Courtesy of Access Asia, here’s are a couple of global crisis jokes:

Question: What's the difference between an investment banker and a pizza?

Answer: A pizza can feed a family of four.

And

Question: What is the capital of Iceland?

Answer: About £3.50

More humor over the transom from the Asia Foundation’s e-newsletter, which notes that Indonesians are over the moon with Barack Obama’s election triumph in the United States, mainly because Obama spent part of his childhood in Indonesia, where his mother was a research social scientist.

The joke goes: “Obama was able to win against all odds after only spending four years in Indonesia  –  imagine what he could have done if he had spent his whole life here.”

On a more serious note, I spent much of the day after the U.S. election on the phone calling around the region for reaction (here’s our story). I looked on the internet for where people might be gathering to watch U.S. election results. One place was the Mustang Saloon & Grill in Auckland, New Zealand. So I called.

A Californian named Troy Barsten (from Sacramento) got on the line first, then he handed the phone over to Calum McKenzie, a Kiwi who helps write dining guides in New Zealand and Australia. One of the things McKenzie said about Obama’s election grabbed my attention: “The Maoris and the Pacific Islanders are going to take inspiration from him.”

I also phoned the Flying Pan restaurant in Hong Kong where TVs were tuned to the election, and got Mark Tjhung, an Australian, on the phone. He’s a 27-year-old writer for TimeOut, the listings magazine.

“It’s a fantastic moment for the world to see how a country with widely known racial issues has progressed this far,” Tjhung said, adding that the racial element would probably have wide impact.

So my own question is: How much will minority groups feel empowered by Obama’s victory, and how might it change their behavior?