Ocean Motion.

Alright, here's the deal with that survey from yesterday. I was reading an article about sea-mounts being destroyed by over-fishing and got to thinking about oceans. I thought there were five (Because I know there are seven continents and there's two less oceans than continents. Shut-up, that's how I remember things.) but I couldn't really think of the fifth. Antarctic seemed the likely culprit, but that was just an educated guess. Somewhat embarrassed at my lack of very basic oceanographic knowledge I headed over to Wikipedia to slake my interest.

I would have been right if I'd been completing a test on the oceans in middle school. (Probably the last time such material was examined) However in 2000 oceanographers got together and changed Antarctic to Southern. What? They should not be allowed to change facts that were basic knowledge in my primary school education. I mean, sure if I'd been taught a geocentric view, I'd want them to change that; but something like this really makes me question the point to learning all that material. How many tidbits of information do I have stored away that aren't correct anymore, just cause a scientist renamed something?

The worst part about this is that I'm not sure if I knew that Southern was an ocean or not. I read it and it seems familiar, but the more I think about it, the more I'm sure that's just because one of the oceans on Pern was the Southern Ocean. (the others being Eastern, Western and Ring Sea) So I asked a few people and set up that survey to see if anyone else had the same problem. Spectacularly, no one else thought of the Southern Ocean (except for Dee two, who admitted to cheating) and my inferiority complex has been assuaged.

Bonus Story:
Yeah, I know I gave away the first answer in the survey with the second question. I'm fine with that cause the first one wasn't really the point of the exercise, it was just to get you thinking about oceans. It reminds me of a pop-quiz I had in elementary school once.

The teacher said to read the instructions (which was usual) but the first instruction was to read all the questions before beginning. I found that odd and so I did. The second to last question said to not complete the quiz and to put your pencil down and fold your hands. So I sat there shooting looks at the two other kids who had obviously read all the questions trying not to laugh while the rest of the class scribbled away.

In about 4 or 5 minutes the first person started erasing. It was like a rain storm coming across the water; drops building one at a time until all you could hear was erasing and blowing the shavings away. It all culminated when one of the slower kids reached the end and decried loudly "Oh what the HELL?" The entire class burst out laughing and the teacher got to give his little speech on the importance of following directions. I know, I was being subjugated and trained into a mindless drone, but shit, that was funny.