best laid plans - what else?

10:00 pm July 1st, 2003

You are viewing

swerve's journal
Create a LiveJournal Account Learn more

Explore LJ: Life Entertainment Music Culture News & Politics Technology




			best laid plans - what else?

swerve


	what else?
	I need examples of non-western influences present in the United States and western Europe. For reasons beyond my understanding, this includes Central and South America, but only the Incas, the Aztecs, and the Mayans, according to my history book. In any case, Asians are winning hands-down with sushi, tai chi, acupuncture, and (insert your martial art here unless it's Krav Maga, which is Israeli). India is putting up a good fight with the current popularity of yoga. I'm working on figuring out music influences from Africa; it's a big continent. What else? Don't say Chinese food. I went to college with a Chinese girl. Some friends took her to a Chinese restaurant. She started laughing when the food arrived. "This not Chinese food." And please don't suggest the empty lot where the World Trade Centers stood, because that would be snarky and uncool. Thank you for your cooperation.

12 comments | what?


	Comments

	From: ferretsofglory	Date: July 1st, 2003 07:41 pm (UTC)		(link)

reggae!

(Reply) (Thread)

	From: swerve	Date: July 1st, 2003 07:57 pm (UTC)		(link)

Word. And the grass they smoked.

Maybe I could consider other drugs as non-western influences on the west. Like cocaine, maybe. You think?

(Reply) (Parent) (Thread)

	From: vwip	Date: July 1st, 2003 08:00 pm (UTC)		(link)

Polynesian, especially via Hawaii.

(Reply) (Thread)

	From: swerve	Date: July 1st, 2003 08:05 pm (UTC)		(link)

Polynesian what? Food? Or, uh, other substances? (Central America is covered. Buds remain unclaimed.)

(Reply) (Parent) (Thread)

	From: vwip	Date: July 1st, 2003 08:14 pm (UTC)		(link)

I'm not in the best position to know which influences are present in the US or Western Europe, but I've seem people mention 'tiki parties', grass skirts, hula, etc. The only 'other substance' that comes to mind from the Pacific would be kava (mainly Fiji).

(Reply) (Parent) (Thread)

	From: swerve	Date: July 1st, 2003 08:28 pm (UTC)		(link)

Ah. I've heard about that sort of thing, too, but I live in an east-coast city, where people don't do tiki parties (at least not in public). The middle part of the country, what I call the flyover states, never fails to surprise me, though.

How big is NZ? Are people openly religious (e.g. praying before a football game)?

(Reply) (Parent) (Thread)

	From: vwip	Date: July 1st, 2003 09:42 pm (UTC)		(link)

The common comparison is that NZ has about the same land area as Colorado, but I think it gives a better picture to say that the North Island is about the same size as Tennessee (NI larger) or Pennsylvania (NI slightly smaller) (in terms of latitude, Tennesse would lie across the top 40% of the North Island, while Pennsylvania would lie across the lower 40% of the North Island). And that the South Island is slightly smaller than Michigan, Florida or Georgia; and slightly larger than Wisconsin, Iowa or Illinois. Iowa and Wisconsin would cover roughly the same latitudes as the South Island. (NZ is generally long and thin, north to south, giving quite a range of climate for the size.)

The population just passed 4 million, with roughly 1 million in Auckland, another 2 million in the balance of the North Island, and about 1 million in the whole South Island.

The nearest continental landmass is Australia, about 1000miles (1600km) away, and it's been like that for millions of years, so it's been argued that NZ's ecology/speciation is more like a separate continent than an island group.

I'd say that religion is much less entwined with public life here than in the US. I.e. (individual) people would be openly religious, but not 'people' as a whole.

(Reply) (Parent) (Thread)

From: mrmustard	Date: July 1st, 2003 08:30 pm (UTC)		(link)

Cocoa, Tobacco, Tomatoes, Potatoes, and corn are all new world crops. As is syphilis.

The pig and the chicken were first domesticated in China.

The Yam comes from West Africa, as does the banjo. Tap dancing is a combination of European step dancing and African stamp dances. I think it is fair to say that Jazz music is a similar combination of European and African cultures.

Our numbering system is Arabic, but the credit for discovering zero goes to a fifth century Indian. Chess is an Indian game.

The Chinese invented Paper, which was transferred through the Middle East. Americans were still making paper out of cloth centuries after Bagdhad had been the capital of wood pulp paper manufacturing.

I'm not sure, but many beans and melons are from the SouthWest.

Polo is Persian, Card Games were invented in China.

(Reply) (Thread)

	From: swerve	Date: July 1st, 2003 08:37 pm (UTC)		(link)
	damn, you're good

(awed pause)

Color me impressed. And on short notice, too. What do you do that you remember arcane facts and cough them up on command? And how would you like to be credited?

(Reply) (Parent) (Thread)

From: mrmustard	Date: July 2nd, 2003 07:09 pm (UTC)		(link)
Don't Credit Me

That would force me to figure out where I got these ideas from.

I recently read "Guns, Germs, and Steal" which talks a lot about he domestication of plants and animals.

(Reply) (Parent) (Thread)

	From: mindme	Date: July 1st, 2003 08:36 pm (UTC)		(link)

There's the australian aborigines with their didgeridoo. You hear that instrument a lot in music and sound effects these days. I think.

(Reply) (Thread)

From: (Anonymous)	Date: July 1st, 2003 09:29 pm (UTC)		(link)
ummm

fireworks are chinese

stirrups are indian like second century b.c.

the zero is also indian

the human being brought to you by the great "?" or perhaps bootstraping ourselves out of the primoridal soup

hugs,
tony

(Reply) (Thread)