Tag: china

Posted on
by

Let us make it three days of Pook-Emu Bee links in a row.

1 | Million Goods Opens And A Crucial Bike Lane Completed (DeKalb Dispatch. Sep. 11, 2026.)
There’s no such thing as a crucial bike lane.

2 | From Holdout to Hunted: Keith Reddington Seeks Phone Records and Interview with Holdout Clancy Juror (Jonathan Turley. Sep. 22, 2026.)
This guy is a menace.

3 | Susan Rice: U.S. Must Work with China to ‘Freeze’ AI Development (Pam Key for Breitbart. Sep. 21, 2026.)
I think they should be a little more subtle before getting straight to their point.

4 | A powerful West Village 9/11 memorial asks us not to forget one young office worker (Ephemeral New York. Sep. 7, 2026.)
I meant to include this link in a Pook-Emu Bee before 9/11. I wasn’t able to publish much that week. Better late than never.

5 | Video shows rare whale sharks just 100 miles off New York City (John Dias for CBS News. Sep. 3, 2026.)
I’m not a big boat guy so I will stick to bringing you terrestrial NYC news.

6 | Jellyfish Clog Shores and Sting Swimmers as Summer Wanes in Rockaway (Samantha Maldonado for The City Reporter. Sep. 2, 2026.)
I don’t think I’ve ever been to Rockaway so I’ll rate myself as safe.

7 | State Department Says ‘Do Not Travel to Libya for Any Reason’ (John Hayward for Breitbart. Sep. 5, 2026.)
Well. Where do I go now? (Aside: Whoever sees which of the first six links inspired me to drop a Libya story at the end earns smug self-satisfaction.)

Posted on
by

My posting out-put has been subpar of late, but today the Pook-Emu Bee links return for the first time since September 10.

1 | 25 Years Since the Worst Day in My Lifetime (Andrew R. Arthur for Center for Immigration Studies. Sep. 11, 2026.)
Memories of 9/11 and border/visa security in the ensuing quarter-century.

2 | New World Trade Center is fine but it could have been great (Steve Cuozzo for the New York Post. Sep. 12, 2026.)
Given the number of stupid ideas that were floating around in the wake of 9/11 (many of which are noted in this op-ed), I am willing to count the “fine” Freedom Tower as a “W.”

3 | What 9/11 was like for veteran Post police reporter: ‘Nothing could prepare me’ (Larry Celona for the New York Post. Sep. 11, 2026.)
Memories from a repporter who had covered 9/11 on the ground.

4 | The Second Life of Crayons (Dan Lewis for Now I Know. May 15, 2019.)
Innovative crayon recycling.

5 | Guess Who Helped Doxx the Holdout Juror in the Lindsay Clancy Case (Victoria Taft for PJ Media. Sep. 13, 2026.)
Someone ought to look into whether attorney Reddington and his wife have been communicating with some of the “11” subsequent to the trial.

6 | 220 million traveler records exposed in Vietnam-linked APIS leak (Ax Sharma for Bleeping Computer. Sep. 8, 2026.)
I’m 100% sure I am not part of this leak thanks to one simple trick.

7 | Bernie Sanders proposes 20 year prison sentence for AI devs who plow ahead with Artificial Superintelligence plans — penalty on par with illegally developing rogue nuclear weapons (Mark Tyson for Bleeping Computer. Sep. 13, 2026.)
Superintelligence relative to what? If the bar for human intelligence is this proposal than the original Mario Party devs are in trouble.

8 | Publishing your work increases your luck (Aaron Francis for The ReadME Project. Juuly 12, 2022.)
Every Pook-Emu Bee is a roll of the dice.

9 | You Can Drop SEO (Ibrahim Diallo at iDiallo. Sep. 12, 2026.)
Not here I can’t. The “brand SEO” of “Pook-Emu Bee” is too elite.

10 | Feds accuse China of ‘systematic’ distillation of U.S. AI models (Derek B. Johnson for Cyberscoop. Sep. 8, 2026.)
To be fair to China… a decent number try to scrape my sites directly

Posted on
by

Pook-Emu Bee will be taking the weekend off, first for Newsletter Saturday and probably for Sunday, so let us finish this work week strong before I return to my day job.

Two One Way signs and a State St street sign on the ground with construction in Brooklyn Heights.
I took this photo at the corner of State and Clinton Streets in Brooklyn Heights on the evening of August 26, 2026. This is just up the block from where I documented two downed Stop Signs on State in October 2020.

1 | Study Linking Solar Farms to Bird Loss Draws Scrutiny in China (Jiang Xinyi for Sixth Tone. August 28, 2026.)
I found myself scrutinizing the claim that the Chinese government is focusing on solar because it is concerned with China’s carbon emissions.

2 | What the $131 Billion F-15 Contract May Mean For the Air Force (Stephen Losey for Air & Space Forces Magazine. August 27, 2026.)
It may not end up costing $131 billion. Use-dependent.

3 | Brave launches Email Aliases and new Brave Accounts that keep passwords off its servers (Mauricio B. Holguin for AlternativeTo. August 28, 2026.)
I approve of making email aliases more accessable. With that being said here, I will stick with my SimpleLogin subscription.

4 | “Difference, Power & Oppression”: OSU Requires Students to Take Courses on How to “Disrupt” the “Systems of Oppression” in the United States” (Jonathan Turley. August 19, 2026.)
With hope, at least some of the students will come away wanting to disrupt systems of ideological indoctrination in higher education.

5 | Data Center Madness Isn’t About AI (Cremieux Recueil. August 27, 2026.)
This is a good survey of surveys. His conclusions check out but I’ll submit AI is at a minimum not helping the perception of the data centers.

6 | Unhinged straphanger stabs MTA cleaner who scolded him for urinating on busy NYC subway platform: cops, sources (Amanda Woods for the New York Post. August 27, 2026.)
I’d say this guy is behaving like a dog but that would be uncharitable to most of the dogs. Worse yet, he’s probably going around trying to mark every Subway station in New York City without paying the fare.

7 | Italian Teen Girl Nearly Killed by Propeller on Migrant Smuggler Boat (Oliver JJ Lane for Breitbart. August 27, 2026.)
I’d say that I’m looking forward to Sardinian law enforcement explaining why they seem to have been on a mission to minimize the near-vehicular homicide right up until video became public, but alas… I doubt any such explanation is forthcoming.

8 | Wealthy Americans look to New Zealand as demand for ‘golden visas’ booms (Eric Revell for Fox Business. August 10, 2026.)
$5 million? I tip my hat to New Zealand. That is much more expensive that our (often-abused) EB-5 program.

9 | Why won’t the Times name ALL the thieves it has ID’d up in Albany? (New York Post Editorial Board. August 21, 2026.)
I agree with the Post Editorial Board’s theory. With that being said, have they considered that the NYP is one of the most-circulated newspapers in the United States and has major corporate backing? They could… I don’t know… dig into the issue themselves and name names that the Times omitted for reasons we can only imagine? Who works decides.

Posted on
by

Keeping the Pook-Emu Bee weekday streak going on this sunny (here in Brooklyn, at least) August 19, 2026.

Pinetime watchface with text "Firmware update" and a bar indicating 85%.
I upgraded the InfiniTime firmware on my PineTime yesterday.

1 | Vindman Vaporizes $16.2 Million in Loss, Spends 36X DSA Candidate on Ads (Paul Bois for Breitbart. August 18, 2026) & Rep. Cory Mills Unseated in GOP Primary, Ryan Elijah Wins Nomination (Olivia Rondeau for Breitbart. August 18, 2026.)
Both of these Florida primary results made me chuckle in their own ways.

2 | Minnesota’s “Nudification” Ban Repeats Unconstitutional Errors of Early Revenge Porn Bills (Josh Blackman for The Volokh Conspiracy. August 18, 2026.)
I haven’t thought much about the legal particulars but interesting article and caution about crafting laws carefully.

3 | After Europe ditched Windows, China follows suit with its own home-grown Linux distros (Rianne Schestowitz for Tux Machines. August 19, 2026.)
I was originally going to comment that while I am a proponent of Linux, I will respectfully stop short of celebrating the Chinese government’s Linux uptake. But then I saw the quote from the XDA Developers article includes “Here is a fact-based summary of the story contents.” I checked the original article. Sure enough, the page source for XDA’s AI summary includes “Here is a fact-based summary of the article contents.” I’m not an expert on WordPress AI summary plugins but that strikes me as subpar.

4 | Cheap USB-C chargers are actually fine—these 4 specs are all that matter (Ismar Hrnjcevic for How-To Geek. August 17, 2026.)
I have the little UGREEN robot charter pictured in the last image in the article, but in a different color. It’s endearing. I never measured it but I think it charges well enough for all normal charging purposes.

5 | How to Crown — or Deny — a Champion (Neil Paine. November 4, 2025.)
To start: Don’t do what NASCAR has done for most of the last quarter century.

6 | Caputo’s Bake Shop Owner Is Back—This Time in Park Slope (Grand Army Gazette. July 31, 2026.)
This certainly raises some questions given his shifty explanations for the unsanitary demise of his previous endeavor, which I covered in the May 27, 2026 Pook-Emu Bee.

7 | Is this Billboard Hot 100 hit AI slop? (Terrance O’Brien for The Verge. August 1, 2026.)
I had no prior knowledge what “Fenix Flexin” was and I have no interest in investigating further, but I will submit that if you have to ask whether his “work” is AI slop, the fact you have to ask should probably call into question whether it is worth discussing at all. My Basquiat forgery article remains evergreen.

Posted on
by

Is it safe to say the daily Pook-Emu Bee links are “daily” again with three posts in a row?

The window of a washing machine with white foam from laundry detergent visible inside.
I did laundry yesterday evening.

1 – Video Game Accounts Can Be Inherited, Chinese Court Rules (Li Xin for Sixth Tone. August 6, 2026.)

The game account inheritance news from China you have been waiting for.

2 – Switch 2 Surpasses 23 Million Units As Nintendo Claims Sales Remain “Solid” (Ollie Reynolds for Nintendo Life. August 6, 2026.)

While I do not plan to contribute to Switch 2’s sales (as much as I’d like to play the upcoming new Fire Emblem), it looks like it is on a promising start to breaking some of Switch 1’s sales records.

3 – Mamdani Backs Squatters’ Rights in Video Demonizing ‘Billionaire’ Jewish ‘Slumlord’ (Ira Stoll for The Washington Free Beacon. August 6, 2026.)

The theater kids are running amok, but I for one am thankful that they are not (yet) performing musicals.

4 – NY lawmakers want to bring back sex-fueled bathhouses — 40 years after ban during AIDS crisis (Carl Campanile and Hannah Fierick for the New York Post. August 5, 2026.)

Count me in favor of maintaining New York City’s laws against commercial orgy establishments, regardless of who or what they may seek to cater to.

5 – Sanders on Objections to Piker Over 9/11 Comments: I Object to Taking AIPAC Money, I Choose Piker Over Carville (Ian Hanchett for Breitbart. August 4, 2026.)

I could note the obvious about defending the not-subtle 9/11 fan or the pathological obsession with AIPAC. But that would be boring. I’m here to present the take others would miss. Both CNN and Bernie Sanders forgot that Bernie Sanders is not a Democrat (except when he is running for President, of course). Wait… did he just foreshadow a 2028 run?

6 – Tell Us What Kind Of Coffee Your Church Serves And We’ll Tell You What Denomination You Are (The Babylon Bee. August 4, 2026.)

7. Tim Hortons — Oh no, you’re not at a Church… you’re in Canada!: Abort, abort!

I’ll have The Babylon Bee that there was a Tim Hortons on Court Street just across from Borough Hall. Of course, that Tim Hortons did not last. So the joke works in 2026 (from my perspective, at least).

7 – The Premium Mediocre Life of Maya Millennial (Venkat for Ribbonfarm. August 17, 2017.) (HT Espressio Shots.)

This 2017 look at the downwardly mobile urban millennial mindset is interesting in some respects, but deficient in its resistance to examining the role of social media usage. But more importantly, I was heartened to have been unable to follow most of her cultural references despite being a millennial.

8. Elon Musk Launches ‘X Money’ Financial Services Platform to Replace Banks (Lucas Nolan for Breitbart. July 28, 2026.)

I think I’ll stick with my non-social media bank set-up.

9. Ukrainian Drone Attacks Lead Moscow to Revive Idea of Buffer Zone in Border Areas (Paul Goble for Jamestown. July 28, 2026.)

In response to Ukrainian drone strikes targeting infrastructure ever deeper into the Russian Federation, Russian Press Secretary Dmitry Peskov revived the idea of creating a buffer zone in Russian regions lying along the Ukrainian border and in Russian-occupied regions of Ukraine on the other side

I have this strange thought that there’s something else the Russian government could try, or perhaps stop trying, to reduce the number of drone strikes coming from Ukraine.

Posted on
by

I missed Pook-Emu Bee links yesterday, but I am making sure to make up for it by starting this post yesterday.

Photograph of the marina at Brooklyn Bridge Park facing Brooklyn, with the buildings of Brooklyn Heights visible in the background. There are many boats docked at the maraina (four in the immediate foreground). Off in the far left we can see the Brooklyn Bridge.
I took this photograph of the Marina at Brooklyn Bridge Park on the morning of June 7, 2026.

1. Uzbek Fighters in Syria Face Tensions with Al-Sharaa’s Government (Jacob Zenn for Jamestown. June 9, 2026.)

Whatever disagreements the various bands of foreign jihadists have, the Uzbek fighters have good reason to figure out a way to make it work. That reason?

This incident can also serve as a reminder to Central Asian states to continue developing repatriation frameworks for the return of foreign fighters.

In the case of Uzbekistan the concern for someone returning from fighting in Syria would be that the Uzbek security services may have a “repatriation framework” of sorts.

2. Justice Department Investigates Alleged Race Discrimination at the City University of New York (U.S. Department of Justice, Office of Public Affairs. June 9, 2026.)

I can weigh in here as a CUNY grad: Don’t name programs in ways that can be shortened to “BMI”

3. Big tobacco hooked us on ultra-processed foods. It might teach us how to cut back (Maria Godoy for NPR. June 9, 2026.)

Interesting article but I there’s a problem with that headline.

4. Adagio celebrates Iced Tea Month with full-leaf cold brew teas. (Tea & Coffee Trade Journal. June 10, 2026.)

My first thought when I saw this headline was that I wasn’t a big fan of Adagio the visual novel. The tea looks more interesting.

5. Poland furious about failing to land any EU ambassador posts (Krzysztof Mularczyk for Brussels Signal. June 10, 2026.)

My first thought when I saw this headline was “this is still your future, Hungary.” But the article noted that it is also Hungary’s present.

6. Sanctioned Private Chinese Refiner Seeks Non-Iranian Crude (Charles Kennedy for OilPrice.com. June 11, 2026.)

Yet, Hengli could find itself in a Catch-22 situation in procuring non-sanctioned crude to prove that it’s not buying Iranian oil, as sellers may not be too willing to expose themselves to potential secondary sanctions by transacting with an entity sanctioned by the U.S.

I personally avoided this Catch-22 situation by not purchasing sanctioned Iranian crude.

7. ‘AI-pilled’ firms spend $7,500 per employee each month on AI (Rebecca Bellan for TechCrunch. June 10, 2026.) (HT Ambient Irony)

I’m starting to think I’m mighty impressive for running this site at a cost of $0 each month on AI. Should I pay for one of the models so I can ask it if I’m impressive?

Posted on
by

After bouncing back from missing Tuesday with daily Pook-Emu Bee links yesterday, we make it two days in a row with your daily collection of links for May 7, 2026.

1. Mamdani to announce free 2026 World Cup fan events across NYC (Mary Frost for Brooklyn Daily Eagle. April 27, 2026.)

Deputy Mayor for Economic Justice Julie Su said the World Cup is an opportunity to celebrate all of the city’s diverse cultures and people. ‘In the past, host cities have been criticized for failing to ensure their own workers and residents benefit and get to participate in the opportunities this global game presents,’ she said, calling Mamdani’s approach ‘a new model.’

New York City is not a “host city.” There will no World Cup matches being played in New York City.

2. Lasers, hawks and even guns haven’t solved the UK’s pigeon problem. There is a better way (Sydney Lobe for The Guardian. May 4, 2026.)

There is a better way. Stop being hysterical. Help pigeons in need.

3. Warren Buffett on Sports Betting: ‘It’s a Tax on Stupidity’ (Dylan Gwinn for Breitbart. May 6, 2026.)

I have never been one to wait at the base of the mountain for Warren Buffett to appear with a tablet, but he’s certainly not wrong here.

4. How the Portland Fire marketers created content without players (Alyssa Meyers for Marketing Brew. May 6, 2026.)

They have their work cut out for them when the team with no players is called the “Fire.” Are we mere years away from a Portland Fire/Indiana Fever final? The original WNBA teams had great names. New York Liberty, Houston Comets, Phoenix Mercury, etc. But after, even shortly after like the Portland Fire, they lost the [Los Angeles] Sparks.

5. Beijing Frames the Trump Visit (David Bandurski for China Media Project. October 28, 2025.)

Cameras have an tend to love President Trump so China should not have difficulty framing the visit, assuming it is not scuttled by one geopolitical circumstance or another. But I would recommend that Chinese officials ensure that the Mao and Xi frames always have a place of honor, prudence and all.

6. The Partisan Asymmetry In Callais (Josh Blackman for Reason. May 4, 2026.)

Asymmetrical no more.

7. REVEALED: EU Planning Forceful Merging of BlueSky with X (Peter Caddle for Gript. May 1, 2026.)

The extent to which this is an actual plan rather than one policy document is perhaps overstated by the headline, but I think X has enough moderation failures involving bots and grifters without taking on Bluesky’s considerable baggage.

8. The NBA lottery reform is good, actually (Mike Shearer at Basketball Poetry. May 1, 2026.)

It seems alright but I suspect tanking will still be an “issue,” especially in years where there exists the perception that there are 3-4 elite, top-pick caliber prospects.

9. Oscars: Film Academy Cracks Down on AI, Opens Up International and Acting Categories (Scott Feinberg for The Hollywood Reporter. May 1, 2026.)

The organization’s board of governors decreed that the only sorts of performances that will be eligible for acting Oscars are those credited in a film’s legal billing and demonstrably performed by humans with their consent. (This appears to address questions raised by the posthumous completion of a performance by Val Kilmer, who died in 2025, using AI.). Additionally, the Academy explicitly spelled out that only human-authored screenplays are eligible for writing Oscars.

The Oscars and 3D people movies are not my area, but these new rules sound good to me.

Posted on
by

I have a few new work assignments today (Sad!) but more than enough time (or just enough time) for our regularly scheduled edition of daily Pook-Emu Bee links.

1. OpenAI calls for robot taxes, a public wealth fund, and a 4-day workweek to tackle AI disruption (Tom Carter for Business Insider. April 6, 2026.)

I came across an article recently suggesting ways the big AI players could modify their PR approaches. I said it was impossible. The people running them have no theory of the mind for normal human beings. See e.g., You do communism while we do capitalism.

2. The Cult Of Vibe Coding Is Insane (Brian Cohen. April 5, 2026.)

The dangers of getting high on your own supply.

3. In bloom: NY and NJ cherry blossoms are objectively the best in the nation (Ryan Kost for The Gothamist. April 4, 2026.)

I can’t speak for the whole nation but NYC does have some good blossoms.

4. So, While You Still Have CSAR in Your Scan (CDR Salamander. April 6, 2026.)

On rescue operations and learning for potential future conflicts.

5. Nieces of Late Iranian Terror Commander Face Deportation (Andrew R. Arthur for CIS. April 6, 2026.)

I’ve worked on some plausible asylum cases that were denied. Meanwhile…

6. City unveils $24M sanitation facility in Gowanus, advances long-delayed CSO tank construction (Kirstyn Brendlen for Brooklyn Paper. April 3, 2026).

Speaking of the Gowanus Canal…

7. Your Dishwasher Filter Is Disgusting: Here’s How to Clean It (Charlie Sorrel for IFIXIT. April 6, 2026.)

I am 100% confident that I do not have a disgusting dishwasher filter. But my secret is proprietary (or betrayed by my careful word choices).

Posted on
by

For once I’m not too busy today. But even if I were busy, I would still publish the newest edition of Pook-Emu Bee.

1. Discover more of the Fediverse with tags.pub (Matthias Pfefferle at ActivityPub for WordPress. April 2, 2026.)

Done!

2. Sony Shuts Down Nearly Its Entire Memory Card Business Due to Flash Shortage (Jason Schneider for PetaPixel. March 27, 2026.)

AI has come for the SD cards. Constantine XI implores us forward. Hang on to your thumb drives!

3. Nike just can’t do it in China (David Lozo for Morning Brew. April 2, 2026.)

Couldn’t happen to a nicer company.

4. Canonical raises Ubuntu 26.04 LTS Desktop minimum RAM requirement from 4 GB to 6 GB (Paul for AlternativeTo. April 2, 2026.)

I’d make a RAM joke but to be fair GNOME would have already been close to the last desktop environment I would run on something with 4 GB RAM.

5. The White House’s AI Strategy Is Too Little, Too Late (Danny Crichton for City Journal. March 24, 2026.)

Agreed to the extent which they spent a year running roughshod over legitimate concerns about the behavior of AI companies before considering changing course. Not sure about all the solutions. For example, I don’t think the AI leaders in place now are capable of “energetically persuad[ing] voters of the benefits to come” without being creepy, but a small reassessment is welcome so perhaps it is not “too late” yet.

6. Paul Pierce on the Dwyane Wade or James Harden debate (HoopsHype. April 1, 2026.)

Interesting debate. Mr. Wade’s “prime” was relatively short and some of it was wasted (2006-07 through 2009-10) on bad-to-mediocre teams. He was at his best from 2005-06 through 2010-11 before the knee problems really took their toll. Mr. Harden had a longer peak and is having a better post-peak. But if we are making a best-vs-best comparison, I’d be inclined to say Mr. Wade’s 2005-06 campaign, capped by his historically great playoff run and Finals, would take the cake. But this is one comparison where you can go either way depending on how you look at it.

7. The Good Old Hyperlink (Kyle Labriola at Discard Pile. February 6, 2026.)

No shortage of those here!

Posted on
by

I missed posting Pook-Emu Bee links on Friday and Saturday was newsletter day. But today we are back and ready to trim down my list of unused Pook-Emu Bee links. If you enjoy the (almost) daily links and commentary, you can also follow via feed.

1. Quinn Cook says overseas hoops career hurt by global politics (Mark J. Spears for ESPN. March 11, 2026.)

Losing the opportunity to play in Rwanda was an unexpected bummer. But I would have questioned the plan of signing up to play in Iran before the tensions of early 2026.

2. OS/2 Never Went Away. Its Successor Has Received An Update (Jenny List for Hackaday. March 13, 2026.)

I’d try a free and open source and free as in bird OS/2 successor.

3. NYC Council Dems float bizarre plan to crack down on the supermarket self-checkout line (Rich Calder for the New York Post. March 14, 2026.)

It’s always adorable when people who are not particularly bright think they are being subtle when they try to be clever. With that being said, I would not want to scan 15+ items in self-checkout.

4. The other war the world is ignoring (Feryaz Ocakli and Yelana Bieerman for The Interpreter. March 13, 2026.)

I an puzzled by the take that China wants Pakistan to light up Afghanistan and that India has motivations for aligning itself with the Taliban other than increasing pressure in Pakistan.

5. Chinese Lawmaker Proposes Sex Ed in Kindergarten to Boost Birthrates (John Heyward for Breitbart. March 13, 2026.)

I would have suggested not having a state-sponsored infanticide policy for four decades but it’s probably too late for that idea.

6. Qatari Fund Cooks Up a Premium Papa Johns Bid (Jamie Wilde for The Daily Upside*. March 13, 2026.)

Time to use the pizza Qatar?

7. WordPress Launches Playground-Powered Personal Workspace, but Reception Is Mixed (Rae Morey for The Repository. March 12, 2026.)

There is a reason I draft all of my articles outside of WordPress.

8. Over $56,000 in clothing stolen during Lululemon, Alo theft ring in Brooklyn and Manhattan (Julia Burns and Zoe Cosgrove for News12 Brooklyn. March 13, 2026.)

In Newsletter Leaf Journal 241, I expressed my willingness to reserve judgment about an individual who had stolen $30,000 of Labubu collectables. My reasoning: Maybe he stole them to destroy the abominations. Here too I reserve judgment. While this theft ring most likely consists of criminals who should be in prison, I cannot yet rule out the small possibility that their goal was to take a stand against the common misconception that leggings are pants.

9. Rough winter leaves many NYC traffic signals on the fritz (Liam Quigley for Gothamist. March 8, 2026.)

I did not see this particular problem in my area. But even if I had, I would not adjust my pro-salt take.

Posted on
by

It is time for more daily links in the second edition of the Pook-Emu Bee.

Links from around the web

Shiroi Printer – Visual Novel Review (Nicholas A. Ferrell at The New Leaf Journal. February 25, 2026.)

I have now published more visual novel reviews in 2026 than I did in all of 2025. Things are looking up. This one takes just 10-15 minutes to read and is available to play for free in your favorite web browser, so it is a very “accessable” visual novel to try if my review piques your interest.

DOJ Board Adds New Mechanism to Deter Marriage Fraud (Andrew R. Aruthor for Center for Immigration Studies. February 25, 2026.)

A very good article on the recent Board of Immigrations precedential decision in Matter of Jin, 29 I&N Dec. 441 (BIA 2026), which I covered last week on NLJ. The views expressed are agreeable to me. It also discusses an interesting note in Matter of Jin about how USCIS apparently cut down on the number of marriage petition interviews from Jan 2021 to Jan 2025 (not smart).

Mobile game developer denies gen AI use after AI tool watermark shows up on official promo artwork (Amber V for Automation West. February 25, 2026.)

I for one am shocked that producers of trash free to play, pay to win mobile games are getting caught with their hand in the AI cookie jar. But that aside, they are still doing Code Geass stuff? I know they have done some spin-off shows and a movie which I understand does a good job of undermining the end of the anime, but the first season is going on 20 now. I like Code Geass for what it is (see my discussion in Newsletter Leaf Journal 102) but this is some longevity.

Parents opt kids out of school computers, insisting on pen and paper instead (Tyler Kingkade for NBC News. February 16, 2026.)

Parents are typically asked to sign paperwork at enrollment granting consent for the schools to give their kids laptops. Nicki Petrossi said when she initially refused to sign it in 2024, the school district in Fullerton, California, told her that she was legally barred from doing so. According to a letter the district provided her, reviewed by NBC News, administrators argued state rules require children to use computers if that’s how the school is teaching a curriculum.

The people at the school district do not seem to understand the purpose of a consent form, so I can see why they may feel like they need to outsource their cognitive functioning to Apple, Google, Microsoft, and OpenAI.

CK Hutchison says Panama Canal port workers removed after court-ordered takeover (Reuters. February 23, 2026.) & Panama Takes Control of Key Canal Ports After Court Nullifies China-Linked Contracts (Christian K. Caruzo for Breitbart. February 24, 2026.)

I know the Chinese Communist Party thinks that being unceremoniously thrown out of Panama is unfair, but think about how much more time they will have to focus on the South China See.

This day in NLJ history

“Mondrian” – Victor V. Gurbo on his Original Song (Victor V. Gurbo for The New Leaf Journal. February 25, 2021.)

Victor wrote about his original song, Mondrian, five years to the day (link to the recording included). As readers will learn, Mondrian was not the main interest for the song (but he was for the artwork).

Posted on
by
Quoted Audio transcript of: Chinese Nationals Sentenced to 46 Years in Prison for 'Cyber-Terrorism' in Nigeria by Frances MartelFrances Martel (breitbart.com)
The two men processed this week, Huang Haoyu and An Hongxu, were sentenced to serve 46 years in prison each and are mandated to serve three days of community service following the prison sentence before being deported.

Courtesy of Breitbart, two Chinese men in Nigeria pled guilty to cyber terrorism charges and were each sentenced to 46 years in prison and three days of community service before deportation. Breitbart reports that Nigerian prosecutors asked for life sentences, so the 46 years in prison could have been worse. But I can’t help but think that the three days of community service may be a little bit gratuitous (unless Nigeria allows them to do the community service during the 46-year prison sentence). PM News Nigeria goes into more detail on the case.

Posted on
by

I had never heard of “Mixue” before reading Tom Whitwell’s 52 things I learned in 2025. To learn about Mixue, I turn to the post cited to by Mr. Whitwell, The story of Mixue by Sam Tang. Mr. Tang explains that Mixue is a fast food chain in China run by two brothers who started out selling shaved ice in 1997. The post is interesting and well-worth reading, but I single out the same fact that Mr. Whitwell did (quoting Mr. Tang):

As of Q3’24, Mixue operates more than 45,000 stores globally (only 20 being self-owned). This makes it the largest food chain worldwide by store count.

Sam Tang

According to Newsweek, as of September 2024, about 90% of Mixue’s approximately 45,000 outlets were located in China, while noting that some of the non-China locations are found in Indonesia, Vietnam, and Malaysia. The Economist noted that there were no Mixue locations in the United States as of March 7, 2025 (perhaps that is why I never heard of it). It is worth noting that Mixue’s business model is different than some other big chains. According to BBC, “[u]nlike Starbucks, which operates more than half of its stores directly, almost all of Mixue’s outlets are run by franchises.” Mr. Tang explained that Mixue generates “revenue primarily by providing raw materials and equipment to franchisees (97% of their revenue), rather than collecting hefty franchise fees or taking a share of profits.” There may be some other caveats in assessing what the world’s biggest fast food chain is. For example, BBC noted that the 45,000 number was “according to Mixue,” which touted the big total for slightly eclipsing McDonald’s and Starbucks, which it placed at “over 43,000” and “40,576” respectively. But regardless of how you count, it sounds like Mixue is doing big business in China and in the markets (I am good though, I think we already have enough junk food options).

Posted on
by

From Reuters:

Chinese producers of plastic Christmas trees and other festive decorations say orders from U.S. clients, which are crucial for their business, should have started to come in by now. But because of surging import tariffs, they haven’t.

[Reuters, April 10, 2025]

I never had a plastic Christmas Tree. But I recall having said something about the fact that they tend to come from China to a friend a few months ago. Should the center-piece of many Christmas living roons be made in a country that persecutes Christians as a matter of state policy?

In cheerier Christmas Tree news, I published many fun Christmas Tree links in Newsletter Leaf Journal 166, which hit inboxes and feed readers on December 23, 2023.

Posted on
by

Haleluya Hadero of the Associated Press begins her report [Haleluya Hadero for The Associated Press]:

Hearing a lot about Lemon8 lately? You’re not the only one.

I have not heard of Lemon8. Is this going to be another Temu situation?

Ms. Hadero continued:

Amid a looming U.S. ban on TikTok, content creators have been pushing the platform’s sister app. Lemon8 resembles an amalgamation of the types of short-form videos found on TikTok and the picture-perfect aesthetic of Instagram and Pinterest.

Sister? TikTok has siblings other than the for-Chinese version of TikTok (since China does not allow TikTok)?

Like its popular relation, Lemon8 is owned by China-based ByteDance, whose collection of internationally available apps also includes the video editing app CapCut and the photo and art editing app Hypic. In addition, the company operates Douyin, the Chinese sibling of TikTok that follows Beijing’s strict censorship rules.

TikTok should be banned (you were right the first time Mr. President-elect). When it tries to give you a lemon, you should also ban the lemon. When it tries to give you eight lemons, you should ban all eight lemons.