The lowest McDonald's, 396m below sea level, is in the Israeli village of Ein Bokek, near the Dead Sea.
One moment, caller
Photo / Supplied
The first handheld cellular phone call was made on April3, 1973, by Motorola engineer Martin Cooper from Sixth Avenue in New York while walking between 53rd and 54th Streets. Cooper hoisted the prototype weighing just over a kilogram to his ear and called a rival, Joel Engel of Bell Laboratories at AT&T, to declare that his Motorola team had devised a functional portable phone. "There was silence at the other end of the line," Cooper recalled to Bloomberg in 2015. "To this day, Joel doesn't remember that call, and I'm not sure I blame him." The clunky "shoe" phone, almost as big as a shoebox, allowed a user to talk for 35 minutes and required 10 hours to recharge, according to Wired magazine. Motorola spent 10 years overcoming technical and regulatory hurdles, and began commercial service in 1983 using a slimmer 16-ounce model that cost between $3500 and $4000. (Source: AARP)
Pannier plea
Malcolm writes: "Last Thursday afternoon about 12.30pm when manoeuvring my motorcycle between lanes of stationary vehicles just west of the motorway on-ramp roundabout at Greenlane the left-hand soft pannier caught a bumper or tray of a ute and came off. By the time I realised and returned, the pannier and all its contents had been picked up presumably by another motorist. I am keen to get the pannier and its personal contents back. $100 reward offered for safe return."
