Lead Story
A Los Angeles Times correspondent reported in June from Yap, a group of islands in the Federated States of Micronesia that’s familiar to Guinness Book readers as the home of the world’s largest currency: immense stone coins called rai, the largest of which are nearly 12 feet across and are rarely moved but simply transferred to new owners in business transactions and legal settlements. Other, less quaint aspects of traditional Yap culture that persist today include a rigid caste system, widespread domestic violence against women, and a ban on wearing a shirt during certain holidays. Though some Yapese have apparently begun to reject such customs, Chief Andrew Ruepong took a hard line: “If they don’t want to be topless, they can live in Guam.”
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Obsessions
People who believe marijuana is odorless: In June narcotics officers were eating at a KFC in Buffalo when they smelled pot smoke; following the smell, they discovered two men in a car, ages 23 and 26, ordering from the drive-through window and allegedly smoking what one officer called “the biggest marijuana cigar you ever saw.” Also in June, Tucson police on a domestic-disturbance call noticed an overpowering smell of raw marijuana in the air; they soon traced it to a nearby house, where they found 35-year-old Jose Ortega Mendez and, allegedly, 220 bales of marijuana, weighing about two tons.
