Times reporter C.J. Hughes rode the M60 bus to La Guardia a few days ago and describes a frustrating scene: The only direct public transportation link between Manhattan and the airport is horribly overcrowded and slooow. It took Hughes two hours to get from 106th and Broadway to La Guardia—twice as long as scheduled. During the trip he watched as "two dozen people" with luggage tried to squeeze on, but "a wave of exiting riders,...

Oh wow. We need to get in on this racket. See, San Francisco International Airport plans on installing carbon-offset kiosks, so guilt-ridden travelers can donate to saving the Earth and stuff. It works like this: Travelers enter their flight info at the green kiosk, which figures out how many puppies and kittens will die as a result from the carbon dioxide emitted from their flight. A cost for offsetting your environment-crippling flight plans will...

Torontoist is ending the year by naming our Heroes and Villains of 2008—the people, places, and things that we've either fallen head over heels in love with or developed uncontrollable rage towards over the past twelve months, with one hero and one villain selected by each participating staff member. On Christmas Day: the heroes. On Boxing Day: the villains. And next week, cast your vote to determine the Superhero and Supervillain of the year....

Soon, we'll all be living like pirates. The NY Times jumps into the latest trend of city residents living on boats...actually, they did that earlier this year, but those suckers paid to live on a boat. The newest crop of sea dwellers are l-i-v-i-n for free. The paper describes the 6,000 square-feet of space, which boasts 15-foot ceilings, views of the Manhattan skyline, giant roofdecks and no neighbors (and yes, there's internet). Don't worry, there's...

Today is the first day of Kwanzaa, a weeklong celebration running through January 1 that observes seven principles and African traditions. Newsday has information on some events, including the American Museum of Natural History's Kwanzaa Fest! that we mentioned earlier. CityRoom's Sewell Chan writes about Kwanzaa's history in the city and adds, "As a child growing up in Queens, I remember attending Kwanzaa celebrations at the American Museum of Natural History with relatives and friends...

The Washington Post offers a story about how win over Afghan "notoriously fickle warlords and chieftains" by offering them "variety of personal services." This includes "pocketknives and tools, medicine or surgeries for ailing family members, toys and school equipment, tooth extractions, travel visas, and, occasionally, pharmaceutical enhancements for aging patriarchs with slumping libidos." A CIA operative tells the WaPo, "Whatever it takes to make friends and influence people -- whether it's building a school or...

Photos via Brownstoner. If you were too scared to see what, say, Target looked like earlier this week, Brownstoner has some shots of their Atlantic Center outlet on December 23rd—and it ain't pretty. While the empty shelves and picked over clothing racks might make them wonder "what recession?"—we wonder if it's because prices were really low or if the store didn't bother to stock back up. Either way, it's likely to look the same...

They've tried vertical cameras and even lasers but nothing beats a Russian immigrant when when it comes to counting bodies Times Square, according to this fun article in the Times, which tells you all you never wanted to know about counting crowds at the crossroads of the world. It's almost exclusively Russian immigrants who get paid $8 an hour to stand around and count. An engineer who oversees the process explains that the Times Square...

Photo courtesy of Major League Eating. As previously mentioned, competitive eater Takeru Kobayashi went to town on a bunch of fruitcake this morning, all in the name of fighting hunger for the Food Bank of NYC. Word has come in that he had 4 pounds 8 ounces of the holiday "treat" in 10 minutes—more than any human should ingest, but still shy of Sonya Thomas' record (4 pounds 14 ounces). He told the Daily...

If you have a US iPhone 3G and have been tempted by repeated reminders in iTunes to upgrade to the 2.2 version of the iPhone firmware, you may soon be able to give in to the temptation without fear of relocking your device to AT&T. The iPhone Dev Team has announced that they will be launching a software hack to unlock your 3G iPhone on New Year's Eve. This will allow you to upgrade your...