It's Not a Bug, It's a (Ka-boom!)

Tim Wu recounts the checkered past of John Logie Baird, one of the pre-inventors of  television:

[Prior to TV] his greatest invention had been a type of  hosiery designed to absorb dampness, known as the "Baird undersoc."  Less successful was his follow-up effort, pneumatic footwear (a crude  precursor to Nike's "Air" shoes) that had an unfortunate tendency to explode underfoot.

Link. My friend Harold used to talk about the thrill of playing golf in a thunderstorm: you never know which stroke will be your last.