​Looks like the hip thing to do is to make non-profits even less profitable.

For the third time in a week, a New Yorker has been accused of illegally pocketing megabucks from a non-profit.

The Manhattan District Attorney says that Jeffrey Bernstein swindled more than $2,500,000 from the Albert Ellis Institute, a psychotherapy charity, between January 2010 and February 2011.

Bernstein, 62, worked as director of administration at the org, which offered affordable therapy to the public.

The D.A. indicted Bernstein today, claiming that he conned the group out of money by sending some 80 unauthorized wire transfers to his own business accounts.

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The video above portrays the technique of YouTube poster MCOTOMOSHIROI, who has discovered how to motivate slow walkers to get out of his way. As this is relevant to our interests, we decided to see if his method was as successful on the streets of Manhattan as it was in Japan. The "MCOTOMOSHIROI Approach" involves only a bike bell and some disdain toward humanity. We chose the most annoying bell we could find, and set out to become a social irritant.

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​Recently the Village Voice received a (long) fax from French-Canadian tourist Daniel Dõ detailing an unpleasant experience he had on the High Line. He and his friends brought a nice picnic, including some wine that was discreetly sipped from white porcelain cups. A High Line official told them to put away the wine, and Dõ wrote a letter to the High Line staff detailing his objection to the way he was treated. An excerpt follows (we've kept Dõ's French-style quotation marks):

At one point, around 1:00 pm, a young lady (a not very tall black woman) who was obviously working for the High Line Park (she was wearing the polo with [the High Line] logo... but she never introduced herself) came to see us. Actually, she suddenly «appeared» next to our table and without any introduction, just said with a very unpleasant tone of voice: «No alcohol in the High Line Park. Or you pour it and drink it now, or you leave the park.» And she immediately quit. We were so shocked by the way she talked to us, not only because she was very rude, but most of all, because her attitude was totally at the opposite of the spirit of your wonderful place... friendly and peaceful.

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​New York City real estate agents have given us one more reason to despise them; they're trying to rebrand Midtown West as MiMa, which is short for "The Middle of Manhattan," because the word "Midtown" doesn't make that clear enough. This new name is the work of Related, the company that just built the MiMa luxury tower on 42nd Street. Judging from the map on its website, this "new" neighborhood encompasses everything west of 5th Avenue between 32nd and 58th streets, also known as Hell's Kitchen.

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