I follow The History Blog by psuedynmous blogger livius. It features blog posts about history (surprise?) focusing significantly on archaeology news. Significantly, The History Blog links to sources. Take for example a June 6, 2026 blog post titled Oldest iron saw in Japan identified. The post summarizes a linked Asahi Shimbun report on what appears to be a saw found in Japan dating back to the…
I watched a good amount of most of tennis' grand slams from about 2000 through 2013 or so. I was a Roger Federer fan, and for a good chunk of that period, you could always count on Mr. Federer playing late into the Slam (he had a record 23 consecutive Semifinals appearances from Wimbledon 2004 through the Australian Open 2010, and 36 consecutive quarterfinal appearances from the same starting…
This site is (as of the publication of this post) on WordPress 7.0. I became aware that WordPress added some AI features through articles and blog posts instead of the WordPress admin area. The fact that I did not notice on my own is probably a good sign. In any event, Rodrigo Ghedin published a useful blog post describing two methods to disable the new AI features (or anti-features?) in…
My friend told me that she was making "Kashmiri chai" tea this morning. She correctly anticipated that I did not know what Kashmiri chai was and sent a link to the recipe she was using. I read the recipe and learned that the tea is pink because of a reaction that occurs between the green tea leaves and baking soda. I decided to investigate further and found an scientific explanation of how the…
Inspired by Col. John McCrae's poem, In Fladers Fields, Georgia resident and professor Moina Michael championed the remembrance poppy following World War I. Sara Freeland, writing for UGA Today, explained:
She also launched a national letter-writing campaign encouraging others to adopt the poppy. The American Legion designated the red poppy as its official flower in 1920, and distribution of…
According to Vasif Huseynov writing for The Jamestown Foundation, "Italy is Azerbaijan's largest trading partner." Had you asked, I would have probably guessed Turkey. But I suppose Italy makes sense. The more you know.
I have never had to weigh an owl before, much less a large owl. But in the event I were ever called upon to weigh a large owl, I learned from MARS Wildlife Rescue, via Owls in Towels (see Owls in Towels re-post) that I should first “burrito” the large owl in a towel and then gently place the likely malcontent large owl upside down in a box on a scale. I suspect that the ultimately successful…
I came across a blog post by Chris Glass titled Strawberries were on sale. Having not long ago published an article about once purchasing out-of-season cherries on sale. I had to open. While Mr. Glass’ post came as advertised, I found a tip. After purchasing his for-sale strawberries, he soaked them in one part white vinegar and three parts water for 10 minutes to “extend their freshness.” I have…
I read an April 18, 2026 report in the New York Post titled After holding its nose for decades, NJ finally bans stinky Bradford pear tree:
Under a new law, the Bradford pear tree and 29 other non-native plants that have been leafing chaos on local ecosystems, posing public safety risks, crowding out native plants and generally taking up space, are banned in the ultimate state-sanctioned so…
I recently read Mike Piggott's blog post A love letter to cassette futurism (HT Dragonfly BSD Digest). I did not recall having seen the term before, but Mr. Piggott's definition of it being "a retr-fusion aesthetic from around 1970-1985 ... that essentially envisions a future through utilitarian, analogue technology" was about what I expected from the headline. As I started reading, I thought to…
I am a long-time admirer of the anglerfish, one of the ocean's most aesthetic creatures. The University of Kansas news service published a news release about an open access study vt Alex J. Maile and Matthew P. Davis titled The Evolution of Lures in Anglerfishes (Acanthuriformes: Lophioidei): Investigating Nature's Tackle Box. The summary notes that researchers believe that the anglerfish lure…
I present for your reading enjoyment our daily selection of Pook-Emu Bee links for Monday, April 20, 2026.
The top-line results are consistent with my priors. While I am not sure how useful the specific methodology of the study is, I appreciate that it…
I never paid much attention to the color of caps on bottles of Coca Cola. In fact, I do not think I bought a bottle of Coca Cola in almost two years. But thanks to a 2014 article in Food & Wine, I learned that Coca Cola makes yellow-capped Coke for Passover (HT Dan Lewis at Now I Know). This Coke, like Mexican Coca Cola, is sweetened by sugar instead of high fructose corn syrup. The New York Post…
I recently published a new NBA research project inspired by Bam Adebayo’s 83-point eruption on March 10, 2026. Noting that Bam Adebayo is a modest scorer in the pantheon of NBA players who scored 60 points in a single game (much less 70 or 80 points in a game), I created a comprehensive survey evaluating how many points per game and points per 36 minutes players averaged in the seasons in which…
I learned two things from Kat & Satoshi's April 6, 2026 post on Our Adventures in Japan (see the first). The post featured four photos. The last of four photos shows slices of yellow-orange-red kiki on a plate (see their kiwi photo). Granting that I am not a big kiwi person, every kiwi I have seen has been green. Through Wikipedia, I identified Kat & Satoshi's red kiwi as the Zespri RubyRed…
Back in Newsletter Leaf Journal 269, I linked to an article about Pokémon card speculating which referenced "Bonbon Drop stickers." Regarding the stickers, I wrote that I did not know what they were. Now, thanks to Kat & Satoshi's Our Adventures in Japan blog, I know that these stickers "are plastic and 3D" (see their photo).
I have read about the invasive Asian carp problem in U.S. waterways. But I learned something new from Dan Lewis' aptly named "Now I Know" blog: Asian carp is commonly used in gefilte fish. I must confess that I have never tasted gefilte fish. The jars of it at the grocery store do not make it look appetizing. Does learning that Asian carp is often used in the making of gefilte fish change my…
Access to natural resources has long been a challenge for Japan (see e.g., World War II). According to a report by Alex Kimani for OilPrice.com, prior to the commencement of Operation Epic Fury, Japan was importing 90% of its oil from the Middle East (Saudi Arabia and the UAE its top suppliers). Moreover, approximately 95% of Japan's oil imports passed through the Strait of Hormuz. The report…
The Moon has been in the news lately thanks to the Artemis II Mission. I shared a Supermoon fact back in December and "blood Moon" news in the March 1, 2026 Pook-Emu Bee. While checking the local weather on Accuweather on April 2 or 3, I stumbled across a new Moon fact in their weather blog. There had been a full Moon on April 1, 2026. According to Accuweather, "April's full moon is often…
I came across an article on Backlinko featuring statistics about worldwide ad blocker usage. Different surveys noted in the article have wildly different results. But the first survey discussed, conducted by GlobalWebIndex ("GWI"), had a result which caught my attention. According to GWI, as of Q2 2025, the country with the highest ad block usage was Indonesia, with 40.1% internet surfers between…
I am a fan of the platypus. But I have never seen a platypus in person, for I live in New York City and not Australia. But thanks to a 2023 article in Mental Floss, I now know that New York City's Bronx Zoo welcomed three platypuses in 1947 and three more in 1958 after the last of the three 1947 platypuses passed away (it previously had a platypus in 1922). All three of the 1958 platypuses died…
In the March 12 edition of Pook-Emu Bee, I shared a link to a story about a proposal to turn the former Jehovah's Witness Watchtower buildings on Columbia Heights (between Brooklyn Heights and DUMBO) into apartments. When the Jehovah's Witnesses owned the building, they had a giant red "WATCHTOWER" sign over their headquarters that was something of a landmark in the "Brooklyn skyline." I remember…
On February 8, 2022, I wrote an article praising Nintendo for its apparent commitment to support the Nintendo Switch (which is still being supported notwithstanding the presence of Switch 2) for a long period. While Nintendo is still supporting its 8th generation Switch, it no longer supports its sixth generation console, the Nintendo Wii. The same cannot be said of Sony, which released an update…
I learned from Cornell Labs' All About Birds site that the Snowy Owl is the heaviest bird in North America, "typically weighing about 4 pounds—one pound heavier than a Great Horned Owl and twice the weight of a Great Gray Owl (North America’s tallest owl)." Here, I also learned that the Great Gray Owl is the tallest owl in North America (two-for-one learning). What makes the Snowy Owl so heavy…
I read Dave Luna's interesting hacker story Hacking the Compaq iPAQ IA-2 Internet Appliance. I learned many things from reading. But one fact which jumped out to me was a note about Microsoft's MSN Dial-Up service.
...I was surprised to learn that MSN dial-up is still available as of March 2026.
I do not recall ever having thought about MSN dial-up (we had AOL back in the 90s), but I too am…
According to WRAL News on November 11, 2025, six U.S. states still still have alienation of affection laws: Hawaii, Mississippi, New Mexico, North Carolina, South Dakota, and Utah. I knew about North Carolina and Mississippi, but I do not think I knew the other four. North Carolina's alienation of affection law is in the news with former U.S. Senator Kyrsten Sinema (Arizona) facing a lawsuit.
I came across Kat & Satoshi's long-running Our Adventures in Japan blog on Marginalia Search when I was looking for a White Day link for issue 271 of The Newsletter Leaf Journal. The White Day link I found on their blog was from 2009. I was half-surprised to see that the blog is still going strong (21 years and counting). On February 24, 2026, Kat of the Kat & Satoshi duo published a post about…
I subscribe to Cornell Lab's All About Birds RSS feed. Through the feed, I learned that "[t]he oldest known Mallard was a male, and at least 27 years, 7 months old when he was shot in Arkansas in 2008. He had been banded in Louisiana in 1981." Impressive, albeit an unfortunate end to a mallard life well-lived.
Buttondown, which powers The Newsletter Leaf Journal, published an informative post explaining how some email hosts clip emails that reach a certain size. It varies based on email provider.
Several email apps, like Outlook, Apple Mail, and Proton, won't constrain your emails beyond the limits set by SMTP. Others do, though. Gmail cuts a received email short once it hits 102kb in size (not…
I am used to seeing road salt in New York City before and after it snows. A couple of years ago (definitely during the Eric Adams administration), I recall having noted remarkable amounts of road salt in the street near Atlantic Avenue in Cobble Hill, Brooklyn. We are in the midst of what I would describe as a subpar snow clean-up, and perhaps coincidentally, I have observed less salt than in…