my assumption that Snapchat is not the […]

My short notes on figuring out how to properly enter administrative precedent decisions of the Board of Immigration Appeals into Zotero. https://thenewleafjournal.com/adding-eoir-bia-decisions-to-zotero/ #Zotero #Law #USImmigrationLaw #BoardOfImmigrationAppeals #USDOJ

I enjoy some of the fun public domain images on Openclipart. For Christmas 2022, I shared a “cat Christmas tree” over at The New Leaf Journal. This year, I will use my new social posting site (it seems more conducive for the purpose) to share a fun Openclipart Christmas owl posted by Openclipart artist Michal […]

Once clad in a witch's hat for Halloween, an endearing green car in Gowanus is now bearing Christmas presents. Possibly related posts... The Wicked Car of the Gowanus - Car with Hat Rudolph the Red-Nosed Car with Antlers io [Christmas Eve] - Visual Novel Review Plain Song Christmas Special - VN Review A Christmas Menagerie On a Lawn in Gowanus Make it Christmas With a Santa Hat "Uncle Susan is a Wolf" - A Graffiti Photo and… The New Leaf Journal Celebrates Its First Birthday The Inflatable Christmas Dragon of Gowanus  ( 6 min )

Victor V. Gurbo shares two recordings of his original holiday song, Christmas & You. Possibly related posts... The Enigmatic Life and Death of Emperor Otho Anime Recommendations of the Decade (2011-20) The al|together and Insani Visual Novel Translations ACE Academy - Visual Novel Review The Best of Anime in 2022: Year in Review The Angel Next Door Spoils Me Rotten - Anime Review Two Independence Day-Themed Pokémon Battles: Ferrell… Justin and Justina review 2022 at the NLJ Four May Issues of The Nursery Magazine (1873-81)  ( 10 min )

The ultimate test of my theory that a Santa hat can make just about anything Christmas. Not Tux (surely that penguin is Tux), but the gentleman just behind Tux. https://thenewleafjournal.com/make-it-christmas-with-a-santa-hat/ #NYC #Brooklyn #BoerumHill #Christmas #ChristmasDecorations #Penguin #Tux #TerracottaSoldier #Brownstones #BrownstoneBrooklyn #TheNewLeafJournal #NewLeafJournal #Pixel3aXL

Cardinals are somewhat Christmas-y for a variety of reasons, but I still ordinarily associate them with warmer months (from my New York perspective). However, if you put a Santa hat on a cardinal -- it is clearly and beyond doubt Christmas-y. https://thenewleafjournal.com/make-it-christmas-with-a-santa-hat/ #NYC #Brooklyn #BoerumHill #Cardinal #Bird #ChristmasDecorations #LawnOrnament #SantaHat #Christmas #Pixel3aXL #NewLeafJournal #TheNewLeafJournal

My good friend Victor V. Gurbo noted over on The New Leaf Journal that his college friend gave him the prompt for a melancholy Christmas song that would have no prospect of commercial success. I addend his post to note that the unnamed friend was a very versatile character. The person Victor refers to is […]  ( 3 min )

Just about anything can become a Christmas decoration with a Santa hat: Part 1, "The Flamingo" Dialogue: https://thenewleafjournal.com/make-it-christmas-with-a-santa-hat/ #NYC #Brooklyn #BoerumHill #Flamingo #Angel #Christmas #ChristmasDecorations #SantaHat #Brownstone #BrownstoneBrooklyn #PIxel3aXL #NewLeafJournal #TheNewLeafJournal

It is easy to remember that Christmas is on December 25. But what if you forget what day it is now? One home in Carroll Gardens, Brooklyn, worked to make sure that everyone knows how long until Christmas. (Note that the clock works -- but the red LED does not show in my photo). https://thenewleafjournal.com/snowman-christmas-countdown-clock/ #NYC #Brooklyn #CarrollGardens #Christmas #Snowman #ChristmasDecorations #Clock #Countdown #Reef #Pixel3aXL #NewLeafJournal #TheNewLeafJournal

Investigating Santa Claus with the help of a 1913 children's short story by Maud McKnight Lindsay. https://thenewleafjournal.com/an-inquiry-into-the-nature-of-santa-claus/ #Christmas #ChristmasStory #SantaClaus #ChildrensLiterature

Welcome to the 166th 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. Today's Christmas Eve Eve newsletter comes with six new articles, more links from our new around the web backlog, and other news and notes. Leaves from the week that was I was busy on Thursday and Friday after a brief publishing drought... A Boat Named "S-cape" Despite being entirely spoiled by the headline, this article strangely had one of the better debut weeks of any 2023 article. Make it Christmas With a Santa Hat Justin of our Justin and Justina dialogue duo has a theory, supported by evidence in t…  ( 9 min )

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Restarting Pipewire: systemctl --user restart pipewire pipewire-pulse systemctl --user daemon-reload Source: https://forums.fedoraforum.org/showthread.php?326248-Just-upgraded-pipewire-and-want-to-reload-it-without-rebooting&s=58ca81ba2d4b8adaf9adedf8214b6d9f&p=1848593#post1848593 #Pipewire #Linux #Troubleshooting

A Carroll Gardens home works to make sure that we know how long until Christmas. Possibly related posts... io [Christmas Eve] - Visual Novel Review Snowman with One-Eyed Frog Hat - Pure Evil? Snowman with Mask 〜 It's the thought that counts Plain Song Christmas Special - VN Review A Christmas Menagerie On a Lawn in Gowanus Brooklyn Snowman and Winter Storm Gail Sights Reviewing Bob Dylan's "Shadow Kingdom" Stream Kaori After Story - Visual Novel Review The Enigmatic Life and Death of Emperor Otho  ( 6 min )

I finally review the only al|together visual novel translation in which the player takes the perspective of a pet cat (Don-kichi, to be precise). Possibly related posts... The al|together and Insani Visual Novel Translations Four May Issues of The Nursery Magazine (1873-81) "Fradie-Cat" - A Children's Poem By Clinton Scollard Is my cat deaf, or does she just not give a...? "Winter Quarters" - An 1882 Poem About a Very Warm… I, Too, Saw Dreams Through Air - VN Review MIDI sound for games on Arch-based distro At Summer's End vs A Dream of Summer Malcontent Openclipart Cat Christmas Tree  ( 13 min )

Reviewing one of the more unique and polished al|together visual novel translation projects, Moonshine. Possibly related posts... The al|together and Insani Visual Novel Translations May Sky - Visual Novel Review Narcissu (Insani version) VN Review From the Bottom of the Heart - VN Review The Mystery of Sōseki and Tsuki ga Kirei The Letter (Tegami) - Visual Novel Review Crimsoness - Visual Novel Review A Midsummer Day's Resonance - VN Review Running Yuuki!Novel Ver of Tegami on Linux  ( 15 min )

Reprinting and discussing The Christmas Rose, an early twentieth century Christmas short story by Lizzie Deas (I also made a simple PDF version). https://thenewleafjournal.com/lizzie-deas-the-christmas-rose/ #Christmas #ChristmasStory #ChristmasRose #Nativity

An inflatable Santa emerging from (or going into, depending on perspective) an inflatable chimney in three acts. Seen (if I recall correctly) in Boerum Hill, Brooklyn. https://thenewleafjournal.com/dynamic-inflatable-chimney-santa/ #NYC #Brooklyn #BoerumHill #Christmas #ChristmasDecorations #SantaClaus #Inflatables #Brownstones #NewLeafJournal #TheNewLeafJournal

Seen at the Marina in Brooklyn Park... and I see what they did there... S-cape. https://thenewleafjournal.com/a-boat-named-s-cape/ #NYC #Brooklyn #BrooklynBridgePark #Marina #Yacht #Pun #Boat #pixel3axl #newleafjournal #thenewleafjournal

I hope all the people who went all in on a Christmas Tree before finishing their Thanksgiving leftovers are hanging in there... https://thenewleafjournal.com/on-buying-christmas-trees-in-november/ #ChristmasTree #Christmas #Thanksgiving

Santa emerges from a chimney in brownstone Brooklyn: A photo story in 3 acts. Possibly related posts... An Inquiry Into the Nature of Santa Claus Make it Christmas With a Santa Hat Santa Claus's Delivery Van Seen in Brooklyn Reviewing Three Boutique Guitar Strings On Barry Bonds' IBBs in 2006 and 2007 Justin & Justina 〜 A Christmas Present Struggle A Christmas Menagerie On a Lawn in Gowanus The Holiday Inflatable Dragon in Brooklyn Inflatable Thanksgiving Turkey With Pilgrim Hat  ( 6 min )

A dialogue on how (almost) any holiday decoration or lawn ornament can aspire to Christmas with a Santa hat. Possibly related posts... An Inquiry Into the Nature of Santa Claus Dynamic Inflatable Chimney Santa io [Christmas Eve] - Visual Novel Review Plain Song Christmas Special - VN Review A Christmas Menagerie On a Lawn in Gowanus Santa Claus's Delivery Van Seen in Brooklyn Justin & Justina 〜 A Christmas Present Struggle Reviewing Three Boutique Guitar Strings The Inflatable Christmas Dragon of Gowanus  ( 8 min )