REMAIN ALARMED Wednesday's NYC steam pipe rupture
(Photo: Getty Images)

Yesterday, by mere minutes, Radar missed being doused by the NYC-sponsored steam bath that was the Great Rupture of '07. On the way to Grand Central for the daily commute, we encountered a wave of crying, dirt-covered people sprinting the other way. We rounded the corner to see what appeared to be a portal to hell billowing black smoke 40 stories skyward, a bomb that kept exploding for 20 to 30 minutes. In the immortal words of every person who's ever talked to a local news camera about witnessing a tornado: It sounded like a freight train.

(Reports of one freaked out Radar editor phoning HQ to say "If anyone was in Grand Central, they must be dead," cannot be confirmed at this time.)

Later that night, the New York Times posed the same question we've since asked ourselves: Other than the obvious 9/11 effect, why did people assume—and even claim to bear witness to evidence—that this was the next big terror attack? The answer: For almost two weeks now, whether it was Department of Homeland Security chief Michael Chertoff's "gut feeling" about a summer attack, or the mysterious apocalyptic NYC scenes in J.J. Abrams new movie trailer shown before Transformers, the idea of an impending dirty bomb or subway explosion has been drilled into our heads.

The sum of all recent fears after the jump ...

• In a July 5 video, Osama's No. 2 urges more attacks in America and on Americans in Iraq.

• "We could easily be attacked," Chertoff said in Chicago on July 11. "The intent to attack us remains as strong as it was on Sept. 10, 2001."

• The next day, AP gets (and Fox News reports) a leak from a counterterrorism report saying Al Qaeda is in a better position than ever to attack America.

• A jihadist website carts out a Bin Laden tape from the vault and the media bites, making the boogeyman's threats seem new again.

• On July 17, the MTA issues a new ad campaign warning New York City transit riders and asking them "stay vigilant."