The Newsletter Leaf Journal LIX 〜 Learn to newsletter
Welcome to the 59th edition of The Newsletter Leaf Journal, the official newsletter of the perennially virid online writing magazine, The New Leaf Journal. This past week was a slow one, with only three new articles, but they covered a full spectrum of content areas. In this newsletter, I will review the week that was, post content from around the web, and preview what promises to be a much busier last full week of November.
Table of Contents
- New Leaves From the Week that Was
- Leaves From Around the Web
- The Old Leaf Journal
- Most-Turned Leaves of the Week
- News Leaf Journal
- Taking Leaf
1. New Leaves From the Week that Was
Due to a combination of my being busy and working on a couple of long New Leaf Journal projects, I only published three new articles since I reported to you last. For shame, it was a 2021 low. However, the articles are still worth your while, and I will recap them below.
“Justin and Justina 〜 Learn to Bird”
Nicholas A. Ferrell. November 14, 2021.
Where a “Learn to Bird” flier I found in DUMBO turned into a new Justin and Justina dialogue. It appears that Justina had never heard of “birding” - but she can surely count on Justin to not lead her astray.
“ReactOS and Bats and Birds, Surprising Contest Winners”
Nicholas A. Ferrell. November 17, 2021.
ReactOS, a non-Linux operating system, won a contest celebrating the 30th anniversary of the Linux kernel. A bat won a contest for “bird of the year” in New Zealand. What is going on here? Newsletter readers received a preview of this article in that both of the stories I discuss were featured in the “around the web” sections of recent newsletters.
“Review of the Teracube 2e Smartphone”
Nicholas A. Ferrell. November 19, 2021.
In September, I acquired a Teracueb 2e smartphone pre-installed with the /e/ operating system. In the first of what will be a two-part review, I reviewed the phone itself, separate from the operating system. The Teracube 2e is a budget- and environmentally-friendly smartphone with somewhat limited specs by modern phone standards. My /e/ OS review will be published tomorrow (nearly all newsletter readers can search for our November 21, 2021 article).
2. Leaves From Around the Web
Since I only provided you with limited content last week, my six recommended articles from around the web will be especially important for Newsletter Leaf Journal LIX.
Capital Research Center: “Making ‘Meta’ Mandatory”
Michael Watson. November 15, 2021.
An interesting piece about Facebook’s strange “metaverse” project and big tech since the spring of 2020.
New York Times: “Risk for Leader of Belarus: Migrants He Lured May Want to Stay”
Andrew Higgins. November 17, 2021.
Belarus should be blamed for busing migrants to its border with Poland in an effort to pressure the European Union into acquiescing to its demands. However, it is hard to blame Belarusian authorities for being surprised that some of the migrants may be interested in settling in Belarus. You cannot plan for everything.
New York Post: “Manhattan school to sort kids by race during social justice discussions”
Elizabeth Rosner and Selim Algar. November 18, 2021.
From the article:
“Kids in grades seven and eight will opt into one of five categories, Principal Shanna Douglas wrote in the message. Whites, Asians, and multi-racial students have their own categories, while African-American and Hispanic students are combined into one group, according to her email.”
The New York City Department of Education describes the two-day event as a “celebration.” I have a feeling a few more of these “celebrations” may culminate with celebrations in the offices of public interest law firms specializing in Federal civil rights laws.
MacArthur Forum: “Speech to West Point Cadets, May 12, 1962”
Douglas MacArthur.
From Douglas MacArthur’s final speech at West Point:
“[T]hrough all this welter of change and development, your mission remains fixed, determined, inviolable – it is to win our wars. Everything else in your professional career is but corollary to this vital dedication. All other public purposes, all other public projects, all other public needs, great or small, will find others for their accomplishment; but you are the ones who are trained to fight: yours is the profession of arms – the will to win, the sure knowledge that in war there is no substitute for victory; that if you lose, the nation will be destroyed; that the very obsession of your public service must be Duty – Honor – Country.”
SoraNews24: “A trip to hell on Japan’s ‘vomit ship’: Is it as bad as everyone says it is?”
Oona McGee. November 18, 2021.
From the perspective of someone who was taken out for a day by a three-minute ride on the Roosevelt Island tram in New York City, I imagine that the “vomit ship” is a terrible place. Let’s check in win the gentleman who decided to try his luck:
“Masanuki had never experienced a ride like this, though, and it soon became obvious that he, stomach-of-steel and all, was beginning to succumb to seasickness. He felt weak and queasy, and beads of sweat began to appear on his forehead.”
Don’t worry - he only had a little bit more than three hours left on the vomit ship.
Daily Mail: “Can YOU crack Charles Dickens’ secret code? Academics offer £300 reward to decipher the author’s mysterious letters”
Chay Quinn. November 20, 2021.
If you win the contest, be sure to tell them who sent you.
3. The Old Leaf Journal
Now for an article from our archive…
“Kaga no Chiyo Autumn Haiku on Unrequited Love”
Nicholas A. Ferrell. December 14, 2020.
A short article on a beautiful 18th century haiku using autumn as a motif for unrequited love. This piece has an outside chance making our top-10 most-visited articles for November 2021, so I thought that it would be appropriate to give it a seasonal boost.
4. Most-Turned Leaves of the Week
Each week, I list our most-visited New Leaf Journal articles since the previous newsletter. The statistics come from our privacy-friendly local analytics solution, Koko Analytics. The rankings cover the period beginning with Saturday and ending with the next Friday. The previous week was the 46th Newsletter Week of 2021. Below you will find our most-visited articles of the week along with additional information about each article.
-
“The Mystery of Sōseki and Tsuki ga Kirei“
Nicholas A Ferrell. March 14, 2021.
Last Week: 1. Weeks in Top Five: 30 (19 in first) -
“How to Find Substack RSS Feeds and Other Notes“
Nicholas A. Ferrell. June 19, 2021.
Last Week: 2. Weeks in Top Five: 14. -
“Persona 4 Golden Digital Artbook Review (Steam)“
Nicholas A. Ferrell. November 15, 2020.
Last Week: 5. Weeks in Top Five: 36 (6 in first). -
“The Last Stand of Constantine XI“
Nicholas A. Ferrell. May 30, 2020.
Last Week: 4. Weeks in Top Five: 18. -
“Installing Ubuntu Touch on an Asus Nexus 7 (2013)“
Nicholas A. Ferrell. July 5, 2021.
Last Week: 3. Weeks in Top Five: 14.
Analysis
Our top five returned intact, with minor movement in spots three through five. While there is no sign that my article on Tsuki ga Kirei will be threatened for the top spot, I think that my post on Ubuntu Touch may move into second this upcoming week with a new release of the operating system rolling out. That new release will be the subject of a review in the near future.
5. The News Leaf Journal
While I was a bit busy this last week, I look forward to publishing much more for the upcoming week. I will begin with my review of the /e/ mobile operating system, which is the second piece of a series that began with the Teracube 2e smartphone review that I published this past week. While publishing some autumnal- and Thanksgiving-based content, I will work on a review of the new Ubuntu Touch mobile operating system release.
I will begin organizing my itinerary for what will be a busy December after Thanksgiving.
6. Taking Leaf
Thank you for joining me for another addition of The Newsletter Leaf Journal. I look forward to having much more content to write about for Newsletter LX next week - which will be the final newsletter of the penultimate month of 2021.
Until we meet again,
Cura ut valeas.