Alcohol, drugs, food, sex, and even shopping are all candidates for medical treatment and are recognized as genuine mental disorders, so what about the Internet? Internet addiction -defined as "excessive gaming, sexual pre-occupations, and email/text messaging" - is becoming so common that at least one psychiatrist says it merits inclusion in psychiatry's official handbook of mental illness, the "Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders."

Dr. Jerald Block of the Oregon Health and Science University is the latest voice pushing for this inclusion, noting that tech junkies display genuinely debilitating behavior, including drug-like cravings, withdrawal, and a constant need for more and better gear - just like a substance addict might exhibit.

But other doctors comment that Internet addiction, while it may be real, is too new of a condition and needs further study before being medically classified. There might be something to this: No one wants people being medicated or institutionalized if they aren't genuinely ill.

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Opponents of the horse-drawn carriage industry, left, faced off against supporters of the industry in a pair of dueling Valentine’s Day protests on Central Park South. (Photo: Hiroko Masuike for The New York Times)

Even Cupid couldn’t bring these two together.

Valentine’s Day, like Christmas, is often associated with feelings of amity, reconciliation and goodwill toward others. But a rally by animal-rights activists seeking a ban on horse-drawn carriages in New York City resulted in police intervention this afternoon, after supporters of the industry held a noisy counter-protest. Police officers set up metal barricades to separate the two sides, which screamed and chanted at each other. Each group tried to drown the other out.

About 40 supporters of Friends of Animals, a nonprofit group that claims 15,000 members in New York City, gathered on Central Park South near Fifth Avenue around 1 p.m., seeking to draw attention to what they described as the neglect and mistreatment of the roughly 200 horses that are licensed by the city to carriages.

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Tonylimo Show # 10

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Apple's new 14st store in NYC

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Apple Store on 5thave durning the holidays

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The Tonylimo Show # 7

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Carey Softball Challenge

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The Beatles roomed there while in the city for "The Ed Sullivan Show,'' Trump once owned it, and the fictional Eloise has called it home since 1955.

A hundred years after it first entered into the city's lore, and nearly three years after it was closed for renovations, the owners of the Plaza Hotel are planning a celebration at the building, which overlooks Central Park.

Monday's plans include fireworks by Grucci, a live performance of a reworked "My Way'' by composer Paul Anka, and a 12-foot edible cake replica of the Plaza Hotel. Actor Matthew Broderick has been invited to host the festivities.

The Plaza closed in April 2005 to undergo a $350 million renovation and restoration after Isaac Tshuva's company, Elad Properties, purchased it for $675 million.

The company is close to completing a top-to-bottom renovation that will transform part of the building into fabulously expensive luxury condominiums.

The Plaza, a National Historic Landmark, was designed by Henry Janeway Hardenbergh to replicate the grandeur of a French Renaissance-style Chateau.

Plaza hotel

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Ready For a Fight

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hold that shot

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