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Class Act

Virologist Jonas Salk (1914-1995) is celebrated for developing the first polio vaccine, which was largely responsible for reducing the number of polio cases in the US from 45,000 in 1953 to under one thousand in 1962. Within 25 years, polio was fully eliminated in the US.

While developing the vaccine, Salk tested it on himself, his wife and children, and numerous volunteers. He never patented the vaccine or otherwise profited from it, instead allowing it to be used freely for the public good.

In the 1960s, he founded the Salk Institute to focus on biological research, including the search in the 1980s for an AIDS vaccine. Although nationally famous, Salk reportedly was uncomfortable with his celebrity status and the loss of privacy. Respect.

Hỏa Lò Prison

The North Vietnamese prison that American POWs in the 1960s called the Hanoi Hilton was Hỏa Lò Prison. It was built in the late 1800s by the French, when Vietnam was part of French Indochina. It was used to incarcerate political prisoners, including many of the future leaders of North Vietnam.

In 1973, after the Paris Peace Accords ended the Vietnam War and the POWs were released, North Vietnam officials insisted the POWs had been treated in accordance with the Geneva Convention. Evidence was clear, however, of severe abuse of the prisoners.

For the following two decades, North Vietnam used Hỏa Lò to incarcerate dissidents.

The facility was demolished in the 1990s and replaced by high-rise apartment buildings. A small part of the prison was preserved as a museum that focuses mostly on the French colonial period, including the guillotine room with original equipment.

The Quadricycle

Henry Ford became famous in 1908 for introducing the Model T automobile (and the assembly line, and mass production), but he built his first motor vehicle in 1896. The “Quadricycle” was a simple roadster featuring a two-cylinder gasoline engine, rear-wheel drive, and four bicycle tires.

Ford built and sold four Quadricycles and in 1899 founded the Detroit Automobile Company, which became the Henry Ford Company in 1901, then Ford Motor Company in 1903.

The first Quadricycle was purchased for $200 by Charles Ainsley, a Detroit rich guy. (Back then, horseless carriages were toys for the rich.) Some years later, Ford bought back the original from Ainsley for $60 and put it in the Ford Museum.

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Feet of Clay

The Founding Fathers, although esteemed for good reason, were as imperfect as the rest of us. Ten of the first 12 US presidents owned slaves, which, I should note, was common for the times. The exceptions were John Adams, the 2nd president, and his son John Quincy Adams, the 6th.

To his credit, the elder Adams noted that he “always employed free men both as Domesticks and Labourers, and never in my Life did I own a Slave.” However, Washington and Jefferson both operated large plantations, and each owned about 600 slaves, give or take.

Surprisingly, the wife of Ulysses Grant owned four slaves given to her by her father, a Missouri plantation owner. Even Grant himself owned a slave — William Jones, also a gift from his father-in-law. In 1859, Grant freed Jones, who was the last slave owned by a US president.

To know history, warts and all, is a healthy thing.

Greasing the Skids

At daybreak on November 7, 1896, the Georgia Tech football team arrived by train in Auburn, Alabama, to play the Auburn Tigers — unaware that, overnight, Auburn fans had coated 400 yards of track near the depot with lard.

The train was unable to stop and literally skidded out of town, finally coming to rest five miles west of the city. The Tech players followed the tracks back to town, carrying their equipment, and lost the game 45-0.

Outraged, Tech officials vowed they would never again play Auburn. They relented when Auburn promised that all students involved in future shenanigans would be expelled.

Every year since, Auburn students have celebrated the prank with a pep rally at the train depot. In 2013, USA Today declared the incident the 2nd best prank in college sports history, surpassed only by Army cadets regularly stealing Billy the goat, the Naval Academy’s mascot.

Stinknet

In the Southwestern US in the fall, the landscape erupts in bright, glorious yellow. Numerous wild plants in the region — sunflowers, dandelions, goldenrod, and others — produce fields of yellow blooms, creating dramatic displays in all directions.

But sometimes, nature serves up a curve, as in the case of Globe Chamomile, aka Stinknet. This invasive weed from South Africa popped up in California in 1981 and has been spreading east to bedevil Arizona ever since.

Stinknet is a multi-faceted curse. It smells awful, and it can cause a nasty skin rash. It crowds out native plants and depletes nutrients in the soil — then dies and becomes kindling for wildfires. And, it produces toxic smoke for good measure.

Its sole redeeming quality: being pretty.

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