Fire

The news here today is of a huge fire that took place last night in one of the two major public hospitals here in San Jose. 17 people died because it was an old building with no smoke detectors, sprinkler system or fire exits. The President of Costa Rica says it's not his fault. The building is just old, what can you do? It's like a national day of mourning here in CR.

Which is a good lesson for me. Why? Because 17 people dying is a cause for national mourning here. In the states, 17 people dying in a fire might make the regional news. Maybe. (Baltimoreans will remember when the Dawson family were killed in a fire as retaliation for reporting drug activitiy on their street to the cops. It only made regional news when Mayor O'malley showed up at a local radio station to scream at the DJs who were chatting about the incident live and dared to accuse him of not caring about the family.)

In other San Jose news, I saw a student yesterday that I haven't seen in a couple of months. I asked him what he'd been up to, and he said he's living in San Jose this summer. I asked how it was going, and he said "disasterous". Huh. Apparently, Claroscuro's lyrics to their song "San Jose, Decrepid City" (translation mine) are right on.

In the good news department, the new Harry Potter book arrives on Saturday! Yea mythical magic world!