June 24, 2023

Newsletter Leaf Jouranl CXLI 〜 Newsletter to reverse. 〜

The 141st Newsletter Leaf Journal features our newest articles, links from around the web, and other news and notes as we welcome summer.

Welcome to the 141st edition of The Newsletter Leaf Journal, the official newsletter of the perennially virid online writing magazine, The New Leaf Journal. This newsletter comes to you as always from the waterproof keyboard of the editor of The New Leaf Journal, Nicholas A. Ferrell. Last week was a bit slow in terms of New Leaf Journal developments, but I still have a full slate of topics to share for this newsletter.

Table of contents

• Leaves from the week that was
• Leaves from around the web
• The Old Leaf Journal
• Most-turned leaves of the newsletter week
• News leaf journal
• Notable leaf journal
• Taking leaf

Leaves from the week that was

I published three new articles and several short posts since mailing Newsletter 140.

Regular articles

• The world to reverse – Visual Novel Review
  N.A. Ferrell. June 21.

  The world to reverse is a 2006 visual novel with two stories in one. Both made for interesting (and dark) reads.

• Against camping in ATM vestibules
  N.A. Ferrell. June 22.

  Some people seem to miss the potential issues.

• Running Yuuki!Novel Ver of Tegami on Linux
  N.A. Ferrell. June 23.

  After reviewing the English translation of the 2007 NScripter version of Tegami last week (see review), I tested the original 2005 Japanese release, which is powered by Yuuki!Novel, on Linux on top of WINE.

Leaflets and Leaf Buds

• Telly’s ‘free’ dystopia TV (the high cost of “free”)
• The Dangers in My Heart gets S2 (on the upcoming second season of an anime that unexpectedly has served The New Leaf Journal well – see my most-turned leaves section later in the newsletter)
• Reddit wars and precious John Oliver memes (maybe no one should win the Reddit vs mods fight)
• On reading and organizing articles (2013) (file this idea away for a future feature article)
• Flushing Redis to clear deleted comments (another Redis Object Cache + WordPress tip)

Leaves from around the web

Let’s check in on what is happening around the world wide web…

• How Edith Wilson Kept Herself–and Her Husband–in the White House
  Rebecca Boggs Roberts for Smithsonian Magazine. March 7, 2023.

  A genuinely impressive series of political manuevers yielded an outcome that was perhaps not entirely aligned with the spirit of the first sentence of Article II, Section 1 of the United States Constitution.

• The Last Days of the Bahama Nuthatch
  Shoshi Parks for Atlas Obscura. March 15, 2023.

  A sad (unfortunately probable) farewell to a charming little bird.

• Why Marie Antoinette’s Reputation Changes With Each Generation
  Meilan Solly for Smithsonian Magazine. March 17, 2023.

  The truth is considerably cooler than the hot takes.

• In the Mind of Marie: A Haunting Encounter in the Gardens of Versailles (1913)
  Sasha Archibald for Public Domain Review. June 6, 2023.

  “Then the two women, who had by now become quite close, had a creative epiphany: perhaps they hadn’t visited the actual events of August 10th, 1792, but the mindscape of Marie Antoinette on that day.”

• Former Mafia boss Vittorio Amuso, 88, convicted of ordering several murders pleads for ‘compassionate release’ from prison
  Danielle Wallace for Fox News (via New York Post). June 21, 2023.

  Contrary to the wording of the article, it is not at all clear to me that Mr. Amuso is the former boss of the Luchese crime family…

• John Rhoden Brooklyn Heights House Becomes Asia Art Archive
  Cho Chang for Curbed. June 16, 2023.

  I saw a line at this place a few weeks ago and wondered what the deal was. Then I read this article and learned what the deal was.

• Brooklyn’s Montague Street kicks off Open Streets with exuberant party
  Mary Frost for the Brooklyn Daily Eagle. May 8, 2023.

  Having walked within earshot of said party, will opine that putting very loud marching bands in the middle of residential neighborhoods is bad.

• Divorce, Gen-X Style
  Erin Blakemore for JSTOR Daily. April 13, 2023.

  Missing from this bizarre opinion piece is any recognition that in some cases, kids may have justifiable grievances against their divorced parents, either for the divorce itself or for how their parents have handled their affairs.

• U.S. Rep. Angie Craig drops college requirement for staffers
  Danny Spewak for Kare 11. April 27, 2023.

  Thanks to me, this made page one of Hacker News. While I did not join the discussion I started, I will note for the record that Ms. Craig is directionally correct.

• Sudan Again
  Alberto M. Fernandez for The American Mind. May 1, 2023.

  A learned look at the current discord in Sudan and past discord in Sudan.

• Better Than Free
  The Technium. January 31, 2008.

  An interesting post on the value of digital goods.

• An elegant new orchid is found hiding in plain sight
  Kobe University. March 17, 2023.

  Was it hiding or were you just bad at looking?

The Old Leaf Journal

Let’s rake some older leaves…

• Original LOH: Trails in the Sky GIF ad
  N.A. Ferrell. February 17, 2023.

  Coming soon on June 24, 2004.

• Thomas Sowell on Hard-Core Troublemakers
  N.A. Ferrell. June 30, 2020.

  This post was in my mind for last week’s ATM article.

• A Union Rat and Inflatable Hazmat Suit Man Bring a Coffin to Brooklyn
  N.A. Ferrell. June 18, 2021.

  Interesting portrait…

• Harry Wilson Wants My Vote For Governor
  N.A. Ferrell. June 26, 2022.

  I have no primary to vote in this year. That means much less mail.

• “Under: Depths of Fear” Game Review
  Victor V. Gurbo. February 25, 2022.

  Perhaps our most negative game review.

• Mosquitoes Don’t Like the Heat
  N.A. Ferrell. August 2, 2022.

  Here’s hoping…

Most-turned leaves of the newsletter week

I list our most-read articles from the previous newsletter week (Friday to Saturday) in each edition of The Newsletter Leaf Journal. These statistics come courtesy of Koko Analytics, our local, privacy friendly page-counting solution (see my review). Below, I present the 5 most-visited articles for 2023 newsletter week 25.

1. The Mystery of Sōseki and Tsuki ga Kirei (NAF, 3.14.21)
   2023 Appearances: 25
   Top Placements: 8
2. Heights in “The Dangers in My Heart” Anime (NAF, 4.2.23 )
   2023 Appearances: 4
3. Peekier Search Engine Review (NAF, 2.26.22)
   2023 Appearances: 18
   Top Placements: 3
4. Tiki paralogue trick in Fire Emblem Engage (NAF, 2.3.23)
   2023 Appearances: 20
   Top Placements: 11
5. The Pokémon Special Split in Generation 2 - Statistics and Analysis (NAF, 1.18.22)
   2023 Appearances: 17

My newsletter-creating job is much easier when the top five articles from one week return in the exact same order in the next. We had a strange week which included our second-best day of June and our worst day since June 2021 in Koko Analytics stats. The end result in total views and article configuration that is similar to the previous week, with the notable difference being that the top two separated themselves more from the rest of the pack. My tsuki ga kirei post secured its third straight top finish with a slightly better week than the previous two while my Dangers in the Heart leaflet finished second for the third week in a row with almost the same view total as the previous two weeks. The only near surprise of the week was a solid sixth place finish by our longest article, the history of the Roman Emperor Otho.

News leaf journal

We may be making some progress on our Bing ban situation. There is a real person assigned to our case now. I am still waiting for an update on the results of the assessment. Being restored to Bing, and by extension Bing-derivatives such as DuckDuckGo, would certainly make us much less reliant on the ups and downs of Google clicks (which have become a bit more erratic in recent weeks than they were earlier in 2023). Fingers crossed.

Notable leaf journal

I tested Textractor, an open source tool for translating visual novels (using Google Translate) while I was putting together my Yuuki!Novel article. It is Windows-only, but I figured out how to set it up well on Linux using Bottles. Consider this a future guide topic and perhaps a tool that will allow me to look at some Japanese visual novels that were never translated into English (albeit, Google Translate has limitations that would prevent me from reviewing them in the same way I review novels with human English translations).

Taking leaf

Thank you as always for reading The Newsletter Leaf Journal (and, I hope, The New Leaf Journal). If you want to follow the newsletter and are not doing so already, we offer email and RSS options (see options). I also syndicate the newsletter to The New Leaf Journal on Mondays (usually on Mondays…).

I hope everyone in the northern hemisphere is enjoying the beginning of summer (we have a ways to go until summer’s end). I look forward to reporting on July 1, 2023, with what promises to be a very patriotic newsletter.

Until then,

Cura ut valeas.