Meteorite Hits Russia

[Nutso]

http://www.smh.com.au/technology/sci-tech/meteor-shower-over-russia-sees-meteorites-hit-earth-20130215-2ei2j.html

Moscow: A meteor shower has caused explosions in the lower atmosphere above central Russia and the Urals region, blowing out windows and causing injuries.

‘‘There was a meteor shower, without fragments falling to the ground,’’ an emergencies ministry spokesman told the Interfax news agency.

Reuters reported that a powerful blast had rocked the Urals region with bright objects falling from the sky.

Video

[Nutso]

More video

[Teaos]

Russian seems to atract meteors almost as much as NY.

[Jim]

That rocks! (Pun intended)

[stitch626]

Meteors tend to explode over Russia rather than hit them...

[Jim]

In Soviet Russia meteorites do not hit Russia, Russia hits them!

[Tsukiyumi]

Meteors tend to explode over Russia rather than hit them...

That's their secret alien theater shield in action.

[Nutso]

What would Alex Jones say?

[Tyyr]

You see a lot of meteors over Russia because 1) It's fucking huge and 2) They have a phenomenal number of dashboard cameras in that country so you tend to have someone get it on video no matter what.

[Tholian_Avenger]

What's with all the dash cams?

[Griffin]

What's with all the dash cams?

Quoteth Cracked;

...but a massive clusterfuck of societal issues. First of all, their roads suck. The main road network alone ranges from badly maintained terror-gridlocks to horrifying dystopian deathtraps, and the government's devotion to fixing the issue is limited to a hearty laugh and a shrug. The police are prone to taking bribes, and car insurance companies are notoriously difficult to deal with, so tough luck if your vehicle sustains damage. What's more, criminals and scammers abuse the shit out of the situation, happily staging accidents for profit or even lying on the road in hopes of getting hit and being able to sue.

All of this has taken its toll on the drivers, to the point where they have precisely two available options: Either they embrace the insanity and become GTA characters every time they enter a vehicle ... or they drive like sane human beings and risk getting rammed into or, as often as not, getting cut off, dragged out of the vehicle and beaten by a 6-foot-7-inch tracksuit dude who embraces the Niko Bellic lifestyle.

The Solution:

None of those insane YouTube clips were filmed for shits and giggles. They're footage from dashboard cameras, the drivers' response to the unholy mess that is their country's road system.

The thing is, the parts of Russia that don't involve automotive activities are extremely enthusiastically governed. Their justice system is perfectly capable of delivering a heaping helping of sentences to any culprit. The problem is that deciding who said culprit actually is can be difficult when the evidence consists of smoking wreckage, a traffic cop with a suspiciously padded wallet and two guys pointing at each other.

The drivers have learned to combat this by equipping most every vehicle with dash cams, which provide perfectly good evidence for court and, given the unreliability of literally everything else on the road, have proven to be the only true way to protect themselves from the lawless wastelands of Russian asphalt.

Read more: http://www.cracked.com/article_20164_5- ... z2LQKhjChS

[Vic]

Holy crap.........

[RK_Striker_JK_5]

That... sucks.

[McAvoy]

Well several more things that sucks about Russia or at least be happy with the US's standard of driving even though I have my doubts on some states driving standards.

[GrahamKennedy]

Before we get too high and mighty about it, I've read stories in the western press that insurance companies here are already saying this is a great idea since they can further target "good drivers" and deny claims to "bad drivers". There's talk of offering reduced premiums here to those who fit a cam system, as a step towards eventually arranging things so that premiums are massive, or coverage completely denied, for anybody who refuses to go along. There are already UK insurance companies who offer reduced premiums if you have a computer monitoring system fitted to the engine that notifies the insurance company if you speed, accelerate or brake too hard, corner too fast, etc.