Friday March 24, 2023
Another glorious sea day, still a bit choppy but a bit smoother. One interesting fact that the Captain told us today is that one of the ways that the meteorological offices around the world can get better forecasts, particularly marine weather forecasts, is through the use of beacons placed in strategic locations around the world. One of the areas that has the least amount of these beacons is the southern Indian Ocean. Queen Mary 2, in order to aid in this effort agreed to drop 5 of these beacons as we traverse the southern Indian / north side of the Southern Ocean. We have dropped 3 and will do 2 more every 5 degrees of latitude.
The first lecture by the Futurist – Robin Craig – was on the topic “Forever Young”. He is strange speaker as he reads it all, seldom looks up from his notes, seldom changes his tone, yet the content of his talks is fascinating. Here he tackles the topic of “can humans live forever?”. Certainly, over the millennia the life expectancy of humans has gone from 25-35 years to 70+ most happening in the last 100 years due to the advent of antibiotics and other medications as well as the understanding of the genome. When the first full human genome was done it cost millions of dollars and took months, nowadays you can get the full human DNA genome sequencing done for under US$1,000 and in a day. This will help not only identify issues, but also, with growing artificial organs and genetic engineering being done, life expectancy will continue to rise. Will it be forever – unlikely, but then again what is “forever” and is this an ethical way for society with older people keeping the senior jobs in their 100s while juniors are not able to get to the top. He also explained the “futility” of cryogenics. This is the freezing of human bodies complete or in some cases just the head, down close to absolute zero (0 degrees Kelvin) with the idea that in the future science can bring them back to life and they can continue the life they were leading. The main reason for this futility, is that as bodies freeze, ice is formed. This ice expands and breaks blood vessels, for example, so if unfrozen all the blood vessels and other such organs will be ruptured and the blood will flow everywhere. However, many people pay a lot of money to keep the potential alive and it is a growing business.
Ian McFadyen, writer, director, producer recounts how a small group of comics, who got their start playing 2nd rate comedy houses, were able to “break out” and eventually have the most watched Comedy TV show in the country of Australia – “The Comedy Company”. A personal story of how he and his friends, struggled and got their lucky break ultimately gaining more viewership (a 40 rating – 40% of households are watching the show) whereas up to that point, “60-Minutes” had 35% of the market.
We have come to enjoy the Lunch & Learn this time – California Napa & Sonoma Valley wines, paired with food in the Verandah. The sommeliers gives a talk about the vineyards, the conditions and discuss the merits of the wine being tasted. As usual there were 8 wines it is the equivalent of one bottle of wine per person (at 100 ml this represents 1+ bottles of [750 ml] wine bottle). Today however, Anne just tasted each of the wines and passed me the glass to finish, so I figure I “had to” drink the equivalent of 2 full bottles of wine (average 14% alcohol) over lunch!! Here is the menu:-
- Gin and Tonic Smoked Salmon
- Sauvignon Blanc St. Supery, Napa Valley and Gnarly head Viognier Lodi Central Valley
- Lemon Sole Asparagus and Green Bean friccassee
- Chardonnay Buenaventura’s Vista Carneros and Valravn Chardonnay Sonoma county
- Angus NY Strip Steak au Poivre
- Zinfandel Seghesia, Sonoma and Cabernet Sauvignon St. Supery , Napa Valley
- Artisan Cheese, Fruit Bread & Quince Jelly
- Bonterra Merlot California Organic and Pinot Noir Buena Vista North Coast AVA
After lunch, as usual, we are pretty helpless, so retire for a “siesta” however we knew that at 5:15, the Captain was hosting us at the World Cocktail Party of the segment with champagne, caviar and all the trimmings and speeches. The captain read 2 funny nautical stories which were amusing. We also enjoyed the remnants of a French Merlot with dinner. For some reason, and we can’t understand why we had a sleepless night, and blame it all on having 3 instead of 2 cups of coffee / tea at breakfast – must be the reason!!!
The show this evening was the brilliant Irish Comedian – William Caulfield. He is an older man, but had a really quick wit and great story telling, so it was a lot of fun and we enjoyed and laughed a great deal.
Roger & Anne Travels 