“Read for class” is once again a fixture on my To Do list. Who needs it? Yes, I only have one class this semester, and yes, it’s just a one hour seminar on whatever the student in charge of class that day wants it to be about, but I AM SO OVER CLASSES. I’ll try not to complain. Things could be worse. I could be stuck driving two hours every week with people I don’t like to take Laboratory Techniques in Molecular Algal Physiology, and the course I’m taking was very generously created to avoid just that. But still, scheduled reading bugs me. So now I’m procrastinating all the reading by typing this rant because my wrist hurts too much to type anything productive. The wrist is a sleeping injury. I feel like the only thing to do is get back on the horse by going home for a nap.
Question of the day:
The Mediterranean Sea: ocean or sea?
My first thought was ocean, but that seemed wrong. It’s definitely what I was taught in third grade geography, but you know about the quality of geography classes in the South Carolina public education system. I looked it up. Wikipedia seems to think there’s some debate on the subject. Since the Straight of Gibraltar is over oceanic crust, it can arguably be called an ocean because it is connected to the other oceans by ocean (did you follow that?). On the other hand, it’s really quite enclosed. Also, there’s the fact that it’s called the Mediterranean Sea. Food for thought.
The reason I mention it is that I was just about to claim that I might get to add a whole new ocean to my list. I’ve seen the Atlantic and Pacific of course, and there’s a possibility that I’ll be going to France in April where I will be just 10 km from the Mediterranean Sea. If the planets align and my committee doesn’t foil my plans, I will of course travel the 10 km (by foot if I have to) to dunk myself in a whole new body of water. Details will follow when plans become definite. For now lets hope that my committee is a little off its game.
2 comments:
I think it used to be an ocean (Tethys) but since it's so enclosed (teeny tiny Gibraltar opening) it's considered a sea.
P.S. me=jealous that you might get to take a dip in it.
I'm almost with you, except that I kind of like the "connected to ocean by ocean and therefore also ocean" argument. Also, there's the fact that Tethys was also called a sea despite probably being an ocean. I still don't know what to do with any of this information.
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