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kermo
Joined: 01 Sep 2004
Location: Eating eggs, with a comb, out of a shoe.
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 Posted: Sat Jun 25, 2005 4:14 am Post subject: |
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| TheUrbanMyth wrote: |
No. India is called a subcontinent because it is considered to be actually part of a larger continent, but it rests on its own teutonic plate. |
This is a Teutonic plate.
This is a techtonic plate.
/smartass remarks |
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Gopher
Joined: 04 Jun 2005
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| Posted: Sat Jun 25, 2005 4:29 am Post subject: |
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[deleted]
Last edited by Gopher on Fri Jun 16, 2006 4:38 pm; edited 2 times in total |
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Hwajangsil Ajumma
Joined: 02 May 2005
Location: On my knees in the stall
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| Posted: Sat Jun 25, 2005 5:45 am Post subject: |
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Fools, all of you!
It's TECTONIC, not techtonic. |
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jajdude
Joined: 18 Jan 2003
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| Posted: Sat Jun 25, 2005 6:25 am Post subject: |
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| Beat me to it H>A. I was goona say, "Techtonic? sounds like a new kind of music." |
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Gopher
Joined: 04 Jun 2005
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| Posted: Sat Jun 25, 2005 7:11 am Post subject: |
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[deleted]
Last edited by Gopher on Fri Jun 16, 2006 4:37 pm; edited 1 time in total |
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joe_doufu
Joined: 09 May 2005
Location: Elsewhere
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| Posted: Sat Jun 25, 2005 7:29 am Post subject: |
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| Gopher wrote: |
| I'm not sure that Plate Tectonics theory existed in the nineteenth century. |
Indeed it did not. For an interesting story about geology, look for the book "Krakatoa" that came out a few years ago.
| Gopher wrote: |
| Even if it did, there must be many sub-continents out there. Emphasizing one over the others is arbitrary. And in any case, the British emphasized this in their geography and map-making for non-scientific reasons. Let's not read history backwards. |
I believe India is more or less walled in by huge mountains (a result of its tectonic place smashing the hell out of that sissy Eurasian plate) which had the historic effect of making India a different "world" that was unified as an empire but separate from its neighbors. |
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Gopher
Joined: 04 Jun 2005
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| Posted: Sat Jun 25, 2005 7:44 am Post subject: |
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[deleted]
Last edited by Gopher on Fri Jun 16, 2006 4:37 pm; edited 2 times in total |
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kermo
Joined: 01 Sep 2004
Location: Eating eggs, with a comb, out of a shoe.
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| Posted: Sat Jun 25, 2005 1:05 pm Post subject: |
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| Hwajangsil Ajumma wrote: |
Fools, all of you!
It's TECTONIC, not techtonic. |
DAMMIT!
*is humbled* |
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the saint
Joined: 09 Dec 2003
Location: not there yet...
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| Posted: Sat Jun 25, 2005 3:57 pm Post subject: |
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| joe_doufu wrote: |
I believe India is more or less walled in by huge mountains (a result of its tectonic place smashing the hell out of that sissy Eurasian plate) which had the historic effect of making India a different "world" that was unified as an empire but separate from its neighbors. |
India was never unified as an Empire. Contrary to popular belief, even the British failed to unify all of India under their controld. Come independence, subversive elements in the independence movement clamoured for partition and got East and West Pakistan as a result (now known as Bangladesh and Pakistan) so that even today, there is no unified government on the subcontinent.
@Gopher, take some caution in any book that claims to be comprehensive about India in one volume. It would have to be one thick volume. I've read a few books both on the total history and parts of it and it would depend exactly on what you want.
Plain Tales from the Raj by Charles Allen is a superb tongue in cheek look at how seriously the British took themselves while in India
Romila Thapar's two volume history is comprehensive but booooring.
A very interesting read because of the period it was written in and its author is Discovery of India by old Nehru himself.
Great Mutiny: India 1857 -- by Christopher Hibbert is a totally gripping read including the black hole of Calcutta and other stories...
Freedom at Midnight by Lapierre (in fact anything by Lapierre on anything IMHO)
Ghandi's autobiography does contain a lot of historical detail and is interesting as it was written largely during Ghandi's fight for independence and so obviously coloured by that. It isn't your traditional "history" book though.
Finally, John Keay's India: a history is probably the most acclaimed single volume history you can find. It ain't no pocketbook though
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Free World
Joined: 01 Apr 2005
Location: Drake Hotel
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| Posted: Sat Jun 25, 2005 4:16 pm Post subject: Re: geography... i have a long way to go |
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| Hagwon Muppet wrote: |
If the brightest people in the US have never heard of one of Europe's major cities then I think we can safely assume that their geography is a bit crappy.
I'm sure plenty people on here would be condemning kindy kids for never having heard of Minnesota or Philadelphia. |
1) Gothenburg is no longer one of Europe's major cities.
2) Who the hell would condemn Korean kindergarten kids for not knowing the states and major cities in the US? |
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Free World
Joined: 01 Apr 2005
Location: Drake Hotel
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| Posted: Sat Jun 25, 2005 4:21 pm Post subject: |
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| joe_doufu wrote: |
| Hagwon Muppet wrote: |
| Why on Earth would Europe not be considered a separate continent from Asia and yet South America be considered separate from North? |
Look at the map... Asia and Europe are just one big piece of rock. The "boundary" is imaginary. So, somebody who is not a racist wouldn't see them as two separate continents. I agree that the same could be said about N/S America. I prefer to consider myself "American". |
I think the boundary is a large mountain range, not imaginary. That's why part of Russia is European and the rest is Asian. |
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Gopher
Joined: 04 Jun 2005
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| Posted: Sat Jun 25, 2005 6:59 pm Post subject: |
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[deleted]
Last edited by Gopher on Sun Jun 18, 2006 2:42 pm; edited 1 time in total |
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the saint
Joined: 09 Dec 2003
Location: not there yet...
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| Posted: Sun Jun 26, 2005 1:40 am Post subject: |
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| Free World wrote: |
I think the boundary is a large mountain range, not imaginary. That's why part of Russia is European and the rest is Asian. |
Well yes you're right. But how far do the Urals extend south? Certainly gets a bit difficult when you hit the Black Sea so a bit of grace would season your answer a bit. That's why Turkey was referred to as Asia Minor though now it is set on attempting to join the EU... not the AU.
Gopher... no problem, glad you liked it. Miss having someone to talk more than backpacking about India with. |
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Ya-ta Boy
Joined: 16 Jan 2003
Location: Established in 1994
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| Posted: Sun Jun 26, 2005 3:30 am Post subject: |
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I'll admit that I'm kind of a map geek. I enjoy looking at maps and seeing what is 'there'.
When I was teaching high school history I found out something very shocking. If you give an outline map of some country to the students to fill in, and then give it again on the test, the maps need to be the same size. Why? Because a slew of people are weak in spatial relationships and can't recognize that the different size maps are of the same place. It's weird, but true.
I was startled by the argument made earlier on this thread that globalization has reduced people's need to understand geography. I think just the opposite. With news and weather reports coming in from all over the world, I think it's shocking that people don't know more about where places are. It's my conviction that there is a set of facts that are basic to a good education. People may quibble about what some of the facts are, but there is no debate on most of them. For example, I think every educated person should know Italy is in southern Europe and Rome is its capital. (I'm wondering if the Korean kids couldn't find Taiwan because they didn't know Taiwan = Taiman.)
Anyway, as English teachers we can use geography a lot when we teach comparatives and superlatives. There are lots of little geographical facts easily available on the internet. Geography is also good to use when practicing question forms. Country names and nationalities are also good for practicing the changing stress in syllables: Canada vs Canadian. And most importantly of all, we can use geography to squelch the notion that Korea is the only country with 4 seasons. Talk about using language for subversion! |
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matthewwoodford
Joined: 01 Oct 2003
Location: Location, location, location.
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| Posted: Sun Jun 26, 2005 4:44 am Post subject: |
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| The Europe/Asia distinction goes back to the Ancient Greeks, dunnit. |
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