Reportedly an international online date site, called BeatifulPeople, is perfectly happy to show their shallow side. CNN reports that they have a "strict ban on ugly people," and recently cut 5,000 members for gaining weight during the holidays! Robert Hintze, founder of the site, explained: "Letting fatties roam the site is a direct threat to our business model and the very concept for which [the site] was founded." The most users expelled from the site were from, surprise, the U.S — in fact, they says, "Every year we see that some of our members from Western cultures eat and drink to excess over the holidays, and clearly their looks suffer. The U.S.A. has been grossly over-indulging since Thanksgiving." [via Boing Boing] more ›

Commuting by canoe gets a little easier today as the Parks Department launches the NYC Water Trail Map & Guide. The Parks website features the first interactive map of the citywide water trail system, with detailed information about 28 locations where you can launch a kayak, canoe or retro submarine. more ›

A plan is going to be submitted to the MTA's board for approval this week to spend $1.3 million to install a computerized monitoring system for the subway systems 300+ elevators and escalators. The purpose is to speed the response when elevators and escalators are out of service. Currently, the MTA operates a web page that is updated three times a day to inform riders when escalators and elevators are out of service, but it is reliant on NYC Transit employees or riders themselves to report malfunctions. more ›