Jack Yan: the Persuader Blog

WordPress sites potentially hacked through Optinmonster

Jack Yan & Associates — Fri, 25 Sep 2026 23:13:26 +0000

Unfortunately I could find no online references for this error, so here’s one. Two of our sites were hacked. If you see this text, log in to your WordPress installation now. It had appeared on the top of these two sites. === console.log('header!'); // Easy to add and display post grid on your website [...]

The uncanny valley got wider

Jack Yan & Associates — Thu, 24 Sep 2026 04:46:47 +0000

I have used some “AI” imagery on this site, and as our perceptions shift, it’s so interesting to see that that imagery, which a year or two ago would have looked convincing to me, now looks uncanny valley. Of the blog header images, the ones with real photographs look, well, real; the generated ones have [...]

I am not on Gmail

Jack Yan & Associates — Thu, 24 Sep 2026 04:10:53 +0000

It’s been strange to see emails addressed to me as well as jackyan@gmail.com. First it was just scammers who did this, but yesterday I came across a legit PR company that used it as well. I don’t know who’s at the Gmail address because they’re being unwittingly dragged in to my world, and they should [...]

Our government loves foreign corporations

Jack Yan & Associates — Thu, 24 Sep 2026 03:40:24 +0000

Yes, it would be nice to have greater competition in grocery shopping but once again the New Zealand coalition government has its priorities backwards. It proposes breaking up Foodstuffs, the New Zealand company that has about 53 per cent of the market here. Once again its actions seem misplaced, because it leaves the foreign competitor—Australia’s [...]

Lucire Rouge gets a new look

Jack Yan & Associates — Sat, 19 Sep 2026 13:21:16 +0000

Lucire Rouge, a US-based licensed sister site to Lucire, was down for a few days last week, the fault being attributable to the skin, or the theme. I don’t want to bag the theme too badly since there are other plug-ins in WordPress that conflict with each other, and who knows if an automatic [...]

Do not give up on your dreams

Jack Yan & Associates — Mon, 07 Sep 2026 01:59:44 +0000

I came across a post that’s not worth linking at all, where the writer notes that it’s not worth chasing your goals. The odds of succeeding are so slim you should focus on bettering what’s nearest to you, such as your community. It’s defeatist nonsense, because there is nothing stopping anyone from doing both: chase [...]

New Zealand political satire is alive, but on social media

Jack Yan & Associates — Sat, 05 Sep 2026 11:53:57 +0000

Attributed to the Labour candidate for Wellington Bays MP, Craig Renney, via the notable blues man Darren Watson. We’re not a poor country, but we absolutely make poor choices when it comes to spending. Let me give you a very brief example. Boot camps. The first round of boot camps cost $4·1 million for ten [...]

Upset at Google now? Why not before?

Jack Yan & Associates — Mon, 31 Aug 2026 23:28:35 +0000

Interesting there are people finding themselves upset over Google’s capitulation to another Trumpian demand that Lake Ontario be called Lake America. They weren’t upset over the Gulf of México being renamed Gulf of America, which Google jumped to change last year? Or they weren’t upset when Project Nimbus became public and it was revealed that [...]

The John Yan you are looking for is not at jyanet.com

Jack Yan & Associates — Mon, 31 Aug 2026 22:27:08 +0000

For many years, Dad’s old account was getting emails from people purporting to be Chinese women. I had everything from his old account come to me, for obvious reasons. These emails followed a similar formula. They tell a story of a Chinese woman who has moved to the US, wanting to connect with a Chinese [...]

New Zealand GDP 2024–5: the worst of the OECD 38 and going backwards

Jack Yan & Associates — Mon, 31 Aug 2026 22:00:13 +0000

You can only pull the ‘But the rest of the world has it tough’ argument for only so long but objective, international stats do not lie. To those friends in the US, the UK and the Continent who didn’t believe me when I said things were bad, who said, ‘It’s just as bad here,’ I [...]