#thenewleafjournal — Public Fediverse posts

Otho, the second of Rome's four Emperors in 69 AD, took his own life on April 16, 69, rather than continue in a civil war to retain the throne. The extant ancient historian accounts grappled with the contrast Otho's seemingly noble end (under Roman standards) and their low opinions of him in life. I had a bit to say about the histories last year (a bit over 18k words).

https://thenewleafjournal.com/ancient-accounts-on-the-enigmatic-life-and-death-of-emperor-otho/

#rome #romanhistory #romanemire
#history #otho #newleafjournal #TheNewLeafJournal

I have an ongoing series studying how to interpret hair colors in anime series - are they intended to be taken literally or figuratively? One of the less dramatic entries in the series focused on Kimi ni Todoke, where we learned that the (mostly natural) hair colors in the series were to be interpreted literally.

https://thenewleafjournal.com/understanding-hair-color-in-the-kimi-ni-todoke-anime-series/

#anime #kiminitodoke #newleafjournal #TheNewLeafJournal

Just over one year ago, I reviewed the Usagi Drop anime series and explained why, despite liking it, I did not include it in an earlier post of recommended anime series from 2011-2020. While the anime itself is charming, there are some... issues... with events in the underlying source material after what the anime covered.

https://thenewleafjournal.com/the-curious-case-of-usagi-drop/

#anime #usagidrop #bunnydrop
#manga #newleafjournal #TheNewLeafJournal

The Poor Little Bird is a freeware "digital picture book" - effectively a visual/sound novel - released in Japan in 2002 and officially translated into English in 2005 by the Insani circle. I reviewed it in-depth last year. For those who are interested, the official torrent is still available although it may take a bit of time to acquire.

https://thenewleafjournal.com/the-poor-little-bird-a-digital-picture-book-review/

#visualnovel #soundnovel
#freeware #doujin #indie #newleafjournal #TheNewLeafJournal #wine #playonlinux

I use Ungoogled Chromium as my primary web browser on Manjaro. My 2FA SoloKeys generally work... except for my Google account that I use to access the Search Console. I thought it was curious that my keys only failed to work for Google, so I looked for the reason why. I did find the answer on GitHub along with how to fix it were I so inclined.

https://thenewleafjournal.com/google-2fa-with-a-fido-security-key-in-the-ungoogled-chromium-browser/

#google #chromium #fido #solokeys #ungoogledchromium #newleafjournal #TheNewLeafJournal #foss #manjaro

My main project, The New Leaf Journal, is powered by WordPress. In early February, I moved the site from cheap Bluehost shared hosting to a Hetzner VPS server running @cloudron . I needed to move my content from the old server to the new server. In this article, I describe how I used the free version of the UpdraftPlus WP plugin to restore my site from a backup on the new server.

https://thenewleafjournal.com/moving-a-wordpress-site-with-updraftplus-free/

#wordpress #cloudron #UpdraftPlus #hetzner #bluehost #newleafjournal #TheNewLeafJournal

I relied on a 1923 book about reading tea leaves to discover the symbolism behind various musical instruments. My take-away is that you never know what you may find on Project Gutenberg.

https://thenewleafjournal.com/reading-tea-leaves-the-symbolism-of-the-guitar-and-other-instruments/

#tea #tealeaves #guitar #music #fortune #projectgutenberg #newleafjournal #TheNewLeafJournal #lute #drum #piano #violin #tambourine

I have been using Peekier - a privacy-centric search engine that displays results as website screenshots - as my primary search engine for a few weeks. Based on those tests, I wrote a comprehensive review of Peekier (note: results rely heavily on Bing's index). I do like it - but you will still want to supplement it with an engine that allows for complex queries.

https://thenewleafjournal.com/peekier-search-engine-review/

#peekier #searchengine #search #privacy #newleafjournal #TheNewLeafJournal

I published a detailed review of Koko Analytics, a small privacy-friendly FOSS WordPress plugin created by ibericode after using it at The New Leaf Journal for 18 months. It has its built-in limitations, but I think that it is a great choice for certain use-cases that reliably counts pageviews and certain referrers and respects visitors.

https://thenewleafjournal.com/koko-analytics-wordpress-review/

#wordpress #plugin #analytics #foss #privacy #kokoanalytics #newleafjournal #TheNewLeafJournal

"[S]he was stirring her slow blood and making herself stronger by fighting with the wind that swept down from the moor." - The Secret Garden

Inspired by The Secret Garden's touting the virtues of winter walks, I wrote an article with the classic children's book as a prompt in December 2020. Having just returned from a brisk winter walk, I thought of the excerpt.

https://thenewleafjournal.com/mary-lennox-and-winter-walks/

#thesecretgarden #childrenslit #winter #walk #newleafjournal #TheNewLeafJournal

After my nostalgic post about the end of BlackBerry 10 yesterday, it was time to get down to business. How could I get move photos from my Classic to my computer? As much as I tried to avoid it, I ended up completing the transfer with a combination of KDE Connect and Syncthing.

(Do I have the only photo of a BB Classic pinging an /e/ OS with KDE Connect on the internet?)

https://thenewleafjournal.com/transferring-the-photos-from-my-blackberry-classic-using-kde-connect/

#blackberry10 #blackberry #kde #kdeconnect #syncthing #newleafjournal #TheNewLeafJournal #eos

As I looked into the screen of my BlackBerry Classic on the last day of BB10 (PS: I forgot to strip the BB ID before Jan 4, is that unfortunate?), I felt a bit wistful. But while I recalled spending 2011-2020 with QWERTY-keypad BlackBerrys, I felt optimistic that the QWERTY phone will rise again. As I noted before... if record players and instant cameras can come back...

https://thenewleafjournal.com/farewell-to-blackberry-10

#blackberry #blackberry10 #qwerty #phones #newleafjournal #TheNewLeafJournal

I was one of the later BlackBerry 10 hold outs, only moving off my BlackBerry Classic about 10 months ago (now happily with /e/ OS). Yet I only just saw that today is the last day for BlackBerry 10. ...I wonder if I can still do something with my Classic. But I digress. I revisit an article from October 2020 wherein I tested the Open Camera App from F-Droid on my BlackBerry.

https://thenewleafjournal.com/trying-open-camera-on-blackberry-classic/

#blackberry #blackberry10 #fdroid #opencameraapp #newleafjournal #TheNewLeafJournal

I was looking for a new theme for my window manager in XFCE, and I found one in an unexpected place. In this article, I look at four Amiga OS-inspired themes for XFWM4 (with screenshots) and discuss the one I chose in particular, the HiDPI version of the Amiga 3.x theme.

Credit to Mr. Thomas Thiel for the great themes.

https://thenewleafjournal.com/using-an-amiga-os-inspired-window-theme-in-xfce-with-xfwm4/

#foss #linux #manjaro #xfce #xfwm4 #themes #amiga #aur #badwolf #desktop #screenshotsunday #screenshot #themes #newleafjournal #TheNewLeafJournal

Last March, I reviewed the Tuttle Classics Kindle ebook edition of Ryūnosuke Akutagawa’s "Rashomon and Other Stories." The collection includes six short stories, and while I cannot speak to the fidelity of the translation, they all read well.

https://thenewleafjournal.com/reviewing-rashomon-and-other-stories/

#ebooks #ebook #bookreview #shortstory #shortstories #akutagawa #rashomon #newleafjournal #TheNewLeafJournal

The story of how my attempt to purchase health insurance in New York hit a brief snag because one part of the Exchange website did not play nicely with hBlock, my hosts blocking solution. I resolved the issue, and that hBlock handles the NYS government is a big plus in my book. There is an open invitation for feedback from people who know way more about this than I do.

https://thenewleafjournal.com/hblock-and-my-attempt-to-purchase-health-insurance-in-new-york/

#adblock #hblock #hosts #manjaro #linux #insurance #newleafjournal #TheNewLeafJournal

In October 1922, then-Vice President of the United States, Calvin Coolidge, delivered remarks on the subject of "better homes in America." In my post, I considered the applicability of Coolidge's remarks on physical homes to the idea of digital homes for individuals - or what he described as the longing in each person to be able to say "this is mine."

https://thenewleafjournal.com/applying-coolidges-remarks-on-the-home-to-the-digital-home/

#coolidge #history #digitalhome #selfhosting #property #bigtech #foss #freedom #newleafjournal #TheNewLeafJournal

In August, I examined an 1895 promotion in the children's magazine, Harper's Round Table. Those who sold 30 lbs of teas, spices, and powders for a company would receive a Fairy Tricycle. After discussing the promotion, I wrote about what I learned about the Fairy Tricycle itself from some research.

https://thenewleafjournal.com/fairy-tricycle-promotion-from-1895-harpers-round-table/

#harpers #magazines #promotions #tricycle #fairytricycle #history #1800s #nineteenthCentury #newleafjournal #TheNewLeafJournal

After I reviewed /e/ OS last week, it occurred to me that I should cover some of my favorite Android applications from F-Droid. My article turned into a long list of application with links to relevant resources.

https://thenewleafjournal.com/recommended-f-droid-foss-apps-for-android-based-devices-2021/

#android #androidalternative #fdroid #lineageos #eos #foss #bromite #aurorastore #review #newleafjournal #TheNewLeafJournal

Following up my previous Mastodon post, after reviewing the Teracube 2e pre-installed with /e/ OS for the phone itself, I offered my impressions of the /e/ operating system, which I have been using as a daily driver for two months now.

https://thenewleafjournal.com/review-of-e-an-android-alternative-for-mobile-phones/

#eos #android #androidalternative #android10 #opensource #foss #efoundation #newleafjournal #TheNewLeafJournal

I purchased a refurbished 2013 Asus Nexus 7 to try Ubuntu Touch. I used the UBports Installer and got it working with little hassle. In this post, I describe the process and offer some (very) early and brief impressions of Ubuntu Touch. I look forward to learning more about it and writing a longer piece in the future.

https://thenewleafjournal.com/installing-ubuntu-touch-on-an-asus-nexus-7-2013/

#tablet #nexus7 #ubuntutouch #ubuntu #ubports #ubportsinstaller #manjaro #snap #openstore #nextcloud #foss #newleafjournal #TheNewLeafJournal

In this article, I discuss and reprint a 1923 Independence Day oration by Reverend Charles W. Lyons, a Jesuit priest who was notable for serving as the President of four different colleges. His speech, titled "The American Mind," examined the famous phrase from an 1825 letter by Thomas Jefferson.

https://thenewleafjournal.com/the-american-mind-a-1923-july-4th-oration-by-charles-w-lyons/

#4thofjuly #independenceday #americanindependence #speech #jefferson #declarationofindependence #ushistory #history #newleafjournal #TheNewLeafJournal

A photo, map, and brief description of Hudson Avenue in Vinegar Hill, Brooklyn. Although it is an "avenue," it is quite short - but the cobblestoned street and pretty buildings make it one of the nicer hidden spots in NYC. (The construction work going on now makes it less pleasant than when I took the photo, however).

https://thenewleafjournal.com/the-houses-and-cobblestones-of-hudson-avenue-in-vinegar-hill-brooklyn/

#nyc #brooklyn #vinegarhill #cobblestones #photography #myphoto #newleafjournal #TheNewLeafJournal

Join me a trip across the brief Summit Street Bridge in Brooklyn. It crosses the BQE to connect one side of Hicks Street (in Columbia Street Waterfront District) to the other (in Carroll Gardens). Photos and map included.

https://thenewleafjournal.com/a-trip-across-brooklyns-summit-street-bridge/

#nyc #brooklyn #bqe #bridge #church #photography #opencameraapp #newleafjournal #TheNewLeafJournal

Celebrating the beginning of summer in the northern hemisphere.

https://thenewleafjournal.com/the-battery-park-butterfly-before-a-hudson-river-flyover/

#summer #myphoto #photography #blackberry #butterfly #flowers #manhattan #nyc #batterypark #newleafjournal #TheNewLeafJournal

In this post, I list a number of quality alternative search engines and content about alternative search engines. I also offer my thoughts on the importance of considering where search results come from.

https://thenewleafjournal.com/a-2021-list-of-alternative-search-engines-and-search-resources/

#searchengine #alternative #bigtech #google #bing #duckduckgo #qwant #startpage #swisscows #mojeek #metager #gigablast #searx #peekier #wutsearch #privacy #newleafjournal #TheNewLeafJournal

Is it actually hot or cold, or are hot and cold states of mind? Can someone live in the basement and not live in the basement? Can someone live on the first floor yet live in the basement? These profound questions and more are contemplated in a specious dialogue.

https://thenewleafjournal.com/justin-justina-hot-is-a-state-of-mind-and-other-states-of-mind/

#temperature #summer #heat #cold #painting #stateofmind #mentalstate #basement #humor #dialogue #newleafjournal #TheNewLeafJournal

For future site purposes, I tested recording Nintendo Switch gameplay with a $20 USB device and uploading it to LBRY/Odysee. The result, a Pokémon battle between The New Leaf Journal editors, is embedded in the article along with my written commentary on said battle. Not bad at all for $20.

https://thenewleafjournal.com/recording-a-test-new-leaf-journal-pokemon-sword-and-shield-battle/

#lbry #Odysee #pokemon #pokemonswordshield #pokemonbattle #switch #nintendoswitch #videogames #newleafjournal #TheNewLeafJournal

After Phil Mickelson broke a 53-year old record for the oldest major champion, I was curious how many golfers had threatened the record between 1968 and 2021. Under the criteria I used, there were 15 cases - all documented in my new article.

https://thenewleafjournal.com/oldest-golfers-to-contend-for-majors-between-the-1968-and-2021-pgas/

#pga #golf #philmickelson #juliusboros #pgachampionship #golfmajors #sports #newleafjournal #TheNewLeafJournal

The newest edition of The Newsletter Leaf Journal. This post includes our six most recent articles, six recommendations from around the web, and some news, notes, and anecdotes. If you like what you read, consider subscribing by joining our weekly mailing list or adding our newsletter's RSS feed to your favorite reader.

https://buttondown.email/newsletterleafjournal/archive/the-newsletter-journal-xxxiii-standing-water-and/

#newsletter #aroundtheweb #ducks #adblockers #writing #newleafjournal #TheNewLeafJournal #buttondown #photography #poem

Some thoughts on NYC restaurants letting dirty standing water collect around and under their outdoor dining set-ups. Am I the only one who sees a potential problem here?

https://thenewleafjournal.com/the-nyc-outdoor-dining-standing-water-crisis/

#nyc #brooklyn #carrollgardens #OutdoorDining #standingwater #mosquitoes #newleafjournal #TheNewLeafJournal

Inspired by a recent duck rescue story, I searched for duck/duckling rescue stories for an Around the Web post. Little did I know that there were so many ducklings in need of rescue that I could fill a nearly 3,000-word post with rescues that occurred in the last 3-4 weeks.

https://thenewleafjournal.com/duck-and-duckling-rescue-stories-from-around-the-web/

#birds #ducks #duckling #animalrescue #ducklingrescue #stormdrain #city #birdrescue #aroundtheweb #TheNewLeafJournal #newleafjournal

For Mother's Day, I published a long article about Anna Jarvis and the origin of Mother's Day, using original newspaper articles from the earliest observances in the United States and Australia. The early celebrations of Mother's Day highlighted the original concept of the occasion before it become commercialized in later years.

https://thenewleafjournal.com/anna-jarvis-and-the-origin-of-mothers-day-in-the-united-states/

#history #annajarvis #mothersday #mother #carnations #australia #ushistory #newleafjournal #TheNewLeafJournal

For Mother's Day, I published a long article about Anna Jarvis and the origin of Mother's Day, using original newspaper articles from the earliest observances in the United States and Australia. The early celebrations of Mother's Day highlighted the original concept of the occasion before it become commercialized in later years.

https://thenewleafjournal.com/anna-jarvis-and-the-origin-of-mothers-day-in-the-united-states/

#history #annajarvis #mothersday #mother #carnations #australia #ushistory #newleafjournal #TheNewLeafJournal

I am the editor of an online writing magazine called The New Leaf Journal. We post articles on a variety of topics that interest us. To learn more about our project and find a sample of the 300+ articles that we have posted since launching in April 2020, please see our "About" page below.

https://thenewleafjournal.com/about/

#blog #writing #magazine #newleafjournal #TheNewLeafJournal

Prompted by an article that we published last year (about the classic folk ballad Love Henry of all things), I took a look back that the infamous School Days anime and the nice boat meme - with a comprehensive review. Finally, I created something to recoup those 4.5 hours of my life that I lost 10-12 years ago.

https://thenewleafjournal.com/the-nice-boat-a-look-back-at-the-school-days-anime/

#anime #schooldays #niceboat #dumpsterfire #folk #crunchyroll #newleafjournal #TheNewLeafJournal

19 years ago to the day, Eno, a doujin visual novel developer, created a short "digital picture book" called Kawaisou na Kotori. It was officially localized in English as "The Poor Little Bird" in 2005. It is still available for free download from Insani today. In this post, I reviewed "The Poor Little Bird" in a comprehensive manner.

https://thenewleafjournal.com/the-poor-little-bird-a-digital-picture-book-review/

#doujin #visualnovel #videogame #picturebook #videogamereview #review #bird #newleafjournal #TheNewLeafJournal

The new edition of our newsletter, The Newsletter Leaf Journal, covers our content from the week that was, one article from our archives, six content recommendations from around the web, and my 2016 NYC journey from Astoria, Queens, to Cobble Hill, Brooklyn.

https://buttondown.email/newsletterleafjournal/archive/the-newsletter-leaf-journal-xxx-turning-the/

#nyc #brooklyn #newsletter #content #aroundtheweb #buttondown #newleafjournal #TheNewLeafJournal

My photo-shoot post featuring a Danbo, a hatching, and a piano cigarette box... with an audience of kokeshi dolls. Why not?

https://thenewleafjournal.com/hatchling-and-danbo-have-a-piano-recital/

#danbo #danboard #piano #hatchling #chick #CigaretteBox #kokeshi #blackandwhite #kodakpixpro
#newleafjournal #TheNewLeafJournal

Last September, I published "The Red Car on Roosevelt Island." There are times when a post's title describes the content exactly. This is one of those times.

https://thenewleafjournal.com/the-red-car-on-roosevelt-island/

#nyc #rooseveltisland #manhattan #QueensboroBridge #car #redcar #newleafjournal #TheNewLeafJournal

Newest post - the story of an 1860 miniature painting of Abraham Lincoln, completed in the August before he won the November election for president. The article includes contemporaneous notes from the painter.

https://thenewleafjournal.com/the-story-behind-an-miniature-painting-of-abraham-lincoln/

#lincoln #abrahamlincoln #art #painting #miniature #history #ushistory #uspresident #ambrotype #photography #newleafjournal #TheNewLeafJournal

Newest post - the story of an 1860 miniature painting of Abraham Lincoln, completed in the August before he won the November election for president. The article includes contemporaneous notes from the painter.

https://thenewleafjournal.com/the-story-behind-an-miniature-painting-of-abraham-lincoln/

#lincoln #abrahamlincoln #art #painting #miniature #history #ushistory #uspresident #ambrotype #photography #newleafjournal #TheNewLeafJournal

Since I have been on the subject of privacy-friendly search engines lately, here's a post on a less-than privacy friendly search engine. Yandex returns an interesting result for a straight search of my website's name: An aesthetic carousel. In an earlier post, I highlighted how this can be amusing if one of your article thumbnails is a picture of the result.

https://thenewleafjournal.com/recursive-fun-with-yandex-search-carousels/

#yandex #searchengine #seo #bigtech #searchresult #thumbnail #newleafjournal #TheNewLeafJournal

Spring is springing. To celebrate - an anecdote about seeing a black squirrel and blue jay in the same scene in Brooklyn two decades ago - a bit unusual. Accompanied by a haiku - written on my Ti-89 (because why not, when we're being nostalgic?)

https://thenewleafjournal.com/ti-89-haiku-boerum-blue-jay-and-black-squirrel/

#brooklyn #nyc #spring #bluejay #blacksquirrel #squirrel #ti89 #graphingcalculator #haiku #newleafjournal #TheNewLeafJournal

Last July, my New Leaf Journal colleague, Victor V. Gurbo, wrote an article wherein he reviewed three boutique guitar strings on three of his classic guitars. I cannot attest to the reviews - for I have little hope of ever playing a guitar - but I will note that he included some clutch pictures from his guitar collection.

https://thenewleafjournal.com/reviewing-three-boutique-guitar-strings/

#guitar #guitars #guitarstrings #VintageGuitar #music #review #newleafjournal #TheNewLeafJournal

My good friend and New Leaf Journal colleague, Victor V. Gurbo, has been shared on Hacker News. With that, I complete my 2021 bingo card. See you all in 2022. (You can find his shared article on vintage guitars from my micropost, linked below).

https://thenewleafjournal.com/microposts/sentences-i-thought-id-never-type/

#VictorVGurbo #music #VintageGuitar #guitars #hackernews #ycombinator #newleafjournal #TheNewLeafJournal

I once used Microsoft Paint to illustrate a clear and distinct idea. The result was a drawing that depicted an unclear and indistinct idea of a tree of truth tree (it really is a tree, not a mushroom cloud). And thus, I stuck with my philosophy major, resisting the siren call of the art department.

https://thenewleafjournal.com/an-unclear-and-indistinct-idea-of-a-truth-tree/

#descartes #philosophy #microsoftpaint #tree #idea #stickfigure #baddrawing #newleafjournal #TheNewLeafJournal

Winter is coming to an end, but the weather is still hovering around freezing in New York City. Even if it is cold, that is no excuse to not take a walk. On winter's eve, I wrote an article with reference to The Secret Garden arguing for the benefits of winter walks.

https://thenewleafjournal.com/mary-lennox-and-winter-walks/

#winter #walking #walks #childrensbook #childrenslit #thesecretgarden #healthyliving
#newleafjournal #TheNewLeafJournal

Celebrating George Washington's 290th birthday with a 1914 children's poem about Washington published 107 years ago to the day.

"A climbing boy can always reach / The summit of tho hill."

https://thenewleafjournal.com/a-childrens-poem-on-george-washington/

#ushistory #presidentsday #uspresident #georgewashington #washington #childrenslit #poem #poetry #newleafjournal #TheNewLeafJournal

Read about a special edition "Sakura Cinnabon" in SoraNews24 today. Very intrigued, enough for an on-site microblog post. Alas, they're only offered in Japan...

https://thenewleafjournal.com/microposts/sakura-cinnabon/

#japan #sakura #cinnabon #cinnamonroll #newleafjournal #TheNewLeafJournal