Brigham Young researchers have found that clean, fresh smells make people act "fairer and more generous." Makes sense—New York City is essentially a noxious, rat-infested garbage barge full of venal, corrupt hustlers. Fuck you, Utah. [Science Daily]

Palazzo Chupi, Julian Schnabel's superluxurious pink West Village real estate monstrosity, just sold a penthouse for more than $10 million—to a banker! Is this 2007??

Ladiessssssss: Are you mature? Drama free? Down on your luck? Looking for a beautiful West Village apartment, but only have $275 to pay for rent? Are you willing to share a bed with this dude? Then it's your lucky day.

"Professional comedians find camaraderie and economic relief in an unlikely Queens neighborhood." Is Astoria really an "unlikely" Queens neighborhood, for white comedians? No. It's the most likely. Hollis would be unlikely. Every Allen Salkin story makes me so mad. [NYT]

The High Line—the railroad-track park running through Manhattan's meatpacking district—will soon be more than a place for rich people fundraisers and ill-placed weddings. The Whitney museum is coming! As soon as they can raise half a billion bucks.

Pieces are falling off a building on Broadway and Houston St. What up today, NYC?

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.

Oh wow, hey everybody, all the fancy people in New York City, gather 'round and look at this: It's fried chicken! Here is a newsworthy new trend, "foodies": Chicken, rolled in flour or batter, and fried. Alert the media!

A tipster tells us that someone jumped in front of the L train at First Avenue, and that the line's been shut down. If you know more, email us. [Pic via] UPDATE: MTA's vague service alert below.

In your controversial Tuesday media column: A magazine tries to claim NYC as its own, Details loses a publisher, Nancy Grace is the next Judge Judy, and Madonna wants to suck a newspaper's life blood (money).

What happens to a dancehall reggae artist retired? Does he dry up, like a raisin in the sun? Or fester like a sore, and then run? No. He moves to East New York and is attacked by a ninja-like swordsman.

Breaking servicey alert for Manhattanites: There's an unexplained "smoke condition" in a midtown subway tunnel. Click through for the full alert.

As if the fancy Essex House doesn't have enough PR problems with a staff member accused of drunkenly murdering a businesswoman, it turns out that a semi-celebrity was also in danger! It's not affecting business, though. Chill out.

Essex House murder suspect Derrick Praileau has reportedly admitted to killing 44 year-old businesswoman Andree Bejjani. The Post says Praileau came into work drunk at 5 a.m., broke into Bejjani's room, and "just lost it." [NYP. Pic: Flickr]

"Survivaball." Read all about it on the website. "Worried About Climate Change? Don't sweat it." Instead, you can wear a ridiculous rubber-ball body suit to protect you from the ravages of global warming. It's an example of the world's largest corporations using engineering to replace ethics, with humorous results, etc.

They banned smoking in bars, and people said nothing, because they did not smoke in bars, except sometimes if they were really drunk. But now NYC wants to ban smoking in parks, and lo! Smokers finally get some public sympathy.

Why doesn't NYC's Commerce restaurant allow you to pay for its American food with "Asian, French and Italian accents" in cash? Because this way, the poors don't sneak in.

On the night of Barack Obama's election, a group of young idiots in "a makeshift clubhouse" in Staten Island decided to go out and beat up some black people. They tried hard. But they made the following mistakes:

An alert tipster sends us this dynamic pic of a burning cab near Times Square, just moments ago. The NYT asks, and our readers answer. Another shocking inferno image after the jump.

It's getting so you can't even trust PR people any more: Cops say that Mallory Montilla, a 24 year-old flack at Whisper PR in NYC, stole almost $100,000 worth of jewelry. From clients! The swag corrupted her mind!