Newsletter Leaf Journal CLXXXV 〜 Return from Texas
The Newsletter Leaf Journal returns after a half-unplanned two-week hiatus.
Welcome to the 185th edition of the (usually) weekly 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 administrator and editor of The New Leaf Journal, Nicholas A. Ferrell.
It has been three weeks since I mailed the previous newsletter. In that time, there has not been much activity at The New Leaf Journal. There are two reasons for this. Firstly, I was on vacation in San Antonio, Texas, from May 7-15. Secondly, shortly before I went on vacation, I had a few rush work assignments dropped in my lap (assignments that I am still dealing with). Taken together, I did not have much time to devote to The New or Newsletter Leaf Journals. This will be a catch-up newsletter, covering the material that would have been in the previous two editions of the newsletter and setting the stage for the weeks to come. Without further ado...
Leaves from the week[s] that [were]
I published three articles since mailing Newsletter 184 on the birthday of The New Leaf Journal, April 27, 2024.
On May 12, 2024, I published a short article from Texas to note that I was on vacation. Special credit to Southwest Airlines for giving me an idea for how to make it an artistic piece.
Before things became busy, I welcomed May with an article about a white car with a cherry blossom design seen in Carroll Gardens, Brooklyn.
Finally, on April 28, I published a long and detailed (but largely spoiler-free) review of the second season of the anime adaptation of The Dangers in My Heart. While the first season, which aired in 2023, fell a few spots outside of my year-end top six series, the second season was the first genuine anime of the year quality show of 2024 (in my book, at least), and in just over seven months it should have no trouble finding a spot in this year’s top six series.
Leaves from the week[s] that [were]
I usually provide 21 links from around the web with each newsletter. Because I have not published many articles of late and also because I collected a decent number of new articles to share, I will post 27 links this week to get us back on even-ish footing.
Frugal living
Family of Ilham Aliyev’s Security Chief Owns Vast Property Holdings in the United Kingdom
Kelly Boss, Olga Loginova, Fatima Karimova, Aidan Iusubova, and Nana Bregadze for OCCRP. May 12, 2024.
It is amazing what you can do with a $22,000 annual salary.
This $10 Pokémon Trading Tool Lets You Cheat At A 28-Year-Old Game
Damien McFerran for Time Extension. March 14, 2024.
Someone reinvented the GameShark but made it more complicated.
Supermarket boss John Catsimatidis puts anti-theft coding on Häagen-Dazs
Michael Kaplan for the New York Post. March 21, 2024.
While this is a good idea and I approve of it, may Gristedes also do more to maintain their facades?
Junk from abroad
Shein and Temu’s Fast-Fashion Rivalry is Rocking the Air Freight Industry
Isobel Asher Hamilton for The Daily Upside. February 22, 2024.
I have not seen much of either since I wrote my article about being late to learning what "Temu" is, so I am still using the internet correctly.
South Korea gets tough with Chinese platforms AliExpress, Temu, Shein
Han-Shin Park, Jae-Kwang Ahn, and Sul-Gi Lee for The Korea Economic Daily. March 13, 2024.
Sounds reasonable: "The government said it will revise the Electronic Commerce Act to make it mandatory for large foreign online platform operators to set up local corporations or local offices in Korea."
30% of Children Ages 5-7 Are on TikTok
Ted Gioia. April 28, 2024.
This study did not cover the ones who are on, but not using, TikTok (which should be banned).
RSS (and other) feed formats
America’s Shortening Attention Spans are Corporate Gold
Brian Boyle for The Daily Upside. April 28, 2024.
New Leaf Journal readers know how to stand athwart the trends.
RSS is really simple, why do so many find it complicated?
John Lampard. May 17, 2024.
I think it is more that most people do not want to use feeds even if they know what they are.
Full-text RSS feed is an offline-friendly act
Juha-Matti Santana. March 30, 2024.
I prefer them because they ensure that full articles can be read in feed readers... but I suppose this is another perk.
Great new tech features
LinkedIn beta-tests a new TikTok-style vertical video feed under a dedicated video tab
Mauricio B. Holguin for AlternativeTo. April 1, 2024.
I never used Linkedin but it seems to me that it is straying from its advertised use-case.
Netflix to remove offline viewing in major update for Windows 10 and 11 apps
Mauricio B. Holguin for AlternativeTo. May 15, 2024.
This doesn't affect me but it is always neat to read about how these big services add great features with each update.
Roku is planning to start showing video ads on its home screen to boost revenues
Paul for AlternativeTo. April 30, 2024.
Add this one to the list of reasons my Roku TV is not allowed to connect to the internet.
Movie and TV news
Japanese city loses residents’ personal data, which was on paper being transported on a windy day
Casey Baseel for SoraNews24. April 26, 2024.
Gone with the wind.
Combustible Cinema? The Nitrate Film Issue
Matthew Wills for JSTOR Daily. February 10, 2024.
What happened to the fiery passion that used to go into film making?
Kyoto government worker assaults coworker for spoiling popular manga series at the office
Casey Baseel for SoraNews24. May 7, 2024.
No need to get violent over the Oshi no Ko manga if you only watch the anime.
Importing and exporting
Great Britain: Bill Would Ban Live Animal Exports
Clare Feikert-Ahalt for The Law Library of Congress. February 15, 2024.
"This bill could be introduced only after the United Kingdom left the EU due to the free trade rules, which prohibited a ban on exporting live animals to other EU member states."
The Last Wild Coffee Forests
Alex Mayyasi for Atlas Obscura. September 21, 2021.
The best kinds of forests.
Saudi Arabia Once Banned Videogames. Now, It Wants to Export Them.
Humza Jilani and Donna Abdulaziz for The Wall Street Journal. September 15, 2023.
I respect the ambition but this is not a thing that is going to happen.
Everything is about me
'Long overdue': Germany's dual nationality law approved by president
Imogen Goodman for The Local. March 26, 2024.
See my articles on dual nationality issues in Japan and Egypt.
Concerns grow as builder ‘desperate’ for apartments at toxic site in NYC neighborhood
Jack Morphet and Steve Janoski for the New York Post. April 28, 2024.
Not far from my trip to Newtown Creek.
NYC property owners see big increase in $1,000 pigeon poop fines: ‘For the birds!’
Rich Calder for New York Post. April 6, 2024.
Fair. But from my pedestrian perspective the dog owners are a much bigger problem than property owners not cleaning up pigeon mess.
War, past and present
The Accidental Invasion: Luxembourg’s little-known role in the outbreak of World War I
Thomas Tutton for RTL Today. September 19, 2020.
Sometimes the role you do not want comes to you.
The Attritional Art of War: Lessons from the Russian War on Ukraine
Alex Vershinin for RUSI. March 18, 2024.
Interesting essay on attritional warfare.
Ukrainian Parliament Passes Mobilization Bill But Punts on Demobilization
John Hardie for Long War Journal. April 12, 2024.
No one wants to be standing when the music stops.
Where I approach headlines with a fresh perspective
Raspberry Pi Narrates (And Tattles On) Your Cat, Nature Documentary Style
Donald Papp for Hackaday. May 9, 2024.
I admit that I was wrong about there being no good use for consumer AI.
Mike Trout and the Fragile Pursuit of GOATdom
Neil Pane. May 2, 2024,
What's stopping him from posting the best offensive seasons in baseball history in his late 30s?
Islamic State expands da’wah activities in Mozambique
Caleb Weiss for Long War Journal. April 30, 2024.
Strange for the Islamic State to start classes so close to summer vacation.
Most-turned leaves of the newsletter week[s]
We will skip The Old Leaf Journal this week (there are plenty of "old" links in my around the web comments) and go straight into covering the most-turned leaves of the previous three newsletter weeks. For new readers, I use Koko Analytics to keep track of which New Leaf Journal articles receive the most visits and then list our most-visited articles from Saturday-Friday (our "newsletter week"). Below, you will find our most-visited articles of Newsletter Weeks 18-20.
Newsletter week 18 (April 27-May 3)
- The Mystery of Sōseki and Tsuki ga Kirei (NAF. 3/14/21)
- Reviewing FrogFind: A Search Engine For Vintage Computers (NAF. 7/24/22)
- Yuki's Hair Color in A Sign of Affection (NAF. 2/5/24)
- How the Forget-Me-Not Flower Found Its Name (NAF. 3/11/21)
- The Pokémon Special Split in Generation 2 - Statistics and Analysis (NAF. 1/18/22)
Newsletter week 19 (May 4-10)
- An In-Depth Look at Norton Safe Search (NAF. 10/18/22)
- Installing LineageOS on a 2013 Nexus 7 (Wi-Fi) (NAF. 7/28/21)
- Planning and Angel Next Door Season 2 (NAF. 11/5/23)
- Yuki's Hair Color in A Sign of Affection
- A Sign of Affection Ep 7 Hair Color Notes (NAF. 2/20/24)
Newsletter week 20 (May 11-17)
- An In-Depth Look at Norton Safe Search
- Planning and Angel Next Door Season 2
- Installing Ubuntu Touch on a Google Nexus 7 (2013) (NAF. 7/5/21)
- Installing LineageOS on a 2013 Nexus 7 (Wi-Fi)
- Recommended F-Droid FOSS Apps For Android-Based Devices (2021) (NAF. 11/28/21)
Analysis
None of the three weeks were impressive in terms of total views, with week 19 being our weakest of 2024. We continue to see a down-tick in search engine impressions which began to take hold in March, but I figure it will pop back up eventually. One issue we may be having is that few 2023 articles are performing well (in the grand scheme). Note that only one 2023 article featured in the last three weekly rankings.
Week 18 saw my tsuki ga kirei article seize its second consecutive first-place finish and third of 2024. While it is performing well below its 2021-2023 standard, three first-place finishes in 20 weeks thus far is nothing to scoff at. That week also saw the first (to date) appearance of my 2022 review of the niche FrogFind search tool, which had a few good months in late 2023.
My review of Norton Safe Search, which had come close to taking a couple of weekly top finishes in February and March, secured the top spot in weeks 19 and 20, with the former being a narrow win and the latter a relatively comfortable one. It now has 7 top finishes overall after having taken five consecutive first place finishes in the final quarter of 2023. Week 19 saw two debuts. First, my joke article about having had good foresight in writing a review of The Angel Next Door Spoils Me Rotten anime last year debuted in fourth place in week 19 before securing a runner-up finish in week 20. I never expected that article to show up in the top five, much less out perform my actual review of the anime. We also saw the debut of my third of five articles on hair color in A Sign of Affection, a look at the major hair color events of episode seven. Week 19 also marked what would be the last of 14 consecutive top-five appearances for my first article in the A Sign of Affection hair color series on the hair color of the main heroine. That article is now tied with my outdated 2021 review of F-Droid apps for the most top-five appearances in 2024 (14 in the first 20 weeks).
News leaf journal
While I would like to return to a normal publishing schedule, I still have a decent number of work assignments and other things on my plate through the end of May. For that reason, I will focus on some shorter photo-focused articles and seeing if I can finish some longer ones that are in progress in my drafts folder. I will also (finally) publish a very late April review in the next week.
May has historically been a big month at The New Leaf Journal. It was our first full month back in 2020 and I published a record (for us) 33 articles in May 2022. But this May will most likely be our lightest month. I suppose we will have to save the fireworks for June and July (pun intended on the latter).
Taking leaf
Thank you as always for reading and following The Newsletter Leaf Journal. I expect to be back to our regularly scheduled weekly newsletter schedule from here on out. If you are not already a regular reader, you can subscribe via email, add our RSS feed to your favorite feed reader, or simply visit our newsletter archive page (see options). Our previous newsletters should give you a better feel of the usual newsletter fare.
Until May 25,
Nicholas A. Ferrell -- Cura ut valeas