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MANAGED HEALTH CARE The Spinning Birthing Table (1999) — How can you ease labor pains? How about strapping a woman into a circular table and spinning her at high speed. Then you can pop out the newborn with centrifugal force. The late George and Charlotte Blonsky of New York City thought of this while observing elephants at the Bronx Zoo. Apparently, pachyderms spin when they're in labor. The Blonskys even patented their idea.

TECHNOLOGY The Wheel (2001) — Maybe you've heard of the wheel. Well, last year, John Keogh of Australia patented it. Actually, he patented the "Circular Transportation Device" to demonstrate that, perhaps, there are some problems with patent laws.

Buck Wolf is entertainment producer at ABCNEWS.com. The Wolf Files is published Tuesdays. If you want to receive weekly notice when a new column is published, join the e-mail list.