Updated Prefatory Note (9:47 PM on November 29, 2025): I was able to resolve the Buttondown issue thanks to quick help from support (I had an extraneous element in the header). Subscribers received their email. If you happened to click on an archive link in our Buttondown archive only to end up here, you are here because I published the newsletter here on The New Leaf Journal before Buttondown.
Original Prefatory Note: I send out a newsletter every Saturday. You can learn more on our Newsletter Sign-Up page. Our newsletter is hosted with Buttondown. I was planning to send issue 256 today as scheduled, but I am having technical issues with Buttondown. Not content to wait for support, I decided to publish the newsletter on The New Leaf Journal first. If you regularly read The New Leaf Journal but not the newsletter, consider this your chance to see what our newsletter is like (note you can also subscribe to the newsletter via RSS). The newsletter is presented below exactly as I wrote it for mailing with a few stylistic changes for better presentation on our site.
Introduction
Welcome to the 256th edition of The Newsletter Leaf Journal, the official newsletter of the perennially virid online writing magazine, The New Leaf Journal and its short-form writing sister publication, The Emu Café Social. This newsletter comes to you as always from the administrator, editor, and writer of both publications, Nicholas A. Ferrell.
I did not publish much during Thanksgiving week, but we have a few new posts to go along with our usual assortment of links from around the web and other news and notes from the week that was.
Leaves from the week that was
I only published one new New Leaf Journal article since mailing Newsletter 255. Much ink has been spilled about the 1997-98 “Last Dance” Chicago Bulls. In 1998, the Bulls won their third consecutive championship (and sixth in eight years) before detonating their championship roster in the 1998 off-season (notably losing Michael Jordan (retirement 2/3), Scottie Pippen (trade), and Dennis Rodman (free agency)). Less ink has been spilled about the 1998-99 Bulls, which finished with a record of 13-37 in what was without question the least successful title defense in NBA history. In The 98-99 Bulls Championship Defense Defense, I explain why those Bulls were much better than you think! That was a joke. The 1998-99 Bulls were as bad as their 13-37 record indicates. But in following up on the previous week’s Best and Worst NBA Title Defenses Since 1983-84, I show readers that the 1998-99 Bulls were only the worst defending champion on one side of the ball.
I was a little bit more productive last week on The Emu Café Social.
- I finished the second chapter of Tokyo Mirage Sessions FE: Encore for the Nintendo Switch. Continuing with my ongoing review project, I wrote about my thoughts on chapter 2 and the intermission between chapters 2 and 3.
- In Happy New York Evacuation Day (2025), I celebrated the occasion which fell on November 25. What is Evacuation Day? My post links to my 2023 history of the (former) holiday.
- Continuing with the holiday theme, I shared the newest Presidential proclamation of Thanksgiving in 2025 Thanksgiving Proclamation. The Proclamation referenced George Washington’s 1789 Thanksgiving Proclamation, so I used it as an invitation to link to my 2020 article on that subject and a couple of other Thanksgiving history posts.
- I re-visited an ongoing sports debate in NFL: Grass vs Turf.
- Finally, I raised some questions about an article based on marketer insights in The So-Called AI Shopping Elves.
But enough about my words…
Leaves from around the web
I thought about going beyond our usual 21 links from around the web on account of my light publishing output last week. However, we I added my 21st link (below), the list seemed complete. We have a few long ones in this week’s selection and cover many topics, so there should be some additional reading for everyone.
Thanksgiving leftovers
The day-after-Thanksgiving pie debate sweet potato or pumpkin
Sophie Bates for AP (via The Washington Times). November 28, 2025.
My comment: Another week, another pie debate.
A National Thanksgiving: President Washington and America’s National Holiday (HT PolicySphere)
Richard Samuelson for Law & Liberty. November 24, 2022.
My comment: I like to think this 2022 article about the story behind George Washington’s 1789 Thanksgiving Proclamation was inspired by my 2020 article on the same subject.
Undrafted to Unforgettable: Tony Romo’s 2006 Breakout
Robbie Marriage at Sports Passion Project. September 15, 2025.
My comment: Great article. But how does it not include Bill Parcells’ greatest line on Tony Romo: “So put away the anointing oil, OK?” I submit my addendum. (Thanksgiving appears in the article since we’re talking about the Dallas Cowboys.)
Turkey
Happy Turkey Day!
The History Blog. November 27, 2025.
My comment: Everything you need to start your turkey calendar.
Swapping wild turkeys for other animals became a conservation success story
Holly Ramer for AP (via The Washington Times). November 27, 2025.
My comment: What do you think would constitute a fair trade for a turkey?
More families ‘adopting’ Thanksgiving turkeys instead of eating them
Hallie Golden and Thomas Piepert for AP (via The Washington Times). November 25, 2025.
As he trots in a sprawling animal sanctuary on the Colorado plains, he is stopped every few steps by staff who pet him, hug him or even give him a peck on his red face. Gus has been there since 2023 after being pardoned by the governor.
Turkey, but not turkey
Mosaic with personified lake wearing crab claw hairclips found in Turkey
The History Blog. November 23, 2025.
My comment: Turkey was kawaii before Japan knew kawaii.
Muslim-Majority Turkey Not ‘Hostile’ to Christians, Orthodox Leader Says
Simon Kent for Breitbart. November 28, 2025.
My comment: Words not spoken from the Hagia Sophia.
Everyone is cheating
The Chess Cheating Epidemic
Danny Rensch for Quillette. September 16, 2025.
My comment: This article is more interesting for the background story of chess.com than it is for the tortured discourse on chess cheating.
How China Cheats Its Way Into US Law Schools
Edwin Carlson for The Washington Free Beacon. October 23, 2025.
My comment: Let’s take a step back and ask why the U.S. government is issuing student visas for Chinese nationals to attend U.S. law schools.
Killjoy in the Machine Why do so many people use AI to cheat at fun? (HT Lincoln Michel) Michelle Santiago Cortes. November 3, 2023.
My comment: You shouldn’t use ChatGPT to cheat at reading The Newsletter Leaf Journal.
I’m too good at this
The most male and female reasons to end up hospital 🚑
Leo Benedictus. October 12, 2025.
My comment: For England, but I’d say it also checks out from my American point of view.
‘World’s Strongest Woman’ competitor speaks out after winning title following trans controversy
Ryan Morik for Fox News. November 25, 2025.
My comment: Definitely no advantage in (checks notes) power lifting.
The Grammarphobia Blog: Gender issues (no, not those)
Grammarphobia. November 24, 2025.
My comment: Grammarphobia refuses to neuter its headline game.
A[I]rt
AI assets are an unconscionable risk for premium-priced games
Rob Fahey for Games Industry.biz. November 21, 2025.
My comment:I agree but I also avoid the problem by not buying the kinds of games at issue in this op-ed.
How independent writers are turning to AI
Josh Dzieza for The Verge. July 20, 2022.
My comment: Not to be too pedantic but I don’t think ChatGPT is an independent writer.
Since you asked…
Kaspersky Antivirus is Now Available for Linux. Will You Use it?
Souraw Rudra for It’s FOSS. November 12, 2025.
My answer: No.
What’s the Problem with Optional Practical Training (OPT)?
Elizabeth Jacobs for Center for Immigration Studies. November 17, 2025.
My answer: All of it.
Did a Best-Selling Romantasy Novelist Steal Another Writer’s Story? (HT Lincoln Michel)
Katy Waldman for The New Yorker. January 6, 2025.
My answer followed by my comment: Probably. But I’m thinking more about how I could have gone my whole life without knowing what “romantasy” is.
One cent (or Euro) goes a long way
The U.S. Mint Produces the Last Penny Ever After 232 Years (HT Well Apportioned Desk)
Regina Sienara for My Modern Met. November 17, 2025.
My comment: At least Lincoln still has the $5 bill.
Romania Just ‘Bought’ 18 F-16s For One Euro
Thomas Newdick for The War Zone. November 4, 2025.
My comment: Yes but what are the maintenance fees?
Most-turned leaves of the newsletter week
In each edition of the newsletter, I share our five most-visited articles of the week. This week’s list comes courtesy of Statify, an entirely local and cookieless page visit counting solution for WordPress. Below, you will find the five most-visited articles of 2025 November 16-22 with their 2025 and historic (dating back to 2021) weekly ranking information.
- Catching 151 Pokémon in Google Search
Nicholas A. Ferrell. April 17, 2025.
2025: 23 appearances and 17 top placements. - Uncle Susan is a Wolf Graffiti in Brooklyn
Nicholas A. Ferrell. December 29, 2021.
2025: First appearance.
Cumulative: 3 appearances. - Amazon “Cargo Bikes” in Brooklyn
Nicholas A. Ferrell. April 9, 2025.
2025: 31 appearances and 8 top placements. - Enabling Charging Optimization on GrapheneOS
Nicholas A. Ferrell. January 12, 2025.
2025: 6 appearances. - Broken Optical Audio Cable Door “Fix”
Nicholas A. Ferrell. September 16, 2023.
2025: 8 appearances.
Cumulative: 22 appearances.
Analysis
Catching 151 Pokémon in Google Search ran away with the top spot for the 15th time in 17 weeks and 17th time overall, keeping its hopes of notching 20 first-place finishes this year. That is unsurprising. More surprising was this week’s runner-up and the 51st article to appear in a weekly ranking in 2025, Uncle Susan is a Wolf Graffiti in Brooklyn, which would have taken the top spot in many weeks with a big view number. Statify is showing me that Uncle Susan is receiving a large number of Facebook referrals. I do not have Facebook so I cannot see the specific source, but very neat all the same. Uncle Susan last appeared in a weekly top five in 2023, and previously only had two appearances total, so I welcome it back to the ranking. Also notable is fifth place Broken Optical Audio Cable Door “Fix”, which was a ranking regular in late 2024 and earlier this year but, to the best of my recollection, it had not made a top-five in a while. It has an outside chance of making it to 10 appearances in 2025 (five articles have reached double digits thus far).
News leaf journal
I added a plugin to both NLJ and ECS called Inernet Archive Wayback Machine Link Fixer. The plugin checks all external links on site, replaces dead links with Wayback Archive versions (if available), archives external links that need archiving, and archives all of my posts. So far it seems to work well. According to the plugin stats, NLJ has 8,864 outgoing links (7,099 of which are archived in the Wayback Machine) while ECS has 740 outgoing links with 587 successfully archived.
Back in March, I described my workflow for collecting and annotating links for this newsletter. I almost always save more links than I use, which leads to there being a backlog. Going forward, I will start turning some of the older links that may no longer be good newsletter prospects for one reason or another into ECS posts. Consider this another reason to regularly check in on ECS for those of you who enjoy my weekly Around the Web link collection.
Taking leaf
Thank you as always for reading The Newsletter Leaf Journal. If you enjoyed this issue and have not done so already, you can follow this newsletter by signing up for our weekly email, adding our RSS feed to your favorite feed reader, or checking in on our archive page. You can also sign up for a separate newsletter which sends daily digests of our new posts here.
While I did not publish much last week, I am making progress on some projects I want to prioritize for completion in 2025. With hope, I will have some good articles to share with you next week.
Until December 6,
Cura ut valeas — Nicholas A. Ferrell.
