Newsletter Leaf Journal CLXXII 〜 No ad newsletter
The 172nd newsletter features links to our newest articles, which include visual novel rankings and thoughts on online advertising and RSS/ATOM feed organizing. You will also find 21 links from around the web and news and notes from the week that was at The New Leaf Journal.
Welcome to the 172nd 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 Logitech K310 keyboard of the administrator and editor of The New Leaf Journal, Nicholas A. Ferrell. Last week saw the publication of several big ticket articles that have been in the works for a while, so let's get to our weekly review and other news and notes, including 21 links from around the web.
Leaves from the week that was
Let's review our new articles...
al|together Visual Novel Ranking (20-11)
N.A. Ferrell. January 27.
Following up my (subjective) ranking of the bottom-11 al|together novels...
Missing Temu Ads Through Good Internet Usage
N.A. Ferrell. January 29.
I decided that my ignorance of an internet advertising story is proof that I am internet-ing correctly.
al|together Visual Novel Ranking (10-1)
N.A. Ferrell. January 30.
After four years of work on the al|together visual novel review project (I started planning it in December 2020), I finally published my take on the top ten al|together novels.
January 2024 at The New Leaf Journal
N.A. Ferrell. January 31.
You'll never believe what this article covers (our monthly most-read article ranking was interesting).
Organizing RSS and ATOM Feed Sources
N.A. Ferrell. February 1.
Wherein I discuss my method for organizing RSS and ATOM feeds and examine some different takes on the subject from around the web.
Changing Hair Color in “A Sign of Affection”
N.A. Ferrell. February 2.
New anime series bring new opportunities for 2D people hair color studies.
Checking in on The Emu Café Social
I also posted some short pieces on our sister project, The Emu Café Social.
In technical posts, I detailed a temporary (now resolved) issue I had with Tree Style Tab in Firefox. I also noted that my Minds Social posts are showing up in my Mastodon timeline for the first time.
I responded to a query about the first anime I watched in 2024 (it comes with a backstory that turned out to be relevant to my year-end review).
In a humorous post, I made the case that the Xfce mascot traces its origins to the Roman Empire.
Finally, I shared a post which is a collection of hyperlinks to collections of hyperlinks.
Leaves around the web
But enough about me (for now). Let's check in on 21 links from around the world wide web.
On second thought, everything is still about me
For Sale: A Mouse-Infested Roman Helmet That's Stumping Historians
Roxanne Hoorn for Atlas Obscura. January 23, 2024.
My Xfce desktop environment joke (see above) aside, this is a fun Roman discovery.
Microsoft stole my Chrome tabs, and it wants yours, too
Tom Warren for The Verge. January 29, 2024.
Speak for yourself, Mr. Warren. Microsoft Edge can't steal my tabs from Google Chrome when I don't have Microsoft Edge, much less Google Chrome.
‘Urban hiker’ walked 640 miles — rain or shine — to cover every Manhattan street
Deirdre Bardolf for the New York Post. January 27, 2024.
I respect the journey as someone who once walked from Manhattan to the Bronx and then onward to Brooklyn through Queens, but there are plenty of parts of Manhattan I'd pass on (e.g., Times Square).
I'm sorry what?
Meet the Mettigel, Germany’s Hedgehog Sculpted From Meat
Rachel Glassberg for Atlas Obscura. May 20, 2022.
In light of the fact that the idea of eating raw fish and beef short of well-done makes me queasy, Germany's raw pork is going to get a hard veto.
Uzbek Couple Outwit the Government for 16 Years in Marriage-Related Immigration Fraud Case
David North for Center for Immigration Studies. January 30, 2024.
"...the indictment is hard to follow at this point." (It was hard to follow at all points and my day job involves immigration law.)
Alcohol and cigars
What does Saudi's first-ever alcohol store say about new Gulf culture?
Jack Dutton for Al-Monitor. January 24, 2024.
Not much.
Freud and his Cigars
Freud Museum London. April 22, 2020.
A bit to analyze.
Lack of adult supervision and ambulatory seafood
Running on empty: Why the feds love paying to test animals exercising on treadmills
Stephen Dinan for The Washington Times. December 31, 2023.
Like a shrimp running on a treadmill, taxpayers search for an answer to one question: Why!? But neither the shrimp nor taxpayers find that answer.
Waste of the Day: Medical School Hires Dean’s Daughter As Poetry Professor
Adam Andrzejewski for RealClear Investigations. January 9, 2024.
What are the chances!?
Kenyan jurists read The Newsletter Leaf Journal
Kenya court blocks police deployment to Haiti
Ian Wafula for BBC News. February 1, 2024.
I reported on the plan to send Kenyan police to Haiti back in Newsletter 156 and advised readers to "[f]ile this away in 'things that can only end well.'" I do not know the specific legal issues at play, but we can say for certain that some judges in Kenya are doing their utmost to preempt an international incident that would come to light in 2029 or 2030.
I answer questions
What Is Punctuation For?
Livia Gerson for JSTOR Daily. January 29, 2024.
!?
Why Do Nevadans Pronounce Their State's Name So Strangely?
Dan Nosowitz for Atlas Obscura. January 26, 2024.
Probably because it triggers Atlas Obscura writers.
Future NLJ article previews
Feature: Who Created Dreamcast's Logo? We Spent A Year Trying To Find Out
Jack Yarwood for Time Extension. January 15, 2024.
I read the story this article builds off of in a book that I am in progress with, so this was a fun follow-up.
Pale Moon 33.0 launched with +250 commits, enhanced security, performance & user control
AlternativeTo. January 30, 2024.
Pale Moon is a niche browser that uses an independent engine (forked from an earlier version of Firefox). This may be a New Leaf Journal article topic later in 2024.
So that's where it was!
Rusted, decades-old military ordnance washes up on California beach
Brad Matthews for The Washington Times. January 2, 2023.
Probably the least of California's litter problems.
Pompeii artifact discovered in Belgian house decades after it was stolen
Brad Matthews for The Washington Times. December 15, 2023.
You never know where that thing the weird guy is hawking came from.
The scales have fallen from my eyes
Middle East needs Israel's help, former Al Jazeera journalist says
Ohad Merlin for The Jeruslem Post. January 18, 2024.
I for one am absolutely shocked by his experiences at Al Jazeera.
Related?
Bird Calls Phone in Takoma Park, Maryland
Atlas Obscura. January 26, 2024.
The phone is more cool than the headline is ambiguous.
These Parrots Won't Stop Swearing. Will They Learn to Behave—or Corrupt the Entire Flock?
Sarah Kuta for Smithsonian Magazine. January 26, 2024.
TBD but I can guess what their answer to the headline would be.
Tangentially related to our newest leaves
Aggressiveness of Modern Web Advertising
Wouter Goreneveld at Brain Baking. February 13, 2023.
"I’m just glad tools like uBlock, Firefox, and Pi-Hole exist." (Amen.)
Vivaldi Feed Reader: Break free from the algorithm
Vivaldi News. January 29, 2024.
While I do not use the Vivaldi web browser anymore (I did for much of the first year of The New Leaf Journal's existence), its article on its built-in feed reader makes a good case for the benefits of following articles and media through RSS. I appreciated its efforts to highlight how it makes it easy to follow YouTube channels via RSS.
The Old Leaf Journal
Let's dig into our archives...
Read the Fine Print – Buying a Cheap Mini PC For a Home Server
N.A. Ferrell. October 13, 2021.
This mini PC is no longer in use but I will have mini PC content for you in the near future.
Against Half-Way Yogurt Thievery
N.A. Ferrell. May 2, 2020.
Always fun to revisit my first (according to the byline, at least) New Leaf Journal article.
Productivity Window Shopping and Backlogs
N.A. Ferrell. August 23, 2022.
A reminder to not get carried away in organizing your feeds.
Sending SMS Messages From My Computer With XMPP Through JMP
N.A. Ferrell. September 8, 2021.
I don't use JMP Chat anymore but it is a good service that is now out of beta.
Reviewing Three Boutique Guitar Strings
Victor V. Gurbo. June 25, 2020.
Victor tested the guitar strings on his vintage guitars.
Lateral thinking to extend game console life-cycles
N.A. Ferrell. November 22, 2022.
Evergreen as the Nintendo Switch hangs in there, approaching year 7.
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, you will find the five most-visited articles of 2024 newsletter week 5 (January 27-February 2) along with their 2024 statistics and all-time statistics, which go back to the first week of 2021.
Newsletter Week 5 ranking
(#1) Installing Ubuntu Touch on a Google Nexus 7 (2013)
Details: N.A. Ferrell. July 5, 2021.
2024: 3 appearances and 1 top placement.
Total: 80 appearances and 3 top placements.
(#2) Heights in “The Dangers in My Heart” Anime
Details: N.A. Ferrell. April 2, 2023.
2024: 4 appearances and 1 top placement.
Total: 11 appearances and 1 top placement.
(#3) The Angel Next Door Spoils Me Rotten - Anime Review
Details: N.A. Ferrell. March 30, 2023.
2024: 4 appearances.
Total: 8 appearances and 1 top placement.
(#4) Cycling Doping Fallacies
Details: N.A. Ferrell. January 5, 2024.
2024: 5 appearances and 3 top placements.
(#5) Recommended F-Droid FOSS Apps For Android-Based Devices (2021)
Details: N.A. Ferrell. November 28, 2021.
2024: 5 appearances.
Total: 62 appearances and 8 top placements.
Analysis
We had a down week by 2024 standards, albeit it was a good week by pre-2024 standards. My terribly out-dated article about installing Ubuntu Touch on a device that no longer supports it took advantage of a bump from news about a new Ubuntu Touch release and the two anime articles that came in second and third slowing on Thursday and Friday. One fun note about an otherwise pedestrian top five is that our weekly top five featured our top-five articles of January, albeit in a mixed up order (they were 5th, 2nd, 3rd, 1st, and 4th respectively in the full January ranking).
News leaf journal
I added some new rules to our robots.txt file to discourage AI bots training on my articles.
Notable leaf journal
While I enjoyed the al|together visual novel review project for more than three years and plan to write some additional articles about the novels in the future, I am looking forward to being able to play, read, and review other games and novels without that one large project looming in the background. I already have some plans in motion, but you will have to keep following The New Leaf Journal to see what they are.
Taking leaf
Thank you as always for reading and following The Newsletter Leaf Journal. If you enjoyed the newsletter and are not already a regular reader, you can sign up for our Saturday email or skip the sign-up and add our RSS feed to your favorite feed reader (see options).
January proved to be one of our most eventful months at The New Leaf Journal. It set a high bar, but I have some good ideas for February. I look forward to sharing some of them with you on The New Leaf Journal and in next week's newsletter.
Until February 10,
Cura ut valeas.