Wednesday, July 2, 2008

Some interesting facts...

So, I read today that every day is about 55 billionths of a second longer than the day before it. Interesting. I am still trying to wrap my head around this.

I think I'm going to try and live off of gogi berries for the rest of my life.
The gogi berry (from the Himalayas) contains, weight for weight, more iron than steak, more beta carotene than carrots, more vitamin C than oranges. I know, weight for weight a lot things have crazy statistics. Still, my mission is going to be to find some of these and take a taste. I'll keep you updated.

For all of you science and space fans: Did you know Venus is the only planet that rotates clockwise?? Probably could be one of those questions on Are You Smarter Than a Fifth Grader? I'm sorry, I'm just not a big fan of that show. It, to me, speaks volumes about the way America tries to shove as much info into one's head, have them take a test, and then they never have to worry about a large percentage again. If I had my way, people would not learn everything from books, but through experiencing the world. Seriously though. It reminds me of a part of this amazing speech one of the professors on Semester at Sea (aka SAS) gave. Part of it went like this:

"
But their [the founders of SAS] vision includes the idea that education can be as epic as Homer’s Odyssey: the great Buddha in the mist at Lantau Island, Varanasi at Shiva’s birthday, the killing fields in Cambodia, the Cu Chi Tunnels in Vietnam, the prison cell on Robben Island that held Nelson Mandela, the Slave Church in old Salvador, not to mention the paroxysm of sight, sound and apocalyptic yellow and green that is Brazilian soccer Semester-at Sea was born in this proposition: the sense of place is irreplaceable.... Voyages are no guarantee of new vision. But just for a moment, when the usual cultural cues are missing or rearranged, when the full force of liberal education is pressed up against our prejudices, when what we are seeing no longer matches what we are feeling, transformation may be possible."

That Dr. Larry Meredith has had one heck of an influence on life in general for me. If you want to read the speech in its entirety, let me know and I would love to email it to you. If you have ever traveled anywhere and experienced life outside the US and then were forced back to the US, it is an appreciation you too will share.

**Artie, there was also another speech about learning by experiencing the world that was phenomenal from SAS, but I just can't find it. It may have been one of Fessler's. I can't find the "Come on in, the water's fine" speech. Do you have it??*


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