It looks like the newest trend in Brooklyn is inclement weather. About a month ago, a tornado hit, and last night there was huge hailstorm. Little bits of ice rained down from the sky (along with actual rain), thunder clapped and lightning ransacked the skyline. Check out the pretty amazing photo Arvind Grover got last night.

It looks like the weather’s supposed to be pretty calm for a while (10 days at least), but then, I don’t know how many people were expecting a freak hurricane last night.

Bushwick is super cool, we all know that. But for those of you who don’t, it’s about time you got acquainted. Here are this hip neighborhood’s best watering holes.

1. The Narrows: This gorgeous new bar on Flushing feels like it could be in the West Village, but the drinks are Bushwick prices. The bartenders are knowledgeable, attractive, and they have fresh cocktails fixings, which are essential to a good drink. The outside patio is quiet and well furnished – heck, I’ll head here even in the winter.

2. Duck Duck: Their renovation is noteworthy, especially for being one of the only bars south of Grand and before Morgantown. Darts, booths, and $2 beer make this bar a great weekday jaunt.

3. King’s County: Dark, dank, and divey, this bar is another classic. Little known, but awesome: Tuesday’s at midnight they have free mac and cheese (with hot sauce).

4. Tandem: This is a nice bar. Their food is tasty, the service is good, and the crowd is cool. They hold it down in the heart of Bushwick.

5. Roberta’s: They put Bushwick on the spot before East Williamsburg became its own hood. Although it’s more expensive than many Wickers are willing to admit, it makes for the perfect place to take your date, or enjoy a killer pizza.

Google News juxtaposition ftw

FOX News has finally jumped on the Brooklyn-isn’t-just-a-haven-for-murderers-and-thieves bandwagon, and decided to deliver the breaking news to the few people who actually still think that. (I mean, come on. It’s not like we’re the Bronx, amirite?*)

So here’s a short breakdown of FOX’s advice to visitors of our fair borough (and what’s wrong with this advice):

5… Hop the subway to Coney Island

4… Take a trip down under

3… Take a stroll back in time

2… Wear Your Walking Shoes for the Slope

1… Spend an Evening in Williamsburg

Things are all well and good until you get to #5. I don’t know what constitutes “often” to FOX news, but I’ve never heard the term “Brooklyn’s Soho,” and when I Googled it, the references to it seemed to be mostly made by people who don’t actually live or work in the city. Also, if you were to show up to the McCarren Park pool for a concert you’d be sorely disappointed, as those concerts were moved to the W’burg waterfront last summer. As always, FOX has done a bang-up reporting job.

*Just kidding. I’m sure The Bronx is very nice. At least, it seemed so when I sped through it last year on my way to Brooklyn.

On Friday the Times ran a profile on Grub, the latest “freegan” dumpster-diving endeavor. This isn’t a particularly new trend — freeganism started about half a century ago — but these Grub folk are apparently way more organized than their predecessors. They meet up every couple of weekends and troll the streets of Greenpoint and Williamsburg for food that’s been thrown out and get together to prepare and eat the meal on Sunday.

“Inspired by communal meals shared by squatters in Amsterdam and Berlin,” writes the Times, ”the dinners are meant to promote camaraderie. Each menu is determined by the vagaries of the sidewalk haul and the palate of whoever shows up to cook. While the concept of eating from Dumpsters might turn the stomach, there is a rich history in New York of intrepid people transforming someone’s trash into treasure, and the Grubsters are careful about what they take.”

“Intrepid people transforming someone’s trash into treasure”? Yeah, they’re called homeless people. It’s cool that these “Grubsters,”  want to make a point about how wasteful our society can be, but as Gothamist points out, “they don’t actually need to scavenge to survive.” A more useful enterprise might be trying to start up a soup kitchen and inviting all those people living on the streets to have a nice… nicish… meal.

A couple of transit workers are confirmed have contracted TB, according to health officials, prompting many to scratch their heads in surprise. The airborne disease, best-known for killing millions of people during the 19th and early 20th centuries, is still fairly common in Africa and Asia but very rare in the U.S. Though it’s now treatable, people are still worried. Several nearby shop owners and employees have expressed concern; talk of wearing masks has even emerged. City health officials, still unsure as to how the workers contracted the illness, are working as quickly as possible to keep the mini-outbreak contained.

Two new Hamadryas baboons were born to the Prospect Park Zoo recently, and the call has been made for the public to name them. As of right now they’re just known as Number 1 and Number 2, so naturally the zoo staff is eager for them to have proper names.
If you have the perfect names for these bouncing baby boys, go to the zoo’s web site (prospectparkzoo.com) and submit by Tuesday, September 21. The winning names will be announced two days later. Think carefully — you can only submit one set of names under one e-mail or IP address.

Brooklyn’s had a place in our hearts long before it was hip.

Sure, it’s got rough spots, but that’s part of its charm. And with a new decade dawning and big changes afoot, we think there’s more than ever that makes Brooklyn the borough to beat.

Its art scene is booming; it’s the city’s go-to spot for restaurateurs and entrepreneurs; and it’s a place where Old World flavor meets cutting edge taste.

That’s just the start. Here are 15 big reasons we think Brooklyn rocks:

1. The best cherry blossoms this side of Kyoto are at Brooklyn Botanic Garden each spring.

2. The Brooklyn Museum’s big and bold enough to pull off art shows spanning thousands of years. In February, you can see one of Egypt’s oldest statues, and in June, you can check out Andy Warhol’s late works.

3. Thirteen acres of Brooklyn Bridge Park will finally open this month, featuring sweeping lawns, granite steps and a big playground along the waterfront.

4. Brooklyn’s a little bit country: You can rough it without leaving the city at Floyd Bennett Field in Marine Park, the only public campground in the five boroughs.

• Borough backyards are becoming farmyards one by one thanks to Stacey Murphy of BK Farmyards, who’s building a business raising organic vegetables behind homes in Ditmas Park.

• Student-grown, edible gardens are cropping up in schoolyards across the borough, like at Public School 107 in Park Slope.

• Brooklyn’s rebel urban beekeepers – from veterans like John Howe in Fort Greene, to newbies like Brandon Hoy in Williamsburg – are bucking the law to harvest honey from rooftop hives.

5. And it’s a little bit rock and roll: BAM’s Sounds Like Brooklyn festival will have home-grown bands like Les Savy Fav and Magnetic Fields.

• There’s Grammy-winning jazz at Puppets in Park Slope and even an opera-singing chef at da Tommaso in Dyker Heights.

6. Pro eaters down frank after frank at the annual Nathan’s Hot Dog Eating Contest in Coney Island.

7. Brooklyn’s got heart.

• Charities from Salt & Sea Mission in Coney Island to St. John’s Bread and Life in Bed-Stuy feed thousands each day.

• Dr. Leisa Williams started the 1 City Youth Project so that neighborhood kids can learn basketball, cheerleading and step team on Saturdays in Bed-Stuy.

8. Brooklyn fits our (ever shrinking) budgets.

• A movie star shampoo, massage and blow out at Super Hair and Nails Salon in Bath Beach is just $10.

• Target’s free First Saturdays at the Brooklyn Museum make for a cheap date.

• Kids can get free lessons in ice skating basics at Abe Stark Rink in Coney Island as part of the Learn To Skate Program.

• You can spend a sunny summer day kayaking in Jamaica Bay with free kayaks and instruction from the National Parks Service.

• Baton twirling lessons from veteran twirler Cecilia Fedyn are free for kids Tuesdays at Our Lady of Perpetual Help in Sunset Park.

• A mere $5 gets you a heaping plate of curry chicken at Arthurine’s Kitchen in Crown Heights.

9. The borough’s finally getting its very own basketball team. Okay, everybody isn’t happy about that, but think of the T-shirt possibilities. With a population as big as Houston’s (and bigger than Charlotte’s), Brooklyn deserves it. And love ‘em or hate ‘em, the Nets’ history-making losing streak means there’s nowhere to go but up.

10. Flocks of wild monk parrots flit through the trees in Bath Beach, Red Hook, Green-Wood Cemetery and Brooklyn College.

11. Brooklyn knows from pizza. It’s a place where connoisseurs argue passionately – and authoritatively – over the best pie, choosing from an array that includes Fascati’s in Brooklyn Heights, Grimaldi’s in DUMBO, Lucali’s in Carroll Gardens, and Ciccio’s in Gravesend, not to mention Di Fara’s $5 slice in Ditmas Park.

12. You can always find a chess opponent – at Bedford-Stuyvesant’s Fulton Park in summers or Wendy’s Restaurant on Empire Blvd. and Clove Road in winter.

13. The same Broadway block in East Williamsburg has signs in Spanish, English and Hebrew.

14. The Brooklyn Arts Council’s holding a year-long tribute to Brooklyn’s rich African-American heritage. Its Black Brooklyn Renaissance series starting in February will include performances by Haitian folk dance group the Brooklyn Jumbies and jazz legend Randy Weston.

15. You don’t need a plane to be transported to another world.

• One of America’s biggest celebrations of African culture and dance happens at BAM every year. DanceAfrica 2010 marks the series’ 33rd festival.

• Little old Italian ladies make fresh mozzarella with their bare hands at Lioni Latticini in Bensonhurst.

• Joloff Restaurant in Clinton Hill serves up traditional Senegalese dishes.

• Anything you can get in Russia, you can find on Brighton Beach Ave.

• You can pull up a lime green chair in Borough Hall Plaza and pretend you’re people-watching in Paris.