Those Eureka Moments

   I didn't say Eureka! when I dropped the top of my costly new coffee mug and the little magnetic slider on the top popped off. This being a Judeo-Christian blog I won't say what I did say, though the Yiddish word drek! gives the idea.
   I also asked myself, "Can't we have anything nice around here?" I'm the sort of person who drives old cars below the speed limit to prevent front-end shimmy. I wear patched coveralls which precludes my entry into exclusive clubs. And when away from home, I drink my coffee from a recycled styrofoam cup, often patched with recycled saran wrap.
   A few years ago travel mugs got really good. I'd watch people pour out the last ounce of coffee at the end of the day and it'd still be steaming. I wanted one, but they were ridiculously expensive. I planned to wait till competition brought the price down, but the competitors were just as expensive. Finally my dear sister-in-law gave me one for Christmas.
   It was great! Having something nice changed my personality. I started driving a little over the speed limit. Bouncers at clubs now ushered me in when they saw my fancy mug. No more styrofoam for me. The only bad thing was that I couldn't clean under the lid's magnetic slider. Here coffee stains began to accumulate, and bacteria too, which probably explained my persistent cough and post nasal drip.
   Then came the day when I dropped the lid and the slider popped off. I had assumed the slider slid in little grooves, but when I set the slider back on the lid it popped right into place. It was magnetic after all and didn't need grooves. I could easily pop it off and sanitize the lid. I felt my cough and drip getting ready to move out.
  As I pondered how an accident can lead to improvements, I thought of the great discoveries of the past that resulted from accidents. The engineer who, while fiddling with radar equipment, felt the chocolate bar in his pocket start melting: microwave oven. Enrico Fermi, playing with uranium, accidently split an atom: Atomic bomb. The British chemist who forgot to put away his mold and returned from vacation to find penicillin in his petri dish.
   I'm not claiming my discovery ranks with any of these breakthroughs. I'm more like the engineer working with tension springs who saw one keep moving after he knocked it over: Slinky.  And even that's a stretch.

Led to the invention of reverse for train engines.