Joshua Kinberg's internet-connected, sidewalk-printing graffiti bike got him a lot of attention ahead of the 2004 Republican National Convention; he was Boing Boinged, Slashdotted and featured on CNN and in Popular Science.

Though he didn't know it at the time, his gadget also landed him a spot in secret files being compiled by the New York Police Department's intelligence arm against protest groups across the country.

Wesley Autrey jumped off of a NY subway platform to help a man who had stumbled over the edge onto the tracks after suffering from a seizure. Both are alive and well.

Mr. Autrey refused medical help, because, he said, nothing was wrong. He did visit Mr. Hollopeter in the hospital before heading to his night shift. "I don't feel like I did something spectacular; I just saw someone who needed help," Mr. Autrey said. "I did what I felt was right."

Spoken like a true hero, Mr. Autrey.

Creating a new outpost in the battle for transgender rights, both New York City and Spain are expected to soon allow people to officially change their gender without actually undergoing a sex-change operation.

Transgender people are fighting on many other fronts, pushing for free access to public restrooms and insurance coverage for gender-reassignment operations. But the proposed liberalization of sex-change rules brings the movement into uncharted territory.

If people can switch genders in the eyes of the government with only some documentation from a doctor, will fewer feel the need for surgery? And what about military service, marriage and the supposed threat of cross-dressing peeping toms?

Few public building projects have sparked such competing emotions as the Freedom Tower. Patriotism has driven it from the start, with some inevitably kitschy results, starting with its height (1776 feet). The building is a solemn monument to the fallen, but also an obvious target, a test of our will and ingenuity to ensure that history doesn't repeat itself.

Skidmore, Owings and Merrill, or SOM, the architects designing the tower, have taken that imperative literally: If terrorists pilot a fully-fuelled commercial jet into their building, they believe it will stand.