I am inching my way out of the navigational deadlock I’ve been stuck in for over a week. Today I made 10 miles of progress in the right direction, and have finally broken out of that tiny square patch of ocean that I’ve been criss-crossing for what feels like forever.

10 miles may not sound very much reward for over 12 hours of rowing, but compared with the sum total of 18 miles of progress during the previous 7 days, it’s positively supersonic. The wind and currents are still not helping me, but at least they are not hindering me as much as they were. I may yet make it off this ocean before I’m ninety years old.

As I was rowing, I was listening to “Galileo’s Dream” by Kim Stanley Robinson. It’s startling to think that less than 400 years ago (i.e. very recently in terms of European history) a man could be accused of heresy for saying that the Earth moves around the Sun, rather than vice versa. The powers-that-be at that time felt that the authority of the Bible, and hence their own authority, was threatened by this new theory, so in the face of all the evidence they forced him to recant.

Powerful authorities vehemently denying a theory even though it is based on strong scientific proof…. it could never happen nowadays, could it? 🙂

Other Stuff:

Rather a lovely night on the ocean, with flashes of phosphorescence going off as I dipped my oars, or as a dorado stirred the waters. Stars above, and stars below….

Many thanks to Helen Outen for the jokes. As a preacher’s daughter (or in fact, preachers’ daughter, as both parents were preachers), I appreciated them very much!

Jay – the Perseids hike sounds fantastic. If I could, I’d be there for the wine and cheesecake alone! Come to think of it, I don’t even like cheesecake, but right now it would just make a really nice change from the dried rations!

Hawk – teehee! Thanks for the smile. Good one!

Aimee – your joke was a classic. And how incredibly appropriate! In case other people didn’t see it, here it is again:

A guy gets shipwrecked. When he wakes up, he’s on a beach. The sand is purple. He can’t believe it. The sky is purple. He walks around a bit and sees that there is purple grass, purple birds and purple fruit on the purple trees. He’s shocked when he finds that his skin is starting to turn purple too. “Oh no!” he says. “I think I’ve been marooned!”

Quote for the day: “People seem not to see that their opinion of the world is also a confession of their character.” (Ralph Waldo Emerson)

Sponsored Miles: Thanks once again to Doug Grandt, and to an anonymous donor, for today’s miles.

20 Comments

  • Roz! What heresy! Repent.  The earth is flat! The sun revolves around the earth. Global warming does not exist!  The proper authorities will be contacting you shortly.   

  • Rather a lovely night on the ocean, with flashes of phosphorescence going off as I dipped my oars, or as a dorado stirred the waters. Stars above, and stars below….
    Love it!

    Row radiantly, Roz!

  • Roz, Have you heard of the Starfish Story?

    One day an old man sees a little girl awkwardly dancing on the beach.
    (to Hawaii Five-0:)

    As he approaches he realizes she is picking up and throwing somthing into the ocean curious he asked, “What are you doing?”

    Not missing a beat, she answers, “Throwing starfish back into the ocean. The tide is out and if I don’t throw them in, they will die.”

    Kindly the man replies, “Don’t be silly, there are thousands of starfish, you can’t make a difference.”

    The little girl bends down, picks up another starfish and throws it into the water. She turns to the man, tilts her head and with a little squint, smiling says, “I made a difference for that one.”

    Original story by Loren Eisley
    Have a wonderful day! I doubt anyone has stars coming down to greet them, biolumenescent plankton to wave hello, dolphins flipping with joy in the foreground, and dear friends to energetically keep one company… such as you.Only the most deserving few will ever see/feel/touch that. I(we) bow to you, smile and send cheers! Good Job! We are proud of you! Row Roz Row!
    ~Jay

  • Today it is evolution that the church is preaching against: Ken Ham, his playground and his books are quite interesting. In Ken Ham’s book “THE LIE: EVOLUTION” Ken writes “Evolution is wrong..its fruits are lawlessness, immorality, impurity, abortion, racism, a mocking of God, hatred, Nazism, pornography, homosexuality, wrath, uncleanness, fornication, envying, murder, witchcraft, drunkenness, adultery, strife, drugs, male chauvinism, divorce, euthanasia, fascism, canabalism, and paganism.” also “nakedness”, “meat eating”, ” the earth came first not the sun”, and “the universe was created in six of our 24 hour days.”
    Not bad for “just a theory” to accomplish that much!

    • OMG Rita!  That’s a real cool depiction of a flat earth.
      That makes it look like Roz is so close to the edge!
      Roz better be careful she doesn’t make a wrong left turn.

      By the way, thanks for the mention. Having sponsored specific miles, I can just about see where Roz is … not precisely, but roughly … so nice to see her making progress as my miles tick off ;-D

      Row really vicariously, Rita!

  • Hi Roz,

    We do not live in nearly as civilized times as we believe. Indeed, if the agents of the Holy Inquisition could be allowed to make their own defense in court against our allegedly superior modern humanity we’d be hard put to defend our calamitous wars, weapons that would appal Ghengis Kahn, genocides, and ruthless exploitation of the Earth’s resources. The Inquisition couldn’t keep up with the 20th century even on a percentage basis if they dispensed with the torture, trials and questioning and rushed the persecuted straight to the stake. The 21st century isn’t looking much better. As for persecution, the only real improvement the modern era brings us is the increased number of heresies you can be accused of, authorities provoked by them, and punishments suffered.

    Anyhoo, I’m glad you’re making progress. I understand the discretion but it’s very frustrating not being able to see how you’re doing. I keep getting the feeling you’re just a few miles from Australia.

    Cheers!
    Eric

  • Hi Roz, seems like a day for long comments. I got this from a friend and through it appropriate for all our efforts.
    The
    Green Thing In
    the line at the store, the cashier told an older woman that she
    should bring her own grocery bags because plastic bags weren’t good
    for the environment. The
    woman apologized to him and explained, “We didn’t have the green
    thing back in my day.” The
    clerk responded, “That’s our problem today. Your generation did
    not care enough to save our environment.” He
    was right — our generation didn’t have the green thing in its day.
    Back then, we returned milk bottles, soda bottles and beer bottles to
    the store. The store sent them back to the plant to be washed and
    sterilized and refilled, so it could use the same bottles over
    and over. So they really were recycled. But
    we didn’t have the green thing back in our day. We
    walked up stairs, because we didn’t have an escalator in every store
    and office building. We walked to the grocery store and didn’t climb
    into a 300-horsepower machine every time we had to go two blocks. But
    she was right. We didn’t have the green thing in our day. Back
    then, we washed the baby’s diapers because we didn’t have the
    throw-away kind. We dried clothes on a line, not in an energy
    gobbling machine burning up 220 volts — wind and solar power really
    did dry the clothes. Kids got hand-me-down clothes from their
    brothers or sisters, not always brand-new clothing. But that old lady
    is right; we didn’t have the green thing back in our day. Back
    then, we had one TV, or radio, in the house — not a TV in every
    room. And the TV had a small screen the size of a handkerchief
    (remember them?), not a screen the size of the state of Montana. In
    the kitchen, we blended and stirred by hand because we didn’t have
    electric machines to do everything for us. When
    we packaged a fragile item to send in the mail, we used a wadded up
    old newspaper to cushion it, not Styrofoam or plastic bubble wrap.
    Back
    then, we didn’t fire up an engine and burn gasoline just to cut the
    lawn. We used a push mower that ran on human power. We exercised by
    working so we didn’t need to go to a health club to run on treadmills
    that operate on electricity. But she’s right; we didn’t have the
    green thing back then. We
    drank from a fountain when we were thirsty instead of using a plastic
    bottle every time we had a drink of water. We refilled writing pens
    with ink instead of buying a new pen and tossing out the old plastic
    pen, and we replaced the razor blades in a razor instead of throwing
    away the whole plastic razor just because the blade got dull. But we
    didn’t have the green thing back then. Back
    then, people took the streetcar or a bus and kids rode their bikes to
    school or walked instead of turning their moms into a 24-hour taxi
    service. We had one electrical outlet in a room, not an entire bank
    of sockets to power a dozen appliances. And we didn’t need a
    computerized gadget to receive a signal beamed from satellites 2,000
    miles out in space in order to find the nearest pizza joint. But
    isn’t it sad the current generation laments how wasteful we old folks
    were just because we didn’t have the green thing back then? I
    guess this is why we need to still be reminded about the green thing!

  • I just swiped this from your friends at ClimateRide… It could use some maroon paint… come back to land soon! Row Roz Row!

  • You may not remember, Roz, there was strong scientific proof of global cooling in the late 60’s and early 70’s. We were threatened with the Great Lakes freezing over and Britain becoming uninhabitable due to glaciers. There were ‘deniers’ then, too!

  • Never mind 400 years ago …..2011 years ago the son of god thought the earth was flat! IF he knew otherwise he sure as heck didn’t let on.
    AND! Before that the ONLY person to go “around” the world was that other famous rower/sailer Noah! Collecting two of EVERY living creature in his little wooden boat. So only Noah knew the truth! Bet he kept real stum about his findings! Then when the water receded the poor chap had to go round once again to drop off ALL the creatures back to their home lands! No compass, sextant, GPS or even a map….. and you think you have a ‘task’ Roz!
    It’s ‘true’!!! Really!!!! OR! Could it have been a story written by a long ago relative of Walt Dysney?
    The world must be flat Roz otherwise you’d be trying to row up a waterfall!

  • Hey Roz! I haven’t been to your website in quite a while, so I’m out of the loop on what you’ve been up to.

    I see you’re on another giddy adventure across the ocean. Here’s some good luck and positive energy for the rest of your journey and beyond. 🙂

    Thanks for sharing!

    Oh, and it appears that people share jokes with you on here. If I think of a good one, then I’ll post it to you. 🙂

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