Newsletter Leaf Journal CLXXXII 〜 Sunny newsletter
Welcome to the 182nd 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 a good selection of new articles to go with our usual links from around the web and news and notes, so let's get to it.
Leaves from the week that was
I published four new articles since mailing newsletter 181.
Google Search and Independent Websites
N.A. Ferrell. April 7, 2024.
Our Google Search numbers were middling last week.
Defining Maria Sakamaki Syndrome
N.A. Ferrell. April 10, 2024.
Turning a small complaint about one of my favorite freeware visual novels into a concept.
La’s Silver Hair in True Remembrance
N.A. Ferrell. April 11, 2024.
Lest anyone thought I would let the unusual hair color of the protagonist of the best freeware visual novel I have reviewed thus far escape full-article treatment.
The Eclipse Seen From Brooklyn Heights
N.A. Ferrell. April 12, 2024.
Surprisingly not dark.
I also published a new post at The Emu Café Social.
Sega Nomad Memories
N.A. Ferrell. April 7, 2024.
Is it a bad sign when a device needs 6 AA batteries and burns through them in less than 6 hours?
Leaves from around the web
Let's check in on the world wide web...
Eyes
Daddy Longlegs Have Four Extra, Hidden Eyes, Researchers Say
Sarah Kuta for Smithsonian Magazine. March 19, 2024.
Out: Eyes in the back of his head. In: Eyes on the sides of their heads.
Adorable but Deadly Fluff Balls, Better Known as Pygmy Slow Lorises, Born at the Smithsonian's National Zoo
Sarah Kuta for Smithsonian Magazine. April 8, 2024.
"But they’re hard to keep as pets: Pygmy slow lorises are the only primates known to produce venom—which can incapacitate large predators, including humans—and they primarily feast on tree sap. They’re also sensitive." (Their eyes express sensitivity.)
All about the messaging
ByteDance shuts down its WhatsApp clone in Africa
Damilare Dosunmu for Rest of World. March 27, 2024.
Oh no.
Meta will start blurring nudity in Instagram DMs to protect young users from sextortion
Paul for AlternativeTo. April 13, 2024.
Question: Why do little kids need to be sending and receiving direct messages on Instagram?
Why not?
Dragon Ball Theme Park to Commence Construction in Saudi Arabia
Andriana Hazra for Anime News Network. March 23, 2024.
Sure, why not?
Why Not Just Be a Nurse?
Livia Gershon for JSTOR Daily. March 22, 2024.
Women doctors vs nurses in the 19th century.
Quibbling with headlines
The dumbphone boom is real
Kyle Chayka for The New Yorker. April 10, 2024.
When the headline sounds like it's trying to convince itself.
Eclipse glasses still usable, can be donated or recycled
Brad Matthews for The Washington Times. April 9, 2024.
"Usable" is the operative word here.
Niche interests
Error Handling in Baby Toys
Wouter Groeneveld at Brain Baking. April 1, 2024.
"Electrical baby toys are interesting to disassemble and look at how it’s made."
The Mushroom Bible
Yukinu. March 23, 2024.
Adventures through a guide to mushrooms.
Anniversary: Game Boy Creator Gunpei Yokoi's WonderSwan Is 25 Years Old
Damien McFerran for Time Extension. March 4, 2024.
WonderSwan was an impressive handheld console in hindsight.
In Loving Memory of Square Checkbox
Niki at tonsky.me. January 28, 2024.
For those of you who are passionate about distinguishing checkboxes from radio buttons (I concede I never gave it much thought).
A tale of two suffixes
Grammarphobia. February 5, 2024.
Impactive vs Impactful.
Non-NLJ photography
Masters of the Ice: Charles Rabot’s Arctic Photographs (ca. 1881)
Erica X Eisen for Public Domain Review. January 9, 2024.
More or less as advertised.
Clear Shadows (1867)
Koto Sadamura for Public Domain Review. January 23, 2024.
19th century Japanese silhouette portraits.
Fun discoveries
Starts Data Added for Knicks Back to 1964-65
Mike Lynch for Sports Reference Blog. April 9, 2024.
Extracting useful information from old media guides.
Rare Eyewitness Sketch of American Revolutionaries Found Hanging in a Collector's Bedroom
Sonja Anderson for Smithsonian Magazine. March 29, 2024.
Sounds like a patriotic bedroom.
No
Only walking for exercise?
Ken Nosaka for The Conversation. March 14, 2024.
"This is where the idea of 'eccentric walking' comes into play. This means inserting lunges in conventional walking, in addition to downstairs and downhill walking."
I hate MFA
Alex Molas. December 10, 2023.
I strongly disagree with just about every part of this take, but I'll share it so we can be a newsletter for all the points of view.
I'll let myself out
Vending machine in Yokohama begins selling bakery bread set to be thrown away, reduces food waste
Shannon for SoraNews24. February 17, 2024.
New spin on "bread machine."
See a 400-Year-Old Book Made Entirely from Feathers
Anika Burgess for Atlas Obscura. November 20, 2015.
Talk about some light reading.
The Old Leaf Journal
Let us dig into the archives...
- Collage – Visual Novel Review (NAF. 6/9/23)
- Hair Color and Albinism in Red Shift Visual Novel (NAF. 11/16/22)
- A Follow-Up Post on the Meaning of “Blob Dylan” (NAF. 4/12/01)
- The Quarantine Sessions: “The Railroad Boy” (VVG. 5/15/20)
- What is Becovi Search? (NAF. 7/10/22)
- Who Was the Last Western Roman Emperor? (NAF. 9/4/22)
I left you without descriptions for The Old Leaf Journal entries today -- but most are inspired by our newest articles.
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-hit counting solution (see my review).
Below, you will find the five most-visited articles of 2024 newsletter week 15 (April 6-April 12) along with their 2024 statistics and all-time statistics, which go back to the first week of 2021.
[1] Recommended F-Droid FOSS Apps For Android-Based Devices (2021)
N.A. Ferrell. November 28, 2021.
2024: 11 appearances and 1 top placement.
Total: 68 appearances and 9 top placements.
[2] An In-Depth Look at Norton Safe Search
N.A. Ferrell. October 18, 2022.
2024: 8 appearances.
Total: 20 appearances and 5 top placements.
[3] Installing Ubuntu Touch on a Google Nexus 7 (2013)
N.A. Ferrell. July 5, 2021.
2024: 4 appearances and 1 top placement.
Total: 82 appearances and 3 top placements.
[4] Yuki's Hair Color in A Sign of Affection
N.A. Ferrell. February 2, 2024.
2024: 10 appearances and 5 top placements.
[5] The Mystery of Sōseki and Tsuki ga Kirei
N.A. Ferrell. March 14, 2021.
2024: 2 appearances and 1 top placement.
Total: 134 appearances and 70 top placements.
This was our weakest top five in recent memory, although the site's overall performance was in line with recent weeks. One would have hoped that a low threshold for making the top five would lead to at least one fun surprise -- but the end result featured many of the usual suspects.
The five week first-place reign of my article on Yuki Itose's hair color in the A Sign of Affection anime came to an end -- although it was in the mix to extend its streak to six. My (outdated) article on F-Droid apps took a top spot for the third year in a row. One notable in fifth is my tsuki ga kirei piece, which made its second top five of 2024 and 134th overall.
Notable leaf journal
I do not have any major site news to report this week -- so we can skip to the notable section. I have about 4-5 ongoing article projects which include a new short visual novel review, an anime review, an old tech post, and several photo posts. I also have a list of essay ideas -- so readers can rest assured that we will have a good line-up of new articles as we move into the second half of April.
Taking leaf
Thank you as always for reading The Newsletter Leaf Journal. If you enjoyed the newsletter and are not already a regular reader, you can sign up for our weekly email, subscribe to our newsletter's RSS feed, or bookmark our newsletter archive page (see options). You can also follow The New Leaf Journal via feed and keep track of all of our links from around the web with our WordPress.com-based feed aggregator.
Happy tax filing -- cura ut valeas,
Nicholas A. Ferrell, Editor of The New Leaf Journal