Tag: brooklyn

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Quoted Timeless Brooklyn Reimagined: Minerva Development Unveils 263 Sackett in the Heart of Carroll Gardens by Bartolucci Team at Douglas Elliman (CityBiz)
Located moments from Court Street, the building is surrounded by local favorites including Gersi, Nabila’s, Le French Tart, and Poppy’s Brooklyn, alongside cultural destinations like Congress Bar and Cobble Hill Cinemas.

I added a significant number of Google News feeds for specific Brooklyn neighborhoods to my feed collection (future article topic?). I then went through the initial set of articles that came up. I decided to read Timeless Brooklyn Reimagined: Minerva Development Unveils 263 Sackett in the Heart of Carroll Gardens since I know the area. While the sure-to-be-affordable residence looks nice, something else caught my attention. “Located moments from Court Street…” Moments? I do not think I can learn how to speak like a realtor.

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We keep the Pook-Emu Bee link momentum going with more links from around the web.

Bottles of hot sauce on a grocery store shelf with a sign that says "TRAPPEY'S RED DEVIL HOU SAUCE" 5/$5"
Key Food has many X for Y sales. In some cases you have to buy multiples for the sale price. In other cases the price applies to less than Y. With that in mind, I chuckled at having to buy five bottles of hot sauce for the $1 per bottle deal.

Articles

1 | NYC first lady Rama Duwaji traveling to Syria, Lebanon — with taxpayer-funded NYPD security detail: sources (Carl Campanile for the New York Post. August 10, 2026.)
I saw this story last night. I had a fun quip prepared that I hoped to get in before the practical problems with this plan (not taxpayer money) made their appearance. “Is the NYPD going to draw sticks to decide who gets stuck with the Syria-Lebanon bodygyard duty assignment?” Alas, the NYPD beat me to it.

2 | Hidden Beauty in Southeast Brooklyn (Megan Messana for Red Hook Star Revue. August 10, 2026.)
I have been to Coney Island and Sheepshead Bay before, but not most of the other areas she mentions.

3 | How I turned my old Fire Tablet into a portable Linux terminal (David J. Buck for How To Geek. August 10, 2026.)
I tried using a Fire HD 10 as a dedicated reader device (Miniflux + IronFox) but it was painfully slow.

4 | DiJonai Carrington Cites Stanford Education Clarifying ‘White Privilege’ Accusation (Paul Bois for Breitbart. August 10, 2026.)
Her X posts read like gobbledygook to me. But then again she says: “I actually went to school, one of the top universities might I add, to educate myself on this exact subject.” She did go to Stanford. I did not go to Stanford and concede Stanford would have almost certainly rejected me had I applied (although I may have been able to swing it had I been a top basketball prospect whose father played in the NFL).

5 | Bushwick Daily Is an AI Slop Zombie (Andrew Karpan and Aaron Tomey for Grime Square. August 2, 2026.)
Good, evidence-backed report on a local newspaper turning into AI slop, save for one aside.

6 | Commemorate the 250th Anniversary of the Battle of Brooklyn This Month (Susan De Vires for Brownstoner. August 10, 2026.)
The August 22-23 festivities look interesting. May present an on-the-ground reporting opportunity. I will consider.

7 | Inside Polaroid’s provocative, pro-analog marketing strategy (Katie Hicks for Marketing Brew. August 11, 2026.)
I wouldn’t call it “provocative” because that is effectively marketing the marketing, but “Real stories. Not Stories & Reels.” is good. “Go jump in some water before the data centers drink it all up.” is terrible. But one thought: Maybe the marketing slogans should do more to distinguish Polaroids from phone photography. I mean… I don’t use Instagram.

Video

8 | It finally came! [Steam Controller v2] (nephitejnf. August 10, 2026.)
I thought about a Steam Controller v2… but probably not for $99. It does look good though. Strikes me as a big but it would probably be fine for me. I was a bit disappointed by his description of the shoulder buttons as a Dreamcast controller fan.

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Monday is here. So too after taking the weekend off are my Pook-Emu Bee links.

1. Maniac strangles 7-year-old boy in Brooklyn park: cops (Dean Moses for Brooklyn Paper. May 18, 2026.)

These sorts of troubling Brooklyn headlines are seldom about places I visit. That is mostly true in this case as well, but “Bush-Clinton Park in the Red Hook Recreation Area” caught my attention. I only walked by the park a few times (it is not where I typically stroll in Red Hook), but one of those walks led to my article on the unintentionally presidential name and the identity of “Bush” (surprisingly not known for certain). Returning to more serious matters, I hope the victims recover without too much trauma and the very clear image of the perpetrator leads to a quick arrest.

2. Plaintiff Can Sue Pseudonymously Because She’s a Criminal Defense Lawyer with a Gambling Addiction (Eugene Volokh at The Volokh Conspiracy. May 18, 2026.)

Setting aside the legal issues, I agree with Mr. Volokh as a prudential matter that “I just don’t think that her desire to keep this secret should outweigh the public’s ability to supervise what the court does in this case—and indeed prospective clients’ ability to decide whether to trust a lawyer who has this problem.” (Emphasis added.)

3. Meet the Sad Wives of AI (Alessandra Ram for Wired. May 13, 2026.)

Everyone involved, including the author, should remember that the world is not San Francisco.

4. Shawn Kemp said Jack Nicholson smelled like weed during Lakers games (John Jefferson Tan for Basketball Network. May 16, 2026.)

While I understand that “The Reign Man” and I have different opinions on the subject of “weed,” I also appreciate that he recognizes it smells like skunk, which inspired me to write two 2022 Justin and Justina articles. See A Dialogue on Pot and Skunk Waterboarding and Dialogue: “Skunks” in Staten Island Conspiracy. Now if only I didn’t have to know what it smells like…

5. An iconic Oregon waterfall was put up for sale on Redfin. Lawmakers approved the money to buy it (Claire Rush for AP. March 12, 2026.)

Odd. You get them for free in Animal Crossing.

6. The PGA Championship Is Golf’s Democratic Major. It Just Doesn’t Know It. (Neil Paine. May 14, 2026.)

This turned out to be an on-point preview article for the 2026 edition.

7. Photoville 2026 returns to Brooklyn Bridge Park in May (Brooklyn Bridge Parents. May 11, 2026.)

I’m not seeing anything that tops Kevin the hamster from Photoville 2021, but the bug and apple series look cool.

8. Xteink blocks installation of custom firmware on some eReaders, launches a new Android-powered model (Brad Linder for Liliputing. May 2, 2026.)

Not mine! Of course, I still need to take it out of the box (I think mine arrived in December).

9. Spotify adds ‘Verified’ badge to distinguish human acts from AI (Laura Cress for BBC. May 1, 2026.)

Something tells me most human acts lacking big record labels will be passed over by Spotif-AI.

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Work did not allow for timely Pook-Emu Bee links, but today I return with nine new links from around the web.

1 Popular WordPress redirect plugin hid dormant backdoor for years (Bill Toulas for Bleeping Computer. April 29, 2026.)

Not popular enough for me to have been using it (but do attend to the issue if you happen to be running Quick Page/Post Redirect on WordPress).

2. Waylay Callais! (Josh Blackman for The Volokh Conspiracy. April 30, 2026.)

After much anticipation, the Supreme Court finally decided Louisiana v. Callais. (The Chief Justice pronounced it as waylay.) I have some preliminary thoughts.

3. No Country for Moderate Men (Amit Segal at It’s Noon In Israel. April 30, 2026.)

According to several senior Iranian sources, only one man has direct access to the definitely-still-alive-Supreme Leader: IRGC commander Ahmad Vahidi.

It just so happens that Mojtaba and Vahidi are in complete lockstep.

Iran is really doing a visual novel plot here.

4. France’s domestic intelligence agency monitors ‘masculinist threat’, reluctantly (Carl Deconinck for Brussels Signal. April 30, 2026.)

Look! Shiny object!

5. How I Do Content Engineering with Claude Code (Ryan Law for Ahrefs Blog. April 28, 2026.)

“Content engineering…”

6. Saying “No” In an Age of Abundance (Jim Nielsen. February 3, 2026.)

In an age of abundance, restraint becomes the only scarce thing left, which means saying ‘no’ is more valuable than ever.

7. Introducing RateMyPet (Fraser McLean. May 17, 2025.)

For the past few months, I’ve been working on a new pet project (excused the pun 😂), called RateMyPet. It’s a social site where users can share photos and stories about their pets, and rate each other’s pets. The idea is to create a fun and engaging community for pet lovers.

8. FDNY Lithium Ion Batteries To Blame For Garbage Truck Fire In Downtown Brooklyn (Rob Flaks for News12. April 24, 2026.)

The fires always start from that which you would least expect.

9. Colored Pencil Review: Pentel Mulit8 2mm Lead Holder (The Well-Apportioned Desk. April 23, 2026.)

I don’t need colored pencils. But if I did, I would probably find this one compelling.

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I did not have much time to engage in my daily “feed reading” this morning. But I will not let that stop me from publishing my daily Pook-Emu Bee links.

1. Justice Department Files Case to Revoke U.S. Citizenship of Mastermind Behind Multimillion-Dollar Tax Fraud Scheme (USCIS. April 13, 2026.)

The marriage fraud allegations are a nice addition. It’s always who you least expect.

2. Meet the NYC teen behind Brooklyn’s new official pin — coming soon to a lapel near you (Katherine Donlevy for the New York Post. April 13, 2026.)

Although I am the internet’s leading chronicler of BLOB DYLAN, I do not approve the graffiti-train lapel pin. While I see the thought and skill that went into it, there are better ways to celebrate Brooklyn than (checks notes) Subway vandalism nostalgia. With that being said, having seen the state of things around Brooklyn Borough Hall, I am not surprised that Borough President Reynoso is on board (pun intended).

3. Toddlers at luxury NYC school locked out of community garden: ‘Second-class citizens’ (Katherine Donlevy for the New York Post. April 12, 2026.)

In the March 6, 2026 edition of the Pook-Emu Bee, I faulted the New York Post for locating a Columbia Street Waterfront District restaurant in Carroll Gardens. Here, I fault the Post for locating a Columbia Street Waterfront District community garden in Red Hook. While Van Brunt is Red Hook’s main commercial street, part of it is in Columbia Waterfront, including this part. What does the New York Post have against Columbia Street Waterfront District!?

4. Idol livestreamer psychological horror game announced for Steam. Investigate a disappearance by sending super chats and snooping through fan sites (Dorde P for Noisy Pixel. April 10, 2026.)

It looks mildly interesting. I will add it to the “new” visual novel to-watch-for-review list.

5. KTT x 80Retros GAME 1989 Orange (マリウス. April 12, 2026.)

Good mechanical keyboard switch review.

6. Ranking the top players in my server, part 2 (Cabbage at Cabbage Sorter. April 9, 2026.)

Cabbage rates the “top players” from her server in a Chinese dress-up gatcha game. I have never played this game and do not play gatcha games,  much less Chinese dress-up gatcha games (although choosing outfits is the best part of modern Pokémon), but her writing about the game is somehow entertaining. I could see myself writing a similar article if I played that game (or similar). Alas, I will leave it to Cabbage Sorter.

7. Yaezakura・八重桜 (Daniel Sofer at Hermosawave Photography. April 11, 2026.)

I conclude with pretty cherry blossoms. The trees are flowering hear in Brooklyn (before they leaf in May). This could be bad news for me.

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There were no Pook-Emu Bee links on Saturday because it was newsletter day (22 links in issue 275!). There were no Pook-Emu Bee links on Sunday because I failed. But today is Monday. Monday is a fun day. I will not fail. In fact, I may even have some bonus links (either to make up for yesterday or to keep my link list under control).

1. 420 Court’s Façade Takes Shape in Carroll Gardens, Brooklyn (Michael Young and Matt Pruznick for New York YIMBY. April 13, 2026.)

Carroll Gardens is next to Cobble Hill, which is one of Brooklyn’s historic districts. The line between Carroll Gardens and Cobble Hill is easy to miss. Yet, as I noted in 2020, Carroll Gardens is not a historic district. With that in mind, this new construction is not bad.

2. Placard Abuse Clogs Downtown Brooklyn Bike Lane (Brooklyn Today. April 13, 2026.)

Placard abuse is a well-known problem. But must everything be about the struggles of bikers? The bikers in the area behave terribly even where the bike lanes are unimpeded.

3. Investors Juice BlackBerry as the SaaS-y Company Racks Up Contracts (Jamie Wilde for The Daily Upside*. April 13, 2026.)

Making QWERTY phones offered more value.

4. Morgan Library (I Love Beets. April 13, 2026.)

I have not been to the Morgan Library in a long time, but these photographs indicate that it is as aesthetic as I remember it.

5. ProPublica journalists walk off the job in first U.S. newsroom strike over AI (Andrew Deck for NiemanLab. April 9, 2026.)

I reached the “choose your fighter” screen between ProPublica and big AI. Then I left the game on and went for a walk.

6. Doki Doki Literature Club Removed from Google Play Store Following Policy Violation or Is This Just Another Attempt by Monika for Our Attention? (It’s Not, They Really Delisted It) (Azario Lopez for Noisy Pixel. April 9, 2026.)

While I never “reviewed” Doki Doki Literature Club, I referenced it in my review of a freeware visual novel called Save the Date in expressing my hope that Save the Date would be published on Steam, Itch, and other places where more people could find it. I never played the “paid” version of Doki Doki Literature Club, but from my knowledge of the free version, this decision strikes me as odd. It certainly deserves an “M” rating (which I presumre age-gates downloads/purchases) but I am sure there is more objectionable “content” on Google Play Store. Of course, I use F-Droid, so what do I know?

7. The Death of the Small Point Guard? (James Barlowe. April 10, 2026.)

Is there really a “death”? How many instances in NBA history have we had where the undisputed best player on a championship team was a “small” point guard? Off the top of my head: 2014-15 and 2022-23 Golden State Warriors (Stephen Curry), 1988-89 and 89-90 Detroit Pistons (Isiah Thomas), and 1972-73 New York Knicks (Walt Frazier). You could argue for a few additional cases in the 1950-51 Rochester Royals (Bob Davies), 1969-70 Knicks (Frazier). 2003-04 Pistons (Chauncey Billups), and 2016-17 and 2017-18 Warriors (Curry). I suppose one could try to include Dennis Johnson since he was “small” and add the 1978-79 Seattle SuperSonics? But if this is all we can come up with, it does not seem like building a team “around” a small point guard has ever been the best path to an NBA championship.

8. Ascendance of a Bookworm anime studio acknowledges gen AI use in opening, promises to replace offending scenes with hand-drawn art (Dorde P for Automation West. April 10, 2026.)

I never watched the first few seasons, and I doubt I will ever catch up. Were I planning to catch up, this would not encourage me. With that being said, I have 2.5 seasons worth of anime to catch up on. Every news article reminds me.

9. Friends Don’t Let Friends Play Monopoly (Dan Lewis for Now I Know. April 3, 2020.)

I never played Monopoly. No one ever tried to convince me to play Monopoly. Now I know that Dan Lewis does not think I should play Monopoly.

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I am a bit late today because I just spent about an hour troubleshooting why I was not receiving calls on my Ubuntu Touch-powered Google Pixel 3a XL. I think I fixed the issue. With that aside, on to our daily Pook-Emu Bee links.

1. New Higurashi When They Cry interactive chat content allows you to talk with characters and progress the story with your own self-insert (Carlos “Zoto” Zotomayor for Automation West. April 9, 2026.)

Higurashi: When They Jump the Shark.

2. LPC Landmarks Historic Boerum Hill Public School Building (Anna Bradley-Smith for Brownstoner. April 8, 2026.)

I don’t recall having thought much about this building (perhaps because it is in the middle of a construction zone). But it’s a nice building. I approve.

3. ⏜ Our radical plan to replace the NBA draft ⏜ (Nate Silver. April 1, 2026.)

My eyes glazed over while reading this. It should have been an April Fools joke. Let’s think about normal reforms. Thank you.

4. Samsung is officially discontinuing its native Messages app in favor of Google Messages (Mauricio B. Holguin for AlternativeTo. April 6, 2026.)

I only use the UBUNTU TOUCH messaging app (until I get around to replacing the battery in my Pixel 6a).

5. YouTube Shorts Are Like Crack (Kev Quirk. April 4, 2025.)

I don’t understand the whole rapid-fire short video thing or what the appeal would be.

6. Secrets of the Super Mario RPG Shaman (Drew Mackie at Thrilling Tales of Old Video Games. August 28, 2025.)

While this article is primarily about Super Mario RPG, I appreciated the Paper Mario nostalgia.

7. Anthropic Races to Contain Leak of Code Behind Claude AI Agent (Sam Schechner for The Wall Street Journal (via Yahoo! Finance). April 1, 2026.)

I’m late to the Claude code leak. But I want everyone to know that I have suffered many sleepless nights thinking about the horrifying possibility that someone could take Anthropic’s copyrighted work and use it in their own AI projects. Anthropic would never! Perish the thought!

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I am busy with work today. But today is a day ending in -day that is not Newsletter Satur-day, so I briefly set aside my business to deliver my not-yet-world-famous Pook-Emu Bee links.

1. FCC bans imports of new routers made in other countries, on national security concerns (Brad Linder for Liliputing. March 23, 2026.)

My MikroTik hAP ac3 should be supported for a long time. Maybe I will build my next router someday. See my related post from a while back on questions about TP-Link.

2. Sam Smith said MJ lied in 95′ about not returning in case of Pippen trade (John Jefferson Tam for Basketball Network. March 22, 2026.)

The possible 1995 Scottie Pippen-Shawn Kemp trade is an interesting “what if,” but I think things ended up working out decently well for the Bulls in staying put (understatement of the issue).

3. A rogue AI led to a serious security incident at Meta (Stevie Bonifield for The Verge. March 19, 2026.)

That’s a roundabout way of saying that a Meta employee caused a serious security incident at Meta.

4. Planned Tower for Duffield Street Lacks Identity, LPC Says (Anna Bradley Smith for Brownstoner. March 23, 2026.)

It could be worse. In any event, I am glad they are protecting the Duffield houses (for now, at least).

5. Former Syrian Prison Boss Convicted on Immigration Fraud, Torture Charges (Andrew R. Arthur for Center for Immigration Policy. March 23, 2026.)

But other than that…

6. Kim Jong-un’s Daughter Drives a Tank in North Korean Propaganda Images (Frances Martel for Breitbart. March 20, 2026.)

That probably makes her a general.

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Another day means more daily Pook-Emu Bee links. Note that the Pook-Emu Bee will take tomorrow off for The Newsletter Leaf Journal (which features even more links), but should return on Sunday. If you enjoy the (almost) daily links and commentary, you can also follow via feed.

1. Chuck Norris, Legendary Action Hero, ‘Walker, Texas Ranger’ Star, Dies at 86 (Jerome Hudson and Warner Todd Huston for Breitbart. March 20, 2026.)

A sad day, but also a day to remember a life very well-lived. Rest in peace, Chuckator. (I have a few Chuck Norris-authored posts prepared for future newsletters.)

2. Getting their sea legs: Coney Island Mermaid Parade seeks funding to stay afloat (Olivia Searman for Brooklyn Paper. March 19, 2026.)

My thought whenever I see something about the Mermaid Parade is “I’m glad I’m on the other side of Brooklyn”

3. Peet’s Coffee reveals new floral lineup ahead of Spring season (Tea & Coffee Trade Journal. March 20, 2026.)

I will pass on the lavender coffee, thank you. But while you make up your mind, you can see my first and second posts on Peet’s.

4. Shangri-La Frontier Anime Reveals Season 3’s January 2027 Debut, 1st Game’s 2026 Launch (Joanna Cayanan for Anime News Network. January 19, 2026.)

I’m not excited but the second season (which effectively ended on a side-story cliff-hanger) did give me one article, so inertia demands that I watch.

5. Polish ex-minister warns growing anti-EU sentiment may spur ‘Polexit’ (Krzysztof Mularczyk for Brussels Signal. March 19, 2026.)

I am calling for a total moratorium on -exit (almost as over-used as -gate), but if we absolutely must… whatever you want to add to -exit cannot add a syllable.

6. The Intel N100 killed the Raspberry Pi for home servers (Jeff Butts for XDA Developers. December 5, 2025.)

The mini PC I use with my TV has an N100 CPU. The one I am going to re-configure as a Syncthing node and server has a lesser CPU. I do approve of the N100. Solid stuff.

7. A Springtime Reader (Nicholas A. Ferrell at The New Leaf Journal. March 21, 2021.)

Spring has spring, so I share my 2021 spring-time reader.

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Another day means more daily Pook-Emu Bee links. If you enjoy the (almost) daily links and commentary, you can also follow via feed.

1. Opera GX Web Browser Released For Linux (Michael Larabel for Phoronix. March 19, 2026.)

Awesome! I have been happy on Linux since August 2020, but I have often found myself thinking that my experience would be perfect if I had that unaesthetic spying browser for gamers that the YouTube people promote.

2. Mamdani unveils pared version of hyped ‘Community Safety’ agency — with 2 staffers, $260M budget (Craig McCarthy for the New York Post. March 19, 2026.)

The NYP scoffs, but there is no greater threat to community safety than failing to pay back your campaign stakeholders.

3. Visual Novel ‘Everything Will Be Fine! Launches’ On PC (Orpheus Joshua for Noisy Pixel. March 19, 2026.)

I like the look of this one. Should I pull the trigger and write my first “new” visual novel review? I think I just might.

4. This New Café in Brooklyn Is a Stylish Ode to Georgian Food and Design (Nicole Kliest for Vogue. March 16, 2026.)

I almost certainly walked passed it and did not take note of it. With that being said, it looks interesting and aesthetic. But is the coffee good? (I will submit for the record that this is almost certainly the first time I have linked to or read an article in Vogue.)

5. NBA and The Coca-Cola Company Announce Multiyear Global Partnership (Vending Connection. March 17, 2026.)

This is a better and more conventional partnership than the Atlanta Hawks’ ill-fated strip club night.

6. Is Japan’s Crab-shaped Cup Ramen Timer worth the hype? (Oona McGee for SoraNews24. March 9, 2026.)

I would try it but for the “hidden cost” issue I noted in response to the first entry in yesterday’s Pook-Emu Bee.

7. Spotify says its best developers haven’t written a line of code since December, thanks to AI (Sarah Perez for Tech Crunch. February 12, 2026.)

I have never used Spotify. Nothing I have read about it leads me to believe that I have been missing out.

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I have some pressing work-work to attend to today, but I will not let that stop me from publishing my daily Pook-Emu Bee links last week. If you enjoy the (almost) daily links and commentary, you can also follow via feed.

Links from around the web

1. Pakistan air strike kills at least 100 at Kabul drug rehab centre (Yama Bariz and Simon Fraser for BBC. March 17, 2026.)

I see that BBC is trying to turn Pakistan into the “Israel” of the Muslim world but I don’t think the usual pro-Hamas suspects in the West are going to work themselves up for the Taliban. Of course, the Pakistani military’s problem is more whether the Taliban’s Hamas-PR strategy works with Pakistanis in Pakistan.

2. Horrific stomach bug that wipes out cruise ships rips across California (James Gant for the New York Post. March 16, 2026.)

You will never find me on a cruise.

3. Favorite bakeries in our neighborhoods in Brooklyn (Brooklyn Bridge Parents. February 26, 2026.)

Based on the neighborhoods I am thoroughly familiar with in this article… I think they more or less covered every bakery.

4. Revisiting The Barkley Rockets: Was He Worth It? (Harlan Schreiber for Hoops Analyst. September 8, 2023.)

The Rockets came two games short of the NBA Finals in the first of four Barkley seasons. Because it is less than clear that not trading for Mr. Barkley would have allowed the Rockets to make one final championship run in the Olajuwon era, we cannot be too hard on the trade.

5. “The Single Best Game Concept Ever” – Pokémon-Inspired Devs Talk The Series That Started It All (Jim Norman for Nintendo Life. March 2, 2026.)

Poké-clones would be more interested if they focused on what the original Pokémon games tried to capture than the specific mechanics.

6. LibreOffice blasts ‘fake open source’ OnlyOffice for working with Microsoft to lock users in (David Uzondu for Neowin. February 20, 2026.)

I like and use LibreOffice, but I do not like this line of attack. It runs afoul of the principles I articulated in my 2022 essay about gaming on Linux. While I too prefer “open formats,” some people looking for Word alternatives may want, for fair reasons, an alternative that prefers .docx. There is room for more than one option out there.

Clicking “Random Article” on NLJ

7. Zero Gravity Foreshadowing in Super Mario Sunshine (Nicholas A. Ferrell at The New Leaf Journal. September 19, 2022.)

I read a contemporaneous interview with Shigeru Miyamoto about Super Mario Sunshine. His use of the phrase (translated as, of course) “zero-gravity platformer” made me wonder whether he was already thinking about/working on the concept for the future Super Mario Galaxy.

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Quoted A Brief Mid-March Snow in Brooklyn by Nicholas A. Ferrell (thenewleafjournal.com)
As I was walking in the Carroll Gardens neighborhood of Brooklyn New York, I noticed small, dust-sized white particles falling sporadically from the sky. After about 30 seconds I was satisfied that I was not hallucinating – it was in fact snowing.

At about 4:00 PM on March 12, 2026, a friend of mine who lines nearby in Brooklyn sent me a message on Delta Chat: it’s snowing. I turned my head to the right to look out my window. Indeed, it was snowing. The snow would stop and start again. As of 5:12 PM, it is not snowing. This snow in March reminded me of an article I published on NLJ five years ago titled A Brief Mid-March Snow in Brooklyn. Then, like today, snow unexpectedly fell from the sky in March. While I remembered writing the article and where I was when it had snowed, I forgot one detail:

After temperatures flirted with 70 degrees over the weekend, they plummeted to highs in the mid-30s on Tuesday, March 16, 2021. While the temperatures were as low as I expected from having read the weather reports, I had not expected snow.

We just came off clearing 60 on four consecutive days, just clearing 80 on Tuesday the 10th. It was still close to 60 when I walked home last night from a show by the distinguished Victor V. Gurbo. But at the time of snow, the temperature was around 40. Today’s snow was a little bit heavier than the snow of March 16, 2021, which I would have almost certainly missed entirely had I not been outside at the time, but between the unexpected snow after a warm stretch following an unusually snowy December-February (see some of my snow photo articles from 2020 and 2026), we can say that history rhymes.

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I am workng on a few “work” projects today. But I have enough time for a new set of daily Pook-Emu Bee links. If you enjoy the links, you can follow via feed (although I personally recommend following the main site feed for all of my postings).

Links from around the web

1. Iconic 121-year-old NYC Italian restaurant Ferdinando’s gets new life — but with a twist (Nicole Rosenthal for the New York Post. March 4, 2026.)

Never been. Sounds like good news. But just to be pedantic, I submit my two cents that Fernando’s is in Columbia Street Waterfront District, not Carroll Gardens. It is just around the corner from the American Beauty Pasta mural I once covered on NLJ.

2. The Nine Best Whole-Pie Pizza Spots in Brooklyn Right Now (Scott Lynch for BK Mag. March 2, 2026.)

I don’t really go out to eat and have not been to any of these places. I know of Frank’s (walk by it regularly) but did not know they made pizza. Now I know.

3. The Insider: Boerum Hill Garden Floor Taps English Design (Cara Greenberg for Brownstoner. February 19, 2026.)

I like it on the whole but the lack of ceiling moldings outside the bedroom (especially kitchen, bathroom, and “gym”) bother me.

4. Review: Tales Of Berseria Remastered (Switch) – QoL Tweaks Make A Brilliant Game Even Better (George Yang for Nintendo Life. March 6, 2026.)

I was playing through Bersaria co-op with a friend back in 2019 and early 2020. Something happened in 2020. Didn’t finish Bersaria but did launch NLJ.

5. Yemen’s Houthis could still join war, IDF sources say (Yonah Jeremy Bob for The Jerusalem Post. March 5, 2026.)

The article throws out a few theories for why the Houthis have been oddly quiet in the current Iran War. I (speciously?) suggested the reason was money three days ago. Alternative theory: Perhaps they are being “held back” as leverage against Saudi Arabia and the UAE.

6. Marco Rubio in Europe: No Foreign National Has a Right to a Visa in U.S. (John Binder for Breitbart. February 16, 2026.)

I have worked on several cases in the past that would have gone better had the petitioner/applicant understood (or acted as if he/she understood) this basic principle.

Clicking “Random Article” on NLJ

Powder Blue Tugboat and Foggy Manhattan Skyline (Nicholas A. Ferrell. October 28, 2022.)

Very much an “as advertised” article from my archive.

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I subscribe to the RSS feed for Brownstoner, a real estate and news publication focusing on Brooklyn. I opened up the January 27, 2026 daily links post by Anna Bradley-Smith and was greeted by a snowman (or snowwoman?) with a very wide base (see photo). Having documented multiple snowmen on The New Leaf Journal (see 2020 (a), 2020 (b), 2021, and 2025 snowmen), I was curious whether I could document the one presented in Brownstoner. Upon examining the image caption and file name, I determined that I could not. Firstly, the image caption says the snowman is in Bed-Stuy. While I can walk to Bed-Stuy (I walked there in 2021 on the same walk I captured a Santa delivery van), I do not go there often and would not be inclined to wander around looking for a snowman in the current walking conditions. But the file name presented a more serious impediment to documenting the wide-base snowman. While the end of the file name specifies “MacDonough Street,” which would help narrow down the location of the snowman, the beginning of the file name includes 2026/01. In light of the fact that it is now 2026/27, I fear that the charming snowman in the photo is no longer with us.

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I read an article about the completion of the renovation of the Brooklyn Public Library in Gerritsen Beach. Although I am a life-long resident of Brooklyn (NYC) and can point out Gerritsen Beach on a map, I have never stepped foot in the neighborhood, which has its own volunteer fire department owing to its relative isolation and narrow streets.

While I had not been previously aware that Gerritsen Beach has a public library, I wrote about the renovations of the Brooklyn Public Library branch in Carroll Gardens, Brooklyn, back in January 2024. According to my reporting (i.e., photographing the relevant signage outside the library), the renovations were projected to be complete within 18-24 months of July 23, 2023. We blew through the outer-limit of that projection nearly five months ago. I have noted on my walks that the Library is still closed, but I did not look into the reasoning. Fortunately, a syndicated copy of the report about the Gerritsen Beach library on Brownstoner included an update about the Carroll Gardens library in the related posts (plus-one for related post links). According to the May 27, 2025 report in Brownstoner:

Additional funding allocated by state Senator Andrew Gounardes last fall ensured all the required work would be done at once, and officials said the library would be finished in summer 2025. But crews from the city’s Department of Design and Construction recently determined that the building would need additional structural enforcements to support the weight of new high-energy HVAC units.

My original report noted that one goal of the renovation was to install a new HVAC system in the library. The new HVAC system proved to be more burdensome than originally expected. The report continues:

Now, according to BPL, DDC plans to wrap up in November 2025, at which point BPL will take over for some additional sprucing up — pushing the reopening date to summer 2026.

As I noted, I can confirm that the permanent Carroll Gardens Library (there is a temporary library in neighboring Cobble Hill) has not yet re-opened. We will see if the new summer 2026 estimate turns out to be accurate.