curse my metal body! i wasn't fast enough!

[cmshaw]

today's random frustration: world history. specifically, medieval european/asian/north african history from about 1200-1900 and my lack of knowledge thereof. see, normally i have only generalized fault to find with my american public school education, but world history is a wide patch of quicksand -- i keep forgetting how little i know.

Comments

[ellen_fremedon]

1600s: various colonists spring into being on the far side of the atlantic ocean, possibly in holland like tulips, and migrate over.

*loves*

Also-- try the three (I think, unless he's come out with another one) extant volumes of Larry Gonick's A Cartoon History of the World. It only goes up to the beginning of the Renaissance, so far, but it's really a good, easy-to-follow history (in the sense of having strong narrative lines, not of being dumbed down.) I could bring mine to FMA tomorrow if you want to borrow them.

[cmshaw]

oh, are those the cartoons that start at first the earth cooled and then the dinosaurs came? i loved the first volume when i was a kid but i've never seen the other two!

[darthfox]

first the earth cooled. and then the dinosaurs came! but they got too big and fat, so they all died, and turned into oil -- and then the arabs came, and they all bought mercedes-benzes!

that's one of the airplane! movies, from the 70's -- is it actually an allusion to a cartoon history of the world? [dies]

[ellen_fremedon]

No, alas-- the first cartoon history of the world didn't come out until I was in high school.

[flambeau]

What an utterly fascinating post. I'm sure you won't be surprised to hear that history as taught to kids in Sweden doesn't exactly look like that.

Love the spontaneously generating ships...

[cmshaw]

I'm sure you won't be surprised to hear that history as taught to kids in Sweden doesn't exactly look like that.

heh. i'd imagine not!

Love the spontaneously generating ships...

*grin* really, though, there's never a sense that they came from somewhere.

[cimness]

even though my own american history lessons were not QUITE this impoverished, this made me laugh like a loon. and yes, such a strong sense of recognition! ahahhahaha.

[cmshaw]

i may be overstating the case a little, but only a little. :)

[jgesteve]

in that it spontaneously generated westward-sailing ships

Absotively datlowenesque!

[cmshaw]

he's contagious!

[valarltd]

I love the notion! I think I'll do it.

[cmshaw]

hee! scary. :)

[cmshaw]

oh, that sort of blind "tell me everything" request never gets good results from me. they'd put me down in the sty for the pig-ignorant folk!