Originally published at: A couple in a car get quite a scare when a manhole explodes in the lane next to them | Boing Boing
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Usually a climactic showdown between rival ninja clans.
I wouldn’t be surprised if there were a few combatants down there feeling… shell shocked.
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Yeah, sorry… I’d leave it 5 minutes before you use the restroom.
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After a scare like that, I’d have to take my car to the body shop to remove the head-shaped dent in the roof.
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“Holy shit!”
Was that what ended up splattered on the car?
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Thank you for a robust laugh-out-loud; or, in truth, more of a wheezing-cough out loud.
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Also: don’t piss off the Ents!
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Jeeeeez! What happened behind?
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Pretty sure more than adrenaline was flowing.
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Luckily, everyone was driving slowly and with caution due to the icy weather and no other vehicles were damaged. Also file under 
, there was a crew of Saruman’s orcs loggers a few cars back who were able to cut up and move the fallen tree off the highway.
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And perhaps fecal stains/remains on the seat. Kudos to both occupants for remaining articulate in expressing their reaction to the incident. Some people would find themselves at a loss for words.
Thanks to fate a motorcycle was passing over that.
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That must be terrifying for them and all, but where are all the arguments that we shouldn’t call this a male hole instead?
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Adjacent to the maintenance hole are two chimney-like protrusions in the landscaped area between the edge of the road and the sidewalk. They (literally) blow their tops a split second before the maintenance hole cover jumps, launching two flying saucers into orbit. The pressure wave must have started somewhere to the right.
In Google Street View, one of the “chimneys” is labeled with “HIGH VOLTAGE / Southern California Edison”. Google Maps
Fortunately(?) the adjacent building is an urgent care center.
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A while ago I remember reading about some California cities suffering from underground copper thefts. Thieves would enter the tunnels, bravely chop out a chunk of live copper cable, then sell it for scrap. In some cases they’d damage a wire, but not completely sever it. The surviving wires were overloaded and would heat up, causing fires and even more damage.
We have no way of knowing if theft or vandalism was the case here or not, of course. Sometimes stuff just fails.
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A few years ago, an electrical fire caused manhole covers to be shot up into the air up off a street in Detroit’s Greektown, and one of 'em landed on the roof of the 10-storey hotel where our next door neighbor works.
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