I had seen a few Cybertrucks in the wild in Brooklyn, including one in Brooklyn Bridge Park (which inspired an article reflecting on the 1990s racing game aesthetics of the jagged vehicle). To my surprise, I saw a second Cybertruck in Brooklyn Bridge Park on December 19. But this Cybertruck was not like the others -- it was an Eddy's General Construction Cybertruck.
https://thenewleafjournal.com/eddys-branded-cybertruck-at-bbp/
One year to the day, I wrote about what was then my primary keyboard for more than one decade running, my Logitech K310 washable keyboard. I replaced it as my primary keyboard not long after with a Filco Majestitouch V3 (ten keys, of course), but it still hangs around as an always-clean secondary keyboard to connect to other computers.
https://thenewleafjournal.com/my-logitech-washable-wired-keyboard-k310/
In 2019, I dusted off my trusty old copy of the original Mario Party for Nintendo 64 for a planned round of fun with my friends. I was surprised when I was confronted with Toad asking me if I wanted to resume a gain -- a game I had apparently left finished nearly two decades earlier. There was only one thing to do...
https://thenewleafjournal.com/the-two-decade-mario-party-finally-ends/
In 2021, I shared a fun article from an 1895 issue of Harper's Round Table. Franklin Matthews' "Cobweb Lane" described the unique experience of walking across the recently-opened Brooklyn Bridge at night. I have walked across the Bridge at night on several occasions, so it was interesting reading about what it was like more than a century earlier.
https://thenewleafjournal.com/the-brooklyn-bridges-mysterious-cobweb-lane/
I was running DivestOS on my Google Pixel 3a XL, which I had been using to read feeds since I retired it as my main phone in favor of a GrapheneOS Google Pixel 6a. I had originally purchased the 3a XL to try Ubuntu Touch on a well-supported device. I decided to go back to the original plan (I failed at installing it in the first instance). This time I set everything up correctly and was about to install Ubuntu Touch. I noticed the installer had an additional option for installing beyond Ubuntu Touch. Long story short, I know have a Droidian phone despite not having heard of Droidian 30 minutes ago. Go figure.
I read a "52 things I learned in 2024" list through my RSS/ATOM feed collection. I thought it was an interesting project, so I threw together my own "54 things I learned in 2024" list (54 instead of 52 because I like my lists to be divisible by 3). Every one of the 54 things comes with a link, so you too can learn what I learned with the original sources (I also link to the inspiration article, so you can learn a total of 106 things).
In 2022, I re-printed a poem called "Kitty's First Pie" from an 1881 issue of Harper's Round Table (courtesy of nostr:nprofile1qy2hwumn8ghj7un9d3shjtnddaehgu3wwp6kyqpqks70cf3wt30sn2gqjnw4zjtd7ztwnnaq4fy0azpdvtlthg7eqrpqr2gtst ). You may be wondering what the poem is about. Kitty? Pie? Where is this going. Spoiler alert: It is about a girl named Kitty making her first pie. But does "Kitty" being a little girl mean that there is no cat in the poem? I can't spoil everything...
https://thenewleafjournal.com/kittys-first-pie-an-1881-childrens-poem/
#Poem #Poetry #ChildrensPoem #Pie
I was walking through Carroll Gardens in 2018 when I happened across a very unfortunate car. While I could not do anything to help the car, I could at least document it with my (at the time) trusty BlackBerry Classic camera.
https://thenewleafjournal.com/the-unfortunate-car-in-carroll-gardens/
#NYC #Brooklyn #CarrollGardens #Car #BlackBerryClassic #photography
"The world to reverse" is a freeware Japanese visual novel first released in 2005 and localized into English with approval in 2006 as part of the 2006 al|together festival. I should, however, say "visual novels" because TWTR is two freeware visual novels for the free price of one. The first half, "hallucinate," takes the view of a character in an antisceptic hospital bed haunted by a woman with hate in her eyes (it ends with a twist). The second, "flanca," is more a depressing choose your adventure style story in a medieval Europe-inspired setting than a visual novel. I ended up liking both. The newest version of ONScripter-EN for Linux in Galladite27's GitHub repository (updated since my review) should run both fine, although I still have MIDI sound issues with hallucinate. Otherwise, the original Windows executable works without issue on top of WINE or Proton.
https://thenewleafjournal.com/the-world-to-reverse-visual-novel-review/
#VisualNovel #Doujin #Freeware
Sometimes you see free stuff left out for the taking in Brooklyn, New York City. I documented three free desks seen in recent months, two of which came with notes. I did not take any of the three desks, however. But minutes after seeing and not taking the third desk, I came across a lighted mirror. Did I take the lighted mirror? If I did, did it light up? I can't spoil everything, but I invite you to join me for a minor furniture-filled tour touching on four Brooklyn neighborhoods.
https://thenewleafjournal.com/three-free-desks-in-brooklyn-and-a-mirror/
#Anecdote #Walking #NYC #Brooklyn #Desks
I reviewed a 2016 freeware visual novel called The Dandelion Girl (available on Itch.io and Steam), which is based on Robert F. Young's 1961 science fiction short story of the same name. In the review, I noted that the 2016 Dandelion Girl is itself a remake of an earlier version of the novel from 2010. A reader found the original, so I will review that and compare in the next couple of weeks.
https://thenewleafjournal.com/the-dandelion-girl-visual-novel-review/
#VisualNovel #ScienceFiction #ONScripter #OELVN #Freeware
My review of My Black Cat, the 2006 freeware localization of a 2005 Japanese visual novel wherein you, the player, are (shockingly) a talking black cat.
https://thenewleafjournal.com/my-black-cat-visual-novel-review/
The novel remains free to download and play. See my notes in the review if you want to run it natively on Linux.
#VisualNovel #Cats #Doujin #Freeware
Seen in Brooklyn four years ago and photographed as part of my old BlackBerry Classic photography series, a noble rooster.
https://thenewleafjournal.com/a-rooster-statue-in-brooklyn/
#Brooklyn #Rooster #Statue #Photography
In late 2020 or 2021, I signed up for a Naver account so I could use its Webmaster tools (why not?). I was able to sign up and submit The New Leaf Journal, but things then went sideways.
https://thenewleafjournal.com/naver-webmaster-trials-and-tribulations/
#Naver #Webmaster #WebmasterTools
I have a Yamaha ATS-1070 TV soundbar. I use an optical audio cable to connect it to my TV. The "door" to the optical audio cable port broke. I mothballed the soundbar for some time because the cable does not stay in the port without the door. However, I used a bit of ingenity to fix the problem with, of all things, part of a Post-It Note. My article on the "fix" now one of our most-read pieces, so maybe it is a common issue.
https://thenewleafjournal.com/broken-optical-audio-cable-door-fix/
#Soundbar #Yamaha #OpticalAudioCable
I planned to write one end-of-decade article at the end of 2020, which happened to be the first year of the NLJ. But because decades for the purpose of best-of lists are most commonly thought of as 0-to-9 (my impression, at least), I led with the case for 1-to-0 decades.
https://thenewleafjournal.com/the-case-for-1-to-0-decades/
#Semantics #Decades
My turn-WordPress-into-PWA [plugin] was complaining about our JPEG site icon so I spent 10 minutes making a new site icon using a photo of coffee flowers from an old Project Gutenberg book. Most professional I assure you.
A half-specious and half-serious short post on good news about Linux's growing desktop marketshare.
https://social.emucafe.org/naferrell/linux-desktop-market-share-4-45-percent/
#Linux
I was recently given a reason to revisit Midsummer Haze, a visual novel with a random trigger mechanic that required me to do the same thing 43(!?) times on my first play-through. This made me remember the author's afterword referenced that it was written during the 2004 Athens Olympics. Since the Olympics are going on now, I decided to revisit the afterword. Of course... I had to beat the novel again...
(Spoiler: MUCH better luck this time.)
https://thenewleafjournal.com/b/6fs
#VisualNovels #Olympics
Reviewing tnen-President Calvin Coolidge's remarks on July 4, 1926, commemorating the 150th anniverasry of American independence (it was also Coolidge's 54th birthday).
https://thenewleafjournal.com/calvin-coolidge-on-why-we-celebrate-independence-day/
#July4 #IndepenceDay #CalvinCoolidge #History