Pook-Emu Bee: Links For 08-26-26

Posted on August 26, 2026

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.

Pook-Emu Bee: Links For 08-21-26

Posted on August 21, 2026

Nicholas A. Ferrell

It is time to wrap up another perfect five-for-five Pook-Emu Bee work-week before we take tomorrow off for Newsletter Saturday.

Life Updates

I shared a photo of my new (Ebay, so “new”) Wacom One drawing tablet yesterday. While the “drawing” works as expected, I cannot get it to display an image. I think the annoying Wacom “X cable” is the issue, so I am ordering a replacement from B&H to see if that is correct before I move for a refund. In any event, I tested it on different computers to make sure it was not a computer-specific issue. That inspired me to pull out my touchscreen Fujitsu Lifebook, which I “upgraded” last fall with a new SSD and RAM (not to mention a replacement battery) but subsequently forgot due to being busy. It is now upgraded to Fedora 44.

Fujitsu Lifebook showing KDE Plasma lockscreen. — My Fujitsu Lifebook with the KDE Plasma lockscreen.

I have an article project centered on this Fujitsu. You may think from the lockscreen that it is running KDE Plasma. That is sort of true, but not the full story. It is technically running Fedora’s KDE Plasma Mobile Spin. How many Plasma Mobile-on-laptop articles are there? Add it to my to-do list.

Links

1 | WordPress..Just Why? (JanerationX. July 23, 2026.)
Speaking as someone who has been a WordPress admin for more than six years, I have my fair share of complaints. With that being said and speaking solely for myself (granting different people have different needs and use-cases), I strongly prefer self-hosted WordPress (as in the software, not the service) to service-dependent solutions such as Pika, Bear Blog, Pagecord, and Neocities, and I would take WordPress over Ghost because it is more flexible. But for some people, some of the solutions noted by JanerationX would be better options, and were I starting today I may have opted for a different solution than WordPress, albeit none of the ones singled out for mention in the linked post.

2 | Comic Number 773 (Li Chen. August 21, 2026.)
Be careful what you say on the robot podcast.

3 | ‘GTA VI’ hackers threaten a nightmare scenario (Molly Liebergall for Morning Brew. August 21, 2026.)
I sincerely doubt any meaningful number of people will refrain from purchasing GTA VI due to leaks. For one, people who are excited for the story can avoid the leaks. For two, my understanding is that GTA focuses on game-play, it is not a movie or kinetic visual novel. Of course, I am not buying it regardless, so what I do I know?

4 | Whistleblower Arturo Béjar leads testimony in landmark trial against Meta (John Rowitch for NPR. August 19, 2026.)
I have not had an account having any nexus to a Meta property since I deleted my Facebook account in mid-to-late 2009 (I actually did not “make” that account, but that is a story for another day). My break-out article on NLJ involved my advocating for RSS/ATOM feeds over Facebook News for keeping abreast of worldly affairs. Finally, I have had less-than-positive things to say about children using TikTok, which, while not Meta, evinces that I have some interest in the negative effects of social media and children. Having noted the foregoing, I must concur with Pixy Misa at Ambient Irony (who gets a HT here) that the particulars of the concerns articulated by Mr. Béjar and 29 U.S. states are at best amorphous and fail to live up to the promise of the states’ allegations. Less charitably, I think I am dumber for having read that article.

5 | Diocese in Ghana restores remaining liturgical practices restricted during COVID-19 pandemic (Sabrina Amboka for EWTN News. August 20, 2026.)
I had to check the date to make sure they did not accidentally re-publish something from 5 years ago.

6 | Judge in Harvard Antisemitism Case Was Anti-Israel, Anti-War Activist, McGovern Campaign Aide (Ira Stoll for The Washington Free Beacon. August 18, 2026.)
There’s something charming about a McGovern presidential campaign controversy poping up as a story in 2026.

7 | AnduinOS is Windows without the frustration, and it just cracked the top 15 distros (João Carrasqueira for XDA Developers. August 17, 2026.)
This is the first I heard of it. Setting aside the fact that the Distrowatch rankings do not correspond to the real world, I would consider myself a skeptic of trying to make a Linux desktop look exactly like Windows out of the box. But assuming the review is accurate, AnduinOS sounds like a reasonable implementation of the idea that is trying to do its own thing to make for an interesting Linux experience. It is not something I would use, but I could see use-cases for the concept.

Sensationalist Economics Reporting in Morning Brew

Posted on August 17, 2026

Nicholas A. Ferrell

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.)

Pook-Emu Bee: Links For 07-01-26

Posted on July 1, 2026

Nicholas A. Ferrell

I have not published “daily” Pook-Emu Bee links since June 23. But today is the start of a new month. Let us turn over a new leaf in July with the Pook-Emu Bee.

Photograph of an inlet pond in Brooklyn Bridge Park with Pier 2 in the immediate background and the Manhattan Skyline in the distant background. We see geese in the water. — I took this photograph in Brooklyn Bridge Park on the morning of July 1, 2026. It is difficult to see here, but there were pigeons and doves on the stone path and ducks on the rocks, so we had a meeting of four varieties of birds by the water.

1. Nina Totenberg Sincerely Apologizes For An Inexplicable Error (Josh Blackman at The Volokh Conspiracy. June 30, 2026.)

Her explanation for falsely reporting that Justice Alito was retiring makes no sense. But then again, even given her partisan impulses (noted by Mr. Blackman in the article), it is hard to figure what the game was here.

2. Meta fights soaring hardware costs by reusing old DDR4 server memory in new DDR5-only servers — custom CXL 2.0 chip marries legacy DDR4-2400 with cutting-edge DDR5-6400 (Anton Shilov for Tom’s Hardware. June 30, 2026.)

Add “Meta has to skimp on RAM” to the reasons why my current 2020 computer build is going to have to be in it for the long haul.

3. Rejecting the Luxury of Hobbies (Ennui Vagaries. June 30, 2026.)

This description of how the social media “influencers” treat “hobbies” sounds like what I would have expected. Of course, this is why I don’t follow the “influencers.”

4. Colo-radical: Socialist Who Called 9/11 ‘Inevitable’ Takes Down 15-Term Incumbent in Denver House Primary (Ethan Barton for The Washington Free Beacon. July 1, 2026.)

I still remember the burning smell from across the river when the Islamist terrorists she plays rhetorical footsie with (that was charitable) flew two planes into the World Trade Center. This scenario would most certainly have been difficult to explain a couple of decades ago.

5. COSMIC Desktop’s Frosted Glass Is Giving Windows Aero Vibes (Michael Larabel for Phoronix. June 2, 2026.)

I thought Vista looked decent back when I used it for a couple of years, so I am unsurprisingly not opposed to this frosted glass aesthetic.

6. America’s immigrant tech workers are paying an uncertainty tax (Ananya Bhattacharya for Rest of World. June 30, 2026.)

This article is confusing in that I can’t figure out if the author sees that the point of the now-temporarily-enjoined H-1B fee and other impending regulatory changes is to produce the outcome he is describing (granting potential disagreements on what the H-1B program is ideally for).

7. Sega’s Crazy Taxi Spins Its Wheels Thanks To Another GenAI Kerfuffle (Damien McFerran for Time Extension. June 30, 2026.)

I choose to remember Sega for inspiring me to take up video games in 1993-94.

8. Democrat Marie Gluesenkamp Perez’s wild past of fetish parties, drugs and gruesome chicken stunt exposed (Annie Gaus for the New York Post. June 28, 2026.)

Her college life in 2012 sounds much more dramatic than mine watching Puella Magica Madoka in the Brooklyn College library with a friend. With that being said, I can look past many questionable college life choices if she manages to fix the whole blinding headlights issue.

9. Two new Casio Vintage watches with step tracker, bluetooth on their way (Anubhav Sharma for Notebook Check. June 29, 2026.)

I might be interested if they work with Gadgetbridge. My atomic non-smart watch is a Casio and I am a fan.

AI Slop About Medieval London

Posted on June 13, 2026

Nicholas A. Ferrell

Liked AI review: Time Witnessed by Fake History Hunter (Fake History Hunter)

Also woman is merged with a table, although the witch fear wasn’t that big back [in Medieval London] (yet) I’m pretty sure someone walking through tables would be in trouble.

I was linked to a site called Fake History Hunter a few weeks ago. The author, a former historical consultant, uses her site to debunk fake history in media. In AI review: Time Witnessed, she takes apart, frame-by-frame, some AI-generated TikTok monstrosity purportedly placing the influencer in a fictional version of Medieval London conjured by one chatbot or another. I find the still frames depressing to look at, setting aside the lack of historical accuracy (I am sure the AI game worlds will be much better). It was a good article and informative to the extent which I received a glimpse of the brain-melting dreck on TikTok (BAN). But I share the post here because I genuinely cracked up when Fake History Hunter noted the woman merged with a table in the TikTok “history” episode: “[T]he witch fear wasn’t that big back then (yet) I’m pretty sure someone walking through tables would be in trouble.”

Missing Brand Music Video Ads

Posted on June 11, 2026

Nicholas A. Ferrell

According to a May 27, 2026 report in Marketing Brew by Katie Hicks titled Why so many brands are releasing music videos, ” it seems brand-created music videos are making a comeback as marketers are increasingly feeling pressure to create organic, original content to break through on social, particularly with younger audiences.” This was news to me because I use the internet correctly, so I only learn about what the brands are up to on social media second-hand. In addition to avoiding advertising, I have also generally avoided the latest and greatest trends in music. But I read on. Would any of these brand music videos be “relevant” to me?

“‘Bringin’ back the Flamin’ Pickle, Cheetos really wanna let the world know,’ Chad Kroeger, lead singer for the band Nickelback, sings in Cheetos’ four-minute-long music video released in March.”
I don’t know who Chad Kroeger is. I think I have heard of Nickelback before. But the only nickelbacks I have ever been familiar with played football.
“The song ‘Pickle’s Back’ is a play on the band’s 2001 song ‘How You Remind Me’ and features rapper Megan Thee Stallion, who helps promote the return of Cheetos’s Flamin’ Hot Dill Pickle flavor.”
I have heard of this “Megan Thee Stallion” character. Why does she call herself a stallion though? A stallion is an uncastrated male horse. I get the idea with Sylvester Stallone or whatever. But I don’t think she’s a male sports and action movie star.
“Hollister’s latest music video with Gigi Perez…”
Never heard of Gigi Perez.
“Last year, [The Gap] saw just that in a big way when its KATSEYE x Kelis music video encouraged thousands of UGC dance videos.”
Are KATSEYE and Kelis people?
“Hawaiian Tropic’s latest ad campaign and first music video features influencer Alix Earle dancing and lip-syncing to the 1990 song ‘I Touch Myself’ by Divinyls.”
I never heard of an Alex Earle. They’re saying he or she is an influencer. But what does he or she influence? I don’t think I know “I Touch Myself” but this song sounds a little questionable. What is Divinyls? Is Divinyls new or is that from 1990?
“KFC took a slightly different approach in terms of replicability with its latest music video for an original song, ‘Finger Lickin’ Machine,’ which, at one point, shows a dancing Colonel Sanders walking up the side of a building.”
I know Colonel Sanders. I thought they canceled him. Glad to hear he’s still doing well.

After reviewing the article, I determined that even if I were consuming advertising content on social media, this content would not be relevant to me, not least because I have little-to-no idea who these people are (except for Colonel Sanders). If you too would prefer to only learn about the influencer content being created by brands for viral consumption second-hand, see my Feeds and Read-It-Later for Online Reading essay and install uBlock Origin (or uBlock Origin Lite if you use a Chromium-based browser that is not Brave or Safari).

Pook-Emu Bee: Links For 04-30-26

Posted on April 30, 2026

Nicholas A. Ferrell

Work did not allow for timely Pook-Emu Bee links, but today I return with nine new links from around the web.

1 Popular WordPress redirect plugin hid dormant backdoor for years (Bill Toulas for Bleeping Computer. April 29, 2026.)

Not popular enough for me to have been using it (but do attend to the issue if you happen to be running Quick Page/Post Redirect on WordPress).

2. Waylay Callais! (Josh Blackman for The Volokh Conspiracy. April 30, 2026.)

After much anticipation, the Supreme Court finally decided Louisiana v. Callais. (The Chief Justice pronounced it as waylay.) I have some preliminary thoughts.

3. No Country for Moderate Men (Amit Segal at It’s Noon In Israel. April 30, 2026.)

According to several senior Iranian sources, only one man has direct access to the definitely-still-alive-Supreme Leader: IRGC commander Ahmad Vahidi.

It just so happens that Mojtaba and Vahidi are in complete lockstep.

Iran is really doing a visual novel plot here.

4. France’s domestic intelligence agency monitors ‘masculinist threat’, reluctantly (Carl Deconinck for Brussels Signal. April 30, 2026.)

Look! Shiny object!

5. How I Do Content Engineering with Claude Code (Ryan Law for Ahrefs Blog. April 28, 2026.)

“Content engineering…”

6. Saying “No” In an Age of Abundance (Jim Nielsen. February 3, 2026.)

In an age of abundance, restraint becomes the only scarce thing left, which means saying ‘no’ is more valuable than ever.

7. Introducing RateMyPet (Fraser McLean. May 17, 2025.)

For the past few months, I’ve been working on a new pet project (excused the pun 😂), called RateMyPet. It’s a social site where users can share photos and stories about their pets, and rate each other’s pets. The idea is to create a fun and engaging community for pet lovers.

8. FDNY Lithium Ion Batteries To Blame For Garbage Truck Fire In Downtown Brooklyn (Rob Flaks for News12. April 24, 2026.)

The fires always start from that which you would least expect.

9. Colored Pencil Review: Pentel Mulit8 2mm Lead Holder (The Well-Apportioned Desk. April 23, 2026.)

I don’t need colored pencils. But if I did, I would probably find this one compelling.

Pook-Emu Bee: Links For 04-24-26

Posted on April 24, 2026

Nicholas A. Ferrell

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.

Pook-Emu Bee: Links For 04-19-26

Posted on April 19, 2026

Nicholas A. Ferrell

Pook-Emu Bee was off yesterday because it was Newsletter day. But the newsletter is out, and Pook-Emu Bee links are back.

1. FDNY changes policy after clout-chasing models turn NYC fire station into their own sorority house (Tina Moore for the New York Post. April 18, 2026.)

The change came after The Post exclusively reported Saturday that two models turned a Greenwich Village fire station into their own personal sorority house — sauntering inside with firefighters, climbing on a firetruck and shaking their booties to Lil Wayne’s ‘Fireman.’

I approve of keeping social media-addled idiots out of fire houses. I am sad that we needed a new directive to make sure that everyone is on the same page.

2. Life Sentence for Sinaloa Cartel Smuggler Busted with 2 Million Lethal Fentanyl Doses (Randy Clark for Breitbart. April 18, 2026.)

Life is the correct punishment for most fentanyl trafficking offenses.

3. When Did “The Nerds” Start Ruining Each Sport? (Neil Paine. December 20, 2024.)

I’d describe the trend as analytics strategies flattening the sports.

4. Daniel Jones’ Impossible Cap Math (Troy Chapman at Cap & Trade Football. April 17, 2026.)

Given the salary cap rules and number of players on football teams, making the math work is complicated.

5. Almost 90% of Japanese people dislike random and “blind bag” merch, but the majority still buys it, large-scale survey shows (Amber V for Automation West. April 18, 2026.)

I have never purchased “blind bag merch.” I have purchased Kinder eggs. I did not stay at a Holiday Inn Express last night.

6. E-bikes are all over mountain trails. Some want them banned (Jack Dolan for the Los Angeles Times. April 15, 2026.)

I don’t have a stake in mountain bike trails, but I do want to see e-bikes banned. I’m willing to make common cause with the California mountain bikers if they support me on the sidewalks.

7. The Black Hole of Brooklyn Heights Finally Lists (Adriane Quinlan for Curbed. April 17, 2026.)

I linked to an article about this house back in Newsletter 239.

8. Open-border legal activists instruct migrants to fabricate false gay asylum claims, BBC finds (Carl Deconinck for Brussels Signal. April 15, 2026.)

Likely common here in the United States as well since asylum claims based on sexual orientation are cognizable under controlling precedent and the stories can be structured in such a way as to explain the lack of corroborating evidence. That is not likely to say that they are likely to succeed, however, and these activists hurt applicants who have legitimate claims on this basis.

9. City Deems Fort Greene Manse Unworthy of Protection (Anna Bradley-Smith for Brownstoner. April 10, 2026.)

I like the house. Bad call by the landmarks commission.

Non-Meta Smartglasses and my Pet Issues

Posted on April 9, 2026

Nicholas A. Ferrell

Replied to Hate Meta? Even Realities Is Making the Smart Glasses You Want by Julian Chokkattu (WIRED)

The company announced the Even G2 smart glasses, sporting a bigger display in a lighter frame, alongside the R1 smart ring, which can control the display on the lenses.

Some time ago, I saved a link to a November 12, 2025 report in Wired titled Hate Meta? Even Realities Is Making the Smart Glasses You Want. This is a flawed headline. It presupposes that the main reason someone may not want smart glasses is because the most prominent options are developed by Meta. Now, to be sure, I would not consider Meta’s involvement to be a feature (I say this as someone who does not have any Meta accounts or devices). Also to be sure, these Even Realities “smart glasses” sound less bad that Meta’s offerings even without taking into account one’s views of Meta:

As Meta’s Ray-Ban smart glasses continue to turn your face into a computer, with a camera and speaker, Even Realities is doubling down on a design that eschews those components. Instead, it’s focusing on extending your smartphone through the display of its smart glasses while figuring out new mechanisms for controlling the experience.

But the headline betrays a questionable premise. Why would I want smart glasses? Because Meta makes smart glasses and some tech people wear them? Every time I take a walk in Brooklyn, I cannot help but notice how many of my fellow pedestrians walk with their faces buried in their phones. They scroll, swipe, text, engage in phone calls and video chats(!?), and sometimes stare at their own faces when they go too long without looking at themselves in a window. I have even documented parents giving phones to stroller-bound toddlers. What you never see these people do is take a monent to look around or spend a second with their own thoughts.

The headline reminded me of my Fediverse Clone Wars and Decentralized Social Media and short post on TikTok alternatives. Many “alternative” social media platforms start from the premise that the main problems with the big tech players are centralization, ads, and algorithims. While those are all problems, they tend to neglect the structure and formats of those platforms. I dare say this Meta smart glasses has an even worse case of the problem.

I conclude by noting that perhaps some people have genuine use-cases for these Evev Realties smart glasses. But your average person walking around Brooklyn would stand to benefit from using his or her phone less. Just because Meta, Google, or some other big tech player pushes a product does not mean that we need a non-big tech alternative. In looking for good tech ideas, we should consider whether ideas are good in and of themselves instead of with reference to a bad tech product.

Pook-Emu Bee: Links For 04-08-26

Posted on April 8, 2026

Nicholas A. Ferrell

Another day ending in -day (that isn’t Saturday) means it is time for another edition of Pook-Emu Bee links.

1. Astonishing Find in the Czech Republic: Hikers Discover a 3.7 Kilogram Serbian/Bosnian Gold Treasure (Leman Altuntas for Arkeonews. April 8, 2026.)

While the current market valuation is primarily based on the intrinsic value of the gold, the historical significance of the discovery is expected to be far greater. Under Czech law, the fortunate hikers who stumbled upon this treasure may be entitled to a reward of up to 10% of its value.

2. The New York Times, Ladies and Gentlemen (Andrew Stiles for The Washington Free Beacon. April 8, 2026.)

The Times issued a correction after a headline in the print edition incorrectly referred to NATO as the ‘North American Treaty Organization.; The error prompted references to a 2016 Times profile of former Obama guru Ben Rhodes, in which he touted his ability to manipulate journalists who ‘literally know nothing’ about the subjects they cover.

3. People are licking Nintendo Switch game cartridges again after Japanese user compares taste to sakura buds (Carlos “Zoto” Zotomayor for Automation West. April 8, 2026.)

Maybe the internet was a mistake: Nippon edition.

4. Moto returns to the tablet space with the mid-range Moto Pad (2026) (Brad Linder at Liliputing. April 8, 2026.)

I’m still curious whether any future Motorola tablets will support GrapheneOS.

5. Gershwin on GhostBSD: A Retro Future Built on GNUstep (The Axis of Bozz. April 4, 2026.)

I should try a BSD at some point but there are already many things on my “to-do” list.

6. Delta Chat: Zero metadata, group descriptions, native audio/video calls and much more! (Delta Chat Blog. March 31, 2026.)

Native voice/video calls is a significant addition. But I am waiting for the return of markdown support.

7. Tulips・チューリップ (Daniel Sofer at Hermosawave Photography. April 4, 2026.)

It looks sunny outside so I present you with pretty tulips.

8. The Dead End Sign in Red Hook, Brooklyn (Nicholas A. Ferrell at The New Leaf Journal. April 8, 2021.)

Talk about a “this day in history five years ago” punctuation mark.

Pook-Emu Bee: Links For 03-05-26

Posted on March 5, 2026

Nicholas A. Ferrell

It is time four our daily Pook-Emu Bee links. If you enjoy the links, you can follow via feed (although I personally recommend following the main site feed for all of my postings).

Links from around the web

1. RFK Jr. Announces Plan to Teach Americans to Cook (Elizabeth Weibel for Breitbart. March 4, 2026.)

I support encouraging Americans to make their own food with real ingredients, both in and of itself and for keeping our HHS Secretary out of trouble. With that being said, I fear his proposed recipies may be a little too steak-heavy for me. (Steak is good of course, provided it is well-done and done in moderation.)

2. Columbia Anti-Israel Organizer, Now a New York City Social Worker, Calls For Zionists To ‘Burn In Hell’ (Jessia Costescu for The Washington Free Beacon. March 3, 2026.)

If you told me this was the moderate position for social workers with degrees from Columbia, I’d be willing to believe you.

3. Substantive Due Process After Mirabelli (Josh Blackman for The Volokh Conspiracy. March 3, 2026.)

I’m hearing the entrance music for Justice Thomas’s “Privileges and Immunities” concurrence in McDonald v. Chicago.

4. “Entry-Level PC Segment Will Disappear by 2028,” Says Gartner, as Soaring Memory Costs Start to Cripple Manufacturers (Muhammad Zuhair for Wccftech. March 1, 2026.)

I’m more concerned about the “build your own PC” segment disappearing due to cost-prohibitive RAM and other components, but that ship is already circumnavigating the globe.

5. Kevin Durant: face of the NBA Internet Era (Molly Morrison. February 26, 2026.)

Far be it from me to give life advice to one of the greatest scorers (and players) in NBA history, but I think he would be better off starting his own website to share his learned perspective on basketball than continuing to post from various acounts on X.

6. Geese in the Snow in Brooklyn Bridge Park (Nicholas A. Ferrell at The New Leaf Journal. March 3, 2026.)

Honk.

Clicking the “Random Article” button on NLJ

Video Game Stories and Standing the Test of Time (Nicholas A. Ferrell at The New Leaf Journal. September 28, 2022.)

I had to skim this article to remember it, but I see I published it to subtly commemorate what was then the 24th anniversary of the release of Pokémon Red and Blue in the United States. I focused on qualities that can make video games timeless, with an emphasis on good story aesthetics and ways to engage the player. It is not my most incisive games essay, but I think it stands up well (I am adding “related articles” to it since I had not done so before.)

Re; The Indie Web Is Not Defined by Its Enemies

Posted on February 5, 2026

Nicholas A. Ferrell

Favorited The Indie Web Is Not Defined by Its Enemies by

Khürt Williams (islandinthenet.com)

The indie web is stronger when it is defined by what it does: people owning their publishing, people controlling their data, people connecting through open standards and handcrafted links. That identity does not require a villain. It stands on its own.

I read an excellent response blog post by Khürt Williams titled The Indie Web Is Not Defined by Its Enemies. In the post, Mr. Williams eloquently makes the case for defining the indie web by what it is for instead of what it is against.

The indie web is stronger when it is defined by what it does: people owning their publishing, people controlling their data, people connecting through open standards and handcrafted links. That identity does not require a villain. It stands on its own.

Khürt Williams

This is a great starting point for the lower-case indie web. Encouraging people to build their own digital homes in which they can enjoy humane writing and media and even create their own is a good thing in and of itself, without needing a “big tech” or “corporate” antagonist. This is not to say that critiques of algorithms, so-called content creation and consumption culture, and formats that encourage bad content (see also my recent take on TikTok alternatives) are not warranted, but in promoting something better, one should start by making a positive case for the better thing. I plan to write an article covering some of Mr. Williams’ excellent points from my perspective in the near future, but I will conclude here with one additional problem inherent in defining independent websites or alternative social media in terms of their big tech or corporate counterparts. There is good writing on Substack, Automattic-hosted WordPress sites, and for-profit publications with paid staff. There are also good posters on X (although that is not the norm given the format). Similarly, that something is published on a small website or decentralized, algorithm-free social media does not necessarily make it humane (as in by human beings for other human beings), much less interesting. A positive case for indie web concepts (both from the viewing and producing perspective) should also consider what is being viewed and produced.