literally unplayable
I have never thought about the fact that manhole covers need to hold up to weight. Of course they do and it’s perfectly normal and sensible. It’s just not a thought I’ve ever had.
Technically it’s the manhole covers that need to support the weight.
Manholes themselves are expected to do the opposite of holding weight
Manholes themselves are expected to do the opposite of holding weight
They hold light?
Structures underground experience buoyant forces that act to push them up. Manholes (and any structure bottom, like storm inlets, pump station wet wells, etc) need special consideration since they can be partially or mostly hollow, so they have to be heavy enough to remain in place.
This is part of the test you need to ace if you want to get German citizenship. We have some standards
And nowadays they are supplemented and partially superseded by European EN directives. This is the kind of stuff that hardly anyone realizes but is enormously helpful in everyday life. Your toilet seat breaks, you just go ahead and buy a new one. Its mount points, dimensions, and load bearing characteristics are standardized so no need to get a degree in toiletology or whatever. Just buy any one you like. Same idea with light bulbs, printer paper, piping connections, door jambs, etc. etc. Standardization makes life SO much easier.
This is something I’ve noticed since living in Germany. I’m from the US, so I don’t know if it’s a metric:imperial thing or a German specific thing, but things are way more standardized here.
You’re not always allowed to fix your own appliances (or you can, but your insurance will be nullified for any even remotely related- like replacing the foot on a washing machine means that water damage from an unrelated leak in the washer’s drum years later may not be covered), so the standardization doesn’t always pay off, but it’s definitely standardized.
It’s not a bug, it’s a feature, in this dystopian world nobody cares about manhole cover standards anymore.
And then they fixed it, right? Right?!?
