Differences between countries, cultural and otherwise.
Pages
| Author | Topic: Differences between countries, cultural and otherwise. |
|---|---|
|
E Equals MC What!!!!
Member # 5491
|
written Friday, June 24 2005 20:32
Profile
Homepage
We live in many varied places. Here, we discuss the little differences between them. Let's start with money, since that's different just about everywhere. The largest note in Australian currency is the $100 bill, which is green. I've only ever seen a couple of these. You can't get them from Automatic Teller Machines, and they are hardly ever used. Much, much more common is the yellow $50 bill. $20 notes are red, $10 notes are blue, and $5 notes are pink. They are all plastic. We have "gold" $2 and $1 coins, the former of which has an aboriginal man's face on the 'tails' side, and the latter has kangaroos. We have a "silver" 50 cent coin, which is larger than either of the dollar coins, and polygonal rather than round. I think it's got 16 sides. Typically, it depicts a kangaroo and an emu with the Australian Coat of Arms, but both it and the $1 coin often get special images for one reason or another. The other coins get left alone. We have a 20 cent coin (no "quarter") with a platypus on it, a 10 cent coin with a picture of a lyrebird, and an echidna on our 5 cent coin. We do not call them "nickels" or "dimes", unlike Americans. All of them bear an image of Queen Elizabeth II on the 'heads' side. Voting is compulsory. You can be fined if you don't vote. Elections happen every three years. Our two main political parties are the Labor party (centre-left) and the Liberal/National party coalition (centre-right). Currently, every state has a Labor government in power, and yet the coalition has been in government in Federal parliament for an extremely long time - 13 years or something like that. Basically, I can only vaguely remember a time when John Howard wasn't Prime Minister (we don't have term limits). [ Friday, June 24, 2005 20:47: Message edited by: Ash Lael ] -------------------- Sex is easier than love. Posts: 1861 | Registered: Friday, February 11 2005 08:00 |
|
Guardian
Member # 3521
|
written Friday, June 24 2005 20:41
Profile
That thread title doesn't seem at all fitting to the content of the post. An area's culture cannot be adequately described by simply discussing the nature of its currency and laws. You have to dig deeper than that. That said, I can describe the American currency system for those who are unfamiliar with it. In terms of bills, they are made out of specially formulated paper here, and are all a similar pale-green shade. The higher-value bills ($20 and up) are treated with special inks to create watermark effects and the like to stymie counterfeiters. In terms of the faces on the bills: $1: George Washington $2 (quite rare): Thomas Jefferson $5: Abraham Lincoln $10: Alexander Hamilton $20: Andrew Jackson $50: Ulysses S. Grant $100: Benjamin Franklin Bills larger than $100 are being phased out by the U.S. Treasury, I believe. It's rare to see a bill of larger value than $100. Where coins are concerned, I'm not sure of the exact metal composition of the different coins. Perhaps someone more well-versed can cover that information. The faces on coins: 1 cent (penny): Abraham Lincoln 5 cents (nickel): Thomas Jefferson 10 cents (dime): Franklin D. Roosevelt 25 cents (quarter): George Washington 50 cents (half-dollar): John F. Kennedy 1 dollar (silvery color, with distinct edges and sides): Susan B. Anthony, famed women's suffragist. 1 dollar (newer coin, golden color, larger, circular): Sacagewea, a historical Native American woman. There are also a few specialty coins. One that comes to mind is the Mercury Dime, an ordinary-sized dime with a portrait of the Greek God Hermes (winged helmet and all) instead of Roosevelt. I'll leave it to others to describe our voting system and governmental organization. [ Friday, June 24, 2005 20:52: Message edited by: Stugri-La ] -------------------- Stughalf "Delusion arises from anger. The mind is bewildered by delusion. Reasoning is destroyed when the mind is bewildered. One falls down when reasoning is destroyed."- The Bhagavad Gita. Posts: 1798 | Registered: Sunday, October 5 2003 07:00 |
|
E Equals MC What!!!!
Member # 5491
|
written Friday, June 24 2005 20:46
Profile
Homepage
Well, yeah, it's a general sort of title for a general sort of subject. I just picked a few easy ones that I knew were different from the UK/USA to get started. Edit: Fixed for you. Edit 2: See, we've got an actual cultural difference already. The whole idea of having political leaders as heroes or even someone to be admired and/or respected is very odd to most Australians. Here in Canberra there's a couple of stands at the Manuka football oval named after past Prime Ministers, but that's because it's Canberra, not because anyone cares. And that's about as far as it goes. [ Friday, June 24, 2005 21:07: Message edited by: Ash Lael ] -------------------- Sex is easier than love. Posts: 1861 | Registered: Friday, February 11 2005 08:00 |
|
Infiltrator
Member # 878
|
written Friday, June 24 2005 21:04
Profile
just checked the exchange rate and found that 1 us dollar is equal to about 1.3 australian dollars. So its interesting that australia makes 3 different coins bigger than the biggest currently made us coin. also i see you didn't mention a 1 cent coin. How long ago did they stop making those? I suspect many countries have discontinued coins with greater value than our 1 cent coins currently are. -------------------- Warning: Posts may contain misspellinks and typo.s Posts: 409 | Registered: Sunday, March 31 2002 08:00 |
|
E Equals MC What!!!!
Member # 5491
|
written Friday, June 24 2005 21:10
Profile
Homepage
We used to have 1 and 2 cent coins. They were phased out when I was quite young... 14-15 years ago, I think. -------------------- Sex is easier than love. Posts: 1861 | Registered: Friday, February 11 2005 08:00 |
|
Shaper
Member # 247
|
written Friday, June 24 2005 21:11
Profile
Homepage
Canadian Quid, Brown 100, satellite space theme and Sir Robert Borden Green 20, Queen on one side a loon on the other. Purple 10, Sir John A Mcdonald, and War Memorial+ Flanders fields Poem Blue 5. Hockey scene and Sir Wilfrid Laurier <2$> toonie Polar Bear <1$> loonie Loon 25 pents Elk 10 Blue Nose 5 Beaver 1 maple leaf all have Queen on face. Political parties: New Democratic Party, Liberal Party, Conservative Part, Green Party, Bloc Quebecois, plus all the other small ones Marxist Leninist party, marijuana party, communist party workless party etc. Somebody finish Canada I'm done no more typing today ahhh. -------------------- I stop rubber at 160km/h, five times a week. CANUCKS RESPEK! My Style The Knight Between Posts. Posts: 2395 | Registered: Friday, November 2 2001 08:00 |
|
...b10010b...
Member # 869
|
written Friday, June 24 2005 21:13
Profile
Homepage
Australian 1 and 2 cent coins were phased out relatively recently -- late 90s or early 2000s. They're still legal tender, but only in groups that add up to a multiple of 5 cents. They're coppery in colour, and the 2 cent coin is quite a bit larger than the 1 cent coin. [ Friday, June 24, 2005 21:14: Message edited by: Thuryl ] -------------------- My BoE Page Bandwagons are fun! Roots Hunted! Posts: 9973 | Registered: Saturday, March 30 2002 08:00 |
|
E Equals MC What!!!!
Member # 5491
|
written Friday, June 24 2005 21:16
Profile
Homepage
Really? I thought it was longer ago than that. In fact, I'm SURE that it was well before the 2000's, in Queensland at least. -------------------- Sex is easier than love. Posts: 1861 | Registered: Friday, February 11 2005 08:00 |
|
Infiltrator
Member # 878
|
written Friday, June 24 2005 21:20
Profile
quote:I don't see how you call that a "specialty coin", thats just a really old design. I don't think any of the current designs (or before changes in the last few years of nickles and quarters) were from before the 20th century. In the 20th century there were 2 different pennies (3 tail designs), 3 nickels, 3 dimes, 3 quarters, 4 half dollars, and 5 dollar coins (including the 2000 one). Half dollars were not made from 1978 on (or in 1975), dollar coins were not made from 1936-1970 and after 1979 until 2000. Lincoln pennies date from 1909 (lincoln memorial tail from 1959), Jefferson nickels 1938, roosevelt dimes from 1946 on. No person has ever appeared on US currency while still alive. -------------------- Warning: Posts may contain misspellinks and typo.s Posts: 409 | Registered: Sunday, March 31 2002 08:00 |
|
...b10010b...
Member # 869
|
written Friday, June 24 2005 21:21
Profile
Homepage
Seems I'm off by a decade. quote:-- from the Royal Australian Mint's website. -------------------- My BoE Page Bandwagons are fun! Roots Hunted! Posts: 9973 | Registered: Saturday, March 30 2002 08:00 |
|
Infiltrator
Member # 878
|
written Friday, June 24 2005 21:24
Profile
Notice the large number of parties listed by Canada. In the US, there can only be two real parties as there is only 1 winner in any election, rather than as some countries have seats in a legislature awarded by proportion. There are a few minor parties but no one takes them seriously and in most elections they get less than 10% combined of the votes and hold no offices, so all they can do is make the person from the major parties whose views LEAST resemble their own more likely to win. -------------------- Warning: Posts may contain misspellinks and typo.s Posts: 409 | Registered: Sunday, March 31 2002 08:00 |
|
Shaper
Member # 5450
|
written Friday, June 24 2005 21:43
Profile
Homepage
I have seen a few 1 and 2c coins around home a couple of times. I can't really add much more, as Ash and Thuryl hae covered most bases. Football is our main sport, with 16 teams competing in the AFl. The teams are: Adelaide Crows Essendon Bombers Port Adelaide Power Carlton Blues Brisbane Lions (Formerly known as Fitzroy Bears/Brisbane Bears) Sydney West Coast Eagles Fremantle Dockers Collingwood Magpies Hawthorn Hawks Geelong Cats Melbourne Demons Richmond Tigers Western Bulldogs North Melbourne Kangaroos They play 22 rounds, and the top 8 make the finals. The Grand Final, or Granny, is played in September. Each year, there are a couple of international Gaelic Football matches against Ireland, and the top 20 or so players from the AFL are picked for the 'All Australian' side. There is also Rugby, but I don't really know much about that. -------------------- I'll put a Spring in your step. Polaris Posts: 2396 | Registered: Saturday, January 29 2005 08:00 |
|
Infiltrator
Member # 878
|
written Friday, June 24 2005 21:51
Profile
To clear up confusion: when someone from outside the US says "football", they are not talking about what we call football. They are talking about soccer. For those unfamiliar with what people in the US call football, I hear rugby resemebles it in a number of ways. -------------------- Warning: Posts may contain misspellinks and typo.s Posts: 409 | Registered: Sunday, March 31 2002 08:00 |
|
E Equals MC What!!!!
Member # 5491
|
written Friday, June 24 2005 21:52
Profile
Homepage
Football is the main sport of the SOUTHERN parts of Australia, Victoria in particular. Believe me, in can be tough being an AFL fan in Queensland. And of course, there's cricket, which everyone likes, but generally not as passionately. EDIT: Football, in Australia, is not soccer either. Rugby bears a certain amount of resemblance to Gridiron, but is more free-flowing and the players aren't covered with padding and helmets. [ Friday, June 24, 2005 21:54: Message edited by: Ash Lael ] -------------------- Sex is easier than love. Posts: 1861 | Registered: Friday, February 11 2005 08:00 |
|
Infiltrator
Member # 878
|
written Friday, June 24 2005 21:54
Profile
I pay little attention to sports, but I believe by far the 4 most popular sports in the US, (not in this order) are baseball, football (again, not what you call football), basketball, and hockey. -------------------- Warning: Posts may contain misspellinks and typo.s Posts: 409 | Registered: Sunday, March 31 2002 08:00 |
|
Lifecrafter
Member # 3171
|
written Friday, June 24 2005 23:56
Profile
Homepage
Yea, Rugby is just a lot less about tactics. You also need to be of smaller build (for the backs) and largeish build but still reasonably fit (eg. not as big as Gridiron blocks) for a foreward. Instead of stopping when it all ends in a pile (as I believe Gridiron does) you just ruck them with your studs (rucking being tearing at them with your spiked boots by a wiping motion, and studs being the spikes on the boots for grip) until the ball is free. Also line out occur when the ball goes out (eg. a player from each side is lifted into the air and have to contend for the ball) and scrums happen when play fully stops. Also the goal posts are in the shape of H instead of Y. My country is just pretty much Austrialia except Maoris instead of Abborigionies and a woman who looks like a man for a prime minister. Posts: 776 | Registered: Friday, July 4 2003 07:00 |
|
E Equals MC What!!!!
Member # 5491
|
written Saturday, June 25 2005 00:00
Profile
Homepage
Hey, there are important differences. For example, here we name the mountains instead of the plains. :) -------------------- Sex is easier than love. Posts: 1861 | Registered: Friday, February 11 2005 08:00 |
|
Lifecrafter
Member # 3171
|
written Saturday, June 25 2005 00:42
Profile
Homepage
Yea, I know. I live on a large hill, which remains nameless. And yet where I go to school is a large flat area and so it gets named. What is the point in that? Posts: 776 | Registered: Friday, July 4 2003 07:00 |
|
Shaper
Member # 5450
|
written Saturday, June 25 2005 01:08
Profile
Homepage
With Maoris, do the more important people of the community live higher up on a hill, or am I just imagining it? I know a Maori. He is a lad-and-a-half. -------------------- I'll put a Spring in your step. Polaris Posts: 2396 | Registered: Saturday, January 29 2005 08:00 |
|
Lifecrafter
Member # 3171
|
written Saturday, June 25 2005 01:14
Profile
Homepage
Yea, maoris don't do all that tribal stuff much anymore. And they no longer worry about the hill thing because they rightfully sold their land ealier on (although about 5000 Maoris are trying to claim it back saying that it's theirs even though their ancestors sold it). Although when it was all Maori tradition the better clans had their little stick forts up on hills so they could see attacks etc. Not that it helped when maoris were first given guns as they wiped out 80% of their population. Posts: 776 | Registered: Friday, July 4 2003 07:00 |
|
E Equals MC What!!!!
Member # 5491
|
written Saturday, June 25 2005 01:15
Profile
Homepage
quote:Wouldn't it have something to do with the fact that you have a whole lot more bumpy bits than flat bits? -------------------- Sex is easier than love. Posts: 1861 | Registered: Friday, February 11 2005 08:00 |
|
Electric Sheep One
Member # 3431
|
written Saturday, June 25 2005 04:38
Profile
Actually it isn't just plurality-takes-all, first-past-the-post elections that make the American two party system. Canada and the United Kingdom, for two, use the same scheme, and not proportional representation of any kind. The major difference is that in the British-style parliamentary system, the executive is drawn from the leading party in the legislature. Why this would make all the difference, though, I'm not sure. Probably the real reasons are just lots of random historical factors. In most multi-party parliamentary systems, at any one time there are usually only two parties big enough to be likely to form the government. The remaining parties collect protest votes, and try to hang on until one of the major parties slips, or until there is a minority government. For in the parliamentary system, forming the executive is also first-past-the-post, and it can happen that a government holds less than half the legislative votes. Canada is in this situation right now. It means that the government has to negotiate a coalition for each bill it wants to pass. Minority governments typically don't last that long; each major party tries to use them as campaigns, hoping to look good enough to call or force a new election quickly, and get a majority, so that they can rule without effective opposition for up to five years. Minor parties live for these episodes of minority government. Knowing that their moment of influence may be brief, they fight like heck to tip as much legislation as they can towards their platform, so that they can maintain an aura of relevance through the lean years until the next minority government. But they can't afford to push too hard, because if they don't co-operate with the governing party, the government will fall and in the ensuing election the electorate will probably be annoyed enough to return a majority government, sending the small parties back into irrelevance. -------------------- It is not enough to discover how things seem to seem. We must discover how things really seem. Posts: 3335 | Registered: Thursday, September 4 2003 07:00 |
|
...b10010b...
Member # 869
|
written Saturday, June 25 2005 04:46
Profile
Homepage
I'd hardly call the UK a real multi-party system; one party always ends up with a majority in Parliament, and that party's always either Labour or the Conservatives. Australia has essentially the same parliamentary system as the UK, and only manages to have politically influential minor parties because of a peculiar tradition of voting for different parties in the Senate than one does in the House of Representatives. We'll become even more of a two-party state if the current federal government follows through on its threat to defang the Senate. [ Saturday, June 25, 2005 04:48: Message edited by: Thuryl ] -------------------- My BoE Page Bandwagons are fun! Roots Hunted! Posts: 9973 | Registered: Saturday, March 30 2002 08:00 |
|
Off With Their Heads
Member # 4045
|
written Saturday, June 25 2005 05:46
Profile
Homepage
quote:Wait, what? Time for a Google search. Aussie football is not soccer, but it looks a heck of a lot closer to rugby than to American football, judging by the first site that Google pops up. EDIT: And it's the "plurality" business that helps maintain a multi-party system. A lot of things in the U.S. require an outright majority, which pretty much kills third-parties. Also the fact that the Republicans and Democrats are two of the oldest major political parties in the world. [ Saturday, June 25, 2005 05:49: Message edited by: Manhood Typing Kelandon ] -------------------- Arancaytar: Every time you ask people to compare TM and Kel, you endanger the poor, fluffy kittens. Kelandon's Pink and Pretty Page!!: the authorized location for all things by me The Archive of all released BoE scenarios ever Posts: 7968 | Registered: Saturday, February 28 2004 08:00 |
|
This Side Towards Enemy
Member # 3098
|
written Saturday, June 25 2005 06:28
Profile
The UK has what you might call a 2.5-party system. In parliament Labour and the Conservatives are by far the biggest parties, whilst the Liberal Democrats have about 10% of the seats and around 25% of the vote. None of the other parties have very much influence at all, although the UK Independence Party has a fair amount of support amongst the Little Englander brigade. It should also be noted that Wales and Scotland also have Nationalist parties and in Northern Ireland there are an entirely different set of parties. General Elections are held every five years or so. One votes for a candidate in a constituency (of which we have about 650) and votes are counted on a First Past the Post basis. The party which obtains a majority forms the government. There is a second chamber, the House of Lords. Most of the hereditary peers have now been removed from it (although a rump of 90 of them remain) so its membership is mostly made up of Life Peers, who are appointed as such as recognition for distinguishing themselves in some way (mostly by being notable politicians retiring from the House of Commons.) The House of Lords historically obviously had a Conservative majority but the removal of hereditary peers and the fact that we've had a Labour government for nearly a decade means that this is no longer the case. In fact, I believe that Labour actually now have a majority here. This probably explains why the government does not wish to make the House of Lords more democratic. In England we have £5, £10, £20 and £50 notes. Scotland apparently has £100 notes, but I'm just going to tell you about what I myself know, not what I have to look up on Wikipedia. All notes (and coins) have a picture of the Queen on one side. The £5 note has Elizabeth Fry on one side (although up until recently it had George Stephenson instead,) the £10 note pictures Darwin, the £20 note shows Edward Elgar and the £50 note shows John Houblon, who is not a famous name by any stretch of the imagination, but he was the first head of the Bank of England so they want to keep him on and £50 notes are rarely seen and not accepted in all shops, so nobody else really cares either way. We have 1p, 2p, 5p, 10p, 20p, 50p, £1 and £2 coins. Information about them is as follows: 1p: copper, small, round, has a picture of a portcullis on it. 2p: copper, large, round, has a picture of a fleur-de-lis on it. 5p: silver, small, round, has a picture of a thistle on it. 10p: silver, large, round, has a picture of a lion on it. 20p: silver, heptagonal, small, has a picture of a rose on it. 50p: silver, heptagonal, large, has a picture of Britannia on it. £1: 'gold', mediumish, round, English ones have the royal coat of arms on them, Welsh ones have a dragon, Scottish ones have a thistle (I think) £2: bimetallic ('gold' on the outside, silver inside,) large, round. I forget what the picture is. These are less common than the others. There are also £5 coins produced as commemorative issue. I have one of the millenium issue, but they aren't used in circulation. Football (soccer or association football if you prefer) is the national game here. Cricket is played, but mostly by the middle classes and the Indian community, rugby league is still fairly popular in the north of England, rugby union is more popular in the south and growing in popularity, although still a largely middle-class sport and not likely to overtake football's popularity any time soon. -------------------- Voice of Reasonable Morality Posts: 961 | Registered: Thursday, June 12 2003 07:00 |