Trivia Thursday

After I posted my first Trivia Thursday post, I got to thinking.... What am I doing? Can I keep this up? Do I really have time and do I really know that much information? Well, I thought and I thought and decided this: 1. no time, 2. yes, I can do it 3. no, I really don't know that much but it will sure be fun to come up with things.

Now this post I actually thought of last Thursday as I was reading this blog http://zacsunderland.com/. This is Zac Sunderland. He is sailing around the world, alone, he is 17. He wants to be the youngest circumnavigator. I googled the word and got this from http://www.freedictionary.com/

cir·cum·nav·i·gate
play_w2("C0366100")
(sûrkm-nv-gt)
tr.v. cir·cum·nav·i·gat·ed, cir·cum·nav·i·gat·ing, cir·cum·nav·i·gates
1. To proceed completely around: circumnavigating the earth.
2. To go around; circumvent: circumnavigate the downtown traffic.
circum·navi·gation n.
circum·navi·gator n.


So my way to define this is that he is going around the world. Simple. I was right.


Another thing came to mind. Zac talks about knotts. Not like what you do to your shoe laces. But wind speed. Then I thought, how many miles is a knott? Hmmm. No clue there. So again, I used my friend google and found this:

This is from http://www.disastercenter.com/


KTS to MPH

5 Knots = 5.8 MPH
10 Knots = 11.5 MPH

Using my handy dandy calculator, I determined that 1 kt is about 1.16 mph. So if the wind is blowing 2 kts, Zac will travel about 2.32 mph. Not very fast at all. Try driving your car 2.32 mph. That's just a slight breeze. Not very good kite flying weather. Not good for when you are trying to get to Hawaii and your parents and friends and well wishers and especially fresh food and water! (and he made it there last Friday)

What's the trivia here? You now know the definition of circumnavigate and how to convert kts to mph. And you can also follow along on Zac's journey. Go to his route and download Google Earth to see where he is. Google Earth is another very fun place to visit.

He who wishes to secure the good of others has already secured his own.
— Confucius