What trivia (and/or little-known facts) do you find interesting about North Korea?

 

• The Ryugyong Hotel (pictured below) was started in the late '80s. For a while, it would have been the world's tallest hotel. However it was never completed and has never been used.

• Even though Kim Jong-un is their current leader, they do not consider him their president. Kim Il-sung (who died in 1994) is known as the country's "Eternal President."
• Political crimes are in many cases worse than all other crimes. You could get sent to prison for a few months for robbery, but get sent to a gulag for life for making a joke about the government.
• When you commit a severe crime, they believe that there's bad blood for three generations, so they take your parents, siblings, and kids to be punished as well. They don't take your spouse because they don't share your blood.
• Propaganda is everywhere. According to "Nothing to Envy" by Barbara Demick this is an excerpt from a first grade math book: "Three soldiers from the Korean People's Army killed thirty American soldiers. How many American soldiers were killed by each of them if they all killed an equal number of enemy soldiers?"
• Contrary to popular belief, Americans can visit North Korea safely (at least for now). The only way to do so is by going on a state-approved tour, which will be accompanied by two North Korean "minders" to make sure you don't do anything bad. You aren't allowed to take pictures of ugly things.
• South Korea believes that all Koreans are one; if any North Korean is able to reach South Korea, they'll be given South Korean citizenship and some money to help them start out.
• In 1953 a North Korean air force lieutenant took a MiG-15 plane and flew it to South Korea. He was given $100,000. The plane was the most advanced in the Communist bloc, so the U.S. got a ton of intelligence by having it. There was no response to the U.S.'s offer to return it to North Korea.
• The North Korea-South Korea border is the most heavily defended border in the world. South Korean soldiers have to be very careful because North Koreans have been known to drag people across the border; after which they are subject to the whims of North Korea.
• In 1976 there was the axe murder incident. At the border between North Korea and South Korea there was a large tree that obstructed the view between outposts (security issue), so some unarmed personnel (both South Korean and Americans) were sent to trim the tree. As they were trimming, a group of North Koreans ordered them to stop because the tree was personally planted by Kim Il Sung. The trimmings continued so the North Korean soldiers murdered the personnel with axes and crowbars. Not to be intimidated, three days later the United States sent some teams to cut down the tree. This effort consisted of 23 vehicles, 60 engineers, 64 South Korean special forces trained in Tae Kwon Do. Circling around were 20 utility helicopters, 7 Cobra attack helicopters, B-52 bombers, and F-4 and F-5 fighters. An American aircraft carrier was also deployed for support. In response, North Korea sent 150-200 troops. There were no injuries and the tree was successfully cut down. This was just a summary of the crazy parts of the Wikipedia article found here: Axe murder incident

What are some cricket trivia that would surprise even the most knowledgable of fans?

 Well the surprises depend on how knowledgeable you are. But anyways here we go:

• The explosive Sri Lankan opener, Sanath Jayasuriya has more ODI wickets than legendary Aussie spinner, Shane Warne.

• If we're talking about Shane Warne, let's point out another fact that Man known as BEST INDIAN BATSMAN EVER, Sachin Tendulkar, has more five wicket hauls than Shane in the ODIs.

• Jason Gillespie, the ace Aussie pacer, scored a double century in his last ever game against Bangladesh. What's interesting in that… Well it was his maiden ton as well!!

• Bhagwat Chandrashekhar, the Indian spinner has more wickets to his name than the total runs scored in his career. Figures stand as 242 wickets against 167 runs scored.

• Mahendra Singh Dhoni, has remained Not Out 84 times until the end of the innings in ODIs, most by any player.

• Well coming to bat in the tail has its own perks, for instance Jimmy Anderson has remained Not Out a staggering 102 times in his Test Career.

• Kiwi batter Geoff Allott faced 77 balls against the Proteas before getting out on a duck.

• The 2013 Test between India and South Africa was the only game where registered Wicket Keepers of both the teams tried their hands on the ball as well. For India it was Magnificent Mahendra & for the African side it was Alien Abraham.

• In 1930, the legendary Aussie batter, Sir Donald Bradman scored a whopping 309 Runs in a single day. The record doesn't just ends here, he did it smashing two part centuries in first two sessions of the day and ending it with 89 in the final session.

• Rameshchandra aka Bapu Nadkarni holds the record of bowling the most consecutive maiden overs. He bowled 21 consecutive maidens out of his total 32 conceding just 5 Runs.

• Marvan Atapattu, one of the most prolific cricketers ever seen, holds the unlikely record of getting Run Out a massive 41 times in his career.

• The 1997 test in Colombo saw Sri Lanka scoring a humongous 952 Runs off 6 wickets trailing the first inning total of 537 Runs from India. The match was an obvious draw!!

• Imagine enforcing a follow-on and end up losing the game… Well this has only happened thrice in the history and it was Australia getting smacked all the three times. The first two against England and the last defeat was the iconic Eden Test against India.

• Jimmy Anderson, one of the best fast bowlers in the history, conceded 28 Runs (Most in the format) in the Test against Aussies. His figures stood as 4,6,2,4,6,6 against the Aussie batter George Bailey.

• Wasim Akram, probably the greatest one from Pakistan out of their long list of pacers, recorded hitting most sixes in an innings in Test Cricket. The Test against Zimbabwe saw Wasim hitting 12 sixes in his indestructible 257 Run innings. Interestingly, Akram's highest score wasn't surpassed by the likes of Sachin Tendulkar, Virat Kohli , Ricky Ponting and Saurav Ganguly.

What are some mind-blowing facts & trivia about Indian Film Industry ?

 Yash Chopra’s tryst with the color yellow

This is something my mother pointed out many years ago and I have keenly observed this trend ever since. In almost all his movies (as director or producer),there would be at least one shot of the lead actress in a gorgeous yellow attire. It is usually incorporated into a song sequence. Maybe it’s a coincidence, but if it is, it’s a rather uncanny one.

Take a look…

Sridevi in ‘Chandni’

Preity Zinta in ‘Veer Zaara’

Madhuri Dixit in ‘Dil Toh Pagal Hai’

Juhi Chawla in ‘Darr’

Sridevi in ‘Lamhe’

Katrina Kaif in ‘Jab Tak Hai Jaan’

Katrina Kaif in ‘Ek Tha Tiger’

Sadhana Shivdasani in ‘Waqt’

Sharmila Tagore in ‘Daag’

Farah Naaz in ‘Faasle’

Meenakshi Sheshadri in ‘Vijay’