Like We Didn't Have Enough to Worry About

We have now learned that the absolure WORST place to stand when a meteor hurtles across the sky is in front of a window.  Of the hundreds of injuries suffered yesterday in Chelyabinsk, Russia, the vast majority consisted of cuts suffered when shockwaves from an exploding meteor shattered windows across the region.

So, y'know, if you're at work, and someone says, "Hey, Dude, there is a freakin' FIREBALL shooting across the sky!" you must under no circumstances go and check out the coolest thing you're likely ever to see in your life!

Like that's going to happen!

You realize of course what this means: METEORS ARE TRYING TO KILL US!  They're like those spectacularly beautiful plants that lure insects into their maws by being all pretty and shit.  They're basically the lanternfish of the cosmos.

In Russia, Home Phones E.T.!

I was thinking of doing a "Trendwatch" but too many of today's trending topics were depressing: Brooke Mueller (whoever she is) hospitalized; a 7-year-old girl by the not-ironic-at-all-name of Heaven shot and killed in Chicago.  Even the superficially good news of a family receiving $109 million is tarnished by the fact that the money comes as restitution for the family's mother being electrocuted. We can only cross our fingers and hope that she was not a very nice person.

It's too difficult to make jokes about these things. Or rather, it's too hard to make jokes about these things and not be barraged with hate mail.

Still, I was struck by the number-one trending story, given all the news and pseudo-news filling the airwaves: a tidbit about Russian Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev joking about extraterrestrials living in Russia.  He even referenced the "Men in Black" films.  Is this story so popular because people think Medvedev was joking about joking?  Or are people just surprised that a Russian is attempting humor?  Given that the former Soviet Union has never fully recovered from Yakov Smirnoff, I must confess being a bit surprised myself.