THE TRUTH IS STRANGER THAN FICTION

You may be bored to know that in an episode of the animated series Futurama, chief protagonist Phillip J. Fry travels to the planet Tristol, "a mysterious planet in the darkest depths of the forbidden zone", where he becomes Emperor of a bunch of water people after accidentally drinking their previous Emperor.

Why did they make him Emperor? Because that's just how things are done around there.

But before he could be sworn in, Fry had to flawlessly recite the following royal oath from memory:

"I, Fry, who drank Bont the Viscous, who drank Ungo the Moist, who guzzled Zorn the Stagnant...who slurped Hudge the Dewy, who enjoyed a soup composed principally of Throm the Chunky, do solemnly swear to rule with honour and insanity...Uh, integrity!"

Over to Mark Steyn, who notes the following chain of events in Afghanistan:

"In Afghanistan, continuity is a luxury, a precious anomaly, and the present is nothing if not tense: [King] Zahir’s father was killed handing out prizes at a school ceremony. His predecessor was executed. The predecessor’s predecessor lasted three days. And, after Zahir came a string of presidents-for-life carried out by the handles in mid-term.

The king was toppled by his cousin and brother-in-law Daoud, who was killed by his successor Taraki, who was suffocated by his successor Hafizullah Amin, who was executed by the Soviets, who installed Babrak Karmal, who died in hospital in Moscow and in a radical break with precedent managed to outlive his replacement, Najibullah, whom the Taliban wound up hanging from a traffic light".

Between you and me, I'd rather live in Tristol.