11/25/2022
Overcast skies since 11 PM last night – storms brewing all around, very humid as one wheeled around the promenade. Such is the state of the situation this Friday morning. One week from today we will be readying to disembark (get off the ship). There may be a change in schedule upcoming. There is no port talk scheduled for this afternoon as is the usual drill the day before we are in port. Also, in view of the position of the ship, we have a long way to Rio (note that the WNW line above our current position took 7 hours, and the Southerly course took 12 hours). I’m sure that wind and seas play a part in the navigation and speed of the ship. In any case we are in the hands of Captain Peter.
Today of course is a sea day and we are all looking forward to the art, the lectures, the dancing, the food and the other diversions that are scattered throughout the day. (more later)
Yesterday we undertook a science experiment to verify the Coriolis Effect (which influences the direction water whirlpools down a drain when in the Southern Hemisphere). We took a 5 second video of water whirlpooling down the shower drain. We posted it under a separate blog entry. However, the Video (all of 5 seconds) refused to process in the Blog last night. Paul tried again this morning starting at 6 AM and as of 9:30 it reports as still processing.
The blog post will be deleted, and results reported now – the video clearly shows water whirlpooling clockwise. Paul can e-mail the video upon request (tnpaulnelson@gmail.com). We fully expect questions regarding the set-up of the experiment without a control, or double blind or any of the prescribed rigor. It is simply an amateur endeavor to prove a macro event in a micro laboratory.
Due to the delays experienced yesterday, Captain Peter has decided that we will scratch Montevideo so we can spend 2 days in Rio and arrive in Buenos Aires on time. We estimate our arrival in Rio at 2:30 PM and our departure the next day at 2 PM. We had booked an 8-hour tour in Rio, so ours and many others will have to be re-arranged. Viking is doing that for us and we will receive our tickets later today. We would rather our fellow passenger have the attention required for health than a walk around Montevideo.
Art class update - the Brazilian dancer piece is finished.
The Planetarium show was our exposure to the Southern sky at 35 degrees latitude. Here the Southern Cross rises around midnight. The Magellenic Clouds were seen last night by our astronomer (and Paul except that Paul had no clue what he was looking at.). These are companion Galaxies to our Milky Way with only 10s of millions of stars as opposed to ~200 Billion in the mother Galaxy. The Southern viewers have an enviable view of the Milky Way.
Another lecture, high tea and off to the fancy Italian Restaurant, Manfredi’s and another outstanding and tasty meal. Then we went to the nightly Trivia contest. We actually tied for the lead among 5 other teams scoring 12 out of 15. (One question was, “ According to the World Atlas, how many countries were neutral in WW2?” The answer was 14 - just to give you a flavor of the level of difficulty.) So, as a tie breaker Rosie the emcee, asked each of the 6 teams to send their smartest person up to the front for the tie breaker. We sent Shirley. The Question was, “How hot is the Planet Venus?” The person with the closest answer won. Guesses ranged from 2000 to 200 degrees. Shirley guessed 900, but another team came closer to the correct answer. We were hoping for a Shakespeare question. Oh well.
The guy in the red shirt won, Shirley came in third.
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