October 21, 2023

Newsletter Leaf Journal CLVIII 〜 A bit of a rush 〜

This (short) edition of *The Newsletter Leaf Journal* covers new articles, links from around the web, and the most-read articles of the week.

Welcome to the 158th edition of The Newsletter Leaf Journal (the previous one had a Roman numeral title typo -- sad!), the official newsletter of the perennially virid online writing magazine, The New Leaf Journal. I am a bit pressed for time this week, so this newsletter will only cover our most recent posts, links from around the web, and our most-read articles of the week. Let us get straight into the content.

Leaves from the week that was

I published two new articles.

• On Russia’s and China’s Self-Awareness
  N.A. Ferrell. October 14, 2023.

  Russia's and China's statements about restraint and justice ring just a bit hollow.

• Analyzing BIA Decision in Matter of Salama
  N.A. Ferrell. October 19, 2023.

  An in-depth study of an interesting 1966 U.S. Board of Immigration Appeals decision with my original legal analysis. I wrote it in a way that should be accessible to people who are not familiar with U.S. immigration law. Also see a short follow-up post over at The Emu Café Social.

I published two additional short posts of note on The Emu Café Social. First, a short piece on providing sourcing for claims to avoid giving the appearance of making straw-man arguments. Second, a follow-up piece to my article on intentionally walking Barry Bonds prompted by a new baseball walks record.

Leaves from around the web

Let's (quickly) check what is going on around the web.

Global Affairs

• The Hell of Urban Warfare Is Not Unique to Gaza
  Bradley Brincka for Tablet Magazine. October 19, 2023.

  An excellent essay from someone who saw first hand what was done in Mosul to defeat the Islamic State several years ago.

• Shabaab responds to FDD’s Long War Journal study on its suicide bombings
  Bill Roggio for Long War Journal. October 11, 2023.

  Long War Journal published a study showing that Shabaab, an Al Qaeda branch on North Africa, targets civilians with suicide bombings. Shabaab published a response arguing that its suicide bombings do not target civilians (at least we all agree on the basic suicide bombing point). Long War Journal responded to the response.

• Beijing Updates Parables, ‘The 24 Paragons of Filial Piety’
  Andrew Jackobs and Adam Century for The New York Times. September 5, 2012.

  "But when the government, in an effort to address the book’s glaring obsolescence, issued an updated version last month in the hope that the book would encourage more Chinese to turn away from their increasingly self-centered ways and perhaps phone home once in a while, it wasn’t quite prepared for the backlash."

New York, New York...

• Local Merchants Dismayed Over Traffic Snarls During BQE Closure
  Adam Daily for Brooklyn Paper. October 18, 2023.

  In addition to not helping traffic along, one of the traffic cops walked backward right into my path while I was crossing with the light.

• Locals Voice Concerns at Community Forum for Proposed Coney Island Casino
  Jada Camille for Brownstoner. April 24, 2023.

  Would-be casino operators insist that everyone in the community wants a casino. Everyone who turns out at community forum very much does not want a casino. Who am I to believe!?

Lost and Found

• Metal Detector Unearths Bronze Age Jewelry in Swiss Carrot Field
  Sarah Kuta for Smithsonian Magazine. October 20, 2023.

  Smart people note that you do not need a metal detector to harvest carrots. Silly people.

• First osteological evidence of severed hands in Ancient Egypt
  Julia Gresky, Manfred Bietak, Emmanuele Petiti, Christiane Scheffler, and Michael Schultz for Nature. April 2023.

  While this report was published on Nature, I have a feeling that the subject matter was not entirely natural.

Lighting Money on Fire

• Waste of the Day: Labor Dept. Gives Early Dismissal for Indigenous Peoples’ Day, Costs $2.3 Million
  Adam Andrzejewski for Real Clear Investigations. October 20, 2023.

  At least we know that the U.S. Department of Labor is not into labor.

• Uncle Sam loses money making money: producing pennies, nickels cost more than their face value
  Stephen Dinan for The Washington Times. April 20, 2023.

  On brand.

• Georgia Subsidized Electric Vehicle Company With $1.5B
  Adam Andrzejewski for Real Clear Investigations. May 15, 2023.

  I could have told Georgia this was a bad idea from the start. Alas, they did not think to ask The New Leaf Journal.

Checking in on Japan

• As use of hexagrams becomes taboo in popular media in Japan, artists search for alternatives. What is the reason behind the censorship?
  Amber V for Automation West. October 11, 2023.

  I remember these sorts of misunderstandings popping up back in the day.

• Tokyo juice vending machine also gives you…a hammer?!?
  SoraNews24. July 9, 2023.

  For those of you who like to work for your vending machine purchases.

Pretty Pictures

• Fall Into Autumn With These 15 Foliage Photos
  Tracy Scott Forson for Smithsonian Magazine. October 13, 2023.

  I see what they did there with the title.

• The Department of Preparation: Thomas Smillie’s Photographic Survey of the Smithsonian (1890–1913)
  Erica X Eisen for Public Domain Review. July 12, 2023.

  On the first photography curator at the Smithsonian.

Tech

• USB inventor explains why the connector was not designed to be reversible
  Paul Lilly for PC Gamer. June 21, 2019.

  Fig leaf explanations for sadism.

• Chuck E. Cheese still uses floppy disks in 2023, but not for long
  Benj Edwards for Ars Technica. January 11, 2023.

  We cannot even count on Chuck E. Cheese to uphold the ways of our forefathers.

The Animal Kingdom

• Fire Ants Form Rafts to Float on Water
  James MacDonald for JSTOR Daily. September 15, 2017.

  Reassuring.

• A Rare Two-Headed Snake Is Back on Exhibit at a Texas Zoo
  Sarah Kuta for Smithsonian Magazine. August 14, 2023.

  Two heads probably aren't better than one.

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 42. (Note: All stats are for 2023 only.)

1. Installing Ubuntu Touch on a Google Nexus 7 (2013) (NAF. July 5, 2021.)
   14 appearances. 2 top placements.
2. Peekier Search Engine Review (NAF. February 26, 2022.)
   26 appearances. 3 top placements.
3. The Pokémon Special Split in Generation 2 – Statistics and Analysis
   32 appearances. 3 top placements.
4. “Uncle Susan is a Wolf” – A Graffiti Photo and Research Project (NAF. December 29, 2021.)
   First appearance of 2023.
5. The Mystery of Sōseki and Tsuki ga Kirei (NAF. March 14, 2021.)
   41 appearances. 14 top placements.

We had another weak week thanks to poor Google referral numbers. The week saw an unexpected second top placement for my now-outdated article on installing Ubuntu Touch on a 2013 Google Nexus 7, which last led the ranking in the first Newsletter Week of 2023. This week also saw the first appearance of 2023 for my Uncle Susan is a Wolf graffiti analysis article, which made a single Newsletter Week appearance just over one year ago.

Taking Leaf

Thank you as always for reading and following The Newsletter Leaf Journal. If you have not done so already, you can subscribe to our weekly newsletter with your email or add our newsletter's RSS feed to your favorite feed reader (see options).

While this newsletter was cut short by my having to go out soon, I look forward to sharing a full newsletter with you next Saturday (I also expect to have a busy week of publishing).

Until October 28,
Cura ut valeas.