Newsletter Leaf Journal CCXXXVII 〜 No bonus soda, alas
Newsletter Leaf Journal 237 includes links to two new NLJ articles, numerous short-form ECS posts, 21 links from around the web, and news and notes about what to look forward to in the last third of July 2025.
Welcome to the 237th edition of The Newsletter Leaf Journal, the official newsletter of the perennially virid online writing magazine, The New Leaf Journal and its short-form writing sister publication, The Emu Café Social. This newsletter comes to you as always from the administrator, editor, and writer of both publications, Nicholas A. Ferrell.
I had a busy week, so my New Leaf Journal output was limited. However, between The New Leaf Journal and The Emu Café Social, I put together a decent reading list.
Leaves from the week that was
I published two new leaves on The New Leaf Journal.
My show-case article of the week was Five Years of the Koko Analytics WordPress Plugin. Regular newsletter readers will know that our weekly most-visited article stats come from Koko Analytics, which is a WordPress plugin. July 11 marked 5 years since I started using Koko on site. My new post includes updated thoughts about the plugin and a list of our 60 most-visited articles from July 11, 2020 through July 11, 2025.
My other new article is Full Text RSS Mishap. I explain how I briefly and inadvertently turned The New Leaf Journal's full-text RSS, ATOM, and JSON feeds into partial feeds before I noticed the problem and resolved it.
While I did not have much time to publish long-form essays last week, I published numerous short posts on The Emu Café Social.
I wrote about my opposition to a plan to impose jungle primaries in New York City and followed up with a post on news that the proposal will not be on the ballot in November. I praised Congresswoman Marie Glusenkamp Perez from Washington for bringing attention to the issue of bright headlights, which has been a New Leaf Journal topic in the past. Finally in the current events category, I noted how an unfortunate apparent social media hacking incident reminded me of an infamous video game heel turn from the turn of the century.
Three of my ECS posts were tech-related. I shared an interesting mini PC offer in Lenovo ThinkCenter With Guarana Fanta Soda on Ebay. I offered some newsletter commentary in a post where a blogger complained about people using newsletter-to-RSS services to subscribe to his blog without noticing that his blog has a native RSS feed. Finally, I responded to a post about solutions for using an Android (or Android-based) device as a touchpad and keyboard by sharing my preferred solution for the task, KDE Connect (this is now on my full article to-do list).
Leaves from around the web
Let's check in on what's happening around the world wide web. 21 links with "witty" comments below!
Taking orders from headline
How I keep up with AI progress (and why you must too)
Altharva Raykar for nilenso. June 23, 2025.
Alright, let's do this.
AI Overviews Cite AI-Generated Content More Than Human Writing
Si Quan Ong for Ahrefs Blog. July 14, 2025.
This interesting (and sad) survey follows my making a joke about LLMs training off each other in last week's around the web. I'm on point as always.
AI 'Nudify' Websites Rake in Millions with Deep Fake Porn Thanks to Tech Giants
Lucas Nolan for Breitbart. July 14, 2025.
"Amazon and Cloudflare provide hosting or content delivery services for 62 of the 85 websites, while Google’s sign-on system is used on 54 of them." (Curious given that Amazon and Google have cracked down on far less.)
Facebook is starting to feed its AI with private, unpublished photos
Tina Nguyen for The Verge. June 27, 2025.
Do people still believe in private Facebook photos? That was already borderline in 2008.
AI Makes Research Easy. Maybe Too Easy.
Jackie Snow for The Wall Street Journal. June 26, 2025.
Especially if you're not worried about your research being useful.
Whatsup with Whatsap?
Ads are coming to WhatsApp
Kate Hicks for Marketing Brew. June 16, 2025.
Whatsads am I right?
WhatsApp Banned on House of Representatives Devices
Reuters (via Newsmax). June 24, 2025.
I think this means I'm qualified to serve.
Problem & solution
Intel kills Clear Linux OS as support ends without warning
Brian Fagoli for NERDS.xyz. July 18, 2025.
Linux distributions come and go, even distros run by large corporations. But for Intel to cut the cord without any notice whatsoever is subpar. (Note that I have never used Clear Linux.)
AROS turns any PC into an Amiga with USB-bootable distro • The Register
Liam Proven for The Register. May 22, 2025.
Whew. Talk about a smooth landing prepared for the Clear Linux refugees. (I may look into AROS for a project.)
Don't say I didn't warn you
AI Overviews Reduce Clicks by 34.5%
Ryan Law for Ahrefs Blog. April 17, 2025.
Recalling my case for traditional search.
Syria's new dawn is already a nightmare
Andrew Fox for Spiked. July 18, 2025.
I definitely didn't foresee this happening in the Syria run by the Al Qaeda bro with quotes from newsletters past such as NL 210 ("I have no doubt that the former Al Qaeda member's claims of newfound moderation will be readily accepted by many stakeholders in the Syrian civil war"), NL 212 ("Apparently [former Al Qaeda bro] cosplaying as Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky in a CNN interview..."), NL 227 ("NATO member Turkey, having installed the former Al Qaeda guy in Syria..."), and ("We will know Syria is really on the mend when the leaders of all its terrorist factions relocate from Afghanistan"). I didn't have too many recent quips since El Presidente Al Qaeda Bro had been on reasonably good behavior (in a sliding scale sense) before the unfortunate ongoing ethnic cleansing. But I suppose Syria is best summarized by noting that the alternative was a proxy of the world's leading state sponsor of terrorism, propped up by Russia.
Sporting news
Data on the NBA's Achilles Injury Epidemic
Austin Cornilles for Butterflies. July 10, 2025.
Beyond some randomness, I will guess how early players these days focus solely on basketball.
Can A Simple Model Draft QBs Better Than the NFL?
Robbie Marriage for Sports Passion Project. July 14, 2025.
My first thought when I saw the title was "this won't work for Josh Allen." To be sure, that sentiment came up in the article.
United Set to Hire More Special Olympics Athletes As Customer Service Ambassadors
United Airlines (via PR Newswire). July 18, 2025.
Good PR backed up by what sounds like a cool program. NFL fans may enjoy the unexpected Jerry Rice cameo.
Vice
The hidden cost of Georgia’s online casino boom
Lana Kokala for Eurasianet. June 16, 2025.
That's the Republic of Georgia. I don't know how the state of Georgia is doing.
Millionaire Lucchese Mafia family wiseguy gets 21 months in prison for lucrative gambling operation
David Amoruso for Gangsters Inc. July 11, 2025.
I begrudgingly respect the Lucchese bro for keeping tradition alive in a world where degenerate gamblers can get their fix from "legal" phone apps.
Long-lasting goods
Shein, Temu Sales Slide After Losing US Duty-Free Loophole
Jamie Wilde for The Daily Upside. July 1, 2025.
Is it just me or does it sound like Shein and Temu are disposable?
Stop killing games and the industry response
Kristiāns Kronis. June 6, 2025.
This may be a surprising take from the person who has published articles in support of digital ownership and making fun of game streaming, but I don't think the "industry's" position is wholly unreasonable regarding the types of games that tend to be killed. However, I do agree with the petition that game companies should be required to specify how long they guarantee support for online-dependent games, and I cannot think of good reasons why games with single-player or local multi-player modes should ever be rendered unplayable.
PSA: You Might Want To Be Careful Buying Pre-Owned Switch 1 Games For Your Switch 2
Gavin Lane for Nintendo Life. July 10, 2025.
Granting I am on Nintendo's side regarding Switch 2 piracy, going to suggest that this console nuke button thing is not great, not the best. Back in my day consoles weren't quite so online and thus not susceptible to nuke buttons.
The best and the brightest
Stolen iPhones disabled by Apple's anti-theft tech after Los Angeles looting
Skye Jacobs for Techspot. June 15, 2025.
This is a tragedy. The looters who thought that demonstration iPhones from the Apple Store would work after being looted could surely cure cancer if they dedicated their considerable intellects to the task.
Epic Blunder: Pro-Palestinian Activists Wreck Over $1M in Ukraine-Bound Weapons in Failed Protest
Joshua Klein for Breitbart. June 27, 2025.
Blundering is how they show solidarity.
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 XXX (July 12-18) along with their 2025 and historic (going back 2021) weekly ranking statistics.
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Amazon "Cargo Bikes" in Brooklyn
Nicholas A. Ferrell. April 9, 2025.
2025: 12 appearances and 6 top placements. -
Height differences in anime romances
Nicholas A. Ferrell. March 22, 2023.
2025: 2 appearances.
Cumulative: 17 appearances and 7 top placements. -
Catching 151 Pokémon in Google Search
Nicholas A. Ferrell. April 17, 2025.
2025: 4 appearances and 1 top placement. -
Dragonair Safari in Pokémon Yellow
Nicholas A. Ferrell. October 5, 2023.
2025: 6 appearances.
Cumulative: 8 appearances. -
Misleading ARRIS Modem Login Instructions
Nicholas A. Ferrell. June 12, 2024.
2025: 11 appearances and 1 top placement (also cumulative).
Analysis
We had one of our best weeks of the year according to Koko Analytics and Google Search Console, but the only stand-out individual articles were our top-three finishes. Each of the top three led the weekly ranking at for at least one day and they ended up bunched together. The Cargo Bikes article ultimately pulled through thanks to a week-best Thursday, narrowly denying my essay on height differences in anime romances what would have been its first top placement in nearly two years.
Only two of this week's top-five articles made our all-time top-60 most-visited article list from July 11, 2020 through July 11, 2025. Height Difference in Anime Romances was at that point our 23rd most-visited article, while Dragonair Safari in Pokémon Yellow came in twenty spots back in 43rd. Both ARRIS and Amazon Cargo Bikes have a chance to make the all-time top-60 by the end of the year, with ARRIS having a much better chance due to a significant head-start. ARRIS probably should sneak in by the end of 2025. The Cargo Bike article has a chance but it will have to keep performing at its current level for the rest of the year.
News leaf journal
I expect to have a bit more time this week to work on New Leaf Journal projects than I have had the past few weeks (I probably just jinxed it, however). I have accumulated a good number of article and project ideas over the last few weeks -- perhaps I should incorporate a to-do list into my writing workflow. I do plan to keep publishing consistently to The Emu Café Social since I can turn interesting articles I come across or things I overhear into posts without everything that goes into New Leaf Journal articles. Speaking of overheard, I have a good one coming this week. I also want to pick a new visual novel to review -- perhaps by the end of the month. I have not covered any visual novels since February. Finally, I am going to try to put a deadline on myself to start the long-awaited (surely you are waiting) Pokémon Red Novel Project by September (it has run into a few hangups).
Taking leaf
Thank you as always for reading The Newsletter Leaf Journal. If you enjoyed this issue and 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.
July, like May and June, has been sparse in terms of new article output, but work permitting, I hope to pick up the pace in what is left of the month.