Well, this is swell. Every now and then our fair city will harness its freak powers and make something explode or implode or crash and basically scare the shit out of us. Well, enjoy your next trip under scaffolding. Update!

What exactly happened on the L train—NYC's most cool subway line—today? Earlier we heard rumors of a suicide. We got a bunch of tips. And just before we went to put up this post, we saw this.

Will Roman Polanski be extradited? Is he a misunderstood artist, or a rapist who should rot? Questions! But none as interesting as how the AP's notes for the story landed on the pages of Forbes and the New York Times.

Conan's no barbarian. The late night host hit his keppe on Friday when taping a stunt for The Tonight Show with Teri Hatcher. He got a concussion and went to the hospital. What?

Every day, this city—and especially this city's metered transportation—will invent interesting new ways to kill you. This is actually one of the more traditional ones: a cab crashed into a horse-drawn carriage on the Upper East Side this afternoon. [Gothamist]

Whoops! Newt Gingrich accidentally named a porn producer "Entrepreneur of the Year." For like a day. Then he rescinded it, the bastard. Why does he hate capitalism?

In your suddenly Tuesday media column: Jon Capehart speaks on his morning workout routine and why MSNBC should get a life, a journalist gets punched, another one gets run over by a football player, and Stars & Stripes grows balls.

Ha. Thank you, Bucky Turco, who asks: What's stranger? A relative of Barnes & Noble falling 30 feet through an NYC sidewalk, unhurt, or doing so after leaving an Off Track Betting parlor? [NY Post]

Morbid and sad: the NY Post reports that the air traffic controller responsible during last weekend's helicopter-plane crash was on his cell discussing dead cats when the crash occurred. Meanwhile, broken down footage is showing the plane clipping the chopper.

Mayor Bloomberg issued a statement on today's helicopter-plane collision over the Hudson. He called the crash something "we do not believe was survivable." Bloomberg's presser, an aviation expert's theory, and a supposed picture of the water impact, after the jump.

Enormous-mouthed lead singer of seminal Boston rock band Aerosmith (sorry, Boston, the band), Steven Tyler, fell off a stage while performing a crazy twirly dance. His other daughter, Mia, released a PR statement to TMZ last night. This is classic:

Woah: it's being reported that a small plane and a helicopter have crashed over the Hudson River. NY1 and CNN have the story, we'll be updating as we get more. The Twitteratti are all over this. Update: Bloomberg's statement.

Search expert Sasha Blair-Goldesohn was walking through Central Park yesterday morning when a rotting tree branch, 4-plus inches thick and 100 pounds, snapped off and hit him in the head. The Google engineer is now in a coma.

Jesus. Two San Francisco MUNI light rail trains collided earlier this afternoon; officials are counting over 44 to 60 injured.

[One of the famed Oscar Meyer Weinermobiles crashed into a Mount Pleasant, Wisconson house yesterday evening after losing control. Nobody was home or injured. Report via AP. Caption via pubb13.]

At Walt Disney World in Orlando, around 2 A.M last night: two monorails collided. One employee piloting the monorail was killed, no tourists were seriously injured.

Twitter won't just give you a black eye; as Flavia Maria Boricea found out, Twitter also kills.

Two trains have collided in Washington DC's Metro. One train is on top of the other, officials say, in between Takoma and Fort Totten on the Red Line. Six people are confirmed dead. Unconfirmed: up to seven dead.

Twilight star Robert Pattinson was hit by a taxi in front of the Strand on Broadway today, supposedly as he attempted to flee a group of hysterical fans: "A team of five security guards were trying to fend off a crowd of teenaged girls when Rob was leaving the bookstore. It was pouring rain as they tried to hustle him quickly across the busy street to the safety of his trailer. Some of the teen girls were hysterical and Rob rushed across the road. As he did so, a taxi grazed him." Got that? It grazed him. So he's fine. Please pass that message along to your 16-year-old cousin, okay? Thanks. [RadarOnline/National Enquirer]

If you are so"wise," Sonia Sotomayor, then why is your ankle broken? Huh, racist activist Latina judge from the block? Because she tripped at the airport. But she's ok!