Tag: Asia

On A Scatological Park

We’ve looked at several odd museums over the course of this blog. There was the one that featured the pair of pants made from human skin in Iceland. Remember the book library/museum in Norway that will eventually house only 100 books? Then there was the place that showcased the red ruby slippers from Dorothy in the Wizard of Oz. This time, it’s a museum in Suwon, South Korea dedicated to, well, poo.

Technically, it was a house that once belonged to the former mayor of the city, a man named Shin Jae-Deok. And, after his death in 2009, the city decided to make his house into a shrine to the man and to his most famous and significant contribution to the city–the improvement of the city’s toilets. Shin had made it his life’s work to make the removal of human waste a better experience for all the citizens of his city. And he succeeded. Thus, it seemed prudent and fitting to turn his home into a celebration of that life’s work.

So, you’ll find exhibitions on both historic examples of commodes as well as the most modern and sophisticated models. In fact, the whole litany of toilets can be found there. You can find out the effects of toilets on culture throughout the centuries (whose life isn’t complete without this knowledge?). The inaugural meeting of the World Toilet Association met there a few years ago. In fact, they were the major sponsor of the building of the museum. The impetus for beginning the museum was also the declaration by the United Nations of the International Year of Hygiene.

Now, I know you’re looking at the calendar and thinking that it’s way, way too early for April Fool’s Day. But this museum is no joke. In fact, besides the exhibits inside, the land surrounding the house has been rebuilt with more, well, interactive exhibits. Sculptures adorn the grounds, and they depict various human figures in the act of elimination, both liquids and solids.

I don’t want you to get this South Korean museum confused with the toilet museum that’s located in Delhi, India. That particular museum is more dedicated to the sanitation issues in India specifically rather than the world-wide problem of how to make a better crapper. And don’t forget that there’s a similar permanent exhibition in Kyiv, Ukraine, but, because of the situation with Russia right now, that museum is closed. That Ukraine one does have the world’s largest collection of chamber pots, but, again, the South Korean museum is better because of its wide-ranging nature of the cultural aspects of pooing.

By the way, the name of the museum is, in Korean, Haewoojae. Translated, that means “House of Relieving Anxiety.” Apropos, don’t you think?

So, if you find yourself in Suwon sometime, do yourself a favor.

Go.

On an Imaginary Line

This story isn’t about something with a surprise ending or a big reveal. No, this story is odd enough on its own that it needs no build-up or hype. It takes place even today in the Malay Archipelago, the area of our world where you can find modern nations like Indonesia and New Guinea. It’s both a real but still imaginary line that has baffled scientists and biologists for centuries.

And what makes it significant is that it’s a line that certain animals absolutely do not cross.

Technically, the line, known as the Wallace Line (after the Victorian-era scientist who studied it), separates animals from the Asian continent from those found in the Australian ecosystem. The phenomenon was recognized as early as the 1500s by Spanish members of Magellan’s voyage.

Now, you might think that this isn’t unusual that different animals can be found in different parts of an area, but it really is unique. Some of the islands in that area have tigers and elephants and hippos, but, then, east of the Wallace Line, those animals are replaced by lizards and marsupials in the Australian biosphere.

And the closest those diverse island areas are to each other is less than 20 miles at some points. Even most birds won’t cross the Wallace Line, with the Asian species staying on their side and the Australian species on theirs. Bats are really the only mammal that will cross it, but even those species that do are few and far between. The study of biogeography owes much to the study of exactly why this happens the way it does. Biogeography has divided the earth into 8 different zones rather than continents, but it’s the continents that hold the key to the Wallace Line.

Scientists could easily observe this phenomenon and did so for years, but they had difficulty figuring out exactly why. It wasn’t until geologists proposed the idea of plate tectonics, the movement of large surface plates on the earth, as the source of the Wallace Line. As you probably know, the large land masses (continents) on the earth are moving. That movement as they rub up against each other often causes earthquakes and awakens/creates volcanic activity as the molten innards of the earth bubble upwards as the fissures are created. The different continents created deep crevices in the oceans and seas that led to a separation of species that they still to this day do not cross.

Interestingly, most plants do not recognize the Wallace Line.

But the animals–the animals still won’t.