lingers in the morning, like a melody

recently i was informed by many different people about something in Korea called "fan death". what is "fan death" you ask? allow me to explain.

it is a widely help belief and gigantic misconception, that if one is to keep a electric fan running inside a closed room (so my apartment with my windows closed) that you will die. yes you read that correctly, an electric fan running in your closed apartment can cause you to die.

my co-teachers recently asked me if i had a fan, i told them no, and they said good that i wouldn't have to worry about fan death. i made the mistake of asking what fan death was, and so began the ridiculousness of the explanation of fan death. my co-teachers, along with many of my friend's co-teachers are so set that "fan death" exists and real. it's rather entertaining. they state, "it says so on the news, and the news wouldn't lie to me"... yeah okay.

so the other night jennie, dolly and i were talking about it and we decided to google it to see what we could come up with. when you google "fan death" the first page that pops up is of course wikipedia. listed on there page are these reasons as to why "fan death" does exist and what can happen.

1. An electric fan creates a vortex, which sucks the oxygen from the enclosed and sealed room and creates a partial vacuum inside.

2. An electric fan chops up all of the air particles in the air leaving none to breathe and suffocation to occur.

3. The fan uses up the oxygen in the room and creates fatal levels of carbon dioxide.

4. If the fan is put directly in front of the face of the sleeping person, it will suck all the air away, preventing one from breathing.

5. Fans contribute to hypothermia, or abnormally low body temperatures. If the fan is left on all night in a sealed and enclosed room, they suppose that it will lower the temperature of the room to the point that it can cause hypothermia.

6. The fan overheats after it has been left on for too long, and ceases to cool the room, instead causing the already sweltering heat to increase uncontrollably until the person dies.

7. The fan contributes to prolonged asphyxiation due to environmental oxygen displacement or carbon dioxide intoxication.

while not all koreans agree with this ridiculous notion of "fan death", because of the media there are many that do actually believe that it is true. when i was discussing this with my co-teachers, i brought up the idea of the air conditioner doing the same thing a fan does. because it basically does, it's putting out air and usually when you run your AC, you keep your windows closed so you don't let the cool air out. they insisted it was different and it was only with a fan. which doesn't make any sense.

so there you have it folks... the ridiculousness of "fan death" in Korea. i hope you got as good of a laugh out of it as i did.

edit: dani has informed me that her AC does not work and there is a mess that involves her not getting a new one. so she plans to use "fan death" as a perfect excuse as to why she should get a new one STAT! we'll see how that goes.