The beginning of December marked the quiet launch of another addition to the New York Times underground network of blogs. This one is called "Proof: Alcohol and American Life." Interesting right? So great New York drinking spots, recipes, and the occasional meditation on alcohol and society?

Negative. Out of the four posts that have gone up this month, three include dark personal narratives about, as one poster puts it, "the savage, destructive power of alcoholism." Sure, it's in the middle of a pretty interesting analysis of how drunkenness went out of fashion in New York, but really? The entire contents of "Proof" so far something like an Alcoholics Anonymous pity party:

Patrol’s offices were stolen last week, but it didn’t happen like you might think. There were no CSIs running around taking pictures and fingerprinting. No Law and Order moments with dramatic music or sudden realizations. In fact, most of us didn’t even know. Which is sad, considering we were indirectly a part of the largest heist in history. That’s because last week, as most of us typed furiously, the Empire State Building was stolen.

In a comical, yet scary move last Tuesday, the New York Daily News filed false papers and temporarily took ownership of the $2 billion landmark. “The massive ripoff illustrates a gaping loophole in the city's system for recording deeds, mortgages and other transactions,” the paper said. That might be an understatement. The loophole is that, “The system - run by the office of the city register - doesn't require clerks to verify the information.”

We've been hearing for a while about the Metropolitan Transit Authority's looming budget shortfall, which the Times reported today will be $1.2 billion by next year. MTA chief executive Elliot Sander said that the system would likely face "draconian" cuts in service, as well as a major fare increase in order to close the deficit.

The Times' City Room is now reporting that the MTA will increase rates a staggering 23 percent by next June, as well as hack a number of lines and close stations across New York. The gloomy forecast after the jump.