When Mayor Bloomberg proposed his soda ban all those months ago, it was evident that the bill would receive some flak. Anything above 16 ounces of pop eliminated from storefronts and restaurants? New Yorkers didn't know whether to yell out "Communism!" or binge drink Big Gulps faster than always-bored teenagers who spend a majority of their day lingering outside of the local 7/11.

It was a public health proposal reminiscent of Bloomberg's 2002 smoking ban in restaurants and offices, except with a product that had a less shitty public image. Of course, that time, New Yorkers erupted at the then-new Mayor but gradually accepted the cleaner air. And restauranteurs shrugged off their old enemy as more customers came to restaurants, scared before of inhaling the secondhand smoke instead of the sirloin. Now, smoking inside public spaces is not even an after-thought for most.

The backlash against the soda ban, however, has attained a different feature; one that could possibly be linked to this confused conservatism of the present day. The anti-smoking-ban did claim to defend "the rights" of smokers but this opposition, symbolized by New Yorkers for Beverage Choices and other groups, has donned a mask of small government libertarianism. Across the country, the fight for Big Gulps has transformed into an ideological battle between those who view consumerism as a choice and others who view consumerism, like capitalism, as a system that must be closely regulated to prevent unwarranted side-effects.

And that's exactly what shouldn't happen.

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What is "real"?

Bummed that you missed out on history when Johan Santana (with assists from Mike Baxter and Adrian Johnson) hurled the first no-hitter in Mets history? Now you can remedy that retroactively, by buying "reprinted" tickets to Johan's no-no from the Mets website:

As a loyal Mets Fan, we are pleased to offer you the opportunity to purchase tickets from this historic game to ensure you have a memento that can be passed on for generations. Your tickets will be printed on Season Ticket Holder stock.

Beginning today, Monday, June 11 at 10 AM, simply click the "Buy Your Johan No-No Tickets" button to secure a mint ticket from the milestone game. There is a 4 ticket limit per customer.

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Now in its eighteenth year, the Union Square Holiday Market opened yesterday--a week before Black Friday. The "Christmas episode" of the year-round Greenmarket features wares from local knickknackeries. Neighborhood fixtures like Wafels and Dinges are there, as are unusual businesses like the one specializing in alpaca hats, which look super warm. Unlike a lot of other open-air markets, this one actually sells original merchandise--you won't see seven kiosks selling identical Christmas tree tchotchkes (but rest assured, there are many Christmas tree tchotchkes).

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​Fans of Slurpees and suburban desperation can soon look no further than 351 Bowery, where a 7-Eleven will be the next tenant. It's only a couple blocks from our office and a stone's throw away from the Bowery Poetry Club. If Bob Dylan was dead and with-it enough to know what a 7-Eleven is, he'd be rolling in his grave. More »

From the man who brought you Super Size Me and reality stunt show 30 Days comes No Ad: New York, "an internet-based effort to remove all visual advertising from Times Square." Morgan Spurlock's Warrior Poets have teamed with online photo editing program Aviary and some neo-ad agency called The Barbarian Group to crowd-source an art project in which a 360-degree photograph of Times Square is divided into 100 slices and each wiped clean of advertising by a different person.

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