We may be hurtling toward an uncertain, unsustainable future in which the sky and everything in it is falling (currently: big frozen clumps of moisture, run!), but it's nice to know that some things never change. There's just something perversely comforting about this video of two guys fighting at 5:30 a.m. on New Year's Day on the Staten Island Ferry: No matter how dreadful things get, you can always count on a couple of macho dudes to roll around on the floor together after a night of partying—and for the NYPD to discourage the loser from filing a police report. The fisticuffs start around the one minute mark: more ›

The Coney Island Polar Bear Club is holding their annual New Year's Day swim tomorrow. It's open to all lunatics, so start 2011 right with a bracing dip in the Atlantic ocean. (But be careful!) There's no fee for swimmers, but the club encourages everyone to make a donation to Camp Sunshine, a year round retreat for children with life-threatening illnesses. more ›

Every new year the media likes to make a big fuss over the first baby born in New York. The mayor often even shows up to congratulate the wee one! So, naturally, landing that perfectly-timed pregnant woman is a big deal at local hospitals. Thankfully c-sections "don't count," or it sounds like some of these maternity wards would just be ripping the babes out so as to claim the first. more ›

Decked in swimsuits, swim trunks, bikinis and costumes, about a thousand folks joined the Coney Island Polar Bear Swim Club for its annual New Year's Day swim in the Atlantic Ocean. The group's president told the Daily News it was their biggest turnout ever, thanks to a water temperature of 44 degrees. more ›

Ah, New Year's Day. The perfect time to sit down and make some changes in your life. Like maybe a change towards being a little less, you know, promiscuous. Or at least stocking up on Plan B when you know what kind of decisions you'll make after all that champagne. The above sign was spotted at a local Duane Reade sometime after the clock struck midnight and before the hangover started to subside. more ›

Yesterday afternoon, as the air temperature was around the 20-degree mark, the Polar Bear Club celebrated New Year's Day in their traditional style: in the freezing cold waters off Coney Island. TIME Magazine takes a look at the tradition and talked to the club's head honcho. They note that the annual plunge has been going on since 1903, and that this year, nearly 700 were expected to take a dip while thousands watched from land. more ›

According to an email and this post on the Coney Island message board, the annual post-Polar Bear swim party at Ruby's Bar on the boardwalk will proceed, despite escalating fears that the beloved dive would close. On Christmas Eve, a large number of businesses on the boardwalk were plastered with "For Lease" signs by Thor Equities, which owns much of the property on Coney Island and is locked in tough negotiations with the city over the make-up of a proposed upscale hotel and amusement project. more ›

Undoubtedly 2009 will only bring more drama to Coney Island, and the Save Coney Island Coalition is calling for a New Year's Day rally in an effort to get things moving in their direction. The group will meet noon this Thursday at the memorial shrine on the gates of the now dismantled Astroland Park, and they ask that you "bring photos, drawings, letters, poems, flowers to add to the shrine." Hmm, wasn't that shrine just stolen? Anyway, they also suggest you make your own protest signs or download one here. Meanwhile, one Coney institution that is still around and can't be bulldozed by Thor is the Polar Bear Club! And they'll be out in force on the 1st, taking their first dip of the year at around 1 p.m. You can donate money to their Freezin' for a Reason fund, which goes to benefit Camp Sunshine. more ›

Law & Order is back for its eighteenth season and it is back in its traditional home of Wednesday at 10 p.m., although this week we get two hours starting at 9 p.m. and thanks to a stockpile of scripts written ahead of the writers strike, we can expect oodles of new episodes into the spring. Also thanks to the WGA strike, it will be the best thing on television for the for the foreseeable future. more ›

This year, the Coney Island Polar Bear Club really heated things up in their online video which features two topless ladies (backs turned to camera)! Will you make the plunge this New Years Day? Register or make a donation (money goes to Camp Sunshine) at Freezin' for a Reason. If you do participate, be warned, the water is usually around 33° degrees when the annual dip is made -- though they say "no member has... more ›