Silversea Water Cooler: Part 3, Welcome!

[mysty]

Greetings Coolers!

 

J....thanks for your very generous offer to mentor Myster in the creation of lovely breads! With just the two of us here our fridge has plenty of room. We leave next Sunday and on our return I will sit him down at the Cooler Bar to soak up the ambiance and your helpful instructions. I think he will really enjoy both! His current dough effort is sitting on the kitchen counter and Francis will be called into service later ce soir.

 

Have a great day/evening all!

[spinnaker2]

Happy St Patrick's day all!

Jeff, your bread in whatever form is truly seductive.

I want BREAD now.

 

JP, forgot to mention that your imaginative food creation the other night looked wonderful. How creative!

 

Sophia and Mysty...time to start thinking of packing. 😎

[mysty]

Spins....unfortunately after a visit to our daughter and her family last weekend, I caught the kids' cold. I have very little energy at the moment. However, I did make a list of packing stuff and it has been edited repeatedly. :) I'm hoping by this time next week that all will be in order. Just trying to decide on the appropriate mix of warm/cold weather clothing. Thanks for thinking of me!

[spinnaker2]

Mysty

Hot toddies until you sweat. Lots of bourbon, honey fresh squeezed lemon and a little hot tea.

Feel better.

[UKCruiseJeff]

Thanks Spins! :D

 

M, with a cold now is the time for the Broth of God!

 

Jeff

[mysty]

Thanks Spins and J!!! Maybe the broth of God with a bourbon, honey, lemon and tea chaser! :) I think I would feel wonderful after that!

[spinnaker2]

Must drink the hot toddies until you sweat. It will kill the Nasty germs.

Last year on the crossing we were cold. But we live in Florida...I did look back at photos and many were in long pants with fleece or puffy vests. Of course shorts on some sea days...

However weather is so fickle. Who knows?

[MissSophia]

Agree with all the medicinal recommendations for you Mysty.....hopefully you'll be better for your voyage....

 

Clothes rail is up Spins...just have to now decide what to take...not too bad as its only an eight nighter, but still fun planning!

 

Feeling a bit delicate here after the girlie lunch yesterday so it's cottage pie comfort food today....☺️

[mysty]

Thanks Spins! I'll drink the hot toddies until I sweat (or pass out). :) And thanks for the packing input! I plan to take things I can layer (even if I end up looking like the Michelin Man)! I love to be out in the sea air and I am prepared to brave the elements in order to do that.

 

Thanks for your well wishes Miss S. Enjoy your cottage pie and our "comforting" thoughts!

[UKCruiseJeff]

The Broth Of God, is often drunk with a large slug of red wine in France by mostly men at breakfast in rural and port cafes and markets. In rural spain they substitute a fino. For some reason these places in both countries seem to be a bit of a men's club. Or obviously either sex can do it at home .... I often have a slug of either merely to cool the soup down you understand ....;p

 

So if you had a couldron on the low ring for five days with a bottle of red sitting next to it I guarantee a full recovery .... or you will forget what was wrong with you in the first place!

 

 

 

 

[mysty]

Thanks J! Sounds like a great plan! And with my recent hair cut I kind of resemble the gentleman in the third picture. Perhaps I could pass in Marseilles and Cadiz! :)

[jpalbny]

I find that the wine is better if you don't dilute it with the broth. Other than that, the plan sounds great. Happy Friday everyone.

 

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[UKCruiseJeff]

That's only 'cos you drink good stuff, and I drink plonk JP.:)

 

Today is pork schnitzel etc ..

 

 

 

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[mysty]

That looks yummy J! My wish list for Myster's adventures in the land of cooking is growing day by day! I love schnitzel! I would pass on the peas though! Nasty memories of sitting at the table staring at the canned peas serving and not being able to leave until the plate was clean.

[UKCruiseJeff]

My new job is going well. I am a psychologist, so starting at a new practice always starts out slow. I had 4 new patient evaluations yesterday, and absolutely nothing scheduled today. Tomorrow is a short day, and I only have one new patient eval scheduled. I am enjoying the slow pace as I build up a caseload. A welcome reprieve considering.

 

Good day Shot's hope you're recovering.

 

As this is a cooler type topic, and you for one is interested in all things "mindful" I thought I'd try and tickle your opinion and thought buds with this one!

 

We perfectly accept as a part of normal evolution that it is quite normal to inherit features such as hair and eyes colour, propensity to suffer from various deseases, and even stuff I suppose like behaviour. Presumably this is all about chemicals that are passed from generation to generation through our DNA.

 

What I have yet to see suggested is that memories and experiences might be passed through DNA as these other physical things and that this might account rather than the more esoteric theories for people believing that they have lived before. Or might account for some memories emerging through regression. An alternative theory to the one I find extremely unlikely ie reincarnation.

 

I've had this theory for a long time but never heard it expressed by anyone else. Is it such a daft theory that we can remember things that our ancestors experienced because like many other physycial attributes has simply been handed down through our DNA?

 

All coolers welcome on this one ... don't be shy ......... it's a topic I've thought lots about and find intriguing :)

Edited March 17, 2017 by UKCruiseJeff

[turnip eater]

Well Jeff, I've often thought this, why shouldn't we inherit memories. As a child, I had a fear of falling down staircases. I found out that my Maternal Grandmother had fallen down the stairs, in her home, twice.:o (Reminds me of a scene in The importance of being Earnest.:D )

 

Anyway, Jeff, I agree with your thought.

 

 

Turnip

[BayouDoc]

Jeff, I have some thoughts on why we sometimes seem to know things we should have no way of knowing. I saw a documentary once about “idiot savants”. These unfortunate people have certain areasof their brains damaged and usually need lots of help with daily life but canperform incredible calculations or feats of memory. There was one fellow who could scan books andrepeat upon request exactly what was written on any random page. He has thousands of books memorized. Our brains may well hold memories ofeverything we have ever seen or heard. There are literally trillions of neural connections. In order to not be overwhelmed by all thisdata, healthy brains will edit what information is available for easyrecall. Perhaps somewhere in ourmemories we have recordings of what we heard in our delivery rooms or what weoverheard on the radio when we were 2 years old. I don’t think memories are passed down by DNAbut environmental influences can influence the expression of genes. You may want to read on “epigenetics”. I have read some sci-fi books whichpostulated RNA as a repository of memory, but I think this is strictlysci-fi.

I will be boarding the Spirit on Monday for my first Silversea voyage. I've enjoyed lurking near the cooler these past few months and I couldn't help but to comment on this interesting topic.

[jpalbny]

Interesting discussion! I don't think we know enough to say for sure either way, and that won't change until we figure out the neurobiology of memory itself.

 

There are hypotheses about how the brain stores memory. It must be something architectural. And the structure of neurons is certainly encoded in our DNA. But I think memories have to do with not only structure, but the pattern of connections between multiple neurons. That part probably isn't encoded, or encodeable. But we don't really know.

 

This was a popular idea in the 1800s. Jack London wrote a book that explored the topic called Before Adam. I never read it but I remember hearing about it...has anyone here read it?

 

To a degree this is semantics, because some behaviors (instincts) are probably genetic. For example, studues suggest that human babies are hard-wired to be afraid of snakes. Is that more similar to, or different from, a memory?

 

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[UKCruiseJeff]

Thank you both for posting replies ....

 

Turnips, yes I see that. I think a danger is that we always want to retro-fit rational arguments to explain what otherwise might seem unexplained, and what of course you or we may do in those circumstances is ignore all those traits that outnumber them that have no rational explanation or coincidence from previous generations but the one that coincides with a previous generation viz a vis your fear of falling down the stairs which you shared with your grandmother fits neatly and so we adopt it and then believe in inherited phobias. I guess some must simply be coincidental. I guess it depends on how many traits we also have that we do not share with anticedents. But having said that I do believe we inherit traits and fears and why not phobias? I guess one answer doesn't fit all. Perhaps some are coincidences and some inherited. Why not.

 

 

BD, yes I've been intrigued by idiot savants and in fact there was a recent programme on British TV that touched on it. I'm at one with the inherrent ability of the brain to absorb all and everything and then as a safety mechanism allows us to dispose to retain manageable quantities of priority data.

 

In fact apropos of nothing really, I have become convinced on a seperate but related issue ie one of what seems to be the acceleration in society of general stress and depression recently and I wonder whether it has been caused in part by the incredible increase and bombardment of continual stimulii that for thousands of years we never had and have yet to have our brains develop coping methods with which renders us incapable of coping without feeling overwhelemed. Just as we have learned to cope firstly and easily with the printed word, and then TV and radio, we have had over the last ten years or so the full effects of the internet with all the channels and flavours of ciommunications that includes. The pressure of requiring constant validation not just through what previously was those physically around you for example but by thousands of times that which place you at the mercy and in touch with too many stimulii. For want of simplicity I think that tweeting, faceebook, texting, the need to always be communicating, always reachable by work etc etc are making all of us and in paritcular our kids ill. In retrospect the reason I started the cooler many years ago was simply because I was aware that the internet encourages otherwise rational and decent people to behave uncharectersisticaly different when they think they are anonymous. I simply wanted somewhere where that behaviour is banned and the only rule is participants trying to be nice. And that is why so many kids are becoming dangerously sick through exposure to various forms of internet both in terms of quantity and nature. I think it is just overwhelming. Well that's my theory ..... but that is a whole sperate topic.

 

Close to idiot savants are a group of people who sometimes get a bump on the head, or have an accident and awake from a coma and find they can speak a foreign language or play the piano. Is that not more likely to be caused by inherited chemical memories than simply observing something for a limited elapsed period of time?

 

I have no idea why the font size decreased whilst typing this but perhaps the Cooler Gods are trying to tell me something about the unimportance and relatively trivial nature of this topic compared with say bread for exmaple. :D

 

Thanks again for feeding the interest in this fascinating topic.

Jeff

Edited: thanks JP ... my post crossed with yours ..

Edited March 17, 2017 by UKCruiseJeff

[BayouDoc]

Sometimes I think in a few more generations the only places where people will be found who have attention spans longer than 2 minutes will be where they are too poor to have modern technology. Another thing happening at least in many schools in the States is that cursive writing is no longer being taught. I wonder if this will have any neuro-developmental consequences down the line.

[TLCOhio]

Things have been busy and interesting at the "Cooler", including about " idiot savants", etc. Limited time still today and for the upcoming weekend.

 

Why? Good news? San Francisco has not just been great!! It's been super spectacular!! Wonderful weather, architecture, history and sights. BUT, the bad news is not having that much spare time to update and post pictures. Have had a busy and wonderful time during the past two days getting off of our ship, doing Alcatraz (and being released), riding the Cable Car from Fisherman's Wharf to Market Street, doing an all-around town tour including across the super windy Golden Gate Bridge, have a great meal here, etc. Others have wonderful memories for San Francisco. Glad that J.P.'s sister lives nearby to where our ship docked.

 

The best great was last night with HAMILTON, the top, Tony-Award-winning musical that just opened its 22-week, sold-out-in-a-day series of performances here in the Bay City. WOW!! It lives up to and goes beyond all of the hype and praise. Really well done with great staging, lighting, singing, orchestra, costumes, etc. Very impressive to see such history coming alive and being enjoyed by such a younger and very diverse audience. The worries on it being done in "rap" was not an issue or problem. Thomas Jefferson, as the original book did, is painted rather differently than some might expect.

 

Below are three quick photo examples/samples from last night's Hamilton performance in San Francisco.

 

For our Southwest Air flight tomorrow, it is a non-stop from Oakland to Columbus that departs at 10:55 am. Only cost $220 pp for this flight with no baggage up charges etc. First class would be nice, but this fits the budget well. Nice, also, not to have any needs to plane changes in the big airports at Chicago or Dallas/Ft. Worth. It is snowing in Columbus today. Good to be enjoying the sunshine in the upper 60's weather in San Francisco for today.

THANKS! Enjoy! Terry in Ohio

 

For details and visuals, etc., from our July 1-16, 2010, Norway Coast/Fjords/Arctic Circle cruise experience from Copenhagen on the Silver Cloud, check out this posting. This posting is now at 210,756 views.

www.boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=1227923

 

From last night's Hamilton musical, here are three quick photo samples. Nice sign on their older, historic theatre where this hyper-popular show is being performed in San Francisco. Not allowed to take pictures during the program, but below are two visuals as the show is being finished and the cast gets loud applause. Notice the interesting set/staging, including two large revolving circular parts of the stage floor? We were very fortunate to not only have obtained tickets, but to be in the seventh row center of the Loge. Perfect for how this musical has been staged in such a wide-open, two-level manner.:

(Open your screen/viewer wider to see these pictures larger!)

 

 

 

[UKCruiseJeff]

BD, one of the most fascinating bits of daydreaming I think is trying to predict what might be the result of current apparently disparate but converging trends.

 

Alongside the technical skill you mention, for example we have a generation who have been malajusted by a whole generation of well-intentioned parents and teachers etc who feel that they must only ever tell kids they are great and never deficient in any skill or in any way. They must only be praised for their uniqueness and wonderfulness. In the UK we have moved from a time when only 5 to 10% of kids went to University to in excess of 50% and everyone passes. Now they can barely read or write and know nothing of the world around them except what exists of a small screen an inch or so big. We also have created media shortcuts where before whereas acheiving prominence and fame in any performance or creative arena involved gaining and developing skills and investment in time as a sprt of apprenticeship now everyone and anyone can be an instant star at least in their own mind. And all our kids expect to be a star whether in creative arts or business and it seems they feel there is no process between the bottom and the top. In fact isn't twitter and facebook simply TV channels with a single programe featruing an individual believing they are stars needing constant validation?

 

Again appropos of nothing really. I remember all of us being promised that robots would release us for doing much more valuable thinking work. However what it seems has happened to me is the opposite, in that robots eg computers have emasculated humans and whereas before you called a human and they received your phone call and worked out rationally what best to do, now we have made robots/computers tell humans precisely what they must do and they must not waiver. So instead of us telling robots what to do, they are in fact more often than not telling us what to do, sometimes using a human merely as a thought-devoid and judgement-deprogrammed human intermediary. And us humans are nuisances really, what with holidays, illnesses and unions and having children so not long before humans will be completely replaced with digital voice. Leaving our kids to tweet. Or perhaps that will be automated for them.

 

With what you were saying, where does that lead us? We will eventually be governed and subjugated to a machine ...

Edited March 17, 2017 by UKCruiseJeff

[BayouDoc]

Luddites of the world unite! You have nothing to lose but your cell phones!

[mysty]

Interesting streams of consciousness happening in the Cooler today. I fear that we are no longer being encouraged to think. We seem to have lost the ability to analyze and process information. We seem to be unable to determine what is news and what is (for lack of a better expression) "fake news". I remember when my daughter was in grade 5 and her teacher did not correct her spelling errors because the focus was on communication. Now with twitter restricted to 140 letter limit spelling is even in more danger. If cursive disappears how will people sign their names? With an X? Calculators made learning basic arithmetic a non-essential skill. So we are faced now with a population with an attention span of 30 seconds, who cannot reason, who have no ability to exercise discretionary judgement, who need constant validation, who have little empathy and who think the world owes them because they exist. Maybe robots would be an improvement. OK, off the soapbox now. I am intrigued by the memory transference though.

[Camillus112]

Hello Coolers! I am late into this conversations, which I find fascinating. I have nothing to contribute except my own experience ("my own" may be a redundancy...I'll let the experts weigh in). My father died when I was three years old. When I started to speak coherently, I began talking about him, especially significant were baby/daddy fun times that my mother had watched. She shared this with family and friends and all believed she must have told me stories. She knew she had not. To this date I remember my dad, and I was only three years old. Someday it will be scientifically explained.