I almost had my pants catch fire when I swapped out a battery on a
> smoke detector and dropped the old one in my pants pocket. A few minutes
> later I felt something hot in my pocket and I reached in and found the 9v
> battery had shorted on some change in my pocket.
> Even batteries that may be 'dead' can still have the potential to do
> harm if they overheat.
>> >>>
formatting link
>> By Mike Hughlett
>>> Tribune staff reporter
>>> July 13, 2006
>>> It has the ring of an urban legend: A cell phone blows up and sets
>>> fire to a house.
>>> [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: For those people inclined to think that
>>> a fire caused by an exploding battery is 'just another urban legend'
>>> which never has any verifiable source to it, here is an instance where
>>> proof is available: Chicago Tribune, July 13, 2006 Section B, with a
>>> real person named. PAT]
>> There was a recent incident where a Dell laptop went up in flames
>> at a conference in Asia.
>> It's amazing how hot a 9 volt transistor battery gets when it
>> contacts the loose change in your pocket.
>> Energy = Energy
>> Uncontrolled Energy = Bomb
> [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: Well, Mister Hot-Pants-a-Fire, I presume
> there was no damage of any sort to your essential parts down there;
> you did not have to call the Fire Department to put it out, did you?
> I know ... its not funny ... but it _is_ funny! PAT]
What department do you call to "pat it out"?
;-)