By John Friia

Best place to shop with bros
Brooks Brothers Flatiron Shop, 901 Broadway at 20th Street, 212-228-3580
If you’ve got your boyfriend, brother or any male-type person in tow, bring them to this specialty Brooks Brothers locale, where they’ve got a “man cave” with a photo booth and a foosball table. They can keep themselves occupied and also give suggestions for the men on your shopping list. For Black Friday and Saturday, any purchases made between 9 a.m. and noon are 20 percent off with a MasterCard, 15 percent off with any other payment method.

Best place to find gifts for your eclectic relatives
Kisan Concept Store, 125 Greene St. near Prince Street, kisanstore.com
Kisan offers high-end women’s apparel, children’s clothing, toys and more with a chic and feminine urban twist. Owners Thorunn Anspach and Olivier Bremond have traveled the world to bring their Parisian sensibility to New York through the products they feature. This Friday and Saturday from 11 a.m. to 7 p.m., items including shoes and accessories for women, children and men will be discounted up to 90 percent, so you can find a quirky European hat for Aunt Mindy without breaking the bank.

Best place to go with a gaggle of ladies
Haute Hippie, 9 Prince St. near Bowery,
212-431-0101
Bring your posse of gals to peruse clothing that’s been described as “a little bit bohemian and a lot of rock and roll” while sipping on complimentary mimosas and chomping down cupcakes all day on Friday. The shop runs the gamut from luxe gowns to their more low-key Haute Hoodie collection, so it’s a great one-stop shop for gifts. Plus, in keeping with the shop’s cheeky nature, everything black will be 25 percent off on Black Friday.

Best place to chill the heck out
eBay and Bliss Spas, 568 Broadway at Prince Street
Everyone knows that shopping on Black Friday can be a stressful experience, what with all the energy expended to grab the last faux fur vest on sale. This year, eBay has collaborated with Bliss Spas to offer free mini-manicures, pedicures and foot massages on Black Friday. While relaxing, you can browse eBay on their mobile app and take advantage of their Holiday Collective. The online company has teamed up with big-name designers to offer holiday gifts all under $100; some of the participating designers include Jonathan Adler, Fallon and Tibi.

Best place to shop for gadget lovers
AC Gears, 69 E. Eighth St. near Broadway, acgears.com
AC Gears is basically a toy store for adults, running the gamut from serious technology (did someone say 3-D printer?) to delightful gizmos you didn’t know you needed. They’ve got functionally brilliant iPhone cases, camera equipment, a plethora of timepieces and tons of options under $50. On Black Friday, they will be offering up to 50 percent off on never-discounted electronics, headphones, watches, toys and more.

Best place to buy your way into the hearts of children–and their parents
Dinosaur Hill, 306 E. Ninth St. near
First Avenue, dinosaurhill.com
This independently owned East Village shop stocks unique, intellectually stimulating (but still cool!) games and toys for kids. We’re not in Toys ‘R’ Us anymore, Toto. They also sell handmade children’s clothing, limited-edition stuffed animals, musical instruments, and newborn and toddler clothing. The best part is that on Black Friday, customers who sing “Row Row Row Your Boat” get a 15 percent discount. Warm up those pipes.

Every year, around this time, people start thinking about all the turkey they’re going to eat, the days they will take off from work to be with family and other small gifts for which they are grateful, and they remember those less fortunate. Local soup kitchens and other downtown nonprofits prepare for this outpouring of good will with plenty of special Thanksgiving week volunteer opportunities. We’ve compiled them here, along with ongoing volunteer efforts that could use your help this Thanksgiving and all year long.

The Bowery Mission’s Red Door Hunger Drive
The mission? Serve 9,000 meals to the homeless and hungry during Thanksgiving week. They are also collecting food and donations for “blessing bags” full of practical cold-weather items, which they give to each guest who passes through. They already have all the volunteers they need to serve meals, but you can still register to raise funds as an individual or with a team. Visit support.bowery.org to sign up or find out what to donate (you can drop off food at the Bowery Mission 24/7).

Feeding NYC says ‘Adopt a Box’
This nonprofit delivers complete meals to thousands of families living in shelters around the city on Thanksgiving. They already reached capacity for volunteers, but you can still “adopt a box” of food by donating money. Visit feedingnyc.org to find out how.

Day-after-Thanksgiving Celebration at Visions
After you’ve already feasted, you can help blind and visually impaired tenants of this specialized building celebrate their Thanksgiving. Help decorate, assist seniors and serve meals. Friday, Nov. 23, 3 – 8 p.m. Visions at Selis Manor, 135 W. 23rd St.
646-486-4444.

Hurricane Sandy Recovery Efforts (various locations)
You’ve seen how bad things are in Far Rockaway and other areas, and you’re eager to get on the ground, get your hands dirty and help out. The best way to get involved is to contact shelters and resource distribution centers that have been helping to coordinate the aid efforts. Their information is below:

CAAAV
This Chinatown-based organization has been on the ground since day one of the hurricane and has since focused its efforts on sites that were hit harder than the Lower East Side. They will announce volunteer opportunities on their website, which may include events during Thanksgiving week.

Occupy Sandy Recovery
This group is linked to many local organizations and recommends that before visiting a site that requires volunteers, you visit one of the two main volunteer intake and distribution centers, located in Clinton Hill, Brooklyn, and Sunset Park, Queens, respectively. These sites collect donations as well. After orientation, you can help at the distribution center or get dispatched to another site.

Visit interoccupy.net/occupysandy for up-to-the-minute information about what they need on the ground. You can also purchase specific goods in high demand to be delivered directly to New Jersey, Staten Island and the Rockaways by using the site’s “Wedding Registry.”

Mayor Bloomberg, a billionaire and registered Independent, announced on Wednesday that over the next three weeks he will spend millions of dollars on an independent super-PAC that will support local, state and Federal candidates nationwide. His funding will go to politicians who promote tighter gun control, improving education, and legalizing same-sex marriage– and who rise above party lines in their devotion to such issues.

Bloomberg’s Deputy Mayor for Government Affairs and Communications, Howard Wolfson, will supervise the super-PAC.

“The Mayor has always stepped forward to back candidates that are willing to cast aside party politics, and candidates who are willing to stand up to special interests to make the right decisions for the people they represent,” said Wolfson. “This is a major expansion of his efforts nationally, and it’s something I am proud to be a part of.”

The mayor has stated that his money will not go to anyone based on their political party, but on their referenda. The super-PAC marks Bloomberg’s biggest effort to influence national politics, and also coincides with his final term.

Photo courtesy of Wiki Commons.

While New Yorkers are famously loyal to their own boroughs– Brooklynites could never imagine living in the chaos of Manhattan, Manhattanites could never imagine not living in the chaos of Manhattan–it seems that a less mainstream region of the city is filled with its most optimistic campers: Queens.

A new study by the Muncipal Art Society of New York surveyed New Yorkers in each borough on how they rated their satisfaction with their city, and how optimistic they are about its future.

According to the New York Times, Staten Island’s residents were most satisfied with their neighborhoods, with a whopping 91 percent saying they were “satisfied” or “very satisfied”.  Meanwhile 85 percent of those polled in Manhattan and Brooklyn expressed satisfaction, with 84 percent in Queens and 77 percent for the Bronx.

On the other hand, those living in Queens felt most positively about where the city is headed, with a 14% increase in optimism from last year. All in all, the poll’s findings suggest that the vast majority of New Yorkers seem to be content in their environment. But that doesn’t mean we’ll stop griping!

Image courtesy of Wiki Commons.

Quazi Mohammad Rezwanul Ahsan Nafis, 23, arrived to the United States in January on a student visa, and settled in Jamaica, Queens.  About six months later, according to court documents, Nafis attempted to recruit various men for a jihadist terrorist attack on American land. But there was a substantial glitch in his plan: one of the people he propositioned was an informer for the F.B.I.

On Wednesday, Nafis was arrested after allegedly trying to detonate what he thought was a thousand-pound bomb, in front of the Federal Reserve Bank in Lower Manhattan, the F.B.I announced in a subsequent press release. The next day federal prosecutors in Brooklyn charged Nafis with trying to use a weapon of mass destruction and with attempting to provide material support to Al Qaeda.

The F.B.I. informer with whom Nafis worked recorded an early telephone conversation they had, in which the young Bangladeshi specified that he was living in New York City, intending to recruit more men, and alluded to “martyrdom”.  F.B.I. agents and members of the New York Police Department worked closely with Nafis throughout the rest of his planning, convincing him that he was conspiring remotely with Al Qaeda’s leaders.

One agent pretended to be an Al Qaeda member and supplied him with fake explosives, at Nafis’ behest. In August, Nafis scouted the area around the bank various times. On the day of the intended attack, Nafis drove in a van with the same undercover official to the bank, parking the car that bore the artificial bomb, the F.B.I. reported. After leaving the van in front of the bank, Nasif purportedly went to a local hotel where he recorded the video he planned to emit after the attack.

During his video, the complaint states, Nassif proclaimed, “We will not stop until we attain victory or martyrdom.”

He then tried, unsuccessfully, to set off the inert explosives by calling a cell phone he had installed as a detonator. Agents traced the calls and subsequently arrested the defendant.

After Wednesday’s arrest, the F.B.I.’s Acting Assistant Director-in-Charge, Mary Galligan, commented on the averted nightmare:  “Attempting to destroy a landmark building and kill or maim untold numbers of innocent bystanders is about as serious as the imagination can conjure.”

Photo courtesy of Wiki Commons.

Some day, you can explain to your children or grandchildren that Newsweek was once a printed paper.

The Newsweek Daily Beast Company’s founding editor-in-chief, Tina Brown, announced Thursday that Newsweek’s last print edition will run on December 31. The digital format will take over in early 2013, with staff reductions expected.

Newsweek’s decision comes after 80 years of print.

“This decision is not about the quality of the brand or the journalism—that is as powerful as ever,” Brown said.  “It is about the challenging economics of print publishing and distribution.”

The online version will be called Newsweek Global and accessible via paid subscription only. It will aim to cover “world events in a sophisticated context,” as did its tree-born counterpart. Brown’s announcement was largely an explanation of the company’s decision. In it she cited a study that the Pew Research Center released last month, showing that 39% of Americans say they get their news online. She added that this number will only rise in the coming years.

Brown’s statement struck a sentimental note towards the end, as she concluded:

“Exiting print is an extremely difficult moment for all of us who love the romance of print and the unique weekly camaraderie of those hectic hours before the close on Friday night. But as we head for the 80th anniversary of Newsweek next year we must sustain the journalism that gives the magazine its purpose—and embrace the all-digital future.”

Photo courtesy of Wiki Commons.

100 firearms were seized and sixteen gun traffickers indicted in what amounted to one of Manhattan’s biggest gun busts in the last five years, Mayor Bloomberg, Manhattan District Attorney Cyrus Vance, and Police Commissioner Raymond Kelly announced on Friday. The confiscations came after two ongoing undercover police investigations in East Harlem. In both cases, undercover detectives purchased dozens of weapons from illegal sources.

The defendants charges include, but are not limited to, multiple counts of Criminal Sale of a Firearm in the First and Second Degrees, Criminal Possession of a Weapon in the Second Degree, and Conspiracy.  At least ten of the sold guns were reportedly bought in South Carolina,  and smuggled up to New York.

“This investigation illustrates both the problem of illegal guns being purchased in other states and brought here illegally, and the skill and dedication of the NYPD officers who take the guns off the street often at great risk to themselves,” Bloomberg stated.

Thus far, two distinct trafficking rings are being charged, one headed by defendant Dario Wynerman, also known as “D,” 21, who allegedly sold a detective 34 guns. The other ring leader is thought to be Mitchel Collins, 64, an ex-con who goes by “Mickey”.

“It’s unusual to see individuals as old as Mickey Collins still engaged in criminal activity,” Police Commissioner Kelly announced.

Mickey’s network is charged with selling 73 firearms to the same undercover detective. The traffickers purportedly sold these weapons– revolvers and semiautomatic pistols– inside the lobby, stairwells, and hallways of an apartment building at 35 East 106th Street.

“There have been 127 shooting incidents this year in Manhattan, with 152 victims,” District Attorney Vance said. “Gun traffickers are bringing violence to our neighborhoods by selling illegal firearms – they are at the root of the problem of gun violence in this City.”

Photo courtesy of Wiki Commons.

Photo courtesy of Wiki Commons.

A bellhop was arrested at the swank Bowery Hotel Wednesday evening, after the porter allegedly sold pot to a few undercover cops at the hotel. The porter, a 25-year-old Brooklynite and college graduate, has no previous criminal record, according to the New York Post. A fellow bellhop, Nick Shelton, 25, told the Post: “I feel like it was an isolated incident. He’s a good guy.’’

On Thursday night the culprit was called in front of court and released on his own recognizance, according to the Daily News. The young man accused the cops of entrapment upon his arrest, while his coworkers claimed they hadn’t known about his other line of work. The Bowery Hotel serves high-end clientele, and was no doubt a profitable market for such a business.

Photo by frangrit. Courtesy of Flickr Creative Commons.

The Weather Channel has announced a cold front moving through the Northeast tonight, with  potentially lower temperatures Saturday morning than we’ve seen since April. Upstate New York is expected to see temperatures in the 20s, while the city will have lows in the upper 30s. The I-95 route between Boston and New York may frost over, and the Weather Channel recommends you take any sensitive plants inside. For those of you wondering why the city went from summer to winter and skipped fall, so are we. Don’t worry though, the cold air is supposed to dissipate Saturday afternoon, and Sunday is expected to be a summery 70 degrees. At the very least, we seem to be in for another erratic season.

Photo by matilde.m.s. Courtesy of Flickr Creative Commons.

Riker’s Island is well known to New Yorkers, both in lore and in the news. Yet its counterpart, a $161 million barge that houses an approximate 800 inmates, has gone largely unnoticed as it bobs on the East River.

Apparently the jail at Riker’s addresses overcrowding in their main complex by holding hundreds of prisoners on the Vernon C. Bain barge, the Gothamist reports. The barge has actually been around since 1992, but many New Yorkers are unaware of its presence. It houses medium to maximum security inmates, and floats about a mile from the SUNY Maritime College.

There was one documented breakout from the vessel, but it was short-lived. The New York Times reported in 1992 that a prisoner managed to escape from the ship, by slipping out of his handcuffs and clinging on to the underbelly of a departing bus. He was captured and incarcerated again a few weeks later.

Vernon C. Bain has a basketball court on the top deck, along with a library and recreation facilities for the 100 cells it contains. Perhaps the conditions are preferable to being landlocked while doing time. As one inmate, Angel Velazquez, 37,  put it to the Times, ”We live large on the barge.”

Photo by reivax. Courtesy of Flickr Creative Commons.