Explosions
One of our favorite things about Japan is the convenience of just about everything, especially the vending machines. Wherever you are, there’s at least one machine just waiting to quench your thirst–and all of them have any tired writer’s favorite drink: Coffee!
Even more conveniently, though, most machines offer a choice of hot or cold cans–but, of course, the cans will cool down if you don’t drink them right away. In which case you might be tempted to try heating your can up on the stove, like this Japanese Twitter user. That would be a bad idea.
It looks like the world is facing a new pandemic, but we’re not talking about any viruses or diseases here. No, we’re talking about exploding smartphones. From Europe to the United States to China, more and more cases of phone batteries blowing themselves apart are surfacing, stirring up concern for many. No longer can we fling perturbed birds at their giggling pork nemeses without worrying that our phones will blow our faces off. While the safest option would probably be to simply avoid having one, what would we do without our smartphones on the train, at work when our boss isn’t looking, or in bed at 3 am? This deep, possibly unhealthy attachment to the devices has led to an interesting new product in China: explosion-proof membranes.
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