Leafy Canopy

Welcome to the 305th edition of The Newsletter Leaf Journal, the official newsletter of the perennially virid online writing magazine, The New Leaf Journal (“NLJ”) and its short-form writing sister publication, The Emu Café Social (“ECS”).

I had hoped to get November off to a fast start at The New Leaf Journal. Unfortunately, as of the mailing of this newsletter, I have yet to publish a November article. But that is not to say we are without new articles to share, for this “newsletter week” began on October 31, and I also published several short pieces on The Emu Café Social.

Leaves from the week that was

I published two NLJ articles on Halloween: Once Upon a Hallow’s Eve – Visual Novel Review and Hair Color in Once Upon a Hallow’s Eve (Visual Novel). Once Upon a Hallow’s Eve is a freeware English-language visual novel that was published on October 31, 2016. I had been looking for a second “Halloween-themed” visual novel to review for 2026 and settled on this one after confirming that it was fairly short. The first article is my review and the second is an analysis of how the visual novel treats hair color – which makes for my first “hair color analysis” of non-Japanese media (albeit Once Upon a Hallow’s Eve draws obvious inspiration from Japanese visual novels). I re-organized my Hair Color in Japanese Anime, Manga, and Games to account for the new addition to the series.

Things were much busier over on ECS.

I published two daily links articles for November 2 and November 3.

I complemented my Once Upon a Hallow’s Eve articles with Learning New Things About Ren’Py (Screenshots), wherein I explain that it had definitely not only occurred to me for the first time in October 2026 that I could use Ren’Py’s built in screenshot functionality to collect screenshots from visual novels built with Ren’Py for my reviews.

In the miscellaneous categories, I learned that Africa Has More Catholics than Europe and was inspired to share an anecdote in Nuclear Bacon.

I tackled an absurd prompt with a semi-serious answer in If I had to rewatch a TV anime 10 times in a row…. Also on the subject of anime, I wrote about the Revival of The Nihon Review, an anime review site that I followed back in the early 2010s before it disappeared. A NLJ Guestbook comment made me aware that it is now back online, with old reviews being restored. I also added it to my NLJ Blogroll.

I published three sumo-themed “things I learned” posts in the lead-up to the Kyushu Basho (which starts mere hours after I mail this newsletter). Last week I wrote about Churanoumi being the first sumo wrestler from Okinawa to reach the sanyaku ranks, and this week I followed that up with All 47 Japanese Prefectures Have Produced a Sanyaku Sumo Wrestler. I learned two things about Tamawashi, who will turn 42 years old on November 16. First, Tamawashi (41) Becomes Oldest Sumo Wrestler to Return to Top Division. Second, Tamawashi is an Anime Voice Actor.

My show-case ECS link of the week was Ten Predictions For the 2026 Kyushu Basho, which refers to the grand sumo tournament beginning this evening. See the end of the following Leaves From Around the Web section for predictions from more expert analysts.

Leaves From Around the Web

While I ended up publishing a good variety of new articles on ECS, and NLJ has a along read for visual novel fans, my output is hardly sufficient for a dedicated reader. Thus, I present 15 links from around the world wide web, with quotes and commentary.

Veteran’s/Armistice Day Links

1 | WW1 Soldier-Sailor’s Diary. Nifty Notebook at Notebook Stories. April 7, 2026.

Looking at the identification page at the beginning, I at first assumed that this would indeed have been the property of a soldier or a sailor, as the field for rank says ‘buck private,’ but when I looked more closely, I saw the name Marie Schultz.

You can’t learn everything from a diary from its cover.

2 | This Soldier Kept a Diary in the Trenches of World War I. A Child Found It at the Dump Decades Later, Pierced by a Bullet and Stained With Blood. Ellen Wexler for Smithsonian Magazine. Oct. 15, 2026.

The year was 1965, but the diary entries dated to 1918. Their author was a man named Corporal Claude Nuttall, who had served as an infantryman (or “Digger”) in the Australian Army during World War I. He met his wife, Violet Palfreyman, while recovering from an injury in an English hospital. Weeks after the wedding, he returned to the front.

Investigation the soldier behind the diary.

3 | Honor Them While There Is Still Time. Jeffrey Rosales and Arnaldo Claudio for RealClear Defense. Oct. 24, 2026.

Today’s service members and tomorrow’s recruits pay attention to how the nation treats those who served before them. When extraordinary courage receives accurate, rigorous and timely consideration, the system reinforces service, sacrifice and institutional trust.

On properly recognizing living veterans.

Trucks

4 | Tesla to wind down Cybertruck production at Texas factory as it struggles to win appeal Taylor Herzlich for the New York Post. Nov. 6, 2026.

Elon Musk announced Friday that Tesla is winding down Cybertruck production – seemingly bringing an end to the futuristic, boxy car that divided drivers and proved a regulatory headache.

Question nobody is asking: What does this mean for the U.S. Air Force?

5 | Yoshinoya serves gyudon beef bowls from a tiny truck in Tokyo. Oona McGee for SoraNews24. March 10, 2025.

Dubbed “Orange Dream” due to their bright colour, these food trucks have been in operation since 2008, but they have something of a phantom reputation in Japan, as not many people have seen them and those who do wonder if they’ll ever see them again.

The design reminds me vaguely of Amazon’s e-quad electric bikes. I approve but it does look vulnerable to tipping over.

6 | NYC tows auto shop’s adorable ‘monster truck’ memorial and turns it to scrap metal. Nicole Rosenthal and Estrella McDaniel for April 9, 2026.

Monsters from my local government destroyed a green “mini monster” truck that featured in two New Leaf Journal photo articles. Why? Because they could (more or less, actually). But it lives on in my coverage of its Halloween and Christmas guises.

Magic

7 | Athletes May Think Twice : Sex: Before news of Johnson’s illness, stories of conquests were not only common in professional sports, they were often glorified.. Julie Cart and Randy Harvey for the Los Angeles Times. Nov. 9, 1991.

What’s new is that one of the nation’s most revered professional athletes, Magic Johnson, has tested positive for the AIDS virus.

One subtle tell that this is a contemporaneous article about Magic Johnson’s HIV and retirement announcement is that it cites to Wilt Chamberlain’s then-recent claim of having slept with 20,000 women without much skepticism.

8 | Revisiting Magic’s Comeback. Harlan Schreiber at Hoops Analyst. March 25, 2020.

There is a short prologue on the 1995-96 Lakers, who were a decent team that happened to feature the return of a 36-year old Magic Johnson. Magic’s comeback is a fascinating blip in NBA history.

Of course, Magic Johnson played again after retiring in 1991 due to his HIV diagnosis – in the 1992 NBA All Star game, the 1992 Summer Olympics, and for just under half of the 1995-96 NBA season.

Cuisine

9 | The Women Who Translated Chinese Cuisine Into American. Hugo Tseng at Sixth Tone. Nov, 19, 2025.

This entry into the annals of global gastronomy could not have been written without the pioneering efforts of two remarkable Chinese women — Yang Buwei and Joyce Chen — who, through books, TV shows, and simply their cooking, turned dishes such as potstickers and moo shu pork into American staples.

The history of two women who helped popularize Chinese food in the United States.

10 | Italian chef fired from Queensland restaurant after refusing to put pineapple on pizza. Simon Atkinson for BBC. Oct. 5, 2026.

An Italian chef sacked from a Brisbane restaurant had refused to put pineapple on a pizza because it was an “insult to his culture”.

I don’t have strong opinions about pizza and I roll my eyes whenever I see a “scandal” story about how such and such politician in New York City eats his pizza. With that being said, pineapple on pizza is an insult to good taste.

AI Opinions

11 | Court Orders Plaintiff to File Handwritten Opposition. Eugene Volokh for The Volokh Conspiracy. Nov. 3, 2026.

Quoting from the order of Judge Aileen Cannon of the United States District Court for the Southern District of Florida:

Due to Plaintiff’s prior artificial intelligence offenses, any such opposition shall be handwritten, and shall refrain from containing any inaccurate citations or hallucinated authority.

The plaintiff did not file his handwritten (or any) opposition.

12 | Brandon Sanderson vs. AI Art. April 20, 2026. Cal Newport.

What really struck me about Sanderson’s talk, however, was his conclusion. If art is deeply human, he argues, then it’s up to us to define it. “That’s the great thing about art – we define it, and we give it meaning,” he says.

This is how you should be reading this newsletter.

Combat Sports

13 | China’s Artist-Turned-MMA Star Tries Her Hand at Slapping. The Paper at Sixth Tone. Dec. 24, 2025.

Ding Miao is no stranger to bold life choices. A 33-year-old oil-painting graduate from China’s Central Academy of Fine Arts, she quit the art world nearly a decade ago for a professional career in mixed martial arts (MMA), and this summer became the first Chinese woman to sign with the U.S.-based slap fighting promotion company Power Slap.

Life consists of a succession of choices. Taking up “slapping” when you don’t live out in the middle of Siberia is one such available choice.

14 | Kyushu 2026 Predictions. Fantasy Basho. Nov. 7, 2026.

I just see Onosato and Aonishiki as better than everyone else right now. There has been one massive complication in making these predictions—although it’s a great thing for sumo overall.

I agree that Onosato and Aonishki will be in the title mix, although I picked a third candidate for the win. One of the main differences between my summary predictions and this comprehensive list is that I see the top-ranked sanyaku wrestlers performing better on the whole.

15 | 2026 Kyushu basho predictions!. Tim Edwards for Sumo Stomp! Nov. 6, 2026.

My least hot take for the forthcoming basho is that we are going to see a repeat of Ōnosato and Aonishiki duelling it out for the cup.

These picks are a bit closer to mine – especially with my pick for the yusho, Yoshinofuji, being in solo-third.

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 our most-visited articles for the week of October 31-November 6 with notes on their cumulative ranking statistics going back to 2021.

1. Adding noai.duckduckgo.com as Custom Search Engine. (NAF. Jan. 21, 2026.) 42 appearances and 22 top-placements.

2. Catching 151 Pokémon in Google Search (NAF. April 17, 2025.) 45 appearances and 23 top-placements in 2026; 72 appearances and 44 top-placements overall.

3. Once Upon a Hallow’s Eve – Visual Novel Review (NAF. Oct. 31, 2026.) First appearance.

4. Aegis Authenticator and Linux Authenticator (NAF. Sep. 8, 2025.) First appearance in 2026; 3 appearances overall.

5. How the Forget-Me-Not Flower Found Its Name (NAF. March 11, 2021.) 27 appearances in 2026; 37 appearances overall.

Analysis

This week’s surprise was my Once Upon a Hallow’s Eve review, which appears to have made its way into Google’s Discover Feed shortly after being published, leading to a big Sunday and Monday before trailing off. It held on to the second position until Friday thanks in part to a slow start to the week from Catching 151 Pokémon in Google Search, before settling into third. Speaking of Catching 151 Pokémon in Google Search, it now has the second most weekly ranking appearances in a single year, passing The Mystery of Sōseki and Tsuki ga Kirei and its 44 appearances in 2023. It is now seven weeks away from becoming the second article to complete a perfect weekly ranking year, which was only done by my tsuki ga kirei history in 2022.

Taking Leaves

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.

That wraps up another edition of The Newsletter Leaf Journal. My work deadline situation does not look too dire at the moment, so I hope to have more to share on The New Leaf Journal front for Newsletter 306.

Until November 14,
Nicholas A. Ferrell.