400 injured by meteorite fall in Russian Urals

[jimmy olsen]

Just goes to show how unsafe the solar system is.

http://www.chron.com/news/world/article/100-injured-by-meteorite-falls-in-Russian-Urals-4280682.php

400 injured by meteorite falls in Russian Urals
| February 14, 2013 | Updated: February 15, 2013 2:28am


MOSCOW (AP) — A meteor streaked across the sky above Russia's Ural Mountains on Friday morning, causing sharp explosions and injuring more than 400 people, many of them hurt by broken glass.

Fragments of the meteor fell in a thinly populated area of the Chelyabinsk region, the Emergency Ministry said in a statement.

Interior Ministry spokesman Vadim Kolesnikov said more than 400 people had sought medical treatment after the blasts, and at least three had been hospitalized in serious condition. Many of the injuries were from glass broken by the explosions.

[Viking]

title bad, text good. Meteors are falling rocks, Meteorites are rocks that have fallen.

[Grinning_Colossus]

This can only be a good omen for the year of the snake.

[jimmy olsen]

Some pretty impressive footage on the youtube links embedded here.

http://cosmiclog.nbcnews.com/_news/2013/02/15/16969092-400-injured-as-meteor-fireball-screams-across-sky-in-russia?lite

[Grey Fox]

Somesay that wasn't even DA14.

[Syt]

The TRUTH (TM): American weapons test over Russia!

http://en.rian.ru/russia/20130215/179489080/Russian-Politician-Denies-Meteorite-Claims-US-Weapons-Tests.html

Russian Politician Denies Meteorite, Claims US Weapons Tests

MOSCOW, February 15 (RIA Novosti) – Russian nationalist lawmaker Vladimir Zhirinovsky, long known for his flamboyance and outrageous remarks, said Friday that meteorite fragments had not rained down on Russia in the morning, but that the light flashes and tremors in several of the country's regions resulted from US weapons tests.

"Those aren't meteors falling, it's the Americans testing new weapons," Zhirinovsky, leader of the Liberal Democratic Party, told journalists several hours after the Emergencies Ministry began issuing statements on the incident, which has injured hundreds and damaged scores of buildings.

He also said US Secretary of State John Kerry had wanted to warn Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov about the "provocation" on Monday, but couldn't reach him – a reference to US State Department comments earlier this week that Kerry had spent several days trying to speak to Lavrov by phone to discuss North Korea and Syria.

Outer space has its own laws, Zhirinovsky went on.

"Nothing will ever fall out there," he said. "If [something] falls, it's people doing that. People are the instigators of wars, the provocateurs."

I had been wondering what Zhirinovsky was up to these days.

[lustindarkness]

As soon as I saw this on Yahoo I knew Tim would have started a thread on it.

[Darth Wagtaros]

In what way is the Liberal democratic party liberal or democratic

[Darth Wagtaros]

DISCUSS!

[Legbiter]

[Josquius]

I just knew Tim would post this. I resisted the impulse and kept it in the OTT

[garbon]

Just goes to show how unsafe the solar system is.

Except that most of the injuries were caused by breaking glass. Sounds like it says more about safety concerns with modern design if you want to draw obnoxious conclusions.

[mongers]

I just knew Tim would post this. I resisted the impulse and kept it in the OTT

Funnily enough this is one of those rare 'space' themed thread I think Tim should have definitely posted a thread about; iirc no one in all of recorded history has been killed by a meteor strike, so to have this incident with quite a few seriously injured is noteworthy.

[garbon]

I just knew Tim would post this. I resisted the impulse and kept it in the OTT

Funnily enough this is one of those rare 'space' themed thread I think Tim should have definitely posted a thread about; iirc no one in all of recorded history has been killed by a meteor strike, so to have this incident with quite a few seriously injured is noteworthy.

http://www.oberlin.edu/faculty/bsimonso/group9.htm

Now, I've no idea if those students are correct - but they suggest otherwise.

[mongers]

I just knew Tim would post this. I resisted the impulse and kept it in the OTT

Funnily enough this is one of those rare 'space' themed thread I think Tim should have definitely posted a thread about; iirc no one in all of recorded history has been killed by a meteor strike, so to have this incident with quite a few seriously injured is noteworthy.

http://www.oberlin.edu/faculty/bsimonso/group9.htm

Now, I've no idea if those students are correct - but they suggest otherwise.

Well fair enough if true, but I don't think that invalidates that this is quite a somewhat significant event. 

I imagine if this had happened in the USA, there'd already be discussions about a TV movie and in future some people reminiscing about what they were doing when it happened.