I delete many spam comments left in our Guestbook. Most are not worth sharing, but every now and then I see one that catches my attention. One example is a spam comment that has now been left for moderation for posting in our Guestbook twice. The comment is posted by user killer for hire and it advertises a service which “lets you find experts for occasionally dangerous tasks.” It states that “contractors are qualified in managing complex jobs” before a URL, which includes the words hitman, assassin, and killer. “This service ensures safe interactions between requestors and specialists.” What in the world? I would have posted the screenshot but I would rather not indirectly advertise the actual URL. I did not click the URL, but there is a non-zero chance it leads to a casino or marijuana site. Weird stuff.
Author Archives: Nicholas A. Ferrell
Waiting For a G3 Macintosh in 1998
I was looking for a good small web source to link to April showers bring May flowers for yesterday’s New Leaf Journal article on a brave tulip in Red Hook. I turned to Marginalia Search and Mojeek for the task. On Marginalia, I found a link to a link to a May 10, 1998 blog post by Michael Rawdon titled May Flowers. It did include the adage. I did not ultimately use it in my article. However, a passage unrelated to spring and flowers caught my attention:
Oh, and I ordered my new G3 Macintosh from The Apple Store. They say it could be up to 3 weeks before it arrives due to “time for assembly”, but seeing as it’s a standard model minus the internal modem, I’m betting it will arrive sooner.
Michael Rawdon (May 10, 1998)
While I never had a Mac of any kind (lest we count my temporary custody of Victor V. Gurbo’s 2007 MacBook), the passage caught my attention because I wrote about one Macintosh G3 just over a year ago. In Power Macintosh G3 in Nana Anime, I used a reverse image search to identify a desktop computer in a 2006 anime I was watching at the time. Of course, the G3 I wrote about was first released on January 5, 1999, so Mr. Rawdon must have ordered the model before the one I covered.
Things I Learned: LTK
I read an April 28, 2025 report in Morning Brew titled LTK wants to be creators’ post-social platform of choice. I had heard of L DK, but never LTK. Is it new?
Amber Venz Box started as a creator on WordPress, and founded the platform formerly known as LiketoKnow.it and RewardStyle in 2011 as an affiliate platform for bloggers, which is now often cited as one of the original social commerce platforms.
It is apparently not new. Maybe it is niche?
Internal data shows that most LTK affiliate transactions now happen through or within the LTK platform (as opposed to, say, a link from a social post) and around 38% of millennial and Gen Z women in the US are using LTK, Venz Box said.
According to this, many millennial women are using it. I am obviously not a woman, but I have dated myself as a millennial by birth. Nevertheless, I never heard of this supposedly popular platform. Its being focused on affiliate advertising may explain why. I am good at being ignorant of advertising trends and video creators. While I have no opinion on LTK, I do have one take on one opinion of Amber Venz Box, the creator of LTK:
Ultimately, she said, she doesn’t want to see TikTok go away, particularly due to the platform’s power in democratizing who can become a creator.
Woodpecker in Brooklyn
I was walking through the Brooklyn neighborhood of Cobble Hill in the late afternoon on April 21, 2025. I heard a tap-tap-tap in a tree. I looked up and saw a woodpecker with a red crown and white breast with spots pecking away. This was notable because it is only the second time I recall having seen a woodpecker in Brooklyn, with the first being in Park Slope/Gowanus one or two years ago. I pulled out my camera to take a photograph of the woodpecker. Unfortunately, it flew away and across the street before I could even open my camera app, much less take a picture. Thus, the woodpecker joins the blue jay and black squirrel, albino sparrow, and squirrel with a French fry on my tell, don’t show list of New York City wildlife stories.
Long Delays Between Anime Seasons
Coop and Chris try to answer the eternal question: does it matter if the sequel is as good if it takes too long to show up?
I came across an interesting Anime News Network discussion prompt asking whether it “matter[s] if the sequel [to an anime] is as good [as the first season] if it takes too long to show up?” The two participants in the discussion cite examples where it does seem to matter in a commercial sense. From my perspective, a long delay between seasons can be irritating in that I need to go back and refresh myself on the prior season(s). I distinctly recall having that issue with the second season of Re:Zero back in 2021 (the first season aired in 2016). But as long as the new season is good and worthwhile, I am not worried from a viewer perspective. The third and final season of My Teen Romantic Comedy SNAFU (aka Oregairu) was the easy choice for my TV anime of the year nod in 2020, notwithstanding the five-year gap between the second and third seasons. I still insist on a third season of the best series of the previous decade, March Comes in like a Lion, despite the fact that the second season finished airing seven years ago. (Aside: While I have yet to watch the third season of Kimi ni Todoke, which aired 12 years after the second, I appreciate that it helped bring attention to my Kimi ni Todoke hair color study.)
Things I Learned: Chinese Plastic Christmas Tree Manufacturers in Trouble
From Reuters:
Chinese producers of plastic Christmas trees and other festive decorations say orders from U.S. clients, which are crucial for their business, should have started to come in by now. But because of surging import tariffs, they haven’t.
I never had a plastic Christmas Tree. But I recall having said something about the fact that they tend to come from China to a friend a few months ago. Should the center-piece of many Christmas living roons be made in a country that persecutes Christians as a matter of state policy?
In cheerier Christmas Tree news, I published many fun Christmas Tree links in Newsletter Leaf Journal 166, which hit inboxes and feed readers on December 23, 2023.
Things I Learned: Oldest Golfer to Shoot Under Par in Masters Round
Earlier today, I posted about the 65-year old Fred Couples shooting one under par in the first round of The Masters and thus placing him in good position to break his own record as the oldest golfer to make the cut at Augusta National. But while Mr. Couples may become the oldest golfer to make a Masters cut, he will have to leave the record for oldest golfer to have a Masters round. I quote from ESPN UK:
Fred Couples, who wondered a month ago if at 65 with a creaky back he would still be welcomed to play, became only the second player that age to break par … Tom Watson was also 65 — by 28 days he is still the oldest — when he shot 71 in 2015.
I do not think I knew that record. However, Mr. Watson featured prominently in my article on the oldest golfers to contend at major championships, notably for his near-win at the 2009 Open Championship at age 59. While I did not recall Mr. Watson’s 71 in 2015, I did make a note of his performance at the 2010 Masters coming off almost winning the British Open nine months earlier.
Tom Watson did not contend for another major, but he would make the cut in five majors after turning 60. His best showing was a tie for 18th place at the 2010 Masters, wherein he was one shot behind the leader – Fred Couples (age 50) – after a first round 67.
Mr. Couples finished sixth at the 2010 Masters after leading at the end of round one. He narrowly missed my cut-off criteria for oldest golfers to contend at majors (my criteria was (1) older than 48 years, 4 months, and 18 days; and (2) top-five finish or within five shots of the winner).
Fred Couples Shoots 71 in First Round of Masters
I noted in an article on the oldest golfers to contend for major championships that Fred Couples has always been a favorite of mine (thanks in no small part to Fred Couples Golf for Sega Game Gear). Mr. Couples is 65 years old, having reached the milestone on October 3, 2024. While he competes almost exclusively on golf’s 50-and-over Champions Tour these days, he is competing in his 40th Masters this week with his lifetime exemption from his 1992 victory. Mr. Couples shot an impressive (in general, but especially for a 65-year old) one-under 71 in the first round, thanks in large part to a chip-in birdie on the first hole and holing out from 191 yards for eagle on the par-four 14th. While I would be surprised to see Mr. Couples close enough to the lead on Sunday to qualify as a new addition to my oldest golfers to contend for major championships list, he is in good position to break the record for the oldest golfer to make the cut at the Masters. The record holder is Fred Couples, who set the existing mark in 2023. But Mr. Couples may not control his own record destiny. The 67-year old Bernhard Langer (1985 and 1993 Masters Champion), who is competing in his final Masters, shot a two-over 74, which gives him a chance to make the weekend in his farewell Masters if he posts a solid second round tomorrow.
Installing Tinker WriterDeck OS On Old ASUS Netbook
I read an article on Liliputing about Tinker WriterDeck OS earlier today (Liliputing. April 7, 2025). What is Tinker WriterDeck OS? I turn to Liliputing:
But if you’ve already got an old laptop lying around, maybe there’s no need to build or purchase anything new. You could just use distraction-free software. And that’s exactly where Tinker WriterDeck OS comes in: it’s a free and open source operating system that can be installed on just about any old laptop that you may have lying around to turn it into a distraction-free tool for writing… and not much else.
I happened to have a very old ASUS netbook (2 GB RAM, spinning HDD) laying around. Moreover, I had nothing much to do with it given that I have two more capable laptops. There was only one thing to do…
This is admittedly not the best picture, but rest assured that this is Tinker WriterDeck OS freshly installed on my netbook. I was impressed with how quick and easy the installation was, thanks in no small part to very concise docs. I confirmed everything works. Look forward to an exciting article about Tinker WriterDeck OS drafted on my newly configured netbook.
Things I Learned: Tinder is a Chatbot Dating Service
I have heard of Tinder, but I have not used Tinder (or any other dating app or service for that matter), so all I know about it is what I read. I had been under the impression that Tinder was a dating/hook-up app for people to meet or meet other people. However, I was disabused of this notion by an April 2, 2025 report by Matty Merritt for Morning Brew titled Tinder wants you to win a date with an AI chatbot (Morning Brew, April 2, 2025). I quote from this important report:
Users receive a virtual deck of cards with unique scenarios and personae to flirt with via the speech-to-speech tech. The goal is to charm the bot with voice memos and score a date before time runs out…
The article notes that Tinder launched the game on April Fools. Sadly, it seems to be no joke (as in existing, it is definitely a joke in a grander sense).
Trillion Game Two-Part Season Finale
I have been watching an anime called Trillion Game since it began in the fall 2024 season. It continued into the winter season. According to Anime News Network, we have a two-part season (I hope season and not series) finale on March 27. While I an loath to offer to many spoilers for my eventual year-end anime ranking (see my 2024 list), Trillion Game is a decent finale away from (likely) being the first-quarter front-runner in 2025 (granting its another fun show also wraps up tomorrow). Of course, you never want to count your chickens before they hatch. At least one of the better shows of the season did not stick the landing.
Things I Learned: 13 U.S. States Ban Ranked-Choice Voting
Courtesy of Just the News:
West Virginia and Wyoming are the latest two states to ban ranked-choice voting (RCV), bringing the total number of states prohibiting the election system to 13.
To be sure, it should be 50 states, but we have to start somewhere. Baby steps to giant strides and all. Of course my home jurisdiction (New York City) seems to rapidly going in the opposite direction of West Virginia and Wyoming (that is true on many matters).
My Haqqani Bounty Payment Hangs By a Thread
Using open source intelligence tools (basic web search), I reported that I had information regarding the whereabouts of Sirajuddin Haqqani, who was wanted by the FBI.
Back in 2021, I briefly moonlit as an OSNIT analyst and used The New Leaf Journal to inform the United States Government that I had information regarding the whereabouts of Sirajuddin Haqqani, who had a bounty of up to $10 million on his head. By “OSNIT,” I mean I shared a news report about Mr. Haqqani being appointed as the new Interior Minister of Afghanistan. Several years have passed. Mr. Haqqani continues to be the Interior Minister of Afghanistan. I have yet to receive an award. Thus, I read with some concern this morning that Mr. Haqqani is no longer subject to a bounty by the U.S. government. What is my concern? I still haven’t received by award! No take-backs!
SBInstitutionsBot Visits Picked Up as Visitors
My Set-Up I run the non-pro version of Koko Analytics on my WordPress site. I disable cookies and exclude visits from all logged-in users. What Happened? On two separate days, Koko Analytics was sh...
On March `12 and 19, I received a highly unusual number of visitors and page views on The New Leaf Journal according to Koko Analytics. By “unusual,” I mean about 10X as many visitors as expected. No individual article had an unusual number of views and my Koko Analytics stats showed the usual list of referrers (mostly search engines) at usual referral numbers. I checked by server logs on the 19th and determined that the likely culprit was SBInstitutionsBot/0.1 (it appears to be a Japanese web crawler for AI), which was hammering my site with requests as I was seeing unusually high visitor numbers. I used Jeff Starr’s BBQ Pro firewall plugin to block the bot. My Koko Analytics stats quickly returned to normal. I reported the issue to Koko Analytics on GitHub, so I hope the relevant IP addresses are added to the do not count list if it turns out that my diagnosis was correct. (In any event, one of my former visitors, PoorlyConfiguredWebCrawler, was much better behaved than SBInstitutionsBot.)
Things I Learned: Amazon Appstore for Android
From Brad Linder at Liliputing:
The Amazon Appstore allows you to download and install apps on Amazon Fire tablets and Fire TV devices. But the Appstore actually predates the Amazon Fire ecosystem. Amazon first launched the Appstore in March, 2011 as an app that could be installed on Android phones and tablets. The first Amazon Fire-branded tablet didn’t launch until half a year later. Fourteen years later Amazon has announced that it’s discontinuing the Appstore for Android.
I learned two things here. Firstly, while I know that Amazon’s Fire OS is based on Android and I have run F-Droid (a free and open source Android app store) on Fire devices, it had never occurred to me that Amazon promoted its Appstore on regular Android devices. Note that I run GrapheneOS on my phone with no Google Play Services, so I am not up to date on the proprietary app stores. Secondly, I was even more surprised to learn that the Amazon Appstore pre-dates the first Fire OS device, meaning it was originally released for main-line Android devices. Go figure. I have some limited experience with the Amazon Appstore from my old 2013 Kindle Fire HDX (see my one and only Amazon Appstore visual novel review) and BlackBerry Classic, both of which ran Android-derived operating systems and shipped Amazon Appstore as their default app stores.