Newsletter Leaf Journal CLXXXIII 〜 The newsletter you like
Welcome to the 183rd 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 editor and administrator of The New Leaf Journal, Nicholas A. Ferrell. I had a busy week outside The New Leaf Journal, but I managed to publish three new articles in the end. Below, I recap the week that was at The New Leaf Journal and around the web with other news and notes.
Leaves from the week that was
Checking in on the three articles I published since mailing newsletter 182.
- Noguchi Museum Sculpture Garden Magnolias (Magnolia flowers scene at the Noguchi Museum Sculpture Garden)
- Breaking My Hario v60 Coffee Glass (Maybe my having written a post about not breaking the glass last November was the beginning of the end)
- “The Boy I Like?” (Visual Novel Review) (The newest in my series of obscure visual novel translation reviews)
Leaves from around the web
Let's check in at what's happening around the world wide web...
The wide world of sports
MLB's Pitching Elbow Injuries Are on the Rise — And More Costly than Ever
Neil Pane. April 11, 2024.
The unfortunate consequences of encouraging little kids to blow their elbows out.
I still have 2 big questions about the Shohei Ohtani case
Nate Silver. April 16, 2024.
I'm still trying to wrap my head around how someone can be this bad with money -- and I don't mean the degenerate gambler.
Celtics, Bucks combine for record-low 2 free throw attempts
ESPN. April 9, 2024.
Out: Change the rules to improve the quality of play. In: Just stop calling fouls.
The wonders of technology
NYC Chicken Shop Replaces Cashier With Woman in Philippines On Zoom
Jules Roscoe for 404 Media. April 9, 2024.
I've made it this long without using Zoom and that's not changing because of this.
Snap Patent Brings Emotion Detection to Workplace Surveillance
Nat Rubio-Licht for The Daily Upside. April 18, 2024.
Burn it with fire.
Virtual Boy Emulation Is Coming To Apple's Vision Pro
Damien McFerran for Time Extension. April 16, 2024.
Probably the first good use-case for the Apple hat.
New York City defends AI chatbot that advised entrepreneurs to break laws
Reuters (via New York Post). April 5, 2024.
The humor here isn't the fact this predictably went terribly wrong but instead that there was no one to convince the Mayor -- who is very easily impressed by technology pitched to him by donors -- of all the obvious ways this was going to go wrong.
Things were better back in my day
You Can Help Migrating Fish Traverse a Dutch Canal By Ringing This Digital 'Doorbell'
Aaron Boorstein for Smithsonian Magazine. April 12, 2024.
What ever happened to "teach a fish to swim..."?
Savoring the Danger: Romans Loved Toxic 'Sugar of Lead' Wine
Ancient Origins. December 4, 2019.
We live in softer times.
Everything is about me
NYC block turned into illicit open-air market for migrant crooks, prostitution: ‘It’s relentless’
Kevin Sheehan and Jorge Fitz-Gibbon for New York Post. April 14, 2024.
While I provided a rare photo report from Long Island City in Queens, I will pass on covering this exciting story in Jackson Heights in person.
NYC residents fume at ‘hellish helicopter highway’ as lawmakers seek to ban ‘non essential’ choppers
Haley Brown and Aneeta Bhole for New York Post. April 16, 2024.
The helicopters are out of control so this would be welcome.
The Story Of The Game Genie, The Cheat Device Nintendo Tried (And Failed) To Kill
John Szczepaniak for Time Extension. December 26, 2021.
This article is about the Game Genie, but I'll note I am reading Mr. Szczepaniak's book of video game developer interviews and you can expect to see some articles about it on The New Leaf Journal down the line.
Lost & found
15th c. gold ring with Christ engraving found in Sweden
The History Blog. March 11, 2024.
"The ring was found in a waste disposal context but it is in almost untouched condition, suggesting it was accidentally lost rather than deliberately discarded at the end of its usage."
Roman wall, tower found in Narbonne
The History Blog. March 26, 2024.
Probably not a good sign of the wall's enduring effectiveness if you have to dig to find it.
You ask, I answer
What Flaco the Owl’s Death Teaches Us About Making Cities Safer for Birds
Lauren Oster for Smithsonain Magazine. April 16, 2024.
(1) Don't release Eurasian owls in New York City.
Why didn't Alexander the Great invade Rome?
Owen James for LiveScience. November 25, 2023.
Rome was not where the heart was.
Approaching the headline from a unique perspective
Genetically engineered pink pineapples are flying off shelves: What gives them their distinctive color?
Donavyn Coffey for LiveScience. Sepetmber 4, 2023.
Genetically engineering a pineapple but not addressing the distinct lack of "pine" or "apple."
Big alligator captured after breaking into Florida home
Brad Matthews for The Washington Times. April 9, 2024.
Loaded headline. Neutral headline: "Big alligator captured after letting itself into Florida home."
Good long reads
Eisenhower’s Grief
David Bannon for Front Porch Republic. March 21, 2024.
"Eisenhower and Mamie walked through the valley of grief together. Their relationship was rewarding, despite and perhaps in some ways because of Ikey’s passing. They came to value the transience of life and found meaning along the dark path of loss they shared."
Tokyo syndrome
Ed West. December 7, 2023.
Thoughts from a UK-based historian and commentator on his recent trip to Japan. It covers everything from Japanese architecture and hospitality to some of the Japanese government's interesting (operative word) takes on World War II history.
Niche game review
Life Makeover Shrine
Cabbage Sorter. April 14, 2024.
A very detailed review of "Life Makeover" -- "a [C]hinese gacha dress-up game." Here I thought I was doing something unique with my run-downs of obscure freeware visual novel translations...
The Old Leaf Journal
Let's dig into our archives...
The Enigmatic Life and Death of Emperor Otho
N.A. Ferell. April 18, 2021.
The longest article in New Leaf Journal history by a wide margin.
The Plum Tree Blossoms Always in the Springtime
N.A. Ferrell. March 20, 2022.
"Forget not to blossom always when the springtime comes."
Lysander and Cyrus the Younger’s Garden
N.A. Ferrell. September 18, 2020.
The first magnolia sighting in The New Leaf Journal.
Crimsoness – Visual Novel Review
N.A. Ferrell. May 25, 2023.
My first review of a visual novel that qualifies as a meme game.
Crate and Broken – Furniture Story
N.A. Ferrell. April 4, 2022.
One of my more clever unsung headlines.
Hatchling and Danbo Have a Piano Recital
N.A. Ferrell. May 1, 2021.
You can never predict when an impromptu concert will land.
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 16 (April 13-April 19) along with their 2024 statistics and all-time statistics, which go back to the first week of 2021.
[1] Yuki's Hair Color in A Sign of Affection
Author: N.A. Ferrell. Published: February 5, 2024.
2024: 11 top 5 appearances and 6 top placements.
[2] Broken Optical Audio Cable Door "Fix"
Author: N.A. Ferrell. Published: September 16, 2023.
History: First top five appearance.
[3] Recommended F-Droid FOSS Apps For Android-Based Devices (2021)
Author: N.A. Ferrell. Published: November 28, 2021.
2024: 12 top five appearances and 1 top placement.
History: 69 top five appearances and 9 top placements.
[4] The Last Nintendo Wii Games
Author: N.A. Ferrell. Published: August 1, 2023.
History: First top five appearance.
[5] Installing GrapheneOS on a Google Pixel 6a
Author: N.A. Ferrell. Published: May 15, 2023.
2024: 2 top five appearances.
History: 10 top five appearances.
Week 16 showed similar trends to week 15 with a weak top five and views being distributed among more articles -- although the week was weaker overall on account of less search engine traffic. My principal article on hair color in the recently concluded A Sign of Affection anime improved slightly to narrowly claim is sixth first place ranking in seven weeks. We saw two first-time articles in the top five in my posts on a hacky optical audio cable solution in second and my study of the last Nintendo Wii games in fourth. However, while neither of these 2023 articles had previously appeared in a weekly top-five, they rank 10th and 14th overall in recorded 2024 visits respectively, so neither can be counted as a significant weekly ranking surprise.
Taking leaf
I was late in writing this newsletter and want to actually mail it on Saturday, so I will skip the news and notes sections in this issue. For those who are not already subscribers, we offer email and RSS feed options for the newsletter as well as an archive page listing all past issues (see options).
Next week's newsletter will fall on April 27, which happens to be The New Leaf Journal's fourth birthday. You can expect some special birthday notes in what promises to be a fun issue next week.
Until The New Leaf Journal turns four -- Cura ut valeas,
Nicholas A. Ferrell.