Newsletter Leaf Journal CXXVI 〜 Literally yours
The 226th edition of The Newsletter Leaf Journal features a link to the newest NLJ article, covering social media marketing jargon, 21 links from around the web, and other news and notes from the week that was.
Welcome to the 226th 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/principal writer of The New Leaf Journal and its short-form writing sister publication, The Emu Café Social, Nicholas A. Ferrell. I only managed to publish one article last week, but rest assured that part of the reason is because I spent much of the week drafting (and re-drafting) a long article project (coming soon).
Leaves from the week that was
My sole new article since mailing Newsletter 225 was Creators and More and More Content. I was reading an article title How Facebook lost its groove. When that article quoted a "creator" as saying that moving to Facebook is "something I would literally never do" -- I knew that there was but just one thing for me to do. We also had a rare Guestbook entry this week, you can see the now four-comment discussion starting here.
I published three new posts on Emu Café Social. Back in 2021, I wrote a NLJ article trying to claim a bounty for information that could lead to the capture of Sirajuddin Haqqani, who is now (as he was then) Interior Minister of the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan. I never received my money. In My Haqqani Bounty Payment Hangs By a Thread, I contemplate the possibility that the removal of the Haqqani bounty may mean that I will never receive my well-earned money. In my first things I learned post in a while, I wrote about how 13 U.S. States Ban Ranked-Choice Voting. Finally, I wrote an article about looking forward to the two-part finale of Trillion Game, an anime which just finished its first season (I hope for a second). The finale was good. While I do not think I will review Trillion Game in a full article, I suspect it will appear in my 2025 anime review next December/January.
Leaves from around the web
My word count last week left much to be desired (although I like to think my one long article was good). But fear not. There are other articles from around the web to keep you entertained.
Who framed Roger Rabbit?
March Madness: NCAA Athlete Rules Mean Smaller Schools Can't Compete (archived)
Christian Schneider for National Review. March 27, 2025.
"But to channel Thomas Sowell, there are no solutions, only trade-offs." I'll note that Mr. Sowell had, and I assume still has, a largely negative view of college athletics as a general matter (his views informed my College Football Coach Salaries and Buyouts and Colleges as Institutions) take.
Has NIL Ruined March Madness?
Elliot Crow at Bracket Busters. March 25, 2025.
He is correct that it is more the transfer portal than the NIL. But as he notes, the transfer portal is what it is because of the NIL.
Saving trees
Resketch Upcycles Misprints and Unwanted Paper into Reclaimed Notebooks
Grace Ebert for Colossal. March 19, 2025.
The reclaimed notebooks are a little bit cheaper than I would have thought.
Women in Ghana plant ‘diversion’ trees to protect shea trees and their livelihoods
Sonam Lama Hyolmo for Mongaby. March 8, 2025.
"As the growing demand for charcoal and firewood hastens the decline of shea trees in Ghana, communities living on the fringes of the country’s Mole National Park are planting fast-growing trees of other species as a buffer."
Two-wheel problems, two-bit solutions
NYC’s Queensboro Bridge Pedestrian Path Was Ready. Until it Wasn’t. (archived)
Dana Rubenstein and Winnie Hu for The New York Times. March 22, 2025.
The problem on the Queensboro is less the split path in and of itself (although I am for exiling the bikers) and more that when there are not many pedestrians the bikers ride (or drive) like maniacs, often veering into the pedestrian lane. (You can see a photo from one of my trips across the Queensboro Bridge).
'Trojan Horse': E-Bike Licensing Bill Would Fuel Anti-Immigrant Policing
Sophia Lebowitz for Streetsblog NYC. December 10, 2024.
The only reason I disagree with e-bike licensing is because e-bikes should be banned (but short of that, the licensing bill would be an improvement).
Rounding the bases and going home
There Could Never Be an 8-Peat: Why Michael Jordan Needed Baseball (archived)
Jack M. Silverstein. May 19, 2016.
A long essay on the strange baseball foray of Michael Jordan.
"I’m Back": The true story of Michael Jordan's 1995 baseball comeback
Jack M. Silverstein at A Shot On Ehlo. March 18, 2025.
Followed by the story of Michael Jordan departing baseball to return to the NBA (a compelling case that the baseball player's strike was the decisive factor).
Unsung borders in the former USSR
Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan Reach Historic Border Delimitation Agreement
Nurbek Bekmurzaev for The Jamestown Foundation. March 12, 2025.
Peace and harmony sweep over Central Asian borders (offer may not be applicable to the Tajikistan-Afghanistan border).
Azerbaijan-Armenia Peace Deal Faces Hurdles
Onnik James Kirkorian for The Jamestown Foundation. March 24, 2025.
Challenges remain.
Shipping humor
The thousand faces ship: how Chinese vessels change names mid-voyage
Sam Chambers for Splash247. March 4, 2025.
These Chinese ships are just trying to discover their true authentic selves and everyone is trying to read something nefarious into it.
HMM Takes Delivery of Its First Methanol-Powered Containership
Charlie Bartlett for The Loadstar (via gCaptain). March 26, 2025.
Korean shipping succumbs to big corn.
Only in Japan
We eat a canned omelette from a Japanese vending machine and hope for the best
Oona McGee for SoraNews24. April 30, 2022.
All's well that ends well but I would not have considered the canned omelette to be a particularly high-risk canned item.
LiA Bespoke Project: Automatic For the People - The Japanese Vending Machine
Guardian Enzo at Lost in Anime. March 24, 2025.
Japan gets all the cool vending machines.
Potato ice cream from Family Mart takes ice cream to a whole other level
Master Blaster for SoraNews24. March 15, 2025.
I appreciate the exterior.
Haunted by TikTok
Alexis Ohanian, Reddit co-founder, joins bid to acquire TikTok
Haleluya Hadero for Associated Press (via The Washington Times). March 4, 2025.
Speaking from the "ban TikTok" camp, this bid by Project Liberty strikes me as acceptable from what I have read. Of course, this means it won't work.
What's Happening to Students?
Ted Gioia at The Honest Broker. March 21, 2025.
I concur with much, but not all, of this article. But let me direct your attention to the beginning. Is TikTok the best forum for a teacher to complain about screen-addled kids?
Video games and recording
Mario Kart: Double Dash – 2003 Developer Interview
Shumplations. February 26, 2025.
I used a VCR to record a play-through of my getting first-place on all 16 tracks consecutively back in the day. Maybe I should turn that story into an article... In any event, a great 2003 interview with the developers of a great edition of Mario Kart.
Korean Drone Flying Tour Switch Review
mordrdakon at The Game Slush Pile. March 27, 2025.
This game sounds more like a VCR simulator than a drone simulator.
Overlooking the obvious
Live alligator found lurking in suburban NY waterway as mystery remains where it came from
Melanie Marich for New York Post. November 17, 2024.
The headline answers the question it poses without realizing it.
Two Migrants Used Underwater Propulsion Devices to Illegally Cross Texas Border River
Bob Price for Breitbart. March 22, 2025.
They neglected to consider that walking around Eagle Pass in scuba suits may draw suspicion.
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, you will find the most-visited articles of 2025 Newsletter Week XIII (March 22-28) along with their 2025 and historic (going back 2021) weekly ranking statistics.
(1.) Calvin Coolidge Describes His Mother, Victoria
N.A. Ferrell. March 13, 2021.
2025: 6 appearances and 2 top placements.
Historic: 8 appearances and 2 top placements.
(2.) Broken Optical Audio Cable Door “Fix” · The New Leaf Journal
N.A. Ferrell. September 16, 2023.
2025: 5 appearances.
Historic: 19 appearances.
(3.) Planning and Angel Next Door Season 2
N.A. Ferrell. November 5, 2023.
2025: 5 appearances.
Historic: 33 appearances and 11 top placements.
(4.) Dragonair Safari in Pokémon Yellow
N.A. Ferrell. October 5, 2023.
2025: First appearance.
Historic: 3 appearances.
(5.) Examining Whether Defense Wins NBA Championships
N.A. Ferrell. July 9, 2024.
2025: 11 appearances and 6 top placements.
Historic: 15 appearances and 7 top placements.
Analysis
2025 Newsletter Week 13 was an odd duck. Our overall visits were decent -- probably the weakest week of 2025 but well above average by most 2024 standards. But the views overall were well-distributed and our top-five articles were weak. President Coolidge took advantage of there being no strong article to take the top spot for the second time in three weeks. The latter-half of 2023 is well-represented with articles from September, November, and October of that year occupying spots 2-4 respectively. Finally, the top article of 2025 thus far barely hung on to make its 11th top-five in 13 weeks. Just missing the cut was Yuki’s Hair Color in A Sign of Affection, which would have been making its first weekly top-five in a while.
News leaf journal
I spent a good amount of time this past week working on an article about the worst teams to make the NBA playoffs in the 16-team playoff era. I then decided to re-write most of the article. This contributed to my low output last week. However, that article is coming soon. I also have two anime hair color articles in the works. Both of those will be accompanied by reviews of the shows in question. In other news...
Notable leaf journal
I bought a new membership to the Brooklyn Botanic Garden yesterday and took advantage of the nice, finally spring-like weather in Brooklyn to make my first visit in some time. I came away with some good pictures, notwithstanding the mass of poorly dressed Garden-goers. I suspect that some of those photos will feature in articles -- perhaps sooner rather than later.
Taking leaf
Thank you as always for reading, and if you have not done so already, you can follow this newsletter by signing up for our weekly email, adding our RSS feed to your favorite feed reader, or checking in on our archive page.
March goes out like a lamb on Monday. April Fools is on Tuesday. Your next newsletter should come on Saturday.
Until April Fifth[s],
Cura ut valeas -- Nicholas A. Ferrell.