621. Nissan adds feature to protect pedestrians in collisions In a crash, the hood “automatically pops upward a few inches to put more distance between it and the hard engine components below, giving the hood more room to flex. The feature is among a growing number being designed to protect pedestrians, especially in low-speed mishaps they might survive. Driving the effort are tougher requirements taking effect in Europe and Japan for cars to be more ‘pedestrian-friendly.’” (via)

622. Non-Profits Embrace Web 2.0 A few brief cases of groups using blogs, maps, videos, and social networking to great effect.

623. On the CIA’s “Black Sites” “It’s one of the most sophisticated, refined programs of torture ever... At every stage, there was a rigid attention to detail. Procedure was adhered to almost to the letter. There was top-down quality control, and such a set routine that you get to the point where you know what each detainee is going to say, because you’ve heard it before. It was almost automated. People were utterly dehumanized. People fell apart. It was the intentional and systematic infliction of great suffering masquerading as a legal process. It is just chilling.”

624. The Road to Clarity Long article in the NY Times about the orgins of Clearview, a typeface for improved legibility of roadside signage — particularly when letters are blurred by distance, weather, night, and physical impairment.

625. Manure, U.S.A. “Once upon a time... livestock manure was an essential source of fertilizer for nearby farms. Now, immense factory farms are so concentrated in some counties... that there is not enough cropland to dispose of all the waste that is created. Below is a map... of counties where the amount of phosphorous in manure that must be disposed exceeds the entire assimilative capacity of the county’s farmland.”

626. Bananas in Germany “For the early postwar generation, many of whom as children knew of bananas only through the reminiscences of their elders, the fruit still evokes memories of humiliation, deprivation, and even famine. Ever since hunger overtook war-torn, occupied Germany in the mid-1940s when even basic foodstuffs were unobtainable, bananas have symbolized luxury to both West and East Germans.” (via MeFi)

627. International PARK(ing) Day Roll out the sod — today is the 3rd annual International PARK(ing) Day, a day when artists, activists, and citizens collaborate to temporarily transform parking spots into temporary public parks. Yet another guerilla intervention for civic improvement.

628. One Thousand Words “With the cadets in class, we walk through some of the jihadi chat rooms that are used to spread propaganda against their fellow soldiers. And they need to understand — there's a photo out there, a very famous photo that's on all of these chat rooms. It's a picture of a bunch of American soldiers taking a rest in a mosque with their boots on. And it's everywhere. And because it's just a symbol of sort of insult to Islam. And the cadets need to understand that even if they are doing something that they think is completely benign, that they don't mean any sort of insult, it can be used against them. And it's that kind of awareness that they need to get to the point where they understand that they could accidentally do something extraordinarily insulting. That photograph is more of the strategic defeat than any sort of tactical engagement on the battlefield. And we need to understand it and the cadets need to understand that.” (Thanks)

629. Typo Tour A grand tour of typography in Italy with respect to writing, printing, and signage.

630. Top 25 Censored Stories of 2008 Erosion of civil rights, privitization of public resources, U.S. plunder and murder abroad, the creep towards martial law at home — stories the mainstream media forgot to tell us, compiled by Project Censored.