Bowery Boogie

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Because SoHo needed another enormous mural depicting a Southern California symbol. Hollister's latest addition to its display of murky brown mega-advertising is the California state flag, a natural fit for the space that used to have a DKNY mural with the Statue of Liberty.

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​Brace yourself, fellow commuters, as this is horrible news. Now, to add to our various rational or irrational New York City fears, we have the fear of wearing open-toed shoes while sitting on a bench on a subway platform, because a rat might be hiding underneath it and notice us there and pop out and bite us on the foot. Seriously.

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​The MTA has announced it will start to restore limited bus service today. Manhattan and the Bronx will be the first boroughs to have working bus routes, with Queens and Brooklyn to follow. Staten Island is too much of a mess right now for them to give a concrete time frame. Go to MTA.info to find out what routes are in service. As of right now, the BX1-BX55, M1-M116, and the Q1-Q113 are running on delayed schedules. Everything else is suspended. [@nickgreene]

Baby vampire bats: Slightly less worrisome?

​The U.S. has experienced its very first death by vampire bat bite. But far from being a moment to celebrate, this is a moment to worry about. (R.I.P., man in Louisiana who died of a vampire bat bite that gave him rabies -- that sounds terrible.) So, what does this mean for the rest of us? As The Week asks, is this "a growing trend?" How much should you worry about this happening to you? Let us investigate, unscientifically.

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​This is a servicey post: If you can avoid it, don't go outside today. Not only are temperatures in the 90s, but the National Weather Service has also issued an "air quality alert," which is in effect until 11 p.m. Simplifying a lot of jargon, this means that pollution levels are high, so breathing is not fun. And it's not over after that -- get ready for a chance of some thunderstorms tonight. And highs in the 90s for most of the week. (Friday looks especially fun with a forecasted high of 97 and a little glowing symbol for "Hot.")

​A subset of nomadic amusement park workers have issued grievance towards President Obama for remarks he made during yesterday's birth certificate press conference. During the press conference, which was held to disprove a bunch of lunatics, Obama said, "We're not going to be able to solve our problems if we get distracted by sideshows and carnival barkers." Carnival workers are upset because of his use of the term, "carnival barker." America has turned into a massive malfunctioning tilt-a-whirl, and it's not going to stop no matter how much you vomit.

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​It seems that no disaster is too grave for Facebook's large population of assholes to say offensive things about. The newest thing is that people are taking to their Facebook statuses to say that Japan "deserves" yesterday's tragic earthquake because it's "karma" for Pearl Harbor. It's happening on Twitter too!

These small-minded jingoists are forgetting two things: 1) The U.S. actually dropped two atom bombs on Japan at the end of World War II, killing up to 150,000 people, and 2) There is no such thing as "karmic payback" when it comes to devastating natural disasters. Via BuzzFeed, I've learned that if you go to this site called Openbook.org and search for Pearl Harbor statuses, you'll find a shocking number of them. Click through for some examples.

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Nope, not scary at all.

​This article asks, "Should the Leather Man, 19th-century proto-hobo of New York, be exhumed?" No, obviously not. Everything about that sounds bad. Why do we need a dead hobo to be dug up? What will we do with him? Not "we," per se, just in general.

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via mrshawnliu/flickr

​If it's not people without pants on the subway making you sick, or rats crawling on people's faces on the subway making you sick, it's the subway itself making you sick. According to a new British study, if you ride public transit you're six times more likely to come down with an acute respiratory infection, yuck.

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​Hey, did you hear about the horrifying bloodbath that happened yesterday in Tucson, which left a congresswoman in critical condition, killed six others, and wounded 13? The shooting that some people are pointing to as a watershed moment in American politics reminiscent of the Oklahoma City bombing? The Daily News did, kinda, but the Jets won, bro! You have to have priorities. Look at today's Daily News cover:

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