In Omaha Manhole Fire Photo, Logging Off in Search of Some Clues

The original article is much more entertaining than the NYTimes summary: http://www.omaha.com/article/20130129/NEWS/701299893/1734

One interesting point that's glossed over here is the mind's propensity to see things that aren't there.

Because we see flame in the nearest manhole and a similar color repeated down the street our lazy brains tell us it's a whole series of flames.

But when you learn they're not, and you go back to the photo, it's obvious as heck that they're not further explosions.

They put more effort into investigating this photo than any legislation of Congress.

real or fake could have been helped by physically going onto that street (or google street view) and seeing no manholes there to explode :)

Maybe this has to do with the "Jumping Jack Flash Hypothesis" :) -- http://jumpingjackflashhypothesis.blogspot.com

For anyone interested, here is the place in omaha where the photo was taken. I'm from omaha and I recognized that hotel in the foreground.

https://maps.google.com/?ll=41.255552,-95.938515&spn=0.0...