Monday, February 9, 2009

Dear Jules Verne

Not every aquatic mammal is a cetacean.

Whales, yes. Dolphins, yes. Manatees, no.

(Also, in 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea, I think you called sharks, fish, and squid cetaceans. That's just not possible! Squid aren't even vertebrates. Didn't you have Wikipedia?)

Sincerely,

A Concerned Reader

P.S. Not that Jules cares, but I've finished the socks from the copyright workshop, made a scarf, and am about 3/5 of the way through another pair of socks, for the friend of my mom's who watched Moppet for a while at Christmas. Since the friend and her feet are in Ithaca, I'm not sure they're the right size--they match the measurements I asked for, but there's so much more to socks than foot circumference and length, ankle circumference, and cuff height.

P.P.S. Kevin ran a marathon this weekend--the Myrtle Beach Marathon (his parents live just north of Myrtle Beach, so we got to see them too)--and it turns out that I'm not quite ready to think about running that far again. I thought I'd be disappointed that I wasn't running, but nope--I was happy to cheer, and refill bottles of Gatorade.

P.P.P.S I continue to be entranced by erging, possibly because I am deranged. But distances go so fast when they're measured in meters (compared to hundredths of miles), and I love the illusion of progress--never mind that I'm not actually moving. Also, I'm totally fascinated by not being terrible at it.

The coach said we'd be on the water in 5 more weeks, which seems impossible (hypothermia, anyone?), but just in case I am thinking about knitting pogies (mittens but with holes on the sides for the oar to pass though, so you can still hold it with your bare hands). Thrums seem appealing... except that my hands--cold under normal circumstances--heat up when I run, so maybe thrums aren't such a great idea...

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

In Defense of Jules.

"The order Cetacea (IPA: /sɪˈteɪʃiə/, L. cetus, whale, from Greek) includes whales, dolphins, and porpoises. Cetus is Latin and is used in biological names to mean "whale"; its original meaning, "large sea animal", was more general. It comes from Ancient Greek κῆτος (kētos), meaning "whale" or "any huge fish or sea monster". "

Now, you may quibble, but if I saw a giant squid headed my way, I might well think 'sea monster'.

Of course, you rowers are a hardy lot, able to do linguistics while avoiding narwhals to the left and right.

diplomatica said...

I would say think about how your hands fare on the bike rather than how they warm up during a run as an approximation for rowing. My hands run so cold normally (I've knit wrist/handwarmers just for when I knit), but they warm up while running. I still haven't had that same feeling while cycling (they seem to run on the colder side then). I'm all for lanolin-injected mittens in cold waters!

Unknown said...

Also consider that you won't always be rowing. Sometimes the boat will be rowing "by fours" or "by sixes" and you'll still need to keep your hands on the oar. I found that the poagies were nice to have when another rower wasn't catching correctly, spraying water from the blade onto my hands.