Newsletter Leaf Journal CCIII 〜 Transmogrifying Issue
Issue 203 of The Newsletter Leaf Journal features links to our 4 newest articles (and an Internet Archive-related explanation of why there is not a 5th article), 21 links from around the web, and other news and notes.
Welcome to the 203rd 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 administrator/editor of The New Leaf Journal and The Emu Café Social, Nicholas A. Ferrell. Today's newsletter comes with the usual assortment of new article links, links from around the web, and other news and notes. Let us get right into it.
Leaves from the week that was
I began the week with a review of the month that was in September.
Next, an article reporting that Sean "Diddy" Combs' Spotify music streaming numbers have gone up since his well-publicized federal criminal indictment inspired me to write about the semi-public adult video section in the center of the old J&R's video store (a former well-known music, video, and electronics store in Manhattan). How did we make this connection? The author of the post on Mr. Combs and Spotify suggested that people are more likely to stream a controversial figure's music than be seen buying physical copies in a store. Based on my own memories -- I am less than sure.
On the ninth, I shared Halloween chalk art seen on a Brooklyn stoop.
Finally, my show-case article of the week was my long, screenshot-filled review of a TV anime series called Living for the Day After Tomorrow. It first aired in Japan as Asatte no Hokou in 2006. The show was not licensed for release in North America until 2009 and I first watched it in 2010. I have referenced it on a couple of occasions and had planned to write about it for years for one reason -- Living for the Day After Tomorrow remains, in my humble opinion, the finest depiction of summer in TV anime. While the aesthetics are the highlight of the show, the underlying plot and writing, especially in the first 7 out of 12 episodes, are well above average.
I had planned to post an article about how I first stumbled upon Living for the Day After Tomorrow and began watching the show weekly on our between June 17 and June 24, 2010. A complete draft of that article is, as of this writing, one click away from publication. I explained why I am holding off on publishing it in a short post on The Emu Café Social.
Speaking of The Emu Café Social, I published a short post with a link to an interesting article on the one-year anniversary of Hamas' October 7 massacre in Israel. I also posted one activity about testing the free and open source Kill the Newsletter service, which converts newsletter subscriptions to ATOM feeds.
Leaves from around the web
Let's dig into my collection of saved links to interesting writing on the world wide web.
Happy birthday!
100 Marines showed up for an Iwo Jima veteran's 100th Birthday
Matt White for Task & Purpose. October 4, 2024.
A well deserved 100th birthday party for Cpl. Eddie Vincek.
Yes, but look on the bright side
Windows 11's big 2024 update leaves behind ~9GB of undeletable files
Hans-Christian Dirscherl and Joel Lee for PCWorld. October 10, 2024.
Yes but I'm sure the update came with ~49GB of fun.
Getting a Japanese CERO age rating for your game is not only expensive, but costs extra per platform, giving small creators a very hard time
Verity Townsend for Automation West. October 8, 2024.
Fortunately, the problem is mostly not applicable to digital-only games.
Bronx DA chief fired for pushing subordinates to vote for her in ‘Fab Over 40’ contest
Catalina Gonella for Gothamist. October 7, 2024.
She didn't win.
New York Missed Opportunities in Post-9/11 Rebuilding
Nicole Gelinas for City Journal. September 8, 2021.
Yes... but all things considered the Freedom Tower came out alright so I can take that as a partial-win.
Headlines fail to address obvious questions
The Elite College Students Who Can’t Read Books
Rose Horowitch for The Atlantic. October 1, 2024.
Should I worry about some of my longer articles?
The perks of drinking root beer at A&W in Japan
Oona McGee for SoraNews24. September 23, 2024.
Free refills is a nice perk. Does the offer also apply to A&W cream soda?
China is raising its retirement age, now among the youngest in the world's major economies
Huizhong Wu and Emily Wang Fujiyama for Associated Press (via The Washington Times). September 15, 2024.
But what do you do after you retire in China?
Turkish Journalists are Now ‘Telling the Xinjiang Story Well’ for Beijing
Aynur Kerimu for The Jamestown Foundation. August 30, 2024.
What do they get from their CCP handlers? Cookie? Pat on the head?
Buyer's remorse
Archaeologists unearth bronze sword bearing name of Egyptian pharaoh believed to have opposed Moses
Brad Matthews for The Washington Times. September 20, 2024.
Ramses II did want to be remembered...
Scientists in South Africa say they have identified the first known outbreak of rabies in seals
Gerald Imray for AP (via The Washington Times). September 20, 2024.
They probably wish they hadn't.
Checking in on the FSU
World Bank upgrades Russia to "high-income" country due to war-spending boost
Ben Aris for bne IntelliNews. July 3, 2024.
Surely this was how it was supposed to work.
In Belarus, the native language is vanishing as Russian takes prominence
Associated Press. September 14, 2024.
Looking bleak for the Belarusian language.
Future article previews?
The Grounded Worldview Of The Losing Heroines: Makeine Production Notes
kViN for Sakugablog. September 30, 2024.
An in-depth look at one of the notable summer 2024 anime. Will I have notes about it in my year-end review? TBD.
All the little moves the Knicks made to get Karl-Anthony Towns to New York
Brian Windwhorst for ESPN. October 11, 2024.
I am not up to date enough to have an opinion on the transaction, but reading about the Knicks deftly managing the salary cap over the course of several years so they would be in position to complete one of the most complicated transactions in NBA history is disorienting. Back in my day they shot money out of a firehose at multiple injury-prone players who played the same position (definitely not referencing the Eddy Curry and Jerome James moves).
The United Nations continues to unite the nations
Taiwan’s Missing Voice at the UN’s Future Summit
Caleb Mills for Geopolitical Monitor. September 23, 2024.
I respect how much respect the UN has for China's feelings.
Diplomatic Games on UN Security Council Expansion
Brett Schaefer for RealClear World. September 24, 2024.
I think there are probably better things to devote mental energy to.
The beautiful in this ugly but beautiful world
Turn your cat into a tasteful nude painting with this decorative scratching post
Master Blaster for SoraNews24. September 13, 2024.
A work of art.
Birds Form Surprising Relationships With Other Avian Species During Migration, Study Suggests
Alex Robles-Gil for Smithsonian Magazine. September 13, 2024.
Scroll down in the article and ask yourself who wouldn't want to be friends with the ruby-crowned kinglet.
Meet Pesto, the Biggest Baby Penguin This Australian Aquarium Has Ever Seen
Sarah Kuta for Smithsonian Magazine. September 26, 2024.
One of these penguins is not like the others.
Not that anyone asked me but...
Insecure Deebot robot vacuums collect photos and audio to train AI
Julian Fell for ABC (Australia). October 4, 2024.
Far be it from me to tell you how to live your life... but I would caution against buying random Chinese vacuums and installing random Chinese vacuum apps.
Most-turned leaves of the newsletter week
I use a privacy-friendly and entirely local tool called Koko Analytics to track page hits. In each issue of the newsletter, I list our five most-visited articles, according to Koko Analytics, for the one-week period beginning with Saturday and ending with Friday. Below, you will find the most-visited articles of 2024 Newsletter Week 40 (October 5 through 11). I will include 2024 and historic (which runs through the first week of 2021) ranking information for each article.
1 〜 Planning and Angel Next Door Season 2
Nicholas A. Ferrell. November 5, 2023.
21 appearances and 10 top placements in 2024 & overall.
2 〜 Broken Optical Audio Cable Door "Fix"
Nicholas A. Ferrell. September 16, 2023.
7 appearances in 2024 & overall.
3 〜 Installing Ubuntu Touch on a Google Nexus 7 (2013)
Nicholas A. Ferrell. July 7, 2021.
17 appearances and 2 top placements in 2024; 94 and 4 overall.
4 〜 An In-Depth Look at Norton Safe Search
Nicholas A. Ferrell. October 18, 2022.
23 appearances and 6 top placements in 2024; 35 and 11 overall.
5 〜 A Sign of Affection - Anime Review
Nicholas A. Ferrell. March 28, 2024.
4 appearances.
Analysis
My specious article on having the good foresight to have reviewed The Angel Next Door Spoils Me Rotten (see also my actual review of the anime) returned to the top of the weekly ranking for the first time since Newsletter Week 33 in August. In so doing, it becomes the seventh article, going back to the first week of 2021, to top the Newsletter Week Ranking at least 10 times. You can see the full list in Newsletter Leaf Journal 198 (scroll down to "Analysis" under "Leaves from the week that was" for the list). I covered the matter in Newsletter 198 because in that week, my Norton Safe Search review, which came in fourth place this last week, became the sixth article to achieve 10 weekly first-place finishes. At the moment, Norton is unique in that it is the only one of the now-five articles with at least 10 weekly first-place finishes to have not had at least 10 in a single year -- its current 12 are split evenly between 2023 and 2024. Thus, to commemorate the surprising success of Planning and Angel Next Door Season 2, I present a list of each occasion -- going back to 2021 -- an article reached 10 weekly wins within the confines of a single year (articles listed in order of when they hit the 10 first-place milestone).
- 2021: Reviewing the HALOmask and är Mask (10 times)
- 2021: The Mystery of Sōseki and Tsuki ga Kirei (25 times)
- 2022: The Mystery of Sōseki and Tsuki ga Kirei (30 times -- RECORD)
- 2023: Tiki paralogue trick in Fire Emblem Engage (11 times)
- 2023: The Mystery of Sōseki and Tsuki ga Kirei (14 times)
- 2024: Planning and Angel Next Door Season 2 (10 times thru Newsletter Week 41)
This is good company for an article I wrote somewhat in jest. Planning and Angel Next Door has had some good luck in peaking in some of our leaner summer weeks. As I am writing this, it sits at sixth place in the overall 2024 visit ranking, or fifth if we exclude the Hacker News-enhanced 2024 leader. The other articles, in order of their placement on the above list, ended the years they reached 10 weekly wins at 3rd, 2nd, 2nd, 2nd, and 1st place respectively -- and in the case of 2021 and 2022, those articles were only behind a Hacker News success story (2023 lacked a Hacker News page 1 story).
There is probably a better-than-even chance Planning and Angel Next Door Season 2 will be the only article to notch double-digit weekly first-place finishes in 2024. There are three articles sitting at six: An In-Depth Look at Norton Safe Search, The Mystery of Sōseki and Tsuki ga Kirei, and Yuki's Hair Color in A Sign of Affection. Norton notched four first-place finishes between Newsletter Weeks 34-40 and tsuki ga kirei led the ranking in Newsletter Weeks 38-39, so it is certainly possible one could finish strong enough to make it to 10 -- although neither put their best foot forward in this Newsletter Week 41. My article on Yuki's hair color in A Sign of Affection last appeared in the top-five in Newsletter Week 27, and it has not show signs of weekly first-place strength since the spring.
News leaf journal
I mentioned in the Leaves from the week that was section that I am holding off on publishing one article due to the Internet Archive being down. I unfortunately also have a second draft article affected by the issue -- a long history of Halloween in Japan. That article is less affected, however, since it only has a few Internet Archive links and I (as well as one non-Internet Archive source linked in my article) summarize them. I will definitely publish the Japan-Halloween article this week even if the Internet Archive issue persists, but I will give it a few more days before pulling the trigger.
Taking leaf
Thank you as always for reading The Newsletter Leaf Journal. If you enjoyed the newsletter and have not done so already, you can subscribe for our weekly email, add our newsletter's RSS feed to your favorite feed reader, or check in on our newsletter archive page when you are in the mood for some interesting links and commentary (see options). I have some good articles that are just about one click away from publication, and I hope to get those up while using the week to work on more articles for the second half of October. I hope you follow The New Leaf Journal and look forward to next week's newsletter.
Until October 18,
Cura ut valeas -- Nicholas A. Ferrell.