A tipster, prompted by yesterday's article about the gay mafia at the New York Times, reminds us that we're missing at least a couple of names: Andrew Jacobs and his boyfriend, Dan Levin. Truth be told, the Times gay mafia isn't really much of a mafia. It's not as if the group, which includes political reporters such as Patrick Healy and Adam Nagourney, plots to pink the Gray Lady and introduce America to the homosexual agenda. Nor is it directly responsible for Dan Levin's soaring byline count since the young freelancer started dating Jacobs. But connections definitely help. And Levin's Times commissions have nicely tracked his dating life. Last month the cute couple traveled together in Ohio; on March 4, they both filed pieces on the state's primary campaign. The only giveaway more obvious would have been a double byline. After the jump, a cuddly photograph from Levin's Facebook profile (Jacobs is on the left) and proof of their Times-funded trip to Ohio.

The NYT's Andrew Jacobs chronicles the history of smoking in New York, from Dorothy Parker to the '21' club, to a trading floor on Wall Street a week ago. Writer Fran Lebowitz: "It's the continued suburbanization of New York,"...In a city filled with undersize apartments, the bars and restaurants, she says, are collective living rooms and parlors, the places for intellectual discourse and artistic give and take. "The history of ideas, as opposed to notions, is that you sit around bars and talk," she said. "You can't sit around in bars and not smoke."
Walk a mile for a camel? Not far enough anymore. [NYT]