Sounds more like a workplace death in training.
As long as it’s just his own. 
The “despite many opportunities” is very disturbing. LOL
My car didn’t go “Boom”, but it did go “Clunk!” A while back my car started making a very concerning loud “clunk” noise when when I’d turn left. Only turning left, not turning right. I pulled into a parking lot and started looking around to see if anything was dangling off the car or anything. I couldn’t see anything obvious, but when I opened the trunk I saw the source of the noise. I had bought a large jar of pasta sauce the prior day at the grocery store and it must have rolled out of the bag. Somehow I didn’t notice that the sauce jar wasn’t in the bag when I brought the groceries in. The jar had rolled to a spot in the trunk where it would roll around if I turned left but not right…
Coyotes, at a much longer range. Gotta keep the Dogs safe.
Once when I was young, my Cougar XR7 was running rich. I knew it was running rich and planned to re-tune the carburetor that weekend. I pulled out onto the freeway, and after running down it for about three minutes I hear a loud BOOM from the back end, and the overall exhaust noise gets noticeably louder.
None of the gauges show anything amiss and everything else seems fine, so I proceed to where I was headed and return home with my louder car. The next day I crawl under it and have a look. Both mufflers had split their seams, and they were less than three months old. I assume that the rich running condition had caused unburned fuel and fuel vapors to collect in them. Once they had enough collected to create the right mixture and everything got hot enough, BOOM.
I tuned the carb, got new mufflers, and it never happened again.
Not long after my mother bought our current car, a 2022 Toyota Prius, I left a can of Pepsi Real Sugar in the car on a below-freezing night.
It exploded overnight right there in the front cup holder, sending little brown droplets all over the ceiling which we still haven’t gotten replaced.
I had that happen while I was driving, once. It was a loud boom.
I pulled over quick because the engine noise coming out the open hole instead of going through the muffler is not a happy noise.
Thank you! I miss them too. It’ll be good to hear them again.
Recently, my car made a boom with a quick clunk-clunk-clunk. Turned out to be the motor on my window going.
I had something similar happen in my old Dodge Caravan. I was at least 30 or 40 miles from home, started the car in the parking lot, and it went “boom”. Engine still ran, but it was very rough. Perhaps unwisely, I drove it home anyway, noting that it was really low on power and chugging like a steam engine.
I took it to a Chrysler dealership which determined that a spark plug had self-destructed. It was a more expensive repair than I would have expected because the spark plug remains had to be surgically removed, so to speak – it couldn’t just be unscrewed.
Fun times. I have fond memories of that minivan but although it wasn’t a bad vehicle overall, it’s the only car I’ve ever owned that left me stranded on the roadside and needing a tow – twice! Once when the engine overheated and boiled over because the cooling fan was bust – in slow-moving traffic congestion on a very hot day – and once when the water pump failed. I have no regrets as it served me well for many years, but man, that thing became a handful in its old age.
Aren’t we all?!
Vaguely related: My parents taught me not to put chemicals into food containers.
I was in a shared house, and watched a person put dish-soap into a cordial bottle. I didn’t say anything, because watching and learning how other people lived was part of the experience.
Turned out, my parents were right. You shouldn’t put chemicals into food containers.
You’re lucky that part of the plug didn’t break off into the cylinder. That leads pretty directly and immediately to needing an engine overhaul or replacement.
I was driving a '69 VW Beetle in upstate South Carolina once when the car started pulling hard to the right. I resolved to pull over at the next opportunity, until I heard a “Boom” from the area of the right front tire, along with some smoke. I still had some brake action, so I slowed down and parked at the nearest crossroads gas station to take a look. This other fellow came along at the same time and checked it out with me. Apparently the springs to retract the brakes from the drum had failed and gotten the cylinder really hot, and it partly melted then exploded. So this fellow looks at me, a college student just passing through with no idea about what to do or who to call somewhere local who could help, takes me home, gets his friend who owned an auto parts store to open it up late on a Friday night so I could buy a new cylinder and some brake fluid, then put me up for the night and did the repair in the morning, got me back on the road by ten.
That’s not the farthest someone has gone out of their way to help me, but it’s at least top ten, and in terms of impact on me it’s still #1 with a bullet.
For other things that have gone “Boom”, just last week I was leaving the house and heard a muffled “Boom” in the kitchen. I smelled no smoke, checked all the appliances, looked in the cabinets, saw nothing - until I opened up the refrigerator and saw slushy La Croix all over the top shelf. Apparently I had a can of it under the coldest part of the fridge and it froze just enough to explode the can just as I was going out the door. I was glad I was around to hear it or I would have been mystified when I got back. I also turned down the refrigerator’s cold setting so it would be a little warmer next time.
I did similar once. I didn’t hear it go off, just opened the fridge and found the mess.
The good news was the liquid was just sparkling water, so no sticky residue to clean up. The bad news was it was in glass bottles. Lotta shattered glass everywhere in there. Of the 6-pack, two had burst & one was cracked.
I remember when Ale Gore appeared on the Letterman show and he discussed government regulations that were hard to meet and should be reviewed. For example he took out one of those 8” diameter amber glass ashtrays that graced every conference table and gave it the “ball drop test”. He dropped a steel ball from a specified height onto the ashtray and counted the shards.The regulations stated there had to be from 3 to 6 shards or something. In his case the ashtray broke into numerous pieces and Al was acting puzzled - “Is this a shard? What about this piece - this one? What is a shard anyway?”
Letterman placed a second ashtray on the floor and dropped the ball and the ashtray broke into exactly 3 pieces. Gore stared, non plussed, while the audience cheered.
I just have to tell you how much I love your use of the word “self-whomp”!
Thank you.
I can’t take credit for calling them “whomp biscuits”; I learned that term from somebody else here. But I came up with “self-whomp” all by myself just for that sentence & chuckled when I did.
Another kitchen pyrex BOOM story, this time a 1980’s vintage Melita coffee carafe belonging to my sister. I was visiting, she’d made a pot the old school way boiling water in a kettle, and pouring it into the coffee grounds in the plastic filter holder. Once the pot was ready, we poured our cups and went into the room next door, leaving the carafe sitting on one of the stove-top burners. The burner was at room temperature and hadn’t been used for hours before this. About 15 minutes later a loud crack like a gunshot came from the kitchen. We found the base of the carafe still sitting on the burner, coffee splashed on the ceiling, and the rest of the carafe in sharp jagged pieces spread over most of the kitchen.
Change in PYREX / pyrex over time (AI)
Pyrex has undergone significant changes in its chemical composition, manufacturing, and branding since its debut in 1915.
1. Shift in Material (Borosilicate vs. Soda-Lime)
The most notable change is the transition from borosilicate glass to tempered soda-lime glass in the United States.
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Original (Borosilicate): Prized for high thermal shock resistance, allowing it to go directly from a cold refrigerator to a hot oven.
Collectors use logo capitalization to distinguish between different types and eras: -
PYREX (All Caps): Typically signifies older, vintage American pieces or those still manufactured in Europe (which still uses borosilicate).
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pyrex (Lowercase): Indicates modern U.S. production (manufactured by Corelle Brands, formerly World Kitchen) using tempered soda-lime glass.
Very true about PYREX/pyrex and the changes in the glass composition.
Many years ago I dropped and broke a Pyrex baking dish and thought, meh, no problem, I’ll just buy another one. Nope. Unless maybe you order them from Europe, there’s no real replacement for genuine Pyrex – you now get tempered soda-lime glass.
I worry that every time I use it, it may explode in the oven, but so far it’s been OK. The current owners of the Pyrex brand claim that the glass composition makes it more shatter-resistant, which may well be true, but it’s also true that it’s cheaper and less heat-resistant.