When faced with the daunting task of buying a birthday present for a tiger cub, you may feel overwhelmed—would they really use a Waring blender? Have they seen Breaking Bad season 3 already? But when it comes to the Bronx Zoo's tiger cubs, no need to worry about which Stephen King novel to hastily giftwrap, since they can tell you exactly what these cubs really want: a delicious meatsicle! Or a knucklebone! Or...Calvin Klein Obsession! more ›

David Paterson turns 55 years young today. PolitickerNY gives a rundown of the festivities up in Albany, which including Senate Majority Leader Malcolm Smith surprising the governor with an exquisite-looking birthday cake. When asked why there were no candles, a Paterson staff member said, "We didn't want to burn down the Red Room." more ›

Sadly, all we do for birthdays is gather people at a bar, not rent out a room. While we've heard that Lolita will let you reserve the downstairs for free, we don't know enough people to warrant renting out a room at a bar. We'll open this one up to the masses. Gothamist readers, do you have any experience renting a bar out for a birthday? more ›

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. more ›

Many things happened last Tuesday night at a CUNY Graduate Center auditorium lobby reception. Kim Peek, the 55 year-old savant who inspired Rain Man, walked through the crowd to answer strangers' questions about forgotten rural highways, old telephone directories, and birthdays. His father Fran talked about Kim’s abilities and home life in Utah, and passed the nine-pound Academy Award given to him by Rain Man’s screenwriter to anyone who wanted to hold it. Elsewhere at the reception, the inventor Nate True chatted about his Time Fountain, a breadbox-sized contraption pumping with highlighter dyed water and ringed by ultraviolet strobes. When everything works right, it appears to the observer that time is slowing down, stopping, and even reversing for the fountain's falling droplets. Standing near to the cheese plate and chicken finger buffet was Joe Kittinger, who in 1960 jumped off a rickety Air Force gondola hitched to a big weather balloon, and free fell 102,800 feet back to earth, breaking the sound barrier in the process. Yes, this was all part of the inaugural meeting for the Athanasius Kircher Society, a mysterious group of people devoted to understanding the curious, obscure, and spectacular. The group is named for a 17th century German Jesuit scholar, an early adopter of Egyptology, volcanology, and a pioneer of germ theory. more ›

Yesterday morning, Mayor Bloomberg dedicated a memorial for American Airlines Flight 587, which crashed on November 12, 2001 in Belle Harbor, Queens. The Dominican Republic-bound plane had taken off from JFK Airport; turbulent air led the co-pilot to use the rudder to keep the plane up, but the rudder broke off. All 260 people on board - 251 passengers and 9 crew members - were killed when the plane crashed into the quiet residential neighborhood. Five people on the ground were also killed. Many of the plane's passengers were from Washington Heights and Astoria. more ›

If you tuned into Good Morning America this morning, you may have noticed Diane Sawyer extracting something from a safe. And, yes, that red and furry object was the new Tickle Me Elmo T.M.X. - T.M.X. for Tickle Me eXtreme. Not only the the doll talk in the third person and giggle, Elmo basically has a crazy laughing fit - slapping his knee, falling on his back and convulsing, getting back up, falling on his side, rolling to his front, slapping the floor, getting back up. Forget getting this for kids - this is totally what we're getting everyone for their birthdays. Or we're just going to buy a lot and sell them on eBay, most likely at a loss. more ›

There are few birthdays we look towards with dread (ok, maybe our 30th). But as AIDS hits its 25th year since being discovered in the 1980s, detection, treatment, and understanding of the disease has come a long way yet has miles to go. There were 25 million new infections in the past 5 years with 15 million deaths over the same period. Currently 38.6 million people worldwide are infected (which is up from 37.3 million in 2005). Some drops in prevalence of the disease in Africa suggests that the rate of infection is slowing. more ›

Pioneer not only offers a backyard garden sporting long picnic style tables, graffiti-ed walls, and friendly table-service, but also a pool table, local brews, and some damn good brisket. For locals, or those really fond of the B61 bus, Tuesday nights are Scrabble nights where for every 7-letter word you earn a free shot of booze. The menu is broken down into small plates, medium plates, or large plates, which translates into meat, more meat, or even more meat, though the veggie burger, which comes with slabs of avocado and tomato is also a sure bet. more ›

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New York comedians have shown benevolence all year, participating in relief efforts for just about everything. Add one more show with a purpose to the list as the Gotham Comedy Club [208 W. 23rd St.] hosts the Stand Up for Peace 2nd Annual Comedy Benefit this week in support of Seeds of Peace. Since it’s founding in 1993, Seeds of Peace has devoted itself to empowering young leaders from regions of conflict with the leadership skills that will foster and facilitate peace in the future. The lineup of all-star comedians performing for the cause includes Susie Essman, Triumph the Insult Comic Dog, Colin Quinn, Demetri Martin and Catie Lazarus. Hosted by David Wain. more ›

- Peter more ›

Gothamist is always in the market for a new cookbook, especially with Thanksgiving just around the corner. Here are a few suggestions that might inspire you to try a new recipe and impress your holiday guests later this week. more ›

Season 1 of the Real World is on DVD; we also recommend Season 1 of Chappelle's Show on DVD for The Mad Real World (set in Harlem, six black roommates and one whitey). The other scary thing about The Real World phenomenon is that at Gothamist's birthdays recently, we think, "Jeez, we're too old to be on the Real World!" more ›