Photo by Joseph Cultice. Baby, it's cold outside...but Kristen Johnston would rather go naked than ride in a horse-drawn carriage. PETA has released the above homage to Lady Godiva in order to take a stance against the cruel business of horse carriages. The ads will debut today in Central Park (with Johnston on hand), and will be running on more than 100 taxi tops in the city. Other celebs supporting the cause are Pink,...

Photograph by phrenologist on Flickr After much speculation and the local papers preparing commuters for what was to come, the MTA made their official budget proposal today and as expected, the cutbacks were dramatic. In addition to the slashing of the W and the Z lines among other cuts listed Tuesday, today's 2009 budget also included the following: Increasing weekend wait times by 25% on most lines Raising express bus fares from $5 to...

Adam Schokora of Danwei points us to this audio recording of a "disgruntled customer lecturing a telephone operator at a well-known, city-wide food delivery company based in Shanghai". Do a bit of research and you'll find there's only one food delivery company in town that delivers Blue Frog and it happens to be an advertiser on Shanghaiist. Does the voice of this douchebag sound familiar to any of you readers out there? We say unleash...

An observational study by Hunter College students has concluded that when it comes to traffic regulations, cyclists are incorrigible scofflaws. Students spent October observing 3,000 cyclists chosen at random at 69 locations throughout the five boroughs; they found that only 43 percent of all cyclists stopped at red lights, and roughly 14 percent did not use designated bike lanes, which is not required by law. City law does require children under age 14 to wear...

Have you ever heard a song by a band and totally been turned on to that band, rushing out to buy their record, listening to it, and then excitedly telling your friend all about your "discovery", saying, "Hey, have you ever heard of this band called The Rolling Stones??? They ROCK!" only to have your heart crushed when your friend tells you that band's old news? (Tankboy has to do it to me all the...

Metro hasn't yet formally announced the sale of a special edition SmarTrip card commemorating the impending inauguration of President-Elect Barack Obama, but this image was circulated at this morning's regular Board of Directors meeting, along with details on their production schedule and cost. Metro spokesperson Steven Taubenkibel confirmed that the commemorative SmarTrip cards should be available for sale in early January, while special paper Metro farecards marking the inauguration will be sold somewhat earlier,...

The Washington Post is reporting that all three men who resided in the Swann Street NW home where attorney Robert Wone was killed over two years ago have been indicted on obstruction of justice charges. The three men, Joe Price, 37, Victor Zaborsky, 42, and Dylan Ward, 38, have been of interest to the police since at least August of 2006, and Ward was arrested several weeks ago in Miami-Dade County, Fla., where he now...

It's confirmed: Alaska Governor Sarah Palin is having some bad luck with the media. Her time on the Republican Party's top ticket was marred by a few missteps--namely with her handlers limiting her time with the media, being over- or underprepared with the media or McCain-Palin insiders complaining to the media about her. But now that she's back in her native state, one would think that her aides could make sure she doesn't stand in...

Photograph of traders at the New York Stock Exchange by Richard Drew/AP The Dow Jones fell 5.56%, losing 444.99 points to close at 7,552 points; the Nasdaq fell 5% and the S&P 500 plummeted 6.71%. The NY Times reports, "Wall Street doubled down on its losses on Thursday, just a day after financial markets closed at their lowest point in nearly six years." And the Wall Street Journal says, "Stocks' sharp slide continued Thursday,...

Everyone's freaking out about this video of Sarah Palin being interviewed in front of a live turkey slaughter immediately after pardoning a turkey for Thanksgiving. Should her aides have moved her away from the killing machine before she started talking to reporters? Of course. Has Palin just further confirmed that she's a ridiculous person? Uh huh. Does it make the fact that "pardoning" a turkey for Thanksgiving is a meaningless, treacly tradition meant to...