December 2, 2023

Newsletter Leaf Journal CLXIII 〜 McNewsletter 〜

Newsletter Leaf Journal 163 features our varied selection of six new articles, 21 links from around the web, and other news and notes from the week that was at The New Leaf Journal.

Welcome to the 163rd 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, N.A. Ferrell. Below, I have our six newest articles (one of our more varied collections), 21 links from around the web, links from our own archive, and brief news and notes from the week that was.

Speaking of the week that was...

Leaves from the week that was

I published six new articles since mailing the Newsletter 162.

• 1783 NY Evacuation Day Song
  N.A. Ferrell. 11/25.

  A short follow-up to my history of Evacuation Day.

• NBA MVPs and MVP Teammates
  N.A. Ferrell. 11/27.

  Fun stats and notes on NBA MVPs who played with other NBA MVPs.

• 5 Years Without Breaking My Coffee Glass
  N.A. Ferrell. 11/28.

  Not to brag.

• On JRPG Hidden Items and NPCs
  N.A. Ferrell. 11/29.

  I propose ground rules for handling hidden items and NPC dialogues in role playing video games.

• What Happened to Ronald McDonald?
  N.A. Ferrell. 11/30.

  A stupid Thanksgiving Day Parade protest gives rise to an unexpected question from one half of our fictional Justin and Justina dialogue duo.

• November 2023 at The New Leaf Journal
  N.A. Ferrell. 11/30.

  I don't want to spoil what this article is about.

Leaves from around the web

Let's check in on my link collection...

Healthy eating

• New Japanese KitKat flavour, Sugar Butter Tree, is like cracking a chocolate tree branch
  Oona McGee for SoraNews24. November 25, 2023.

  Why does Japan get all the cool KitKats?

• How Ted Ngoy Built Southern California's Doughnut Empire
  Gowri Chandra for Food and Wine. September 29, 2022.

  A rise and fall saga.

So that's where it was

• This Ancient Maya City Was Hidden in the Jungle for More Than 1,000 Years
  Sonja Anderson for Smithsonian Magazine. June 26, 2023.

  Some people are reluctant to admit that they just didn't look hard enough. Nice job blaming people from 1,000 years ago for your own shortcomings.

• Declassified CIA Satellite Spy Program Reveals Lost Ancient Roman Forts
  Oguz Kayra for Arkeonews. October 26, 2023.

  The once-great History Channel would have, in its golden era, either explained how the aliens built the forts or how Himmler believed that the Aryans built the forts.

Making connections

• Tajikistan: Communications regulator loosening monopoly
  Eurasianet. November 24, 2023.

  President looks to improve the situation after he suffered from dropped connections in a regional summit.

• Why Ghosting Hurts So Much
  Jennice Vilhauer for Psychology Today. November 27, 2015.

  I only learned the term "ghosting" recently. It made me twitch. Unsurprised to learn here that it was a mid-2000s invention.

Tower of London

• Richard III, king of northern hearts
  Ed West at Wrong Side of History. November 21, 2023.

  "One of the most furious responses I ever provoked as a writer was a piece I wrote for the Catholic Herald calling Richard III fans ‘medieval 9/11 truthers’. This led to a couple of blogposts and several emails, and even an angry phone call from a historian who said I had maligned the monarch."

• The Tower Ravens – London, England
  Atlas Obscura. January 12, 2018.

  "Superstition rules the ravens’ roost at the Tower of London, where it has long been believed that if the ravens ever leave the edifice, the Crown and all of Britain will fall."

Kinda metal

• NYC magnet fisherman reels in Citi Bikes, grenades, and guns
  Oliva Land for the New York Post. November 22, 2023.

  What's YOUR hobby?

• The $2 Million Coal Mine That Might Hold a $37 Billion Treasure
  Julie Steinberg for The Wall Street Journal. November 9, 2023.

  Just some rare Earth metals.

The colors of around the web

• A Pond in Hawaii Has Turned a Shocking Pink
  Hannah Seo for Atlas Obscura. November 15, 2023.

  Maybe this explains Fuschia City's town slogan.

• How Color-Changing Hogfish Use Their Skin to 'See' Themselves
  Will Sullivan for Smithsonian Magazine. August 24, 2023.

  Sounds like an identity crisis waiting to happen.

Dreams

• What’s Left of Psychoanalysis?
  Jonathan Clarke for City Journal. November 19, 2023.

  A very interesting long-read for the weekend.

• Pokémon Sleep: Japanese walkthrough site lists “sleeping pills” as a tool for real competitive sleepers, but quickly backtracks
  Amber V for Automation West. July 21, 2023.

  Maybe the Japanese walkthrough site needs more sleep before writing.

Everyone votes

• Takeaways from Russia’s Regional and Municipal Elections
  András Tóth-Czifra for Foreign Policy Research Institute. October 2023.

  If we apply the soft bigotry of low expectations, we find that the recent Russian elections were downright competitive compared to what is on the horizon in Egypt.

• Will Spain Survive Sánchez’s Controversial Deal?
  Carlos Roa for The National Interest. November 24, 2023.

  Literally or figuratively?

Boats

• Head of Royal Canadian Navy Outlines Ottawa's Pacific Strategy
  John Grady for USNI News. November 7, 2023.

  I know you subscribe to this news letter for Canadian Navy analysis links.

• 3rd c. Roman shipwreck recovered whole from seabed
  The History Blog. October 9, 2023.

  "A shipwreck that sank off the coast of Marausa, Sicily, in the late 3rd century has been recovered from the seabed intact. This is the first time a Roman ship has received the painstaking, challenging treatment required to raise a historic shipwreck as it lies, rather than timber by timber."

Untimely submissions from the backlog

• NYC's drug-themed vending machine cleaned out of crack pipes, Narcan overnight
  Georgett Roberts, Carl Campanille, and Jorge Fitz-Gibbon for the New York Post. June 6, 2023.

  I think I should have been asked whether I want my tax money to go toward funding crack use.

• A Weird Research-Misconduct Scandal About Dishonesty Just Got Weirder
  Stephanie M. Lee for The Chronicle of Higher Education. June 16, 2023.

  Good to know The Newsletter Leaf Journal has higher standards than scholarly journals.

• Disney, Netflix, and More Are Fighting FTC's 'Click to Cancel' Proposal
  Lucia Moses for Insider. July 20, 2023.

  I don't see why Disney and Netflix would need to worry about making it easier for subscribers to cancel. Are they not offering a good enough product!?

The Old Leaf Journal

Now for our own archives...

• Alice’s Question: Did God teach you how to play?
  N.A. Ferrell. March 17, 2022.

  Re-printing a charming children's poem with its original illustration.

• History of the Mario Party Gloves
  N.A. Ferrell. November 6, 2022.

  Revisiting the most dangerous Nintendo 64 game.

• The Little Stream Mushroom
  Victor V. Gurbo. August 4, 2020.

  A mushroom floating down a stream caused Victor V. Gurbo to think about how nature finds a way.

• Naver, Papago, and The (Korean) New Leaf Journal
  N.A. Ferrell. July 28, 2022.

  Some tips for reading The New Leaf Journal in Korean.

• Response to Victor – Victor’s Tyrannical Tendencies
  N.A. Ferrell. October 6, 2020.

  Revisiting the high school days of the people behind The New Leaf Journal.

• The Rotting Pumpkin 〜 A Salvador Dali Painting
  N.A. Ferrell. January 11, 2021.

  I have not seen too many pumpkin crisis situations yet but there are too many unattended pumpkins laying around for me to let my guard down.

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 48 (November 25-December 1). Note: All stats are for 2023 only.

• (1) An In-Depth Look at Norton Safe Search
  N.A. Ferrell. October 18, 2022.
  8th appearance. 4th top placement.
• (2) Installing GrapheneOS on a Google Pixel 6a
  N.A. Ferrell. May 15, 2023.
  6th appearance.
• (3) Recommended F-Droid FOSS Apps For Android-Based Devices (2021)
  N.A. Ferrell. November 28, 2021.
  7th appearance. 1 top placement.
• (4) Installing Ubuntu Touch on a Google Nexus 7 (2013)
  N.A. Ferrell. July 5, 2021.
  20th appearance. 2 top placements.
• (5) The Angel Next Door Spoils Me Rotten - Anime Review
  N.A. Ferrell. March 30, 2023.
  2nd appearance.

My Norton Safe Search review posted its best week for the fourth consecutive week and in so doing, comfortably took the top spot in our weekly ranking for the fourth week. Second place, for the third straight week, was my still-timely article on installing GrapheneOS on a Google Pixel 6a, which in turn was followed by my outdated 2021 teach pieces in third and fourth place respectively. The notable in this week's ranking is my review of The Angel Next Door Spoils Me Rotten anime, which notched its second top-five appearance (first since Newsletter Week 39) while also posting its best monthly finish, both in terms of views and placement. Because a second season of the anime is in the works, I expect that the review will continue to be in the rankings mix.

News leaf journal

I have no news to report this week beyond the fact that I am working on several article projects. There will likely be a few short light posts in early December while I put together longer pieces.

Notable leaf journal

Not to be over-confident but I am already thinking about how to make it to the six-year anniversary of my not breaking my coffee glass next June. Wish me luck.

Taking leaf

Thank you as always for reading and following The Newsletter Leaf Journal. If you have not done so already, you can sign up to receive our weekly Saturday newsletter or, in the alternative, add our RSS feed to your favorite feed reader with no sign-up required. See our options here and learn about how to use feeds if you are so inclined.

Until December 9,
Cura ut valeas.