This is something of a still life, but with people! Yesterday, our inscrutable Mayor Bloomberg was down at the World Trade Center, where a really fancy (and big!) motorcycle designed by Paul Teutul Jr. of American Chopper fame was unveiled as a tribute to the reconstruction of the World Trade Center. In January another bike, presumably similar and valued at $50,000, will be raffled off at $50 a ticket to benefit the museum. But also, this photo is kind of great. Composition-wise and such. (Click here for the full-size version.)

via @NYCMayorsOffice

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Looks like a bookshelf, really just a tchotchke shelf?

​The Economist has attempted to use the fact that the new version of Ikea's "Billy" bookshelf (I'm surprised it's not called, like, Smörg or something) has deeper shelves as evidence that books as we know them are in trouble. Sure, paper books are probably slowly dying, but not because of bigger bookshelves. You know what you can put in a deeper bookshelf? More books!

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In lieu of this latest video of people doing things they could really do elsewhere and not bother anybody instead of doing these things on the subway and bothering hundreds, possibly thousands, we feel it's important to issue a friendly reminder of how to behave on the subway. After all, it's back to school time, and the summer has been long, and bewildering. Perhaps we've forgotten all the things we learned at the end of last year! Herewith, how to behave on the subway, in three mostly simple steps:

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​If you're not busy evacuating or wrestling singlehandedly with your window air conditioner or scoping out possible hurricane boyfriends, you may be interested to know that the Red Cross needs your help! They're calling on core volunteers -- that means people who already have Red Cross training -- to help with the city's shelter operations, as well as with continuing operations after the storm. If that sounds like you, you can call 212.875.2068, or email volunteer@nyredcross.org. Jordan Humphrey of the Red Cross told us they're looking for anyone who's been through Red Cross reserve training, plus people who've been through other types of Red Cross training -- as well as EMTs, mental health professionals, and nursing professionals. They're looking to identify 1,000 volunteers who will serve the city over a five-day period, through the storm and its aftermath.

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Whadda view

​Chivalry is not dead! It's just hiding far, far away from the wonderfully uplifting [sarcasm] article in the New York Post today that reminds us how far we've truly come in male-female relations [again, sarcasm]. You see, while you've probably been thinking that you just want to find someone nice, who you're attracted to, who has a job and ideally doesn't live with his parents, and maybe is funny or has something to talk about now and again, you are wrong. Ladies: All you really want is a guy with a nice apartment. That nice apartment will woo you, girl. You will give it up for that nice apartment! (This means we have, essentially, gotten nowhere in male-female relations. At least if this article to be believed. Let's assume, for a moment, that it is.)

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​The New York Post today has an article about "baby-cakes." Contrary to what one might think, a "baby-cake" is not a cake with a baby inside it, nor a cake made of baby, whipped and delicious, nor even a traditional New Orleans "King cake" in which, if you get a little plastic baby in your slice, you are saddled with the responsibility of bringing the cake the next year. No, a "baby-cake" is a cake that contains frosting (or, at the very least, cakiness) of a gender-stereotyped color representing whether your baby is a girl or a boy on the inside. As the Post puts it, "Why find out your tot's gender in the doctor's office when you can have your nearest and dearest alongside you, as well as a delicious cake?" Why, indeed?

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​This photograph of Barack Obama's national security team during the Osama bin Laden raid, taken by official White House photographer Pete Souza, moved us all. What were they thinking? What were they seeing? Look at those faces! Especially...Hillary Clinton. It's as if she'd seen a ghost. Or felt really, really allergic. According to the Washington Post, Clinton said she has "no idea" what exactly she and the team were viewing at the moment of the photo. Further, that hand-to-face gesture might not even mean anything! Or might mean something incredibly...mundane.

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Luke's place, via ApartmentTherapy

​Remember that 90-square-foot apartment that we were all freaking out about earlier this month, you know, how can anyone live there that's just insane I'd have a panic attack I'm having one right now, etc., etc.? In fact, its owner did have a panic attack on her first night in the "loft." Yet, that is not the smallest apartment in New York City. Oh no. Apartment Therapy's "Small/Cool 2011" (The 7th Annual Smallest Coolest Home Contest) includes the extra-special, extra-tiny 78-square-foot New York City abode known as "Luke's Barely Habitable."

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​The Sex and the City franchise will never die. It will just keep getting younger and younger, but also sadder and sadder, like the Benjamin Button of chick-lit. This summer, we can look forward to the cinematic version of Summer in the City, the tale of Carrie, Samantha, and Miranda (where was Charlotte? I'm sure we'll find out!) together for the first time in NYC. As it happens, prior to the movie, we get the book, out today! And the book is shaped like a purse! How utterly effervescent.

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The drunk baby in "Las Palmas"

​There's been a spree of drunk toddlers of late. Perhaps that brazen child who wrecked the bar in the short film "Las Palmas" has been a bad influence. Perhaps that was just a short film that no babies watched anyway. But either way, in the span of one week, we have been faced with not one but two drunk baby stories: The tale of the child who unwittingly swilled a margarita at Applebee's, and the child who was given boozy sangria at the Olive Garden. The right people are doing the right things to stop this sort of ridiculousness (we suggest flogging the culprits heartily so they never waste alcohol on an undeserving toddler again!), so we won't get involved with that. Instead, we'll tell you how to know if you happen to have a drunk toddler on your hands. Knowing, as they say, is half the battle.

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