North Korea

It has been a while that I've been obsessing about North Korea.

North Korea is the most serious country in the world. Logic, time, regard for human rights, and basic common sense do not apply there. Reading about it gives me the chills and a certain sense of giddiness - not because it's a light-hearted subject, but because things are so outrageously horrifyingly demented there that you get this feeling like you just don't know how to react.

I am tempted to make a list of reasons about why I am engulfed in this particular obsession, but it would be difficult for me to exhaust the true insanity and quirkiness of the DRPK. Instead, here are just a few of my favorite North Korean facts:

Every single apartment in North Korea has a radio installed into the wall that is playing the government news casts. You cannot turn this radio off, you can only turn it down. That is the only radio you are allowed to have.

In the capital city of Pyongyang, there are loudspeakers on every corner. Every morning at 7am, they play loud music because that is the collective time to wake up.

If you're planning on traveling to North Korea, you better not be handicapped, or old, not because of lack of ramps, but because handicapped people are not allowed in North Korea - they put them in concentration camps instead.

The entire country has a dress code.

Cell phones, cars, magazines, and travel are not allowed in North Korea.

They used to have a dictator "president," but he died. Since then, he became the "eternal president" as in, he's going to be the president forever.

>1% of the population is incarcerated. If you commit a crime, not only do you go to jail, but so does your entire family, including extended family members.

Only 20 people a year are allowed to visit North Korea - none of them are American or Japanese.

They have a website that looks like something I could have made in 8th grade

http://www.korea-dpr.com/

Oh. and they sell t-shirts

http://www.cafepress.com/kfashop

Reasons why I'm obsessed with the Komodo Dragon

Most little girls like ponies, or horses, or dolphins. When I was little, my favorite animal was the Komodo Dragon.

There were pictures of it in a book about animals that I had and I became absolutely obsessed with them.

Recently, there was a story about how a bunch of Komodo Dragons ate a fisherman and I remembered my childhood obsession.

A quick search turned up infinite amount of awesomeness. Here are a few reasons why anybody should be completely obsessed with the Komodo Dragon, AAH!:

It is 3 meters long.

They can stand on their hind legs using their tail for leverage

They climb trees

They can lay eggs without any males (a la the virgin mary)

They have 60 frequently-replaced serrated teeth that can measure up to 2.5 centimeters (1 inch) in length.

Their saliva is frequently blood-tinged, because the teeth are almost completely covered by gingival tissue that is naturally lacerated during feeding. This creates an ideal culture for the virulent bacteria that live in its mouth.

They eat COBRAS!

They eat smaller animals (up to the size of a goat) by swallowing them whole, a process they may attempt to speed up by ramming the carcass against a tree to force it down its throat, sometimes ramming so forcefully that the tree is knocked down. To prevent itself from suffocating while swallowing, it breathes using a small tube under the tongue that connects to the lungs.

They live up to 50 years!

They are cannibalistic

They are venomous

"Last month a park ranger survived after a Komodo dragon climbed the ladder into his hut and savaged his hand and foot. "


OMFG