From The Daily Mail:
Mysterious power cuts blighting a rural area of Britain have finally been solved after investigators found they were caused by - a bull with an itch.
Around 500 homes are thought to have suffered mysterious intermittent electricity loss in the seaside villages of Croyde, Saunton and Georgeham, Devon, last month. The source of the problem had power company workers scratching their heads for several days until engineers caught the animal ‘in action’ in a field.
A spokesperson for Western Power Distribution said the bull had been rubbing itself against a wire stay designed to support overhead power cables. "It was quite a hefty animal and had caused some damage," said spokesperson Irene Evans "We think he'd been busy for a while as the engineers said that where he'd been rubbing had become very shiny."
The bumping bovine is thought to have triggered automatic circuit breakers that caused the regular power cuts. The fault was only located after a four-day search involving a helicopter, electronic pathfinder equipment and a team of engineers on foot.
Thursday, 2 December 2010
Aargh! Now they are attacking our infrastructure...
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7 comments:
""We think he'd been busy for a while as the engineers said that where he'd been rubbing had become very shiny.""
If it was that bad I'm surprised he wasn't raw.
Oh, you mean...
Bugger. Attacks on the person were a feint. Someone's been teaching them Sun Tzu's 'The Art of War', and they've reached Chapter 6:
Weak Points & Strong/Illusion and Reality - explains how your opportunities come from the openings in the environment caused by the relative weakness of your enemy in a given area.
We're in trouble if they reach Chapter 10.
PJH, there's admirable scope for double-entendres in that article.
VFTS, see this month's round-up. Standing in front of cars or trains is the new thing. It's suicidal from the cows' point of view, but really fouls things up for humans.
'PJH, there's admirable scope for double-entendres in that article.'
So give him one then.
I think Ivor is getting what the Americans would call a 'bum steer'. The critter was rubbing against a wire stay. The day that the wire support stays for the poles have anything to do with the auto circuit breakers is the day I admit I learnt nuttin in 4 years of elec. eng.
Either there are objects against which the overhead cables could short, in which case winds could do the same thing, or there's a very dodgy bad connection somewhere there on the pole. This could cause the circuit to go open, which, if open ciruit protected, could cause the breakers to trip.
I suggest Ivor has a word with Max Cliff..
Ch, why bumping into the guy rope would trip the circuit breakers puzzled me we well. Do you think the bull was a stool pigeon?
"It was quite a hefty animal ..."
As bovines tend to be.
JH, there are mini cows and Giant Nazi Cows as Pavlov's Cat pointed out.
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