So my friend and I were in the pub a couple of days ago. His empty pint glass was on the table between us. As we chatted, the empty glass exploded with a loud boom. Surprisingly few tiny squarish fragments were left on the table, the rest presumably being blown all over the surrounding area. Neither of us was touching the glass, and although it had contained Worthington bitter minutes before, it was empty.

We had been talking about ghosts, too. Woooh. The exploding glass was impressive, but also impressive was the loud and clear swearing my chum embarked upon in the area-wide silence after the bang. He clearly said the F-word and much more.

You can put a man on the moon, but you can’t explain the exploding pint glass, eh, scientists? Unless you suggest it was caused by temperature changes acting on an already faulted/wekened structure within the glass. That I might believe. Or it might have been ghosts. Woooh.

are you aware that the word for a perosn with a phobia of buttons is a kopstephobe
good eh
*They may be afraid of breathing in near a button, in case they inhale the button*

Did anyone - can anyone - respond to this story of the exploding beer glass? I ask because a glass ashtray exploded in my kitchen yesterday in just the same way. It happened during the night, so I can't be blamed for heating it up with a stub! The kitchen surface was littered with thousands of small particles, mostly as you said tiny squarish fragments, though there were many fine, pointed nasty little needles as well. What happened? Does anyone know of a website which picks up on odd experiences like this, perhaps a science museum?