North Korea Claims To Invent Computer Drink
from the what-a-Friday dept
Okay, so there are usually one or two “bizarre” stories on Fridays, because it is, generally speaking, a slow news day. But today seems like a Friday of Fridays, with lots of bizarre stories. The latest one is that folks in North Korea (not South Korea – where computers and the internet are quite popular) have invented a “computer drink”. It’s for those who are suffering from “computer fatigue”. However, by drinking this drink, the creators claim, computer users will reduce their “eye and mental strain”. Sign me up. The only other details given are that the drink has ingredients from “the fruits of a tree” and has the ever-appealing “good odor and sweet and sour taste”. Mmmmm-mmmmm.
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Sanitization of History
When I was in Japan last time, we were talking about how in both the West and in East Asia, modern editions of folk tales have been sanitized to sound less sexist/racist/violent. Andersen’s orginal Little Mermaid tale had the mermaid die a horrible death because her skin wasn’t as fair as another princess. Or the one about the girl who wears red shoes to church, so a devil chops her legs off. Yeah, Korea has folk tales about devils chasing people with lines like “GIVE ME BACK MY LEG!!!!” Japan has regional variants of standard folk tales, where instead of the boy being born from the peach, he is born from skin gunk sloughed off of granny’s legs. Yeah, the boy sheds gold powder from his belly button and makes granma rich, but one day he stops giving gold, so granny gets pissed off and stabs him through the belly button with a hairpin, and he dies.
Faux Cultures
I found out today, too, that my favorite board game of Chinese Checkers does not come from China after all:
http://www.tradgames.org.uk/games/Halma.htm