The Newsletter Leaf Journal LXVII 〜 Unified newsletter special stat
Welcome to the 67th 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. Today I have four new New Leaf Journal articles along with our usual assortment of content from around the web, site statistics and news, 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
I was only able to publish four new articles during the past week for two reasons. Firstly, it was a busy week. Secondly, the second of the four articles made for a multi-day project. Below, you will find links to and summaries of the newest New Leaf Journal entries.
“The High-Visibility Downed One-Way Sign in Brooklyn Heights”
Nicholas A. Ferrell. January 17, 2022.
When I realized that the article I had planned to publish on the 17th would need another day, I dug into my repository of unused photographs for some content to hold readers over. Meet the newest entry in our fallen things series, a hard-to-miss one-way sign.
“The Pokémon Special Split in Generation 2 – Statistics and Analysis”
Nicholas A. Ferrell. January 18, 2022.
The feature article of the week, and one of the longest New Leaf Journal articles to date, was my comprehensive study of the “Special split” that occurred between the first and second mainline entries in the Pokémon series. In short, Pokémon today have six “base stats”: Hit Points, Attack, Defense, Special Attack, Special Defense, and Speed. In the first Pokémon games, however, Pokémon only had five base stats - with Special Attack and Special Defense being covered by a single stat called “Special.” In generation 2, all 151 Pokémon from the original game returned and Game Freak, the team behind Pokémon, split their unified Special stat into two. Some Pokémon benefited from the split while others were harmed.
My article contains a lengthy introduction for those who are either not familiar with Pokémon or did not play the first two entries in the series, which made it to the United States in 1998 and 2000, respectively. In the article, you will also find a PDF showing the effect of the special split on the 151 original Pokémon.
Boot Planter See in Red Hook, Brooklyn
Nicholas A. Ferrell. January 21, 2022.
Again short on time, I took a clutch dive into my photo repository for some content involving a plant in a boot in Red Hook, Brooklyn.
“‘A Strange Admixture of Contentions’ - Study of a Phrase”
Nicholas A. Ferrell. January 22, 2022.
Back in 2020, I covered a little known 1967 administrative law decision of the Board of Immigration Appeals titled Matter of Man. That original article - which has now been renamed, covered the legal aspects of the case. In my new article, I cover a single colorful phrase in the Board’s decision: “A strange admixture of contentions.”
2. Leaves From Around the Web
Let’s see what’s going on around the web…
SoraNews24: “Japan’s Capybara Long Bath Championship 2022! Upstart powerhouse vs. original dynasty”
Casey Baseel. January 19, 2022.
You can count on The Newsletter Leaf Journal to refer you to stories about the best competitions. Video of bathing capybaras included in the article.
Eyewitness to History: “Charles Lindbergh in Combat, 1944”
Staff. 2006.
The short version of the story of how Charles Lindbergh, then a civilian, ended up flying combat missions in the Pacific Theater in World War II. This post includes an excerpt from Lindbergh’s wartime journals.
New York Post: “Why pedestrians should take caution on the moped-heavy Queensboro Bridge”
Ben Kesslen. January 16, 2022.
I have only walked across the Queensboro Bridge - which connects Manhattan to Queens - on a few occasions. The Queensboro Bridge was the only one of New York City’s bridges that I preferred crossing when there were a decent number of fellow pedestrians, for the presence of pedestrians kept bikers from taking too many liberties on the pedestrian side of the split-walkway. There were no mopeds on my walks. Let it be said that mopeds have no place on the pedestrian walkway of the Queensboro Bridge (nor do bikes, for that matter). Very dangerous situation.
Catholic News Agency: “The Order of Malta’s new statutes could dilute its sovereignty forever”
Andrea Gagliarducci. January 19, 2022.
An interesting article about the Vatican’s efforts to reform the sovereign Order of Malta and the ensuing controversies. Those who find the first article interesting should also read a January 20 report with updates by Mr. Gagliarducci.
Framework: Open Sourcing our Firmware
Nirav Patel. January 21, 2022.
Framework is a company that is producing modular laptops that can easily be repaired and upgraded. As a proponent of the right to repair movement, I have been following the project. On January 21, Framework published the source code for its Embedded Controller firmware and plans to open source more of its firmware as time goes on. I hope this project continues to grow.
AP: “Security scanners across Europe tied to China govt, military”
Erika Kinetz. January 20, 2022.
We conclude with this week’s edition of “you can’t make this stuff up.”
3. The Old Leaf Journal
Because I included a story about the Queensboro Bridge in my recommended readings from around the web, let us look back at the two times that bridge made an appearance in The New Leaf Journal.
“The Red Car on Roosevelt Island”
Nicholas A. Ferrell. September 13, 2020.
On June 8, 2019, I set out with some friends - including my New Leaf Journal colleague, Victor V. Gurbo, to walk from the Bronx to Brooklyn. We did make it to Brooklyn, albeit short of our destination because I was overtaken by vertigo triggered by a short tram ride from Roosevelt Island to Manhattan. But before that set in, I took a fine picture of a red car on Roosevelt Island with the Queensboro Bridge in the background. The post includes full color and black and white versions of the photo, both retouched by Victor.
“The Falcon of The Queensboro Bridge”
Nicholas A. Ferrell. June 8, 2019.
Vertigo was beginning to set in when we crossed the Queensboro Bridge not too long after the red car photo, but I was still enough there to take a photo of a falcon. Victor re-touched it for publication.
4. Most-Turned Leaves Of The Newsletter Week (2022 Week #3)
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 in an article. Below, you will find our most-visited articles of newsletter week 3 along with their publication information and 2022 statistics.
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The Mystery of Sōseki and Tsuki ga Kirei.
Nicholas A. Ferrell. March 14, 2021.
Last Week: #1
2022 Top Fives: 3 (3 in first) -
Recommended F-Droid FOSS Apps For Android-Based Devices (2021).
Nicholas A. Ferrell. November 27, 2021.
Last Week: #3
2022 Top Fives: 3 -
Reviewing the HALOmask and är Mask.
Victor V. Gurbo. December 2, 2020.
Last Week: #2
2022 Top Fives: 3 -
Installing Ubuntu Touch on an Asus Nexus 7 (2013).
Nicholas A. Ferrell. July 5, 2021.
Last Week: #4
2022 Top Fives: 3 -
How to Find Substack RSS Feeds and Other Notes.
Nicholas A. Ferrell. June 19, 2021.
Last Week: #5
2022 Top Fives: 3
Analysis
The same five articles held their spots in the newsletter week ranking for the sixth consecutive week. While this week’s ranking featured little change, it did have two notable milestones.
First, my Tsuki ga Kirei article topped the ranking for the 20th consecutive week dating back to September 2021. Second, my article on Substack RSS feeds made its 22nd consecutive top-five appearance, tying the second longest streak (starting with the week of Jan 2-8, 2021) of Victor’s mask review, which came in third this week and began 2021 with 22 straight weeks in the ranking.
5. Notable Leaf Journal
For today’s recommendation, I direct readers to a project that rates privacy settings on popular desktop and mobile browsers.
The first link will take you to a chart showing how various desktop web browsers performed in PrivacyTests.org’s open-source tests. There is a menu that allows you to look at browsers for iOS, Android, as well as desktop private modes and alternative, bleeding-edge builds. I will assume that most readers will be interested in the desktop, iOS, and Android browsers.
To begin, it is important to understand that these tests evaluated how the browsers perform out of the box, that is, without any additional configuration or extensions.
I personally use Ungoogled Chromium (with some hardening and a number of extensions) and Firefox (with hardening and extensions) on my computers and Bromite on my devices running versions of Android. I also use a niche browser called Badwolf (not listed here) for a couple of purposes on my computers.
6. News Leaf Journal
I will work on some of my priority projects - detailed in my December 2021 review, throughout the last full week of January. While I do not think that I will post every January priority project, I will try to get a couple of those articles up by the end of the month.
With respect to the site design, I plan to revamp the header menu to make it more intuitive, followed by the site’s sidebar area and footer section. I will implement these changes in stages.
7. Taking Leaf
Thank you for joining me for the 67th edition of The Newsletter Leaf Journal. I hope you enjoyed the content. If you have not done so already, consider subscribing via email or RSS. I look forward to mailing our 68th newsletter next Saturday.
Cura ut valeas.