The Emu Café Social

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. 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…

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…

Favorited The Archivist In Me Turned This Blog Into a Book by Wouter Groeneveld (Brain Baking) I claimed that Good Blogging Habits Yield a Book Each Year of more than 80k words. That means compiling a hefty tome to compress all these years of productive blogging into a single physical volume might be a bit more challenging than I initially anticipated. Yet not impossible. So the last months, I’ve kept myself busy by doing just that: turning this blog into a book! Wouter Groeneveld published a…

Replied to My site now supports webmentions by Michael Harley (michaelharley.net) Ok you guys, I did it. I finally have webmentions working on my website. It's something I've always wanted to do but it seemed too complicated with my setup. I use a static site generator (SSG), 11ty, to build my site. Blogger Michael Harley wrote a post about adding webmention support to his blog. I am pro-webmention (see my NLJ post on site-to-site conversations, so I sent my congratulations in webmention form.…

I missed Pook-Emu Bee links yesterday, but I am making sure to make up for it by starting this post yesterday. I took this photograph of the Marina at Brooklyn Bridge Park on the morning of June 7, 2026. 1. Uzbek Fighters in Syria Face Tensions with Al-Sharaa’s Government (Jacob Zenn for Jamestown. June 9, 2026.) Whatever disagreements the various bands of foreign jihadists have, the Uzbek fighters have good reason to figure out a way to make it work. That reason? This incident can also serve…

Liked Check it out, a weird little pen that looks like a coffee pot by Ricardo (Extra Fine Writing) You may not be familiar with the name, so let me break it down: [This pen] looks like a moka pot and was designed by Giuliano Mazzuoli. I came across a blog post on Extra Fine Writing titled Check it out, a weird little pen that looks like a coffee pot. When I saw the headline on The Well Apportioned Desk, I was not sure what to expect. But when I opened the post, I recognized the pen in question…

Replied to Where do blogs go when they die? by Robert Birming (Robert Birming) If you're going to remove your blog, at least save the content, even if you think it's crap. If you want to remove specific posts, turn them into drafts instead of deleting them. ... If you're going to bury your blog, at least have the decency to give it a proper funeral by placing the remains in a coffin. Robert Birming published an interesting short blog post titled Where do blogs go when they die? He noted having…

Liked Oldest iron saw in Japan identified by livius (The History Blog) An iron object bent over on one side has been identified as an ancient saw. Dating to the late Yayoi period, the late 2nd century A.D., it is the oldest found in Japan, pushing back the introduction of saws to the Japanese archipelago a hundred years. I follow The History Blog by psuedynmous blogger livius. It features blog posts about history (surprise?) focusing significantly on archaeology news. Significantly, The History…

I have never been to Montana. Save for the occasional competitive U.S. Senate race, Montana is also not a common election hotspot. Thus, I never thought much about counties in Montana. I just learned that Great Falls, Montana, is in Cascade County. Do I see what they just did there? I see what they just did there. For seeing what they just did there, I will accept a Cascade Badge. Signed N.A. Ferrell from Kings County New York. Great Falls, Montana, and Cascade County…

I am on a daily Pook-Emu Bee links roll. Today, I keep it doing with a third consecutive edition of the links. I took this photo of the Gowanus Canal from the 3rd Street Bridge at about noon on June 8, 2026. While Washington DC has a shiny refurbished reflecting pool, note how the murky waters of the Gowanus Canal reflect Brooklyn’s tallest building (Brooklyn Tower). 1. Construction of jail in tony NYC nabe turns into potentially deadly ‘clown show’ with failling debris: records, locals (Nicole…

Favorited Angel Reese, Habits, and Shooting Practice by Brian McCormick (Hard2Guard Player Development Newsletter) 'Curry’s the greatest shooter ever. He can get away with it.' Sure, but also, he’s the greatest shooter ever because he shoots successfully with any footwork. Variability is an asset. The best shooters I have coached invariably can shoot off a jump stop, right-left, and left-right. They have generality in their skill. They are not limited to a certain execution. I came across Brian…

Quoted The calm before the storm by Neil Paine (Neil’s Substack) As we prepare for Monday’s fourth-round action, the women’s side is missing 11 of the top 14 seeds after a string of upsets left just three former Grand Slam winners active in the tournament (Aryna Sabalenka, Naomi Osaka, Madison Keys) and zero former French Open winners. And on the men’s side, only three of the top 18 seeds remain active, with ZERO former major champions in the round of 16 of a Slam for the first time in Open Era…

Wherein I managed to successfully publish my “daily” Pook-Emu Bee links for a second consecutive day (what a twist!). I took this photograph on the morning of June 8, 2026, on 3rd Avenue and 2nd Street in Gowanus, Brooklyn. I’m not 100% sure what is up with the random statue on the island. 1. Persona 4 Revival Broadcast Announced As Atlus Reveals New Mechanics, Editions, And Screenshots (Orpheus Joshua at Noisy Pixel. June 7, 2026.) Let no one say I am not a long-standing Persona 4 fan, but $65…

Liked Personal Search Engines by Jason J. Gullickson (mr's Preposter.us Blog) A Personal Search Engine (PSE) is a search engine that specializes in your interests. It provides personalized search results by indexing only the things you are interested in, not by spying on you. Instead of crawling the entire Web and then looking for what you've searched for, A PSE crawls only the parts of the Web you are most interested in and looks for what you're searching for there. I read a blog post titled…

Liked Self-Hosting Adventures by Kenneth Reitz (kennethreitz.org) It is about the difference between a tool you use and a tool you depend on. A platform you depend on can change its prices, change its owners, change its mind. A box you control can only do what you tell it, including break, which at least is honest. I stumbled upon a blog post by Kenneth Reitz on his personal blog via Bubbles. The essay, titled Self-Hosting Adventures, is well-advertised by its headline. While my personal set-up…

I was only able to publish two editions of Pook-Emu Bee links last week. Thus, to make amends, I present a rare Sunday edition of the Pook-Emu Bee. For link fans out there, I include many links in my weekly newsletter. See my June 6, 2026 Newsletter for an example. I took this photograph of a bush with berries in Brooklyn Heights on the morning of June 7, 2026. 1.Bug Fables: Almost, but Not Quite, Paper Mario 3.0 (Wouter Groeneveld at Jefklak’s Codex. November 29, 2021.) I never heard of this…

Liked September becomes a pile-up as publishers swerve to avoid GTA 6 | Opinion by Rob Fahey (GamesIndustry.biz) Watching the impact that GTA 6 is having on the rest of the games market this year reminds me of an underwater nature documentary; specifically, the moment where startled fish scatter off to the sides as an enormous shark glides through their reef. Having originally loaded their games into the tail end of 2026 in order to avoid GTA's previous May release date, the shift of GTA 6's…

I missed two days of Pook-Emu Bee links. But it is not all bad: Now we have even more links from around the web to choose from. 1. Why I Built Bubbles (Ben at Bubbles Blog. March 26, 2026.) I’ve been an RSS obsessive for years. Hundreds of feeds, hand-picked one by one. But RSS only shows you sources you already know. New voices don’t find you there. I added Bubbles’ Daily Briefing to my feed reader to find new articles of interest. Nevertheless, I offer my qualified disagreement with the…

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. 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…

Today is Friday, May 29, 2026. Because it is a day ending in -day that is not Saturday, it is time for our daily Pook-Emu Bee links. There will be no Pook-Emu Bee tomorrow, but you will find even more links in The Newsletter Leaf Journal. I usually do not publish links on Sunday, but maybe I will surprise everyone. In any event, Pook-Emu Bee will be back on Monday. By the way, do you know what the people are saying about Pook-Emu Bee? I took this photo on May 28, 2026. You will never guess…

Favorited I learned about an interesting YouTube video about visual novels titled A Defense of Visual Novels: What are They and What They Do Well through an email exchange with the creator. I have been collecting materials for a future article on making the most of the visual novel medium, so I can now add this in-depth video take to the collection. If you are interested in visual novels, the video comes with my recommendation. Below, I highlight a few points for emphasis. Zalor distinguished…

Reposted How to disable WordPress 7.0’s new AI features by Rodrigo Ghedin (manualdousuario.net) If you don’t see the value in or are wary of an infusion of generative AI on your website, blog, or online store (a plausible concern, I must say), fortunately there’s a way to disable all this new AI stuff. If you have access to the wp-config.php file, add this line: define( 'WP_AI_SUPPORT', false ); This site is (as of the publication of this post) on WordPress 7.0. I became aware that WordPress…

I have more work ahead of me today. But once again, I refuse to let work stand between me and another edition of our regularly scheduled Pook-Emu Bee links. 1. Can an ESPN analyst revive the Scripps Spelling Bee? (Molly Liebergall for Morning Brew. May 28, 2026.) The premise presupposes that the spelling bee needs to have big (it’s relative) TV ratings. 2. Hochul tries to dunk on Trump over Knicks fandom — but it totally backfires (Haley Brown, Mark Lungariello, and David Propper for the New…

I have a busy day ahead of me, but not too busy for Pook-Emu Bee links. Before getting to links from around the web, I note that I just published the sixth and final part of my New Leaf Journal sixth birthday project, Be the Blogger You Want to Be (Or Read). Now watch me follow my own advice. I took this photo from the Brooklyn Heights Promenade on the morning of May 27, 2026. If you squint, you can see a Portuguese Flag attached to a ship by the seaport across the river. 1. Government says 5.7…

I am a bit late on today’s Pook-Emu Bee links, but the links are better late than never. 1. Ghost CMS SQL injection flaw exploited in large-scale ClickFix campaign (Bill Toulas for Bleeping Computer. May 24, 2026.) PSA for those of your running Ghost. Not WordPress, for once. Winning over here. 2. Former Nintendo exec confirms NES and SNES Classics were made to sustain the company’s business during Wii U’s dark days (Brian at Nintendo Everything. May 23, 2026.) I had taken it for granted that…

Reposted The Art and Science of Kashmir’s Pink Tea by Sribala Subramanian (atlasobscura.com) The first step, a prolonged boiling of green tea leaves with baking soda, involves a bit of chemistry. Certain fermented teas, when boiled with a pinch of soda, change color from amber to deep maroon. Scientists call that an acid-base reaction, where sodium bicarbonate neutralizes mildly acidic tea, enhancing the color but also taking the edge off its astringent tannins. An international biochemistry…

Reposted The Poppy Lady: Moina Michael started a movement for veterans by Sara Freeland (news.uga.edu) 'During her lifetime, if you adjust for inflation, poppy sales raised $3 billion worldwide, most of which went directly to veterans,' said Tom Michael, a great nephew of Moina Michael, who died in 1944. 'She championed the poppy as a permanent symbol and reminder of our collective obligation to support our veterans and their families And through all the poppy sales around the world, her legacy…

The Pook-Emu Bee links return today for Memorial Day, a day for remembering those Americans who gave their lives in battle. I put together some suitable links for the occasion to lead off today’s Pook-Emu Bee. You can also see some of my own Memorial Day articles in Saturday’s Newsletter Leaf Journal. 1. Every American Needs to Know What Happens at 3 p.m. on Memorial Day (Brandon Wile for Military.com. May 21, 2026.) At 3 p.m. local time on Memorial Day, pause for one minute of silence wherever…

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…

Replied to ATmosphere 1.0.0 — Liftoff by Matthias Pfefferle (ActivityPub for WordPress) When you publish a post, ATmosphere shares it on Bluesky and stores the full article on your AT Protocol account as a structured record. Bluesky replies, likes, and reposts come back as comments on your WordPress post. Approved comments from logged-in readers go the other way and appear as replies under your original Bluesky post. The same conversation lives in both places without you having to copy anything…