Newsletter Leaf Journal CCIX 〜 Novender
Newsletter Leaf Journal 209 comes to you just after Thanksgiving. We have two of our own articles to share to go along with 21 links from around the web which cover everything from Thanksgiving-related news to time zones in Kazakhstan. Finally, we look ahead to what will, with hope, be a more eventful December at The New Leaf Journal.
Welcome to the 209th edition of The Newsletter Leaf Journal, the official weekly newsletter of the perennially virid online writing magazine, The New Leaf Journal. This newsletter comes to you as always from the FILCO Majestitouch v3 keyboard of the administrator and editor of The New Leaf Journal and The Emu Café Social, Nicholas A. Ferrell. I was in danger of ending Thanksgiving week with no new articles, but I came through in the clutch (if I do say so myself) with two Friday evening posts to ensure that we have some of our own writing to share this week. You can learn about those articles along with 21 exciting links from around the web and other news and notes as we bring Thanksgiving weekend and November 2024 to a close with our humble Saturday mailer.
Leaves from the week that was
I published two new articles yesterday evening (with "today" being Saturday, November 30, 2024). In the first of the articles, I wrote about how the incoming U.S. Senate Majority Leader, John Thune of South Dakota, will be the first Senate Majority Leader to have won his Senate seat by defeating a former Senate Majority Leader. But did we have any prior close calls? You can learn along with me in South Dakota's Senate Leader Succession. In my second article, Basketball Team Donation Scams in Brooklyn, I turned my attention what is for me local news and examined a report that there are new scams reaching Brooklyn involving teenagers and young men soliciting money via Zelle for fictitious basketball teams. Alas, I had to inform the reporter that what's old is new again and there's nothing new under the sun.
Leaves from around the web
While this week was a busy week by our very recent standards, I will concede that I most likely did not produce a weekend's worth of reading material for you, especially if you do not happen to be interested in the intersection of current events and history in the United States Senate or Brooklyn-based donation scams. But fear not, I come armed with 21 exciting links from around the world wide web.
The tree of around the web
Single time zone in Kazakhstan messing with citizens’ circadian rhythms
Almaz Kumenov for Eurasianet. November 26, 2024.
Returning to an issue we covered in the Around the Web section of Newsletter Leaf Journal 181.
Jailhouse Massacre in Ecuador Illustrates Rapid Criminal Evolution
Steven Dudley and James Bargent for InSight Crime. November 28, 2024.
It looks like Ecuador's efforts to crack down on gangs, which I shared with you in the Around the Web section of Newsletter 173, are hitting a few (not unexpected) snags.
Public safety does not take Thanksgiving off
Firefighters valiantly save family’s Thanksgiving dinner from manhole fire that gobbled up SUV, apartment building
Amanda Woods and Matt Troutman for the New York Post. November 29, 2024.
I can confirm that there was a scene (and smell) on and around Remsen Street on Thanksgiving, at least when I walked by on Thanksgiving.
Mass arrests at Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade as anti-Israel protesters block procession
Zoe Hussain, Larry Celona, Joe Marino, Isabel Keane, and Matt Troutman. November 28, 2024.
The new New York Police Department Commissioner took over three days before Thanksgiving. She had previously been New York City Sanitation Commissioner. I will concede that I was skeptical the skills were transferable (not to mention that sanitation services in New York City have been somewhat better), but if the Thanksgiving Day Parade is any indication, it looks like her Sanitation Department experience may come in handy.
The New York Post investigates: A play in three acts
ARROZ CON RACKET: Brooklyn restaurant at center of illegal migrant-driven food-vending scheme
Georgia Worrell and Rich Calder for the New York Post. November 24, 2024.
I had seen women hawking these meals to construction workers on street corners, but I knew not the source of the meals before reading this New York Post report.
NYC eatery running migrant food-peddling ring hit with sickening new violations: ‘No regard’
Cari Campanile, Valentina Jaramillo, and Jorge Fitz-Gibbon for the New York Post. November 24, 2024.
I for one am shocked that food safety standards are not being upheld.
Filthy NYC eatery at center of migrant-run black market food racket makes defiant confession: ‘We know it’s illegal’
Reuven Fenton and Jorge Fitz-Gibbon for the New York Post. November 25, 2024.
Here I thought they believed the only laws they were violating had to do with food safety and sidewalk vending.
Question and answered
Ancient Roman Gladiators Were Huge Celebrities Who Even Had Their Own Merch
Julia Binswanger for Smithsonian Magazine. November 18, 2024.
But was having your own "merch" positively correlated with not having had your own merch?
Did Roman gladiators really fight to the death?
Owen Jarus for LiveScience. September 22, 2024.
Not after Emperor Honorius addressed the matter, at least.
Thanksgivings of the past
Navy Ship Menus From Thanksgivings Past
Geoff Ziezulewicz for The Warzone. November 27, 2024.
Pass the celery.
Six Cars Raced to the Finish Line of the U.S.'s First Automobile Race—at Speeds of Seven Miles Per Hour
Eli Wizevich for Smithsonian Magazine. November 28, 2024.
I would describe this as a survival test more than a race.
Successful birds
Why Are Urban Turkeys Thriving?
Anne Readel for Smithsonian Magazine. November 25, 2024.
This article is worth reading for the picture of the two turkeys sitting at a picnic bench alone (but the article is good beyond that one picture).
Bird brain from the age of dinosaurs reveals roots of avian intelligence
Sarah Collins for University of Cambridge. November 13, 2024.
Something to sink your talons into.
There's a connection but you have to read both articles and ponder
Former Singapore Foreign Minister: Thucydides Trap Doesn't Apply To China
Tim Hains for RealClear Politics. November 25, 2024.
This is an interesting interview in that it includes some good points (the Chinese government has a different framework and frame of reference for understanding events than do the foreign policy establishments of Western countries) before taking the Chinese Communist Party's perspective on every issue of concern.
‘Ugly’ NYC sidewalk newspaper boxes will get much-needed makeover under new City Council bill
Nicole Rosenthal and Valentina Jaramillo for New York Post. November 18, 2024.
I always find the China Daily newspaper boxes in New York City funny. The CCP gets state-influenced newspapers in New York City. New York City gets trashed out China Daily newspaper boxes. Talk about winning.
Win some, lose some
Apple May Break Into the Hearing Aid Industry
Jenny List for Hackaday. September 17, 2024.
Earbuds with some basic hearing aid/hearing enhancing functionality is a good idea.
Thanks to AI, Apple's China problem is only getting worse
Geoffrey Cain for The Hill. November 16, 2024.
While I am no fan of how "AI" is being used, we should not give it credit for the accomplishments of Apple's executives.
Did something change while I wasn't looking?
Iranian commander's killing, Aleppo advance shake up Syria conflict
Omar Abu Laila for Iran International. November 29, 2024.
I don't understand why Iran is not sending Hezbollah in full force to do what they did the last time this happened.
Moscow Urges to ‘Restore Order’ as Syria Rocked By Unexpected Insurgent Assault
AFP (via The Moscow Times). November 29, 2024.
I don't understand why Russia is calling for others to restore order as the Syrian government comes under attack. Russia played a leading role the last time this happened. Are they preoccupied or something?
Let's use around the web as an excuse to talk about me
Pokémon Gold And Silver Celebrates 25 Years With Commemorative Plush
Liam Doolan for Nintendo Life. November 23, 2024.
This reminded me that I celebrated the 20th anniversary of its release in North America back in 2020.
China's Temu spies on users, under DHS investigation over forced-labor violations: official
Chris Doornbos for the New York Post. November 25, 2024.
I had never even heard of Temu before January 2024 and have no plans to use it, but sounds like I am missing out on a great, high-quality, and ethical service.
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, I present the five most-visited articles of Newsletter Week 48 (Nov 23-29) with 2024 and historic (going back to 2021) ranking information for each of the five articles.
(1) An In-Depth Look at Norton Safe Search
N.A. Ferrell. October 18, 2022.
30 appearances and 12 top placements in 2024; 42 and 17 overall.
(2) Broken Optical Audio Cable Door “Fix”
N.A. Ferrell. September 16, 2023.
12 appearances in 2024 and overall.
(3) The Mystery of Sōseki and Tsuki ga Kirei
N.A. Ferrell. March 14, 2021.
17 appearances and 6 top placements in 2024; 149 and 75 overall.
(4) The Pokémon Special Split in Generation 2 – Statistics and Analysis
N.A. Ferrell. January 18, 2022.
9 appearances in 2024; 55 appearances and 4 top placements overall.
(5) Fixing Refresh Rate Issue on 4K TV Monitor
N.A. Ferrell. July 26, 2024.
2 appearances.
My Norton Safe Search review secured its sixth consecutive first-place finish, although it was a close fight with my broken optical audio cable story until Friday. With that, my Norton Safe Search review becomes the first (and perhaps only) article to read 30 weekly top-fives in 2024 and our new yearly leader in first-place finishes with 12 (Planning and Angel Next Door Season 2), which was absent from this week's ranking, has 11 first-place finishes this year. Although only our fifth place article in Week 48 returned from the Week 47 ranking, the middle-three articles have all been consistently solid performers in the final quarter of 2024.
News leaf journal
November was (to put it mildly) a slow month at The New Leaf Journal, but I am currently in the progress of writing three longer projects I had slated for November before work intervened. These three projects are my reviews of the 2010 The Dandelion Girl visual novel and the Girls Band Cry anime and a look at how Halloween went in a couple areas of Tokyo in 2024 (that one is a follow up to my mid-October Japan Halloween history article). As I work on these, I will sit down and look at my planned and in progress projects and decide what to prioritize for the last month of 2024 and what should be reserved for an exciting start to 2025 (it would be hard to top our start to 2024, where my second article of the year was shared by The Browser and made page one of Hacker News en route to (most likely) securing all of our year-end visitor awards over the course of a couple of weeks.
Taking leaf
Thank you as always for reading and following The Newsletter Leaf Journal. If you are not already a regular reader, you can sign up for our weekly email, add our RSS feed to your favorite feed reader, or simply check in on our archive page when you feel like catching up with the newsletter. See all of the options here.
As I noted above, I am actively in the progress of drafting several longer articles and I have a few ideas for shorter pieces to go along with those, so I hope to have some interesting posts to share as part of our first December 2024 newsletter.
Until December 7,
Cura ut valeas -- Nicholas A. Ferrell.