We've always wondered what would happen if you just said "screw it," and drove through the toll booth without paying the fare, laughing heartily into the sunset as George Thorogood blares through your cheap stereo. As it turns out, nothing. Until you rack up $5,254 in unpaid charges. The Port Authority is charging Staten Island resident Alfred Buono with $25K in "administrative fees" after he skipped through open E-Z Pass lanes 998 times without paying. According to the Staten Island Advance, Buono has been getting a free ride since March of 2003. more ›

New York City faced some stiff competition in the Forbes Top 10 “Misery Measure”, but ultimately moped away with a respectable fourth place, losing only to such perennial dystopias as Detroit (#1, forever); Flint, Michigan (#3) and… Stockton, California, in the #2 slot? Apparently, the Bay Area satellite has one of the highest foreclosure rates in the country and a swelling population. more ›

When Super Sunday rolls around, there will be a lot of questions that will be answered. Will the Giants stop the undefeated season of the Patriots? How will Eli Manning perform in the biggest game of his career? And how Tom Brady's foot be? While there are clearly lots of other questions, one question that isn't so obvious is...who's the hotter quarterback. Is it the boy from New Orleans with Southern charm? Or is it the quarterback from California's Bay Area with the supermodel girlfriend? more ›

Photo Credit: Malingering more ›

Brooklyn Assemblyman Felix Ortiz (D, 51st District) wants to ban alcohol ads on buses and subways. The ads provide just $3 to $5 million of the $100 million in revenue the Metropolitan Transportation Authority gets from ad sales and the MTA has not taken a position on the proposed legislation. The state’s Office of Alcohol and Substance Abuse Services did express support for the legislation calling it "consistent with our strategy of preventing alcoholism across the state." more ›

There was very little else for Londonist to be concerned with when the threat of a Tube strike became a very unpleasant reality. The inconvenience was extreme: there aren't many alternatives to the Tube in London despite the best efforts of the Londonist team to get everyone from A to B. Brighter news came in the form of the first ever female Yeoman Warder, or Beefeater as the position is more commonly known, and several smiles as well as lots of cash were raised by some plucky urban ironing. London is apparently full of lies and whales: one of these things is true. We leave that up to you to figure out. more ›

A look at some noteworthy television this week: more ›

While SFist cringed at the fatal dose of crime littering the Bay Area, it found solace in Hillary Clinton's San Francisco campaign headquarters opening, which featured loads of exposed mammary glands. In other news, SF Taxi Commission ruled that Satan's cab must keep its (in)famous medallion number, 666; and in an un-fashion-forward frenzy, San Francisco Fashion Week (chortle) bars bloggers from covering and getting smashed at their shows and parties, respectively. Also, they found a picture displaying the woes of cruising in a tacky limo on the streets of San Francisco. more ›

Zodiac more ›

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There's so much going on across the Ist-a-Verse that it's almost impossible to keep track these days. Fortunately, we do it so you don't have to! more ›

Rolling Stone has officially turned 40! We can't honestly say it's aged very well, but it sure is partying like it's 1967. Last year, at 39 and issue number 1000, Jann Wenner wrote, "The fact that we had John Lennon on the very first cover [pictured] was serendipity. We had a publicity photo from his role in the anti-war film How I Won the War. That photo, we now realize, speaks so clearly to the paths of culture and politics that came to define Rolling Stone." more ›

• A's 5, Yankees 4: After all the work the Yankees did to outlast A's starter Rich Harden and hold the not-so-potent Oakland offense in check, Mariano Rivera gave up a three-run walk-off homer to Marco Scutaro (he's a former Met) and the Yankees lost a series in the Bay Area. They could have easily swept the three games, but a tough extra-inning loss Friday night and an even tougher loss Sunday made them settle for a 3-3 road trip. To make matters worse, they had to place Mike Mussina and Carl Pavano -- well maybe his loss isn't making matters worse -- on the disabled list before the game. They have somehow managed to tread water with their starting rotation -- Andy Pettitte aside -- in shambles. So long as they hold their own a little longer until they get healthy, they should be fine.
• Nets 111, Pacers 107: They've made the playoffs, but the Nets can still improve their position. They took a step towards doing that with this win. Since they're chasing the Gilbert Arenas-less Wizards -- who they're probably better than anyway -- the Nets have a good shot of bettering their seeding.
• Raptors 107, Knicks 105: If it's mid-April, the Knicks must be irrelevant. They lost a close one to the Raptors, who have quietly become a miniforce in the Eastern Conference. The Knicks have not-so-quietly done the opposite.
• Red Bulls 3, Dallas 0: In case you weren't among the 15 people at this game played in a torrential downpour, here's how it went down. Clint Mathis scored a goal and added an assist, and the Giants Stadium field was probably ruined for weeks. At least they won. No one wants to play in a lake and lose.

- Outsourcing is coming to a high-end restaurant near you, and no we are not talking about phone reservationists working abroad who do not understand that a 5:45 reservation is unacceptable to you. more ›

27. The story goes something like this: I was working as a standup comedian. I started doing standup when I was twenty-two and was fairly clean living. Some drinking, but no drugs to speak of. I started performing in the Bay Area at clubs around San Francisco, working with some of the comics up there who smoked almost after every show. I started doing it with them. For the first few years that I smoked pot, I was kind of a pot mooch. I just smoked basically when I was working with other comedians who smoked pot and then eventually I realized that I had to strike out, buy some on my own, and now I'm a card carrying medical marijuana patient. more ›

While not listed on the website, a small bird-shaped source tells us that the gigantic (website says 66k vs. 90k sq.ft. in reality) Whole Foods in the Avalon Christie on Houston & Bowery will open in April 2007, an almost 1 year delay. Same little birdie says that contrary to reports elsewhere, they will also get to build a Whole Foods wine store (maybe not liquor) to replace the one forced out of the Columbus Circle store. more ›

Breaking the law, breaking the law We -ist folks love us some crime, and no misdemeanor is too petty for a post on any of our sites. This week, join us for a rogues' gallery of miscreants major, minor, and alleged. more ›

Yesterday, the Department of Energy listed places that need more power lines, possibly paving the way for the federal government to force states to upgrade or build power lines. The study, the National Electric Transmissin Congestion Study, broke out three kinds of power congestion areas:

The first are categorized as the most severely congested areas - “Critical Congestion Areas,” of which the study identified two critical areas: Southern California and the Atlantic coastal area from the New York City area to northern Virginia. more ›

Hey, have y'all been using our new "Recommend this" feature at the bottom of each post? This week we're bringing you the "Most Recommended" posts from across the -ist world, as well as recommending some of our own. more ›

San Francisco Chronicle restaurant critic Michael Bauer poses a heated question to his readers: Is New York better than San Francisco? His thoughts on the matter are clear:

I've been asked the question of which is better many times, and I have a stock answer. Because of its size New York has more to offer, but if we viewed things on a per capita basis, San Francisco would blow the Big Apple to bits. more ›

LAist has so much fun this week! They go to E3, where they overhear the timeless remark "Man, this is where nerdy girls get laid." Is that a promise? They also give us this week's best CDs and make us realize that LA is the best place to use Zillow. more ›

10. San Francisco Bay AreaSeattle/Tacoma is the least cloggy - maybe Seattle has a super powerful sewer system? more ›

Torontoist throws down the gauntlet and challenges all comers: pillow fight, bitch. They also stand up for a fellow blogger taking heat from the TTC and welcome city-wide WiFi. more ›

Today's map comes from Radical Cartography, source of the popular subway comparisons from a couple of days back. In this map, entitled "The Errant Isle of Manhattan", Bill has superimposed the map of Manhattan into other geographies, including Chicago (seen above), the Bay Area, and Philadelphia. It's fun to check out the sense of scale-- our little island is pretty small compared to some of these other cities. more ›

Albert Maysles, Documentary Filmmaker more ›

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Andrew and Evan, Glassblowers more ›

On Sunday, the NY Times said that many New Yorkers are taking flights out of Philadelphia to save money, because the NYC area airports are really expensive. The cheaper fares are mainly coming from US Airways, which slashed its fares. While this may be true, Gothamist is still really surprised. Mainly because it takes about two hours to get to Philly (it's not like choosing between Oakland and San Francisco if you're in the Bay Area), then tack on the extra time you need to get through security and screening, and you've basically put half a day into your travel time - is a deal that's $100 cheaper worth the emotional hassle? If you live in NJ, or you're traveling in a huge pack of people, Gothamist would understand why taking flights from Philly would be attractive, but it still seems like a lot of work. The Chinatown buses we get, this not so much, but we'll be looking into it the next time we plan a trip. more ›

What's worse is that Giambi's health problems this year may have been a result of, or affected by, the steroid use. One of the pills Giambi took may have been Clomid, a fertility drug for women, which enhances the effects of testosterone. The Daily News previously reported that Giambi's illness was the result of a tumor in his pituitary gland, which can be affected by use of Clomid. more ›

Gothamist just returned from a mini-vacation in San Francisco. Naturally, we spent a great deal of our time eating. And why not? San Francisco is home of a unique food phenomenon that is virtually impossible to find here in New York -- the authentic taqueria. Yes we have Mexican food here, but many of the more Mexican (rather than Tex-Mex) restaurants in New York are high-end, and therefore do not qualify in our quest for the truly authentic taqueria. Now we've heard stories of taqueria sightings here in New York, and we'll admit that we haven't yet gotten around to hitting them all first-hand, but the taqueries in San Fran all share certain common themes: fresh, high-quality ingredients, authentic Mexican flavors, and modest prices. Why should this be so hard to replicate, huh? C'mon people, this is New York. We can do anything -- or so we think. more ›