Rubber

They come in broad daylight, with guns, machetes, knives and buckets of acid. The invaders of Bridgestone Firestone North American Tire's rubber plantation in Liberia are hunting what they call "elephant meat": To them, the company is so big that anyone can take a hunk of flesh and no one will notice. Some people who stand in their way get hacked to death. Others, such as William Brown, a 42-year-old security officer, have had acid hurled on their face and bodies.

Home workout products made of resistance cords, including stretchy rubber tubing and retractable nylon cables, usually don't get much respect from hard-core fitness freaks. The innovative products below could change that. Often inexpensive and portable, they get the job done and would complement anyone's normal 20-mile run and super-set dead-lift session. Knockout workout Perfect Punch: Padded mixed martial arts fighting gloves attached to a rubber stretch cord that drapes behind your back and adds resistance to all punches.

Hundreds and perhaps even thousands of years before Charles Goodyear discovered the vulcanization process that made commercial rubber viable, Mesoamerican peoples were carrying out a similar process to produce rubber artifacts for a broad variety of uses, two MIT researchers have found. By varying the amount of materials they added to raw rubber, Mesoamericans were able to produce bouncy rubber balls for the Mayas' ceremonial games, resilient rubber sandals and sticky material used to glue implements to handles, the research shows.

Automakers posted the best monthly sales in almost five years, selling about 1.4 million vehicles in March as more confident consumers surged into showrooms looking to replace older vehicles and find more fuel-efficient ones. The sales total was 12.7% ahead of the same month last year and amounted to an annual sales pace of 14.4 million vehicles, after seasonal adjustments, according to industry research firm Autodata Corp. The March total was the best since the industry sold 1.47 million vehicles in August 2007.

RECLAIMED rubber may seem a far cry from mahogany or walnut, but recycled tires can be seen in high-end showrooms throughout the country as an essential component of home furnishings. Michigan designer Andy Gregg's made-to-order pieces for Bike Furniture Design include tables and lounge chairs made with inner-tube seats framed by welded chrome-plated bicycle rims.

If any woman tells a friend or relative that her rubber beach thongs have gone glamorous ("Hip Flops," Feb. 6), at a cost of $350 for the pair from Libbie Lane in Beverly Hills, or $429 for the pair from Madison, or $830 for the pair from Dolce & Gabbana, I hope the listener will have the bravery and decency to call her stupid. Thomas J. Sinsky El Segundo

As baseball rivalries go, the Angels and Oakland Athletics probably will never match the Dodgers and San Francisco Giants for sheer intensity on the field and loathing among fans off it. But Angel Manager Mike Scio- scia may have unwittingly spiced things up a bit when he got into an animated discussion with Oakland Manager Ken Macha and umpire Tim Welke while exchanging lineup cards before Saturday night's game.

Responding to complaints that bumpy railroad crossings are damaging cars and injuring cyclists in the San Fernando Valley, City Councilman Hal Bernson on Wednesday asked city officials to study the purchase of rubber material to make all crossings safer in Los Angeles.

It would have once likely been called a "head" movie, something purposely strange, more than a little puzzling and perhaps more readily appreciated in some altered state of consciousness. Let's face it: "Rubber," written and directed by Frenchman Quentin Dupieux, better known to some as the electronic musician Mr. Oizo, is weird. Delightfully so. Available on multiple video-on-demand platforms and opening in Los Angeles on April 1, "Rubber" is the story of a rubber tire that inexplicably gains consciousness.

Allergic reactions to the natural rubber in condoms and protective gloves raise health concerns and could prevent some people from following the rules of safe sex, a dermatologist said last week. In one documented case, a woman developed hives and suffered respiratory problems within minutes after engaging in intercourse using a latex-based condom, said Dr. James Taylor of the Cleveland Clinic, author of an article published in this month's Journal of the American Academy of Dermatology.

Before a new dawn breaks for the Dodgers under changed ownership, there was this year's first night of baseball at Dodger Stadium. After all the news of a record sales price, investment groups, Magic Johnson and the Dodgers' uncertain future, the ballpark at Chavez Ravine — celebrating its 50th anniversary — reopened its doors for 2012. With an announced 20,009 looking on, the Dodgers defeated the Angels, 4-1, in the second game of their three-game exhibition Freeway Series.

David Novak calls himself a “pretty informal guy.” He used to hand out employee recognition awards in the form of rubber chickens. He loves to teach. He's also the multimillionaire chief executive of Yum Brands Inc., the fast food company with the most stores in the world. This week, Novak, 59, swung through Los Angeles and briefly talked about leadership lessons, international expansion for brands such as KFC and Pizza Hut and why he thinks struggling Taco Bell will “go down in history” this year.  Novak's new book dropped in January, its bright red back cover plastered with praise from the likes of Alan Mulally (chief executive of Ford Motor Co.)

One protester was killed and more than 600 others were injured Saturday in clashes with riot police in Tahrir Square, a fierce battle of tear gas, rubber bullets and stones that was one of the most violent since the overthrow of Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak nine months ago. At least one other protester was killed in Alexandria, where demonstrations and clashes also took place, wire reports said. Another eruption of anger at the ruling military council before next week's parliamentary elections, the fighting broke out when security forces moved to evacuate about 200 protesters who had staged a sit-in late Friday.

James Van Doren and his older brother Paul had only sample sneakers to offer when they opened their first store, in Anaheim, in 1966. They took a dozen orders in the morning and delivered custom canvas deck shoes, made in their adjacent factory, in the afternoon. Operating as the Van Doren Rubber Co., the brothers and two other co-founders planned to succeed by cutting out the middleman and selling their distinctive thick rubber-soled shoes directly to the public. By the early 1970s, the company owed some of its success to Southern California's burgeoning skateboard culture.

Five story lines to watch in the 143rd running of the Belmont Stakes on Saturday: 1. How will Animal Kingdom handle the sandy track at Belmont Park? It seemed as if Animal Kingdom had put to rest any questions about how comfortable he is running on dirt after his impressive win at the Kentucky Derby. When he fell well back going around the first turn in the Preakness, though, it was clear that having a considerable amount of dirt and mud kicked in his face bothered him. Trainer Graham Motion said this week that he didn't blame jockey John Velazquez for putting the colt in that position.

As Walter Lopez carefully stripped a diagonal ribbon of bark from a rubber tree in eastern Colombia, white latex began dripping down the cut and into a miniature pail nailed to the trunk. "Being outdoors, you learn how to respect the trees," said Lopez, a longtime rubber tapper at the Mavalle plantation on the Llanos jungle flatlands, 150 miles east of the capital, Bogota. "This is a great way of life. " Until recently, few shared it in Colombia, where pests and poor soil were thought to make rubber plantations unfeasible.

Right next to Chi-Chi's Restaurant in Santa Clarita, near the intersection of Soledad Canyon and Bouquet Canyon roads, there is a section of street where the rubber really meets the road. The half-mile stretch of Soledad Canyon Road looks like any other road in the area except that it has been paved with asphalt rubber, a combination of conventional asphalt and rubber made from ground-up scrap tires.

It would have once likely been called a "head" movie, something purposely strange, more than a little puzzling and perhaps more readily appreciated in some altered state of consciousness. Let's face it: "Rubber," written and directed by Frenchman Quentin Dupieux, better known to some as the electronic musician Mr. Oizo, is weird. Delightfully so. Available on multiple video-on-demand platforms and opening in Los Angeles on April 1, "Rubber" is the story of a rubber tire that inexplicably gains consciousness.

Saudi security forces on Thursday dispersed a protest by Shiite Muslims in restive Eastern province with percussion grenades and rubber bullets, wounding five people, witnesses in the city of Qatif said. The crackdown heightened fear that nationwide demonstrations scheduled in Saudi Arabia for Friday could turn violent. The Shiite minority has long complained about religious and employment discrimination in the Sunni Muslim-dominated kingdom. They have been holding more frequent protests in the last few weeks, demanding equal treatment and the freeing of political prisoners.