Newsletter Leaf Journal CLXXV 〜 N. Leaf Journal
Welcome to the 175th 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. We have more to cover than we did for Newsletter 174, so let's jump into the new material.
Leaves from the week that was
I published five new New Leaf Journal articles in the last week...
Persona 3 FES Reaper Strategy (Infinity)
N.A. Ferrell. February 17, 2024.
A new version of Persona 3 (the fourth, to be exact) was released in early 2024. Naturally, I discussed my strategy for defeating a Persona 3 enemy in the second version of Persona 3, which was released in North America and 2008 and uses materially different battle mechanics. You're welcome.
Presidents Who Went By Middle Names
N.A. Ferrell. February 19, 2024.
Alas, Milhous Nixon did not make the list.
A Sign of Affection Ep 7 Hair Color Notes
N.A. Ferrell. February 20, 2024.
First I covered hair color in episode 2. Then I had to cover hair color in episode 5. Little did I know that there would be more to cover in episode 7.
WordPress.com One-Page Feed Aggregator Site
N.A. Ferrell. February 22, 2024.
Stay tuned for the "News Leaf Journal" section of this newsletter...
Tomozaki Anime and Big Tech Social Media
N.A. Ferrell. February 23, 2024.
Last year I tackled proprietary operating systems in anime. 2024 brings anime social media.
In addition to the new New Leaf Journal posts, I published my thoughts over at The Emu Café Social on Microsoft's discontinuation of Microsoft Publisher.
Leaves from around the web
Newsletter 174 included three bonus leaves from around the web for a total of 24. However, since I published more of my own articles leading into this Newsletter 175, we return to our regularly scheduled 21 leaves from around the web.
Attention-grabbing headlines
The World's Oldest Wild Platypus Shocks Scientists at 24 Years of Age
Christian Thorsberg for Smithsonian Magazine. February 20, 2024.
That's a good headline but I would have gone with: "Scientists are SHAKEN by how OLD this platypus is (you won't BELIEVE it)"
Hay fever got you down? Doctors recommend wiggling around on the floor like a dying cockroach
Master Blaster for SoraNews24. February 17, 2024.
The headline should be "9 in 10 doctors recommend..."
Questionable career choices
Russia has recruited as many as 15,000 Nepalis to fight its war. Many returned traumatized. Some never came back
Sugam Pokharel, Matthew Chance, and Mihir Melwani for CNN. February 11, 2024.
I would recommend passing on this $2000 per month offer.
Want to stop livestreaming? That’ll be $42,000
Viola Zhou for Rest of World. February 20, 2024.
I for one am shocked that signing up with a Chinese livestreaming agency may be a questionable life choice.
Finding the real story behind the story
NYPD robot no longer patrolling Times Square station
Sarah Goodman and Jesse O'Neill for the New York Post. February 4, 2024.
Good. The robot did nothing to deserve being forced to spend time anywhere near Times Square.
Why Are Flying Insects 'Attracted' to Lights? Scientists May Finally Have an Answer
Sarah Kuta for Smithsonian Magazine. January 31, 2024.
My take-away from the article is that we need neon direction signs for the insects.
Directly and indirectly related to our new articles...
A Photo Guide to the Real-Life Locations in Bottom-tier Character Tomozaki
Ken Likura-Gross for Anime News Network. February 2, 2024.
Tomozaki-kun does not have stand-out animation but, to be sure, many of its locations are true-to-life.
See the World Through the Eyes of Animals With These Stunning New Videos
Christian Thorsberg for Smithsonian Magazine. January 25, 2024.
New series idea: Avian perspectives on anime hair color.
We once had a culture
Microsoft is getting rid of WordPad after 28 years – the veteran editor has been present in the OS since Windows 95
Robert Adams for Gadget Tendency. January 30, 2024.
The year of the Linux desktop has finally arrived.
Sega’s take on the localization of Japanese games causes controversy
Amber V for Automation West. January 31, 2024.
It's not a true localization until a character is falling over after drinking a frothy glass of orange juice.
Newsletter news & notes
Own Your Web - Issue 9: We <3 RSS
Matthias Ott. February 12, 2024.
One Buttondown newsletter shares another.
Islamic State describes intense campaign against Shabaab in northern Somalia
Caleb Weiss for Long War Journal. February 2, 2024.
"In the latest issue of the Islamic State’s weekly Al-Naba newsletter, the global jihadist organization describes in detail a fierce campaign its so-called Somali Province waged against Shabaab, al-Qaeda’s East African branch."
I'm sensing a trend
Tajikistan's president urges public to stockpile food for two years (again)
Eurasianet. January 29, 2024.
"This year, as always, however, Rahmon failed to explain where Tajikistan’s impoverished population is either supposed to procure so much food or, for that matter, where they are meant to store it."
Feature: How The Quintessential Essence Of Pokémon Games Inspires Gen After Gen
Lowell Bell for NintendoLife. June 4, 2022.
There's some truth to this but it'd be nice if they could get a stable framerate in gen 10.
NYC immigration lawyer helped clients get legal status with phony abuse claims: feds
Jorge Fitz-Gibbon for the New York Post. January 22, 2024.
While Violence Against Women Act ("VAWA")-based immigration fraud is not uncommon, this was certainly an unusual take on it.
Great deals
Terrible Software As A Service Pricing Models
Wouter Groeneveld at Brain Baking. January 11, 2023.
This is not a subject that I have written much about because I usually avoid software as service offerings -- but the horror story discussed in this post is truly exceptional.
This rare Japanese Neo Geo game’s value has jumped from $13k to over $30k in the past 6 years
Amber V for Automation West. February 6, 2024.
Inflation takes away another bargain.
So that's where it was...
Roman egg is intact with contents too
The History Blog. February 12, 2024.
There is more than one way to make an omelet. But that does not matter if you forget to make it.
Inert Cold War-Era Missile Discovered in a Washington Man's Garage
Sonja Anderson for Smithsonian Magazine. February 9, 2024.
It is not nice to leave your missile for someone else to deal with.
Long reads
Hot Potatoes
Paola Gavin for Tablet Magazine. January 10, 2024.
Some potato food history.
America's Lost Boys and Me
Rob Henderson. February 11, 2024.
On young men and overcoming adversity.
The Old Leaf Journal
I cheated by sneaking a few article links into my descriptions for my new articles. But that will not stop me from providing six new links.
Pokémon Cursor Theme For Linux and Windows
N.A. Ferrell. September 23, 2022.
I'm still using it.
CUNY Un-Persons A Successful Alum
N.A. Ferrell. August 10, 2022.
Fun stories of CUNY (New York City's college system) cloaking itself in glory.
“Adrift” 〜 A Short Poem By Margaret E. Sangster
N.A. Ferrell. August 17, 2021.
I dare say this is one of my most aesthetic article presentations.
The Tame Canary Bird (Bonner)
N.A. Ferrell. January 17, 2023.
I should resume this project...
The Fallen Dead End Sign on Coles Street in Carroll Gardens, Brooklyn
N.A. Ferrell. June 3, 2021.
Not a misleading headline.
The Days of the Month Poem
N.A. Ferrell. September 26, 2022.
The poem addresses leap year February but there is only so much you can do.
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 8 (February 17-23) along with their 2024 statistics and all-time statistics, which go back to the first week of 2021.
(1) Itsuomi's Hair Color in A Sign of Affection
N.A. Ferrell. February 5, 2024.
2024: 2 appearances and 2 top placements.
(2) An In-Depth Look at Norton Safe Search
N.A. Ferrell. October 18, 2022.
2024: 3 appearances.
Total: 15 appearances and 5 top placements.
(3) Yuki's Hair Color in A Sign of Affection
N.A. Ferrell. February 2, 2024.
2024: 3 appearances.
(4) Heights in “The Dangers in My Heart” Anime
N.A. Ferrell. April 2, 2023.
2024: 6 appearances and 1 top placement.
Total: 12 appearances and 1 top placement.
(5) Recommended F-Droid FOSS Apps For Android-Based Devices (2021)
N.A. Ferrell. November 28, 2021.
2024: 7 appearances.
Total: 64 appearances and 8 top placements.
Analysis
This week's top five is nearly identical to last week's with the only difference being my Dangers in My Heart leaflet in position 4 instead of The Pokémon Special Split in Generation 2 - Statistics and Analysis. My new article on hair color in The Dangers of My Heart did not join the first two in our top five, but one reason I was inspired to write that third article was because episode 7 featured Itsuomi's hair color. I suppose it was no surprise to see Itsuomi repeat at number one in the ranking. My Norton Safe Search review was the strongest article in the second half of the week (it had too much ground to make up to again compete for the top spot) and may be in good position to take its first top spot of 2024 next week.
News leaf journal
One of my new articles covered my single-page WordPress.com aggregator site. You can see it here. The entire site is one page and consists of nothing but our RSS/ATOM feeds and related feeds from around the web. You will see that this very newsletter is one of the feeds.
I also created a second "newsletter" called New Leaf Daily. I created this with Standard Notes' Listed platform. The idea is that I will post daily notes about my new articles and posts and sometimes include something extra like a link to an interesting article. I describe it as a "newsletter" because you can sign up to receive posts by email. However, unlike this project -- it is not a true newsletter in that I have no control over the mail list. I am not committing to posting every day (I did not have time the previous two days), but it should be a fun follow if you want to sign up via email or feed or just bookmark it to check in once in a while.
While both of these projects are fun, I recommend seeing our native feeds for ensuring that you receive our newest posts when they go live.
News Leaf Journal
I have some projects planned for next week. Because I have a handy Events page on our sister site, The Emu Café Social, I decided to take advantage of it to preview some of my upcoming articles. See the events page here and archived version 1 or archived version 2 showing the upcoming events as of February 24, 2024 (if the events are already past, you will be able to find the previewed articles on The New Leaf Journal).
Taking Leaf
I hope you enjoyed edition 175 of The Newsletter Leaf Journal. I am a little bit disappointed that February 29 is not a newsletter day, but what can you do? I suppose that you can subscribe to this newsletter via email or RSS feed if you enjoyed it (see options). I have three projects in the works for next week, so I hope you look forward to them in addition to anything else that may go live.
Until March comes in like a lion -- cura ut valeas,
N.A. Ferrell