A meteorite hit a Peruvian village 2 days ago.

The news I’ve seen mostly speaks about the mysterious illness that’s hitting the villagers near by. Obviously that’s a concern and I hope those people will be able to weather this!

But the key point I figure is that meteorites hit the earth - more or less randomly - and that this particular one created a 30 meter wide and six meter deep hole in the ground!

The odds are very low, but it might just as well hit a densely populated area and plunge into an appartment building?

Fortunately most of the surface is covered by the Oceans, but even then - you’d be miserable if you’re just out there on that spot the next one hits!

[ from AFP ]

Mystery illness strikes after meteorite hits Peruvian village
2 days ago

LIMA (AFP) — Villagers in southern Peru were struck by a mysterious illness after a meteorite made a fiery crash to Earth in their area, regional authorities said Monday.

Around midday Saturday, villagers were startled by an explosion and a fireball that many were convinced was an airplane crashing near their remote village, located in the high Andes department of Puno in the Desaguadero region, near the border with Bolivia.

Residents complained of headaches and vomiting brought on by a “strange odor,” local health department official Jorge Lopez told Peruvian radio RPP.

Seven policemen who went to check on the reports also became ill and had to be given oxygen before being hospitalized, Lopez said.

Rescue teams and experts were dispatched to the scene, where the meteorite left a 100-foot-wide (30-meter-wide) and 20-foot-deep (six-meter-deep) crater, said local official Marco Limache.

“Boiling water started coming out of the crater and particles of rock and cinders were found nearby. Residents are very concerned,” he said.

It’s totally cool what kind of remote controlled (RC) toys you can buy now for a couple of dollars. It’ll fly, drive, hover etc.

When I was a boy I remember remote controlled toys were out of reach for most kids, as it was “expensive stuff”.

So one of the joys of having a son I thought was to be able to buy all kinds of remote controlled toys for him, and then play with them myself.

Well I will have to rethink this a little, or be a little more patient as Matthijs has been able to kill two RC toys already, both within 36 hours after we bought them…

First was a remote controlled little helicopter, which created a lot of excitement, but unfortunately also tight gripping kiddie hands, and as such the helicopter’s life was shortlived… At the end it just flapped its wings while moving about the room completely out of control (which Matthijs enjoyed even more than when it was new).

The other toy was a remote control car. I figured as it was a metal one that looked quite sturdy it would live a little longer in the house. Wrong - when I came home the next day after purchase Matthijs had demolished both the remote controller unit and the car was “played to pieces”.

Okay - back to pushcars for a while, we’ll try this again in a year (or two?).

Our little 19 months old toy basher:

H&M opened up its first outlet in Hong Kong recently. Today I passed by their new shop and found a 400 mtr queue along the main shopping street. WTH?? Why would you want to be queuing up to shop in an H&M store???

This is insane; it’s Hong Kong brand madness. To think that one would want to line up to get into an H&M is just unthinkable in any European country.

Ow - and I saw a lot of men lined up too - alone. So not just shop-aholic ladies dragging on their husbands / boyfriends…

What’s going on in the world.

It’s a cloudy and humid Saturday in Hong Kong. For a change all of us are home this weekend, so what better to do then what most traditional families do here in Hong Kong; have a nice dim sum lunch with your family.

Dumplings, noodles, and pork buns. And Mango pudding for dessert.

Matthijs enjoyed it all and has been having fun playing with all the little pots, dishes, and plates that are part of a Chinese lunch.

A few days back I was looking at a handsome paper profit on my Lenovo shares. They went up to 3.48 at some point while I purchased them near 3.00. A nice 15+ percent profit!

Then IBM decides to let go of 300M Lenovo shares they were holding at a price of 3.20. Voila the price dropped 7% within 15 minutes trading from 3.44 to 3.20!!!

IBM made their profit as they got in on a much lower price, but all those retail investors like me saw their profits evaporate in a few minutes.

What’s the lesson here? Well I guess you can’t beat the big boys.

If you can’t beat them, join them, so maybe I should become an investment banker real soon. Let me know if you have a vacancy

/m

The weekend is nearly over. It’s ten pm on Sunday night and I’m typing this while Matthijs is sleeping next to me on the sofa. Nadine’s already in bed as she’s got an early flight tomorrow. Ella just got home so it’s about time to put Matthijs back into his bed in his own room.

Weekend was great. The weather in DB is now turning a little cooler which means no more sweltering heat and humidity, but a very pleasant 28 - 30 degrees with a slight breeze.

This is really the best time of year in Hong Kong; it’s still warm, but no longer hot like in the summer. And the good thing is that usually this lasts till Xmas and New Year.

We’ve spend the weekend around the house and today we’ve been around the city a bit. There was a Mammoth bones exhibition in Olympic and we went to check it out. It’s got twenty thousand year old skeletons from the last Ice Age in China on display.

Matthijs is still too young to appreciate these things, but he was properly impressed by the huge exhibits and even a life size mock-up mammoth.

The exhibit put some perspective to the Ice Age cartoon film he watched tonight - although I probably have to explain the whole thing again when he’s a bit older…

Goodnite!

Marc

I’m watching Fargo on tv. Well actually only the last 15 minutes. This is one of the best films made by the Coen brothers.

In the pictured scene one of the villains is just pushing the last bit of mrs something through the shredder (you can see her socked foot stick out of the machine).

After this scene he’s arrested by a highly pregnant police officer. She then proceeds to arrest Mrs something’s husband, a car salesman who has been plotting the whole thing all along.

This may sound all ridiculous if you haven’t seen the film - but go and rent it, it’s a classic.

I find it hard to explain what makes the Coen brother films such good movies, but there’s something about the atmosphere and photography in their films that really makes them stand out.

I found out that my local lunch place of the last 5 years actually does a mean burger!!! The place is called the Big Apple and their burger is creatively called the Big Apple Burger. The restaurant is one of the last truly independent lunch places in the area.

All the rest is taken over by large global brands - McD, Pret a Manger, KFC, Delifrance, etc in a frenzy of the landlords to upgrade the area into a “high class professional commercial area” or whatever.

I’m happy I can still buy a home made burger in downtown Hong Kong.

Okay back to work now.

Frustrations of the everyday office worker in Hong Kong:

You come into your office building in the morning and walk into an empty lift.

You’re having a small and private moment of happiness as you’re the only one in the lift, and this will mean that the trip to your floor is going to be fast and smooth, with no stops along the way! Whoo hoo!

The doors start to close and you’re still alone.

Then, a hand peeps in to your lift and pulls the door open.

Fine - one more passenger, so max one more stop on the way up.

But then another 2 passengers rush in.

And another one.

And another three… And another one…

Doooooh!

Before you know it, you’re in the lift with 14 strangers and maybe 1 or 2 co-workers.

And when you look at the lift button panel, you see that you are going to make at least 10 stops before you reach your floor.

Frustrations…