Tag: nyc politics

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I have not had much time to post new articles (long or short lately), but let us get the last full week of September off to a good start with a new edition of the Pook-Emu Bee.

1 | Linux 7.3 Adds Support For Victrix Pro BFG & Azeron Controllers (Michael Larabel for Phoronix. Sep. 20, 2026.)
I have questions here. First, why is that controller $269? Second, why does it look like a hand with six fingers? I can’t weigh in on the new Linux support until those threshold questions are answered.

2 | Jane Austen’s 8-Bit Adventure Switch Review (Game Slush Pile. Sep. 19, 2026.)
The review makes it sound uninspiring. But what if you tried playing it with the “hand” controller? (See above.)

3 | NYC judge fails to take bite out of crime after repeat offender chomps on cop (Tina Moore for the New York Post. Sep. 19, 2026.)
I understand that the pro-crime judge is reluctant to remand anyone to custody, but what if we compromised and all agreed to send him to the pound?

4 | Hyperlocal New York City publications are having a moment (Hannah Frishberg for Gothamist. Sep. 17, 2026.)
I added a few of these to my feed collection. We’ll see if there are any Pook-Emu Bee links to be had.

5 | Judge Strikes Down Controversial Rule Changes Benefitting Embattled Brooklyn Party Boss (The City Repoter (via The Haitian Times). Sep. 17, 2026.)
Call me a romantic but I’m not counting out the possibility that Frank Seddio still has some magic left (see link 9 in Pook-Emu Bee 08-27-26). There are some notable contextual omissions in this ostensibly straightforward news report, but I choose to stick with the Seddio jokes.

6 | NYC ‘animal lover’ accused of stealing beloved bodega cat furiously claims she was unfairly arrested (Georgett Roberts and Jorge Fitz-Gibbon for the New York Post. Sep. 16, 2026.)
Pro-tip: If your position is that you are just a cat lover who genuinely thought the cat was a stray, try to avoid repeatedly referring to the cat you claim you thought you were rescuing as the “f—ing cat.”

7 | AOC Blasts Patriots Owner Robert Kraft for ‘Censoring’ Macklemore from Criticizing Israel (Dylan Gwinn for the New York Post. Sep. 16, 2026.)
Strange. Here I thought the Congresswoman was a big fan of Israel-related boycotts.

8 | After Landmarks Review, Hotel Bossert Moves Ahead With Reno, Ritz-Carlton (Anna Bradley-Smith for Brownstoner. Sep. 16, 2026.)
It sounds like the new owners are working in good faith to maintain the landmark while getting it up and running again. I approve.

9 | Who Is feeding the sudden panic about AI? (Issues & Insights. Sep. 15, 2026.)
The big AI companies and their lobbyists (both of the witting and unwitting variety). I try to be a reality-based AI critic as I fight to keep the scrapers from crashing my sites (preventing stealing my stuff is nice but sometimes you have to focus on the practical wins). That leads us to a fitting final link…

10 | Daily News Stuff 20 September 2026 (Pixy Misa at Ambient Irony. Sep. 20, 2026.)
The replies to excerpts from AI safety conversations have gotten unbelievable made me laugh and reminded me of how my friend was able to make himself look smart in front of friends and colleagues by sharing my 2021 election wisdom that, notwithstanding the polls, there was in fact no scenario wherein Andrew Yang would become Mayor of New York City.

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We went just over one week without daily Pook-Emu Bee links. Sickness (probably mostly allergies) and work intervened. But today I have a window for links. Back and better than ever?

1 | NCAA declares it cannot overturn outcome of game following Western Michigan’s appeal (Daniel Hager for ON3. Sep. 9, 2026.)
I didn’t watch Michigan get saved from defeat against Western Michigan in a manner reminiscent of the Soviet men’s basketball team in the 1972 Summer Olympics, but the story reminded me of when Appalachian State stunned Michigan in its season opener on September 1, 2007. I did watch that 2007 game.

2 | Google Earth’s AI experiment lasted 24 hours. The damage to trust will linger (Masha Alimardani for Rest of World. Sep. 10, 2026.)
I didn’t closely follow the Google Earth AI experiment but I’ll note that the delusional consumers of Iranian lego videos have many tools at their disposal.

3 | Can the UK defend the Falkland Islands? (Richard Thomas for Army Technology. Sep. 4, 2026.)
At the moment the UK hasn’t demonstrated the ability to consistently defend itself from rafts crossing the channel from France, so put me down in the “doubt” category, granting all of Argentina’s technical and political limitations noted in the article.

4 | Azerbaijan and Kyrgyzstan Elevate Relations to Alliance (Vusal Guliyev for Jamestown. Sep. 9, 2026.)
The alliance the caucuses/Central Asia region has been waiting for?

5 | U.S. Open Fans Nauseated by Smell of Human Waste from Restrooms: ‘You’re Breathing in Sh*t’ (Warner Todd Huston for Breitbart. Sep. 8, 2026.)
New York City has had some “sewer smell” problems which I noticed began intensifying around 2020. My working theory is that some parts of the Department of Sanitation are still on vacation. In any event, I suppose even our betters at the U.S. Open must deal with plebian problems.

6 | US forces sink fifth ‘refueling vessel’ linked to Los Choneros terrorist organization (Washington Examiner. Sep. 8, 2026.)
Buried lede: These cartels have refueling vessels?

7 | NYC’s first racial equity plan sets new framework for future budget decisions (Adam Daly for amNY. Sep. 1, 2026.)
“The racial equity planning process stems from ballot measures approved by NYC voters in 2022 that amended the City Charter, created the Office of Racial Equity and required the city to regularly produce racial equity plans.” (Don’t look at me: I voted NO.)

8 | Your Roku TV Offers AI Slop For Free (If You’re Into That Sort Of Thing) (Novak Božović for Endgadget. Sep. 5, 2026.)
My Roku TV does not offer me “AI Slop” because I do not connect it to the internet. But if you have a Roku TV and connect it to the internet, maybe you enjoy the AI slop?

9 | NYC’s notoriously violent West Indian American Day parade to end early in effort to curb crime (Matthew Fischetti and Zoe Hussain for the New York Post. Sep. 4, 2026.)
To the shock of no one who has been alive in Brooklyn for more than 5 minutes, it didn’t work (noble plan though, noble plan).

10 | Gen Z isn’t interested in Burning Man (Matty Merritt for Morning Brew. Sep. 4, 2026.)
I’m squarely “millennial” by birth and have made it through life in general ignorance of Burning Man. Thus, I suppose I must side with “Gen Z.”

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I have a deadline today, so while the weekday Pook-Emu Bee streak continues, this will be another minimalist entry in my ongoing series.

1 | Israel: Law Adopted to Preserve the Memory of the October 7, 2023, Massacre and Commemorate Heroism (Ruth Levush for Global Legal Monitor. August 26, 2026.)
A sound law.

2 | Model Owl in a Towel (Wildbase Hospital [via Owls in Towels]. August 24, 2026.)
That is a [small] statuesque owl.

3 | How a Ukrainian commander sped through the ‘kill zone’ to save wounded troops (Vitalii Hinidyi and Dan Peleschuk for Reuters [via Defense News]. August 26, 2026.)
A teacher by trade, Vladyslav Polskyi taught a lesson in courage on the battlefield.

4 | Marines at Abbey Gate awarded Bronze Star medal upgrade (Patty Neberg for Task & Purpose. August 26, 2026.)
Well-deserved.

5 | Vanity Fair Drops Writer for Winking, Smiling at Camera During Lindsay Clancy Trial (Paul Bois and Ezra Dulis for Breitbart. August 26, 2026.)
Yes, her exuberantly giggling in the court room and spreading TikTok conspiracy theories (contra Clancy’s own defense) that Clancy’s husband is the hashtag-real killer may lead one to expect that she and her fellow travelers are distasteful human beings who would have reacted much differently had the victim been a single puppy rather than three children. But remember that I noted in Pook-Emu Bee 08-24-26 that Natasha Pearlman of the New York Post assured us that Clancy is just “living proof” of the worst fears of these women. Whew!

6 | The PocketBook Q is a Linux-based alternative to Android ereaders — new Boox rival has a 5.84-inch E Ink screen and will cost $235 (James Rogerson for TechRadar. August 25, 2026.)
I’m a PocketBook fan, but while it looks intriguing… I have my Xtenik X4 that I need to use, so I will probably stick with that alongside my preexisting two PocketBooks and my Kindle Paperwhite.

7 | I turned my Android phone into a retro gaming console for free (Varun Krishan for Make Use Of. August 25, 2026.)
I have thought about interesting ways to do something to this effect and I have three spare phones to work with, but it is on a long list of “tech” things to do and write about.

8 | Can you have too many hobbies? (Laura at Inky Imaginings. August 23, 2026.) [HT Well-Apportioned Desk]
I wish I could say that my comment on link 7 was referring to too many hobbies. But at the moment I am working on a flurry of immigration law matters with a pile of stuff next to me. So not quite…

9 | Brooklyn Dems change who picks party boss in closed-door vote; chair challengers head back to court (Adam Daly for amNY. August 26, 2026.)
The Brooklyn Democratic Party machine faced an existential red socialist threat after the June primaries. The last true (now unofficial) party boss, Frank Seddio, stepped in and resolved (pending legal challenges) the situation like a true party boss. I think the machine is on its last legs, but I wouldn’t bet against Mr. Seddio ensuring that it is not deposed just yet.

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Another weekday means another set of Poook-Emu Bee links.

A rainbow suitcase with wheels sitting in front of a gray kiosk on a sidewalk.
I photographed this suit case on August 14, 2026, on Court Street between DeGraw and Sackett. Only the brave wheels away a “free” suitcase in Brooklyn.

1 | Jeanie Buss battling siblings over sale of remaining Lakers shares to new ownership group: reports (Scott Thompson for Fox Business. August 17, 2026.)
The unfortunate ramifications of sidelining your siblings for your own benefit. Your siblings, now having little stake in the organization, may decide that turn-about is fair play.

2 | Private Pre-K in Brooklyn Heights: Kinder Prep Montessori’s New 4–5s Program (sponsored post on Brooklyn Bridge Parents. August 18, 2026.)
Note that “sponsored” here refers to sponsored on Brooklyn Bridge Parents. I am not sponsored by any preschools (or anyone for that matter). Here, I demonstrate my impeccable independence with a question. How is this preschool simultaneously in Brooklyn Bridge Park and Brooklyn Heights? Spoiler: It is in Brooklyn Bridge Park, not Brooklyn Heights. BBP is a neighborhood unto itself for all intents and purposes (evinced by the fact it now has preschools).

3 | Geekom admits to shipping malware-laced network drivers for AMD mini PCs — company responds with guidance, removes malicious package (Bruno Ferreira for Tom’s Hardware. August 18, 2026.)
Quoting Pixy Misa at Ambient Irony (HT): “Just wipe the drive and reinstall Windows first.” I offer a slight amendment: Wipe the drive and install Linux first. I installed Linux on my two Beelink mini PCs (note I am unaware of any stories about Beelink shipping malware, but as a general matter I would agree with bringing your own operating system to your China mini-PC).

4 | I clung to Android’s 3-button navigation for years until I learned this clever swipe trick (Jade Bryan Jardinico for Android Police. August 17, 2026.)
Being a relative late-comer to Android, I recently went the opposite direction from swiping to three-button. I had too many problems with unwanted swipes.

5 | May This Balloon Banjo Resonate With You (Kristina Panos for Hackaday. August 17, 2026.)
I see a new project for my good friend and expert luthier, Victor V. Gurbo.

6 | BIA Reads Dictionary, Finds that a ‘Departure’ on Advance Parole Is a ‘Departure (Andrew R. Arthur for Center for Immigration Studies. August 17, 2026.)
One of my first assignments at my job about 10 years ago involved the 2012 Board of Immigration Appeals decision in Matter of Arrabally and Yerrabelly, 25 I&N Dec. 771 (BIA 2012). When I saw the Board’s new decision in Matter of Delcarmen-Lara, 29 I&N Dec. 830 (BIA 2026), which overrules Arrabally and Yerrabelly, I thought to myself that time flies.

7 | NYC Council Speaker Julie Menin backs away from e-bike registration despite pressure (Haley Brown for the New York Post. August 14, 2026.)
I conclude by quoting myself from the May 15, 2026 Pook-Emu Bee:

I will spoil the feedback process for anyone who questions unlimited accommodations for bikes (including effective exemption from traffic laws) in New York City. Heads, bikes win. Tails, you lose.

Nicholas A. Ferrell

PS to NYP: She folded because of pressure (from the bike lobby) not despite pressure.

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Pook-Emu Bee links are back today as we start the new work-week.

Yellow flower in Brooklyn. It glows because of the camera flash.
I took this photo on July 2, 2026. I “believe” it is in Columbia Street Waterfront District.

1 – Persona 30th Anniversary Paper Fragrances Feature Designs Announced (Orpheus Joshua for Noisy Pixel. August 9, 2026.)
I have been a Persona fan since I first played FES more than 16 years ago. I have been seeing one 30-year anniversary note after another. I am respectfully asking Sega’s marketing team to calm down. The shark has been jumped.

2 – Someone built a browser that generates every website from scratch, and it impressed me more than it should (Mahmoor Faisal for XDA Developers. August 8, 2026.)
I wouldn’t advertise being impressed by what Pixy Misa at Ambient Irony accurately described as being a “slop machine.” With that being said, I have no doubt that many more people will read about his mind being blown by a slop machine than my daily links, so what do I know?

3 – The Current Status of American Schools (Larry Sand for American Greatness. August 4, 2026.)
Could be better. But the administrators in New York City are doing great.

4 – NYC Council pushes slate of measures to address dangerous e-bikes (Craig McCarthy, Matthew Fischerri, Hannah Fierick, and Matt Troutman for the New York Post. August 4, 2026.)
It’s not enough, but it’s a start. Unfortunately, the start will have to contend with the anarcho-bikists and a Mayor who enables and encourages them, so count me on the “not optimistic” side.

5 – ReactOS Implements First Windows NT6 System Call In Step Toward Vista Compatibility (Michael Larabel for Phoronix. July 2, 2026.)
I had a decent experience with Vista so I think I’ll take my talents to ReactOS once they reach full Vista compatibility.

6 – BasicSync and Synctrain: solid apps for bringing Syncthing to phones (Rodrigo Ghedin. May 8, 2026.)
I don’t use iOS but I am glad to see that there is now a plausible, free, and open source Synthing option there (even granting the iOS-imposed limitations).

7 – Magic Magikarp Makes Moves (Ian Boss for Hackaday. December 5, 2025.)
Nintendo should be ashamed of itself for not coming up with this idea on its own.

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Pook-Emu Bee links are so real now that we’re delivering on Sundays.

Statue of Mary casting a shadow against the stone wall of a cathedral.
I took this photograph outside the Our Lady of Lebanon Maronite Cathedral in Brooklyn Heights on August 6, 2026.

1 | Tracking Bees with a Stereo Camera (Al Williams for Hackaday. August 8, 2026.)
A fitting entry in light of today’s New Leaf Journal review of A Taste of Honey.

2 | RV Steelhead (Tugster: A Waterblog. August 8, 2026.)
Survey research of a survey vessel.

3 | Why some tech users are ditching Android for Linux phones (Maya Brooks for Northeast Times. August 6, 2026.) (HT Tux Machines.)
This reminds me that I need to write about my experiences with Ubuntu Touch… and by extension my return to LineageOS.

4 | Mamdani taps Israel-hating, anti-cop radicals for NYC school board (David Spector for the New York Post. August 8, 2026.)
The headline is accurate but it leaves out the weird overcompensating dude who wants to create race-segregated discussion groups (and pursued that agenda while working in DOE during the de Blasio administration).

5 | Most Googlebots are fake (Bobbie Chen for Digital Seams. July 26, 2026.) (HT Lazy Reading.)
I don’t doubt it but I will submit that to the best of my recollection, NLJ was never brought to heel by a bot falsely advertising itself as Googlebot. Most of the bots that hit NLJ aggressively enough to take it down had generic user agents. In one case it was Scrapy.

6 | Linux 7.2 Drops Ancient PROFIBUS Driver: Ported From SCO Unix In 1998, Unused For Years (Michael Larabel for Phoronix. June 25, 2026.)
I never heard of this driver but dropping it from the Linux kernel both disgusts and offends me. I’m switching to Windows 98.

7 | Linux gaming got so big that even GOG couldn’t ignore it anymore (Simon Batt for XDA Developers. August 7, 2026.)
I approve of the respect for Linux. With that being said, despite my having a collection of GOG games, I will probably stick with using Lutris since I use Lutris as a WINE front-end for some non-GOG games.

8 | Woke Canadian deported for slapping teens wearing MAGA clothing faces one final humiliation as she’s banished from the US (Eliot Force for Daily Mail. August 5, 2026.)
I wonder what her lawyer thought when he realized that he had so little to work with that he was going to have to go with her having engaged in unauthorized employment as being a positive equity.

9 | Have an Intel Mac or Old Windows PC? Revive It With One of These 20 Fun DIY Projects (Eric Griffin for PC Mag. August 5, 2026.)
Suggestions 1-3 and 6-7 are good. I’d throw in making a designated machine for retro games, albeit that is arguably a subset of 1 and/or 2, Starts grasping at straws toward the end, but points for creativity.

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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.

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Two consecutive editions of Pook-Emu Bee daily links? What in the world is going on here?

Photograph of the Marina at Brooklyn Bridge Park in the late evening. It is lined with three tall American Flags on its left side. In the background we see the Manhattan Skyline and the Brooklyn Bridge.
Seen here is the Brooklyn Bridge Park Marina on July 13, 2026. I lined the American Flags, so I took a couple of photos. To the left you see Manhattan and off in the distance straight away you can see the Brooklyn Bridge.

1. Sega Dreamcast driver fixes appear in Linux 7.2-rc3 — fabled console remains in favor while iconic computing architectures like i486 fall by the wayside (Mark Tyson for Tom’s Hardware. July 12, 2026.)

I mainly used my Dreamcast for playing Sonic Adventure, the NBA 2K entries it received, Pen Pen Trilceon, and a little but of Chu Chu Rocket. Missed out on Linux for Dreamcast (in fact I dare say I almost certainly had no idea what “Linux” was). But Pen Pen Trilceon does have a penguin-esque cover character. Close enough. In any event, very cool to see.

2. Never Forget — Today Marks Two Years Since Assassination Attempt on Donald Trump in Butler, PA: ‘God Was with Me’ (Amy Furr for Breitbart. July 13, 2026.)

I missed noting the anniversary yesterday. Two whole years… time flies. “I said ‘Wow, what was that?’ I said ‘It’s either the biggest, most violent mosquito in history, or I just got shot.’”

3. ‘Moderate’ Gov Abigail Spanberger Taps Former FBI Official Behind Retracted Biden-Era Memo Targeting Catholics as Terror Threat To Lead Prison Reform Council (Jessica Schwalb for The Washington Free Beacon. July 13, 2026.)

Because I don’t live in Virginia, I’m willing to take the partial win of “at least he’s not in the FBI anymore.”

4. Microsoft Xbox CEO Asha Sharma Appointed to Federal Reserve Jobs Advisory Role After Mass Layoffs (Lucas Nolan for Breitbart. July 10, 2026.)

I see and understand the criticism but let no one say she’s not an expert in increasing the number of American citizens in the open job market.

5. UKRAINE: Conscientious objectors convicted, jailed, held in military units: list (Felix Corley for Forum 18. July 10, 2026.)

I kid you not. I was going to be working on a case involving a man claiming a well-founded fear of persecution in Ukraine based on part on his religion and opposition to compulsory military service when this popped up in my feed on the 10th. Timing is everything.

6. LineageOS introduces web flashing tools, revamped stats page, Android 17 plans, and more (Paul for AlternativeTo. July 9, 2026.)

I haven’t tried it yet, but this looks promising and could potentially make LineageOS more accessible (I am currently running it on my Pixel 3a XL after having installed it the old-fashioned way).

7. REESE’S PIECES Unveils New Chocolate Cookie Candy Nationwide (Vending Connection. July 8, 2026.)

I haven’t hade Reese’s Pieces in a very long time, but I like them. Cookie Reese’s Pieces do sound intriguing…

8. Mayor Mamdani’s map of NYC immigrant neighborhoods sparks outrage for ignoring Little Italy (Matthew Fischetti, Carl Campanile, and Natalie O’Neill for the New York Post. July 8, 2026.)

I begrudgingly respect his trolling. Here he engaged in a very simple troll and got a three-byline report for the New York Post plus days of follow-up articles.

9. The front page of the internet has an AI slop problem (Whizy Kim for Tech Brew. July 7, 2026.)

Reddit? You’re telling me Reddit has a slop problem of any kind? I don’t believe it. Perish the thought! (Remember that AI is a problem, but rarely the only problem.)

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It has been 12 days since I last published “daily” Pook-Emu Bee links due to some combination of being busy and not feeling my best. Both of those blockers exist today, but I have time to squeeze in a new edition.

A close up image of leaves and flowers with a bee atop a white flower in the top third of the image.
I photographed this bee hard at work in Brooklyn Bridge Park on July 5 at just after 7 PM.

1. You Can Now Play Virtua Racing On PC, Xbox 360, & Xbox One, Thanks To These Impressive New Emulators (Jack Yarwood for Time Extension. July 13, 2026.)

This is very neat. But Virtua Racing will always be a 32X cartridge to me.

2. July 2026 Grand Sumo Tournament Height-Weight Scatterplot (Mary Pat Campbell at Sumo Stats. July 1, 2026.)

Kazuma is one of the complete newbies, up from Juryo, and he’s the reason I had to extend the weight axis as he comes in at 205 kg (452 pounds) at the height of 185 cm (6’1”).

I thought Kazuma looked “big” when his first match came up. Then I saw his weight in the graphic. He’s a big boy.

3. For the Birds 20 (tugster: a waterblog. July 12, 2026.)

The tugboat blog takes a rare detour into avian photography.

4. Sen. Lindsey Graham Dead at 71 After ‘Sudden Illness’ (Olvia Rondeau for Breitbart. July 12, 2026.)

I was surprised and saddened when I read the news of Senator Graham’s passing. He was certainly one of the more interesting national politicians of the current century. Rest in peace.

5. Manny Pacquiao takes over Floyd Mayweather’s former Hollywood gym in brutal troll (Daniel Farr for the New York Post. July 11, 2026.)

This is all well and good but I’d rather they go back in time and fight in the 2010-11 area. Thank you.

6. You can now legally rip your Wii, GameCube, and Xbox games using a Blu-ray drive (Patrick O’Rourke for XDA. May 25, 2026.)

My Blue-Ray drive is supported… but it looks like a bit of a pain to install the firmware for my specific model on Linux.

7. Court files reveal disturbing details of child sex offender pardoned by Walz, Ellison before deportation (Jenna Gloeb for Alpha News. July 8, 2026.)

Disturbing? How disturbing are we talking?

He further claimed that the 10-year-old victim ‘should be arrested also because she was as much at fault.’

Quite.

8. Immune to DRAM crisis, the original PlayStation gets a massive 8x upgrade 30 years later (Rahim Amir Noorali for Notebook Check. July 9, 2026.)

This bears watching. At the rate AI is eating RAM, PSX running some kind of barely functional Linux may be our best hope down the line.

9. A Top Mamdani Official Tried to Meet with Iran (Adam Lehodey for City Journal. July 9, 2026.)

Having suffered the unfortunate ramifications of empowering provincial machine politicians to run the biggest city in the most powerful country on Earth, New York City upped the ante and now has provincial DSA members trying to conduct foreign policy.  Here, at least, the State Department was there to affectionately say “no, lol.”

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It has been five days since the last edition of Pook-Emu Bee links. While I ordinarily publish links in the morning and it is now the evening, I submit some late links today to keep the backlog under control.

Red white and blue arrow sticker on the sidewalk pointing people to a New York City voting location.
Today (June 23, 2026) was primary election day in New York City. I did not have a primary to vote in, but I did take a photo.

1. Polymarket bet on deceptive social advertising: WSJ (Dave Lozo for Morning Brew. June 23, 2026.)

The prediction markets aren’t upholding the highest standards of advertising integrity? Say it ain’t so!

2. “All-Consuming, Joyous, Heartbreaking” – Your Nintendo 64 Memories (Gavin Lane and Staff for Nintendo Life. June 22, 2026.)

You can expect my own Nintendo 64 memories later this week.

3. Lefty owner of anti-Israel NYC coffee shop calls US ally ‘Nazi Germany of our time’ in hateful online outburst (Chris Nesi for the New York Post. June 23, 2026.)

Last Friday, I noticed an Uzbek flag outside a coffee shop on Smith Street in Boerum Hill. I did not think much of it. Then I saw the photo of the Williamsburg location and put two-and-two together. With hope, it will soon be gone.

4. Matt’s Script Archive: The Scripts That Reshaped The Web (Ernie Smith at Tedium. June 22, 2026.)

But programmers who weren’t in high school and weren’t so wet behind the ears looked aghast at what Wright had done: He had spread poorly designed, but widely used software across the internet. This software was packed with security issues, but worst of all, it wasn’t really getting updated all that much.

Neat history article but I don’t think I’ll run these scripts as a nostalgia experiment.

5. NYC’s line culture Is out of control — and getting worse (Marissa Matozzo for the New York Post. June 22, 2026.)

I agree with the headline. But don’t read the article. I was expecting a fun article. Instead, I was assaulted by many variations of “it’s not this, but that” and lists of two and three things, often saying the same thing over and over. I’m not saying it’s this, but maybe it’s that.

6. The social contract of writing (Johanna Larson. May 25, 2026.)

I am definitely not implying anything by linking to this very nice article against LLM-slop writing right after the fifth link.

7. Why the National Basketball Players Association is debuting a B2C brand (Alyssa Meyers for Marketing Brew. June 22, 2026.)

Having read the article, I must confess that I have no idea what this brand actually is.

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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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Today is June 1. It is also Monday. With that, I present our first-ever collection of June Pook-Emu Bee links after a brief photography interlude.

Photograph of the Staten Island Ferry behind a sail boat in the East River, taken from Valentino Pier in Red Hook, Brooklyn.
I took this photo on Sunday, May 31, 2026, from Valentino Pier in Red Hook, Brooklyn. The orange boat in the background is the iconic Staten Island Ferry (en route to Staten Island from Manhattan).

1. Wikipedia editors plot strike and banner sabotage after Wikimedia layoffs (Carly Page for The Register. May 30, 2026.)

HT to and quote from Ambient Irony: “Wikipedia editors are threatening a global strike where they’ll stop airbrushing history.” I chuckled.

2. Mamdani wants to remove former Mayor Ed Koch’s name from iconic NYC bridge — but critics say hands off ( Jordan Donegan and Carl Campanile for the New York Post. June 1, 2026.)

Let’s not. But beyond my incisive take, you can enjoy some of my photographs and writing about the Queensboro Bridge.

3. Nothing has changed on Instagram; Meta has always read your DMs (Rodrigo Ghedin. May 11, 2026.)

I am 100% confident that Meta has never read my Instagram DMs.

4. The RAMageddon hits home (Rob Fahey for Games Industry.biz. May 29, 2026.)

I wasn’t planning to buy a Steam Deck, so this “hits home” for me less than the dramatic spike in RAM and SSD prices. (Note: I think Steam Deck is cool, I just don’t have a use-case for it that is commensurate to the pre-“RAMageddon” price, much less the current price.) But the Steam Deck price spike is one of the purest examples of the effects of RAMageddon.

5. “You Have 30 Seconds”: United Pilot’s FBI Warning Over Passenger’s Wi-Fi Hotspot Name (Luke Diaz for Simple Flying. May 26, 2026.)

A United Airlines pilot took the situation into their own hands earlier this month after a passenger activated a hotspot with a politically provocative network name. The hotspot name onboard read ‘Free Palestine, F Zionists,’ according to an account of the event posted on Reddit.

“Starting in the 1960s, Palestinian militant groups made commercial aviation one of their primary targets, carrying out a series of hijackings over the decades.” See one historic example I covered on NLJ.

6. Keep messing with the clocks (Kitten. May 30, 2026.)

Permanent DST polls well with the public because people are familiar with early sunsets but not with late sunrises, and they aren’t smart enough to realize you have to pick one. They don’t actually like DST; they like summer. Setting the clocks forward all year long doesn’t give you an endless summer, just miserably dark winter mornings. People haven’t thought it through and would hate it in practice.

Seconded.

7. 17Studio and the Degradation of the Nintendo eShop (Game Slush Pile. May 31, 2026.)

Do people actually buy these AI slop games? That would be bleaker than the fact they exist.

 

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I was too busy yesterday to put together my daily Pook-Emu Bee links. I am busy today as well, but not too busy to take a link break.

Article Links

1. Six search engines worth trying now that Google isn’t really Google anymore (Amanda Siberlin for TechCrunch. May 21, 2026.)

This is a fair list but the article misses some nuance about the sources used by Startpage and Ecosia. I would add Mojeek to the selection.

2. Prosecutor charged for allegedly emailing self sealed Jack Smith Trump report veiled as cake recipes (Justin Dunleavy for Just the News. May 20, 2026.)

This scheme sounds like a lemon cake.

3. Jeff Bezos blasts Mamdani for casting billionaire Ken Griffin as a ‘villain’ in Hizzoner’s viral video filmed outside NYC penthouse (Carl Campanile and Anna Young for the New York Post. May 20, 2026.)

Mr. Bezos is not wrong. While he is on the subject of being right, can he right the wrong that is the Amazon chatbot on store pages? It evolved from Rufus to Alexa and I think it went from war crime to super war crime.

4. A before-and-after look at downtown Brooklyn’s new streetscape (Nate Berg for Fast Company. December 9, 2025.)

They did a nice job. But it is still Downtown Brooklyn. You can only do so much with all the traffic and ugly apartment and office towers.

5. Delivery Robots Take Over Chicago Sidewalks, Sparking Debate And A Petition To Hit ‘Pause’ (Alec Karam for Block Club Chicago. December 8, 2025.)

I’d welcome them to Brooklyn on the condition that they take over the bike lanes while keeping bikes off the sidewalk.

6. Pocketbook Era With Koreader (tc3. September 21, 2025.)

I have a Pocketbook Color and InkPad Color with Koreader. I have almost talked myself into buying an Era for the side buttons, but it would be a bit expensive in light of the fact that I already have two working Pocketbooks. But let it be said Pocketbook comes with my recommendation for anyone who does not “need” the Kindle or Kobo stores.

7. Firefox Should Let Users Disable Searching from the URL Bar (Terence Towles Canote at A Shroud of Thoughts. May 20, 2026.)

I enable the search box on Firefox and agree with this take. But with that being said, I have reasons for usually searching from the address bar.

Videos

Natsu Basho (May Grand Sumo Tournament) Day 10: Atamifuji vs Wakatakage (May 19, 2026.)

I won’t spoil the outcome other than saying it was a big lift.

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I have another busy day ahead of me, but we cannot forsake our daily Pook-Emu Bee links.

1. Syncthing 2.1 adds group organization and proxy support options (Fla for AlternativeTo. May 12, 2026.)

I approve of having “the ability to group devices and folders in the GUI using a new group attribute.”

2. Airbnb enlists Al Sharpton in fight against Mamdani’s short-term rental crackdown in NYC: report (Ariel Zilber for the New York Post. May 11, 2026.)

I’d ordinarily make a “it’s a pity they can’t both lose” joke but in this case the Mayor is correct.

3. Stranger assaulted by maniac weeks before he pushed retired NYC teacher to death recounts frightening attack: ‘Why is he following us?’ (Joe Marino and Anna Young for the New York Post. May 8, 2026.)

‘Maybe a part of me was just like, I don’t want to put another black man in jail, but, you know, at some point, if you are a criminal, you’re a criminal, and he was scary, he was a scary guy.’

Let us hope she suppresses that stupid part of herself if there is a next time in the interest of getting homicidal criminals off the street.

4. John Calipari slams the NCAA for catering to European pros over American kid (Yalshpat Bhagava for Basketball Network. April 27, 2026.)

Notwithstanding the ever-increasing professionalization of college basketball, I would be inclined to agree with Coach Calipari (always the advocate for elite NBA draft prospects) that young (or not so young) men who were playing professionally in Europe should probably not be eligible to play American college basketball.

5. JPMorgan Offered a $1M Settlement to MeToo Accuser of Female Exec (Paul Bois for Breitbart. May 6, 2026.)

These people just shoot money out of firehoses.

6. “He Was Literally Frothing At The Mouth” – Yuji Naka Really Didn’t Want Sega To Make Mature Games (Damien McFerran for Time Extension. December 16, 2025.)

A family-friendly game designer after our own heart. I don’t suppose this is how we avoided Tails’ Bad Fur Day.

7. Maggots Are an Incredibly Efficient Source of Protein, Which May Make Them the Next Superfood for Humans (Mary Roach for Smithsonian Magazine. January/February 2026.)

Is it just me or have they not been trying to convince us to eat the bugs as much these days as they were 6-12 years ago?

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I have another busy “work” day ahead of me, but I won’t let that come between you and today’s Pook-Emu Bee daily links collection.

1. yokohama (Kat at Our Adventures in Japan. March 25, 2026.)

Spring hasn’t fully spring in Yokohama, but we can see in the pretty photographs that it is in the progress of springing.

2. Chuwi responds to CPU fraud, does not replace all affected models (Hannes Brecher for Notebook Check. March 24, 2026.)

You can count on the company that not only lied about the CPU in its laptops, but also tried to obfuscate the lie, to tell you the truth about how many models were affected.

3. Could One State AG End 18,000 Alien Habeas Suits? (Andrew R. Arthur for Center for Immigration Studies. March 25, 2026.)

I hadn’t familiarized myself with this provision of the Laken Riley Act but I have been forced to familiarize myself with the habeas issue at issue in the article (that is not “this week’s” assignment, however).

4. How Dare Trump ‘Politicize’ Illegal Who Thrill Killed Loyola College Student (Beege Welborn for Hot Air. March 24, 2026.)

Here I learned that the Venezuelan criminal alien who brutally murdered an 18-year old young woman in Chicago had his arraignment postponed due to his tuberculosis. But of course.

5. NYPD Still Slapping Street Vendors With Criminal Charges Despite Council Law Requiring Civil Charges (Gwynne Hogan for The City. March 20, 2026.)

Unfortunately, not on the Brooklyn Bridge. I walked across the Brooklyn Bridge on a Sunday afternoon a couple of weeks ago. The vendors are back after a refreshing respite during part of the Adams Administration. Not quite “better than ever” but close. We can only hope there’s enough “turf” in Manhattan for more of the vendors to stay in-island (fortunately the vendors generally do not seem drawn to the areas of Brooklyn I frequent).

6. Former NBA player exposes the toxic delusion of the youth basketball circuit (Mislav Puljiz for Basketball Network. March 23, 2026.)

This article bothered me. I saw the featured image and asked myself “is that Stromile Swift?” No. Tyrus Thomas. Shame on me. I even watched him at LSU and remember when he was drafted! In any event, he offers some words of wisdom to parents who think the son they paid to get on an AAU team is on a glide-path to NBA (or, now, NCAA) riches: “[I]f your child is good enough to be on the elite circuit, they are going to pay for them. And they gonna pay to bring you too. So, if you have to pay, your child not good enough.”