This fad has been around for a while, but the Cinnamon Spoon Test is still happening out there in YouTube-land... and Brooklyn. Basically, you try to swallow a spoonful of cinnamon, preferably while one of your friends films you. You then upload it to YouTube, where there are about a million other videos like it, each ending... badly. Because no one can beat the cinnamon spoon challenge! Not even these bros—because all of the underchin facial hair in the world can't save you from the dry burn of cinnamon. And yet here we are, in 2012, with new "Cinnamon Spoon Challenge" content uploaded every day! more ›

If you get a text message from a strange number tomorrow, accompanied by a strange noise and the words, "extreme alert," don't be alarmed: The New York City Office of Emergency Management and FEMA will be conducting a test of the Wireless Emergency Alert System. And hopefully it'll go better than it did in New Jersey on Monday, when a similar "emergency alert" freaked out thousands of people. more ›

Good thing the state is up for that school funding, because these kids look like they need all the help they can get. On this year's state math exams—administered to students in the 3rd through 8th grades in order to advance to the next grade—many students were given partial credit for bad math, wrong answers and even writing no answer at all. more ›

Just 30% of NYPD department lieutenants decided to take the captain test this year—the rest deciding it wasn't worth the effort. But of those who did take the time (between 456 and 537), just 68 passed. Those who failed are claiming the test wasn't fair and abused the English language to trick test takers. One claimed a lengthy question used the word "irregardless" to confuse the test taker into marking "none of the above" as the right answer, since "irregardless" isn't a word. (Lexicographer battle!) Another said, "The questions were disgustingly obscure and were ridiculously long, only to lead to answers that were hideous." more ›

NY’s Regent exams have been administered since 1865, but this year, in light of penny pinching measures throughout the Department of Education, some of the tests may be eliminated or drastically scaled back. Next week the board of Regents may decide to trash many subject tests that measure achievement among the state’s high schoolers, including ones for foreign languages, math, science, global history, government and geography. According to the Times Union, the board may also choose to stop translating the tests, keeping Spanish, but getting rid of Chinese, Korean, Russian and Haitian Creole versions. Sources estimate the cutbacks could save $13.7 million in preparation costs. more ›

Tests show that former Nets player Jayson Williams's blood alcohol level was twice the legal limit after he crashed his Mercedes SUV into a tree in Manhattan last month. After his blood was finally tested at Bellevue, the results came back at 0.19 (it was previously rumored to have been .24, thrice the legal limit). But still, driving drunk at twice the legal limit is enough to double his trouble—the DA wants Williams, 41, to serve a year in jail, the maximum DWI punishment, after he does time for his other crimes. more ›

Teachers are protesting a city proposal to use standardized test scores to determine which public school educators will earn tenure this year. Based on improvements in state test scores, the Department of Education wants to classify educators as either "tenure likely" or "tenure in doubt" — a plan the teachers union might sue to stop. more ›

What makes NYC pizza so great? According to Serious Eats (the same maniacal food lovers who set out to find the best bagel in NY) it may be the water. An unbiased taste test, hosted by Mathieu Palombino, the chef/owner of Motorino, put six different pies, varying only in the water used (which ranged from Dasani, to regular tap water, to Evian) in front of a carefully selected panel of pizza lovers. Science never tasted so good! more ›

Investigators have been able to put names to the remains of two women who were killed during the September 11 terrorist attacks, according to 1010WINS. Though the medical examiner's officer is withholding releasing the names of the victims at the families' request, the city says it used a new DNA technology developed in 2006 to determine the identity one of the victims. The city regularly retests unidentified remains, though many were "too badly compromised by heat and time" to study. There are still more than 1,100 victims whose remains have not been identified. more ›

Escolar, a fish famous for causing diarrhea and anal leakage, has been found masquerading as tuna at sushi restaurants, according to a DNA research study recently published by a group of scientists. The escolar was found five times during the brief research project, which included visits to 31 sushi restaurants in NYC and beyond. The study also found that some restaurants are also selling endangered southern bluefin tuna. more ›

Officer Jon Goldin, an NYPD helicopter pilot who was dismissed for failing a drug test in 2006, has lost his recent appeal, in which he maintained that the cocaine found in his system was the result of "passive ingestion." In other words, the hair sample they tested was coked up because of all the sweaty sex with his druggie girlfriend! (Kind of reminds us of that Seinfeld poppy seed muffin episode!) But when the all snickering subsides, the explanation actually starts to seem somewhat plausible; Goldin, a 15-year veteran of the NYPD who's been straight-edge for years, had 70 friends testify about his relentless sobriety, which even extends to caffeine. more ›

Toxic vapors are intruding into Greenpoint homes, and the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation is having difficulty assessing the problem because many residents will not allow their homes to be tested, according to a scary report in the Times today. The vapors in question are not wafting from the famous oil plume in Greenpoint's groundwater that went undetected until 1978, but are believed to be left over from other businesses that no longer operate in the neighborhood. more ›

With more focus being put on public schools improving standardized test scores, should we be surprised that a high school administrator is accused of falsifying answers? Department of Education investigators say that High School for Contemporary Arts Assistant Principal Ruth Ralston "brazenly erased 1,000 wrong answers on her students' algebra Regents exams and swapped them for the correct responses," according to the Post." The NY Times reports someone noticed that "1,013 multiple-choice answers had been erased and changed — in 94 percent of the cases, from incorrect to correct." Suspicion fell on Ralston, who held the uncorrected exams after students took them and before they were graded. She had also been told her $109K/year job might be eliminated due to budget cuts--"while a high passing rate on the exam might not save her job, 'it could help her search for a new position.'" (The Post says she's still working there three days a week.) more ›

Just as we were patting ourselves on the backs for our top shelf tap water, a Bushwick local went and tested their own H2O after it began stinking up shower time and dish duty with chlorine fumes. BushwickBK used a water testing kit to analyze pH levels, alkalinity, chlorine, total hardness, iron, copper, and nitrites. The results? "My tap water scored a 4 out of 10 in total chlorine content, which is safe according to Pro-Lab pamphlet, but the water in the Brita pitcher recorded a 0.2 out of 10 total chlorine content." However, the test showed that it was acidic (or “soft”) which can mean there are heavy metals and/or lead present (a lead test costs $30 and wasn't performed). They report the test "recorded a pH of 5, the level of acidity in coffee...and my Brita pitcher only increased the acidity in the water, pushing it down to a 3, the level of orange juice and vinegar." Yikes! If you want to perform your own tap water test, there are kits available for $10. And if you're in the beer-making biz, note that low pH levels are good for it, "The German immigrants that dominated Bushwick in the mid-1800s got filthy rich off the water acidity." more ›

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Urbanspoon is a free iPhone application aimed at the indecisiveness gripping a certain subset of young moneyed urban dwellers. Sometimes it is really hard deciding between dinner at Pastis, Spice Market or Buddha Bar! So with a shake, your iPhone becomes a cross between a Magic 8 Ball and a slot machine that uses GPS technology to land on a nearby restaurant, categorized by price, proximity and cuisine. But the app was not so killer for the Times’s Frank Bruni, who recently cruised around town testing it:

I was standing smack in front of Dressler [in Williamsburg], using the phone’s Urbanspoon restaurant-search application, which was supposed to pinpoint my location and recommend the best options nearby. I shook the iPhone… It directed me to a wine bar several blocks away. I shook again. It directed me to an Italian restaurant all the way over the Williamsburg Bridge, in the East Village. more ›

The Dept. of Health is looking into why hundreds of New Yorkers were informed that they tested positive for HIV infection after an oral exam, when in fact they were HIV negative. The non-infected status was determined by a follow-up blood test that was administered immediately. Still--pretty scary. The State Health Dept. and the CDC are investigating why the OraSure mouth swab tests resulted in an approximate 50% false-positive rate (The FDA's allowable false-positive rate for HIV tests is 2%). The Health Dept. reported that it has suspended use of OraSure as an HIV-infection detector. more ›

And then there were four. A tipster just sent us this shot of Danish-Icelandic artist Olafur Eliasson's Brooklyn Bridge waterfall, being tested this afternoon. This completes the teaser set for all the NYC Waterfall aficionados out there. Also seen below are the Governors Island test, the Pier 35 test in Manhattan, and the other Brooklyn waterfall between Piers 4 and 5. more ›

Delayed spoiler alert: The photo here from Curbed reveals what Danish-Icelandic artist Olafur Eliasson’s waterfall looks like on Governor’s Island. One of four on the East River, it’s not supposed to be “officially” turned on until next Thursday. Oh well, now we know. For those keeping score, we've now seen the Manhattan-side Pier 35 waterfall test, and yesterday's test of the Brooklyn waterfall between Piers 4 and 5. That leaves just the waterfall under the Brooklyn Bridge left to spoil! (Send your waterfall test pics to tips(at)gothamist(dot)com or tag them “Gothamist” on Flickr.) more ›

The man-made waterfalls, Olafur Eliasson's aquatic art project, were getting another test run this morning. Last week a late night test was witnessed by some at Pier 35, and this morning we saw the Brooklyn waterfall getting a test run at the foot of the Promenade (between Piers 4 and 5). more ›

Mayor Bloomberg and the City Council may not agree on the appropriateness of cell phones in public schools, but the DoE is now handing out cell phones to a select group of students. The privately funded pilot program will give cell phones to students and reward positive behavior, such as showing up to class, behaving and doing well. more ›

Last night, we did a double take while watching WNBC News at 11 because reporter John Noel was interviewing a man who made a DVD of supposed actual crimes, like robberies, carjackings, and possibly a murder, in progress (here's the WNBC video). Of course, it's called Criminals Gone Wild, and DVDs are $26.98. Noel asked the Brooklyn resident behind the DVD, Ousala Aleem, if he actually did film a murder. Aleem says, "Well, the... more ›