Newsletter Leaf Journal CCXII 〜 Before the sell-by date
Our pre-Christmas 2024 newsletter feautures links to the five newest New Leaf Journal leaves, 21 links from around the web, Christmas links from our archive, and the list of our most-visited articles from one of our busiest weeks of 2024.
Welcome to the 212th and pre-Christmas edition of The Newsletter Leaf Journal, the official newsletter of the perennially virid The New Leaf Journal. This penultimate Newsletter Leaf Journal of 2024 comes to you as always from the Filco Majestitouch V3 keyboard of Nicholas A. Ferrell, the administrator and editor of The New Leaf Journal and its short-form writing sister site, The Emu Café Social. For the first time in a long time, we had what one could describe as a busy week with five new New Leaf Journal articles. Moreover, according to our privacy-friendly page counting solution, Koko Analytics, we had one of our best non-external link weeks ever in terms of visitors. Below, we will cover all of this news in addition to our customary 21 links from around the world wide web.
Leaves from the tree of the week that was
I published five new articles since mailing Newsletter 211.
An investigative report on Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko's "hidden circle" inspired me to write President Lukashenko's Hairstylist. As the headline suggests, I raise questions about a specific member of Mr. Lukashenko's now-not-so-hidden-circle, but you will also find my thoughts on the 30-year president's remarkable athletic prowess.
As promised last week, I told the story of a near-grocery store tragedy in Sell by November Cashew Milk in December. I noticed the out-of-date cashew milk on December 12, 2024. My first New Leaf Journal article covered an incident at that same grocery store (a right head-turn from the cashew milk) which occurred on December 12, 2018. Talk about poetry. My cashew milk story was slightly delayed because a late night typo compelled me to return to the past-its-prime scene to double-check my work (accuracy is non-negotiable in these upstanding webpages).
On the same day I published the cashew milk article, I read a post through my feed collection wherein a blogger chronicled 52 things he learned in 2024. Inspired, I wrote 54 Things I Learned in 2024. I chose 54 things not to one-up the original post, but because I keep my lists (except for our Newsletter Week article rankings) divisible by 3. All of the things I learn come with links to sources, so you can learn right along with me.
On December 18, 2024, I published Extra Anime Awards for 2023. Why did I publish them so late? I plan to reference back to these awards in my soon-upcoming 2024 anime review, but in order to do that I needed to finally publish them. As the name of the article suggests, these awards are meant to be enjoyed after reading my main anime 2023 review.
In my oddly popular 2022 review (of sorts) of Norton Safe Search, I noted with some disappointment that we did not have a Norton Safeweb rating. 2024 update: Our "Safe" Norton Safeweb Rating.
Over on The Emu Café Social, I covered the interesting story about how now-former President Bashar al-Assad managed to flee Syria for Moscow without having intended to do so. It happens to the best of us.
Leaves from around the web
My 54 things I learned in 2024 post is an around the web unto itself. Do you really need more around the web? Well, regardless of whether you need more around the web, I need to prune my ever-growing list of saved around the web links and comments.
Water damage
Residents of Chalco, a Mexico City suburb, are anxious after living in black sewage water
Associated Press (via The Washington Times). September 14, 2024.
That sounds like a reasonable cause for anxiety.
Massive water main break floods streets, submerges cars in the Bronx
Patrick Reilly for the New York Post. December 17, 2024.
Fortunately and unexpectedly, "[t]he water didn’t enter any buildings, ABC 7 reported."
Current and former Syrian leaders
Has Syrian rebel leader al-Golani really shaken off his al Qaeda past?
Jamie Dettmer for Politico. December 11, 2024.
Surprisingly good article which leads readers to the correct answer.
Syria’s Christians: ‘We Have No Reason to Trust Al-Jolani’
Madeleine Rowley for The Free Press. December 13, 2024.
Apparently his cosplaying as Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky in a CNN interview did not persuade all of Syria's Christians.
Out, Damned Despot!
Theodore Dalrymple for Taki's Magazine. December 14, 2024.
"If it had not been for the stupid fatal road accident that killed his older brother, an accident emblematic of the follies of gilded youth everywhere, Assad junior might have spent his life anonymously and usefully as an ophthalmic surgeon—though, like all hypotheticals, this cannot be proved. He was like Macbeth, a man who would have been content to remain a loyal servant of the king before he met the witches who first unleashed ambition in his mind (where there must have been the potential for it). But of course, an honorable and decent future was not to be, neither for Macbeth nor for Assad junior."
Serbia's president says he won't flee his country like Syria's Assad did despite growing protests
Dusan Stojanovic for the Associated Press (via The Washington Times). December 10, 2024.
Did no one tell him that Assad just happened to trip and fall onto a Russian plane which was at that moment departing Syria for Moscow?
In response to [insert headlines], I express conflicting views on risk management
Travel to a Japanese convenience store at an active volcano
Oona McGee for SoraNews24. December 4, 2024.
At? Why not in? Japan has gone soft.
Linux Looks To Drop Support For IBM Cell Blade Servers
Michael Larabel for Phoronix. December 18, 2024.
Good. I never heard of Cell Blade servers before seeing this article but they sound dangerous.
Checking in on gangs
Under assault by gangs in Haiti, a Kenyan-led mission fights back
Associated Press (via The Washington Times). December 6, 2024.
They're also trying to figure out how their decisions in life led them to this unique experience and thinking about what they could have done differently.
Four Killed, Three Injured in Shootout at Mexican Cockfight
Ildefonso Ortiz and Brandon Darby for Breitbart. December 17, 2024.
I didn't truly buy into the idea that Mexico might have a crime problem until learning here that you can't even be safe at a good old fashioned cockfight. Wow.
Referencing our award-winning video game writing
New Switch Golf Game Will Have Nintendo's Repair Team Sweating
Ollie Reynolds for Nintendo Life. December 20, 2024.
I think we found a dumber game controller idea than the old Mario Party joystick rotation games.
Atlus Lead Explains Why Persona Protagonists Are High School Males
Ollie Reynolds for Nintendo Life. December 18, 2024.
Well, not all modern Persona protagonists.
Nintendo to close Switch eShop and online services in China by 2026
Mauricio B. Holguin for AlternativeTo. November 26, 2024.
China-based Nintendo Switch owners meet the problem of indefinite rentals.
Some people who play video games are weird
Infinity Nikki praised for banning cheaters, but players are confused as to why anyone would cheat in a cozy dress-up game
Verity Townsend for Automation West. December 10, 2024.
My thought when I saw people on Ebay selling hacked Animal Crossing materials.
Japanese police arrest man for hacking and selling Pokémon save data for the Nintendo 3DS
Amber V for Automation of West. December 9, 2024.
I'm glad selling hacked Pokémon online was not a thing back in the good ole' days.
Scam news
Phony basketball-team phone-scammers made off with more than $76K in city-wide crime trend: NYPD
Shane Galvin for the New York Post. December 7, 2024.
An update on the youth basketball team scam in Brooklyn, but my article has much more anecdotal historical perspective.
British telecom company creates AI 'granny' to waste the time of phone scammers
Brad Matthews for The Washington Times. December 10, 2024.
AI can finally win a battle of wits.
I could but for...
Is art history a matter of who you know?-+
Steve Sailer. November 20, 2024.
So this is why my art isn't selling.
Prehistoric mastodon jaw found in backyard by NY homeowner who spotted teeth sticking up from soil
David Propper for the New York Post. December 17, 2024.
The only thing stopping me from finding cool stuff in my backyard is the lack of a backyard.
Analog methods
That Time Solicitor General Fried Redacted The Word "Plenary" From a Printed SCOTUS Reply Brief With A Marker
Josh Blackman for The Volokh Conspiracy. November 20, 2024.
A story which combines battles with the permanent bureaucracy and analogue editing methods.
Disc Film,When Kodak Pushed Convenience Too Far
Jenny List for Hackaday. December 10, 2024.
Hard to call it convenient when you cannot acquire the dic.
The Old Pine Needle Journal
I was surprised when I noticed that I did not have any Christmas articles in my around the web list. The websites in my feed collection ought to get moving on that. Because the Around the Web did not have any Christmas articles, it falls upon us to fill the void from our archive.
While cut Christmas trees differ from The New Leaf Journal in that they are not perennially virid, I once shared a very New Leaf Journal-like Evergreen Carroll Gardens Christmas Tree. I can happily report that it looks much the same in 2024 as it did when I photographed it for publication in 2022 (so too does the nearby Balancing Bear Topiary).
Buying a Christmas gift can be difficult, as my fictional dialogue duo, Justin and Justina, established in 2020. Fortunately, Justin explained last year how making a non-Christmas decoration "Christmas" is quite easy.
Santa Claus makes news around Christmas. But how often do you stop to think about who Mr. Claus is as a person? I turned to a 1913 story by Maud McKnight Lindsay to learn more about the man on the sleigh (or van). Speaking of Santa, if you are looking for a good Christmas poem, I recommend Margaret E. Sangster's Christmas at the Door.
I have reviewed a few visual novels which reference Christmas. Here, I will recommend two free ones: Plain Song and Plain Song Christmas Special. Plain Song is a mostly enjoyable romance story with a good heart, but it does stumble a bit toward the end (a future article topic). Christmas Special is a parody of Plain Song rather than a sequel, but its humor should be appreciated by Plain Song fans and those who are familiar with prevailing tragedy trends in Japanese visual novels.
Finally, I end with a link to my re-printing of Lizzie Deas' very short story, The Christmas Rose. My article also comes with a PDF reproduction of the original 1914 short story. Of all the posts, this is the one which truly gets to the heart of Christmas.
Most-turned leaves of the newsletter week
I use a privacy-friendly and entirely local tool called Koko Analytics (see my 2022 review) 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 51 (Dec 14-20) with 2024 and historic (going back to 2021) ranking information for each of the five articles.
(1) Fixing Refresh Rate Issue on 4K TV Monitor
N.A. Ferrell. July 26, 2024.
4 appearances and 2 top placements.
(2) The Mystery of Sōseki and Tsuki ga Kirei
N.A. Ferrell. March 14, 2021.
20 appearances and 6 top placements in 2024; 152 and 75 overall.
(3) An In-Depth Look at Norton Safe Search
N.A. Ferrell. October 18, 2022.
33 appearances and 12 top placements in 2024; 45 and 17 overall.
(4) Planning and Angel Next Door Season 2
N.A. Ferrell. November 5, 2023.
27 appearances and 11 top placements in 2024 and overall.
(5) Hair Color in Raven of the Inner Palace
N.A. Ferrell. November 15, 2023.
2 appearances in 2024 and overall.
Analysis
Newsletter Week 51 was one of our best weeks in total views overall, but its strength came in depth instead of having a single dominant article. This also made it one of the most competitive weeks of 2024.
My guide to properly configuring an HDMI port on my TV narrowly took its second consecutive first-place finish by a single visit over my study of the phrase tsuki ga kirei (speaking of which, you can expect a new tsuki ga kirei article in the very near future). Our most consistent article of 2022, my Norton Safe Search review, was not far behind in third place.
There was a gap between the top three and the next two top-five positions. The surprise of the week was our fifth place article, my brief look at hair color in the 2022 anime adaptation of Raven in the Inner Palace, which made its first top-five appearance since Newsletter Week 4 of 2024 thanks to posting two seemingly randomly strong days in the middle of the week. Speaking of strong days, the award for best single-day performance of any article goes to Friday's showing by The Pokémon Special Split in Generation 2 – Statistics and Analysis, but it was not quite enough to climb into the final top-five.
Next week will be our final Newsletter Week of 2024. While the following week will include some 2024, it will conclude in 2025.
Taking leaf
I would normally conclude the newsletter with some notes, but this edition has gone on long enough, so I will wrap everything up here. I have several projects in the pipeline for publication before the end of the year, so I hope you look forward to them. In the meantime, I wish everyone a Merry Christmas.
Until December 28,
Merry Christmas from N.A. Ferrell.