If you were worried we were the only ones thinking about today's Metrocard increase you can stop (also, why would you think that?). Ever-popular Taiwanese animation outfit Next Media Animation is covering the story too. We would normally let this one go—these videos suffer from serious diminishing returns—but the fact that this particular clip not only calls out subway flasher Dan Hoyt (here with a large carrot) but also boasts a guest spot from WPIX's Greg Mocker as an angry commuter made it seem special enough to share. more ›

On Wednesday the City Council passed a law that we're calling "The Dan Hoyt Law". It will "target individuals who commit lewd acts in public more than once in a three year period," which will allow judges to give flashers a harsher sentence, up to a year in jail and three years of probation, on top of a $1,000 fine.

"We are moving to punish a pattern of behavior that is not only disgusting but dangerous. Those who repeatedly expose themselves to others for their own amusement could one day take their perversion even further," the bill's sponsor, City Council member Peter Vallone, said yesterday. "If they want to expose themselves we'll expose them to the full extent of the law."

A reader sent us this horrible but all-too-familiar story:

I was on the 7 train riding from Flushing Main Street when a man sat across from me (a few stops before 82nd street Jackson Heights he got on) with a newspaper on his lap pretending to be sleeping. I glanced over and to my horror all his goods were in plain view. I did not react and I pulled out my cell phone and took a picture of him. He got really nervous and was rustling around; I then proceeded to call 911 as I was still sitting across from him and was giving a description of him as I was looking right at him. He got nervous and got off at the next stop which was 82nd Street-Jackson Heights. more ›

The New Yorker was actually shut out, not garnering a single award for any of its nine nominations; it was the most-nominated publication in 2007. New York's five awards were for General Excellence (250,000 to 500,000 circulation), Profile Writing, Magazine Section, and Design. The magazine's online site nymag.com won an award for Interactive Feature. Other big winners last night were National Geographic and Vanity Fair, with two awards each. Rolling Stone, Wired, Foreign Policy, and Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists were other winners of General Excellence awards. If you'd like to judge for yourself, links to all of the nominated and winning articles are available here. more ›

Ah, the benefits of having many pockets and many cell phones. more ›

Hello, cellphone vigilantism! more ›

If you ever wondered how it would feel asking the MTA to pay for your pants, after they been ruined by an LIRR or Metro-North seat, wonder no more! The NY Times investigates the pants-chewing armrests on commuter trains on the M7 train cars. The armrests are "made of a rubbery material that seems to grab onto fabric and not let go" and love to attack when passengers sit down. more ›

Serial subway flasher and rax food restaurateur Dan Hoyt was sentenced to 2 years probation plus counseling in the case of his subway pleasuring that was captured by a cameraphone last August. Hoyt apologized for his actions, and it turns out he's flashed people four other times between 2004 and 2005. Eep. However, Thao Nguyn, who snapped the photograph, was deeply unimpressed with Hoyt's remarks to New York magazine, where he said some women would be turned on by what he did and want to date him. Nguyen was one of the women marching outside of the courtroom against Hoyt; Hollaback NYC founder Lauren Spees told the AP that Nguyen "is like the Rosa Parks of street harassment." more ›

- Wait, that's how you spell "villain"? That's news to us! more ›

Idiots really need to be told not to talk to the press. more ›

The raw-food restaurant owner who was photographed pleasuring himself on a subway car last August pleaded guilty to public lewdness charges. Dan Hoyt, who was arrested in 1994 for public lewdness, will get two years of probation and must see a psychiatrist once a week. His laywer says that Hoyt is remorseful for his actions and realizes he has a problem (no kidding!), also adding that Hoyt is consulting in Japan about healthy foods (additional sympathy plea). Gothamist supposes probation is an appropriate sentence, but what we're more upset about is how so many people do disgusting things on the train and they aren't punished - where's the police handing out summons for those things? more ›

," much to the disgust of Thao Nguyen who took the photograph of Hoyt being a jerk in the subway. She told the Daily News, "Perhaps his smug attitude and total lack of remorse may influence the judge's sentence? If there's ever been an example of a guy who deserves the full three-month prison sentence, he's it." Also during the trial, he "smiled and yawned through the brief hearing, and sported a self-satisfied look as he left the courthouse." Interestingly enough, his lawyer claimed Hoyt turned himself in immediately, but the DA's office reminded the court that he refused to meet with the police for a few days. The $5,000 bail was posted by Hoyt's ex-wife and co-owner of raw food restaurants Quintessence. more ›

Dan Hoyt, the East Village man suspected of masturbating on the subway only to have a rider cameraphone his picture and put it online which then made him a front page story on the Daily News, surrendered to the police yesterday. However, he claimed his innocence saying, "I didn't do anything," as he was paraded out in Columbus Circle. When Gothamist watched the local news coverage of this, it looked as though he was leaving the Columbus Circle subway station, making us wonder if someone else spotted him underground, but he was actually just on his way to Central Booking. Four women picked Hoyt out of lineups as being, as the Post calls him, the "self-touching rider," and he was charged with four counts of public lewdness. Thao Nguyen, who took the photograph that launched dozens of complaints about Hoyt, says she hopes he gets jail while employees at Quintessence, the restaurant he co-owns, had no comment. Hoyt's previous public lewdness arrest resulted in community service. more ›

The tabloids report that the main suspect in the Flickred-subway-perv-incident might have a history of public lewdness. In 1994, Dan Hoyt, raw food restaurateur, was arrested for public lewdness "after he unzipped and flashed a victim" at the 8th Street N station. Yesterday, the police were searching for Hoyt, who did not come in to discuss the matter as promised. Since Thao Nguyen's picture made the Internet and the cover of the Daily News, five other women have accused Hoyt (or a man who looks A LOT like Hoyt) of similar acts. more ›

With his mug plastered on the Daily News, there's speculation that the caught-on-cameraphone pervert is a raw-food restaurant owner. The joke nearly writes itself. The Daily News says that many people have contacted them and the NYPD to say they think it could be Dan Hoyt, the co-owner of Quintessence. Hoyt has been contacted for questioning, but his ex-wife and Quintessnce co-owner says nothing's been proven yet and "There should be a support center to support these men to find what is the cause of their action instead of ...putting them in jail." What does suck is if you happen to have similar features to the subway onanist. more ›