Yesterday we were reminded that just like the chupacabra or deciding on whether to run for president, sitting down kills you. At least we can come home every two weeks with a piece of paper that allows us to keep a (leaking) roof over our heads, buy a few more tallboys and more precious time before we die, right? WRONG. According to Time magazine's analysis of a recent study, "getting paid may be associated with a higher risk of death." Dammit, I guess we finally have to admit that volunteering is good for you. more ›

NYC’s oldest citizen died yesterday, after telling the Post last month, she “wouldn’t want to do this again.” In her 111 years, Jane Gilsenan, known as Jenny to friends, lived through the Depression, saw her brothers fight in WWII and—most amazingly—paid $16/ month in rent on the Upper West Side! Aging experts are baffled by Gilsenan and her fellow centenarians. One said she “inherited a lucky set of genes” just like her mother who lived to be 99 and her older sister who died at 102. Besides daily doses of vitamins A and D and the occasional glass of cream sherry, Gilsenan denied having any aging secrets. "I have none, and I wouldn't give them away because I wouldn't wish it on anybody," she said. Unlike another recently deceased old-timer, she had no kids. more ›

How many trees have to die before someone does something about Olafur Eliasson’s waterfalls? Earlier this month the Parks Department and the Public Art Fund admitted that the salty East River spray from the Brooklyn Bridge waterfall was making the leaves on trees at the River Cafe in DUMBO go prematurely brown. Now the Brooklyn Paper reports that the trees at the Brooklyn Heights Promenade are suffering from the same affliction, brought on by the salt slowing photosynthesis. Officials have assured tree-huggers that the spray from what BP calls Eliasson's "four-headed killing machine" doesn't pose any "long-term danger," but the way things are going, it's only a matter of time before some Earth First! activists start climbing up the falls to try and hang protest banners. more ›

You'll recall that many of the city's supermarkets have been struggling to stay afloat due to high rents, skyrocketing electricity costs, and shrinking profit margins (here's a map). Today Albor Ruiz at the Daily News points to another factor: stiff competition from BJ's, the giant wholesale club store that will soon open two more locations in Brooklyn. But because of the $45 membership fee and BJ's refusal to accept food stamps or subsidies under the Women, Infants and Children (WIC) program, the store is not an option for many lower-income residents. more ›