Photograph of Manhattan from close to the Manhattan pedestrian walkway entrance/exit of the Brooklyn Bridge. I wrote a short post praising NYC and the NYPD for actually following through on clearing vendors and other impediments from the walkway -- making for a pleasant walk despite there being a good number of people. https://social.emucafe.org/naferrell/clear-brooklyn-bridge #NYC #Manhattan #ManhattanSkyline #BrooklynBridge #FreedomTower #PaceUniversity #Pixel3aXL #EmuCafeSocial

From 2021: My DuckDuckGo query for "freedom tower birds" returned top results that were very much at odds with one another. Unfortunately, neither of the results was the specific new (at the time) article that I was trying to pull up. https://thenewleafjournal.com/duckduckgo-presents-both-sides-of-the-freedom-tower-songbird-debate/  ( 2 min )

I read an article that described NBA Hall of Famer Tim Duncan as having been born "overseas." While Duncan was not born in one of the 50 states, he was born in the U.S. Virgin Islands -- which is a U.S. territory. In my essay, I make the case that Duncan should not be described as having been born "overseas" in the sense the term is most commonly understood. https://thenewleafjournal.com/espn-states-tim-duncan-was-born-overseas/ #NBA #Sports #Citizenship #Nationality #Semantics

Before doing anything on Bluesky, I connected my account to one of my domains. Then I installed a WordPress plugin to one of my sites to connect for cross posting. It took me longer than I would like to admit to figure out that the instant domain was .social, not .app.  ( 2 min )

Update osmosfeed.yaml - Removed main Emu Cafe Social feed in favor of author feeds only - Removed Hypothes.is feed - Added NAF Bluesky feed - Reorganized feed order  ( 2 min )

I am watching an ongoing shoujo romance anime called A Sign of Affection. After I watched the fourth episode, I published […]

Putting a # before a number (or probably anything) inside a post in WordPress creates a new tag. #WordPress

I compare my al|together visual novel rankings with the Visual Novel Database average user scores for all 31 pieces.

Welcome to the 172nd 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 Logitech K310 keyboard of the administrator and editor of The New Leaf Journal, Nicholas A. Ferrell. Last week saw the publication of several big ticket articles that have been in the works for a while, so let's get to our weekly review and other news and notes, including 21 links from around the web. Leaves from the week that was Let's review our new articles... al|together Visual Novel Ranking (20-11) Following up my (subjective) ranking of the bottom-11 al|together novels... Missing Temu Ads Through Good Internet Usage I decided that my ignorance of an internet advertising…  ( 9 min )

Managing GitHub Personal Access Tokens: #GitHub

Examining overwhelming circumstantial evidence of Yuki Itose's use of hair dye in the first two episodes of the A Sign of Affection anime adaptation. Possibly related posts... Hair Color in Japanese Anime, Manga, and Games Understanding Hair Color in the Kimi ni Todoke Anime Series Height differences in anime romances The Girl I Like Forgot Her Glasses hair dye Hair Color in A Dream of Summer The Best of Anime in 2022: Year in Review Most-Visited NLJ Articles of 1H 2023 2023 Anime Year in Review Anime Recommendations of the Decade (2011-20)

"Bottom-Tier Character Tomozaki 2nd STAGE" NOTES (Ep 1-5) I will review Tomozaki S2 at the end of the season. These are a few notes on the first five episodes for future reference. Animation quality in episodes 1 and 5 was solid. Weaker in episodes 2-4 with some instances of off-model characters that we saw in the weaker points of S1. Episode 1 was much like the first season with Hinami giving Tomozaki a light-hearted social task to carry out. This opening arc did a good job of showing Tomozaki's growth with respect to Hinami (setting limits on how far he would go in accomplishing his task) and in having friends he could rely on to help him achieve his objectives. Opening arc segued into a "bullying arc" wherein Erika Konno, who came off as unpleasant in her small role in season 1 and he…

I recently read that Pokémon Fire Red and Leaf Green turned 20. Sadly, I have no article to commemorate the occasion (although I should play them again), but I covered the 20th anniversary of Pokémon Gold and Sliver's (North American) release in 2020, including my memories of getting Pokémon Gold right when it came out. https://thenewleafjournal.com/winds-of-new-beginnings-pokemon-gold-silver/ #Pokémon #PokémonGold #GameBoy #GameBoyColor #VideoGames

I have been following myself on Minds from Mastodon and Mastodon from Minds for a while now, but posts were not federating. For that reason, I was surprised to see my new Minds post pop up in my timeline. Looks like everything is integrated now...

Sharing my system for organizing my personal RSS/ATOM feed collection and discussing other systems seen around the web. Possibly related posts... Feeds and Read-It-Later for Online Reading An Introduction to RSS and Other Feed Formats Against Twitter as a Content Curator RSS as a Facebook Alternative The Many Deaths and Rebirths of RSS An Essay on Productivity, Production, and Productive Leisure The Enigmatic Life and Death of Emperor Otho The al|together and Insani Visual Novel Translations Anime Recommendations of the Decade (2011-20)

January was highlighted by a surprise newsletter share and Hacker News page 1 appearance early in the month, but we also published 17 new articles on many interesting topics. Possibly related posts... The New Leaf Journal Celebrates Its First Birthday The Newsletter Leaf Journal at 100 The al|together and Insani Visual Novel Translations Justin & Justina: Most-Read NLJ Content of 2020 A 2021 List of Alternative Search Engines and Search… Justin and Justina review 2022 at the NLJ The Newsletter Leaf Journal LXIX 〜 The Move(d) Leaf Journal History of New York's Evacuation Day Oldest Golfers to Contend for Majors Between the…

I never had a pet millipede and I do not plan to acquire one. But that did not stop me from writing an article about how to keep YOUR pet millipede from drowning in its own water dish. https://thenewleafjournal.com/keep-the-pet-millipede-from-drowning/ #Pets #Millipedes #Bugs #Dictionary

I use YOGA Image Optimizer -- an open source GUI tool for optimizing images -- to handle the small images I use on my sites. I decided after using it for more than a year that a review was warranted. https://thenewleafjournal.com/reviewing-yoga-image-optimizer/ #OpenSource #YOGAImageOptimizer #Linux #ImageOptimizer #Flatpak

I rank the top 10 visual novel translations to emerge from the 31 pieces translated for the 2005, 2006, and 2008 al|together festivals. Possibly related posts... al|together Visual Novel Rank Intro al|together Visual Novel Ranking (20-11) al|together Visual Novel Ranking (31-21) The al|together and Insani Visual Novel Translations Red Shift Visual Novel Review Flood of Tears - Visual Novel Review May Sky - Visual Novel Review Version history of Aru Fuyu no Monogatari ACE Academy - Visual Novel Review

I recently learned about some shopping app called Temu. I contemplated my obliviousness and determined that I owe my lack of knowledge to good internet usage. Possibly related posts... An In-Depth Look at Norton Safe Search A 2021 List of Alternative Search Engines and Search… Comparing DuckDuckGo Lite and Qwant Lite 2023 Anime Year in Review Should the Pistons have drafted Carmelo? On Google Chrome's New AI Features Substack Notes' Twitter clone war Recommended F-Droid FOSS Apps For Android-Based… I, Too, Saw Dreams Through Air - VN Review

Thoughts on how to make good use of WordPress's native category and tag taxonomies. https://thenewleafjournal.com/thoughts-on-wordpress-categories-and-tags/ #WordPress

The second part of my al|together visual novel ranking covers the ten translations I have ranked 20-11. Possibly related posts... al|together Visual Novel Rank Intro al|together Visual Novel Ranking (31-21) The al|together and Insani Visual Novel Translations Red Shift Visual Novel Review Flood of Tears - Visual Novel Review May Sky - Visual Novel Review Version history of Aru Fuyu no Monogatari ACE Academy - Visual Novel Review Summer, Cicadas, and the Girl - VN Review

Welcome to the 171st 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. Speaking of my keyboard... Leaves from the week that was My Logitech Washable Wired Keyboard K310 After noting my waterproof keyboard in every newsletter for more than three years, it finally received a full New Leaf Journal article. "Survive and Advance" Visual Novel Choices I have used the term "survive and advance" to describe certain visual novel choice structures. In this article, I define my pet visual novel description. al|together Visual Novel Rank Intro Introducing my long-advertised final ranking…  ( 8 min )

A photograph of the Carroll Gardens branch of the Brooklyn Public Library in Carroll Gardens, Brooklyn. The library was closed for improvements in July 21, 2023 and will remain closed for 18-24 months from that date. I took this photo on August 19, 2023. https://thenewleafjournal.com/carroll-gardens-library-renovations/ #NYC #Brooklyn #CarrollGardens #Library #Columns #ArchedWindow #Pixel3axl #NewLeafJournal #TheNewLeafJournal

I have been using a Logitech K310 keyboard since April 2013. The K310's standout feature is that it is washable. Sadly, Logitech discontinued it several years ago -- but mine lives on. https://thenewleafjournal.com/my-logitech-washable-wired-keyboard-k310/ #Keyboard #Logitech

I offer my opinion on whether Google's promoting new AI tools with Chrome for drafting forum posts and reviews will contribute to making the internet a better place. Possibly related posts... Query for Bing on blacklisting and ChatGPT Amazon Black Hat Seller Scenario The New Leaf Journal Celebrates Its First Birthday The al|together and Insani Visual Novel Translations A 2021 List of Alternative Search Engines and Search… Justin & Justina: Most-Read NLJ Content of 2020 Oldest Golfers to Contend for Majors Between the… 1883 Opening of the Brooklyn Bridge History of New York's Evacuation Day

The first of three legs of my al|together visual novel ranking covers novels 31-21 on my list. Possibly related posts... The al|together and Insani Visual Novel Translations Red Shift Visual Novel Review Flood of Tears - Visual Novel Review May Sky - Visual Novel Review Version history of Aru Fuyu no Monogatari Summer, Cicadas, and the Girl - VN Review ACE Academy - Visual Novel Review Shooting Star Hill - Visual Novel Review io [Christmas Eve] - Visual Novel Review

Back in December 2020, I came up with the idea to review nearly all of the 31 doujin Japanese visual novels […] Possibly related posts... Justin & Justina: The Most-Read New Leaf Journal… Justin and Justina review 2022 at the NLJ The al|together and Insani Visual Novel Translations The New Leaf Journal Celebrates Its First Birthday Flood of Tears - Visual Novel Review A Midsummer Day's Resonance - VN Review New Leaf Journal Year-In-Review: 2023 A Dream of Summer - Visual Novel Review Running Yuuki!Novel Ver of Tegami on Linux

I apply the term "survive and advance" from March Madness to describe a common visual novel choice structure where multiple choices have at least one game over option. Possibly related posts... Flood of Tears - Visual Novel Review The al|together and Insani Visual Novel Translations Collage - Visual Novel Review Night of the Forget-Me-Nots: VN Review Should the Pistons have drafted Carmelo? ACE Academy - Visual Novel Review Visual Novel Review: Bad End Red Shift Visual Novel Review The Enigmatic Life and Death of Emperor Otho

My Logitech K310 keyboard after a good washing and scrubbing in my kitchen sink. I have been using this as my main desktop keyboard since April 2013 and it is still going strong after countless keystrokes, many cleanings, and one coffee incident. Sadly, Logitech discontinued it several years ago. https://thenewleafjournal.com/my-logitech-washable-wired-keyboard-k310/ #Logitech #LogitechK310 #Keyboard #PhysicalKeyboards #WashableKeyboard #NewLeafJournal #TheNewLeafJournal #pixel3axl

Welcome to the 170th 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. It is highly likely that there will be a live New Leaf Journal article about said keyboard when you read this newsletter, but that is technically an article for next newsletter week. Below, we cover the events of January 13-19 in our typical Newsletter Leaf Journal manner. Leaves from the week that was I published three new articles since mailing Newsletter 169. Shopping on AI (Sp)Amazon Justin and Justina discuss some interesting AI-generated product descriptions seen on Amazon (or Spamazon). Provocative O…  ( 8 min )

I review my Logitech Washable K310 keyboard as it approaches its 11th birthday on my computer desk. Possibly related posts... Replacing soundbar and re-configuring universal… The Newsletter Leaf Journal LXIX 〜 The Move(d) Leaf Journal The 9.9.99 Computer Bug That Wasn't Bing's and DuckDuckGo's CCP Problem Internet Explorer to Year of Linux Desktop Recommended F-Droid FOSS Apps For Android-Based… Reviewing Buddy Simulator 1984 for Switch Dasung to release e-ink phone monitor Dasung Link Phone E-Ink Monitor Starts at $299

I published a new version of my New Leaf Journal feed directory. It includes links to our RSS/ATOM/JSON feeds with directions for subscribing to narrower subsets of articles and it also includes our less-used feeds (e.g., mf2, TWTXT), static feed aggregator site, and off-site newsletter RSS feed. For those who do not know much about feeds, I also linked to my introduction and several essays on the benefits of feeds. https://thenewleafjournal.com/new-leaf-journal-feeds/ #WordPress #RSS #ATOM #JSONFeed #TWTXT #Feeds

I review YOGA Image Optimizer, a free and open source GUI image optimization tool, from the context of someone using it to reduce the size of small images for a minimal WordPress blog. Possibly related posts... The Enigmatic Life and Death of Emperor Otho Flood of Tears - Visual Novel Review 2023 Anime Year in Review ACE Academy - Visual Novel Review Installing Non-Listed Programs in PlayOnLinux A Midsummer Day's Resonance - VN Review May Sky - Visual Novel Review Four May Issues of The Nursery Magazine (1873-81) The al|together and Insani Visual Novel Translations

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

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"

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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