The City Council may have passed an electronics recycling law recently, but Mayor Bloomberg says it's lame and illegal! The bill requires electronics manufacturers to establish recycling programs for their products and establishes fines of $100 by 2010 for people who throw their computers, printers or other electronics in the trash. Manufacturers will also be penalized $50,000 if they fall behind set recycling requirements. The mayor said he would refuse to enforce such a law......

EVENT: The American Opera Project has taken on...baseball? Tonight they present Baseball Through The Eye of the Artist. You'll catch some scenes from Daniel Sonenberg's opera-under-development The Summer King. And stick around for Bang The Drum Slowly, "the acclaimed 1973 baseball film that marked the beginning of Robert DeNiro's illustrious film career." Dusk // Fort Green Park Conservancy [Washington Park St, Brooklyn] // Free THEATER: Tonight the Czechoslovak-American Marionette Theater trundles through the Upper East......

Now making picnics better for mankind: ants, no; algorithms, yes. Instead of people bringing computers to dinner, a man named Conrad Barski hopes that computers will soon be bringing people to picnics. Enter Picnic Mob, a multi-city, “non-commercial art experiment” created and curated by the computer programmer and thinker. Through its website, Picnic Mob organizes aspiring picnickers into small groups based on similarly reported interests and dispositions; those groups are then fitted cohesively into......

On Friday, Brooklyn blog Brownstoner was alarmed about a Clinton Hill resident on Grand Avenue who was painting a brownstone's archway white. Though the second comment wondered "are you sure it's not primer?", the comments thread turned into a heated debate about the rights of owners of buildings in landmarked neighborhoods, calling the painting a "disgrace" and a "mortal sin," and whether publicly outing the owner was appropriate. Well, the Daily News' Michael Daly headed......

If you think 911 is a joke, things may improve by 2009 if everything goes as planned. The Bloomberg Administration has unveiled a $1.5 billion plan to improve the emergency call system with a backup center and consolidation of 911 operators and dispatchers in two call centers. The city has previously attempted to overhaul the 911 system but delays and budget problems scuttled the plans. The current system has had its problems, shutting down four......

A 37-year-old woman was raped in her building early Monday morning, and police believe the rapist waited in the stairwell of the West 36th Street loft building before attacking the woman. The victim, described as a painter, had left her fourth floor apartment around 1AM to buy groceries; when she noticed the motion-activated light on a lower landing turn on, the victim tried to run but the attacker caught her. The Daily News reports he......

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THEATER: Gertrude Stein is regarded as an avant-garde intellectual whose adventurous prose has long overshadowed her plays – despite her Broadway hit Four Saints in Three Acts. (Who could forget?) A crack team of downtown experimental theater types are now hoisting six of Stein’s one-acts out of obscurity with a production in the East Village. The evening, irresistibly dubbed Steinese Takeout, boldly embraces Stein’s radicalism and runs with it. How radical are these plays? “How......

SoHo, Lower East Side, Nolita, and other residents and workers, you'll want to make sure you have your library card, because today at 3PM, the New York Public Library opens its 87th branch in SoHo. The Mulberry Street library, located at Mulberry and Jersey Streets just south of Houston Street, is 12,000 square feet of books, DVDs, computers, WiFi access and more. We visited the branch last Friday when NYPL staffers were getting ready......

With the recent agreement the city made with the public school principals' union in the news for it's unusual additions (like a $25,000 incentive for principals to head schools in difficult areas), we suggest you also read the Village Voice article about teachers in "rubber rooms" for the underbelly of the public school dealings. The "rubber rooms" are where teachers who are in the middle of disputes, whether they've been rightly or unfairly removed......

President Bush visited New York City yesterday to encourage Congress to reauthorize his No Child Left Behind program. Bush gave a speech at the Harlem Village Academy school and praised its founder, faculty and students and emphasized the importance of the NCLB Act. Bush made it a point to visit all eight classrooms and shake every student's hand, prompting one student to tell the Sun, "I think it was the best day of my......

The Manhattan DA's office announced that thirteen people were indicted in a identity theft scam. Credit card information from diners in Chinatown and other areas (Brooklyn, Westchester, Long Island, Florida, New Hampshire, New Jersey, and Connecticut) would be stolen by wait staff, using handheld credit card skimmers. A list of restaurants where the scam took place was not released. One defendant, JD Kenny, would pay $35-50 per skimmed card information, and then use that information......

Up until now, the only way for a graffiti artist to get charged with a crime was to actually be caught in the act-- painting a piece, putting up a poster, or catching a tag. Even the most prolific all-city vandals could only be charged for the pieces they were doing while arrested-- which meant that serious jail-time was generally not a risk. For instance, after a five-borough graffiti spree in 1995, Cost was......

Alt Coffee, the Alphabet City hangout notable for its quality Internet access, scary bathroom, and diverse clientele, closed this week is closing soon. Owner Nick Bodor is not losing his business, but simply rearranging it to fit the style of a changed neighborhood. He will be re-opening after renovations transform it into Hopscotch, a coffehouse where it's likely a diaper-changing table in the bathroom will replace the sign instructing "No OD's Allowed." The cafe’s owner,......

Two years ago, in their infinite wisdom, Congress moved the start of Daylight Saving Time up three weeks to the second Sunday in March. That's tonight! Don't forget to adjust your clocks forward one hour before you go to bed. The reason for the date switch was to save energy. The jury is out on whether or not the date switch will save energy, but some people are worried that the change will cause problems......

Frank Miller devotees have been salivating all over their computers in anticipation for the new adaptation of his Greek battle comic book 300, which comes out this weekend. Like the version of Miller's Sin City from '05, 300 makes nice with the stylized visuals giving us the most lush, chiseled, half-naked warriors and warrior wives ever depicted on screen. In particular the actors playing the Spartan queen and king, Lena Headey and Gerard Butler look......

The NY Times article about Calvin Klein's perfume division's attempts to gain market share from twenty-somethings with a new perfume made us wonder many things. For starters, why did Calvin Klein Inc. (actual Calvin Klein the human is not involved) allow its marketing and positioning strategy to be exposed to so much ridicule? The new fragrance, the "millennial" version of ckOne, is called CK in2u, which has its own online community website. THis would......

Last month, Jason Kidd filed for divorce from his wife, Joumana, citing extreme cruelty. The Nets point guard claimed his wife kicked and punched him, as well as put tracking devices on his cars and computers, not to mention taunted him during games. The Kidds' relationship had its patches and other allegations of spousal abuse - back in 2001, Joumana Kidd had some called 911 while Kidd played for the Phoenix Suns (she said......

She may developing a talk show, but that doesn't mean former Westchester DA and failed Attorney General candidate Jeanine Pirro can't be investigated some more! WNBC's Jonathan Dienst reports the federal investigation into Pirro's doings has broadened, with a focus on what occurred during 2004-2005. Last fall, news that state and federal authorities were investigating whether Pirro eavesdropped on her husband made her the scandal du jour during the election (until Driving Mrs. Hevesi surfaced).......

Hello, cellphone vigilantism! As part of his State of the City address, Mayor Bloomberg announced some new technology for New Yorkers. This year, we'll begin a revolutionary innovation in crime-fighting: Equipping "911" call centers to receive digital images and videos New Yorkers send from cell phones and computers something no other city in the world is doing. If you see a crime in progress or a dangerous building condition you'll be able to transmit images......

Forget the Nets' win against Toronto last night, the big Nets news was about Jason Kidd's personal life. In surprising news, Jason Kidd filed for divorce yesterday from Joumana, his wife of 10 years, citing extreme cruelty. This comes after he filed a domestic violence complaint against her on Monday for mistreating their three children. The Nets point guard is accusing his wife of "kicking, punching and throwing things at him, threatening to make false......

The Post has this crazy story about how a woman used various identities to attend schools like Columbia, Harvard, and California State. Naturally, she studied criminology and psychology! It sounds like a Law & Order: Criminal Intent multi-episode arc in the making. The Post reports that Esther Elizabeth Reed used the identity of "Brooke Henson" to attend Columbia as a graduate student, but was exposed when she tried to apply for a summer job as......

READING: Mira Jacob and Alison Hart host yet another of Pete's Reading Series. Tonight they welcome Nell Freudenberger, author of "The Dissident" - which sounds almost like a Tom Robbins novel, with a Chinese performance artist and former political prisoner accepting teaching fellowships at a girls school. Also reading tonight will be Dana Spiotta, author of "Eat the Document", which focuses on lives in the aftermath of 1970s radicalism. 7:30pm // Pete's Candy Store [709......

Who doesn't love a good story about city rats? The NY Times has a cool feature on the city's "epic battle" to reduce the rat population. Did you know that rats are "developing resistance to many of the poisons used on them"? Rats are so crafty! So the city's approach these days is "integrated pest management," which is a preventive approach that utilizes less poison, increasing trash pickup, and sealing buildings' cracks and holes. The......

Yesterday, police questioned the husband of the woman who was shot in the head after a gunman ambushed them on a Westchester road. Peggy Perez-Olivo died of her injuries on Monday, and police are checking out her husband's story, as well as investigating possible evidence in their Chappaqua home, looking at computers, cellphones and Blackberrys. Carlos Perez-Olivo, who was shot in the stomach but managed to drive himself and his wife to the hospital, had......

News that some sort of aircraft had crashed into an Upper East Side building sent everyone fleeing to TVs and computers to see what was going on. MSNBC broke the news first nationally, while most locals probably tuned into NY1 for coverage. We were most impressed by WNBC's coverage. They had a secret/not-so-secret weapon in Chuck Scarborough. Scarborough has been on WNBC for over 30 years, arguably making him the most trusted anchor in the......

Along a dark and lonely strip in the Bushwick section of Brooklyn, underneath the El train - at 1087 Broadway, to be exact - sits a shop. What kind of shop it is is hard to say. There might be a guy at a table drinking a can of beer and reading a yellowed paperback. Another table could have a cat stretched across it. There's a small counter on your left, with a couple of......

Paul Dinin dropped out of high school his senior year to make gobs of money working with computers. Later, Paul helped launch Consumption Junction, a site renowned for its collection of graphically shocking videos, a position that has allowed him to travel the world. He's survived Katrina, shot grenade launchers, fallen into canals, and thrown parties for Philippine Orphans. Welcome to the world of Paul Dinin. Tell me about your senior year of high school.......

It's that time of year again, when you trade in your summer clothes for your fall sweaters. And why don't you get rid of the things you never wear while you're at it, as the city is having it's annual Fall Electronics Recycling & Clothing Donation Events in all five boroughs. The first event is this Sunday in Staten Island, and next weekend on September 24, the event will be at Union Square in Manhattan......

As we appreciate the fact that last week's heat wave was last week, the NY Times' Sewell Chan has an article about that the little-known fact that turned-off appliances that are still plugged-in still draw electricity. We mentioned the "standby mode" issue last week, noting that is why Con Ed asks people to actually unplug TVs, printers, computers, and the like when the power demand is high. (It probably isn't a bad idea to unplug......