https://newleafannex.emucafe.orgThe New Leaf Annex2024-03-19T05:58:32.588429+00:00newleafannexhiddenpython-feedgenThe New Leaf Annex is a side-project of The New Leaf Journal, an online writing magazine run by Nicholas A. Ferrell.https://newleafannex.emucafe.org/foss-simple-mobile-tools-alternatives/Open Source Simple Mobile Tools Alternatives2023-12-06T17:17:27.616529+00:00newleafannexhidden<p>Simple Mobile Tools is a suite of free and open source android apps designed to replace Google’s default apps. However, “free and open source” will likely be a thing of the past after Simple Mobile Tools was <a href="https://liliputing.com/android-app-maker-simple-mobile-tools-acquired-by-zipoapps/">acquired by ZippoApps</a>. I used a few Simple Mobile apps back when I <a href="https://thenewleafjournal.com/recommended-f-droid-foss-apps-for-android-based-devices-2021/">wrote a review of F-Droid apps in 2021</a>, but I was fortunately not using any at the time of the ZippoApps news. One of the main contributors to Simple Mobile Tools who was not involved in the decision to sell the suite to an adware company <a href="https://github.com/FossifyX">forked the project</a>. The fork looks like a good option for people who want to keep using the Simple Mobile Tools suite. Since I was not using any of the apps, I thought I would note what I use instead. Before continuing, do note that <a href="https://thenewleafjournal.com/from-murena-teracube-2e-to-pixel-3a-xl-with-lineageos/">my phone runs LineageOS</a> and I do not use any closed source apps, so your mileage with my set-up may vary if you use a flavor of stock Android.</p>
<p>(Note: If you installed the apps from F-Droid, they will likely just stop receiving updates. If you installed from Google Play, I would strongly recommend looking for alternatives before ZippoApps provides undesired updates, provided you do not desire updates from ZippoApps.</p>
<p>See the suite <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20231205034909/https://www.simplemobiletools.com/">frozen as of December 6, 2023</a>.</p>
<ul>
<li><a href="https://f-droid.org/en/packages/com.simplemobiletools.launcher">Simple Launcher</a>: I use <a href="https://f-droid.org/en/packages/fr.neamar.kiss/">Kiss Launcher</a> because I like that it is search-focused and stays out of the way. However, there are many open source alternatives.</li>
<li><a href="https://f-droid.org/en/packages/com.simplemobiletools.keyboard">Simple Keyboard</a>: I use different open source keyboard <a href="https://f-droid.org/en/packages/rkr.simplekeyboard.inputmethod/">also called Simple Keyboard</a>. The Simple Keyboard I use may be too simple for some use cases, but I like my touchscreen keyboard to be as simple as possible (because <a href="https://thenewleafjournal.com/the-ideal-phone-e-ink-and-qwerty/">I want a physical keyboard</a>).</li>
<li><a href="https://f-droid.org/en/packages/com.simplemobiletools.flashlight">Simple Flashlight</a>: I use the LineageOS default flashlight. “I need to install a flashlight app” is not a thought that ever crossed my mind.</li>
<li><a href="https://f-droid.org/en/packages/com.simplemobiletools.calculator">Simple Calculator</a>: I have the LineageOS default calculator app and I am fairly sure I never used it. There are some fun open source calculators on F-Droid for those who are interested.</li>
<li><a href="https://f-droid.org/en/packages/com.simplemobiletools.camera">Simple Camera</a>: I started using the improved default LineageOS camera with LineageOS 20. For those who need something different, I have had good experiences with <a href="https://f-droid.org/en/packages/net.sourceforge.opencamera">Open Camera</a>.</li>
<li><a href="https://f-droid.org/en/packages/com.simplemobiletools.voicerecorder">Simple Voice Recorder</a>: I have the default voice recorder installed and have never used it.</li>
<li><a href="https://f-droid.org/en/packages/com.simplemobiletools.gallery.pro">Simple Gallery Pro</a>: I used to use Simple Gallery but I now use the LineageOS default. For whatever it is worth, I usually manage my phone’s camera folders from my computer since they are synced with Syncthing.</li>
<li><a href="https://f-droid.org/en/packages/com.simplemobiletools.smsmessenger">Simple SMS Messenger</a>: I use LineageOS’s default messenger. I previously used <a href="https://f-droid.org/en/packages/com.moez.QKSMS">QKSMS</a> which is good, although not updated frequently these days.</li>
<li><a href="https://f-droid.org/en/packages/com.simplemobiletools.calendar.pro">Simple Calendar Pro</a>: I have <a href="https://f-droid.org/en/packages/ws.xsoh.etar">Etar</a> installed but I do not use it.</li>
<li><a href="https://f-droid.org/en/packages/com.simplemobiletools.filemanager.pro">Simple File Manager Pro</a>: I use <a href="https://f-droid.org/en/packages/me.zhanghai.android.files">Material Files</a> and <a href="https://f-droid.org/en/packages/com.ghostsq.commander">Ghost Commander</a>, both of which I recommend.</li>
<li><a href="https://f-droid.org/en/packages/com.simplemobiletools.dialer">Simple Dialer</a>: I use the LineageOS default phone app. However, because I almost never talk on the phone, this app is only used on rare occasions.</li>
<li><a href="https://f-droid.org/en/packages/com.simplemobiletools.draw.pro">Simple Draw Pro</a>: I cannot draw on paper, much less on a touchscreen. However, I have seen an open source app called <a href="https://f-droid.org/en/packages/dev.linwood.butterfly.nightly">Linwood Butterfly</a> which seems to receive frequent updates for those who are looking for a new drawing app.</li>
<li><a href="https://f-droid.org/en/packages/com.simplemobiletools.clock">Simple Clock</a>: You will be shocked to know that I stick with the LineageOS default clock app.</li>
<li><a href="https://f-droid.org/en/packages/com.simplemobiletools.notes.pro">Simple Notes Pro</a>: Use <a href="https://f-droid.org/en/packages/net.gsantner.markor">Markor</a> and be happy. Markor is a powerful text editor, but I use it most often for saving links in markdown files that I can then sync across all of my devices with Syncthing.</li>
<li><a href="https://f-droid.org/en/packages/com.simplemobiletools.musicplayer">Simple Music Player</a>: I have the LineageOS default music app. This is not because I like it, but rather because I have never used a music app on my phone.</li>
</ul>
<p>There you have it. I fear my suggestions may not be helpful to everyone because of my particular phone set-up and usage, but I hope that the suggestions I was able to offer help point some disappointed Simple Mobile Tools users who are not following the new fork in the right direction. I conclude by offering one non-Simple Mobile Tools suggestion: Take a look at <a href="https://github.com/ImranR98/Obtainium">Obtainium</a> for installing open source apps directly from source if you do not source your apps from Google Play Store. I have been using it for a few months and am impressed thus far.</p>
2023-12-06T17:17:27.616278+00:00https://newleafannex.emucafe.org/trying-open-library-as-a-reading-tracker/Trying Open Library as a Reading Tracker2023-11-29T14:48:52.363769+00:00newleafannexhidden<p>I am interested in alternatives to big tech software and services. It was for that reason that I switched to Linux in 2020. While I am not big on social media, I use Mastodon, Pixelfed, Minds, and NOSTR to help promote my writing on my self-hosted WordPress projects. I have had an interest in open source alternatives to Goodreads. There are a few interesting ActivityPub powered projects, but they are not quite what I am looking for. At the moment, I am trying Open Library. You can see my <a href="https://openlibrary.org/people/naferrell">fresh profile</a> and <a href="https://openlibrary.org/people/naferrell/books">current reading</a>.</p>
<p>I like it thus far. Once you know where everything is, it is easy to navigate and organize books. I also like LibraryThing (not open source), but that is more geared toward collection management than reading tracking. My top request for Open Library is RSS/ATOM support. I maintain a <a href="https://nafnlj.github.io/nljfeeds/">static site with all of my feeds</a> (including this site) and would like to be able to drop an Open Library feed in there without having to be creative. Libreture (for storing and managing DRM-free ebooks) and Inventaire (for cataloguing and trading physical ebooks) both produce feeds for user profiles. Alas, that seems to still be a missing feature for Open Library and LibraryThing. I could see others being disappointed with Open Library's relative lack of social functionality, but I think that may be more of a feature than a bug.</p>
2023-11-29T02:55:21.718279+00:00https://newleafannex.emucafe.org/new-custom-bearblog-domain/New Custom Bearblog Domain2023-11-28T15:44:15.795135+00:00newleafannexhidden<p>I published my previous Bearblog post (it has been a while) back in the middle of the spring anime season (<a href="https://newleafannex.emucafe.org/early-thoughts-on-anime-in-2023/">see post</a>). The year is coming to an end. Despite my having written in that post that there was no clear anime of the year front-runner as of the middle of the spring season, my current front-runner for anime of the year (expect my <em>New Leaf Journal</em> year in review at the end of December or early January) is from that very spring season (see <a href="https://thenewleafjournal.com/the-best-of-anime-in-2022-year-in-review/">my 2022 review</a>).</p>
<p>But I digress.</p>
<p>Since last posting here, I acquired the emucafe.org domain to use for my <a href="https://social.emucafe.org">new social publishing site</a>. Because I paid the small fee for extra Bearblog features, I figured that I may as well use it here too. Thus, my new main domain here is newleafannex.emucafe.org. For anyone considering using their own domain with Bearblog, I will say that the set-up process works exactly as advertised in the docs.</p>
2023-11-28T15:44:15.794867+00:00https://newleafannex.emucafe.org/early-thoughts-on-anime-in-2023/Early thoughts on anime in 20232023-05-15T18:45:10.779179+00:00newleafannexhidden<p>People who follow me on my main project, <em>The New Leaf Journal</em>, will know that I follow the latest anime series (the ones I can tolerate, at least). I published year-in-review pieces for 2021 and 2022 with my top-six rankings.</p>
<ul>
<li><a href="https://thenewleafjournal.com/the-best-anime-series-of-2021/">2021 Review</a></li>
<li><a href="https://thenewleafjournal.com/the-best-of-anime-in-2022-year-in-review/">2022 Review</a></li>
</ul>
<p>I published my 2022 review in a timely manner in January 2023. However, I published my 2021 review <em>in April</em> 2022. Fresh off my very late 2021 review, I published a <a href="https://thenewleafjournal.com/leaf/early-thoughts-on-anime-in-2022/">short Leaflet post on April 26, 2022</a>, offering my initial impressions of the first quarter and a third of anime in 2022. I quote from my Leaflet:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>My clear early-frontrunner for anime of the year in 2022 is the excellent third and final season of <a href="https://www.animenewsnetwork.com/encyclopedia/anime.php?id=24696"><em>Teasing Master Takagi-san</em></a>. The first two seasons were good fun, but neither was quite anime of the year caliber (although the second season was almost my pick in a soft 2019). The third season, however, posted three episode-of-the-year caliber episodes in 6, 9, and 12 of 12, and concluded in a more satisfactory way than one would expect in light of the fact that the series is actually concluding with a forthcoming movie.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>It turned out that no series would outrun my early front-runner. I chose <em>Takagi-san</em> season 3 as <a href="https://thenewleafjournal.com/the-best-of-anime-in-2022-year-in-review/#takagi-san">my 2022 series of the year</a>, noting that it was the best season of an anime comedy since 2012's <a href="https://anidb.net/anime/8276"><em>Humanity Has Declined</em></a> (<em>Declined</em> is my 2012 anime series of the year). For purpose of my subjective ranking, the 2022 anime of the year race was over after spring. My runner-up selection, season three of <a href="https://anidb.net/anime/15806"><em>Kaguya-sama: Love is War</em></a>, aired in the spring and was implicitly referenced in my early-impressions Leaflet.</p>
<p>Since my early-impressions post in 2022 foreshadowed my ultimate selection for anime series of the year, I thought that it would be interesting to assess where we stand at the 37.5% point of 2023 in a BearBlog-first article.</p>
<p>Anime's 2023 winter season did not inspire me much, but I still tried, and ultimately finished, a good number of series. I reviewed the best of the bunch, <em>The Angel Next Door Spoils Me Rotten</em>, at <em>The New Leaf Journal</em> (<a href="https://thenewleafjournal.com/the-angel-next-door-spoils-me-rotten-anime-review/">see review</a>). Despite some shaky production values and a slow first half, the series about two high school students slowly falling in love while essentially playing house ended up being better than the title and premise would have suggested. However, despite it being the best of the winter slate of series, I described it as "an early borderline top-six candidate for 2023." In making that assessment, I concluded it would have been a top-six series in some years (2022 is one example) but not others (it would have missed 2021). Based on my having declared the best series of the winter season to be a borderline top-six candidate for the end of the year, it should go withouts saying that I do not think the 2023 series of the year aired in the winter season. (Note: <em>Endo and Kobayashi Live!</em> was fun (<a href="https://thenewleafjournal.com/anime-review-endo-and-kobayashi-live/">see my review</a>)).</p>
<p>Surely, <em>Angel Next Door</em> will not be the leader in my anime of the year clubhouse after the spring season!</p>
<p>Maybe...</p>
<p>The spring season is much deeper than the winter season (from my perspective, at least) and <em>I think</em> at least one of the series will top <em>Angel Next Door</em> in my final analysis, but the fact that I am not entirely certain at the half-way point of spring 2023 betrays the fact that I do not see an obvious anime of the year front-runner at the moment in the same way that I did at this point in 2022.</p>
<p>The three best shows of spring 2023 through six episodes are <em>probably</em> <a href="https://anidb.net/anime/17449"><em>OSHI no Ko</em></a>, <a href="https://anidb.net/anime/17131"><em>Insomniacs After School</em></a>, and <a href="https://anidb.net/anime/17720"><em>My Clueless First Friend</em></a>. I wrote that before remembering that <a href="https://anidb.net/anime/17023">season four of <em>Golden Kamuy</em></a>, which had its first half run in 2022, is about to reach new episodes -- I suppose that was better than <em>My Clueless First Friend</em>. Season 3 of <em>Golden Kamuy</em> was strong, but I did not like the first half of season four as much. However, it hung at a point which promises to set up an interesting second-half. There are several other notable series, namely the unfortunately production-challenged <a href="https://anidb.net/anime/17498">Why Raeliana Ended Up at the Duke's Mansion</a>. (Honorable mention: <em>The Dangers of My Heart</em> for <a href="https://thenewleafjournal.com/leaf/heights-in-the-dangers-of-my-heart-anime/">inspiring a short post</a> which people seem to read for some reason.)</p>
<p><em>Oshi no Ko</em> is <em>probably</em> the current spring season front-runner despite the fact that I had mixed feelings about half of its episodes. It may end up being a question of where the second half focuses its attention. Setting aside the theatrical-length first episode, <em>Oshi no Ko</em> has been excellent when it focuses on Aqua and Kana. I have found it less compelling when its attention is elsewhere.</p>
<p>(I will <em>probably</em> try the second seasons of <em>Tsurune</em> and <em>The Ancient Magus' Bride</em> at some point when I get around to refreshing myself on their first seasons. However, I did not particularly like the first season of <em>Tsurune</em> despite its beautiful animation and <em>Magus'</em> first season topped out as decent.)</p>
<p>Would it be unusual for me to lack a clear anime of the year candidate after the spring season? I published my year-end top-three rankings going back to 2015 in my 2021 and 2022 anime review articles. First, let us see when my previous eight anime of the year picks aired:</p>
<table>
<thead>
<tr>
<th>Year</th>
<th>Anime of the Year</th>
<th>Season(s) Aired</th>
</tr>
</thead>
<tbody>
<tr>
<td>2022</td>
<td><em>Teasing Master Takagi-san</em> (S3)</td>
<td>Winter</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>2021</td>
<td><a href="https://anidb.net/anime/15312"><em>SSSS.Dynazenon</em></a></td>
<td>Spring</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>2020</td>
<td><a href="https://anidb.net/anime/14764"><em>My Teen Romantic Comedy SNAFU Climax</em></a></td>
<td>Summer</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>2019</td>
<td><a href="https://anidb.net/anime/14490"><em>Fruits Basket</em></a></td>
<td>Spring-Summer</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>2018</td>
<td><a href="https://anidb.net/anime/12994"><em>March Comes in like a Lion</em></a> (S2)</td>
<td>Fall (17)-Winter (18)</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>2017</td>
<td><a href="https://anidb.net/anime/12761"><em>Tsuki ga Kirei</em></a></td>
<td>Spring</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>2016</td>
<td><a href="https://anidb.net/anime/10960"><em>Shouwa Genroku Rakugo Shinju</em></a></td>
<td>Winter</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>2015</td>
<td><a href="https://anidb.net/anime/10601"><em>My Teen Romantic Comedy SNAFU TOO!</em></a></td>
<td>Spring</td>
</tr>
</tbody>
</table>
<p>By my <em>recent</em> history (I have seen enough series for credible year-end reviews back to 2005), my anime of the year finished airing before the start of the summer season in six of eight cases, and none of my picks finished their run in the fall season. Thus, unless one of <em>Oshi no Ko</em>, <em>Insomniacs After School</em>, or <em>Golden Kamuy</em> impress with a very strong second half, it would be unusual to not have a clear anime of the year front-runner at season's end. Out of curiosity, I decided to check my memory for the best first-half series (meaning <em>finished</em> by the end of the spring season) in 2019 and 2020, the only years where my anime of the year pick ended in the summer season.</p>
<p>In the case of 2020, my runner-up, the second season of <a href="https://anidb.net/anime/15207"><em>Kaguya-sama: Love is War</em></a>, ended in the spring. The second season of <em>Kaguya</em> provided the best comedy of the three seasons thus far, but it was a weaker anime of the year runner-up than its third season in 2022, and not quite of the caliber I would expect for a series of the year. 2019 was a back-loaded year (and the weakest in our eight-year sample). My runner-up series, the <a href="https://anidb.net/anime/14591">second season of <em>Teasing Master Takagi-san</em></a>, finished its run in the summer (season two of <em>Takagi</em> came close to being my 2019 pick for best of the year, but as I noted, 2019 was weak). Our half-way front-runner would have been the <a href="https://anidb.net/anime/14111">first season of <em>Kaguya-sama</em></a>, which aired in winter 2019. <em>Kaguya's</em> first season was a terrific comedy, but clearly less substantive than its second and third seasons and not, in my estimation, an anime of the year-caliber series.</p>
<p>While 2023 has not produced any masterpieces yet, I will conclude on a positive note by observing that it has been a strong year for opening and ending songs and accompanying animations -- one such case <a href="https://thenewleafjournal.com/familiar-song-in-angel-next-door-anime/">demanded that I write an article</a>.</p>
2023-05-15T18:45:10.776479+00:00https://newleafannex.emucafe.org/end-of-peekier-search/The end of Peekier Search2023-05-03T02:01:50.087567+00:00newleafannexhidden<p>I reviewed a niche search engine (or more aptly put, Bing front-end) called Peekier in February 2022. My <a href="https://thenewleafjournal.com/peekier-search-engine-review/">Peekier review</a> turned out to be a relatively successful post (by <a href="https://thenewleafjournal.com"><em>The New Leaf Journal's</em></a> standards). The last time I had used Peekier before May 2, 2023, was in mid-January of 2023. This is because I have generally refrained from using Bing-based search after Bing <a href="https://thenewleafjournal.com/the-story-of-our-bing-blacklisting/">arbitrarily blacklisted my project and removed it from its index</a>. I ran a search through Peekier on May 2 as part of my day job working on U.S. immigration law research. My Peekier search unexpectedly redirected to the home page for Kagi Search. After determining that Peekier was indeed dead, I wrote <a href="https://thenewleafjournal.com/peekier-redirects-to-kagi-search/">an article on Peekier's demise</a> and then updated my Peekier review to note that the charming little search tool is no more. While I am not certain of the circumstances of Peekier's downfall or why it now redirects to Kagi Search, the last Internet Archive capture of Peekier's home page came on February 19, 2023. The next capture on February 26, 2023, shows the Kagi Search redirect was in place.</p>
2023-05-03T02:01:50.086016+00:00https://newleafannex.emucafe.org/thunderbird-available-as-ubo-addon/Thunderbird Available as uBlock Origin Add-on2023-05-02T19:18:10.546518+00:00newleafannexhidden<p>As of uBlock Origin version 1.49.2, you can now install the extension for Mozilla Thunderbird (<a href="https://github.com/gorhill/uBlock/releases/tag/1.49.2">see release version</a>). The <a href="https://addons.thunderbird.net/en-us/thunderbird/addon/ublock-origin/">extension page on Thunderbird Add-ons states</a> that it works with Thunderbird version 91.0 and higher. I use uBlock Origin with Firefox and I also use Thunderbird as my desktop email client (see my article on <a href="https://thenewleafjournal.com/decsync-review/">using Thunderbird with DecSync</a>). I installed uBlock Origin on Thunderbird and restored my settings from my set-up on Firefox. The installation and export worked perfectly, but the non-uBlock Origin filter lists that I have enabled did not update (I am not sure if that is a general issue, but not important in my case). Consider this a PSA for Thunderbird users. If you want an aesthetic Thunderbird set-up, see my <a href="https://thenewleafjournal.com/leaf/from-aur-to-mainline-arch-thunderbird/">short post on the Two Little Birds theme</a>.</p>
2023-05-02T19:18:10.544402+00:00https://newleafannex.emucafe.org/bing-blacklisting-update/Bing blacklisting update2023-04-28T18:38:57.981779+00:00newleafannexhidden<p>I have published two posts hear on Bear Blog about my main website project, <em>The New Leaf Journal</em>, having been blacklisted by Bing.</p>
<ul>
<li><a href="https://newleafannex.bearblog.dev/nlj-deindexed-from-bing/">De-indexed from Bing</a> (1.17.23)</li>
<li><a href="https://newleafannex.bearblog.dev/bing-deindexing-update/">Bing de-indexing update</a> (1.18.23)</li>
</ul>
<p>The Bing blacklisting not only persists, but has also become worse. I discovered in the Bing Webmaster Console that all of The New Leaf Journal's pages had been purged from Bing's index.</p>
<p>I subscribe to an RSS feed for Hacker News Page 1 in my feed reader. I saw an article titled <a href="https://dariusz.wieckiewicz.org/en/bing-jail/"><em>Bing Jail</em></a> a few days ago which caught my attention. In that post, a webmaster described his Bing blacklisting experience. I found that it was almost identical to my experience, right down to his site having been blacklisted in January 2023 and his pages being removed from Bing's index in March. He noted that several other independent writing sites, including a couple which probably receive more traffic than <em>The New Leaf Journal</em>, suffered the same fate.</p>
<p>His post inspired me to <a href="https://thenewleafjournal.com/the-story-of-our-bing-blacklisting/">write my own comprehensive account of being blacklisted by Bing</a>. I described how our experience is similar to the <em>Bing Jail</em> story and some minor differences. It seems that making Hacker News page one is one way to escape Bing jail. While I do not expect that my post will be shared or otherwise make page one, I figured that putting it out there may help when nothing else seems to.</p>
<p>I also tried sending another email inquiry to Bing. My first 5 or 6 returned no results, but I did receive an automated response for this one (I have not received an automated response for all of my support requests). Will it change anything? Probably not, but one can hope.</p>
<p>While Bing continues to ban my writing site, Google, Yandex, Brave, and Mojeek appear to have no concerns about indexing <em>The New Leaf Journal</em> and allowing people to find it via search. In fact, we have been doing fairly well on Google by our standards. Only Bing complains (and will not tell us why). As I explain my my Bing ban article, our biggest loss is not Bing itself, but instead DuckDuckGo, which is essentially a Bing front-end. I <a href="https://thenewleafjournal.com/importance-of-bing-indexing-for-alt-search/">wrote about the danger of having most alternative search engines use Bing's search index in August 2022</a>, well before the problem discussed affected <em>The New Leaf Journal</em>.</p>
2023-04-28T18:28:22.470614+00:00https://newleafannex.emucafe.org/ghostwriter-pandoc-issue-and-fix/Ghostwriter-Pandoc Issue and Fix2023-04-14T03:12:12.968569+00:00newleafannexhidden<p>I use the <em>Ghostwriter</em> markdown editor (<a href="https://thenewleafjournal.com/ghostwriter-markdown-editor-review/">see my <em>Ghostwriter</em> review</a>) to draft articles for <a href="https://thenewleafjournal.com"><em>The New Leaf Journal</em></a> and briefs and memoranda for my day job as a legal research specialist. In both cases, I have to convert my documents from markdown. I convert <em>New Leaf Journal</em> articles to .odt for editing while I convert my legal work to to .docx. (See my <a href="https://thenewleafjournal.com/my-wordpress-writing-workflow-at-the-new-leaf-journal/">article on my <em>New Leaf Journal</em> workflow</a>.)</p>
<p>Since <a href="https://thenewleafjournal.com/new-computer-new-leaf/">switching to Linux in 2020</a>, I have used Arch-based Linux distributions. I began using <em>Ghostwriter</em> on Manjaro after my <a href="https://thenewleafjournal.com/a-writers-case-for-markdown/">experiences using markdown</a> to compose
our <a href="https://thenewleafjournal.com/the-newsletter-leaf-journal-sign-up/">Buttondown-powered newsletters</a> inspired me to begin working in markdown. I moved from Manjaro to Arch's closer cousin, EndeavourOS, in August 2022, where I remain today.</p>
<p>Ghostwriter has generally worked for me without issues. Early on, I had an issue with it sometimes not connecting to Pandoc, but that went away at some point. Since <a href="https://thenewleafjournal.com/leaf/ghostwriter-is-now-a-kde-app/">KDE took over development of Ghostwriter</a> things were largely flawless. However, a few days ago, I noticed after updating either Pandoc or KDE (I did not catch which) that Ghostwriter was no longer recognizing Pandoc as a conversion option. This was a mild problem for me because I never took the time to learn the Pandoc CLI syntax (I really should get around to that). I could use MultiMarkdown to convert to .odt, but that vitiated many of my markdown formatting choices.</p>
<p>However, before I had to deal with the issue for a work project, Pandoc returned as a conversion option after something was updated. Problem solved. It only proved to be a pain in the case of <a href="https://thenewleafjournal.com/anime-review-endo-and-kobayashi-live/">one somewhat long article</a> wherein I had to re-do some of my formatting in Libre Office Writer.</p>
<p>If you enjoy strange <em>Ghostwriter</em> issues, take a trip back in time to learn about a <a href="https://thenewleafjournal.com/a-segmentation-fault-and-a-peculiar-ghostwriter-install-on-manjaro/">segfault issue I had on a fresh Manjaro install in 2021</a>.</p>
2023-04-13T22:09:05.023927+00:00https://newleafannex.emucafe.org/my-unique-phil-mickelson-article/My Unique Phil Mickelson Article2023-04-10T16:10:12.689881+00:00newleafannexhidden<p>The tagline of my main project, <em>The New Leaf Journal</em>, is "where the leaves are perennially virid." As I explained in a <a href="https://thenewleafjournal.com/new-bark-town-and-the-new-leaf-journal-slogan/">post on the inspiration for the tagline</a>, the slogan gets at two ideas. The first is that I try to write evergreen articles. The second is that I try to produce unique articles worth your time. There is no shortage of writing online. Some of the writing even comes from the <a href="https://thenewleafjournal.com/query-for-bing-on-blacklisting-and-chatgpt/">keyboards of human beings</a> writing in a language they are fluent in. While I try to bring a fresh perspective to all of my articles, I cannot always say that my topics are <em>unique</em>. However, I published a short "leaflet" aside yesterday which I think is unique.</p>
<p>I used to regularly watch professional golf. While I have not watched much golf in several years, I stay somewhat abreast of the goings on. Back in 2021, Phil Mickelson became the oldest golfer to win a major championship at the PGA, capturing the title at 50 years, 11 months, and 7 days. He broke the 53-year record of Julius Boros at the 1968 PGA, who had been 48 years and 4 months old. That inspired me to <a href="https://thenewleafjournal.com/oldest-golfers-to-contend-for-majors-between-the-1968-and-2021-pgas/">write an article</a> about the golfers who, between Boros's and Mickelson's triumphs at the PGA Championship 53 years apart, had previously challenged the record. In order to qualify, the golfer had to have been older than Boros at the conclusion of the major (occurring between the 1968 and 2021 PGAs) and have <em>either</em> finished in the top five or, if outside the top five, have been within 5 shots of the winner. My criteria yielded only 16 challengers to Boros's record prior to Mr. Mickelson's breaking it.</p>
<p>In my section on Mr. Mickelson's victory at the 2021 PGA, I noted that I would not be surprised to see him challenge his own record. That turned out to be a good prediction. Mr. Mickelson not only challenged his record, but he was also the first to do so within the confines I set for inclusion on the list of runs at Boros's record, with the only change being the higher age bar. Mr. Mickelson finished in a tie for second place at the 2023 Masters, four shots behind the champion. He was out of contention going into the final round after a poor third round, but his 7-under 65 shot him up to the leaderboard, and it may well have been enough had the eventual winner, Jon Rahm, slipped up on the back nine.</p>
<p>Not wanting to deprive our readers of the opportunity to learn about how I made I good prediction, I published my <a href="https://thenewleafjournal.com/leaf/mickelson-finishes-second-in-masters-at-52/">leaflet on Mr. Mickelson's runner-up</a> and added a note to my original 2021 article on challenges to Boros's former record. You may wonder why I think that this Leaflet is <em>unique</em>. Surely, there are many articles online about Mr. Mickelson's surprising run at the 2023 Masters. I submit that my article is perhaps the only article on the entire internet since early 2022 to write about Phil Mickelson without mentioning Saudi Arabia or the LIV Tour.</p>
2023-04-10T16:10:12.688401+00:00https://newleafannex.emucafe.org/tiki-tsuki-nlj/Fire Emblem Tiki overtakes Tsuki ga Kirei at the NLJ2023-04-09T03:42:14.423130+00:00newleafannexhidden<p>On March 14, 2021, I published a lengthy research article titled <a href="https://thenewleafjournal.com/the-mystery-of-soseki-and-tsuki-ga-kirei/">The Mystery of Sōseki and Tsuki ga Kirei</a>. In that post, I collected English-language sources on a certain legend that Natsume Sōseki had suggested "tsuki ga kirei" (the Moon is beautiful) as a Japanese translation for "I love you." I had learned about the tsuki ga kirei legend from the excellent 2017 anime series (it featured in my <a href="https://thenewleafjournal.com/anime-recommendations-of-the-decade-2011-20/">decade review</a>, Tsuki ga Kirei, and while it is likely a work of fiction (I knew that going into my research project), the phrase is aesthetically elegant.</p>
<p>(Note before continuing: All of my page view statistics come from Koko Analytics, an entirely local and privacy-friendly analytics plugin for WordPress. It sacrifices a bit in accuracy for privacy, but my comparison of its recorded Google refers to my Google Search Console statistics shows that it is reasonably accurate. See <a href="https://thenewleafjournal.com/koko-analytics-wordpress-review/">my full review and discussion</a>.</p>
<p>When I published the tsuki ga kirei article, I had some hope that my long research project would attract some viewers. It turned out to be a great success. After making its first appearance in our weekly top five most-visited articles in May 2021, it never left the weekly ranking -- it has been among our top five for 102 <a href="https://thenewleafjournal.com/letter/128/">consecutive weeks</a> as of April 9, 2023. It was only deprived of the top spot in our <a href="https://thenewleafjournal.com/justin-justina-the-most-read-new-leaf-journal-content-of-2021/">2021</a> and <a href="https://thenewleafjournal.com/justin-and-justina-review-2022-at-the-nlj/">2022</a> rankings of most-read articles by two other posts (one in each year) making Hacker News page one.</p>
<p>However, in terms of page views, my tsuki ga kirei article peaked in March 2022. It has remained our most consistent article while posting some relatively weak (by its standards) visitor counts in the last few months, although post-January 2023 comparisons are not entirely fair since <em>The New Leaf Journal</em> is <a href="https://newleafannex.bearblog.dev/bing-deindexing-update/">being blacklisted by Bing</a>.</p>
<p>On February 3, 2023, I published a lengthy article about a <a href="https://thenewleafjournal.com/tiki-paralogue-trick-in-fire-emblem-engage/">trick I stumbled upon while completing the Tiki DLC pararalogue</a> in the newly-released <em>Fire Emblem Engage</em> for Nintendo Switch. I had some hope it may pick up a few views, but with one exception, my few posts about video games (including a more interesting -- in my view, at least -- <a href="https://thenewleafjournal.com/my-glass-cannon-is-tankier-than-expected-lysithea-fire-emblem-story/">article about <em>Fire Emblem: Three Houses</em></a>) have not performed particularly well. To my surprise, it ended what had been a five-week streak of first-place finishes by tsuki ga kirei in its second week live, and has held the top ranking now for eight consecutive weeks. Its performance has been so stellar that it has, on April 8, 2023, overtaken my tsuki ga kirei article as our most-visited post of 2023 to date despite the former leader having a four-week head start.</p>
<p>Will this hold up? I expected the <em>Fire Emblem Engage</em> post to fade after a strong first month for two reasons. Firstly, some of the excitement about the game, which had been released in January, would surely ware off. Secondly, while my tip for the Tiki paralogue is good (if I say so myself), there are many more comprehensive guides for clearing the entire map (not to mention I wrote my post as an essay rather than a strategy guide). However, this seems not to be the case thus far. Tiki has been very consistent in terms of visits over its eight-week run, and it posted its best day to date (according to Koko) on April 8, 2023. With that being said, I would be fairly surprised if it is ahead of tsuki ga kirei at the end of the year, but it does look poised to build a comfortable lead in our standings over the next few weeks.</p>
2023-04-09T03:42:14.421115+00:00