Day 17 – No land in sight

Sept 14th

Interesting tid bits of the day
After a delightfully long sleep, I had classes in the morning and then did some more reading for class. I learned that the letters on a typewriter were specifically designed to make a person type as slow as possible. According to Guns, Germs and Steel, typewriters would get jammed if people typed too fast, so they clustered the most utilized letters on the left where people’s less-dominant hand is, as well as spread important letters over the keyboard. Apparently, scientists have also engineered a new keyboard that is 95% more efficient, but hasn’t been accepted by society because the original keyboard is too embedded in society. Interesting, right? In my Psych of Food reading, we learned that women in Africa eat dirt and clay (called geogaphy) because of nutrient deficiencies. The body naturally knows what nutrients are missing from its diet and consumes those items have are rich in it even if it is soap or paint chips (hence babies eating walls, etc). Weird.

Freezing at sea
The rest of the afternoon was spent on the deck with friends. Since we are in the middle of the Atlantic, it is getting really windy and cold, making sunbathing impossible. Some diehards are still out there with goose bumps, but I just go out bundled in sweatshirts and sweatpants. Our cabin at night gets pretty cold too. I’m so glad I brought an extra blanket. I would hate to end up in the morgue on the ship. (Yes, there is a morgue and a jail onboard!)

Highs and Lows
My “high” was figuring out a way to smuggle four brownies out of the dining hall, using only my body! My “low” was watching the gruesome movie Aminstad before bed with Julie.