Tag: queens

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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.)

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Daily Pook-Emu Bee links ceased being daily for the last week and change, but perhaps it is back with two straight editions to start the new week.

1 | Calibre 9.15 E-Book Manager Introduces “Create Your Own Adventure” Writing Game (Marcus Nestor for 9 To 5 Linux. Sep. 28, 2026.)
While I disable (or don’t enable) AI functionality in Calibre, I opined last year that some of the integrations were relatively inoffensive and in line with Calibre’s purpose. I’d say I fear Calibre is losing the plot (get it!?) with this one. However, it is not enabled by default and the new release includes some interesting normal features, so as long as the plot is lost on the side…

2 | NYC refuses to remove massive hornets’ nest from Queens tree, tells terrified residents to foot the bill (Rich Calder for the New York Post. Sep. 19, 2026.)
If (heaven forbid) this situation goes sideways after the NYC Parks Department both refused to step in and warned that it would block any efforts by the residents to remedy, NYC (i.e., taxpayers) will most certainly foot the bill.

3 | Ancient bronze bracelets found in Uzbekistan (The History Blog. Sep. 16, 2026.)
You never know what you’ll dig up in your yard in Uzbekistan.

4 | Three Patrons, Three Clients: The Mecca Alliance No One Owns (Ahmed Saber Abbas for War on the Rocks. Sep. 15, 2026.)
If only Saudi Arabia had some alternative proposal in front of it.

5 | Nearly one third of college-age ‘BORG’ drinkers report blacking out: New study (W.B. Kagan for EurekAlert! Sep. 15, 2026.)
This ends with a suggestion for parents to discuss with their college-age students “whether to attend a BORG event, and if one does attend, whether to bring a BORG beverage and how much (if any alcohol to put in the beverage.” That’s great but let’s try cutting this off at “event” and making the answer “no.”

6 | Holdout Lindsay Clancy Juror Breaks Silence, Says “Activists” Wanted “Not Guilty” on Day 1 (Steven Ertelt for Life Site. Sep. 16, 2026.)
He shouldn’t have had to break silence, but now that he has been left with no choice, I tip my hat to Mr. Michael P. Desronvil for having the courage to do the right thing.

7 | Scientists Create a New Form of Ice at More Than 2,000 °C (Michelle Starr for Science Alert. Sep. 9, 2026.)
I don’t know. Our current ice works well enough. The scientists should focus on something more practical.

8 | The Rise, Fall, and Rise of Rawdawg (Lauren Peck for Austin Chronicle. Nov. 27, 2024.)
That this running club was obnoxious enough to be cracked down on in Austin sounds like an accomplishment (and well-deserved as someone who finds our less noisy running clubs here in New York City annoying enough as is).

9 | I saw the movie that Warner tried to delete: ‘Coyote vs. Acme’ (Bryan Preston for Fox Business. Sep. 12, 2026.)
While my 16+ year streak of not being in a movie theater continues, this does sound like a fun movie and one that was well-worth saving.

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I am a bit late today because I had a rush assignment to take care of. But now that it has been taken care of, I present for your enjoyment today’s edition of Pook-Emu Bee links (note that “we” will be off until Sunday or Monday since tomorrow’s links will be packaged in The Newsletter Leaf Journal.)

1. Massive fire rages at historic NYC church rebuilt after devastating inferno 138 years ago, wild photos show (Zoe Hussain for the New York Post. April 23, 2026.)

Terrible news. I hope it ends up being salvageable. The article includes some historical notes about the church.

2. Gowanus Canal is Getting Cleaner Every Day (New York Almanack. April 15, 2026.)

Yes. But I am not so sure about…

The Canal is currently classified by DEC as a ‘Class SD’ waterway, which could to support some fishing. DEC is hooping to change that to ‘Class SC’ to force the city to rehabilitate the water enough to allow swimming and boating.

Let’s not get carried away.

3. We Don’t Need a Trial to Fight Kids’ Social Media Addiction (C. Jarrett Dieterle for City Journal. April 23, 2026.)

Last month, a jury in California returned a first-of-its-kind verdict in a case alleging that social-media companies harm children through addictive design features. The jury sided with the plaintiff, who claimed social media had caused her anxiety and depression, and ordered Meta and YouTube to pay a combined $6 million in damages.

I agree with Mr. Dieterle, not least because that lawsuit was questionable (and I say this as someone who is no fan of Meta or kids being on social media).

4. The New World Order of 2027 (Marc Liebman for RealClear Defense. April 23, 2026.)

Interesting essay but I have a feeling a good amount will happen between now and 2027.

5. 7 Marines receive award upgrades for Abbey Gate (Jeff Schogol for Task & Purpose. April 22, 2026.)

‘After reviewing the original awards and determining that several had been inappropriately downgraded, these awards have now been upgraded to levels that more accurately reflect the extreme risk these Marines knowingly accepted and the lives they saved under direct enemy fire,’ Chief Pentagon Spokesman Sean Parnell said in a statement.

6. Busy South Texas airport is planning a $180M expansion. Here’s what to know (Dina Arévalo for MYSA. April 23, 2026.)

Important question: Will it have an art car?

7. Catholic father whose home was raided at gunpoint wins 7-figure settlement from U.S. government (Kate Quiñones for EWTN News. April 14, 2026.)

A good day for religious liberty and redressing past wrongs.

8. Candy recalled in NYC, can cause allergic reactions: NYS officials (Andrew Cruz for PIX11. April 22, 2026.)

I never heard of “Mei She Plan Winter Melon Candy” so I am probably safe.

9. DOJ Reclassifies Marijuana, Building on President Trump’s Earlier E.O. (Sean Moran for Breitbart. April 23, 2026.)

Is it possible for a policy change to smell? I never asked myself that question before. But now I must answer in the affirmative. Rescheduling marijuana reeks.

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I am publishing today’s Pook-Emu Bee links a bit later than I had hoped due to having had a little bit more work on my recent assignment, but I now complete a second perfect week before our Saturday break for The Newsletter Leaf Jorurnal.

1. The next frontier in sports betting: the past (Molly Liebergall for Morning Brew. March 27, 2026.)

I give the big tech and big AI companies plenty of grief in these pages. But I submit for the record that big gambling is worse.

2. Massive 40-foot whale carcass washes up on NYC beach (Zoe Hussain for the New York Post. March 26, 2026.)

Poor whale. Despite being a life-long resident of New York City, I have never been to a Queens beach.

3. Wikipedia has banned AI-generated articles (Lawrence Bonk for Engadget. March 26, 2026.)

Wikipedia has plenty of non-AI problems, so this would seem to be a step in the right direction of not adding AI problems. With that being said, I Mexico Wikipedia’s decision to ban AI wholesale strikes me as the better approach than English Wikipedia’s qualified ban.

4. A few squirrels (Daniel N. March 27, 2026)

These terrific squirrel photos remind me that I have my own squirrel photo that I need to publish. In the meantime, enjoy my post on a squirrel kiss.

5. Shaw on when Kobe refused to play the 4th QTR after scoring 62 in a 3rd (Bruno Feliks for Basketball Network. March 14, 2026.)

I discussed the game in question in my article about my memories of Kobe Bryant’s 81-point performance a few weeks later.

6. Louisville to pay $800K after Christian photographer beats law forcing her to shoot same-sex weddings (Rachel del Guidice for Fox5 DC. March 26, 2026.)

Good. But I will note for Louisville taxpayers that $800,000 is on top of the time and money the local government of Louisville spent on this inane, doomed, legal project.

7. Jury Finds Meta and Google Negligent in Landmark Social Media Addiction Trial (Lucas Nolan for Breitbart. March 25, 2026.)

While I am no fan of Meta or Google (more of a non-fan of the former than the latter), I had some questions about the logic accounts of the plaintiff and her mother when I read about them a couple of months ago. But let that be an article topic for another day.