NY Romeo Finds His Subway Juliet Online

(NEWSER) - New York City public transportation ground to a standstill early this morning after violent thunderstorms tore up trees, damaged cars, and flooded underground train tracks, halting or delaying every single subway line, reports the New York Times. Flights at all three major airports in the metropolitan area were pushed back or canceled. More»

Those older than 40 and divorced are common targets: report

(NEWSER) - Scammers conned $50 million out of 5,600 people last year who were searching for love on the Internet, says a new report. That's an average of $8,900 per victim. The way it generally works: Fraudsters hunt for vulnerable targets on dating sites and social networks, and convince the marks that they're romantically interested, explains the Washington Examiner . When they gain the person's trust, they'll slyly request money for phony things like travel or medical procedures and then vanish. More»

Two experts will create one for you (if you're 'Wiki worthy')

(NEWSER) - If you're important enough to warrant your own Wikipedia page, it should, in theory, just kind of appear on its own. But sometimes, giving it a $300 nudge doesn't hurt. Two Brooklyn entrepreneurs charge that much to craft an in-depth entry for you or your business on the free online encyclopedia and stuff it with citations, which are essential for meeting the site's standards, reports the New York Daily News . Alas, "a lot of people aren’t Wiki worthy," says one of the co-founders of mywikipro.com . "There are not a lot of articles on them to cite. We turn down a lot of people.” More»

Ridership was up 2.3% from 2010

(NEWSER) - If you think the subway has felt extra crowded lately, you likely aren't imagining things: Americans are hopping on public transportation more often, according to a new report out today, with the number of bus and train passengers last year reaching its second highest level since 1957. Nationwide, transit ridership was up 2.3% from 2010, to 10.4 billion trips, the American Public Transportation Association says. Vehicle miles of travel, meanwhile, dropped 1.2%. More»

He says he's proud of it, but experts say it's not safe

(NEWSER) - Riders of Philadelphia's No. 44 bus have been complaining a lot lately of lost cell phone calls, and NBC 10 found out why: A man, whom they identify only as "Eric," is jamming them. Reporters tracked Eric down after an NBC employee saw him using a handheld jamming device on the bus. "I guess I'm taking the law into my own hands, and quite frankly, I'm proud of it," he told them. "A lot of people are extremely loud, no sense of just privacy or anything." More»