Pook-Emu Bee: Links For 08-11-26

We keep the Pook-Emu Bee link momentum going with more links from around the web.

Key Food has many X for Y sales. In some cases you have to buy multiples for the sale price. In other cases the price applies to less than Y. With that in mind, I chuckled at having to buy five bottles of hot sauce for the $1 per bottle deal.

Articles

1 | NYC first lady Rama Duwaji traveling to Syria, Lebanon — with taxpayer-funded NYPD security detail: sources (Carl Campanile for the New York Post. August 10, 2026.)
I saw this story last night. I had a fun quip prepared that I hoped to get in before the practical problems with this plan (not taxpayer money) made their appearance. “Is the NYPD going to draw sticks to decide who gets stuck with the Syria-Lebanon bodygyard duty assignment?” Alas, the NYPD beat me to it.

2 | Hidden Beauty in Southeast Brooklyn (Megan Messana for Red Hook Star Revue. August 10, 2026.)
I have been to Coney Island and Sheepshead Bay before, but not most of the other areas she mentions.

3 | How I turned my old Fire Tablet into a portable Linux terminal (David J. Buck for How To Geek. August 10, 2026.)
I tried using a Fire HD 10 as a dedicated reader device (Miniflux + IronFox) but it was painfully slow.

4 | DiJonai Carrington Cites Stanford Education Clarifying ‘White Privilege’ Accusation (Paul Bois for Breitbart. August 10, 2026.)
Her X posts read like gobbledygook to me. But then again she says: “I actually went to school, one of the top universities might I add, to educate myself on this exact subject.” She did go to Stanford. I did not go to Stanford and concede Stanford would have almost certainly rejected me had I applied (although I may have been able to swing it had I been a top basketball prospect whose father played in the NFL).

5 | Bushwick Daily Is an AI Slop Zombie (Andrew Karpan and Aaron Tomey for Grime Square. August 2, 2026.)
Good, evidence-backed report on a local newspaper turning into AI slop, save for one aside.

6 | Commemorate the 250th Anniversary of the Battle of Brooklyn This Month (Susan De Vires for Brownstoner. August 10, 2026.)
The August 22-23 festivities look interesting. May present an on-the-ground reporting opportunity. I will consider.

7 | Inside Polaroid’s provocative, pro-analog marketing strategy (Katie Hicks for Marketing Brew. August 11, 2026.)
I wouldn’t call it “provocative” because that is effectively marketing the marketing, but “Real stories. Not Stories & Reels.” is good. “Go jump in some water before the data centers drink it all up.” is terrible. But one thought: Maybe the marketing slogans should do more to distinguish Polaroids from phone photography. I mean… I don’t use Instagram.

Video

8 | It finally came! [Steam Controller v2] (nephitejnf. August 10, 2026.)
I thought about a Steam Controller v2… but probably not for $99. It does look good though. Strikes me as a big but it would probably be fine for me. I was a bit disappointed by his description of the shoulder buttons as a Dreamcast controller fan.

You can reply to this article from your own site by sending a Webmention.