Abandoned power pole posing problem
"Two years ago they came to inspect the elderly power pole at the end of our driveway," writes Malcolm Bell of Forrest Hill. "Six months later a new pole was erected alongside the old one. For three months the new pole stood there, unused until men from Chorus arrived and transferred the telephone lines to it. Another three months passed until a Vector crew moved the power lines to the new pole. A further three months later another crew dug up the berm, laid fibre-optic cables and ran these up the new pole. Unfortunately the redundant pole is still standing and now has an alarming lean towards the road. One day a strong easterly will topple it, ripping down all the connections to the new pole and blocking the road. I hope it doesn't happen when kids are walking to or from the nearby schools."
Unintentional discovery that made the world better place
Back in the winter of 1905, 11-year-old Frank Epperson left a glass of fruit-flavoured powdered soda mixed with water out on his porch overnight with a stirring stick in it. The next morning, out popped the world's first popsicle. Epperson didn't start selling his accidental invention until 18 years later when he prepared his frozen treat for a fireman's ball in his hometown of San Francisco. The crowd loved it, and Epperson quit his day job as a real estate agent to patent and sell his world-famous Epsicles. Yes, that was the original name, until his children - who always called them "pop's 'sicles"- convinced him to change it. (Via How Stuff Works)
