Today is a federal holiday honoring the birthday of first president George Washington. Washington was actually born on February 22, but in 1971, the holiday was "shifted to the third Monday in February, by the Uniform Monday Act" (per Wikipedia). Given that Abraham Lincoln's birthday is February 12, some state governments call the holiday "President's Day." And then the marketers got involved, making this day for sales as well and many presidents in one fell......

We hope all of you, whether you have stayed in the city or have traveled to spend the holiday with loved ones, have a happy and safe Thanksgiving. While, for many people, Thanksgiving is about the bounty of food, football games, or the start of the holiday shopping season, it's also a good opportunity to appreciate your life. The History Channel has an extensive website about the history of Thanksgiving (with video). Scholastic's school-children-targeted......

Mayor Bloomberg is back from London, just in time to deliver an address at Cooper Union while the world's media is milling about NYC for the U.N.'s General Assembly. Bloomberg will be appearing as part of a panel near Astor Place to discuss national policy matters. According to The New York Sun, an online site is attracting a growing number of supporters to draft Mayor Bloomberg as a third party candidate in the 2008 Presidential......

City schoolkids are woeful underperformers when it comes to taking a statewide history exam. Just over a quarter proved capable of passing an 8th grade exam that covered the U.S. Constitution, major wars the U.S. has fought in, and native cultures. The passing average for the rest of the state was 55%, which is hardly impressive, but twice as good as city kids' scores. We sympathize with the 2006 test takers, because we tried......

The police are still trying to understand what happened during yesterday's morning stabbing of a 16-year-old student. Mark Tyrell, who attends Chelsea Career and Technical high, was stabbed repeatedly on East 14th Street after emerging from the Union Square subway station. Police believe the incident started on the subway platform when Tyrell ran into some people. When Tyrell was chased out, he was attacked outside a pizzeria, where an employee told the NY Times, "One......

Today, many businesses are closed in honor of President's Day. Wall Street is closed, as are banks, government offices and schools. There's no regular garbage pickup, but the Department of Sanitation will be picking up garbage that has been stranded due to last week's storm. Alternate side of the street parking rules are suspended, and mass transit is on the weekend schedule - sorry, 7 train riders. President's Day is the day that celebrates......

VINYL SALE: If you're looking for some rare vinyl, you might want to check out this monthly event: Shakey's Record Fair. A meatpacking district locale seems...a little off, but as FreeNYC points out, if you're "looking for that super rare old school funktified 7"...Shakey's Record Fair is probably the only place you'll find it." 8pm // APT [419 W 13th St] // Free THEATER: Rules of the Universe is a new site-specific play performed in......

Apparently some kids chalked the cube at Astor Place yesterday and got arrested. Here's the account from Gothamist Contribute: So I go to the street fair near the east village in st. marks, muck around for a bit, and leave. We took a grand old stroll near the cube in Astor Place. On the sidewalk around the cube, we saw a ginormous yin yang drawn in chalk on the sidewalk, and two girls drawing......

Chris Genoa, author, Foop!...

Sylka and John, Flag Makers...

When Tom Brokaw reported that White House officials said that many of the images from President Bush's speech last night, aboard the U.S.S. Abraham Lincoln, would appear in re-election commercials, it became clear that's what this speech was: Ostensibly to talk about Iraq, but really the first stump speech Bush is giving. And the setting alone was artful and dramatic. Forget the speech, his Bush's handlers and the Republican party seized an awesome moment:......