"What it does is takes a bunch of New Yorkers—most of the people on Jersey Shore are New Yorkers... drops them at the Jersey Shore, and tries to make Americans feel like this is New Jersey," said Christie. "I can tell people, they want to know what New Jersey really is? I welcome them to come to New Jersey anytime." (Note that he probably didn't mean to make that last bit sound like a threat; that's just how people talk in New Jersey.)

Dumpster pools? Yesterday's news. The latest innovation in the field of urban swimmin' holes is + Pool, a floating pool design we've become obsessed with in the five minutes since we discovered it.

Today is stop-motion day at Gawker.TV and, while walking across New York is pretty neat, these guys traveled all the way across America. Check out the coolest summer trip between here and San Francisco in just two minutes. Video inside.

Pot was recently spotted in Union Square Park. Now the sidewalks are being overrun with sweet, sticky green marijuana plants. Here's a bushy plant NYC the Blog discovered at 1st Street and 2nd Avenue:

Goodbye, geese. New York is planning to "reduce the number" of Canada geese in the state from 250,000 to 85,000. They're not shipping 170,000 geese off to a magical gooseland, though. They're killing them.

The Muslim American Society yesterday was rejected in its bid to buy a Roman Catholic Church on Staten Island by the church's board of trustees, of which Archbishop Timothy Dolan is a member. Neighbors feared the mosque would breed terrorists.

It's finally happened: A guy wearing a Darth Vader costume robbed a bank in New York. A mask: cape, chest-piece, everything. What's most amazing is that this didn't happen at Comic-Con.

We will not be copacetic! The bedbug menace grows and grows every day, infesting various halls of industry and power. Their latest assault is on the written word. Yes, bed bugs have invaded publishing.

Yes, Sarah Jessica Parker and family might be moving on up to the East Side. Reportedly they are looking at the penthouse apartment at 610 Park Ave., a condo previously owned by the founder of Nautica. It costs $29.8 million.

Web empress Arianna Huffington is moving from Los Angeles to New York, multiple sources tell us, which means the globetrotting boss will finally be living in the same city as the editorial headquarters of her Huffington Post. Brace yourselves, underlings.

Sometime in the "coming months," LaGuardia and JFK airports will get full body nudie scanners so TSA officials can see your genitals in a dark room on a computer screen. They can apparently detect bombs and drugs and stuff, too.

Well, Wikileaks founder Julian Assange's reemergence from hiding didn't last long. He was scheduled to be the keynote speaker at a New York hacking convention today. Homeland Security agents showed up, Assange got spooked and cancelled his appearance.

The oxygen tank-carrying old man accused of robbing a clothing store in Manhattan last week died in a car accident after being chased by police in Maryland this morning. He is identified as 63-year-old Arthur Williams, from Gadsden, Alabama. [AP]

[Workers examine the remnants of an 18th century ship found 20 or 30 feet below Ground Zero during construction. The ship is 30 feet long and believed to be from the mid-1700s.] (Pic Getty)

New York Governor David Paterson, desperate for good luck, is now wearing the red string bracelet common among the celebrity enthusiasts of the mystical Jewish tradition of kabbalah. He is, characteristically, wearing it on the wrong wrist. [NYDN]

NBC and CBS are refusing to air this anti-Ground Zero mosque ad from the National Republican Trust PAC. Good call, since the ad is vulgar, racist, fearmongering garbage; a nauseating embarrassment that should be burned 50 times over. Enjoy!

Gwyneth Paltrow, the world's most perfect person, has a little urban cottage in downtown Manhattan for whenever she's in town to gather perfect local meats and produce. Pictures have just been released and they are heavenly.

In a big, important new story in New York Magazine, lad about town Jonathan Van Meter writes about a thrilling New York trend. Chic boutique hotels — Ace Hotel, the Standard, the new Gansevoort — are now hotter than nightclubs.

Bob Sheppard, "The Voice of God," who was the New York Yankees' PA announcer for 56 years, died in his New York home today. He was 99 years old. Sheppard worked more than 4,500 major league ballgames.