Watching North Korean Television

Posted By Mark on Dec 14, 2013

I don’t speak North Korean but luckily for me it’s not difficult to tell what’s going on when it comes to North Korean television programming as I’ve discovered this morning. If you’re interested in watching live North Korean TV – and why wouldn’t you be? – then the link I was using (and you’ll need a media player to view it) is this one: mms://112.170.78.145/chosun. So, what television programme from the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea was I watching? It was – I think – the Kim Jong-un Happy Execution Hour Mandatory Funtime Show! This show is the highest rated show on North Korean television along with every other show on North Korean television. Presided over by a robot of the Korean leader, each week an enemy of the people takes part in a series of challenges to determine just how it is they’re to be eradicated from existence. It’s a bit like The Running Man but without the figure hugging outfits. And you thought North Korea was a country with no taste. Shame on you! This programme’s executionee-to-be was an elderly general, one of Kim Jong-un’s favourite choices to die and – by law – one of every North Korean citizen’s favourite choices to die too. The general looked more or less amused by the whole spectacle as the host of the programme (on the right) explained the many ways of death that could be enacted upon him. To the left one of the executioners – I’m going to call her Lady Tar Death for reasons that will become clearer later – ensured that the general didn’t make a break for it. Of course, they never make a break for it but it’s important that North Korean viewers don’t entertain the possibility in their heads either (under penalty of execution) so the presence of a formidable killer is important. And there’s the sex appeal angle too. Being appealed by sex also carries a penalty of execution. The execution building was very impressive. A series of steps – being pushed down them until both hips shatter is one of the possibilities for geriatric enemies – led up to the North Korean leader robot. The Kimbot was flanked either side by what looked like balconies to my western eyes but which turned out to be presses able to rise and fall on the columns crushing flesh and bones beneath their weight. Inventive! The wall of the Kimbot’s alcove featured a film on loop of last week’s execution where a distant cousin of Kim Jong-un had been strapped to fireworks and fired into the sky over the Taedong River. At this...

Science Videos Triple

Posted By Mark on Dec 7, 2013

Here, have some science videos on the house. No, really, they’re absolutely free and contain lots of lovely science to help fill up the science hole in your brain. What’s that? There’s no such thing as a science hole in the brain? Can you prove that? With science?! I thought not. Insect Adventure, Part One As you can probably guess there is more than one part to this insect adventure hosted by Emily Graslie but I’ll just link to this one for now. A great look at setting insect traps in a prairie to see how healthy the environment is. Do you know how to create a trap that attracts insects, ensures they sink to the bottom of the trap, and isn’t harmful to any mammals that stumble on the area? You will. Also: please view this video from Emily on the sexism still prevalent in the science presenting world. Gummi Bears demonstrate Osmosis and Crystallization A self-explanatory title for a very simple scientific experiment that you can try fairly easily at home, demonstrating some very cool scientific processes. Jim Al-Khalili and the Quantum Robin Yes, it does sound like a science fiction adventure story but this short video from (honorary president of Portsmouth Skeptics in the Pub, cough, plug, cough, I’m an organiser of it, cough, boast, plug, cough) Jim Al-Khalili simply describes an unexpected method of navigation used by European robins that’s of interest to biologists and...

Sorcery And Papua New Guinea

Posted By Mark on Dec 3, 2013

From Radio New Zealand International comes news from Papua New Guinea’s sorcery violence-related conference, currently underway. Earlier this year Papua New Guinea repealed the 1971 Sorcery Act, making killings stemming from an accusation of witchcraft treatable as murder. This is, of course, a good thing. That act of law originally stated as fact that sorcery existed and evil sorcery was a crime, making accusations of sorcery a useful defence in murder cases brought before village courts. In the wake of a series of horrible incidents this year – a public burning of a young mother at the stake, a beheading of a retired teacher, and the kidnap and torture by hot irons of six women and one man – the Prime Minister of Papua New Guinea Peter O’Neill set in motion the events that saw the law’s demise. RNZI states: [The secretary to the department of justice and attorney general, Lawrence Kalinoe] says the government’s ultimate goal is to dispel people’s belief in sorcery. […] But Dr Kalinoe says legislation is only part of the solution. “Some of these bad customs like sorcery have been maintained in the pretext that it’s part of our cultural heritage. It is for that reason I said, ‘Enough of this nonsense.’ I think we need to move on. Papua New Guinea is now much more enlightened than it was.” All good stuff and it’s nice to see Papua New Guinea moving in the right direction. Lawrence Kalinoe says belief in Christianity will do more for people than sorcery. Oh. So...

An Absence Of Polaroids

Posted By Mark on Dec 1, 2013

I am a fan of photography and I am a fan of retro or vintage things so it should come as no surprise to learn that I am a fan of vintage photography, and I’m not alone. Of the many other people out there with websites that cater for old photography one of my favourites is An Absence which simply posts old Polaroid (and non-Polaroid) photos. There’s something so warming looking at these instants of the recent past captured in colour-faded glory. The only thing missing from the pictures is an explanation of what’s happening. Of course, you can usually work it...

Historical Accuracy

Posted By Mark on Nov 24, 2013