Whizz-Bangs!

(Historical Note: A "whizz-bang" was the British slang term for a shrapnel shell used during World War One. See? You can learn things here . . . )

There were a number of whizz-bangs in the news recently:

Okay. The DPRK has slid over the line into The Truly Crazy, setting off a small nuke capable of being fitted to a ballistic missile. Even China, Asia's Crazy Neighbor's only real friend, has shown signs of telling Kim Jong Un and his government to dial it back a tad.

And now, this:

 

Out of a nice morning sky over south-central Russia, as you can see on the dash cam, a meteoroid roughly a few meters across entered our atmosphere. After a few seconds of trying to hold its own against our nice thick air, it went ker-plooey. The shock wave hit a few moments later, shattering windows and setting off car alarms. About 400-500 people were injured by flying glass.

Expect the Crazies to start moaning about the End o' da Woild, or at least start spreading stupidity.

And finally, on this date way back in 1898, the armored cruiser (second-class battleship) USS Maine went ka-boom in the harbor at Havana, Cuba. The cause of the explosion has never been definitively explained, ranging from a fire in a coal bunker to a naval mine to a deliberate sinking to provoke the USA into war with the Spanish Empire. Sure, we went to war anyway . . .