On a recent Sunday, the crowd at the Brooklyn Flea was dangerously under-caffeinated. Blue Bottle Coffee, the only coffee vendor at the popular flea market, had just that weekend decamped, with little fanfare, until spring. The marble counter where their coffee wares were usually arrayed sat empty. The crowd—the weekend shoppers for costume jewelry and vintage iron-on decals—became indignant when told that they would have to go across the street—to a Starbucks—to get their caffeine fix. “Are you serious?!” a woman demanded of the hapless cupcake vendor who had the misfortune to have a spot next door. “Yes, I’m serious,” he replied, affecting the blankness of an airline representative with a line of stranded holiday travelers. “You’re not the first person to ask me that today.” READ MORE

Shut up about Brooklyn already. We all know about Brooklyn, that shining city on the hill, where everything is made only of awesome. Yes, there are beards and clunky eyeglass frames and lawyers who skateboard and grandpas with noise bands. The hipsters run-off freely now, the cheesecake is largely appareled American and vice now has a market cap. There's even a successful sitcom that purports to be set there, which is as large a cultural signifier as anything—Brooklyn may be located on the western-most tip of Long Island, but where it actually lives is dead solid in the middle of the zeitgeist. It's now, it's hip, it's hot, it's happening. There is no mystery of Brooklyn to it. And this is why shut up about Brooklyn already. READ MORE

"Roughly one to two minutes after she starts feeding, an Anopheles stephensi mosquito will excrete urine and preurine through the anus, at the end of the abdomen. Sometimes a drop of the fluid will form and cling to the body before falling off; when this happens, some fluid evaporates like sweat and cools the mosquito’s abdomen by almost four degrees." READ MORE

They call me “Two Soups.” Sometimes. And by “they,” I mostly mean one person. "They" call me this because I sometimes order two soups for lunch. Like, instead of “soup and a sandwich,” or “soup and a salad,” I’ll have soup and another soup. A different soup. I like soup that much. (I could perhaps marry Jennifer Coolidge in Best In Show and sit with her and eat soup and talk or not talk. She’d prefer the latter, I would bet.) READ MORE

A plausible suspect in the serial assaults in greater Park Slope has been held for questioning; he was caught in the act, or at least "an act." But police are saying that they believe there's more than one of 'em. In fact, they have "four sketches of suspects on display" at the station. (AND HOW DEPRESSING IS THAT?) Some news: here are some free self-defense classes in Brooklyn; Safe Slope is still offering walks home for ladies and other folks who may feel vulnerable.

Outside Denny’s Steak Pub, in the Kensington neighborhood of Brooklyn, steps from the Church Avenue F stop, a would-be customer, wearing a Yankees T-shirt and a bit of a haunted look, shuffled back and forth, focused on the scratch-off lottery tickets that trailed behind him like exhaust. He ducked his head in every once in a while: “Six dollars!” His buddy called out, “Don’t come in,” and Scratcher nodded sadly, and waited for his pal on the sidewalk. “You’re still 86ed,” the bartender added, not unkindly. Scratcher was still a regular; he just wasn’t allowed to come in to this particular old man bar this particular afternoon. READ MORE

Although we're currently only at a 30% chance of sustained winds in excess of 58 miles per hour in Brooklyn, and the weather forecast for the 11211 currently only says "gusts up to 85 mph" for Sunday, it's still not a terrible idea to be prepared. Some thoughts for you!

• A device that creates light. As you likely know, the light in your home comes from "electricity." In Brooklyn, much of your electric comes into your townhouse by way of above-ground electrical lines. (You can call your contractor and ask about this if you like; he won't return your call.) Those lines are often disturbed in high winds, due to trees and such. So it might be worthwhile to get a battery-powered lamp or some such, like a flashlight even. N.B. If you order a cute little electric generator on Amazon it will not arrive prior to the storm, no matter how much you yell at Fedex. Pro tip: fire can also be used to create light. (Use sparingly.)

• A hard-sided cat carrier. Not just for cats anymore! Should you need to transport your baby in the storm, your natural-cloth Baby Bjorn carrier is not going to protect little Chavley, Simon or Clementine against the elements. Stuff that kiddo in a cat carrier and he'll be as safe as can be. (Bonus: floats a bit.)

• Did you also know that the internet in your house is powered locally by electricity? It's not impossible that you could be without the internet this weekend. That also means Netflix and even television, if you still watch that. (It also likely means a lack of VOIP phone service.) Prepare for the weekend and its aftermath with "paper books" and even board games. (Try a deck of cards, yes.)

• Food. There will likely be no delivery of food to your home, and you may be forced to create or assemble edibles yourself. If you go to your fridge right now and you see eight yogurts, half a loaf of hemp bread and a deli box of cut fruit, that is not actually food. But: get some food that does not require electricity to create; your "stove" may require it to create heat. (N.B. Remove shoes and/or papers from stove before using.)

• Don't worry about the homeless people. They'll take shelter in drains and sewers!

• Hey, you know what else runs on electricity in your home? The hot water in your shower. Surprise! (Also? Your iPhone will stop charging.)

• One other thing to note about this is... exactly how long do you think it'll take for the City to restore power lines if they go down all over Brooklyn and Queens? I'm putting that at about two to six weeks. Just a thought!

• Move your hard drives up to the second floor. What if you lost all your early design work from RISD?

• Be creative!

• You should know that gravity causes water to move downwards, such as toward your basement.

• People who will not help you this weekend include: your nanny, the folks at 311, cab drivers, the trash guys, your neighbors, your cleaning lady, bus drivers, people on Twitter, the people who sit in the subway stations and give directions to tourists because they have a really good union (who will not even be there anyway once the subway shuts down tomorrow), the pot delivery guy whose number you got from a friend "just in case," the really nice barista you see every morning and strangers on the street. They have problems of their own, and you are, at last, on your own.

Photo by Mattijs Grannetia