There's something about Russia.

So, last week the talk was about the "close pass" of the asteroid (which passed near Sumatra). But on the same day, in the Urals, there was what was first described as a meteorite impact.

Now NASA thinks it was actually a small asteroid

Immediately I thought of the Tunguska event (which now, some are saying, may have been a meteor and not an asteroid, as we were told for years).

Granted, the two hits weren't that close - and Asia is the largest continent anyway, so probably the most likely to be hit, but still, it's interesting.

(And no. I don't think there is any explanation other than "space stuff" that fits, regardless of the claims I've read that verge into conspiracy theory).

On the one hand: big space rock hitting Earth - scary, and possibly fatal for those close to it (and a big enough space rock? Could be fatal to many of us, considering the climate change it could cause). On the other hand, I confess: it's kind of a cool thing. I wonder what can be learned from the fragments, if anything?

(Maybe what we've learned is that we DO need to "sweat the small stuff" - I've seen claims that this was missed because there was so much focus on the "big" asteroid that did the near miss)

(Oh, and I guess we did learn that there are still paranoid, Soviet-style politicians out there: V. Zhirinofsky claims it was a US weapons test. Uh-huh. The president most likely to kowtow to potential enemy leaders in 30+ years, and he's secretly testing weapons over Russia?

(Dammit, maybe we SHOULD be looking into building a Death Star....)