Jan. 15, 2022, 5:12 p.m.
The Newsletter Leaf Journal LXVI 〜 Lists (but not the Buzzfeed kind)
The Newsletter Leaf Journal
Welcome to the 66th 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 keys of the waterproof keyboard of The New Leaf Journal’s editor, Nicholas A. Ferrell. Below, you will find our usual assortment of article recaps, content from around the web, site news and statistics, and one recommendation for you to try.
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
- The Notable Leaf Journal
- The News Leaf Journal
- Taking Leaf
1. Leaves From The Week That Was
I published five new articles since I reported to you last week.
“On Improving the Environment for Gaming On Linux”
Nicholas A. Ferrell. January 9, 2022.
Inspired by a provocative take about tools that allow Linux users to run Windows games, I published my own essay-length thoughts on the present and future of gaming on Linux.
“Find Every New Leaf Journal Article On One Page”
Nicholas A. Ferrell. January 10, 2022.
This article announced the creation of a new page at The New Leaf Journal which lists every article published on site, with links. I will discuss that new section of the site in the News Leaf Journal section of this newsletter.
“On Finding Money In Your Coat Pocket 〜 A Justin and Justina Dialogue”
Nicholas A. Ferrell. January 12, 2022.
Have you ever pulled a coat from the closet for the first time in months and found money in your pocket? It’s a good feeling. Now what happens when you hope to find money in your coat pocket and find nothing? In my newest Justin & Justina dialogue, Justin reflects on the empty feeling that comes when great expectations are not met.
“Reviewing Koko Analytics: A Simple Privacy-Friendly WordPress Plugin”
Nicholas A. Ferrell. January 13, 2022.
Every newsletter, I note that our site pageview statistics come from Koko Analytics, a privacy-friendly local analytics solution for WordPress. In those posts, I always linked to my very early review of the plugin from July 2020. I figured we were due for an update, so after spending 18 months with Koko Analytics, I published my complete review.
“The Leaning Lamppost (and signs) of Imlay Street in Red Hook”
Nicholas A. Ferrell. January 15, 2022.
I dare say that this is the most dramatic entry in our fallen things series since August 2020.
2. Leaves From Around The Web
Let’s see what’s going on around the internet…
NPR: “One of the rarest eagles in the world has birdwatches flocking to Maine”
Susan Sharon. January 14, 2022.
A rare 20-pound eagle native to Russia and Japan appears to have taken a bit of a detour.
Catholic News Agency: “‘We must not lose our sense of humor’: Pope writes to journalist who caught him leaving record store”
Katie Yoder. January 14, 2022.
[Pope Francis] continued, “We must not lose our sense of humor,” and thanked the journalist “for fulfilling your vocation, even if it means giving the Pope a hard time.”
While we learned that the Pope was visiting an old friend at the record store, the record he received remains unknown.
Hayden’s Calculator Museum: “Calculator Homepage”
Hayden Walker. Last Updated On November 15, 2021.
A Canadian high school student by the name of Mr. Hayden Walker created an online museum to share his calculator collection. Come for the calculators and stay for the very 1990s-design aesthetic.
Smithsonian Magazine: “Outdoor Cats Are Using $500 Starlink Satellite Dishes as Self-Heating Beds”
Margaret Osbourne. January 14, 2022.
What is Starlink?
“Starlink is a satellite internet service created by Elon Musk’s SpaceX.”
How is that going this winter?
“On December 31, [Aaron] Taylor posted a photo of five cats curled up on his self-heating satellite dish on Twitter.”
Mr. Taylor assured us that his Starlink dish works very well “until the cats find out that the dish gives off a little heat on cold days.”
Photo included in the article.
SoraNews24: “Japanese government now officially allowed to use question marks and exclamation points”
Casey Baseel. January 10, 2022.
That is big news! Do you see what I just did there (and here)?
DoodleBird Studios: “Expensive Plants Art Print”
DoodleBird Studios.
For an unusual share, I present to you an “expensive plants art print” in an online shop I found. It is an illustration of a young lady shedding a tear as she looks at the expensive plants in the window. Good print - but someone needs to tell her to look around convenience stores (if she’s in New York City) or hit Lowe’s or Home Depot.
(Note: I only just now found the online store - so it should go without saying that this is not an affiliate link of any sort.)
Manyverse: “Manyverse for Desktop”
André Staltz. January 5, 2022.
Manyverse is an interesting free and open source social media client for the secure scuttlebutt protocol. Friends can connect directly to each other without a central server, and data is stored locally. Manyverse previously only had clients for Android and iOS, but it has now expanded to desktop. It is an interesting project, although its obvious limitations make it not tenable for most users at this time.
3. The Old Leaf Journal
Now let’s have a look at our archives…
“A Miniature Portrait of Laura Coombs Hills”
Nicholas A. Ferrell. January 15, 2021.
I published an interesting article one year to the day of this newsletter, so I will make that my first Old Leaf Journal post. The January 15, 1917 issue of “The Mentor” magazine featured prominent American miniature painters of the day. My post focused on one of those painters, Laura Coombs Hills. This article includes a link to The Mentor, additional information about Hills, and several miniature paintings (with links to the full color versions of the images).
“The Story Behind a Miniature Painting of Abraham Lincoln”
Nicholas A. Ferrell. April 6, 2021.
Our second article on miniature paintings covered the story of a miniature painting of then-presidential candidate Abraham Lincoln. There is some good original history in this article, so those who are interested in Lincoln and/or miniature paintings should enjoy the content.
4. Most-Turned Leaves Of The Newsletter Week (2022 Week #2)
For each issue of the newsletter, I list our most-visited articles from the week that was. Because the newsletters are mailed on Saturday, these “newsletter weeks” cover the week beginning with Saturday and ending with Friday. All statistics are courtesy of our privacy-friendly local analytics solution, Koko Analytics (read about it in section 1 of this newsletter).
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The Mystery of Sōseki and Tsuki ga Kirei
Nicholas A. Ferrell. March 14, 2021.
Last Week: #1.
2022 Top Fives: 2 (2 in first) -
Reviewing the HALOmask and är Mask
Victor V. Gurbo. December 2, 2020.
Last Week: #2
2022 Top Fives: 2 -
Recommended F-Droid FOSS Apps For Android-Based Devices (2021)
Nicholas A. Ferrell. November 27, 2021.
Last Week: #3
2022 Top Fives: 2 -
Installing Ubuntu Touch on an Asus Nexus 7 (2013)
Nicholas A. Ferrell. July 5, 2021.
Last Week: #4
2022 Top Fives: 2 -
How to Find Substack RSS Feeds and Other Notes
Nicholas A. Ferrell. June 19, 2021.
Last Week: #5
2022 Top Fives: 2
Analysis
The top five from the first week of 2022 returns in the exact same order with largely similar page view counts. Going back to 2021, this is the fourth consecutive week that these five articles have made up our Newsletter Week Ranking, with only the order of articles 2-5 shifting behind my study of the meaning of “tsuki ga kirei” - which has topped the ranking for 19 consecutive newsletter weeks.
5. Notable Leaf Journal
In last week’s newsletter, I recommended a browser extension. This week, I have something a bit more fun…
Try: Looptap - A minimal game to waste your time
Looptap is a game that you play in your browser. A ball spins around in circles. You must either click in the browser window or press the space bar when the ball is on top of a colored area. The game ends when you miss. It keeps track of your score.
This fun and simple game took Hacker News by storm earlier in the week, likely causing a general decrease in coder productivity for several hours. Looptap is a great way to waste some time.
6. News Leaf Journal
I published a page that is a running list of every New Leaf Journal article. The page lists articles chronologically under monthly headers. It will always be accessible on our header menu as a sub-item for “Archive” see page. I plan to add a link to it to our homepage.
As I explained in my January 10 article, I created the page primarily for search engine optimization purposes. However, since our headlines generally describe the article content accurately, I thought that it would also be a fun way for readers to find content that interests them.
At least I hope everyone likes the page. I made it by hand instead of using a plugin or scripting solution. It was, to say the least, a pain. At least it will be easy to keep updated now that the hard part of adding 481 articles with links is done.
7. Taking Leaf
I hope you enjoyed the 66th edition of The Newsletter Leaf Journal as well as our newest content. If you have not done so already, consider subscribing to our humble newsletter - we offer email and RSS subscription options.
Thank you for reading.
Cura ut valeas.