• Menu
  • Skip to primary navigation
  • Skip to main content
  • Skip to primary sidebar

Before Header

  • About Us
  • Lexicon
  • Contact Us
  • Our Store
  • ↑
  • ↓
  • ←
  • →

Balloon Juice

Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

Come on, man.

It’s the corruption, stupid.

We’ve had enough carrots to last a lifetime. break out the sticks.

It’s time for the GOP to dust off that post-2012 autopsy, completely ignore it, and light the party on fire again.

Anyone who bans teaching American history has no right to shape America’s future.

Russian mouthpiece, go fuck yourself.

Good lord, these people are nuts.

He really is that stupid.

Prediction: the GOP will rethink its strategy of boycotting future committees.

I didn’t have alien invasion on my 2023 BINGO card.

… riddled with inexplicable and elementary errors of law and fact

This really is a full service blog.

You don’t get to peddle hatred on saturday and offer condolences on sunday.

You cannot shame the shameless.

Black Jesus loves a paper trail.

I did not have this on my fuck 2022 bingo card.

Republicans seem to think life begins at the candlelight dinner the night before.

You can’t attract Republican voters. You can only out organize them.

Happy indictment week to all who celebrate!

Proof that we need a blogger ethics panel.

Accused of treason; bitches about the ratings. I am in awe.

But frankly mr. cole, I’ll be happier when you get back to telling us to go fuck ourselves.

“What are Republicans afraid of?” Everything.

Historically it was a little unusual for the president to be an incoherent babbling moron.

Mobile Menu

  • Winnable House Races
  • Donate with Venmo, Zelle & PayPal
  • Site Feedback
  • War in Ukraine
  • Submit Photos to On the Road
  • Politics
  • On The Road
  • Open Threads
  • Topics
  • Balloon Juice 2023 Pet Calendar (coming soon)
  • COVID-19 Coronavirus
  • Authors
  • About Us
  • Contact Us
  • Lexicon
  • Our Store
  • Politics
  • Open Threads
  • War in Ukraine
  • Garden Chats
  • On The Road
  • 2021-22 Fundraising!
You are here: Home / Open Threads / So This Happened…

So This Happened…

by Betty Cracker|  November 10, 20142:34 pm| 41 Comments

This post is in: Open Threads

FacebookTweetEmail

A sinkhole opened up this morning and swallowed someone’s car:

sinkhole

From the Tampa Tribune:

The ground below a driveway reportedly gave way and a car fell into the hole in front of a Holiday home Monday morning, Pasco County officials said. The hole was 10 feet in diameter and 10 feet deep, officials said.

It’s not an OFFICIAL sinkhole yet until the geologists weigh in, but a car was devoured and several homes were evacuated as a precaution. Just another day in Florida.

Please feel free to discuss whatever.

FacebookTweetEmail
Previous Post: « POTUS on Net Neutrality
Next Post: More of Scalia’s New Professionalism »

Reader Interactions

41Comments

  1. 1.

    BGinCHI

    November 10, 2014 at 2:42 pm

    Wow. Rick Scott has really hollowed out that state.

  2. 2.

    Amir Khalid

    November 10, 2014 at 2:48 pm

    @BGinCHI:
    It’s not fair. You shouldn’t win the Internets with the first comment.

  3. 3.

    scav

    November 10, 2014 at 2:49 pm

    Between the waters rising and the earth collapsing . . .

    well, watching everyone stand their ground out of this one will be amusing.

  4. 4.

    kindness

    November 10, 2014 at 2:51 pm

    @scav: So that is where the phrase ‘Come Hell and High Water’ comes from?

  5. 5.

    scav

    November 10, 2014 at 2:52 pm

    @kindness: Between the Devil and the Deep Blue Sea.

  6. 6.

    Amir Khalid

    November 10, 2014 at 2:53 pm

    This “artist” shouldn’t exhibit any work until he learns how to paint proper portraits.

  7. 7.

    Villago Delenda Est

    November 10, 2014 at 2:56 pm

    “Official” sinkhole or no, it’s going to be, um, difficult for that car to “automobile” it’s way out of whatever it’s in.

    May I suggest we call it an “overenthusiastic pothole”?

  8. 8.

    Felonius Monk

    November 10, 2014 at 2:57 pm

    @BGinCHI: Kudos. That was the first thought that came to my mind too.

    ETA: Is this sinkhole deep enough to throw Debbie Wasserman Schultz into? Will someone please force her to resign as DNC chairperson.

  9. 9.

    Tree With Water

    November 10, 2014 at 3:04 pm

    Sinkholes are the least of that state’s problems.

    Florida is like a relative who is cracking up, and can no longer be reasoned with. As is the entire south, and the national republican party, and maybe, just maybe, the entire country. Somebody really should do something about it.

  10. 10.

    shelley

    November 10, 2014 at 3:10 pm

    Maybe they’ll find out that the car was just trying to find a way to sneak out of Florida.

  11. 11.

    bemused

    November 10, 2014 at 3:13 pm

    That’s not the way you want to feel the earth move beneath your feet.

  12. 12.

    MomSense

    November 10, 2014 at 3:21 pm

    Why can’t sinkholes ever swallow up K Street?

  13. 13.

    West of the Cascades

    November 10, 2014 at 3:25 pm

    @Tree With Water:

    Somebody really should do something about it.

    I’m all for giving secession another try, only this time we don’t make any effort to keep them. And then build a really tall border fence.

    Do auto insurance policies in Florida have a sinkhole exclusion?

  14. 14.

    Shakezula

    November 10, 2014 at 3:30 pm

    Now we know what the next Sci-Fi channel blockbuster will be about:

    SINKHOLENADO!

  15. 15.

    PurpleGirl

    November 10, 2014 at 3:30 pm

    If it’s not a sinkhole, I want to know how the worm got from Perfection (NV) to Florida?

  16. 16.

    Gin & Tonic

    November 10, 2014 at 3:31 pm

    @West of the Cascades: In insurance policy language, there is actually a difference between a “sinkhole” and a “catastrophic ground cover collapse.” That’s probably why they have to wait for the official report.

  17. 17.

    Just One More Canuck

    November 10, 2014 at 3:39 pm

    @Shakezula: with sharks flying out of sinkholes

  18. 18.

    Roger Moore

    November 10, 2014 at 3:42 pm

    @MomSense:

    Why can’t sinkholes ever swallow up K Street?

    Because K Street is already a sinkhole of moral depravity.

  19. 19.

    Tony J

    November 10, 2014 at 3:43 pm

    There’s a joke about Florida sidewalks growing ever more bloodthirsty in there somewhere, but I’m frigged if I can work it out.

  20. 20.

    boatboy_srq

    November 10, 2014 at 3:44 pm

    @West of the Cascades: Not AFAIR. But the base rates are so high the insurers probably have that covered. Relocating cut my insurance costs in half (for better coverage) the first year, and the second year another 30% on top of that: better insurance, higher coverages, lower deductibles, less $$. And FL allows “social metrics” as a modifier for the premiums, so you can be as good a driver as can be and still get scr3w3d by the idjits who happen to buy the same make/model.

  21. 21.

    boatboy_srq

    November 10, 2014 at 3:45 pm

    @MomSense: No wells on K St, so no aquifer depletion. OTOH, much more vulnerable to fracking upstream of there…

  22. 22.

    Roger Moore

    November 10, 2014 at 3:48 pm

    @boatboy_srq:

    And FL allows “social metrics” as a modifier for the premiums, so you can be as good a driver as can be and still get scr3w3d by the idjits who happen to buy the same make/model.

    Wait! “Social metrics” isn’t an excuse to overcharge minorities?

  23. 23.

    Villago Delenda Est

    November 10, 2014 at 3:55 pm

    @PurpleGirl: Obviously, a job for an intelligent man.

  24. 24.

    boatboy_srq

    November 10, 2014 at 3:56 pm

    @Roger Moore: Minorities, young folks, old folks, new drivers, old drivers, single folks, recent arrivals to the state, etc etc. Added plus: using those soaks everyone else who just happens to make the same “bad” car-buying decisions. Don’t believe me? Compare rates for Hyundai Sonata, Toyota Yaris, Mini and Saab 9-3. Guess which is cheapest – and which is the most expensive…

  25. 25.

    Lee

    November 10, 2014 at 3:59 pm

    I’ve wonder which insurance will pay for it?

    Homeowners or Auto?

  26. 26.

    shelley

    November 10, 2014 at 3:59 pm

    Guess this driveway didn’t believe in ‘stand your ground.’ Badda-bing!!

  27. 27.

    Hawes

    November 10, 2014 at 4:00 pm

    If there’s any Florida left, it wasn’t big enough.

  28. 28.

    boatboy_srq

    November 10, 2014 at 4:05 pm

    @Roger Moore: @boatboy_srq: Put more simply: “social metrics” for FL insurers is an excuse to overcharge everybody.

  29. 29.

    gvg

    November 10, 2014 at 4:10 pm

    remember the winter park sink hole. Swallowed an exotic car dealership. Great pictures. Long time ago now. The sinkholes in the middle of a major street in the middle of the night are a more day to day concern. I’ve seen those in the news on streets I drive frequently. fortunately I wasn’t when they happened.

    Really they are fairly rare, just…exciting when they happen.

  30. 30.

    a hip hop artist from Idaho (fka Bella Q)

    November 10, 2014 at 4:15 pm

    @Amir Khalid: I think Betty Cracker has already won the internets for the rest of the year with

    Jeebus, what the hell happened to Russell Brand?

    last night.

  31. 31.

    Betty Cracker

    November 10, 2014 at 4:19 pm

    @gvg: My mom drove into one of those middle-of-the-night, middle-of-the-road sinkholes once. It wasn’t a car-swallowing sinkhole, fortunately, but it was big enough to bust up the frame pretty badly. Fortunately, she was driving a Ford Maverick at the time, so it was no great loss.

  32. 32.

    ET

    November 10, 2014 at 4:23 pm

    Considering that is looks like that “sinkhole” looks close to the house it isn’t looking good for the long term value of the house.

  33. 33.

    gvg

    November 10, 2014 at 4:25 pm

    I just googled the WP sinkhole to refresh my memory. Swallowed 5 porsches, a camper, a 3 bedroom house and 1/2 an olympic sized pool.
    Apparently there was another pretty big one last may in Winter haven and a year ago one swallowed a sleeping man’s bedroom. Don’t know how I missed that news.
    Locally there were a couple of axle breakers a few years ago. Sinkholes are fast.

  34. 34.

    gvg

    November 10, 2014 at 4:28 pm

    @ET: There is a house in my parents normally desirable neighborhood that is close to unsalable due to a near sinkhole. You can pay cash and live without insurance but you can’t get a mortgage or home insurance. Asking $120000 in a neighborhood that normally goes from 300,000 to 650,000. No takers.

  35. 35.

    chopper

    November 10, 2014 at 4:48 pm

    @shelley:

    boo-urns!

  36. 36.

    EthylEster

    November 10, 2014 at 5:59 pm

    @gvg: Some person in the Tampa area got eaten by one in the last year IIRC. And of course there are many more to come, given the lack of any real controls on water use/abuse in the area.

  37. 37.

    tybee

    November 10, 2014 at 6:28 pm

    eatin’ cars.

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pHCdS7O248g

  38. 38.

    J R in WV

    November 10, 2014 at 8:19 pm

    The Corvette Museum had a sinkhole eat a bunch of collector Corvetts last year.

    They brought in cranes and recovered them, but a couple are not-recoverable. The museum has a huge increase in patronage, people coming to look at the hole and the cars they pulled out of the hole.

    A Republican Plot?

    Now I see more recent info on Yahoo news… oh well…

  39. 39.

    low-tech cyclist

    November 10, 2014 at 9:58 pm

    @gvg:

    I just googled the WP sinkhole to refresh my memory. Swallowed 5 porsches, a camper, a 3 bedroom house and 1/2 an olympic sized pool.

    What I want to know is, what do you do with 1/2 of a swimming pool after a sinkhole has swallowed the other half. I’d think it would be damned hard to keep water in it.

    Back in my insufficiently misspent youth, I was a caver (that’s ‘spelunker’ to you non-cavers) in my spare time, and while underwater caving was too risky to be my idea of a good time, I was aware that central Florida was the place to go if you were into that. Basically that part of the state (underground, that is) is a Swiss cheese of limestone, with underground water keeping it from falling in on itself.

    So if you pump out the water, we get new cave entrances. (AKA sinkholes.) Win!

  40. 40.

    Morzer

    November 10, 2014 at 10:18 pm

    So Pat Robertson is going to issue a statement explaining that God is punishing Florida for enabling Rick Scott’s thieving sociopathic bearer of false witness ways, right?

  41. 41.

    opiejeanne

    November 10, 2014 at 10:52 pm

    @Amir Khalid: Actually, I think that portrait is not half bad. If only he’d found this love of painting 45 years ago and worked on that, developing whatever artistic talent he may have. Think what we’d have missed.

Comments are closed.

Primary Sidebar

Fundraising 2023-24

Wis*Dems Supreme Court + SD-8

Recent Comments

  • WaterGirl on What Happens Next? What Does the Future Hold? (Mar 26, 2023 @ 6:00pm)
  • Geminid on What Happens Next? What Does the Future Hold? (Mar 26, 2023 @ 5:59pm)
  • StringOnAStick on Walter’s Fund – Calendars – Pet Postcards (Open Thread) (Mar 26, 2023 @ 5:58pm)
  • Baud on Walter’s Fund – Calendars – Pet Postcards (Open Thread) (Mar 26, 2023 @ 5:53pm)
  • StringOnAStick on Walter’s Fund – Calendars – Pet Postcards (Open Thread) (Mar 26, 2023 @ 5:53pm)

🎈Keep Balloon Juice Ad Free

Become a Balloon Juice Patreon
Donate with Venmo, Zelle or PayPal

Balloon Juice Posts

View by Topic
View by Author
View by Month & Year
View by Past Author

Featuring

Medium Cool
Artists in Our Midst
Authors in Our Midst
We All Need A Little Kindness
Classified Documents: A Primer
State & Local Elections Discussion

Calling All Jackals

Site Feedback
Nominate a Rotating Tag
Submit Photos to On the Road
Balloon Juice Mailing List Signup
Balloon Juice Anniversary (All Links)
Balloon Juice Anniversary (All Posts)

Twitter / Spoutible

Balloon Juice (Spoutible)
WaterGirl (Spoutible)
TaMara (Spoutible)
John Cole
DougJ (aka NYT Pitchbot)
Betty Cracker
Tom Levenson
TaMara
David Anderson
Major Major Major Major
ActualCitizensUnited

Join the Fight!

Join the Fight Signup Form
All Join the Fight Posts

Balloon Juice Events

5/14  The Apocalypse
5/20  Home Away from Home
5/29  We’re Back, Baby
7/21  Merging!

Balloon Juice for Ukraine

Donate

Site Footer

Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

  • Facebook
  • RSS
  • Twitter
  • YouTube
  • Comment Policy
  • Our Authors
  • Blogroll
  • Our Artists
  • Privacy Policy

Copyright © 2023 Dev Balloon Juice · All Rights Reserved · Powered by BizBudding Inc

Share this ArticleLike this article? Email it to a friend!

Email sent!