A Random Assortment

~ Very cool bike helmet that you wear around your neck. It's all over fb, so I'm probably not the first person to point this out to you. (How annoying is it that fb is just a massive article sharing thing now?)

~ Love this:

Bowling Green’s City Council had voted in September to ban fracking within city limits. Voters appeared worried that the initiative, which would have inserted the ban into the city charter, was overly broad, said Andrew Kear, a political scientist at Bowling Green State University and a scholar of the politics of hydraulic fracturing in Ohio and in the Rocky Mountains.

~ On participatory budgeting. Tocqueville would love this--it takes money to draw Americans into involvement in their government. As Francisco pointed out, this is the best line:

“We’re going to see how this works,” she told them. “We’re not going to stay for the whole thing. We need to have our dinner and scotch.” 

And disability comes into it:

He noted that people with disabilities “are an important part of our community, but they’re not in great numbers.” Still, he said, last year an access ramp to the beach was one of the top vote getters.

~ Pennsylvania's 650th Dollar General. Amazing article; via Ilana.

~ This documentary looks interesting--it's on my list to watch.