A few weeks ago, New York Times columnist Jim Dwyer zipped up a "pinch" of "herb" and four marijuana cookies into his backpack and brazenly carried his stash down Eighth Avenue and on to the subway to prove a point about New York's Stop and Frisk law.

Whitney Port is turning 24 today. Don't worry if you weren't invited to her party: You'll probably see everything that happened on an upcoming episode of The City. Others celebrating: Actress Patricia Heaton is 51. Les Gelb, president emeritus of the Council on Foreign Relations, is 72. Governor Rick Perry of Texas is turning 59. Heatherette co-founder Traver Rains turns 32. Ad exec Bob Scarpelli is 52. Director Len Wiseman is 36. Times reporter Jim Dwyer turns 52. Actress Andrea Bowen from Desperate Houswives is turning 19. Chastity Bono is turning 40. Emilio Estefan is 56. And Brooklyn Beckham, the offspring of Victoria and David, is turning 10.

As bloviators all over the internet and the airwaves rush to kick Rosie O'Donnell while she's down, the Times' 'About New York' columnist Jim Dwyer is sticking up for her. "The first day of the post-Rosie O'Donnell era on "The View" television show has come and gone, and by any fair accounting, an often useful provocateur has left the building... she opened debates with others about terrorism, peace and citizenship." That's what we think too, and props to Jim for supporting embattled Ro! But wait... is that really what he's doing?

Hot Times news! (Maybe! Google isn't telling us if it's been announced elsewhere. Damn you, stupid python.) In the course of one of those "Talk to the Newsroom" conversations with Metro editor Joe Sexton (they do too cover New York!), the following question comes over the wire: