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Entries for November, 2008

Hello dear readers! After week long of unintended silence, I'm back in the online weblog circulation again. And as the title reads, this entry is about the five overwhelmingly insane ridiculous towing jobs. This is originally a feature from HowStuffWorks.com, posted by Jane McGrath. So you must be thinking, "why give such a title?" You see, the first time I saw the article from HowStuffWorks, I also felt that same urgency of your curiosity. I clicked the permanent link and there I found, laying right before my eyes, the five indeed ridiculously heavy towing job! Seeing these stuff in photo are quite an imaginative adventure. A small matchbox pulling a megaton commercial airline passenger plane? I bet I could already count it as an unbelievable phenomenon once I see it in action in flesh. Now, without further adieu, let's start counting, shall we?

At number 5: Towing Space Shuttles.

Allow me to repeat that: towing space shuttles. There. NASA uses a "Shuttle Crawler Transporter" or simply the Crawler  to do the job. It looks tiny beside an actual NASA space shuttle but it is actually the largest one around. It uses a 5,000 horsepower motor to pull an over 2,000 metric tons of space orbiter before it takes off. And despite its name "Crawler," this towing vehicle moves its cargo at more than one mile per hour. Hence, I think they call it a Crawler because it only looks like it is crawling compared to a space shuttle. Of course it's a space shuttle! How do you expect it to run? Like a bicycle?

Anyway, at number 4: Pulling Teeth

It's no dentist job but a Malaysian has indeed pulled a train using his own teeth! This train weighs 327.5 tons and he freakin' pulled it for over a nine feet long distance. He did it with his jaws clenching a steel rope (yes it's even made of steel for crying out loud!), which is tight on the train and with his feet pushing against the tracks. No ordinary toothpaste brands in the market can make anyone do that so don't try it at home (just in case you have a train parked at your backyard). Only "King Tooth" can do it! Yes, "King Tooth" is what they call this human train-towing machine.

At number 3: Towing Aircraft

Now we're talkin'. Although space shuttles are ridiculously (pardon the word choice but we better stick with the theme) heavier than aircrafts (they weigh only 500 to 700 tons), towing aircrafts has been, well the most frequent tow job being done. From commercial planes to military aircrafts, an "Aircraft Tow Tractor" gets the job done. And since this has been quite a career for tow tractors, tree huggers might be worried about the environmental effects. Well HowStuffWorks assures you that they are built to conserve energy.

At number 2: Towing Buildings

Huwatdaf? They freaking tow buildings? Well, believe it or don't, they do. And we're not just talking about trailers here. We're talking about infrastructures under construction. They carry houses complete with walls and roofs and beams and windows and doors and all that. HowStuffWorks even made an article on how they do it. Wanna see?

And at number 1... tentenenen! Towing on the Water

Here's a little science fact: although things become nearly weightless underwater, on the water surface is a different thing. Nah, you don't really need a science crash course for that but really. Literally really Heaviest tow jobs actually happen on water. "Tugboats," as they call them, pull metric tons of boat mass for long distances. Note: long distances. They pull about 300,000 metric tons of ships for nautical miles. That's freakin' heavier than a space shuttle!

Anyway, if you want to learn about these towing jobs, just visit HowStuffWorks.com.

Posted by autopartsware on November 4th, 2008 at 10:07 AM | Permalink | Add a Comment

When gas prices increase, people naturally look for ways to keep their dollars out of their gas tanks. In lieu of driving, they may change their routine. For example, they may choose to leave a gas-guzzling car parked at home in favor of walking, biking or taking public transportation to their destination. This adds more physical activity to their day -- good for weight loss because exercise eats up calories.

-Maria Colenso via HowStuffWorks.com

For some, the link between gas prices and obesity comes in a package of simple hunches. It takes just a little logic to come up these things. Anway the point is, you get healthier everytime fuel prices surge up. Nice, huh? It's a good thing especially when those smart research people have already been supporting it with their file cabinets of findings.

Charles Courmanche (2007) also adds that the same thing happens whenever the gas prices go down. People get fatter because they could afford to drive around with their automatic SUVs. Well, that's not exactly what he said. He said that at the time when gas prices where at their lowest between 1979 and 2004 (God that was kind of like the Golden Ages!), obesity rate in America rose by 8 percent. Our history could argue that at that time, the low gas prices generated an increase in agricultural and food production. More fast food chains were established and thus, generating calories for each individual a thousand at a time.

And so I wonder, will the connection still be applicable now that we've found more ways to save gas? I mean, people don't have to walk or commute all the way work today because they could still drive around in their less gas consuming vehicles. Before, they don't have any idea about the "inconvient truth" back when they were still profiling their big hairstyles and high waisted jeans. That mean's they haven't done much about anything in their cars to reduce gas consumption. A lot of environmentally conscious people are converting to alternative energy to reduce their carbon footprints. It's a lot costly but some resolve to slight modifications in their cars. Well, I'd like to correct that. Many car enthusiasts are adding modifications on their cars to increase aerodynamics. The more the aerodynamics you have, the lesser you need to pump gas. Well, that's just an opinion. I don't really have any statistics or what not like Courmanche. Don't take it as a valid explanation or anything. So go! Walk.

Posted by autopartsware on November 14th, 2008 at 07:48 AM | Permalink | Add a Comment

I was just silently browsing around the net, looking for some interesting stuff to pass time with. I was pretty much at peace with my boredom and had been enjoying my time playing around with it.

But lo and behold!

Shattering the streak of my idleness I was literally dumbfounded and flabbergasted when I discovered the "Ultimate Subie Porn of Ken Block"!

(Read more)

Posted by autopartsware on November 26th, 2008 at 12:52 AM | Permalink | Add a Comment

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