Newsletter Leaf Journal CCXXIII 〜 A Christmas promenade
The final Newsletter Leaf Journal of 2024 features links to two new Christmas-themed New Leaf Journal articles, several new posts at The Emu Café Social, 21 links from around the web (with a fair number of punny comments), and a recap of our 52 most-visited article of the week lists from 2024.
Welcome to the 213th edition of The Newsletter Leaf Journal, the official newsletter of the perennially virid online writing magazine, The New Leaf Journal. This newsletter, like the 212 newsletters before it, comes to you from Nicholas A. Ferrell, the administrator and editor of The New Leaf Journal and its short-form writing sister site, The Emu Café Social.
I begin today's newsletter by wishing reader's a now-post-Christmas Merry Christmas (and, for our Jewish readers, a happy ongoing Hanukkah). Because this is a Saturday newsletter and next Saturday lands in 2025, this will be our final newsletter of 2024. While the newsletter will of course return in 2025, I will reset our weekly ranking statistics, so that will be new. Below, I share my most recent posts, links from around the web, our most-visited posts of 2024 Newsletter Week 52, and other news and notes as we reflect on the year that was and look ahead to the year to come.
Leaves from the tree of the week that was
I ended up being busy last week, so I only published two new New Leaf Journal articles since mailing Newsletter 212. First, I remedied our dearth of Christmas articles this year with a photo post titled Brooklyn Heights Promenade Christmas Tree. This post comes as advertised, but I chipped in some light research and will note that the Christmas Tree photo includes a red mailbox for Santa and a menorah. My second and last article of the week was a review of a visual novel called Christmas Rose. Christmas Rose is a short (about 10 minutes to read) original English-language visual novel featuring Summer's complicated romantic feelings for Winter. Setting aside that seasons are people and people have feelings, some botanically-inclined readers may take some issue with the "Christmas rose" in the story, but all-in-all it was a fun visual novel discovery project.
I published words on The Emu Café Social as well. On December 22 I wrote about considering a Google Pixel Tablet but deciding that even on sale, it is still too much for what it is. In more pressing Android-adjacent news, the unexpected end of the DivestOS project, the Android Open Source Project fork that I ran on my Google Pixel 3a XL phone, which I used primarily as a device for reading feeds (my "phone phone" is a Pixel 6a with GrapheneOS), left me looking for a new operating system. What was I to do? I decided that I should try to return my Pixel 3a XL to its original purpose -- the reason I bought it in the first place back in 2022 -- to try Ubuntu Touch, an operating system which has brought us many views, on a device with full support for it. I failed to install Ubuntu Touch the first time but on this occasion successfully fulfilled the prerequisites. As I explain in my ECS post, I ran through the the Ubuntu Touch installer and then installed Droidian. Early impressions: Droidian is neat and very battery-hungry. What is "Droidian"? That will have to wait for 2025... In more down-to-Earth Android news, I wrote about using the Izzy on Droid repository version of Breezy Weather instead of the F-Droid repository version.
Having played Pokémon Red on Christmas in 1998, I repeated the feat in 2024, on which occasion I had several unexpectedly difficult encounters with Psyduck of all things in the Safari Zone.
Leaves from around the web
Let us check on what is going on around the web at the end of 2024...
Christmas un-memories
NYC sees first white Christmas Eve in over two decades — but it won’t last
Katherine Donlevy and Georget Roberts for the New York Post. December 24, 2024.
I don't remember the Christmas Eve snow from 1998, but as I noted above, I managed to partially follow the 1998 Christmas template.
Hasbro Furby Teardown: Furby Doesn’t Feel So Good
Shahram Mokhtari for IFIXIT. December 19, 2024.
Wait... they still make these things? (I never had one, mind you, but I remember there were a ton of commercials -- especially around Christmas.)
30 Years Later, PC-FX Launch Title Team Innocent Is Finally Playable In English
Damien McFerran for TimeExtension. December 23, 2024.
Finally. This was actually the first item on my Christmas list as a kid in 1994. Unfortunately the PC-FX was not available in the United States and this game was not available in English in any event, so I received a Sega Genesis bundled with Sonic 2 instead.
Christmas trees
Christmas Trees
tugster: a waterblog. December 24, 2024.
Only one Christmas tree but it is ready to move.
Tumbleweed Christmas Tree
Eric Grundhauser for Atlas Obscura. December 24, 2025.
A very Arizona Christmas.
How to Eat or Drink Your Christmas Tree
Sam O'Brien for Atlas Obscura. January 8, 2024.
No thank you, I'm full.
A life well lived
Rickey Henderson Brought Baseball’s Past Into the Future
Neil Paine. December 21, 2024.
"Henderson was so good, so ahead of the curve, that he could bridge the gap between baseball’s past and its future — performing all of the traditional roles of the classical leadoff hitter while also embodying all of the traits that subsequent iterations of the game would prize from the top of the batting order."
Ricky Henderson, RIP
Steve Sailer. December 22, 2024.
I'm not a baseball expert but I noticed that Henderson, who sits at number two on baseball's all-time walks list, is one of just two righties in the top-10 (Frank Thomas is the other at 10th, switch-hitting Mickey Mantle is at eighth). Having noted that Henderson is second on the all-time walks list, attentive New Leaf Journal readers should know who is first.
Focusing on the trees to avoid the forest
NBA ratings have plunged—are three-pointers to blame?
Dave Lozo for Morning Brew. December 19, 2024.
Probably not as much as hand-waving the poor ratings away by appealing to hashtag numbers on social media.
Daily Tech News 25 December 2024
Pixy Misa at Ambient Irony. December 25, 2024.
A humorous take on under-performing triple-A video games in 2024 among other links.
LIBERTY
Biden signs bill officially making bald eagle national bird of U.S.
Darlene Superville for the Associate Press (via The Washington Times). December 24, 2024.
Benjamin Franklin had a different (probably specious) idea.
Milei’s first year ends with optimism. Can Argentina’s momentum continue in 2025?
Ignacio Albe and Jason Marczak for Atlantic Council. December 24, 2024.
The once-elusive libertarian moment continues into 2025.
Looking ahead to 2025 article ideas
Ave Mujica - The Die is Cast - Episodes 1-3 Anime Review (archived link)
Christopher Farris for Anime News Network. December 20, 2024.
I am skeptical about this one despite its being the sequel to my 4th ranked anime of 2023. But I'll watch and see if my skepticism is well-founded in a couple of weeks. (I used the archive link because the live link is dead... strange.)
The 'Black Hole' Optical Illusion of the Bird of Paradise Explained
Stephanie Pappis for LiveScience. January 11, 2018.
One of the pictures of this bird looks more like mushrooms I have covered than the bird of paradise I profiled.
A continuing story in two acts thus far
China has cause to be terrified of rebel-run Syria
Yang Xiaotong for Asia Times. December 13, 2024.
China is probably fine with the situation so long as the people it doesn't like stay in Syria. Whether that happens, however...
Turkistan Islamic Party uses video from Syria to encourage jihad in China
Bill Roggio for Long War Journal. December 14, 2024.
The Chinese Communist Party will surely follow its own rhetoric and look to make peace with the Turkistan Islamic Party by agreeing to a two-state solution and recognizing the independence of East Turkestan.
Newsletter writers just wanna have pun
Bear breaks into house in Japan, quickly begins spending winter exactly like Japanese people do
Casey Baseel for SoraNews24. December 25, 2024.
Someone found the cold unbearable.
A stink over ‘odoriferous’
Grammarphobia. December 16, 2024.
Take a look at this funny headline olfactory.
Meet the Brazilian Velvet Ant, a Rare 'Ultra-Black' Wasp That's So Dark It Absorbs Almost All Visible Light
Eli Wizevich for Smithsonian Magazine. December 19, 2024.
I wish it was a shellfish instead of an ant. Then I could say that absorbing all the visible light is kind of shellfish.
An Ancient Statue of a Roman Emperor Will Finally Be Reunited With Its Head
Julia Binswanger for Smithsonian Magazine. December 16, 2024.
Septimius Severus severed no longer.
Abkhazia sees the Kremlin’s dark side
Brawley Benson for Eurasianet. December 19, 2024.
You can't blame me for my punny comments when we have clever headlines about growing tension between Russia and Abkhazia.
Most-turned leaves of Newsletter Week 52
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 52 (Dec 21-27) with 2024 and historic (going back to 2021) ranking information for each of the five articles. This is of course our last ranking of 2024 -- we will start fresh with a new year next week (while retaining historical ranking notes). I will conclude today's ranking with some notes on the year that was.
(1) An In-Depth Look at Norton Safe Search
N.A. Ferrell. October 18, 2022.
34 appearances and 13 top placements in 2024; 46 and 18 overall.
(2) Planning and Angel Next Door Season 2
N.A. Ferrell. November 5, 2023.
28 appearances and 11 top placements in 2024 and overall.
(3) Fixing Refresh Rate Issue on 4K TV Monitor
N.A. Ferrell. July 26, 2024.
5 appearances and 2 top placements.
(4) The Mystery of Sōseki and Tsuki ga Kirei
N.A. Ferrell. March 14, 2021.
21 appearances and 6 top placements in 2024; 153 and 75 overall.
(5) Broken Optical Audio Cable Door “Fix”
N.A. Ferrell. September 16, 2023.
14 appearances in 2024 and overall.
Analysis
Last year, our final newsletter week ranking of 2023 featured an article making its first-ever first-place finish and a top two which combined for 14 appearances and two top placements on the year. This year in 2024, we bring things to a close in a way more consistent with the year that was. The two top articles in the 2024 weekly rankings this year have been my Norton Safe Search review and my specious short post on having good foresight to review The Angel Next Door Spoils Me Rotten (Note: My actual review of The Angel Next Door Spoils Me Rotten was our final first-place article of 2023). True to form, Norton and Planning and Angel Next Door took the top two spots in our final ranking of 2024. The Angel article actually led for most of the week, but Norton overtook it on Thursday and increased its final margin through Friday. Had my Angel Next Door piece unexpectedly returned to the top of the ranking (its last first-place finish cane in Newsletter Week 42), it would have tied Norton for the most first-place finishes on the year.
I conclude with some 2024 weekly ranking stats:
- 42 articles notched at least one weekly top-five appearance. 24 of those 42 articles had at least two appearances.
- 14 articles had at least one first-place finish. 8 of those 14 articles had at least two first-place finishes.
- Most Appearances: (1) An In-Depth Look at Norton Safe Search [34]; (2) Recommended F-Droid FOSS Apps For Android-Based Devices (2021) [28]; (2) Planning and Angel Next Door Season 2 [28]; (4) The Mystery of Sōseki and Tsuki ga Kirei [21]; (5) Installing Ubuntu Touch on a Google Nexus 7 (2013) [20]; (6) Yuki’s Hair Color in A Sign of Affection [15]; (7) Broken Optical Audio Cable Door “Fix” [14]; (8) Installing LineageOS on a 2013 Nexus 7 (Wi-Fi); (9) Heights in “The Dangers in My Heart” Anime [9]; (9) The Pokémon Special Split in Generation 2 – Statistics and Analysis [9]
- Multiple Top-Placements: (1) An In-Depth Look at Norton Safe Search [13]; (2) Planning and Angel Next Door Season 2 [11]; (3) The Mystery of Sōseki and Tsuki ga Kirei [6]; (3) Yuki’s Hair Color in A Sign of Affection [6]; (5) Cycling Doping Fallacies [3]; (5) Itsuomi's Hair Color in A Sign of Affection [3]; (7) Installing Ubuntu Touch on a Google Nexus 7 (2013) [2]; Fixing Refresh Rate Issue on 4K TV Monitor [2].
- One Top-Placement: Recommended F-Droid FOSS Apps For Android-Based Devices (2021); Heights in “The Dangers in My Heart” Anime; The Last Nintendo Wii Games; Understanding Hair Color in the Kimi ni Todoke Anime Series; Grafting a Bird's Head Cane Handle Onto a Wooden Umbrella; Examining Whether Defense Wins NBA Championships.
- This is the first time since 2022 that my Tsuki ga Kirei article does not lead in weekly top-five appearances and the first time ever (going back to when I started keeping track in 2021) that it does not lead in weekly first-place finishes. With that being said, its 21 appearances and 6 top-placements in 2024 is a great year by normal article standards.
It was not a good year for articles from our first year, 2020 (we went live on April 27, 2020). Our collection of more than 100 2020 articles accounted for just one of the 260 total weekly ranking slots in 2024 (52 weeks times 5 positions for each week). Congratulations to my first-ever New Leaf Journal article, Against Half-Way Yogurt Thievery, for making what was perhaps the most unexpected weekly top five of 2024.
Taking Leaf for 2024
2024 was an interesting year at The New Leaf Journal, but I will reserve my thoughts on that for the traditional New Years Day review of the year that was, which I am already working on drafting. I recall having suggested in an earlier newsletter that I may publish my 2024 anime review in 2024, but that will have to wait for early January (most likely within the first 10 days of 2025). I will work on selecting a few pieces to get out before the end of 2024 while I work on my big year-end review. The newsletter will be back next week as (almost) always. In the interim, I wish all of our readers a happy New Year.
Until 2025,
Cura ut valeas -- N.A. Ferrell.