The rat alone would have been enough for me to jump out the window of a moving train. This takes the nightmare to a whole new level. Those of you who make fun of my fear of rats, witness this horror.

You have to hand it to NYSC. One thing it has gotten right over the years is that it offers many more step classes than other gyms in the city, and instead of calling them gimmicky names like “Climb-Max” and “Snow Bunnies,” it calls them “Step.” NYSC has been loyal to step over the years, while other clubs have been fair-weather friends, offering a handful of step classes only when they’re supposedly in vogue. The article, however, mentions only these other clubs and leaves NYSC out. Where’s the love, New York Times?

Thanks to Lukas for the heads-up on this article.

Not surprisingly, chefs are up in arms over this heavy-handed and totally unreasonable proposal to lower the sodium intake of restaurant-goers.

This bill is an unfortunately consequence of the smoking and trans fat bans having passed so successfully and with such good results. Our lawmakers are starting to think it’s their responsibility to monitor every aspect of our health.

This time, it appears, they’ve gone way too far.

Enter the latest fashion trend: Vajazzling! New York City’s Completely Bare Spa offers a special waxing service, “followed by a Swarovski crystal tattoo design in starburst, butterfly, heart and other shapes.” According to Jennifer Love Hewitt, getting her “precious lady” covered in crystals was just what she needed to get over a breakup. “It shined like a disco ball.”

Governor David A. Paterson today announced that, effective immediately, health care providers may make the H1N1 flu vaccine available to all New Yorkers who want the vaccine, including those who are not in priority groups established by the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).

If you don’t have health insurance, get thee to a clinic this weekend. This is the last weekend you’ll be able to get an H1N1 shot for free. Clinics will be open from 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. on Saturday, 12/12, and from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. on Sunday, 12/13.

Get onto the subway during rush hour with one of these things, and swine flu will be the least of your worries.

Are we headed for another 1918 pandemic? Let’s hope to God not. Perhaps it’s too soon to be worried, but we definitely should be concerned.

To view a regularly updated (and somewhat disturbing) map of all the reported cases of H1N1 infections, check out Google Maps. New York City is shown above, but you can zoom out to see how the country and the rest of the world is being affected.

Update: According to Google, “Due to the increasing amount of data, we have moved to a more scalable mapping/data tracking system provided by Rhiza Labs at this URL: http://flutracker.rhizalabs.com.”

The fittest? Salt Lake City. This is surprising until you check out its “report card” and see that it has a large amount of park space, a low obesity rate, and a high level of sport participation.

The fattest? Miami. Why? To quote the article, “The area also has 79% more gyms and health clubs than average, but residents are less likely than average to regularly use their memberships.”

How did New York City fare? Surprisingly badly. It’s the 5th fattest city. With a huge park, lots of dining options, and people walking everywhere, you’d think we’d score better than that. It turns out than per capita, we’re quite low on park space and health food stores, and our commutes are much more stressful than average. (Thank you, MTA!)