Today was a big day for the Second Avenue Subway project: the enormous tunnel boring machine that will dig the "phase one" tunnel from 92nd to 63rd Street was switched on for the first time. (It arrived at the location last month.) We stopped by the site this morning to take some pictures of the current site and the sandhogs who are working down there. And after the jump, some video of the boring machine beginning to turn. more ›

As part of our continuing Open House New York coverage, we visited the Newtown Creek Wastewater Treatment Plant this morning. It is enormous: dozens of buildings on 53 acres at the northern edge of Greenpoint. You've probably seen the huge silver digester eggs from the BQE— at night they're lit up with pretty blue light. An overview of what goes on there: "with a rated capacity of 1.2 million m³/d, this is New York City's largest wastewater pump station and serves an area of 4,162 acres of land, fed by 180 miles of sewers. " Polshek Partnership is responsible for the plant's design— check out their site for some cool progress pictures. more ›

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A poignant week for LAist as they lose their trusted and amazing editor Tony Pierce to the LA Times, but what a blast his last week was. He shared his 25 Favorite CDs of 2007 and wrote a great review of just a good movie, No Country For Old Men. At UCLA, thousands of students celebrated the end of their quarter by running around campus in their undies (lots of photos in a two-part photo essay, one, two). That wasn't the only photo essay either: Joss Whedon/Mutant Enemy friends and Star Trek actors all joined in at the Writers Strike and KROQ's Almost Acoustic Christmas brought two nights of amazing bands that included Avenged Sevenfold, Linkin Park (Part I), Modest Mouse, Muse, Spoon and The Killers (Part II). Not only is L.A. a great music town, it has just been named the best city for bookish types. For those who are looking for something a little more active, American Gladiators are back (yes!) and if that's not enough, how about a Christmas gift of action and adventure? more ›

This morning at the Gothamist mailbox, a small package was waiting, containing three copies of a small newspaper. On the cover were the words "if we did it, this is how it would've happened" -- a tribute to the recent unpublished OJ Simpson book-- and a picture of a defaced Shepard Fairey piece in Williamsburg. more ›

The Domino Sugar Refinery might be Brooklyn's signature building representing the borough's industrial history. Looking across the East River from Manhattan while below the Williamsburg Bridge, its presence on the Brooklyn waterfront is dominating. That Manhattan vantage point surrendered its industrial heritage of gasworks and docks more than a century ago, to tenements followed by high-rise apartment housing complexes. Now the factory is an icon of the battle to convert Brooklyn's waterfront from an industrial setting to a residential one. more ›

The nicer the weather gets, the busier we get across the Ist-A-Verse. But we like being busy. Here's a peek at what we've been up to since last week! more ›

BB from DUMBO, by Mareen Fischinger. more ›

Jagshemash! more ›

Let's look back at a week in which no site in the -ist network adopted anyone from Africa... more ›

Hey, have y'all been using our new "Recommend this" feature at the bottom of each post? This week we're bringing you the "Most Recommended" posts from across the -ist world, as well as recommending some of our own. more ›

Photo of Coney Island by 68 on Flickr. more ›

Last weekend's New York Times piece about Bob Diamond's Red Hook streetcar project has sadly dropped behind the Times Select paywall, but the article inspired us to walk over to Red Hook and snap the little photo essay below. For more information on the streetcars (for free!) check out this Forgotten-NY page. more ›

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The White House website also has a photo essay on past Presidential turkey pardons; insert your own Gerald Ford joke here. more ›

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The last link was courtesy of Lightning Field, which also has a good photo essay on my favorite elevated rail, the high line. lightningfield.com | photo weblog more ›