The Centennial Light Bulb



On March 2, 2009 I posted “A Light That Still Shines.”  This post made Randy Seaver’s “Best of Genealogy Blogs” on his Genea-Musings blog that particular week. If you missed that post or wish to refresh your memory please go back and read it before continuing on with this post, it will give background on the news I am about to share with you now.

I recently returned from a fantastic cruise and was playing catch up with the computer when I noticed a link shared on Facebook by my husband’s cousin.  The post, “World’s Longest Running Lightbulb Goes Out In Livermore” was posted by sanfrancisco.cbslocal.com. (Thank you cousin for listing this)


Photo taken by Cheryl Palmer, 2009, Livermore, California.

The Centennial Light Bulb mysteriously went out! 

I think my heart skipped a beat, or two! I clicked on the link and listened to the report. Thankfully, the light came back on hours later, as mysteriously as it had gone out. 

This report is by Juliette Goodrich, who wrote the book "The Little Light Shine's Bright." She was inspired by this very lightbulb to write her book. Here is the link where you too can listen to the report to find out what really happened. 

This lightbulb has actually been a topic of David Letterman and Stephen Colbert as you will see if you check out the lightbulbs web page, Livermore California's Centennial Light.


The Centennial Bulb was in its 112 year of being lit when this occurred. The power supply failed, not the lightbulb itself. Do you think Guinness World Records will continue on counting time “being lit” for this light bulb?


Thanks for stopping by! 

Wishing you success in all of your genealogical treasure hunts! 




Copyright © 2013 Cheryl Palmer All Rights Reserved

Comments

  1. Barbara PooleMay 22, 2013 at 4:23 PM

    I'm glad it's still shining bright. Was quite surprised I didn't leave you a message back when you wrote that post..I remember it well. Moral, don't go on vacation or the electricity might go out!

    ReplyDelete
  2. my Heritage HappensMay 23, 2013 at 10:08 AM

    Perfect moral for this Barbara, thanks!

    ReplyDelete
  3. CelesteSeptember 18, 2013 at 12:30 AM

    Great!

    ReplyDelete

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Organizing ~ Cousins Found

Image
I finally took time yesterday to do something I have been wanting to do for awhile now. It has been several years since I started genealogy and blogging. Many cousins have been found. But, how many? Who? I have not kept any kind of system to log these cousin contacts. I was past due, do I even remember all of them? Well, that was the goal here. I started a spreadsheet of "Cousins Found." I titled columns with things like, phone number, address, email address, surname, how/where we made contact, and if I have met them. I am all about meeting my living cousins and their family members, it does my heart good, plus you never know how long they will be with us. Of course, they may also have information to help us in our genealogy research.   I started listing the cousins names I remembered making contact with, those were cousins I generally keep in contact with anyway, so that was easy. Then, sporadically, I would remember someone contacting me on one e-mail address w
Read more

#31 WBGB ~ Week 11 ~ Come Up with 10 Post Ideas

Image
I am following  Tonia's Roots  as she brings several GeneaBloggers through 31 weeks of working towards a better blog, prompts written by Darren Rowse.  Here is this weeks challenge adapted from Darren Rowse's daily challenges which Tonia is doing as weekly challenges: Ever run out of things to write about on your blog? If your answer is yes – you’re not alone. This weeks's task is to do an exercise that will identify a range of post ideas that you can use when stuck for an idea in future. The key with this process is not to put yourself under pressure to come up with completely new and out of the blue ideas for every post you write. Instead – this process taps into what you’ve recently written on your blog and helps you to identify ways to extend those ideas. Here’s the mind mapping method that I’ve used (note: I’ve talked about this previously so it could be familiar to some). 1. The Set Up Get a whiteboard, piece of paper, note book, tablet pc or someth
Read more

Sentimental Sunday ~ Western Union Telegram

Image
Do you remember telegrams? Western Union Telegrams were a bit before my time. I have scanned the few that were kept and received by my paternal family back in the day.  This telegram was sent to my grandmother from Obed Olson stating his brother Philip had passed away on Wednesday March 9, 1960. It also let the family know that the funeral services were to be on Saturday at 2:00pm at Coop Mortuary in Hibbing, Minnesota. The telegram was to be received by Friday (which would have been March 11) and the funeral with the funeral being the next day I highly doubt my grandparents made if from California to Minnesota for the funeral. Philip and Obed Olson were my first cousin once removed. Unfortunately, I never met either of them. Thanks for stopping by!  Wishing you success in all of your genealogical treasure hunts!  Copyright © 2011 Cheryl Palmer
Read more