Newsletter Leaf Journal CCXXXIX 〜 Walden gnome
Newsletter Leaf Journal 39 includes links to two new NLJ articles and several new ECS posts, 21 links around the web with comments, and news and notes about The New Leaf Journal.
Welcome to the 239th 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 did not publish as many new articles as last week. However, we still had a busy week in terms of site traffic. Below, I share my newest posts, links from around the web, and other news and notes from the week that was.
Leaves from the week that was
I published two new New Leaf Journal articles since mailing Newsletter 238.
First, I documented Jim Walden's NYC Mayor Campaign Car in Brooklyn Heights. Who is Jim Walden? He is an Brooklyn Heights-based attorney running for Mayor of New York City as an independent candidate. While his prospects of victory are slim (to put it gently), his campaign Mini Cooper is slick. You will learn about the upcoming New York City mayoral campaign (through my dry analysis) along with the aesthetics and Connecticut license plate of his campaign car.
Second, I published a photo post on an inflatable bikini-clad gnome decoration in Cobble Hill (this is the fourth inflatable decoration I documented at the residence in question, which is noted in the article). Talk about an attention-grabbing headline.
I published four new posts on ECS. In Blocking B@nk$y in Miniflux, I wrote about ensuring that my feed reader will not be cluttered with updates about the various contrived controversies and updates surrounding Banksy (I circumvented my own block with the creative title). In Unrequited Love in OKITSURA Anime I concurred with a point from a review of the 2025 anime series in the title from THEM Anime Reviews. I had a less than positive take on some New York City news in NY Moving to Allow Drug Shops Closer to Schools (also see a title issue I had with the post). I noted an interesting new referrer in my Koko Analytics logs for The New Leaf Journal in https://social.emucafe.org/naferrell/newsbreak-app-07-31-25/ (this is foreshadowing for the most-turned leaves section coming up later in this newsletter). Finally, I wrote about eliminating a fly in my room before needing to resort to arson.
Leaves from around the web
Let's check in on what is happening around the world wide web (with my much-beloved link commentary).
Everyone thinks they're better than me
Ukraine Debuts “Murena” Feed System to Power Heavy Machine Guns and Combat Robots
Ivan Khomenko for United24 Media. July 26, 2025.
Admittedly sounds a little more exciting than the Murena I reviewed.
US-Built Seismic System Confirms Early Signal Detection Before Russian 8.8 Quake; Global Scientific Validation Now Complete
Treeline Global (via PR Newswire). July 30, 2025.
Not to brag.
Online Scams and Attacks in America Today
Jeffrey Gottfried, Eugenie Park, and Monica Anderson for Pew Research Center. July 31, 2025.
Fun fact: While no one has ever tried to scam me through our site email account, I did once receive a totally legitimate email from the former Defense Minister of the People's Republic of China.
Controlling the marketplace
Analysis: How SEO/AI Spam Got Onto a Government Domain & More
Gough Lui at Gough's Tech Zone. July 27, 2025.
The dangers of unregulated user generated content.
Itch.io reveals new adult content guidelines following pressure from payment processors
Vic Hood for Games Industry.biz. July 29, 2025.
Although I have reviewed a few itch.io visual novels (see itch.io tag), this change will not affect us for two reasons. Firstly, The New Leaf Journal is a family website. Secondly, I have a strict no furry policy.
PirateFi game on Steam caught installing password-stealing malware
Bill Toulas for Bleeping Computer. February 14, 2025.
I don't usually object to Steam's very lax moderation policies but they should probably at least catch the outright malware (note I curated this link and added my comment well before the current debate about adult games on Steam).
Since you asked...
Is an Intel N100 a better value than a Raspberry Pi?
Jeff Geerling. March 3, 2025.
Yes.
Are Sports Teams Overvalued? 3 Revenue Streams They'll Go After Next
Andrew Petcash. January 9, 2025.
Yes as applied to the ones that are not part of the NFL.
Why Is 194 Columbia Heights Avenue Abandoned?
Bridget Read for Curbed. November 15, 2024.
Because the guy who owns it refuses to sell it but does not have enough money to fix it.
Are AI illustrations of my concepts worth the effort?
Steve Sailer. May 16, 2025.
No. But I appreciated the very polite back-and-forth with ChatGPT.
Bottled drinks
Is it OK to drink bottled water after the expiration date in Japan?
Master Blaster for SoraNews24. June 13, 2025.
I use this newsletter to post links to answers to questions you did not know you were asking.
PepsiCo Launches Prebiotic Cola, But Still Tastes Like Pepsi
PepsiCo (via Vending Connection). July 21, 2025.
Soda was simpler (despite some convoluted advertising) back in my day.
Links that tell you what to do and how to do it
Don't Make a Blog, Make a Brain Dump
Bradley Taunt. September 10, 2022.
Or don't do either. Whatever makes you happy.
Testing Free Website Hosts (Pixel Shannon)
Pixel Shannon. January 7, 2025.
This is a good resource for people who are interested in starting a website on the cheap so they can make the internet a better place by linking to great articles from The New Leaf Journal.
'Splosions! (Or not.)
50 helmets from WWI, WWII found in Wrocław
The History Blog. June 16, 2025.
These types of stories are usually about unexploded bombs so I suppose non-explosive helmets is a nice change of pace.
The Potential Big Boom In Every Dust Cloud
Maya Posch for Hackaday. June 2, 2025.
Let this be a reminder to not neglect your dusting.
Dinosaurs are cool
Rare Fossil Suggests Some Dinosaurs May Have Sounded Like Birds and Shared Similar Vocal Anatomy
Margerita Bassi for Smithsonian Magazine. July 30, 2025.
I could see large dinosaurs sounding like blue jays.
The time Jay Bilas subpoenaed Barney the Purple Dinosaur
Jeremy Markovich at North Carolina Rabbit Hole. June 12, 2025.
"'I subpoenaed Barney to the trial,' he told Eisen. Lyons was against it, arguing that there were only three Barney costumes in existence, and it would be a huge, disruptful burden to get one to Charlotte. Plus, it was unwieldy. The actual Barney getup was 6’8” tall and weighed 250 pounds, Lyons argued. 'Your honor,' Bilas recalled telling the judge, 'I’m 6-foot-eight and weigh about 240, and I got in here just fine.'"
Things that need googly eyes
Say Hi To Pierre
Wouter Groeneveld at Brain Baking. July 29, 2025.
Hi Pierre! I also have a robot vacuum. I should name mine. Pierre is good. However, unlike Pierre, my robot vacuum is not "connected."
mailing potatoes
U.S. Postal Service.
As long as I can put googly eyes on the potato.
Ending with my best link comment
The charm of ASCII smileys :-)
Adële at Adële's Blog. July 19, 2025.
NAF: "{^_^}"
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 XXXII (July 26-August 1) along with their 2025 and historic (going back 2021) weekly ranking statistics.
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Catching 151 Pokémon in Google Search
Nicholas A. Ferrell. April 17, 2025.
2025: 6 appearances and 2 top placements. -
Amazon "Cargo Bikes" in Brooklyn
Nicholas A. Ferrell. April 9, 2025.
2025: 14 appearances and 6 top placements. -
Dragonair Safari in Pokémon Yellow
Nicholas A. Ferrell. October 5, 2023.
2025: 8 appearances.
Cumulative: 10 appearances. -
Jim Walden’s NYC Mayor Campaign Car
Nicholas A. Ferrell. July 29, 2025.
2025: 1 appearance. -
Ventoux Too: Pogačar’s New TDF Climbing Record
Nicholas A. Ferrell. July 23, 2025.
2025: 1 appearance.
Analysis
We had another big week in terms of the total visitor count, coming up just shy of the Tour de France fueled Newsletter Week 31. The top two articles separated themselves from the pack, with each having one stand-out day in the view count and strong weeks overall. Catching 151 Pokémon in Google Search came surprisingly close to closing down the gap it needed to become the most-visited article of July, but Pogačar Chases Riis on Hautacam did enough to hold on to the title.
While there is a big gap between spots 1 and 2 and 2 and 3, articles 3-5 were better than average, with all three posting enough views to have led the ranking in easier weeks. My new article on Jim Walden's campaign car made the top five in its debut week thanks in part to the "Newsbreak App" I referenced in one of my ECS posts. My second article on now-four time Tour de France winner Tadej Pogačar’s climbing times made its first time appearance as number five on the week that Mr. Pogačar took the leader's yellow jersey into Paris. Taken together, four of this week's five articles were published in April and July of 2025.
Notable Leaf Journal
I am finishing drafting this newsletter after having taken a walk to and from Ikea in Red Hook. I went to Ikea to get a new stand for my desktop computer monitors (an article may be coming), but I also took some neat photos on my walk which should find their way into upcoming articles. Unfortunately, there will be no Justin and Justina dialogue about this trip to Ikea, but you can enjoy the one I put together last year.
News Leaf Journal
July turned out to be a good month for The New Leaf Journal and The Emu Café Social after I was unable to publish much in May and June. Several of my new articles performed well (according to Koko Analytics) and I think a couple should be able to carry the momentum going forward. I have work assignments occupying me for the first part of the upcoming week, but I look forward to publishing a few short articles and, with good fortune, a couple of longer form pieces later in the week.
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.
While I did not publish as many articles as I hoped to last week, I dare say it was still a productive week at The New Leaf Journal. July is over, but summer is still going strong, so I hope to have some good new articles to share with you next week.
Until August 9,
Cura ut vales.