Today on the Gothamist Newsmap: an explosion at Linden Blvd. and 220th St. in Queens, a homicide on Sedgewick Ave. in the Bronx, and a water main break on Prospect Place in Brooklyn Santa may have to bypass coalition troops stationed around the world today, but holiday presents will be appreciated even if they do arrive a few weeks into 2008. Newsday has a nice piece on gift-giving to troops and how to do......

It's hot. It's sticky. You need a cool, refreshing drink, and a non-alcoholic one because it's the middle of your work day. Gothamist suggests a chocolate egg cream, as its fizz will perk you up and its sweetness (but not too sweet) will satisfy your sweet tooth. Many swear by Brooklyn's Fox's U-Bet syrup, and the Fox's recipe says to spoon in the U-Bet syrup before adding the milk. But this might be blashphemous, as......

Today's New York Times Metropolitan Diary features a "Sonnet on a Chocolate Egg Cream:"Shall I drink thee on a summer's day? Thou art so bubbly and so chocolate. Long spoons may mix thee every May And summer's lease hath all too short a date. Sometime too much the chocolate syrup pours And often is the seltzer not much fizzed. And every bubble from bubble sometimes declines, By chance, or nature's course, unsipped. But thy eternal......