Though once alive, this ubiquitous item of great utility did not have a "birthmark" until after its death, and its subsequent expected "lifespan" is about thirty years. Throughout that span it remains connected to lifelines and undergoes numerous physical examinations. Approximately how many of them are presently serving us in the United States?

queproblema

OK, a hint here. This is a tall fellow, and his birthmark is about 10 feet above his butt. Jun 03 08, 1:32 PM

Baloo55th

I think I know what they are, and a weird law that reminds me of one of Princess Ethel's, but how many, that's the problem... Jun 03 08, 2:06 PM

Baloo55th

Now if there are 134 million utility poles in the USA, and the majority ('great majority') of them are wooden, I'd say at least 100 million. We tend to call them telegraph poles. http://blog.washingtonpost.com/rawfisher/2006/09/why_are_utility_poles_made_of.html and http://www.awpa.com/references/faq.asp Jun 03 08, 2:17 PM

queproblema

Yay for you, Baloo! I've always called them telephone poles, but my son says they are more accurately called utility poles since they often carry electrical and TV cables as well as phone. Part of his work for a fiber optics company is taking "pole calcs,"--a physical examination and recording of birthmark info as well as calculating pole height. The second article on this site estimates there are some 150,000,000 poles in use in the US. An exact number would be impossible to come by since they are owned by many different businesses who probably coordinate their data systems about as well as the FBI and CIA. Princess Ethel? Jun 03 08, 4:35 PM