[caption id="attachment_216" align="alignnone" width="640"]The June 2011 Wallow Fire, the largest wildfire in Arizona history. Photo from the Southwest Incident Management Team [/caption]Last year Arizona experienced their largest wildfire in the state’s history deemed the Wallow Fire. This year forest officials are gearing up for in hopes to prevent another disaster from happening for the 2012 fire season.

“In Arizona we always have the potential for large fires, it is a fire state” said Cliff Pearlburg, Fire Information Officer for the Arizona State Forestry Division. According to Pearlburg, Arizona is “unique” in that every ecosystem is represented in the state. This makes it difficult to assess the possible severity of the annual wildfire season.

[caption id="attachment_227" align="alignnone" width="700"]Sam Grossman takes a bite of a Rocky Mountain Oyster at the second annual Beer n’ Balls Festival at the Four Deuces Saloon and Grill in Tombstone, Ariz. on April 14.[/caption]

“Beer n’ Balls is a festival at Four Deuces Saloon in which people drink beer and eat Rocky Mountain Oysters,” she said after a few seconds of silence.

As soon as I heard the words “Rocky Mountain Oysters,” I immediately cringed. I had seen them on the Travel Channel time and time again, and I always said to myself after, “That is one thing I will never try.”

For those of you who don’t know, a Rocky Mountain Oyster is a bull calf testicle. Grossed out yet? Well, you will be.

[caption id="attachment_214" align="alignright" width="480"]Image courtesy of the Arizona-Sonora Desert Museum[/caption]Arizona is using old and new techniques to eliminate one of its oldest and largest environmental threats: buffelgrass. Without the resources necessary to get rid of it completely, the dangerous grass will continue to spread rapidly throughout the state.

For decades, the plant has been destroying native species, while presenting a major fire hazard. As the grass continues to grow at an exponential rate, it needs to be controlled before it is too late, said Lindy Bringham, director of the nonprofit organization, Southern Arizona Buffelgrass Coordination Center.

“It’s critical at this point that we really get a handle on it now, “ she said. “If we can get people to work on it now they can get it to a manageable state.”

According to Bringham, the state is doing what it can to control the grass, but due to limited funding, cannot eliminate it without help.

Arizona has spent $174 million in bond funds, since 2010, to purchase desert land. One of the reasons the state bought the land was to preserve the ecosystem by removing the intruding buffelgrass.

Although it is difficult to determine exactly how many acres these weeds infect, officials are hopeful that new technology will stop further growth, even with a tight budget. Doug Siegel, a natural resource specialist for Pima County, has been working with the U.S. Forest Service to develop easier and cheaper ways to eliminate the grass.

“We’re trying to see what we can do with our current budgets,” he said.

Siegel has been working on a hands-free way to get rid of these invasive plants. A helicopter would be used to drop the devices in “strategic spots” around the state. The remote control-activated machine would spray about ten acres of land with herbicide. This could help eliminate buffelgrass in areas that would normally be difficult to reach.

Takeru Kobayashi and Joey Chestnut are just a couple famous names in the world of competitive eating. Both have set records and have won Nathan’s Famous Hot Dog Competition.

But how did competitive eating really start? Although it’s still unknown, gorging events were highly popularized by carnival pie eating contests.

Today these contests are taken to the extreme in seeing how much food the contestants can scarf down in a manner of minutes. Even condiments are becoming part of the sport. Butter and mayonnaise have been featured in some competitions.