As wandering friend-to-the-bloggers Bucky Turco points out, some mass transit is still thriving:

NYers Strike Back

New York City businesses forced to deal with another morning of transit strike-stranded staffers will be thrilled to know that yesterday, most of their employees "working from home" were making the most out of their time away from the office (and Websense). According to a sweet little press release we've received:

In April of 2003, when techie PR man Peter Shankman bought his Segway, he was an incredible, inscrutable freak.

• Peter Braunstein and Robert Downey, Jr: Separated at birth? [A Big Fat Waste of Time]
• Want to help all those New York journalists who can't live on less that $250,000/year? We wouldn't bother with a fund drive when a bitchslap would suffice. [Romenesko]
• Ms. Subways prefers to remain neutral on strike issues. [Encyclopedia Hanasiana]
• How will the transit strike affect your dealer? In theory, it won't, so long as he packs four peeps into his Escalade during the proper hours. [Cocaine Corner]
• If you're going to be stuck at home for a few days, why not back some Gucci muffins? Or Gangsta muffins? Hell, they could even be Gina muffins... Yeah, we're reaching here. [CG]
• Or you could be less domestic and just scream via the internets. [1010wins]
• And, just to end the day with a big, helpless sigh, this might be the most disheartening NYC traffic report we've ever seen. [Traffic.com]

As we work from home, we felt that it wasn't right to bitch about the strike beyond our cursory aggregation of rants. But hearts genuinely go out to each and every person who exposed their adorable face to the incredible, blistering cold and dutifuly showed up at the office sporting snot-cicles. You're the strong ones, and we're spoiled pussies. Thus we believed we had no business truly complaining.

• The Art of Chess, currently at the Luhring Augustine Gallery, features work by a number of artists inspired by the accoutrements of the game. Next in the series is Monopoly, giant silver top hat and all. [flavorpill]
• The (International) Noise Conspiracy hits Bowery Ballroom tonight, and we imagine they'll have a theory or two about the strike, besides the usual drums and paranoia. Circa Survive and Nightmare of You open. [Upcoming]
• Gay and still need a Christmas present for your parents? Try "Coming Out: The Lighter and More Amusing Side of Coming Out Of the Closet" for a cheap and delightful ways to give your family the truth this year. [MFC]

Oddly enough, not everyone on Craigslist today is using it to search for strike sex. Some are using it, instead, to make political points. Like in this terse message, posted late this morning:

The strike started a little after 3 o'clock this morning, and, frankly, we're a little disappointed it took nearly eight hours for the first email to arrive flacked some oh-so-clever transit-strike memorabilia. Here's the first t-shirt you might be interested in:

Sightings are sent in by eggnog-addled readers like you; send yours to tips@gawker.com.

We know today is a sucky one for everybody, but, truth is, it doesn't really affect us at all. (We never leave our houses during the workday, anyway.) But what about you? How's your strike day shaping up?

We've been meaning all morning to take a good look at the TWU's strikeblog — and, more interestingly, the 300-odd kvetchy comments that have been posted so far this morning — but we haven't been able to motivate to sit and read 300-odd kvetchy comments. (Mostly because poking ourselves repeatedly in the eye with a dull pencil sounds more fun.) Yet one more reason to love the Observer's Ben Smith, however, is that he did it for us. Some comments highlights from The Transit Worker, as excepted by The Politicker:

transit strike, stuck at home, hot and needy - m4w - 30 (upper east)

Because non-blogging blog publishers are free to dick around with "real life" all day, Jossip publisher David Hauslaib hit 9th Avenue at 8am to try and hail a cab:

The view down Broadway from 116th Street.

The Daily News gets today's Smarty Pants Award: While today's news may indeed be the transit strike, most of us are still hungry for Peter Braunstein. It was a wise choice, then, to include a front-page photo of former Women's Wear Daily reporter and sexual assault suspect Peter Braunstein in handcuffs and scrubs. When we're at the newsstand, we always opt for the paper that features humiliating imagery. And those jailbird slippers certainly are a far cry from the glory days of stiletto molestation.

We know you're annoyed at the transit strike, but what, we wonder, do the common, late-night Craigslist trolls think of the situation?

While it's hard to think of any silver linings today, at there's this. Apparently it's much easier than usual today for Brooklynites to get a free cup of coffee. Two emails we received this morning report amenities for both Heights bobos and 'Burg hipsters:

At about 3 AM last night, the Transportation Workers Union officially began their strike against the MTA, shutting down the city's subways and bus lines and transforming New York from a functioning metropolis to a dripping shitbag of inconvenience. Or, for those of you who don't have to trek into the office: SNOWDAY!

• Fresh off of finals, NYU's Tisch kids show off their final projects tonight. Yes, even baby hipsters have their own Science Fairs these days. [flavorpill]
• While her father was busy wrecking cars and marrying younger women, it seems that Billy Joel's daughter Alexa was learning the music trade herself. The second generation Piano Man-ette performs tonight at the Cutting Room. [Paper]
• Tonight at Galapagos: Extremely horny people discuss their lust in a witty and charming manner. Join Andy Horwitz, Reverend Jen Miller, and Neal Medlyn, among others, at a Nerve reading. BYO sexual frustration. [Scanner]