Tag: california

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We bring August to a close with one Pook-Emu Bee for the road.

A rectangular yellow street sing which says "SLOW" above a silhouette of a running boy, under which we see the text "CHILDREN AT PLAY." Photo taken in the evening against the backdrop of a brick building and window.
I photographed this Children at Play sign on Love Lane in Brooklyn Heights on August 21, 2026.

1 | Understanding And Dealing With Kim Jong-Un’s Resilience (Mario Alexis Portella for American Thinker. August 31, 2026.)
I attribute Kim Jong-un’s resiliance to his looking at everything.

2 | Israel Continues Elimination Campaign Against October 7 Perpetrators and Gaza Terror Commanders (Vijeta Uniyal for Legal Insurrection. August 29, 2026.)
There seems to be a growing correlation between having participated in October 7 and suffering an untimely demise.

3 | Calibre 9.14 Open-Source E-Book Manager Is Out with More AI Features (Marcus Nestor for 9 To 5 Linux. August 27, 2026.)
I’m not one of the people dropping Calibre because of optional AI features (some of which are relatively inoffensive, albeit not useful to me), nor am I in the business of telling people how to run their free and open source projects. With that being granted, I hope we are also working on the non-AI features.

4 | A proposal for new Netflix content rating icons (Eric Bailey. August 25, 2026.) (HT Jim Nielsen.)
I don’t use Netflix, but I see the point about its rating icons. Coincidentally, I was reminded of my article on rating scales.

5 | “I just chose words carefully.” (Marcin Wichary at Unsung. August 30, 2026.)
I never tried typesetting in monospace, but I do use monospace for most of my drafting in my markdown editor.

6 | California lawmakers unanimously pass Linux exemption from age-verification law — software distributed under the GPL, MIT, BSD, and Apache licenses are exempt (Luke James for Tom’s Hardware. August 29, 2026.)
Gavin Newsom dreamed of being President of the United States. He will settle for being accidental Stallman (with hair gel).

7 | Brooklyn city councilmembers look to silence Navy Yard’s noisy raves (Joe Hong for Gothamist. August 29, 2026.)
The correct number of raves in Brooklyn Navy Yard would be 0.

8 | Read This Before You Buy That TV Streaming Stick (Brian Krebs at Krebs on Security. July 30, 2026.)
Alternatively, consider reading “this” and the not buying “that” TV streaming stick.

9 | Bronx Mother Found Not Responsible for Killing Her Two Boys Because of ‘Postpartum Psychosis’ (Lowell Cauffiel for Breitbart. August 29, 2026.)
Someone needs to check in on the Bronx. Not me, mind you. I haven’t been to the Bronx in seven years and that was maybe for a combined 15-20 minutes. I’m good.

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I have a rough three-day work-stretch ahead of me, but the weekday Pook-Emu Bee links streak must continue (I will however compromise on feature images today).

1. Brainless TikTok trend causes $2,000 in damage to SoCal home (Daniel Farr for the New York Post. August 26, 2026.)
States and localities should consider sentence enhancement provisions for crimes committed for social media consumption.

2. EXCLUSIVE: US Investigators Have Proof That UNRWA ‘Social Worker’ Caught on Tape Dragging an Israeli Body Into an SUV on Oct 7 Was an Active Hamas Operative (Adam Kredo for The Washington Free Beacon. August 25, 2026.)
It’s always who you least expect… except for those times when it’s the most obvious suspect.

3. $3 Specialty Coffee Is Back In Brooklyn (Ainsley Martinez for Patch Carroll Gardens-Cobble Hill, NY. August 25, 2026.)
I seldom buy coffee when I’m out (firmly in the DIY coffee camp) but $3 for a cup of any size is cheap around these parts. Maybe I’ll find a reason when out with a friend to give it a try.

4. I switched from Android’s default keyboard to an open source alternative to eliminate my constant typos (Oluwaniyi Raji for Android Police. August 25, 2026.)
I also use Heliboard. It’s good. I turn autocorrect off because autocorrect is a war crime. The predictive suggestions are solid but I tend to forget about them. I need to make myself remember because typing on touchscreens is not a strong area for me.

5. Roblox applies restrictions to games featuring “reward-driven media feeds” available in Roblox Kids and Select (Sophie McEvoy for Games Industry.biz. August 26, 2026.)
The fundamental problem with Roblox is that its ostensible target demographic should not be playing social online games, period.

6. NYC’s borough-based jail boondoggle is nearly $8B over budget and years behind schedule (Matthew Fischetti for the New York Post. August 24, 2026.)
It’s already casting a long shadow.

7. NYers say Citi Bike has gotten too expensive, can a new advocate-led campaign make it cheaper? (Ethan Stark-Miller for amNY. August 18, 2026.)
Hear me out. Instead of stealing my tax money to subsidize City Bike rides for my betters who will then violate traffic laws and threaten to run me over, what if we at least banned the electric City Bikes and made everything more expensive?

8. Smithsonian affiliate AANM gets federal funds, criticized 9/11 response (Robert Schmad for Fox News. August 25, 2026.)
Score another one for team taxation is theft.

9. Taliban facing constant challenge to authority in provinces bordering Central Asian states (Eurasianet. August 25, 2026.)
Economic ties aside, I’ll note that Uzbek and Tajik police don’t take kindly to men having beards, so the Taliban would probably be well-advised (granting I don’t think they’re much into taking advice) to keep their various militants from causing cross-border problems.

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I have been busy today, but the weekday streak of Pook-Emu Bee links continues.

1 | California political candidate facing six years in prison after listing dive bar as home address (Marina Peña for the California Post. August 24, 2026.)
This plan was dumb enough to make me wonder whether she lives in a dive bar.

2 | Summer Wars: An Anime With A Cautionary tale About AI (The Ghastly Mirror. August 24, 2026.)
I watched Summer Wars with a friend a long time ago (maybe 2014-15). I recall liking it well enough so I’ll second the recommendation.

3 | Happy 35th Birthday, Linux! (Marius Nestor for Tux Machines. August 25, 2026.)
35? Linux is still just a kid. Happy birthday to my operating system since 2020!

4 | The Data Center Wars – A Massive Proposed Data Center in Texas Drops Request for Tax Abatements (Buck Throckmorton for Ace of Spades HQ. August 25, 2026.)
Pacifico Energy could have saved itself plenty of grief by not requesting the tax abatements in the first place.

5 | 1000 Blog Posts (Chris at Unaccountable Thoughts. July 6, 2026.)
This is 632 here at ECS (not counting my “social” activity posts).

6 | Seen This Week: Butterflies and Fruits (Kate St. John at Outside My Window. August 15, 2026.)
I’m pro-butterfly, so I approve of this photo post. I haven’t seen many in Brooklyn this year but there have been a decent number of bees and dragonflies lately.

7 | Kanon Analysis: Understanding Mai’s Struggle (Zalor at Zalor’s Seminar. July 10, 2026.)
A very interesting in-depth analysis of the struggle of Mai in the excellent 2006-07 anime adaptation of Kanon (on my distant to-review list). This post includes the analysis video along with the full transcript.

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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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I was busy this morning and forgot to write daily Pook-Emu Bee links. But since tomorrow is newsletter day and there are no Pook-Emu Bee links on newsletter day, I figured I would publish a late-night edition of the Pook-Emu Bee.

1. Can subway rats give New Yorkers hantavirus? Only if you do something extremely disgusting (Natalie O’Neill for the New York Post. May 8, 2026.)

I wouldn’t put it past the TikTok “creators.”

2. Iryna Zarutska Murder Suspect Deemed Incompetent, But Case Will Continue (Amy Furr for Breitbart. May 8, 2026.)

He was competent enough to choose his target on that train car very carefully and deliberately. But not when it comes time for consequences. Many such cases, alas.

3. Military begins prescreening recruits for 28 medical conditions (Patty Nieberg for Task & Purpose. May 6, 2026)

Sounds like a good efficiency gain.

4. Texas-based teleradiologist wins court battle over California income taxes (Marty Stempniak for Radiology Business. May 7, 2026.)

I offer this “content” in California for free just to avoid the potential tax complications.

5. New York’s Teachers’ Unions Are So Progressive, They’re Even Alienating Teachers (Adam Lehodey for City Journal. May 7, 2026.)

I look at who wields power in New York City and conclude that Mr. Lehodey may be engaging in some wishful headline thinking.

6. Brooklyn Heights Greek Revival Asks $9.2 Million (Susan De Vries for Brownstoner. May 7, 2026.)

I like the plaster-work. Roof and garden are clutch. Monroe Place is a nice block. I’ll save up I guess.

7. Cobble Hill’s most expensive listing finds a buyer after a $5M price cut (Jake Indursky for The Real Deal. May 6, 2026.)

I’d take the Monroe Place above for half the price. Monroe Place is also better than Cobble Hill right across Atlantic.

8. Justice Department Finds UCLA Medical School Discriminated Based on Race in Wake of Explosive Free Beacon Reports (Aaron Sibarium for The Washington Free Beacon. May 6, 2026.)

UCLA forgot to tell the Department of Justice that it wasn’t supposed to notice.

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

I need to work on this project for an article already. Many such cases.

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I am winding down a big project today. But I take a brief break to publish our daily Pook-Emu Bee links.

1. I Just Moved From Manjaro Linux To EndeavourOS (Danie van der Merwe at GadgeteerZA. March 25, 2026.)

I made the same Manjaro-to-EndeavourOS move back in July or August of 2022. No regrets. Good move.

2. USC Cancels Gubernatorial Debate Due to Absence of Candidates of Color (Jonathan Turley. March 25, 2026.)

Xavier Baccera, the previous Secretary of Health and Human Services and former Attorney General of California, is running for Governor. He was locked out of the then-upcoming debate because he failed to hit the 3% polling threshold. Normal people would think “wow, I can’t hit the 3% polling threshold that is being hit by political titans of our time such as U.S. Representatives Eric Swalwell (who may or may not actually live in California) and Katie Porter and former long-shot presidential candidate Tom Steyer, maybe I should drop out and preserve my dignity.” But Mr. Baccera is no mere normal person. He fell on the sword and performed a public service by getting the entire debate cancelled. He may not be the next Governor of California, but let no one question is service in support of the greater good.

3. Stadia Controller Reborn As Bluetooth Gamepad Adapter (Ian Bos for Hackaday. March 25, 2026.)

I praised Google back in 2023 for making it possible for unfortunate owners of its former Stadia service to continue using their controllers. Stadia controller owners are becoming creative here in 2026.

4. Hochul’s ‘ominous’ poll results give GOP challenger Bruce Blakeman a potential path to victory (Vaugn Golden and Carl Campanile for the New York Post. March 25, 2026.)

“Wishful thinking” is not a “path to victory.”

5. Meadow is a distraction-light phone with a 3 inch screen and just a few apps (Brad Linder for Liliputing. March 25, 2026.)

The form-factor is adorabe. The product is.,.. odd.

6. Wine 11 rewrites how Linux runs Windows games at the kernel level, and the speed gains are massive (Adam Conway for XDA Developers. March 23, 2026.)

The technical specifics are a bit beyond me but it sounds very promising in the aggregate.

7. City Council approves plans for a 72-story Brooklyn tower (Emily Davis for the New York Post. March 11, 2026.)

It will be the second tallest building in Brooklyn behind Brooklyn Tower, which loomed in the background in one of my recent articles.

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Yesterday, I made up for missing an entry in my new daily Pook-Emu Bee links series. Today, I publish the links early in the day (which is when they should be published).

Links from around the web

1. Wildflower explosion only 4 hours from LA — but it won’t last long (Katie Jerkovich for the New York Post. March 3, 2026.)

Be sure to also enjoy the linked PoppyCam.

2. An AI avatar is running to represent Indigenous voters in Colombia (Mariel Lozada and Rina Chandran for Rest of World. March 4, 2026.)

Alternatively, someone is using a chatbot for a look-at-me stunt.

3. Tired of Gmail’s invasive data collection? Try these privacy-focused alternatives (Paul for AlternativeTo. March 4, 2026.)

A good run-down of Gmail alternatives save for where it conflates “privacy” and “security” (not the same to be sure). I am still rolling my Posteo-SimpleLogin combination although I do have two Gmail accounts as well.

4. Russians in Iran can leave via Turkmenistan, Russian embassy says (Reuters. March 2, 2026.)

The Iran-Turkmen border may be the least-discussed Iran border. Perhaps that is why Russia is directing some of its nationals there. I just hope they do not expect good internet in Turkmenistan.

5. Is it really the end of SaaS as we know it? (Patrick Kulp for Tech Brew. March 2, 2026.)

This sounds promising until you see that the proposed alternative is “vibe coding.”

6. Sad News! AI’s RAM Hunger Finds a New Victim in the Orange Pi Neo Linux Handheld (Sourav Rudra for It’s FOSS. March 2, 2026.)

Even the SBCs aren’t safe from Sam Altman’s voracious memory appetite.

Clicking the “Random Article” button on NLJ

Flowers for Brave Soldiers – Memorial Poem (Nicholas A. Ferrell. May 29, 2023.)

I re-published this early 20th century poem for Memorial Day in 2023. A fitting Random Article choice with the War Department’s naming four of the six U.S. soldiers killed in Operation Epic Fury:

The fallen service members were identified as Capt. Cody Khork, 35, of Lakeland, Florida; Sgt. 1st Class Nicole Amor, 39, of White Bear Lake, Minnesota; Sgt. 1st Class Noah Tietjens, 42, of Bellevue, Nebraska; and Sgt. Declan Coady, 20, of Des Moines, Iowa.

“With flags we are marking / Their last earth-dwelling. / Our hearts are bending / In gratitude…”

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I am late with today’s selection of Pook-Emu Bee Links, but we need not allow a backlog to form (I have enough backlog as it is).

1. The Eerie ‘Blood’ Moon Will Grace the Night Sky Next Week, Thanks to a Total Lunar Eclipse (Margherita Bassi for Smithsonian Magazine. February 27, 2026.)

Sounds neat but New York City does not look like the best place to see it (but I did see the recent Supermoons so we can call it a wash).

2. “Finally, we have a president who…” (Scott Johnson for PowerLine. March 1, 2026.)

Quoting the always-insightful Mike Doran on his tenure working in the G.W. Bush Administration:

When I went to work in the White House in 2005, I was shocked to learn just how geared the American national security establishment was toward appeasing the thugs in Tehran.

3. Switch 2’s GameCube Nintendo Classics Service Adds Pokémon XD: Gale of Darkness Game in March (Alex Mateo for Anime News Network. March 27, 2026.)

I liked Pokémon Colosseum. For whatever reason, I did not get XD Gale of Darkness back in the day (despite having enjoyed Colosseum). Came to regret it. This would be my chance but I have no plans at the moment to buy a Switch 2 (much less whatever subscription tier one would need to play GameCube games).

4. Child predator dubbed ‘monster parents fear most’ cleared for release through California parole program (Stepheny Price for Fox News. February 25, 2026.)

I’ve seen wacky parole board antics in New York but taking up the cause of pedophiles (7 and under pedophiles) doing 20 years plus three consecutive 25-to-life sentences is still an attention-grabber.

5. B-2 Spirits Join Iran Air War, Pummel Underground Missile Caves (Tyler Rogoway for The War Zone. March 1, 2026.)

The superpower round-trip bombing runs from Missouri to Iran are back.