Tag: life in brooklyn

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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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Quoted Shoppers are still spending on expensive dairy products amid inflation by Matty Merritt (Morning Brew)
With grocery item costs up everywhere, even $10 butter feels like a reasonable little treat.

Writing for Morning Brew, Matty Merritt covered “luxury butter.” According to the author: “With grocery item costs up everywhere, even $10 butter feels like a reasonable little treat.” I live in an expensive area of Brooklyn, New York City (even by the general standards of Brooklyn) and I would have to put effort into spending $10 on butter. Let it be said that $10 butter does not strike me as a “reasonable little treat.” Similarly, he writes about $15 pints of ice cream (I just bout a 46 oz tub of Turkey Hill Simply Natural ice cream at a local grocery store for $5) and $30 frozen yogurt (spending $30 on frozen yogurt is the result of frightening levels of Instagram and TikTok usage). It is one thing to write about some people spending like drunken sailors who spend too much time on social media, but another to segue into a suggestion that it is a default state of affairs.

A carton of Turkey Hill Simply Natural ice cream, caramel flavor.
$5 sale. Nice. I like the Simply Natural line from Turkey Hill.

(In contrast, I will note that egg prices were legitimately loony in late 2024-early 2025 after the Feds killed all the chickens, albeit even then I was able to find somewhat reasonable prices at one of my favorite fruit and vegetable marts.)

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Monday is a fun day. One reason Monday is a fun day is because it marks the return of Pook-Emu Bee links after the weekend. Speaking of the weekend, I published links and commentary to enjoy in Saturday’s Newsletter Leaf Journal 284.

Photograph of an intersection with a short red brick building with an American Flag outside and tall apartment buildings in the background.
My photograph of the intersection of Carroll and Bond Streets in Gowanus, Brooklyn. Taken on June 15, 2026.

1. Historic Carroll Street Bridge in Gowanus reopens after 5-year renovation (Aaron Ginsburg for 6sqft New York City. June 11, 2026.)

The above photo is from my walk to the re-opened Carroll Street Bridge. Why did I go to the Bridge? NLJ article forthcoming…

2. Brussels welcomes US-Iran deal and presses for toll-free reopening of Hormuz (Brussels Signal. June 15, 2026.)

Everyone is learning what is in this sure-to-succeed deal (or MOU) except me.

3. GentleOS, A Simple OS For Your Old PC (Jenny List for Hackaday. June 13, 2026.)

This looks worth trying. Maybe it is time for me to sharpen my VM skills.

4 & 5. Knicks fans set school bus on fire in Times Square madness: ‘I’m scared for my homies!’ ( Jennifer Bain, Jordan Donegan, and Katherine Donlevy for the New York Post. June 14, 2026.) & 63 people arrested, 4 stabbings and 1 shooting reported in NYC as Knicks fans go wild celebrating NBA Finals win (Fenix Suriel, Joe Marino, Jorge Fitz-Gibbon and Steven Vago for the New York Post. June 14. 2026.)

You would have thought that the violence after the first four games would have put the NYC government on notice for potential violence after the championship-clinching game. Maybe authorities just wanted to rekindle to 2020 vibes.

6. More than 75 data center build-outs worth $130 billion have been successfully blocked in the first three months of 2026 — bipartisan opposition mounts nationwide over fears of soaring power and water costs (Joe Morales for Tom’s Hardware. June 13, 2026.)

Many of the concerns raised by residents include massive electricity price hikes, egregious water consumption, and potential noise pollution, among others. However, there have also been reports that Chinese users have been amplifying these issues while posing as Americans.

Let no one doubt my credentials on the CCP propaganda beat, but one must be cautious of attributing potentially reasonable oppositions to one thing or another because the Chinese government may have its own reasons propagandizing.

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I have an assignment I need to finish today. But I will not let that stop me from capping off the work-week with one more edition of Pook-Emu Bee links. Pook-Emu Bee will be off tomorrow for Newsletter Day.

Photograph of a green leafy tree in front of a brick building seen through a chicken wire window.
The scene behind my second monitor as I draft this post.

1. How Mamdani Should Reform New York City’s Elections (John Ketcham and Jack Santucci for City Journal. June 10, 2026.)

Never go full “think tank.” Take a walk. Think about what you are writing.

2. Bluesky is getting Reddit-inspired communities built for topic-focused discussions (Mauricio B. Holguin for AlternativeTo. June 11, 2026.)

Reddit is bad enough without people thinking about how to make worse versions of Reddit.

3. Celtic elite grave discovered in the Taunus mountains (livius for The History Blog. June 9, 2026.)

An elite Celtic grave has been discovered near Bad Camberg in the Taunus mountain range of western Germany. The grave goods are exceptional and include gold, chariot remains and an imported Etruscan bronze jug. It dates to the 5th century B.C. and is the first Celtic princely grave discovered in the Taunus mountains.

The Etruscans force their way into the story.

4. RetroPad is a ‘full-feature-parity version of Notepad from XP’ in just 2,749 bytes — x86 assembly coded apps comes from Windows legend Dave W Plummer (Mark Tyson for Tom’s Hardware. June 7, 2026.)

I used to use Notepad sometimes in my Wndows days (which ended on Windows 10 in 2020). Should I try running this with WINE?

5. Long Island bishop using Knicks’ NBA Finals run to convince long-suffering fans there is a God (Alex Mitchell for the New York Post. June 7, 2026.)

I haven’t watched any NBA games since the 2019 Finals (despite my NBA writing here and on NLJ), but from what I’m hearing through the grapevine he may be making a compelling case here.

6. Brave Software releases Origin for a paid, bloat-free browsing experience (Lawrence Abrams for Bleeping Computer. June 4, 2026.)

I use it for work on my workstation and as my primary browser on my mini PC for my TV. It is good. Of course, I am using free Brave Origin because I run Linux btw.

7. Persona 30th Anniversary Nendoroid Featuring Persona 3, 4, And 5 Protagonists Opens For Pre-Order (Orpheus Joshua for Noisy Pixel. June 5, 2026.)

They’re missing two. If your first thought is the female protagonist from P3P, that is one of the two. But I am more offended by the absence of a different female protagonist… one who was the box cover character for one of the Persona releases.

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Replied to Linkfest #35: Diasimocracy, Four Loko Collectors, and What It's Like To Survive A Grizzly Attack by Clive Thompson (The Linkfest)
I live next to the Gowanus Canal, a phantasmagorically polluted industrial waterway in Brooklyn. Touching it with your bare hand would give you, like, syphilis or something.

I recently came across Clive Thompson’s Linkfest newsletter (hosted on Buttondown just like my own Newsletter Leaf Journal). Each issue consists of links he collected from around the web with commentary (also similar to Newsletter Leaf Journal, but with more links and commentary). I saved a good number of links from all the issues (mainly science and history related) that appeared in my feed reader after I added his feed. I also found a couple of websites of interest from his newsletter that are now part of my feed collection.

In Linkfest 35 last May, he shared a link about Brooklyn’s Venetian-esque waterway, the Gowanus Canal. Like me, he adds some commentary about the Gowanus Canal for the benefits of readers who are not from Brooklyn. But unlike me, he lives next to the Canal. Mr. Thompson described it as “phantasmagorically polluted” and suggested that “[t]ouching it with your bare hand would give you, like, syphilis or something.” I respectfully disagree. I think touching it with your bare hand would cause you to grow a new finger on that hand. My position is consistent with my December 2021 Justin and Justina dialogue suggesting that the Canal would cause seagulls seen in its vicinity to grow thumbs.

All jokes aside, I stand by my recent assertion that the Gowanus Canal has improved dramatically over the last few years. With that being said, I would still not sign up to be Mr. Thompson’s neighbor right next to the Canal.

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The Pook-Emu Bee, your favorite (or “favourite” if you prefer British English) daily links collection, returns after taking two days off for Newsletter Leaf Journal Saturday and Easter.

1. E-Bikes = Freedom (Matthew Morgan at World of Matthew. April 6, 2026.)

The “Why the hatred of e-bikes?” section summarizes my feelings about e-bikes in Brooklyn, New York City.

2. Mamdani signs ’emergency’ order to block concerts, food festivals at NYC parks during FIFA World Cup (Carl Campanile for the New York Post. April 6, 2026.)

The actual policy does not affect me. But I include the link to note that the World Cup games are being played in New Jersey, not New York City. After the Mayor suggested last week that being able to commute across the Brooklyn Bridge has something to do with accessing World Cup matches in New Jersey, I am beginning to think the leadership of New York City is suffering from some sort of collective delusion.

3. AI-Generated Data Can Poison Future AI Models (Rahul Rao for Scientific American. July 28, 2023.)

This bridge had been crossed before this article was published in July 2023.

4. Noelia Castillo Ramos and the Dictatorship of Happiness (Tiare Gatti Mora for Compact. April 3, 2026.)

What we value is no longer a meaningful life, but a life in which we achieve and maintain a positive emotional state.

5. George Harrison Explains Why Everyone Should Play the Ukulele (Open Culture. October 16, 2024.)

My first thought when I read this was Haruko’s “ukulele no good” line in episode 3 of FLCL. Of course, she was using the ukulele as a weapon, which was a very different use-case than what George Harrison had in mind.

6. Claude Code’s source reveals extent of system access (Thomas Claburn for The Register. April 1, 2026.)

I employ a secret method to ensure that Claude does not have access to my system. I won’t reveal it (proprietary, unlike some of Claude’s source code now), but I will tell you that I achieve it without installing anything.

7. Rookies almost never make good teams better (Henry Abbott at TrueHoop. April 3, 2026.)

Despite being the person who wrote an entire essay arguing the contrarian position that the Detroit Pistons would not have been better off had they drafted Carmelo Anthony over Darko Milicic in 2003, Mr. Abbott’s position is far too extreme for my taste. For example, while he notes that Cooper Flagg’s advanced stats are middling, I do not think it follows that Flagg would not have potentially made a good team better in a smaller role than he is playing for the Mavericks.

8. Microsoft inches closer to glass storage breakthrough that could finally make ransomware attacks impossible in the data center and hyperscalers — but only Azure customers will benefit from it (Keumars Afifi-Sabet for Tech Radar. December 6, 2023.)

Glass storage looks aesthetic. I approve.

9. The Melancholy Of Haruhi Suzumiya 20th Anniversary Project Revealed With New PV And Art (Orpheus Joshua for Noisy Pixel. April 3, 2026.)

I watched Haruhi a few years after it aired in 2006. The titular character is still an all-timer in 2D person stage presence. (I referenced her in my best female character award section for 2024 and in a short post about anime characters with brown hair). Haruhi also informed my articles on Halloween in Japan and anime characters with brown hair. Haruhi as a show? I still think it is good but it is certainly not the best-aging show of the era. Speaking of the era, I need to do a 2006 Anime Review at some point. 2006 was loaded. Of course, I need to write 2025 first…

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Quoted Toothpaste Expiration Dates by Nicholas A. Ferrell (The New Leaf Journal)
How am I going to eat all this toothpaste before it expires?

This is the 59th entry in Nicholas A. Ferrell’s long-running Justin and Justina dialogue series. Inspired by a true story (N.A. Ferrell, who is me writing in the third person, bought things at Lot Less), Justin and Justina discuss toothpaste expiration dates. Very exciting stuff.

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The daily Pook-Emu Bee links were off yesterday thanks to Newsletter Leaf Journal 272. But with no new newsletter coming until next Saturday, the Pook-Emu Bee returns. If you enjoy the (almost) daily links and commentary, you can also follow via feed.

1. Awesome Ghibli Howl’s Moving Castle figure is also a puzzle and an organizer (Casey Baseel for SoraNews24. March 22, 2026.)

I saw Howl’s Moving Castle back in high school after class one day when a friend brought it in and we used one of the school’s TVs. That was before I had seen much anime beyond the Adult Swim selection. Good movie. Cool puzzle here.

2. Hundreds of delivery drivers hanging outside East Village mosque overwhelming locals, forcing NYC businesses to close (Steve Galvin for the New York Post. March 21, 2026.)

There is a mosque in Cobble Hill (Brooklyn) that was being used as a gathering spot/staging area for the food delivery e-bikers. Thus, I am familiar with the phenomenon. Fortunately, I have not seen bathing or grooming areas here across the river.

3. Trump’s DHS Celebrates 10th Month of Zero Releases of Illegals at Border (John Binder for Breitbart. March 20, 2026.)

The “border crisis” during the prior administration was caused by reversable deliberate policy choices. Nevertheless:

Similarly, the Trump administration marked the 13th consecutive month where there have been fewer than 9,000 illegal border crossers captured at the border. This indicates a 95 percent decline in border apprehensions compared with Biden-era levels.

13 consectutive months under 9,000 apprehensions is wholly unprecedented since the stats have been compiled and better than your optimistic border hawk would have likely predicted.

4. The Bigme B6 Color E-Ink Tablet (Max Glenister. January 26, 2023.)

The only Android e-ink device I would be inclined to consider would be from PocketBook (I have two non-Android PocketBook readers). Nevertheless, interesting review for learning more about what is out there.

5. New cherry blossom party picnic essential: This super-handy folding cardboard table (Casey Baseel for SoraNews24. March 21, 2026.)

I found myself thinking of the cardboard box table your house comes with in Animal Crossing.

6. How important was it for Hamlin to dominate at season’s first 1.5-mile oval? (Neil Paine for NASCAR.com. March 19, 2026.)

On the predictive value of performances on 1.5 mile ovals.

7. Windows 11 updates will scale back unnecessary Copilot integrations, let you reposition the taskbar, and more (Brad Linder for Liliputing. March 20, 2026.)

I have not used Windows since 10. I did not know 11 prevents you from moving the task bar. As I look at my task bar at the top of my screen, I can conclude that this would have annoyed me had I stayed on Windows instead of switching to Linux.

8. Black Forest® Gummies Go Fully Organic (Vending Connection. March 20, 2026.)

The forest-themed gummies make for good branding consistency. Have they considered National Park Typeface?

9. The dead Internet is not a theory anymore. (Adrian Krebs. March 11, 2026.)

He has a good story about an AI “agent” apparently having requested a job interview on someone’s behalf. But let it be said that the Pook-Emu Bee is a living internet publication (confidently originalist, however).

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Quoted The Week in Brooklyn: March 15–21, 2026 by orliorli (brooklynbridgeparents.com)
After more than a decade of broken promises, the Hotel Bossert at 98 Montague Street in Brooklyn Heights is finally under renovation. SomeraRoad, which bought the building for $100 million last year, began replacing the old scaffolding this week so that facade repairs can start. The 1909 landmark — once known as the “Waldorf-Astoria of Brooklyn” and the site of the Dodgers’ 1955 World Series celebration — will be converted into 60 to 70 condominiums. Interior demolition begins in April or May, with exterior restoration later this year. A new restaurant is planned for the ground floor, with SomeraRoad reportedly in talks with “very accomplished restaurateurs.” Montague Street hasn’t had this much to look forward to in a long time.

I saw new scaffolding going up around the iconic, and now derelict, Bossert Hotel building in Brooklyn Heights. According to Brooklyn Bridge Parents, the new scaffolding is going up so that new new owner, SomeraRoad, which bought the building for $100 million in 2025, can begin work on the facade (I have lost track of how many times it has been sold since the Jehovah’s Witnesses gave it up). More interestingly, Brooklyn Bridge Parents reports that “[i]nterior demolition begins in April or May, with exterior restoration later this year.” It adds that “[a] new restaurant is planned for the ground floor…” There have been many “false starts” regarding the Bossert in recent years, but I have my fingers crossed that SomeraRoad will actually undertake and complete the planned work. You can see the side of the Bossert under the old scaffolding in a photo I took of a Cybertruck.

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I continue my perfect daily Pook-Emu Bee links stretch. If you enjoy the (almost) daily links and commentary, you can also follow via feed.

1. Japanese onsen egg maker from 100-yen store Daiso needs to be on your shopping list (Oona McGee for SoraNews24. March 18, 2026.)

It sounds like a great deal on paper but the hidden costs caution me, a resident of Brooklyn, New York City, from pulling the trigger.

2. Rune Factory, Story Of Seasons 20th Anniversary Site Updated With Illustrations, Popularity Polls (Orpheus Joshua for Noisy Pixel. March 17, 2026.)

I thought to myself “it doesn’t feel like 20 years.” To be fair to me, the first Rune Factory did not make it state-side until 2007, so I was right in a way. 2027 project in store?

3. Man shot in the leg overnight in Boerum Hill (News 12. March 18, 2026.)

Two days ago, I complainted that a story about swastika graffiti incorrectly placed the incident in Brooklyn Heights. Today, I must inform News 12 that no reasonable construction of “Boerum Hill” includes 3rd Avenue (I am glad to read the victim is “expected to reover”).

4. The “RAMpocalyse” Forces Retroid To Temporarily Discontinue One Handheld And Hike The Price Of Another (Damien McFerran for Time Extension. March 18, 2026.)

My take-away from this article was the $4,299 AYANEO Next.

5. Would John Roberts Have Become Chief Justice If He Was Confirmed To The D.C. Circuit in 1992? (Josh Blackman at The Volokh Conspiracy. March 17, 2026.)

While I agree with Mr. Blackman that John Roberts would have probably not become Chief Justice of the Supreme Court had his first nomination to D.C. Circuit been successful, I think there is a decent chance he would have still been a “candidate” for one of the openings under George W. Bush.

6. When Deron Williams boldly proclaimed he was the best point guard in the league (Peter Sunjic for Basketball Network. November 12, 2025.)

Mr. Williams was at no point the “best” point guard in the NBA. But I would be comfortable placing him third for most if not all of his best three-season stretch from 2007-08 through 2009-10 (behind Messrs. Chris Paul and Steve Nash).

7. BLOB DYLAN Board in Williamsburg (Nicholas A. Ferrell at The New Leaf Journal. March 16, 2026.) & Sharing a Stuffed Bird Rescue Story (Nicholas A. Ferrell at The New Leaf Journal. March 17, 2026.)

You may wonder how my two newest articles could possibly be related given their headlines. Answer: They are centered on photos taken one hour apart, and the first led into the second.

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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 used to seeing road salt in New York City before and after it snows. A couple of years ago (definitely during the Eric Adams administration), I recall having noted remarkable amounts of road salt in the street near Atlantic Avenue in Cobble Hill, Brooklyn. We are in the midst of what I would describe as a subpar snow clean-up, and perhaps coincidentally, I have observed less salt than in other recent snows. But while I have come to expect road salt, I learned from Brussels Signal that my expectations would be different if I lived in Berlin instead of Brooklyn:

Berlin’s Nature Protection Law from 2013 expressly forbids the use of road salt or other defrosting agents throughout the city. The ban covers pavements and driveways as well as public roads.

Far be it from me to advise Berlin on its municipal policies, but I am glad New York City did not follow suit. While I have many problems with some of the ideas New York City politicians come up with, I am confident that the ghost of John Lindsay will protect us from road salt bans. According to Brussels Signal, Berlin justified its road salt ban in the name of protecting the trees. My area of Brooklyn has plenty of trees, so I am inclined to believe that the salt risk is manageable without a ban. In fact, given how since 2020 dog owners in Brooklyn appear to have collectively decided that the essential purpose of tree pits is to serve as doggy litter boxes, the salt may have a net positive effect in that it tends to keep the dogs away from the trees.

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Mary Frost of the Brooklyn Daily Eagle reported that “[t]he NYC Department of Parks planted 200 new trees in Greenpoint and Williamsburg over the past two weeks, with over a thousand more will becoming to [Council] District 33 within two years…” [Brooklyn Daily Eagle, August 11, 2025]. City Councilman Lincoln Restler, who announced the new trees, noted that the young new residents of northern Brooklyn will require maintenance:

Planting trees is just the first step, Restler added, urging locals to pledge to ‘adopt’ one to water and keep healthy and to check out a tree map showing the newly planted saplings.

I do not spend much time in either Greenpoint or Williamsburg, although I have written about both on The New Leaf Journal (see e.g., Donut Fender in Greenpoint, Brooklyn and BLOB DYLAN Seen in Williamsburg (May 2025)). But having granted that I do not spend much time that far north, I have enough of a feel for Brooklyn and areas like Greenpoint and the trendier parts of Williamsburg to note a curious omission in Mr. Restler’s statement. Mr. Restler wants residents to work together to water the new trees. I would be concerned about how residents water the new trees. The quality of dog owners and dog behavior in Brooklyn fell off a cliff beginning in 2020 and shows no sign of improving.

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Morning Brew published an August 10, 2025 article by Brandon Casgrove titled The war on gas-powered leaf blowers. I have thoughts. But first, what is the cause of this so-called war?

Gas-powered leaf blowers are greater polluters than cars, pound for pound, since their engines are smaller and often less efficient.

I do not think that small leaf blowers are moving the needle much here. You need to bring something better than that for a war.

Leaf blowers also kick up particulate matter, which can cause respiratory and heart problems. Plus, gas-powered versions of the lawn care tool can hit 106 decibels, enough to damage hearing, per the American Speech-Language-Hearing Association.

There we go. That is better. From the perspective of a resident of Brooklyn, New York (brownstone Brooklyn, colloquially speaking), the best reason to crack down on leaf blowers is because they kick up a ton of “particulate matter” on the sidewalk. The second reason is because blowing leaves from the stoop to the street is rather pointless in that the “work” can be undone by an ill-directed gust of wind. I should write an article about this, so I reserve further thoughts for that time.

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On August 10, 2025, amNY reported on a lethal shooting in Sunset Park (Brooklyn) the night before:

Police said officers from the 72nd Precinct responded to a 911 call reporting a shooting at 57th Street and Fourth Avenue in Sunset Park.

I have not been to Sunset Park in a while (I discussed it briefly in one NLJ article). I was last there in October 2021 when I walked through the entirety of Sunset Park in the evening (probably starting around 8:30-9:00 PM) on my way home from Dyker Heights/Bay Ridge. It struck me as mostly fine then, but I could see it coming off worse with block parties. But that aside, one part of this article puzzled me:

When they arrived, they found 45-year-old Roberto Cuevas with a gunshot wound to the back amid the remnants of the party.

“[R]emnants of the party” is doing some work here. Were the “remnants” still there waiting for the police to arrive or were they still partying? In light of the fact that someone (possibly a party-goer) shot dead another man (also possibly a party-goer), I suppose both are possible. This phrasing is too open-ended. But setting that aside, I am glad I do not live somewhere where late night/early morning block parties are a thing.