I'd seen that but had always assumed it to be myth!
edit:
I actually know very little about Australia aside from I'd love to travel there, the Sydney Opera House looks really cool, and The Great Barrier Reef is slowly dying(?)
Also that big rock whose name I can't remember (possibly Ayre's Rock?)
Though funny thing that I never realized about Australia until recently: it's a huuuge country and Uluru is in the middle of nowhere. It's not like tourists from Sydney are able to just go off on a day excursion to see it.
"Simple, real stupidity beats artificial intelligence every time." -Mustrum Ridcully in Terry Pratchett's Hogfather p. 142 (HarperPrism 1996)
Fact is, the assessment that everything Americans know about Australia comes from Steve Irwin and Crocodile Dundee isn't particularly a wrong one
Those really are our big cultural imports for whatever reason
I say this as someone with a lifelong interest in biology, too, so I watched an imperial fuckton of Crocodile Hunter and other nature specials. And those don't exactly try to dispel the idea
Fact is, the assessment that everything Americans know about Australia comes from Steve Irwin and Crocodile Dundee isn't particularly a wrong one
Those really are our big cultural imports for whatever reason
I say this as someone with a lifelong interest in biology, too, so I watched an imperial fuckton of Crocodile Hunter and other nature specials. And those don't exactly try to dispel the idea
Hey, I also learned a little from Finding Nemo and the Scooby Doo where they go to Australia for fun but end up solving a mystery.
Fact is, the assessment that everything Americans know about Australia comes from Steve Irwin and Crocodile Dundee isn't particularly a wrong one
Those really are our big cultural imports for whatever reason
I say this as someone with a lifelong interest in biology, too, so I watched an imperial fuckton of Crocodile Hunter and other nature specials. And those don't exactly try to dispel the idea
Hey, I also learned a little from Finding Nemo and the Scooby Doo where they go to Australia for fun but end up solving a mystery.
Yeah, Finding Nemo is almost certainly the most widespread depiction of regular Australian life, for the relevant fifteen minutes of the film
I'd seen that but had always assumed it to be myth!
edit:
I actually know very little about Australia aside from I'd love to travel there, the Sydney Opera House looks really cool, and The Great Barrier Reef is slowly dying(?)
Also that big rock whose name I can't remember (possibly Ayre's Rock?)
It used to be called Ayer's Rock, after the white dude that "discovered" it, but then later we realised we were being really stupid, and now call it by the name the locals called it for about 40,000 years before we even got here, that is, Uluru.
The thing about Aboriginal culture is that they were nomadic tribal groups that moved around a lot, and had a lot of contact and interaction with other groups, and parts of their culture and heritage are actually ingrained in the land itself. Like, that mound of dirt over there actually means something, and tells part of a story that has been around for tens of thousands of years.
Then we figured out that there was gold underneath it, so we dug a huge fucking hole in the ground and completely obliterated a big part of a group of people's entire history.
Oh, don't worry man, you know how North America basically tried to eradicate all the first nations people? We did pretty much the exact same thing, only we haven't given them casinos. And our current government is trying to force the abandonment of hundreds of remote settlements by shutting off all support and welfare to those areas because it "costs too much", but we just placed an order for billions of F-35 fighter jets we do not need.
+4
TrippyJingMoses supposes his toeses are roses.But Moses supposes erroneously.Registered Userregular
A recent SuperBestFriendCast talked about the responses they get from Australian fans about their Australia jokes.
Apparently half of them don't like it. The other half love it and want more.
Oh, don't worry man, you know how North America basically tried to eradicate all the first nations people? We did pretty much the exact same thing, only we haven't given them casinos. And our current government is trying to force the abandonment of hundreds of remote settlements by shutting off all support and welfare to those areas because it "costs too much", but we just placed an order for billions of F-35 fighter jets we do not need.
It took until 1967 for Indigenous Australians to be counted among the population of Australia.
There is a canard that they were regulated under the Flora and Fauna Act before that, but that seems to be apocryphal.
Though funny thing that I never realized about Australia until recently: it's a huuuge country and Uluru is in the middle of nowhere. It's not like tourists from Sydney are able to just go off on a day excursion to see it.
This baffles me. You can't go 24 hours without seeing a map of the world most days.
We're a whole continent down here, it's not even like you have to squint to make out the borders.
Oh, don't worry man, you know how North America basically tried to eradicate all the first nations people? We did pretty much the exact same thing, only we haven't given them casinos. And our current government is trying to force the abandonment of hundreds of remote settlements by shutting off all support and welfare to those areas because it "costs too much", but we just placed an order for billions of F-35 fighter jets we do not need.
Didn't know you were canadian.
+5
Donovan PuppyfuckerA dagger in the dark isworth a thousand swords in the morningRegistered Userregular
Oh, don't worry man, you know how North America basically tried to eradicate all the first nations people? We did pretty much the exact same thing, only we haven't given them casinos. And our current government is trying to force the abandonment of hundreds of remote settlements by shutting off all support and welfare to those areas because it "costs too much", but we just placed an order for billions of F-35 fighter jets we do not need.
Didn't know you were canadian.
Australian.
The indigenous population here can also be refereed to as first nations people, because they populated this land mass 40,000 years before us whiteys did.
0
EncA Fool with CompassionPronouns: He, Him, HisRegistered Userregular
Oh, don't worry man, you know how North America basically tried to eradicate all the first nations people? We did pretty much the exact same thing, only we haven't given them casinos. And our current government is trying to force the abandonment of hundreds of remote settlements by shutting off all support and welfare to those areas because it "costs too much", but we just placed an order for billions of F-35 fighter jets we do not need.
The indigenous population here can also be refereed to as first nations people, because they populated this land mass 40,000 years before us whiteys did.
Though funny thing that I never realized about Australia until recently: it's a huuuge country and Uluru is in the middle of nowhere. It's not like tourists from Sydney are able to just go off on a day excursion to see it.
This baffles me. You can't go 24 hours without seeing a map of the world most days.
We're a whole continent down here, it's not even like you have to squint to make out the borders.
Meh. I find it easy to trick myself into thinking the world is a lot smaller than it actually is. Probably a bad habit because I grew up in New England where I can traverse three or four States in four hours or less.
Like, oh yeah, I can drive from Los Angeles to San Francisco in an hour! (no)
or, Chicago to Nashville! Sure, I'll be there by noon! (no)
DisruptedCapitalist on
"Simple, real stupidity beats artificial intelligence every time." -Mustrum Ridcully in Terry Pratchett's Hogfather p. 142 (HarperPrism 1996)
Oh, don't worry man, you know how North America basically tried to eradicate all the first nations people? We did pretty much the exact same thing, only we haven't given them casinos. And our current government is trying to force the abandonment of hundreds of remote settlements by shutting off all support and welfare to those areas because it "costs too much", but we just placed an order for billions of F-35 fighter jets we do not need.
The indigenous population here can also be refereed to as first nations people, because they populated this land mass 40,000 years before us whiteys did.
seriously one day my whole country is just gonna set up a forcefield which blocks the 'tired unfunny jokes' wavelengths.
The day you figure that out, let me know so that we can reconfigure it to block the "Floridians are idiot psycopaths and/or old people" bit.
As far as regional perceptions go Austrailia's is far from terrible. People assume you are bad-ass rough riders able to take on anything. There are far worse perceptions.
that's not the assumption that gets old. It's the "oh, I could never go to australia, I would die from all your scary deadly things!" stuff. Which people say completely seriously.
But just how bullshit are they?
Well! I'm glad you asked because it just so happens that maps are another Area Of Interest for me. As you likely know, Earth is a sphere. If you did not know this, you likely are going to get a whole lot more out of this post. Since spheres are round and more importantly are three dimensional objects, it is impossible to view everything on the sphere simultaneously. Thus, when converting this three dimensional object into a two dimensional map for easy viewing, things must necessarily be distorted.
Bullshit level of the concept of altering a three dimensional objection to a two dimensional one: 1 bullshit out of 5 bullshits.
Experiment 1-A
Let's see how this works. Taking a sheet of paper from the closest printer in my office and ensuring my boss did not see that this is what I'm doing on company time, I've made a cylinder. Figure 1-A-1
Here we can see my paper cylinder planet, and the continents J and T. But what happens if we unroll our cylinder?
Figure 1-A-2
Oh.
Anyhow so the point is, despite my utterly unnecessary explanation of how spheres work, which I admit comes across as a bit condescending and really was just a vehicle for me to write "BUTTS" on a piece of paper and take a picture of it, any kind of map is never ever going to be 100% accurate. For as close to 100% accuracy as is possible, we must instead look at a globe.
Ok so I accept that map projections will not be completely accurate, but surely they don't distort people's perceptions of Earth.
Oh my sweet summer child...
It's actually kind of incredible just how much damage an inaccurate representation of a place can inflict. But you know it's easiest to show you what I mean. And for that there's only one projection that'll fit the bill.
You're talking about the Mercator Projection, aren't you. Also: can we stop doing this fake question-and-answer format?
Yes, and yes.
Like probably every single American child, and I'll hazard to guess most European children, I grew up with the Mercator Projection. Now, again, any 2d map is inaccurate, but the Mercator is particularly bad. It's not Mercator's fault really. When he created this projection based on the data he had in 1569, he was creating it with two main objectives. First, to make a map that was easy for sailors to read, for this was the Age of Sail and getting to the New World from Europe was by far the biggest driving force of...everything basically. Second, the map was specifically geared for the traversal of the northern part of the Atlantic ocean.
On maps we use latitude, lines that run West-East and are used to denote how far North or South something is from the equator. We also use longitude, lines that run North-South and are used to indicate how far West or East something is from Greenwich, England. Since Earth is a sphere, the representation of each of these lines is false.
Imagine cutting a tomato in half at the largest point; that's the equator and you're now left with a hemisphere of tomato. Now, continue slicing your tomatosphere. The more slices you cut, the smaller each one is in diameter. Take that last slice of mater, and lay it on top of your first slice. You'll see a fairly substantial size difference.
Now imagine an orange, and slice it in half longways. Cut it up into wedges. These are your lines of longitude, with the C-shaped peel being the surface of Earth. Note the fattest part of your wedge, the equator, and how each end of the wedge tapers to a fine point at the north and south poles.
Finally take your tomato and incorporate it into a sandwich, and have that for lunch with your orange wedges.
So with the Mercator projection the lines of latitude and longitude have been stretched and distorted so that they meet at right angles. This has the effect of the further north or south of the equator a place is, the more stretched it becomes. Which is why when you look at a Mercator map, you have this bullshit right here: A laughably inaccurate map of Earth.
Take a look at Greenland. It's that gigantic white island between North America and Europe. Holy shit! I didn't know Greenland was a continent! Why, that place is as big as Africa!
But of course it isn't. Next images taken from Google at the same zoom level. Greenland, closer to actual size.
Australia, a fine place I'd like to visit.
Some of Africa, a continent that is way larger than you think it is, and certainly larger than Greenland.
Bullshit level of the Mercator Projection map, a map that might make you think Africa is smaller than a large island: five bullshits out of five bullshits.
that's not the assumption that gets old. It's the "oh, I could never go to australia, I would die from all your scary deadly things!" stuff. Which people say completely seriously.
I've seen those border protection shows, I can't ever go to Australia because I'd accidentally bring a speck of dirt on my shoe and get tased.
Also I probably couldn't face that long a plane ride.
The fact that Australia seems like it's at least tolerably warm most of the year is one of the big reasons I want to visit. Also, Australians seem pretty chill for the most part (except when you're pointing out your perfectly valid concerns about their wildlife :P).
Imagine how the wildlife and fauna would be different across the world if we hadn't brought over invasive species, it would be very interesting.
Like white people.
a haw haw a haw.
I had the vague idea for an alternate timeline novel once where people just kept missing australia for a lot longer, and by the time white people turned up ...something had happened that set the local population on a much better footing with which to deal with the buggers. Never got much beyond a thought experiment. But that sort of thinking always gives me a kind of crypto-nostalgia for civilisations that never existed.
things you can legitimately make fun of Australia for:
slang
Proximity to New Zealand. Bunch of dorks.
Realizing lately that I don't really trust or respect basically any of the moderators here. So, good luck with life, friends! Hit me up on Twitter @DesertLeviathan
Posts
Yes. I also ride a kangaroo as transportation.
I'd seen that but had always assumed it to be myth!
edit:
I actually know very little about Australia aside from I'd love to travel there, the Sydney Opera House looks really cool, and The Great Barrier Reef is slowly dying(?)
Also that big rock whose name I can't remember (possibly Ayre's Rock?)
Though funny thing that I never realized about Australia until recently: it's a huuuge country and Uluru is in the middle of nowhere. It's not like tourists from Sydney are able to just go off on a day excursion to see it.
Those really are our big cultural imports for whatever reason
I say this as someone with a lifelong interest in biology, too, so I watched an imperial fuckton of Crocodile Hunter and other nature specials. And those don't exactly try to dispel the idea
Hey, I also learned a little from Finding Nemo and the Scooby Doo where they go to Australia for fun but end up solving a mystery.
Wales is smirking at you.
YOU GET A LINE AND I'LL GET A POLE AND WE'LL GO DOWN TO THE CROCODILE HOLE!
Yeah, Finding Nemo is almost certainly the most widespread depiction of regular Australian life, for the relevant fifteen minutes of the film
It used to be called Ayer's Rock, after the white dude that "discovered" it, but then later we realised we were being really stupid, and now call it by the name the locals called it for about 40,000 years before we even got here, that is, Uluru.
The thing about Aboriginal culture is that they were nomadic tribal groups that moved around a lot, and had a lot of contact and interaction with other groups, and parts of their culture and heritage are actually ingrained in the land itself. Like, that mound of dirt over there actually means something, and tells part of a story that has been around for tens of thousands of years.
Then we figured out that there was gold underneath it, so we dug a huge fucking hole in the ground and completely obliterated a big part of a group of people's entire history.
Oh, don't worry man, you know how North America basically tried to eradicate all the first nations people? We did pretty much the exact same thing, only we haven't given them casinos. And our current government is trying to force the abandonment of hundreds of remote settlements by shutting off all support and welfare to those areas because it "costs too much", but we just placed an order for billions of F-35 fighter jets we do not need.
Apparently half of them don't like it. The other half love it and want more.
That's called planning ahead, Chris.
It took until 1967 for Indigenous Australians to be counted among the population of Australia.
There is a canard that they were regulated under the Flora and Fauna Act before that, but that seems to be apocryphal.
This baffles me. You can't go 24 hours without seeing a map of the world most days.
We're a whole continent down here, it's not even like you have to squint to make out the borders.
Didn't know you were canadian.
Australian.
The indigenous population here can also be refereed to as first nations people, because they populated this land mass 40,000 years before us whiteys did.
Meh. I find it easy to trick myself into thinking the world is a lot smaller than it actually is. Probably a bad habit because I grew up in New England where I can traverse three or four States in four hours or less.
Like, oh yeah, I can drive from Los Angeles to San Francisco in an hour! (no)
or, Chicago to Nashville! Sure, I'll be there by noon! (no)
Ah.
I am, as always, as dense as a neutron star.
The proof is: they're australian.
To be expected from a nation full of criminals!
The day you figure that out, let me know so that we can reconfigure it to block the "Floridians are idiot psycopaths and/or old people" bit.
As far as regional perceptions go Austrailia's is far from terrible. People assume you are bad-ass rough riders able to take on anything. There are far worse perceptions.
Again this got long and has images so spoiler.
Well! I'm glad you asked because it just so happens that maps are another Area Of Interest for me. As you likely know, Earth is a sphere. If you did not know this, you likely are going to get a whole lot more out of this post. Since spheres are round and more importantly are three dimensional objects, it is impossible to view everything on the sphere simultaneously. Thus, when converting this three dimensional object into a two dimensional map for easy viewing, things must necessarily be distorted.
Bullshit level of the concept of altering a three dimensional objection to a two dimensional one: 1 bullshit out of 5 bullshits.
Experiment 1-A
Let's see how this works. Taking a sheet of paper from the closest printer in my office and ensuring my boss did not see that this is what I'm doing on company time, I've made a cylinder.
Figure 1-A-1
Here we can see my paper cylinder planet, and the continents J and T. But what happens if we unroll our cylinder?
Figure 1-A-2
Oh.
Anyhow so the point is, despite my utterly unnecessary explanation of how spheres work, which I admit comes across as a bit condescending and really was just a vehicle for me to write "BUTTS" on a piece of paper and take a picture of it, any kind of map is never ever going to be 100% accurate. For as close to 100% accuracy as is possible, we must instead look at a globe.
Ok so I accept that map projections will not be completely accurate, but surely they don't distort people's perceptions of Earth.
Oh my sweet summer child...
It's actually kind of incredible just how much damage an inaccurate representation of a place can inflict. But you know it's easiest to show you what I mean. And for that there's only one projection that'll fit the bill.
You're talking about the Mercator Projection, aren't you. Also: can we stop doing this fake question-and-answer format?
Yes, and yes.
Like probably every single American child, and I'll hazard to guess most European children, I grew up with the Mercator Projection. Now, again, any 2d map is inaccurate, but the Mercator is particularly bad. It's not Mercator's fault really. When he created this projection based on the data he had in 1569, he was creating it with two main objectives. First, to make a map that was easy for sailors to read, for this was the Age of Sail and getting to the New World from Europe was by far the biggest driving force of...everything basically. Second, the map was specifically geared for the traversal of the northern part of the Atlantic ocean.
On maps we use latitude, lines that run West-East and are used to denote how far North or South something is from the equator. We also use longitude, lines that run North-South and are used to indicate how far West or East something is from Greenwich, England. Since Earth is a sphere, the representation of each of these lines is false.
Imagine cutting a tomato in half at the largest point; that's the equator and you're now left with a hemisphere of tomato. Now, continue slicing your tomatosphere. The more slices you cut, the smaller each one is in diameter. Take that last slice of mater, and lay it on top of your first slice. You'll see a fairly substantial size difference.
Now imagine an orange, and slice it in half longways. Cut it up into wedges. These are your lines of longitude, with the C-shaped peel being the surface of Earth. Note the fattest part of your wedge, the equator, and how each end of the wedge tapers to a fine point at the north and south poles.
Finally take your tomato and incorporate it into a sandwich, and have that for lunch with your orange wedges.
So with the Mercator projection the lines of latitude and longitude have been stretched and distorted so that they meet at right angles. This has the effect of the further north or south of the equator a place is, the more stretched it becomes. Which is why when you look at a Mercator map, you have this bullshit right here:
A laughably inaccurate map of Earth.
Take a look at Greenland. It's that gigantic white island between North America and Europe. Holy shit! I didn't know Greenland was a continent! Why, that place is as big as Africa!
But of course it isn't. Next images taken from Google at the same zoom level.
Greenland, closer to actual size.
Australia, a fine place I'd like to visit.
Some of Africa, a continent that is way larger than you think it is, and certainly larger than Greenland.
Bullshit level of the Mercator Projection map, a map that might make you think Africa is smaller than a large island: five bullshits out of five bullshits.
I've seen those border protection shows, I can't ever go to Australia because I'd accidentally bring a speck of dirt on my shoe and get tased.
Also it's pretty hot down there, right?
Like white people.
a haw haw a haw.
slang
I had the vague idea for an alternate timeline novel once where people just kept missing australia for a lot longer, and by the time white people turned up ...something had happened that set the local population on a much better footing with which to deal with the buggers. Never got much beyond a thought experiment. But that sort of thinking always gives me a kind of crypto-nostalgia for civilisations that never existed.
Yeah but at least get the slang right.
No throwing shimps on barbies. They're called PRAWNS.
Throw another shrimp on the PRAWN.
Proximity to New Zealand. Bunch of dorks.