Bike Buddhas, Car Buddhas, Weebles, and Soccer

I have a new post over at Life as a Human webzine. It's about the World Cup, sports economics, and a bit of nostalgia. Check it out.

Continuing with the tangentally related posts, here is a wonderful post about biking and all the excuses people make for not biking. I don't expect everyone will suddenly become bike commuters from reading stuff like this, but maybe, as Barry from Ox Herding said recently, everyone could shift their behavior 1%. Maybe you'll bike that 6 block drive to the store you are currently making. Or you'll skip the drive to the gym and take a ride through the park on the weekend instead. It's one way to address oil spills, at any rate.

Here's a cool little post about meditation and Weebles. You may remember playing with Weebles as a kid. Maybe not. Either way, you might be asking what does a kids' toy have to do with zazen? Read Lawrence's post to find out.

And finally, here's a short announcement about Buddha figures for use in people's cars. I've seen people place many objects, including Buddhas, on their dashboards in a sort of alter style. As someone who wants to dismantle the car-centric culture we have, I kind wonder what to make of such displays. On the one hand, it's very true that people often spend a lot of time in their cars, and that such space is just as "sacred" as anywhere else. Yet, I also wonder what it means when millions of folks adorn their cars in ways that make them more central to their lives than even their homes.