Another one for spring. Apparently, there is one car fire every 96 seconds in the US.

Whether by crash, arson or design, cars catch fire and there’s not a single clean burning one among them. Last year, nearly 9,000 cars were burned during seventeen days of civil unrest in France. How were so many cars burned? Slate offers a tip:

The easiest way to torch a car would be to crack open a window, douse the interior with lighter fluid, and toss in a match. If the windows aren’t open or smashed, a car fire will burn itself out for lack of oxygen. (The heat, soot, and smoke from one of these contained fires will often total a car all the same.)

These photos were taken over the last few months in Brooklyn and Queens (many around the time of the B train fire on the Manhattan Bridge)

Continue reading: Burned Out Cars of New York

Worried about the safe, sterile, homogeneous influence of Prospect Heights creeping into your Crown Heights experience? Worry less. A Jeep Wrangler was stripped and left sitting on cinder blocks beneath the Franklin Avenue Shuttle on St. Marks Avenue yesterday, a reminder that the 16-story glass tower planned a few doors down at 540 St. Marks Ave. may be a very difficult sell.

We might be reading too much into the results, but “Traffic’s Human Toll,” a 14-month study by Transportation Alternatives does show traffic has an extremely negative impact on New Yorkers.

The study finds that New Yorkers on high traffic streets harbor more negative perceptions of their block, are more frequently disturbed during sleep, meals, and conversations, and, in two of the four study areas, possess significantly fewer relationships with their neighbors compared to residents on low and medium traffic streets. Based on these findings, it is no surprise that 49% of all respondents stated that reducing the number of cars traversing their street would “totally improve” their quality of life. Of those respondents residing on heavy traffic streets, that figure jumps to 62%.

The study also found, residents on high traffic streets are more likely to keep their curtains shut hermit-style; spend less time walking, shopping, and playing with their kids; and stop their kids from playing a little stickball, .

Transportation Alternatives suggests NYC reduce traffic and improve resident’s quality of life through congestion pricing; improved mass transit and bicycle facilities; and traffic calming measures like reduced speed limits and speed humps. The main point is reducing traffic would be exponentially beneficial to New York City cool guys and losers alike.

Get your stat on and read the full report.

How did the U.S. Army manage to enlist its 80,000th soldier on Friday, meeting its yearly recruitment goal eight days early? It’s a surprising feat, considering the growing unpopularity of the war in Iraq, multitudes of more enticing options, and the Army’s failure to meet recruiting goals last year.

However, the Army is employing “new financial incentives, new recruiting approaches and a bigger recruiting corps” or simply put relaxing requirements and pandering to young people. In addition to raising the maximum age to 42, lowering minimum test scores, and relaxing criminal record requirements, they’re using yellow camouflaged Hummers to generate appeal, similar to their “Taking It to the Streets” campaign three years ago.

Perhaps the more blinged out Army Hummer is attracting recruits, or perhaps like the Air Force, “recruiters are falsifying paperwork to make their numbers.” Whether faking numbers, or blocking fire hydrants, the Army will stop at nothing to prolong an unnecessary war.

What does it mean when a fashionable car magazine features a dressed up bike messenger holding a bike on the cover? Intersection Magazine just thinks fixed gear bicycles (and vintage yachts!) make fashionable accessories for your car. The fashion spread of bike messengers with their bikes, the feature on ReBar’s Parking spot intervention and David Gallaugher’s grass lined wheel are interesting from a design and fashion perspective, but overlook what they mean to urban life: bikes are the quickest way through a city, excessive private parking deprives people of public space, and there just isn’t enough space to ditch our shoes and run barefoot in the grass. Considering Intersection Magazine’s manifesto, it’s not surprising they glossed over the problems cars cause.

Cars move us. Cars let us go where we want, when we want, how we want - they reflect our desires as they answer our needs. On the street, they’re our clothes. On the move, they’re our homes - we use them as our living rooms, offices, studios and sometimes our bedrooms.

Only 2 in 10 New York City residents even own a car, and unless they have a congestion fetish, they’re not effective for selfishly getting them where they want, when they want or how they want. Even more ridiculous are Intersection’s “Urban Aggressive Off-Roading” videos championing SUVs recklessly driving through roundabouts and skateparks, the sort of spaces ReBar and Gallaugher were promoting through their art.

Get out of here. New York City has enough people being killed by vehicles.

This painted car hood, lying among the auto garages (some say ‘chop shops of dubious ownership’) on Pacific Street in Crown Heights, reminded us of a couple other projects challenging traditional attitudes towards cars. (Anyone seen the rest of this car driving around?)

Like a good pair of jeans, the Fiat Scratch only gets better with age. It’s a prototype car coated with multiple layers of contrasting paint, so owners needn’t fear the scratch and can start attacking it with sharp objects. If you’re boring, just wait for it to happen naturally.

Even cooler, is Jonathan Schipper’s slow motion car crash, “The Slow Inevitable Death of American Muscle.” No movement is visible as the two are cars are crashed into one another over the course of an entire month. You’ll have to wait for the full sized piece.