[NJARC] An automatic "Jesus Stick"?

[David R Sica]

I remember someone brought a mysterious stick to a "Show and Tell"
meeting one day. Someone was able to identify it as an old-fashioned
"Jesus" stick. It was a long insulated pole that was used, if I recall
correctly, to allow a power company serviceman to open a high voltage
connection from a safe distance. I forget what the actual name of the
tool was, but we were told that it got it's nickname because when the
circuit was opened and the sparks flew, there was usually only one word
that came from the mouth of the operator :-)

I saw this video today and thought of that stick:
http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=4468957986746104671. 

Pretty dramatic stuff!

--Dave