WhiteBoard News

[Mike Brehm]

Now that we're starting to get back to topics Pynchonian, I thought this
would be provide some mindless pleasures....

>
>WhiteBoard News for Thursday, February 27, 1997
>
>Livermore, California:
>
>How many firefighters does it take to change a lightbulb?
>
>At Livermore's Fire Station 1, the question is moot.
>
>For nearly a century, firefighters there have been keepers
>of what is believed to be the longest-burning bulb on the
>planet. Donated to the department by a local businessman,
>it has been shining since 1901.
>
>The naked bulb, which hangs from the ceiling, is celebrated
>in Ripley's Believe-It-of-Not and has attracted tourists
>from as far away as Japan and Australia to this city just
>east of Oakland.
>
>Through earthquakes, fires and riots, the bulb has
>burned faintly with only short interruptions for the
>occasional power outage and a 23-minute respite in 1976
>when the station moved locations. The bulb was brought
>along to the new building.
>
>"We gave it (an emergency) code 3," firefighter Jim
>McCraw remembers. "We had all the trucks out with
>sirens and lights flashing. It was like the O.J.
>Simpson chase, we moved it so slowly down the street."
>
>Now, it has become such an institution that the firefighters
>worry about the day it burns out.
>
>"I'd hate to be on duty if that ever happens," McCraw
>said. "We'd all be brought in and interrogated."