The Newsletter Leaf Journal LXXII 〜 The setting Moon
Welcome to the 72nd edition of The Newsletter Leaf Journal, the official newsletter of the perennially virid online writing magazine, The New Leaf Journal. As always, this newsletter comes to you from the waterproof keyboard of the editor of The New Leaf Journal, Nicholas A. Ferrell. Below, you will find our usual assortment of weekly article recaps, content from around the web, and recommendations.
Table of Contents
- Leaves From the Week That Was
- Leaves From Around The Web
- The Old Leaf Journal
- Most-Turned Leaves Of The Newsletter Week
- Notable Leaf Journal
- News Leaf Journal
- Taking Leaf
1. Leaves From The Week That Was
My colleague Victor V. Gurbo and I combined to publish six new articles since the previous newsletter. The content was varied as always.
"An Introduction to RSS and Other Feed Formats"
Nicholas A. Ferrell. February 20, 2022.
I am planning some content about RSS and Atom feeds and feed readers in the future. It has come to my attention that many people are not too familiar with the concepts of feeds and feed readers. For that reason, I usually prefaced any feed-related posts with a brief introduction to the key ideas. It occurred to me that it would be nice to have a single article to point curious readers to instead of re-inventing the wheel for every feed post at The New Leaf Journal. This article provides a gentle introduction to feeds and feed readers as well as the key terms.
"'The Valentine' - An Engraving by W.E. Tucker"
Nicholas A. Ferrell. February 21, 2022.
I did not publish much Valentine's content prior to Valentine's Day because I was busy working on moving The New Leaf Journal and settling in with our new host. However, as I explained last year, White Day is coming on March 14. Thus, I can post my Valentine's content a bit late. This post also includes background information on W.E. Tucker, a 19th century engraver.
"Masonic Portrait of George Washington"
Nicholas A. Ferrell. February 22, 2022.
In what is becoming a New Leaf Journal tradition, I prepared some George Washington content to celebrate our first president's 290th birthday. This article covers a painting of then-President Washington in Masonic garb.
"On Children's Car Seats and Bike Trailers"
Nicholas A. Ferrell. February 24, 2022.
Wherein I express my befuddlement at the disparate treatment of child safety issues in cars vs on the back of (or being pushed or pulled by) bikes.
"'Under: Depths of Fear' Game Review"
Victor V. Gurbo. February 25, 2022.
My colleague, Victor V. Gurbo, subjected himself to a bad horror game for the Nintendo Switch in order to ensure that you do not have to. Do note that this article concludes with Victor's stand-alone digression about an episode of the Twilight Zone.
"Peekier Search Engine Review"
Nicholas A. Ferrell. February 26, 2022.
I reviewed a number of alternative search engines last June. The most unique of those search engines is Peekier, which comes with a strong privacy policy and a unique way of showing search results. In this post, you will find my comprehensive review of Peekier.
2. Leaves From Around The Web
Let us see what is happening around the internet...
SoraNews24: "Japanese train station returns lost item to customer with a heartwarming message"
Oona McGee. February 15, 2022.
I wish that the MTA did that with supplementary English text book and phone in 2006 and 2007/2008 respectively. I would have even settled for my stuff without the heartwarming messages.
Nintendo Life: "Mario Kart Convinced Nintendo's President To Join The Company In The '90s"
Damien McFerran. February 21, 2022.
The original Mario Kart still holds up well too.
Stuff Nobody Cares About: "Old New York In Photos #135 - Curling In Central Park"
February 2022.
It comes exactly as advertised in the article title; but it is interesting enough to defy the website title.
Catholic News Agency: "Black Catholic journalist Daniel Rudd was born a slave. He left a legacy."
Kevin J. Jones. February 25, 2022.
A very interesting history piece.
Leafstorm: "One week with a reMarkable 2"
Matthew Frazier. February 21, 2022.
An interesting review of the reMarkable 2, a versatile e-ink tablet for note-taking and PDF reading. While I do not have a use-case for the reMarkable, I am interested in e-ink devices generally. However, I am posting this to remind me to finish my own e-ink device review that has been more than a year in the making.
New York Post: "Judge stands tough with celebs and prosecutors alike"
Melissa Klein and Dean Balsamini. February 19, 2022.
A good profile on Manhattan Judge Melissa Jackson, who made news in recent weeks:
"The tough-talking jurist who refused a Manhattan prosecutor’s bid last week to coddle an alleged teen robber — sending the punk to jail instead of back on the streets — has a history of passing judgment as she sees fit, no matter how powerful the defendant or weak the prosecutor."
Well worth the read.
The Lunduke Journal of Technology: "Make Linux look exactly like Windows 95... I mean exactly"
Bryan Lunduke. February 25. 2022.
I am happy with my AmigaOS border theme, but maybe I will file away the Windows 95 theme for a future review.
3. The Old Leaf Journal
Let us sift through our archives...
"Capo vs Capo, a TikTok Debacle"
Victor V. Gurbo. July 21, 2020.
Victor noted in this week’s game review that he was inspired by a TikTok video to try what turned out to be a terrible game. This was not the first time that Victor drew New Leaf Journal content inspiration from that wretched platform. See his humorous article on learning about different ways to pronounce “capo” (in the guitar context).
"Review of Wutsearch, a Search Engine Launchpad"
Nicholas A. Ferrell. March 22, 2021.
The first time the Peekier search engine appeared in the (web) pages of The New Leaf Journal was in my review of Jeff Starr's Wutsearch Search Engine Launchpad last March. Wutsearch remains a terrific way to test different search engines.
4. Most-Turned Leaves Of The Newsletter Week
I list our most-visited articles of the previous week in each newsletter. In keeping with our newsletter schedule, these “Newsletter Weeks” begin with Saturday and end on Friday. The statistics come courtesy of our local and privacy-friendly analytics solution, Koko Analytics - which I reviewed on site.
The week of February 19-25 was the eighth "Newsletter week" of 2022. Below, you will find our five most-visited articles of the week with additional information about each.
-
Recommended F-Droid FOSS Apps For Android-Based Devices (2021).
Nicholas A. Ferrell. November 27, 2021.
Last Week: #2.
2022 Top Fives: 8 (1 in first). -
The Mystery of Sōseki and Tsuki ga Kirei.
Nicholas A. Ferrell. March 14, 2021.
Last Week: #1.
2022 Top Fives: 8 (7 in first).
Notes: Ended streak of 24 consecutive weeks at #1. -
Installing Ubuntu Touch on an Asus Nexus 7 (2013).
Nicholas A. Ferrell. July 5, 2021.
Last Week: #3.
2022 Top Fives: 8. -
An Introduction to RSS and Other Feed Formats.
Nicholas A. Ferrell. February 20, 2022.
Last Week: N/A
2022 Top Fives: Debut. -
The Last Stand of Constantine XI.
Nicholas A. Ferrell. May 30, 2020.
Last Week: 4.
2022 Top Fives: 2
Analysis
My study of the phrase "tsuki ga kirei" finally surrendered the top spot for the first time since Newsletter Week 35 of 2021 (August 28-September 3), wherein it finished behind Victor's protective mask review. Its fall was a combination of my F-Droid app review posting its strongest week and my tsuki ga kirei falling off the pace it had set the previous three weeks.
My F-Droid app review, which has been a strong performer since it was published in late November, is the eighth different article to hold the top spot since the beginning of 2021 (I did not tabulate weekly rankings for 2020).
The other notable event in this week's ranking is my new RSS article, which debuted in fourth place with the benefit of some external sharing. Fittingly, that is the first article to make the top five in the same week it was published since my F-Droid review. It is also the first article published in 2022 to appear in a weekly top five. In related news, with my 2020 post on Constantine XI appearing in the top five for the second week in a row, this is our first week with all three years of The New Leaf Journal being represented in our weekly ranking.
5. Notable Leaf Journal
Since one of my feature articles of the week covered a privacy-friendly alternative search engine, I though that it would be appropriate to feature a resource for alternative search engines. Search Engine Party presents a large number of search engines in an attractive table. For each search engine, the table includes a link, when the engine was launched, where the engine is based, information about its SSL certificates, how it handles user IP addresses, whether it has third-party trackers, and additional points that may be of interest to technical users. The chart also includes the "GET URL" for each search engine which makes it easy to add any search engine of interest to your own web browser.
6. News Leaf Journal
Unlike previous weeks, I did not make any dramatic changes to The New Leaf Journal. I am currently fighting a minor behind-the-scenes issue with our new SEO plugin, but that has no effect on visitors.
Because I spent less time working on the site, I had more time to publish new content. While I still have some changes and additions to the site in store (current project: add text and meta descriptions to all tags and categories), I look forward to continuing the trend of focusing more on publishing new articles than changing the behavior of The New Leaf Journal.
7. Taking Leaf
Thank you as always for taking the time to read The Newsletter Leaf Journal. If you enjoyed the content and have not done so already, please consider subscribing to our weekly newsletter either via email or RSS.
I dare say that February was our most eventful month at The New Leaf Journal yet. I plan to make March as notable for content as February was for where The New Leaf Journal is hosted.
Until March,
Cura ut valeas.