Ghostcycle
By Staff, Ghostcycle.org
When car and bike collide, the result is never favorable for the cyclist. Ghostcycle is a Seattle-based organization that reminds drivers to share the road. The group places white bicycles around the city to mark ‘trouble spots’ where several accidents have been reported. The site publishes anonymous testimonies that accompany photos of each Ghostcycle installation. It also has a form for reporting accidents and handy links to other bike-friendly resources. — Sarah Wash
http://www.ghostcycle.org/
Family Planning An Issue in Deed For NYU Dorm
By David Lombino, The New York Sun
While the rest of the country rages about abortion rights, the 700 students who will inhabit a new dorm at New York University will be strangely silent. The dorm will occupy the current site of St. Ann’s Church and Rectory in a property deal that included a moral restriction in the deed — a common tool that churches use in real estate transactions to prevent the development of sanctuaries-turned-nightclubs. The contract prohibits students and staff from providing ‘counseling or advice advocating abortions or family planning,’ and could also disallow open forums on abortion and posters mentioning contraception. (Thanks, feministing.com http://www.feministing.com/.) — Morgon Mae Schultz
http://www.nysun.com/article/22809
Invention: Soldiers Obeying Odors
By Barry Fox, NewScientist.com
Human reaction to scent is emotional. That’s why researchers at the University of Southern California believe certain odors can bypass rational resistance and more effectively deliver orders to soldiers in combat. The researchers have applied for a patent for a collar that releases strong scents when triggered by remote radio signals. — Rose Miller
http://www.newscientist.com/article.ns?id=dn8282
The God of Small, Hidden Things
By Jeanette Borzo, Wired
The Buddha is hiding something: jewels couched behind his smile, pearls strung between his ears, sacred texts and secret messages concealed inside his head. Artist Rodolphe Gombergh did modified CAT scans of Korean Buddhas and found that many of the simple wooden and gold-plated forms have wonderful things hidden inside. — Rose Miller
http://www.wired.com/wired/archive/13.11/start.html?pg=12
McSweeney’s is Fluxing its Muscles
By Staff, McSweeney’s
A flux box just arrived in your mailbox, and if it didn’t, you probably wish that it had. It’s the new issue of McSweeney’s, unrivaled in its nouveau-Fluxus mail-art http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fluxus glory. The delivery is chock full of literary snippets, a fake academic journal, a letter to Sgt. Maria Vasquez involving an incident with cars and a fish, a few odd catalogues, an envelope of art, and other tender morsels to feed the right side of your brain. George Maciunas, one of the central minds behind the Fluxus art movement of the 1960s, would be proud of you Dave Eggers. — Rose Miller
http://tinyurl.com/dtsc7
Who Would Jesus Torture?
By David Batstone, Sojourners
Torture has sparked a rift on Capitol Hill, as Vice President Dick Cheney and Republican Sen. John McCain square off over whether to ban US soldiers from using ‘cruel, inhuman, or degrading treatment’ of prisoners. In an online column for Sojourners, the standard-bearer of the evangelical Christian Left, Batstone weighs in firmly on McCain’s side of the debate. ‘Consider this,’ he exhorts, ‘Who would Jesus torture? I cannot imagine Jesus finding a single ‘exemption’ that would justify such an abuse of any individual made in God’s image.’ — Leif Utne
http://tinyurl.com/ca7cg
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