“AOL made a tremendous noise about its commitment to the GLBT community and to its queer readers in particular. AOL trades on the important and valuable role it plays in the various communities it serves through its many pages and themes. Partly, I walked away from my original blog, Proceed At Your Own Risk because AOL convinced me that I …

It’s really too bad that there’s a writers strike right now, the Daily Show and Letterman would have a field day with this.

Dick Wilson, AKA Mr. Whipple, dead at 91. Remember he also played the drunk guy on Bewitched who was always seeing Samantha’s magic?

Dr. Jeff and I ran into this kid begging on 14th Street near Union Square last night. While he doesn’t appear homeless or especially needy, we still both gave him a buck. Probably because of his clever sign and not at all because we are shallow he was funny and cute. And certainly not because we were hammered slightly drunk.

An interesting ad campaign to promote British tourism has appeared on Belgian street corners. The above cubes are positioned so that approaching pedestrians see the pissing punk first, then the delicate teacup into which he is so accurately aiming. The ad agency who created this ad for the Eurostar train says they’ve received no complaints because the images hit on …

– The nine day old Broadway strike will continue though the Thanksgiving weekend as negotiations were broken off again on Saturday. No new talks are scheduled. Analysts are now describing the strike as a “disaster” for holiday tourism. Unrelated: the vanity plate on this car parked in front of my building. – The feds have approved $1.3B for the construction …

A new analysis of the last U.S. census reveals that for the first time, two Hispanic surnames are among the ten most common last names in the country. I can’t embed it here, but in the linked story there’s a neat scrollable graphic of the 5000 most common last names. The new top ten: 1. Smith2. Johnson3. Williams4. Brown5. Jones6. …

Philadelphia has given the Boy Scouts until December 3rd to rescind its policy of excluding gays or forfeit the right to continue renting its headquarters from the city for $1 a year, as the Scouts have done since 1928. Market rent on the massive Beaux Arts building, which was constructed by the Scouts themselves, is thought to be about $200,000 …

In an effort to stem public sex on the beach, officials in Martin County, Florida are considering installing “talking” motion-detecting surveillance cameras. Upon detecting movement, the cameras would flash a bright light and play a pre-recorded announcement that the area was under surveillance. Recording would begin 30 seconds later. Martin County arrested six men in an undercover beach sex sting …

Surprising international observers, the Nicaraguan National Assembly has announced the decriminalization of gay sex, effective next March. Under the current law, gay sex is punishable by one to three years imprisonment, as is providing sexual health information or services and advocating for LGBT rights. The new civil code does away with all of those restrictions. Most Central and South American …

Disgraced Florida Republican legislator Bob Allen resigned late on Friday shortly after his conviction for soliciting tearoom sex from an undercover cop. Allen was sentenced to six months probation and must pay court costs and fines. The judge ordered Allen to undergo tests for HIV and STDs and to take a class on HIV awareness. He was also told to …

Looking north from the Queensboro Bridge, this area of the Upper East Side is called “Bedpan Alley”, as many of the buildings you see here are hospitals. I got this shot last week before winter clomped into town on wet, gray boots. Today’s random trivia: the East River is not a real river, but a salt-water estuary, or tidal strait, …

I guess this guy likes the MetroCard logo. Discovered in Hells Kitchen near 10th Avenue.

NY Governor Elliot Spitzer preached to the choir at a private fundraiser in the West Village on Wedneday. “One of the first things we’re going to do when [Senate Minority Leader] Malcolm Smith is [majority] leader is gay marriage,” the witness recounted Spitzer as telling some 60 people who paid up to $10,000 each to attend the event in Greenwich …

I was fairly impressed with Hillary Clinton’s performance at last night’s Democratic debate in Las Vegas. But claiming that she doesn’t constantly stress that she’s a w-o-m-a-n seems a little dishonest.

Serendipity 3, the famous Manhattan restaurant with the never-purchased $25,000 dessert, was closed by the Department of Health on Wednesday. Inspectors found stagnant water, mouse droppings, house flies, fruit flies, and more than 100 live cockroaches. Mmmm, sprinkles.

A futuristic 75-story tower will rise in midtown next to the MOMA. According to the glowing review in the NY Times: Designed by the architect Jean Nouvel for a site next to the Museum of Modern Art in Midtown promises to be the most exhilarating addition to the skyline in a generation. Its faceted exterior, tapering to a series of …

A lawsuit by Christian activist group Repent America has successfully overturned the portion of Pennsylvania’s hate crimes law that covers sexual orientation and physical disability. Yesterday a state court voted 5-1 to overturn a 2002 expansion of the law, ruling that the amendment was created unconstitutionally because it was inserted into another bill covering agricultural vandalism. An as yet unapproved …

The government has proposed new rules which will make it even harder for HIV+ persons to enter the country, according to Gay Men’s Health Crisis and Immigration Equality. On World AIDS Day last year, President Bush announced his intention to create a streamlined process for foreign travelers with HIV to enter the United States more easily. Currently the United States …

“Golightly. Holly Golightly. I live downstairs. We met this morning, remember?” In Breakfast At Tiffany’s, Audrey Hepburn’s Holly Golightly lived in an apartment in this house at 169 East 71st Street on the Upper East Side. My favorite line: “I’ve got to do something about the way I look. I mean, a girl just can’t go to Sing Sing with …