For the second time in three months, I present a variation on our regular month-in-review post with a review of two months for the (free) price of one. I did not publish as many articles as usual in either June or July (continuing a short-lived (I hope) trend from May), so I decided that the month-end review could again be consolidated. Below, I present our new articles from June and July 2024 as well as most-visited article statistics which come courtesy of our local and privacy-friendly page hit counting solution, Koko Analytics.
New Leaves From June and July 2024
I published 20 articles since our previous month[s] in review. I present the 19 articles other than our April/May review (linked in the previous sentence) in order of their publication. I (N.A. Ferrell) wrote all of the articles, so I will omit bylines.
- The REAL Reason X Marks the Twitter
You know that I am being serious when I put one word in the headline in all caps. - Hair Color in Jellyfish Can’t Swim in the Night
A detailed look at the significance of hair color in a spring 2024 anime series. - A Positive Experience With Spectrum
Regarding setting up a new modem I purchased on Ebay. - Acquiring Harvest Moon: A Wonderful Life in 2004
The 2004 NBA Finals unexpectedly tie into this anecdote. - Misleading ARRIS Modem Login Instructions
The quick start card should probably provide the correct default username and password information. - Pistons, Lakers, and the 2004 NBA Finals
I figured that I may as well write about the 2004 NBA Finals while I was remembering them to pin down when I received a specific video game. - Beating Rafael Nadal at the French Open
Or better put, how did the French Open go on the few occasions someone accomplished this monumental feat. - Ditto Pokémon Graffiti in Brooklyn
Coming to you as advertised. - Introducing My Newpoint Switcher 2000 Plus
An appliance that still works nearly 30 years after purchase. - Retired Cow Parade Cow in Manhattan
From the original New York City cow parade. - Inflatable Uncle Sam Rides a Rocket
Happy Independence Day! - Examining Whether Defense Wins NBA Championships
A detailed statistical survey which ultimately reveals that both defense and offense are important to winning championships. - Traditional Search vs GenAI
Or to be more precise, the importance of maintaining distinctions between the two. - PSA: Sound! Euphonium Movies On Tubi TV
Sound! Euphonium 3 will feature in my year-end anime review article in December 2024 or January 2025. In this article, I introduce the series and an easy way for readers to catch up on everything leading up to the third season. - Pigeon Nest-Building in Forest Hills
A story in three photographs. - Adobe Flash Version of Gogatsu no Sora.
On the original version of the visual novel that would later be localized as May Sky. - Fixing Refresh Rate Issue on 4K TV Monitor
Unexpectedly important for playing Game Boy games on said 4K TV monitor. - Playing Pokémon Red With NSO SNES Controller
Accompanied by a history of Nintendo consoles making appearances in the generation 1 games and their re-visits and re-masters. - Trying Lindt OatMilk Chocolate
Very much as advertised.
Most-Visited Articles of June 2024 and July 2024
As I explained in the introduction, I use a local took called Koko Analytics to track page hits. Each month, I publish our 24 most-visited articles of the month and of the three month period including the current month. Newsletter readers will know that I also list the five-most visited articles each week.
June 2024 & April-June Rankings
Below, I present our most-visited articles of June 2024 and of the three-month period from April-June.
July 2024 & May-July Rankings
Now for our July and May-July rankings. Note that I will only add links, author, and date information for articles that did not appear in the previous chart.
| July Ranking | Article (Author. Published.) | 3-Month Rank | 3-Month Change |
| 1 | Planning and Angel Next Door Season 2 | 1 | 0 |
| 2 | Recommended F-Droid FOSS Apps For Android-Based Devices (2021) | 2 | 0 |
| 3 | The Mystery of Sōseki and Tsuki ga Kirei | 6 | -1 |
| 4 | Installing Ubuntu Touch on a Google Nexus 7 (2013) | 3 | +1 |
| 5 | Installing LineageOS on a 2013 Nexus 7 (Wi-Fi) | 4 | +2 |
| 6 | A Sign of Affection – Anime Review | 8 | +6 |
| 7 | The Last Nintendo Wii Games | 9 | 0 |
| 8 | Yuki’s Hair Color in A Sign of Affection | 7 | 0 |
| 9 | An In-Depth Look at Norton Safe Search | 5 | -2 |
| 10 | Installing GrapheneOS on a Google Pixel 6a | 10 | -2 |
| 11 | The Angel Next Door Spoils Me Rotten – Anime Review | 14 | +4 |
| 12 | Understanding Hair Color in the Kimi ni Todoke Anime Series | 18 | NEW |
| 13 | Pokémon: Pathways to Adventure (1999) Review N.A. Ferrell. April 21, 2022. | X | X |
| 14 | Traditional Search vs GenAI N.A. Ferrell. July 10, 2024. | X | X |
| 15 | Itsuomi’s Hair Color in A Sign of Affection | 11 | 0 |
| 16 | Height differences in anime romances | 13 | +2 |
| 17 | Broken Optical Audio Cable Door “Fix” | 17 | -4 |
| 18 | How the Forget-Me-Not Flower Found Its Name | 12 | -2 |
| 19 | Hair Color in Raven of the Inner Palace | 16 | +3 |
| 20 | Ghostwriter Markdown Editor Review | 19 | -2 |
| 21 | Familiar song in Angel Next Door anime N.A. Ferrell. February 6, 2023. | X | X |
| 22 | The Pokémon Special Split in Generation 2 – Statistics and Analysis | 15 | -3 |
| 23 | Heights in “The Dangers in My Heart” Anime | X | 22 LR |
| 24 | A Sign of Affection Ep 7 Hair Color Notes | 21 | -1 |
| X | Review of /e/ – An Android Alternative For Mobile Phones | 20 | +1 |
| X | Shin Iryū’s Hair Color in A Sign of Affection | 22 | +2 |
| X | The Nice Boat: A Look Back at the School Days Anime | 23 | NEW |
| X | Reviewing FrogFind: A Search Engine For Vintage Computers | 24 | -8 |
Ranking Analysis
Below, I will list 12 interesting notes from our two rankings.
- Both June and July were relatively weak months thanks to a decrease in search engine traffic (perhaps this describes the culprit). It is possible that my diminished publishing output had an effect, but time will tell. One noticable trend this year has been weak performances from our 2022 articles.
- My specious article on having the good fortune to have reviewed the what is now the first season of The Angel Next Door Spoils Me Rotten dominated both June and July. It has led our weekly rankings for 7 consecutive weeks and 8 out of 9 as of the publication date of this article. Perhaps coincidentally, we also saw a boost in ranking performance by my actual review of The Angel Next Door Spoils Me Rotten, which was third overall in January with enough visitors to have led both June and July. My first article chronologically about the anime, a piece about its ending song, snuck into the July ranking at 20th, its first appearance in a monthly top 24 since it posted a 13th place finish in May 2023.
- My A Sign of Affection anime articles continue to do relatively well, albeit well short of their dominant performances from February-May. In what I would consider good news, my review of the actual anime has overtaken my hair color analysis pieces as the top article from the set for both June and July.
- Returning to the subject of anime hair color, my study of hair color in Kimi ni Todoke came in at 12th in July for its fourth top-12 appearance (December 21, January and February 23). While it was well off its early 2021 pace, it appears to be on the upswing. I suspect the reason has to do with the start of its unexpected third season.
- My 2023 review of DecSync made its first monthly ranking with a 19th place finish in June. I had some hopes for that one when I wrote it. Funny enough, I no longer use DecSync myself.
- I have written many visual novel reviews, but none have been particularly successful in the attracting visitors sense. For the first time since I have been keeping track of monthly top-24s, one of my visual novel reviews made it. It was not, however, one of my 29 reviews from the al|together festivals. Instead, it was my review of Kaori After Story, which made 21st place in June (not seen was the novel it follows and depends upon, my review of ACE Academy).
- In an odd surprise, my review of a 1999 Pokémon strategy/guide novel, which had been live for more than two years without ever making an impression on the rankings, debuted at 13th place in July and has posted back-to-back weekly top-fives. That book inspired my own project, which will begin in earnest shortly.
- Hacker News impacted our ranking for the first time in a while, placing a brand new July article on traditional search and generative AI14th place in our July ranking. While that article did not get anywhere near page 1, even a brief Hacker News sighting can impact the ranking (especially in weak months).
- We had a first in the July ranking. My article on height differences in The Dangers in My Heart, which peaked as runner-up in January 2024 (it would have been first but for a dramatic Hacker News page 1 share), made our three-month top three in June but dropped out of that ranking in July while nevertheless making the July top 24 at 23rd. To the best of my recollection, this is the first time I have seen an article make a monthly ranking while simultaneously dropping out of the 3-month ranking.
Taking Leaf
While I did not publish much in June and July because I had a decent amount of real-world work and I was under the weather for a couple of stretches, I did make good progress on several projects that are in the works. I hope to make August, followed by September, busy months. I hope you look forward to them.
