​We're hearing reports that there's a school bus or another vehicle on fire at 35th Street and 7th Avenue, near Macy's. The Corcoran Group has Tweeted a photo, saying, "A truck is on fire outside Macys on 7th Avenue, sounds of explosions nearby."

The FDNY tells us there is smoke in the area at 7th and 42nd Street, but they don't have confirmation on it being a school bus. "We have companies on the scene and it is developing," we were told. The call came in at 8:33 this morning.

More >>

DOT

​New York City's first "Slow Zone," a residential area of several blocks with maximum marked speeds of 20 miles per hour, has been unveiled in the Claremont section of the Bronx. The Daily News reports that 46 people were injured or killed in the Community Board 3 neighborhood, which includes Claremont, between 2006 and 2010. In fascinating yet morbid statistical information, if you're hit by a car going 20 miles per hour, you have a 95% chance of surviving, which drops to 30% if the car is going 40 miles per hour.

More >>

In honor of Christmas being merely 41 days away, we present to you the above video of the instillation of Rockefeller Center's Norway Spruce. Some fun facts about the tree: It's 74 feet tall, 75 years old, has both a Twitter and Tumblr account, and it's a fucking tree.

More >>

Scott Lamb, the managing editor at BuzzFeed, recently took on the streets (or, specifically, street) of New York City to cover the 13 miles of Broadway by bike from top to bottom, filming it by helmet cam and then speeding it up 2,000 times for your viewing pleasure into just five minutes of daring via time-lapse videography.

More >>

via DARPA's news release.

​An unmanned aircraft engineered to go 20 times the speed of sound was lost on its second test flight Thursday. The BBC reports that scientists lost track of the Falcon Hypersonic Test Vehicle 2, or HTV-2, shortly after it detached from a rocket high above the California coast. The Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency, or DARPA, published a press release saying that the "aircraft impacted the Pacific Ocean along the planned flight path."

More >>

​Yesterday, by many accounts in the tri-state area a "gorgeous day" absolutely "perfect for swimming" was that moment of the summer in which a white 40-year-old male gazed out at the cool waters of the Central Park Reservoir. As if compelled by a seeming mirage, he scaled the chain-link fence (allegedly) and dove joyfully into the refreshing 40-foot-deep pool of wonder at around 3 in the afternoon. When ordered to get out by firefighters who could not understand the man's need to immerse himself in water (or who were just doing their jobs), the man refused. So, three firefighters jumped in, swam over to him, and lassoed him with a yellow rope. Free swim!

More >>

​The Observer today reports on a bizarre, painful ritual that is taking place right before our eyes. No, not power media couples, nor reading about power media couples. This ritual has been undertaken by a group of the disciples of deceased Indian spritual leader Sri Chinmoy. 10 of them are now in their 23rd day of a 3,100-mile race around one single block in Jamaica, Queens. Currently, Finnish ultramarathoner Asprihanal Aalto is in the lead of this especially dizzying version of Groundhog Day meets Forrest Gump. The block involves a loop around the Thomas A. Edison Career and Technical Education High School done a total of 5,649 times, which measures to "just under 60 miles a day."

More >>

Keep pedalling, we're almost at Whole Foods!

​Don't you hate it when your vegan buddies hold their dietary practices over you? And don't you despise that guy who completes the Tour de France and acts like he's the man just because he successfully finished the single most grueling test of human endurance? Well, David Zabriskie fits both categories. The Independent reports that the American cyclist will become the first rider ever to keep a vegan diet while competing in the Tour de France, which starts this Saturday.

More >>

​Alert! The city would like to remind you that Halloween is just around the corner Losing weight is as easy as walking instead of driving We're all the same underneath our clothes Everybody's got to go sometime so stop and smell the roses while you can A zombie apocalypse could happen Speeding kills! Hence, the new custom-designed speed board featuring that guy that your mom hangs on the door in October. You'll start seeing these around town this summer, so don't freak out -- they are not a veiled threat. The sort of cool techy part: Apparently the skeleton will appear whenever a car goes over 30 miles per hour on city streets. Mayor Bloomberg thinks this new "graphic" image will help hammer home the message, presuming the New York City driver in question actually cares about whether he hits anyone or not. Walkers, focus on crossing the road, not staring at the sign. A Spooky Reminder to Obey the Speed Limit [NYT]

Bizarrely, a woman hijacked a tow truck on an L.A. freeway, leading to a high-speed chase, leading to a slower-speed chase when she climbed out of the truck's window and tried to outrun the cops in tiny spandex shorts, a cut-off top, and bare feet (ow -- even those hideous FiveFinger running shoes would have been acceptable here). Onlookers must have been amazed. She is fast. She failed. Fortunately, it was all caught on video, which, via the New York Daily News, is worth a watch, for cautionary, anthropological, and "holy shit" purposes.

More >>