Day 13 or 14 of 31......row with gusto !!
Million Challenge Team Meters!!Welcome back to teammate Scott Ryan !
Team Standings - Thanks to all our Challenge Team members!! We couldn't do it without you !!
Pos. Team Team Type Total Event Meters Team Members Average Meters
1 Age Without Limits Virtual Club 19,757,708 303 65,207
2 Community Rowing, Inc On-Water Club 11,064,087 390 28,369
3 LUNA-TICS Virtual Club 9,056,199 106 85,436
4 HAVK Mladost On-Water Club 8,322,867 208 40,014 ... perhaps a weekly update....we'll see if this number changes...
5 Free Spirits Virtual Club 7,523,298 146 51,529
Just had a real bunny (actually there were two..seems like you never see just one
) take a look inside from the basement window, so it seems like a good time for a bunny trail...
Another episode....consulting the Oracle..Forecasting or predicting a future outcome or event can be a pretty inexact science - depending upon what you're talking about. When meteorologists here in Colorado provide a forecast for the next few days weather, seems like they always say "but wait 20 minutes, and the weather will change." The Oscar nominations were announced a day or so ago, and now some are predicting what the best picture will be, etc. But the real question of the last few days is to predict which teams will be in the Super Bowl. And so....we go to consult The Oracle.
Turn back your minds to your Humanities classes or study of Greek mythology. Back in the times of the mythological gods, it was said that Zeus released two eagles and had them fly to the point where they met...and that this point was Delphi. Once the site was determined, apparently Zeus marked the spot with a large, egg-shaped stone (a stone called omphalos - which apparently means navel). Delphi, a town on the slopes of Mount Parnassus in Greece, was the site of the main temple of Apollo and of the Delphic oracle, the most famous oracle of ancient times. Before making important decisions, Greeks and other peoples traveled to consult the oracle and learn the gods' wishes. Anyone could ask a question - but sometimes the answers were given in a riddle, or weren't too easy to decode. For those who watched The Matrix movies, you'll recall that there was use of an Oracle there as well....and she wasn't so easy to get a straight answer from either.
Fast forward to more current times, and to the emergence of the use of sabermetric statistical models (stay with me here...). The term sabermetric is one that is derived from the acronym SABR, which stands for Society of American Baseball Research, first used by Bill James. If you've watched the movie Moneyball, you'll recall that it's the story of Billy Beane, GM for the Oakland A's...a team that didn't have a lot of money to spend on big player salaries. Beane used the sabermetric systems designed by Bill James to help pick players with a lot of potential who were undervalued, and to create a better team. Fast forward more to recent election times (don't worry...we don't talk politics here), and the "sudden" awareness of the work of a fellow by the name of Nate Silver. Nate started out in sports statistics, and moved to politics. He writes a blog called fivethirtyeight which appears in the NY Times. He correctly predicted the outcome of the 2008 and the 2012 US elections in virtually all states and overall by using some fairly complicated (and closely held) test algorithms. The world, and the media world in particular, seems fascinated with any individual's ability to foretell the future (there's a lot of perceived value here!). And so it was that Nate Silver, hailed as a New Oracle, was recently on a program (First Takes) in which he predicted the two teams that will ultimately face each other in the Super Bowl.
He says it's going to be New England Patriots (Bill Belichick is a sabermetric coach) vs Seattle Seahawks. Stay tuned, and we'll see how well this prediction holds up.
Season meters as of 256/365 = 119,268,162 m
Total meters on the day = 1,207,260 m
Oars in space (participation) = 29 percent
MILESTONES...Bragging Rights...Celebrations:
Cathie with a FULL marathon Michelle with a FULL marathon
Sam with a HALF marathon Jim with a HALF marathon - look at you go !3.5 MM Fabio
1.9 MM Rosi
1.8 MM Dana
1.5 MM Zander
1.15 MM Marty
1.05 MM Roger Ramjet
Great to hear and see the results that so many are really giving this Challenge a personal meaning - going for half marathons and full marathons, and new "best evers" in a Challenge. No matter what your personal number of meters is, the important thing is that you're giving it a real go. I recently commented to Baz "well done" on his climb of Mt Aspiring. He responded that he hadn't made it to the summit due to forces of Mother Nature. Actually getting to the summit on a really important climb, the first time that you try it, well...that might not have been the best possible outcome anyway. Giving such an adventure a good shot of success, and having the discipline to go after it ... that's the good stuff !
Thanks, again, to everyone for rowing !
Tim G 1,500 m ...unusual pattern in the last three days...2,500 and 1,000 and 1,500 m ...
Rich M 2,000 m
Tony
m Bobbie 4,500 m
Brian C 5,000 m
Rebecca 5,000 m
Mike G 6,023 m
Teresa 7,381 m
Mary O 8,017 m
Danno 10,000 m
Jeff P 10,000 m
Marty 10,000 m
Anita 10,007 m
Sarah 10,118 m
K2 10,417 m
Dana 10,755 m
Rivka 11,000 m
Robyn 11,000 m
Christa 11,100 m
Tammy
m David A 11,278 m
David T 12,000 m
Roger 12,500 m
Nataliya 14,000 m ...wow!
Ronnie 14,000 m
Jane 14,257 m
Harold 15,000 m
Katerina 15,000 m
Zander 15,000 m
Marie 16,000 m
Rosi 16,000 m
Stephen W 18,394 m
Laurie 21,031 m
Jim 21,097 m Sam 21,097 m Minnie 25,927 m Fabio aka Richard T 27,041 m ...because there was more football for your money Karyn 28,505 m AJ 35,813 m Cathie 42,195 m Michelle 42,195 mEd 45,250 m
Scott 565,418 m
bow of my boat. AJ's graphics and Jan's postings were my motivating factor. I extend my thanks to the two of them for inspiring me to erg more than I was originally planning on.
. I can't see a doctor until the 21st. This setback will make achieving 500k for challenge extremely difficult. I did erg 15,000m tonight and the back doesn't feel too bad right now, we will see in the morning. 
