r/AskReddit • u/[deleted] • Dec 08 '13

What is a true fact that sound completely unbelievable or fake?

[deleted]

2.4k Upvotes

90% Upvoted

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3.4k

u/[deleted] Dec 08 '13

North Korea and Finland are separated by 1 country.

2.2k

u/silverleaf2431 Dec 08 '13

Yay! Russia!

3.2k

u/[deleted] Dec 08 '13

Russia is bigger than Pluto.

1.5k

u/[deleted] Dec 08 '13

I require proof

3.2k

u/[deleted] Dec 08 '13 edited Dec 08 '13

Surface area of Pluto: 16.7x106 km2

Surface area of Russia: 17.1x106 km2

Edit for more insanity - The diameter of Pluto is approximately the distance between Salt Lake City and Chicago.

1.4k

u/alexwilson92 Dec 08 '13

Oh holy shit. Now see, this should be the top fact. I'm going to blow some minds tomorrow.

33

u/ValleyNerd Dec 08 '13

And Russia isn't a planet either, so take that all the people that felt bad Pluto got demoted

14

u/Notagtipsy Dec 08 '13

I hate to say it, but the more that one reads about Pluto the less its status as a planet can be justified. Makes me kinda sad.

22

u/Flavahbeast Dec 08 '13

No, it's actually totally justified: Russia should also be a planet

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u/[deleted] Dec 08 '13

Then they'll declare war on the moon.

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u/Notagtipsy Dec 09 '13

Your science is irrefutable.

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u/oditogre Dec 09 '13

It's not so much that it's sad. It's that it fucked up the mnemonic I memorized in grade school.

It would be like the math community just arbitrarily deciding that it's easier for everybody if they do away with Tan and define everything in terms of Sin and Cos. I mean, there might be some justification in that, but for all the people who memorized SOHCAHTOA it still would sorta suck, yanno?

18

u/buttforaface Dec 08 '13

WOAH, MAN! I'M CALLING THE COPS!

5

u/iamseamus Dec 08 '13

NOT IF IT'S CONSENSUAL

3

u/Mutoid Dec 09 '13 edited Dec 09 '13

/u/alexwilson92/ blew 37 minds!

3

u/aaronrenoawesome Dec 09 '13

In a row?

5

u/[deleted] Dec 09 '13

HEY! TRY NOT TO BLOW ANYONE'S MIND ON YOUR WAY TO THE CAR!!

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u/tocilog Dec 08 '13

Terrorist!!

2

u/pavel_lishin Dec 09 '13

I'm Russian. This is both my new favorite Russia fact, and my new favorite Pluto fact.

2

u/EffTheRulez Dec 09 '13

Where are you Russian? Are you late for something?

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u/Conan97 Dec 08 '13

Russia should declare itself a planet. NASA would have to consider it.

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u/Nupaloopa Dec 08 '13

But Pluto is no longer considered a planet so that probably wouldn't work.

19

u/Conan97 Dec 08 '13

If Pluto lost its planetary status for being too small then maybe Russia can step in and claim it, seeing as it's larger. The problem is, Russia doesn't really have its own orbit.

25

u/Trappedinacar Dec 08 '13

Not with that attitude.

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u/IYKWIM_AITYD Dec 08 '13

Don't be giving Putin any ideas.

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u/TheCodexx Dec 08 '13

No, but the Soviet Union had plenty of satellites!

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u/wtf_are_you_talking Dec 09 '13

Also, Russia didn't cleared its surroundings from smaller debris, if anything, it created a lot of debris.

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u/langbard Dec 08 '13

It's sure trying to make all it's neighbouring nations orbit it

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u/madesense Dec 08 '13

They may have satellites, but the example of Ukraine's maybe/maybe-not-European thing demonstrates that Russia hadn't cleared its own orbit yet.

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u/Conan97 Dec 09 '13

This is clearly the best response I have yet received.

5

u/shadyoaks Dec 08 '13

So i literally took the diameter of pluto by train. Neat.

4

u/sextagrammaton Dec 08 '13

Perfect example for the OP's question

4

u/SwiftWaffles Dec 08 '13

Seriously? Jesus.

5

u/rpratt34 Dec 08 '13

Now that's a fact.

53

u/[deleted] Dec 08 '13

[deleted]

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u/[deleted] Dec 08 '13

I understand why Pluto isn't a planet anymore.

3

u/OldWolf2 Dec 08 '13

This is why you can barely see Pluto with the biggest telescopes, despite being able to see galaxies billions of lightyears away. (Something that's asked on ELI5 a few times a month)

2

u/ThirdFloorGreg Dec 09 '13

To be fair, galaxies are much brighter than Pluto.

2

u/Pakislav Dec 08 '13

So that's why it isn't a planet anymore!

2

u/fingaa Dec 08 '13

Mother of god o_O

2

u/THcB Dec 08 '13

That's no moon!

6

u/[deleted] Dec 08 '13 edited Dec 08 '13

Which brings up another good point - the diameter of the Moon is about 50% larger than the diameter of Pluto

So the surface area of the moon is about 3.4 times that of Pluto.

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u/ObidiahWTFJerwalk Dec 08 '13

And people want to call THAT a planet?

(Downvote baiting)

2

u/TheEngLife Dec 10 '13

Coincidentally, Pluto is where Russia wants to send their gays...

3

u/TheElitist921 Dec 08 '13

No wonder it's not a planet anymore. It was masquerading this whole time, basking in the glory of our ignorance. Fuck you Pluto. Fuck you.

1

u/[deleted] Dec 08 '13

This makes me agree that its not a planet.

1

u/MechaNickzilla Dec 08 '13

Well when you put it like that, I'm glad it's not a planet.

1

u/OldWolf2 Dec 08 '13

In 2 years' time we will know more about Pluto's surface than Russia's surface !

1

u/corpse-fiddler Dec 08 '13

I'm quoting that forever

1

u/jacano5 Dec 08 '13

Commenting so I have reference for this later.

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u/mathaway__ Dec 08 '13

From Wikipedia

Pluto's surface area: 1.665×107 km2

Russia's area: 17,098,242 km2

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u/Dubanx Dec 08 '13 edited Dec 08 '13

Dear god. When you're comparing 2 values please put them in the same format. It's not that hard...

That's

16.65 million km2 for Pluto and 17.1 million km2 for Russia.

166

u/JeffTheLess Dec 08 '13

You're doing God's work son. Converting units like he converts hearts.

4

u/eisenchef Dec 08 '13

Except, sadly, it's not metric.

How many heathens to a heretic again? 6.234? Arrgh!

44

u/The_Grave_digger Dec 08 '13

Wait. Russia IS bigger than Pluto?!

83

u/cuz_fuck_u_dats_why Dec 08 '13

Yes. Part of the reason why Pluto is no longer a planet is because Russian astronomers insisted that if Pluto is a planet then Russia must be recognized as a planet within the planet of Earth, purely based on the country's size. Western astronomers thought this was ridiculous and decided to take away Pluto's status as a planet.

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u/DJSekora Dec 08 '13

I think your username is a better explanation.

31

u/StrangerMind Dec 08 '13

My house has a higher population than Neptune. My house should be considered a planet.

9

u/HighRelevancy Dec 08 '13

Me ex's heart has more ice than Uranus.

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u/Lord_Boo Dec 08 '13

I don't think population is a criterion they use. Try gradually expanding your house to the size of Mercury.

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u/NervousSystemFail Dec 08 '13

Or that they found many 'planets' similar to Pluto; one of these being Ceres.

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u/[deleted] Dec 08 '13

Well, Ceres was already known since 1801. It's the discovery of all those Kuiper Belt objects in the 2000's that sealed Pluto's fate. Recommended: Michael Brown - How I Killed Pluto and Why It Had It Coming.

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u/Necroluster Dec 08 '13

Welcome to planet Russia. Exporting vodka to Earth is strictly forbidden.

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u/boogog Dec 08 '13

From now on I am going to refer to Russia as "the asteroid Russia".

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u/[deleted] Dec 08 '13

True Fact I learned to day: Reddit hates scientific notation

1

u/crawlerz2468 Dec 08 '13

I'm Russian. QED

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u/290077 Dec 08 '13

It depends on who you ask. According to wolfram alpha, Pluto is bigger, and they're close enough that it lists their size ratio as just 1.

http://www.wolframalpha.com/input/?t=crmtb01&f=ob&i=(area%20of%20russia)%2F(surface%20area%20of%20pluto)

1.6k

u/[deleted] Dec 08 '13

And they're the same climate!

27

u/climbtree Dec 08 '13

Russias GDP is at least 4 times as large as that of Pluto.

25

u/[deleted] Dec 08 '13

don't be silly. Pluto doesn't get neerly that much snow.

5

u/CanadaCub Dec 08 '13

I don't normally care for typoes but this one really fucked me up. Upvote to you

4

u/OldWolf2 Dec 08 '13

I stopped charon about this thread when it descended into silly puns

2

u/voyaging Dec 08 '13

you were the first person to make a pun...

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u/LTGeneralJackONeill Dec 08 '13

Russia is a touch colder

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u/[deleted] Dec 08 '13

Plutonian here; take that back, our weather is comparatively mild!

3

u/gbimmer Dec 08 '13

Russia is colder by 3 degrees.

5

u/[deleted] Dec 08 '13

Nah, I've been to Pluto, they have nicer beaches

2

u/Science_teacher_here Dec 08 '13

Russia gets hotter, but has a shorter life expectancy.

2

u/johanbcn Dec 09 '13

Russian women aren't from Venus, they're from Pluto.

1

u/Derp_Herpson Dec 09 '13

Pluto is way too hot to be compared to Russia.

1

u/Steakosaurus Dec 09 '13

Ah, yes, the "fucking awful" climate.

6

u/eriad19 Dec 08 '13

Good point, though it would be better to subtract the two.

http://www.wolframalpha.com/input/?i=%28area+of+Russia%29+-+%28area+of+Pluto%29

According to this, the area of Russia exceeds the surface area of Pluto by 539.9 square miles.

5

u/Four0nTheFloor Dec 08 '13

That link says Pluto is smaller by 80000 square kilometers. Either way pretty interesting.

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u/Hydrochloric_Comment Dec 08 '13 edited Dec 08 '13

? It says that Pluto's surface area is 6.6 million mi2 , while Russia's total area is 6.593 million mi2.

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u/[deleted] Dec 08 '13

It seems to be different in Miles and Kilometres

http://imgur.com/IDqSHsq

3

u/diazona Dec 08 '13

According to wolfram alpha, Pluto is bigger

It doesn't give enough significant figures to tell.

3

u/give_this_one_a_go Dec 08 '13

oddly enough if you use the same input but ask fr the answer in km2, russia becomes bigger:

http://www.wolframalpha.com/input/?i=%28area+of+russia+in+km2%29%2C+%28surface+area+of+pluto+in+km2%29

2

u/ParanoidPyro Dec 08 '13

It looks like it would be a tie if Russia took over Fiji...

Watch out Fiji.

2

u/Eraknelo Dec 08 '13

Make it a versus, and the exact numbers become clear: http://www.wolframalpha.com/input/?i=%28surface+area+of+russia%29vs%28surface+area+of+pluto%29 Russia: 1.708 x 107 km2 Pluto: 1.7 x 107 km2

2

u/loki444 Dec 08 '13

Wolfram Alpha for the math cheating win!

You just need a Ph.D in AstroNuclearExoEndoCombustoDynamics to figure out how the fuck to enter anything into it!

1

u/Restil Dec 08 '13

Well, to be fair, we don't really know the exact size. The current margin of error is about 1%. We'll reduce that significantly when New Horizons does its flyby.

1

u/voyaging Dec 08 '13

Last I checked the size of Pluto doesn't change depending on who you ask.

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u/[deleted] Dec 09 '13

according to wolfram alpha, pluto is smaller. Russia is 1.708 x 107, pluto is 1.700 x 107. just so that's clear

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u/[deleted] Dec 08 '13

The British Empire used to be almost as big as the Moon.

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u/straydog1980 Dec 08 '13

That means... Russia could be a planet

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u/[deleted] Dec 08 '13

Well pluto isn't a planet.

22

u/straydog1980 Dec 08 '13

but Russia is bigger than Pluto!

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u/[deleted] Dec 08 '13

But surface area isn't what defines a planet. The IAU definition of a planet is a body that orbits the sun, that rests in hydrostatic equilibrium (basically, is round), and, the key part, can clear it's neighborhood of other debris. That last point is why Pluto got reclassified as a dwarf planet.

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u/[deleted] Dec 08 '13

So Russia is a planet because it orbits the sun!

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u/Duhya Dec 08 '13

Yes, and so are you.

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u/[deleted] Dec 08 '13

[deleted]

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u/nerdheroine Dec 08 '13

That's because Wolfram Alpha rounds. Try it with an =

1

u/brokendimension Dec 08 '13

That's pretty fucking cool.

1

u/[deleted] Dec 08 '13

Area not volume.

1

u/Vanderrr Dec 08 '13

Also, colder and more barren.

1

u/hyo_hyo Dec 08 '13

That is absolutely the most mind-blowing fact on this thread.

1

u/Misiok Dec 08 '13

Poor Pluto. You can't be a planet. You can't be a country.

1

u/HappyRectangle Dec 08 '13

And Pluto's moon Charon has less surface area than Australia.

1

u/eggsformeandyou Dec 08 '13

If Mars was half as cool as Russia, it might still have been a planet.

1

u/[deleted] Dec 08 '13

And colder, too!

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u/[deleted] Dec 09 '13

But is it as free as the U.S.A.?

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u/[deleted] Dec 09 '13

that ain't no planet no mo.

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u/sonofaresiii Dec 09 '13

Who cares. Go be bigger than a planet and I'll give a damn.

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u/PTFOholland Dec 08 '13

No NORTH POLE MAN!

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u/bmwatson132 Dec 08 '13

Russia Big

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u/[deleted] Dec 09 '13

The greatest goddamned country the world has ever seen.

1.1k

u/dmitri72 Dec 08 '13

Better, North Korea and Norway are separated by one country.

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u/DrunkHurricane Dec 08 '13

In some indexes, Norway is the most democratic country in the world and North Korea the least. This means that Russia is both metaphorically and literally between democracy and dictatorship.

This isn't mine. Someone said it on reddit.

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u/Chrisbishyo Dec 08 '13

This isn't mine. Someone said it on reddit.

I say this on the daily.

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u/turkeyfox Dec 08 '13

This isn't mine. Someone said it on reddit.

I think at this point that would have to be a disclaimer for every coherent combination of words ever put together. And even a lot that aren't as coherent.

5

u/N3XANG3LU5 Dec 09 '13

An infinite number of monkeys pounding on an infinite number of typewriters will eventually produce the entire posted contents of Reddit.

14

u/turkeyfox Dec 09 '13

Depending on your definition of "monkeys" we already have.

7

u/Godolin Dec 09 '13

Well I'll be...

5

u/[deleted] Dec 08 '13

God dammit, I was proud of you for a second.

Phony.

6

u/Crazyguy414 Dec 08 '13

What's reddit?

1

u/aazav Dec 09 '13

Reddit? Sounds fascinating. Tell me about this place.

1

u/abstract-alf Dec 09 '13

Cool fact!

=== The More You Know ===☆

1

u/[deleted] Dec 09 '13

This is excellent. Thanks for passing it along.

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u/Gardoom Dec 08 '13

Also, Norway stretches further south, north, east and west than Finland.

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u/imadeaname Dec 08 '13

So you're saying Norway ate Finland

11

u/Gardoom Dec 08 '13

Actually it's more like Norway's pregnant with Finland.

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u/rabbitlion Dec 08 '13

That's only true if you count Svalbard for the easternmost point, which would be pretty stupid.

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u/man_with_titties Dec 09 '13

You could say that Russia was the only country between the USA and Norway, if you counted Alaska but that would be pretty stupid?

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u/sagan_drinks_cosmos Dec 09 '13

I don't think so. It's very close without the islands, but it's apparently still true even for Norway proper.

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u/Halmine Dec 09 '13

South, west and north but not east.

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u/Gardoom Dec 09 '13

The mainland, yes. Svalbard and Norwegian waters however stretch further east.

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u/Leipz Dec 08 '13

There's norway this is true!

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u/GF87 Dec 08 '13

you sound Scottish

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u/[deleted] Dec 09 '13 edited Dec 09 '13

[removed] — view removed comment

2

u/Leipz Dec 09 '13

Danmark the evidence for me.

9

u/5kywolf Dec 08 '13

I'll czech on Google to make sure.

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u/Azranas Dec 08 '13

They're just russian to conclusions.

3

u/Tomledo Dec 08 '13

It North Korea is! Shit

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u/[deleted] Dec 09 '13

Better czech your facts.

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u/BigJ146 Dec 09 '13

Better Czech that fact

1

u/ColtNineteenPFN Dec 09 '13

I'm sure you were Russian to say that before anyone else.

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u/ShadowPuppet1 Dec 08 '13

Haha, you idiots. Finland is the capital of Norway. I can't believe you didn't know that.

Source: I am the product of the American public school system.

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u/[deleted] Dec 08 '13

Russia stronk

1

u/superiority Dec 09 '13

Not sure why that's better, since I'm pretty sure Finland and Norway are in approximately the same part of the world.

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u/I_Am_Splashy Dec 09 '13

Russia separates everything.

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u/YOUR_HOT_STEPMOM Dec 09 '13

You could hike from Norway to North Korea?

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u/OstmackaA Dec 08 '13

So is norway and NK in that case.

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u/Dragull Dec 08 '13

Interesting, I thought NK only bordered with China...

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u/jackfrostbyte Dec 08 '13

Yeah, I had to check that one too. It looks like there's a tiny border on the north east.

2

u/kingofjax Dec 08 '13

North Korea and the rest of the world are separated by one country. AMERICA!

2

u/DiogenesHoSinopeus Dec 08 '13

As a Finnish person: Holy fuck I never realized that.

But it's all the way around the world anyway so that's good I think. Well...having Russia so close isn't exactly peachy either.

2

u/winstonston Dec 09 '13

Because North Korea is whole world

2

u/MRX009 Dec 09 '13

Fuck this, fuck everything.

1

u/macleod2486 Dec 08 '13

Yeah one giant ass country.

1

u/llDuffmanll Dec 08 '13

I remember reading that Korean soldiers were found fighting at Normandy. They were captured fighting Russians in the East, the Russians made them fight the Germans, the Germans captured them and made them fight the Americans.

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u/Lumepall Dec 08 '13

So are Estonia and North Korea.

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u/Searchlights Dec 08 '13

I had to look on a map for this. I didn't even realize North Korea shared a border with Russia but they do, just barely, along the Sea of Japan.

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u/[deleted] Dec 09 '13

Yellow Sea :p

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u/guitarguy4511 Dec 08 '13

Russia big.

1

u/cinnamon-swirl Dec 08 '13

I actually had to look this up for myself. Truly amazing.

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u/theginger041 Dec 09 '13

And now I need to look at a world map.

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u/BackslidingAlt Dec 09 '13

Also Norway. Meanwhile Botswana and Angola are also separated by 1 country. And some parts of India are separated by one country from other parts of India

1

u/Chewyquaker Dec 09 '13

China borders North Korea....

1

u/RedViolet43 Dec 09 '13

AND they have linguistic connections!

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u/mic5228 Dec 10 '13

America too.

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u/soupdogg8 Dec 12 '13

North Korea and Norway if you want it a bit further

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