{"id":1252,"date":"2014-01-23T15:34:51","date_gmt":"2014-01-23T21:34:51","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/bestofswla.com\/?p=1252"},"modified":"2014-01-23T15:52:55","modified_gmt":"2014-01-23T21:52:55","slug":"nuclear-tractor-pull","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/bestofswla.com\/2014\/01\/23\/nuclear-tractor-pull\/","title":{"rendered":"NUCLEAR TRACTOR PULL"},"content":{"rendered":"

<\/span>Edward Teller, the famous theoretical physicist known as the \u201cfather of the hydrogen bomb\u201d for his work on the World War II-era Manhattan Project, died in 2003. His daughter Rene told The Free Press of Kinston, N.C., in November that she had recently discovered two of her father\u2019s mementos at a thrift shop near Kinston: awards Teller had won at tractor pull competitions. \u201cHe\u2019d show up at major tractor pulls\u201d riding just a Cub Cadet mower, Rene said, and \u201cleave the competition in the dust.\u201d Teller\u2019s secret, she said, was using \u201cnuclear fusion-based engines,\u201d which sponsors ultimately had to ban.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

The Entrepreneurial Spirit<\/strong><\/p>\n

\u2014 \u201cIt will be sort of my unique factor,\u201d said Lucy Luckayanko, describing her $3,000 eyeball jewelry implant from New York City\u2019s Park Avenue Laser Vision. The implant involved the insertion of a piece of platinum between the sclera (the white part of the eye) and the clear conjunctiva. Actually, said the shop\u2019s medical director, Dr. Emil Chynn, to WNEW-TV in November, it\u2019s \u201cpretty safe.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u2014 Japan\u2019s \u201ccat cafes\u201d allow diners to caress house kittens that roam the facilities. Similar eateries feature owls (the Fukurou Sabou in Tokyo, Owl Family in Osaka). The owls can\u2019t be caressed and are easily spooked by excessive noise.<\/p>\n

\u2014 Liu Pengfei\u2019s Five Loaves and Two Fish restaurant in Fuzhou, China, is losing money rapidly in spite of its overflowing crowds. According to a December China Daily report, Pengfui allows customers to pay whatever amount they want to for the food. They must also wash out their bowls. \u201cI want to continue,\u201d he said, \u201cas I believe the feeling of trust is contagious.\u201d<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

The Kingdom<\/strong><\/p>\n

\u2014 According to a Wired story, biologist Theodore Pietsch described the sex life of the anglerfish as: \u201cBoy meets girl, boy bites girl, boy\u2019s mouth fuses to girl\u2019s body, boy lives the rest of his life attached to girl, sharing her blood and supplying her with sperm.\u201d Because the ocean floor is so dark it\u2019s hard to detect mates, only 1 percent of males ever hook up with females. The rest starve to death as virgins.<\/p>\n

\u2014 Marlene Zuk of the University of Minnesota described the mating mechanics of damselflies, crickets and cockroaches for The New York Times in November, 2013. The damselfly male\u2019s penis is a Swiss Army knife-like contraption, which it must be to access the female\u2019s well-hidden eggs. The cricket easily produces sperm, but then awaits its draining through a \u201clong stem for several minutes\u201d to achieve fertilization. Cockroaches, Professor Zuk wrote, mate by \u201cblind trust\u201d as they hook up back-to-back.<\/p>\n

\u2014 Nirmala Toppo, 14, is the one to call if wild elephants overrun your village in India\u2019s Orissa and Jharkhand states, which are still home to hundreds of marauding pachyderms. In June, she emptied a herd of 11 elephants out of the industrial city of Rourkela. Said Toppo: \u201cFirst I pray and then talk to the herd. I tell them this is not your home. You should return where you belong.\u201d Somehow, the elephants follow her for miles, according to an October BBC News dispatch.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Cutting-Edge Science<\/strong><\/p>\n

University of British Columbia researchers tried to judge whether the blocking of dopamine D4 receptors can reduce the urge to gamble in subjects other than human beings. They claimed to have devised a procedure that works on the dopamine receptors of rats, and especially those with a gambling problem. Researchers used a slot machine-like device that dispenses sugar pellets to the rats. The researchers claimed they offered rats \u201cmeasured risks\u201d and determined that rats are more likely to take risks immediately after a close loss (just as people are).<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Medical Marvels<\/strong><\/p>\n

Seven years ago, Michael Spann, now 29, suddenly doubled over in pain; felt as if he \u201cgot hit in the head with a sledgehammer\u201d; and began crying blood. Despite consultations with doctors, including two visits with extensive lab work at the venerable Cleveland Clinic, the Antioch, Tenn., man told Nashville\u2019s The Tennessean in October that he is resigned to an \u201cidiopathic condition,\u201d which is a term that indicates a disease without an apparent cause. Spann\u2019s main wish now is just to hold a job. He fears that fellow workers and customers will not react well to the sight of a man bleeding from the eyes. The incidents occur once every few days.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Perspective<\/strong><\/p>\n

The daunting problems that faced the launch of the HealthCare.gov website in October were merely indicative of the federal government\u2019s snail-like pace at integrating digital innovations common to everyday America. A December New York Times report revealed that The Federal Register (the daily journal of the U.S. government) still receives original content from some agencies on virtually obsolete 3.5-inch floppy disks. Its work-order authorizations from some agencies come on disks hand-delivered inside the Washington Beltway by courier. Contractors can be frustrated; they must sometimes downgrade to interface with their government clients.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Least Competent\u00a0Criminals<\/strong><\/p>\n

A 23-year-old woman was arrested in Crestview, Fla., for shoplifting a toy from an adult store before she inquired about a job there. She professed her innocence until she was shown the surveillance video. When she saw it, police reported, she said, \u201cOh, my God. Look at what I\u2019m doing … I\u2019m gonna cry.\u201d<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Readers\u2019 Choice<\/strong><\/p>\n

In October, an Ohio judge turned down a petition by Donald Miller Jr., in which he asked to be ruled \u201calive.\u201d \u201cYou\u2019re still deceased as far as the law is concerned,\u201d probate judge Allan Davis told him. State law required challenges to the declaration of death obtained by Miller\u2019s wife in 1994 to be filed within three years. Said Davis, \u201cI don\u2019t know where that leaves you.\u201d<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

A News of the Weird\u00a0Classic (July 2009)<\/strong><\/p>\n

Hundreds of Los Angeles\u2019 down-and-out live not underneath freeways but inside their concrete structures, according to a June (2009) Los Angeles Times report. The largest such \u201chome\u201d is a gymnasium-sized cavern under the Interstate 10 freeway in the suburb of Baldwin Park. That space is nearly inaccessible; to get to it, one must squeeze through a rusty grating, traverse a narrow ledge and descend a ladder to reach \u201ca vast, vault-like netherworld, strewn with garbage and syringes.\u201d Toys and rattles and a cat carcass are visible on an upper platform. Authorities fear the area; every few years, state officials try to seal the entrance. The homeless quickly unseal it as soon as the officials leave.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Edward Teller, the famous theoretical physicist known as the \u201cfather of the hydrogen bomb\u201d for his work on the World War II-era Manhattan Project, died in 2003. 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