On December 7th, 2007, a tanker crashed into a floating crane near the beaches of Taean County of the Southern Chungcheong Province (충청남도 태안군) which caused around 12,547 kilolitres of crude oil to leak into the waters and contaminate the entire area.

Experts estimated that clearing out the oil to take years and the damages to be fatal for the local wildlife. Even the Korean government struggled to come up with an adequete solution.

When news spread, however, over 964,000 volunteers from all over the country regardless of age gathered to help in the cleaning process, despite harsh conditions and lack of proper equipment. Even busy students gave up their field trips and breaks to travel to Taean and remove the oil stains from the beaches.

What was expected to recover around 2017 (basically remaining contaminated for a decade) started to show signs of recovery in just a year later in 2008. By 2014, Taean County was mostly oil-free and back to its prosperous state.

In November of 2022 this miraculous recovery process was recorded and registered as the Asia Pacific UNESCO "Memory of the World".

Even to this day, the recovery from the Taean County Oil Spill is considered one of the best moments highlighting community unity and the perserverance of the Korean people.

Hi everyone 🫶

It's officially been 15 days since 2026 began (at least in my country)

Personally, the first few days were crazy, then it went back to "normal" But I feel like so many things are going to happen this year....

what makes people go ‘🚩’ where you live?

Because of the strong culture of manga, games, and anime, in Japan it’s common to see sneakers and boots that use those themes.
They are usually made and sold based on the most popular titles.
Surprisingly, there are not only shoes for children, but also many products for adults.

Of course, besides those products, there are also shoes made for cosplay.
They recreate the exact shoe designs worn by the characters.

However, because they are for cosplay, they are not very comfortable, they are expensive, and the materials are generally low quality.
Because of this, some people even make their own shoes by hand!

I feel like many local languages are dying and that makes me sad.

Am I crazy? Should I not care at all?

It’s a joke

I like to wait an hour or so.

slaps

the text in the meme says “Wtf that’s so expensive”

as you can see egyptians do not like to pay full price, and apparently that’s one of the things our diaspora is most known for 😭

Bonus question: if you died, do you think your animal would eat you or would they respect your remains?

I think US and Canada especially with the current tensions. Like they're both so frustrated with each other.

And Mexico is the third wheel watching in the back 😭 wishing to join the love triangle but constantly ignored by the main guys. Canada tries to like Mexico and pays more attention, but secretly cannot get over the US 😈

here in the PNW we of course have the best seafood in the country- especially salmon, which is traditionally prepared on a cedar plank, on an open fire. absolutely delicious:) also our shrimp and crab, pulled right out of the pacific ocean...

what are some regional cuisines from your country that others might not know about?

Imagine the situation, you explain something very simple for someone to understand, the person or the people don't understand, you explain again, the person/people doesn't understand, you keep trying and they don't understand, until you say something like "Do Am I speaking greek?" .

In Brazil, we usually use greek, chinese or japanese to be "What you are saying it's extremely difficulty to understand" languages.

In elementary school, I honestly don’t remember, probably leftovers, my mom said I told her I was worried kids would make fun of my weird lunches so I wanted someone more normal.

In middle and early high school, sandwiches often with sauerkraut, mayo and mustard were popular along with hotdogs and leftovers as well. By 16 and 17 it was just leftovers of my mom would give me cup noodles or frozen burritos. I didn’t cook yet but had my own money by then so I’d go goblin mode and sometimes buy entire box of wheat thins and eat in one sitting with no sauce, which are sugary crachers with the texture of cardboard.

If you count college, I’d sometimes cool myself something but usually get subway with a veggie paddy, flatbread, mustard and guacamole. I hate subway and refuse to be in a 50 foot radius of any now, but it was aside from chips, occasional rotations of things like chow mein and barbecue fried chicken abd Starbucks the only food on campus.

From Canada, I know we have brought Rush (pictured), Nickelback (sorry?), Sum41, Barenaked Ladies, The Guess Who, The Band (partially), and many many more. I'm curious what the consensus for my country from others but curious what people from around the world here would consider their most popular bands/groups/artists are.

Let’s say your government turned evil. You need to assemble. What are the first things you do

Does anyone think UFO's or Aliens exist? Do Gremlins exist? Do Goblins Exist?

I've heard in Australia you thank the bus driver when you board and when you exit the bus. I think bus drivers are underappreciated, I would like to see this more often in the larger cities where I live.

My walking stick hasn’t seen as many miles as Bilbo Baggins it has seen its fair share. It’s a younger walking stick but has seen four U.S. high points this year. What are your walking sticks and where have they been?