Welcome to the 258th 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.

This is both our penultimate newsletter of 2025 and our pre-Christmas newsletter. Despite being busy in the second half of the week, I published a good number of new posts, so between my new articles and short posts, our regular collection of links from around the web, and some Christmas-themed links from our archive, this newsletter should (mostly) cover your internet-reading needs through the next week.

Leaves from the week that was

I got off to a quick start last week publishing four articles in as many days. Then circumstances intervened. Those circumstances involved a combination of my day job and Uganda. Life is complicated. But my new posts are pleasantly simple.

My first article was a bit of a "rush" self-assignment. I decided to write about NFL quarterback Philip Rivers' return to the gridiron at age 44 after a five-year retirement. But I covered the story from my own perspective in Philip Rivers Comeback Takes Me Back, wherein I discussed my memories of Rivers from his college and early-NFL days (which tie into my own high school debates and discussions about football).

My Rivers essay pushed what had been slated to be my first article of the week -- Adding a trust.txt File -- one spot down the order. As the name suggests, this article is next in line of my recent series on adding ".txt" files to The New Leaf Journal.

On the 15th, I commemorated the first day of Hanukkah with a photo post titled Inflatable Menorah in Cobble Hill. While this was our first inflatable menorah post, I remembered after publishing it that a menorah had made a cameo appearance in my post last year on the Brooklyn Heights Promenade Christmas Tree.

Finally, I upgraded a link that I had planned to use in the Around the Web of this newsletter to article status in On GPL-1s for Obese House Cats. If you ever wondered what I would think about GPL-1 weight-loss drugs for pet cats, this post goes a long way toward answering your burning questions.

"Uganda" also affected my publishing schedule on The Emu Café Social, but I was busy enough early in the week that we have something of a full-slate of short posts.

Before I wrote about fat cats in The New Leaf Journal, I published Things I Learned: Blind Cat Head Tilts in ECS. That was not the only thing I wrote about learning on the 13th. I also covered Things I Learned: Mixue is a Big Fast Food Chain and Things I Learned: Uzbekistan’s First Post-Soviet Census (talk about a worldly selection!).

I kept learning on the 14th, turning to visual novels in Japan with Things I Learned: Unsolicited Higurashi Sound Novel Mail Campaign.

I wrote two short posts in iFIXIT on the 15th: IFIXIT’s Relatively Inoffensive AI Use-Case and Things I Learned: Apple’s 2015 iFIXIT Ban. I also learned about Brooklyn libraries in BPL Renovations in Gerritsen Beach and Carroll Gardens (which includes an update to a 2024 NLJ article). Finally, I offered a January preview in Things I Learned: Supermoon Coming in January 2026.

Looking forward to Christmas

U.S. Navy Ship Menus From Christmases Past
Geoff Zieulewicz for The Warzone. December 24, 2024.

"Seaman Timmy appears to have typo’d up this menu. If not, the mess should have gone to mast for serving roast turkey with tartar sauce and baked red snapper with giblet gravy." (Note: I have been sitting on this link since last year.)

Why your early 2000s photos are probably lost forever (HT 82MHz).
Julia Bensfield Luce for BBC. December 16, 2025.

I didn't have a camera until Christmas 2006 (see one of my 2007 photos), so my early 2000s photos do not exist. Haha!

“The Christmas Rose” by Lizzie Deas
Nicholas A. Ferrell for The New Leaf Journal. December 20, 2021.

Yes, I called my own number. But I re-printed Lizzie Deas' entire Christmas short story (with a PDF version to boot).

To keep in prayers for the holidays

Nigeria’s Christians Are Caught in a Tide of Jihadi Violence
Beige Luciano-Adams for The Epoch Times. December 13, 2025.

A detailed essay with harrowing accounts of the persecution of Christians (and, to be sure, others) by Islamist groups in Nigeria.

Analysis: The Islamic State’s war on Christians in Congo
Caleb Weiss and Ryan O'Farrell for FDD's Long War Journal. December 12, 2025.

It's hard to keep track of all the terrorist groups and foreign-backed militias in DRC.

Jimmy Lai’s Family Looks to Trump, World Leaders
Susan Crabtree for RealClear Politics. December 16, 2025.

A courageous Catholic dissident faces persecution in Hong Kong.

The People of Forever Are Not Afraid
Liel Leibovitz for Tablet Magazine. December 14, 2025.

"But amid the profound sadness and the righteous indignation, one timeless truth mustn’t be forgotten: We Jews are going to be just fine."

Ineffable human ingenuity

Lithuania arrests 21 over alleged cigarette smuggling by balloon
Carl Deconinck for Brussels Signal. December 17, 2025.

Balloonatic scheme.

At least 4 NYC judges have left case involving BK Dem power broker and missing $2M
Peter Senzamici for the New York Post. December 17, 2025.

In these weird political times in New York City, there's something to be said for the real gritty old time Tammany Hall-style corruption of Frank Seddio.

DR Congo conflict: Rebels say they will withdraw from Uvira city at Trump administration's request
Emery Makumeno for BBC. December 16, 2025.

I respect that Rwanda decided to wing it by continuing to play dumb about M23 after the big peace deal signing at the White House.

How Epstein Used The Ivy League To Launder His Reputation
Emily Kopp for Daily Caller. December 12, 2025.

He was more search engine optimized than my websites.

Let me share some things I learned while working on my day job last week

Analysis: How Uganda’s Digital Number Plates Became Spy Tools
Ian Katusiime for The Independent (via The Pulitzer Center). October 8, 2025.

I wouldn't hire the Russians to run my traffic monitoring system.

Farming pressures fuel Africa’s drug resistance crisis
The Independent. December 16, 2025.

Winging antibiotics for Ugandan chickens goes into the what could go wrong category.

Checking in on bad policy ideas

Excl: Luke Niforatos, SAM: Why The Marijuana EO Is Bad - Merry Christmas - Friday Essays
Pascal-Emmanuel Gobry at PolicySphere. December 19, 2025.

There are many reasons noted here and in our next link...

Rescheduling Marijuana Is the Wrong Call
Patrick T. Brown for City Journal. December 19, 2025.

Also good points but allow me to add "stench" and "deleterious effect on societal IQ."

Thousands more NYC street vendors will be able to operate legally under new Council bill
Arya Sundaram for Gothamist. December 18, 2025.

What New York City needs is more junk clogging the sidewalk, parks, and even bridges.

I'd say "I'm sorry" but I'm not really "sorry"

Poland bans fur farming
Kryzysztof Mukarczyk for Brussels Signal. December 3, 2025.

I see a potential market opportunity in the Belarusian city of Minks.

India Greenlights First-Ever Coal Exports Policy
Charles Kennedy for Oilprice.com. December 12, 2025.

Looks like Santa won't have supply issues this year.

Lessons From Singapore - The Power Of Homeownership
Eric Feingenbaum for 3 Quarks Daily. August 16, 2024.

Kee Kuan Yew did not want Singapore to be Singapoor.

Tippecanoe Battlefield Museum
lewdinih for Atlas Obscura. December 9, 2025.

I'm in only if my ticket also covers the Tyler Too Museum.

Traveling for the holidays

These Owls Took a Free Vacation on a Cruise Ship—but Soon They'll Be Heading Home
Sarah Kuta for Smithsonian Magazine. December 17, 2025.

Sounds like they had a much less traumatic trip than Rocky the Christmas Tree saw-whet owl back in 2020.

Most-turned leaves of the newsletter week

I use a privacy-friendly and entirely local tool called Koko Analytics (see my 2025 article) to track page visits. 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 for the period covering December 13-19 along with their 2025 and historic (going back 2021) weekly ranking statistics.

1. Catching 151 Pokémon in Google Search
   Nicholas A. Ferrell. April 17, 2025.
   2025: 26 appearances and 20 top placements.

2. Amazon "Cargo Bikes" in Brooklyn
   Nicholas A. Ferrell. April 9, 2025.
   2025: 34 appearances and 8 top placements.

3. Dragonair Safari in Pokémon Yellow
   Nicholas A. Ferrell. October 5, 2023.
   2025: 17 appearances.
   Cumulative: 19 appearances.

4. The Last Nintendo Wii Games.
   Nicholas A. Ferrell. August 1, 2023.
   2025: First appearance>
   Cumulative: 5 appearances and 1 top placement.

5. The Pokémon Special Split in Generation 2
   Nicholas A. Ferrell. January 18, 2022.
   2025: 7 appearances.
   Cumulative: 62 appearances and 4 top placements.

Analysis

Catching 151 Pokémon in Google Search lapped the field again and in so doing, officially became the first article since The Mystery of Sōseki and Tsuki ga Kirei in 2022 to notch 20 top placements in one newsletter year (it is also the only other article with 20 top placements cumulatively). The only other notable note in this week's top five is the 2025 debut of The Last Nintendo Wii Games, which became the 53rd article to appear in a weekly ranking this year. While it had no prior 2025 appearances, it posted four placements and one first-place finish in 2024.

Evergreen News Leaf Journal

With this being our last pre-Christmas newsletter (in addition to our penultimate newsletter of 2025), I thought it would be fun to share nine Christmas-themed links from our archives in addition to the ones I snuck into Leaves from around the web:

• Evergreen Carroll Gardens Christmas Tree · The New Leaf Journal for those of you who prefer that your Christmas trees exude perennial viridity.
• Dialogue on Choosing Christmas Presents for those of you struggling to pick out that Christmas present for that person who won't just tell you what he or she wants.
• A Christmas Menagerie on Brooklyn Lawn for those of you who can't decide what Christmas decorations to go with so you go with everything you can find.
• Plain Song - Visual Novel Review & Plain Song Christmas Special - VN Review for those of you looking for some light Christmas-flavored visual novel reading while I maybe (no promises) work on publishing a new Christmas-y visual novel review next week.
• Victor V. Gurbo’s “Christmas & You” for those of you looking for Victor V. Gurbo's musical take on Christmas.
• “Christmas at the Door” by Margaret E. Sangster for those of you looking for a Christmas poem to share with the kids (or reconnect with your inner Christmas kid).
• Maud McKnight Lindsay on Santa Claus for those of you looking for Santa Claus facts.
• The Last Stand of Constantine XI: "Whoever wishes to escape, let him save himself if he can; and whoever is ready to face death, let him follow me!"

Note that we have many other Christmas-themed and Christmas-adjacent articles in our archive (try our Christmas tag or simply searching for Christmas.

Taking leaf

I have things to see and people to meet today (especially after being stuck inside for much of the last few days), so I take my leave here. I wish all of our readers a Merry Christmas and I look forward to reporting back on the 27th with what will be the last Newsletter Leaf Journal of 2025. In the interim, I expect to publish a couple of substantive articles and a few seasonal short posts, but we shall see how that works out.

Until December 27,
Cura ut valeas -- Nicholas A. Ferrell.