Newsletter Leaf Journal CLXXIV 〜 Under the umbrella
Welcome to the 174th 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. I only published a couple of articles since mailing Newsletter 173, so this week's issue will have 24 links from around the web instead of our usual 21.
Leaves from the week that was
Yes, I only published two new articles. But they were substantive articles.
Sources on Ai Ai Gasa (Love Umbrella)
N.A. Ferrell. February 13, 2024.
I deserve extra credit for this history/etymology article because I created special artwork for it.
EDDA Café – Visual Novel Review
N.A. Ferrell. February 14, 2024.
I reviewed a freeware original English language visual novel with a distinct Valentine’s Day theme by an Indonesian team.
Leaves from around the web
Let's check in on 24 links from around the web.
About that advice...
The Day I Put $50,000 in a Shoe Box and Handed It to a Stranger I never thought I was the kind of person to fall for a scam.
Charlotte Cowles, Financial Advice Columnist for The Cut (New York Magazine). February 15, 2024.
To be fair, there are very few people on Earth, much less someone employed by New York Magazine to provide expert financial advice, who would not stuff $50,000 in cash in a shoe box and hand it to a stranger claiming to be a CIA agent while hiding it from his or her spouse. (See how “to be fair” can be used creatively?)
How to Protect Yourself Against Scams
Charlotte Cowles, Financial Advice Columnist for The Cut (New York Magazine). February 15, 2024.
Next issue: "How to have a happy marriage for life by Henry VIII."
U.N.aware? Media Defend UNRWA as Agency Plays Dumb About Hamas Tunnels Under HQ
Rachel O'Donoghue for Honest Reporting. February 11, 2024.
On second thought, New York Magazine could invite the UNRWA to give advice on how to check for spikes in your electric bill.
Question and answer
How difficult is it to be a Christian in Turkey? What you need to know
Jonah McKeown for Catholic News Agency. January 29, 2024.
The signs were probably there when the Turkish government declared that the Hagia Sophia Cathedral is a mosque.
Another Byzantine-era church in Turkey to revert to mosque
Aci Mena for Catholic News Agency. February 13, 2024.
Proof that sometimes you just need to let a link marinate for a couple of weeks until another arrives to complete the circle.
If you have to ask..
Is Kyrgyzstan the Next Adventure Travel Destination?
Laura Kiniry for Smithsonian Magazine. February 29, 2024.
Do the people who write these kinds of articles ever go to the places they're promoting?
Are We What We Eat?
Madras Courier. January 25, 2024.
I usually have hot cereal for breakfast. Take as you will if you think "we" are what "we" eat.
Steam-inspired and actual Steam
WTF: What Exactly Is This Switch eShop Garbage, Nintendo?
Jim Norman for Nintendo Life. December 19, 2023.
I'll concede that I didn't have Nintendo going full Steam "you only live once" on store moderation.
Steam game in which you do Nothing releases to rave reviews
Ayuo Kawase for Automation West. January 17, 2024.
I read Steam for the reviews.
Love and friendship
Love in the medieval world
Ed West at Wrong Side of History. February 14, 2024.
"In extreme cases a girl could be sent to a far less culturally sophisticated nation, such as the Byzantine princess Anna Porphyrogenita, forced to marry a Viking Rus leader."
Cliché-Verre and Friendship in 19th-Century France
Miya Tokumitsu for Public Domain Review. November 21, 2023.
"In the 1850s, as photography took its first steps toward commercial reproducibility, a more intimate use for light-sensitive plates briefly bloomed. It had a few names: heliographic drawing, photographic autography, or, as it is best known today, cliché-verre."
All in the family
Zambia: Amendment to Marriage Act Enacted, Child Marriage Outlawed
Hanibal Goltom for The Law Library of Congress. February 6, 2024.
Good move.
Malta and the mob: how the Italian mafia came to view Malta as a second home
Neville Borg and Nicholas Debono Drury for Times of Malta. February 12, 2024.
Are we sure they mean "second home" as in a place to carry out their mob activities and not where all of the second families live?
A wealthy Saudi family is buying up failing Children’s Place
Liz Hoffman for Semafor Business. February 15, 2024.
"All in, Mithaq spent at least $80 million to buy control of a public company in three trading sessions — an unheard-of blitz for even the most aggressive of hostile bidders and corporate agitators." (Maybe he likes their toys?)
But back to me
The Most Important Country No One Talks About
Jordan McGillis for City Journal. February 9, 2024.
He is talking about Indonesia as if I did not write an article about an Indonesian visual novel five days after this was published.
Crunchyroll reneging on Funimation Digital Copies
Ruben Schade for Rubenerd. February 14, 2024.
You will be relieved to know that despite the fact I previously had a Funimation subscription before Crunchyroll ate it and currently have a Crunchyroll subscription, I did not have any Funimation digital copies. You can't take what I never had!
All the diplomas
Praetorian’s military diploma gets dedicated exhibition
The History Blog. December 17, 2023.
A 1,718 year old military diploma.
Texas A&M to close campus in Qatar over shaky Middle East
Mike Glenn for The Washington Times. February 13, 2024.
"Shaky Middle East" may be a euphemism for "people are beginning to ask questions about the propriety of a U.S. school being too close to one of the world's leading state sponsors of terrorism."
Come again?
Ethiopia-Somaliland deal receives wide condemnations, including from Egypt, Turkey
Beatrice Farhat for Al-Monitor. January 4, 2024.
"Similarly, the Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) stressed its support for Mogadishu and the need to respect its territorial integrity." (Somalia's what now?)
Japanese women lift skirts, flash ocean to attract lots of fish at annual ceremony【Video】
Casey Baseel for SoraNews24. February 14, 2024.
I'm not sure fish think in the way that this presumes.
Speaking of fish...
A Female Stingray That Hasn't Had a Mate in Eight Years Is Mysteriously Pregnant. Is a Shark the Father?
Catherine Duncan for Smithsonian Magazine. February 16, 2024.
Someone call Maury out of retirement.
A carry-on with rotting fish pours maggots on Delta passengers
Brad Matthews for The Washington Times. February 15, 2024.
You just know that one of the victims was thinking about how the TSA took his or her toothpaste because the tube was too big but waved the idiot with maggot-infested rotting fish through.
Taking leave with good stories
Basketball phenom is leading all scorers in Division III — but four months ago, he was homeless
Joshua Rhett Miller for the New York Post. February 2, 2024.
A neat story and I will add that even separate from the player's coach helping him find somewhere to live while attending school, going from averaging 1 point per game in junior college in 2021-2022 to leading NCAA Division III in scoring in 2023-2024 is an impressive leap.
Recovering the Lost Aviators of World War II
Stephen Mihm for Smithsonian Magazine. March 2024 Issue.
A terrific long form story that is perfectly advertised by the headline.
The Old Leaf Journal
Let's dig into our archive...
Until We Meet Again – Visual Novel Review
N.A. Ferrell. December 9, 2022.
A worthwhile read with EDDA Café (a bit better in my view, but more of a pain to run).
Stadia and the Value of Owning Games
N.A. Ferrell. October 4, 2022.
Better than streaming them at least.
Grafting a Bird’s Head Cane Handle Onto a Wooden Umbrella
Victor V. Gurbo. June 8, 2021.
Victor V. Gurbo described how he made a DIY bird's head umbrella. Imagine sharing this with your sweetheart (perfect if he or she is a bird-lover).
Evergreen Carroll Gardens Christmas Tree
N.A. Ferrell. December 20, 2022.
Still evergreen but less seasonal outside of December.
Geese on the Beach of Brooklyn Bridge Park
N.A. Ferrell. September 21, 2022.
Honk.
The Downed Stop Sign in Vinegar Hill
N.A. Ferrell. May 22, 2020.
In my first-ever New Leaf Journal investigation, I considered what could have caused a stop sign in Vinegar Hill, Brooklyn, to go 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, you will find the five most-visited articles of 2024 newsletter week 5 (February 10-16) along with their 2024 statistics and all-time statistics, which go back to the first week of 2021.
Newsletter Week 7 Ranking
(1) Itsuomi's Hair Color in A Sign of Affection
N.A. Ferrell. February 5, 2024.
2024: 1 appearance and 1 top placement.
(2) An In-Depth Look at Norton Safe Search
N.A. Ferrell. October 18, 2022.
2024: 2 appearances.
Total: 14 appearances and 5 top placements.
(3) Yuki's Hair Color in A Sign of Affection
N.A. Ferrell. February 2, 2024.
2024: 2 appearances.
(4) The Pokémon Special Split in Generation 2 - Statistics and Analysis
N.A. Ferrell. January 18, 2022.
2024: 3 appearances.
Total: 49 appearances and 4 top placements.
(5) Recommended F-Droid FOSS Apps For Android-Based Devices (2021)
N.A. Ferrell. November 28, 2021.
2024: 6 appearances.
Total: 63 appearances and 8 top placements.
Analysis
For the first time since we started keeping track in 2021, we have we have five different first place articles in five weeks. This week's winner in a close race was my second article on hair color in the ongoing A Sign of Affection anime, which topped the ranking in its first full week on site. In so doing, it became the first of my 14 anime/visual novel/light novel hair color articles to top a weekly ranking. Its longer and more detailed predecessor received a slight name change and made its second appearance in as many full weeks, coming in third. Our top four this week also happens to be the top four for February through 16 days, and we have a reasonably close competition for the top spot at the end of the month (Norton Safe Search is the current overall leader). In theory, the Sign of Affection duo should be in good shape for another six weeks or so since the series is ongoing, but time will tell how they hold up in terms of views.
News Leaf Journal
I had an issue with our Osmosfeed aggregator site and, instead of fixing it, I decided to shutter it and look for a replacement solution. I am kicking around a few ideas, but we should have a new feed aggregator static site up and running by the end of the month.
I am slowly undertaking what should turn out to be a valuable project. Both our on-site search and our related posts set-up look to article excerpts for information. Back in the day, I used to write short quips for article excerpts that did not contain much information. As I pull up old articles for one reason or another, I am re-writing their excerpts to make them more useful and informative (in addition to fixing things like misaligned images). This should gradually improve the quality of our search and related posts as well as make it easier for people to understand what our articles are about from their descriptions.
Notable Leaf Journal
I was juggling three visual novels while deciding what to review for Valentine's Day. I had started Paca Plus and I Love You!, both of which are comedic love stories. Now both of these novels will make fine reviews, but I wanted something that actually involved Valentine's Day. Paca Plus may get there (I am probably about 25% in), but it starts in August. I Love You! starts in June. It just did not feel right for my Valentine's article. I searched until I came across EDDA, which I had stuck on my to-do list a few years ago under circumstances I noted in my article. I saw that EDDA took place around Valentine's. The only thing I needed to confirm was length. I was busy this last week, so I did not have time for anything too long (that was another reason I benched Paca Plus). When I saw that it ran for about an hour, I knew I had my Valentine's VN project.
Will Paca Plus or I Love You be next? No! I do have at least one more visual novel review on tap for February, but I do not expect it to be one of those. Paca Plus and I Love You reviews will arrive eventually, however.
Taking leaf
I hope you enjoyed this issue of The Newsletter Leaf Journal. If you are not already a regular reader, you can sign up for our weekly email, add our newsletter RSS feed to your favorite news reader, or simply bookmark our archive page and check back every weekend (see options).
I hope to have more time to publish new articles this upcoming week and I will share those in next week's newsletter.
Until February 23,
Cura ut valeas.