For five hours this Sunday, some 10 miles of normally car-crowded Los Angeles streets will be closed to vehicular traffic and turned into a massive block party for cyclists, pedestrians, joggers, even stilt-walkers.

FORBES: LA's 10-Mile-Long Block Party

Traffic was stopped, and a block full of honking cars had to back up down the street.

WSJ: Celebratory Crowds Swirl Around Ground Zero

Lives are at stake when the fire department needs a utility to shut off power to a downed line and the police department to block traffic in the area.

FORBES: The Obama Doctrine: Decide In Secret, Impose In Public

Data shared with the BBC by one ISP which wished to remain anonymous showed that peer-to-peer traffic dipped when the Pirate Bay block initially happened but returned to normal levels within a week.

BBC: Virgin Media blocks pirate site Newzbin 2