Chapter 7
Twisted Shop Class » Nickel Growing in Trees

lectroplating makes bumpers shiny and rustproof. It also makes these beautiful bits of industrial waste. If there were a contest for most attractive industrial waste, these nickel-chromium nodules would win hands-down. As intricate as the veins on a leaf, brighter than a '57 Chevy in the noonday sun, they grow naturally in tanks of chemicals simmering gently in a bumper factory somewhere in the Midwest.

Eventually workers whack them off with hammers and dump them in barrels for recycling.