M&M: Salmon Fishing in the Yemen

Dear reader,

based on the book with the same title by Paul Torday the film came out in 2011 with Ewan McGregor as Dr. Alfred Jones, Emily Blunt ad Harriet Chetwode-Talbot and Amr Waked as Sheikh Muhammadin as leading roles.

The sheikh is a fishing enthusiast and wants to be able to fish salmon in the jemen. So he hires the financial adviser Harriet to take care of that. Now she contacts the fishing expert Dr. Alfred Jones. At first he thinks this is all a bad joke. But Harriet is on fire and Alfred has many difficulties, to bring this project to an end. Alfred doesn't have much of a choice but to take part, the british prime minister's press secretary forces him to, after she realises what a project like this could mean for britain, should it succeed. Alfred and Harriet soon turn this into a sort of game. All just in theory, of course, because salmon fishing in a desert area like the yemen is pretty crazy. Alfred one by one puts high requirements on Harriet for the project, in the hope that she has to say it can't be done... and Harriet fulfils them without an exception. Through this salmon project Alfred and Harriet get closer to each other. Alfred has a wife, but she thinks about her own career a lot and with that their emotional relationship has gone rather cold. Alfred has a wife though... Harriet on the other hand met the soldier Robert only a couple of weeks ago. He's now stationed in afghanistan. Then she gets a message that Robert has gone missing. Is that the chance for Alfred and Harriet to get close? Everything seems to go well, the fish are swimming and the sheikh can go fishing. Just then Robert is back and for PR-purposes he gets flown to Yemen to Harriet as a surprise for her. But that project of salmon fishing in the yemen has gone too well so far. A small group of rebels don't like that there is a dam for fish for the oh so open-minded sheikh to be able to go fishing. They blow up the dam and then everything seems lost for the fish. But is it really? And who will Harriet go for: Alfred or Robert?

It's a lot of fun to watch Harriet and Alfred together, the way they interact with each other. First how they're working all in a theoretical way and against each other and then work with each other and for salmon fishing in the yemen. Maybe sometimes what it needs is people, who are bound and determined and a big, nearly impossible project to work on step by step and for starters purely on a theoretical level. In the end it may just really work for real. A very beautiful film about the possibility of (seemingly) impossible projects.

Until next blog,

sarah

Brain attic vs. memory palace

Dear reader,

this here is my blog, my thoughts. No idea whether this matches what scientists think as well.

I believe that there is a difference between a brain attic and a memory palace. Both store things, but in different ways. Sherlock Holmes says that we store all kinds of things in our head. Like in an attic. An attic has got many boxes in which all sorts of things can be kept. Maybe an attic has several different spaces, but it's limited, a defined space. A memory palace on the other hand is a complex of buildings with many rooms. A palace can be enlarged and rooms can be attached to it.

In The memory palace I mentioned different examples of people and their way to remember things. Jonesey's memory warehouse seems to be much like an attic. He explains to the others that for new information to store, he's got to delete other information.

Many years ago I have started writing certain things on index cards. They're separated with separation cards in alphabetical order and sometimes lined with one another with arrows and keywords. I wanted to have information to specific topics sorted and kept in a short way. Index cards seemed to be a good way to me. The good thing about index cards is that I can use them to look things up and the loose card system allows me to add new ones, should I feel like that. I've still got the cards. By now there are other topics added to them than that of the original one.

Although I've still got the cards, I don't as such use that system anymore. The memory palace is a system I know better now than I did then when I started the index card system. I seem to store information in my head much like index cards these days anyway, short information like index cards or newspaper clippings. Single words, images, fragments. I'm not aware of having a whole set of information stored in a single room for certain information. At least not yet. I'm sure that Derren Brown for example does have rooms created for specific things and does use the whole room. I do have single rooms, but I use them more for the atmosphere they have. Much like someone might for example go to church to do some reflective thinking.

When I waiting for the third "Sherlock" season was at times too long and unbearable for me, I was able to keep scenes, dialogue and images of the episodes so far together and in one room. I walked out of the room, the door had a tag "Sherlock" on it. I closed the door. Sometimes I sat in front of the door with my back against the door. Those are rooms that I can create, but not in a sense that I use the room and its content. It's not consciously forgetting. Naturally the information is still there. But they're behind a door and not close anymore. Distant to information also creates emotional distant. I'm not saying it's easy. I closed the door several times and more than once did I sit with my back against it to forget that I had to wait an unbearable long time for a new episode of "Sherlock". Mind control in that way is possible though. If you're not waiting for the next episode of "Sherlock", which seems to be a lifetime away, those kind of thought experiments can also be fun.

Probably the brain attic grows to be a mind palace some day, if you're taking care of the attic and work in it and at it. So I guess my headline wasn't quite correct. It's not an either or, no one or the other. Likely the brain attic is more like a possible beginning of a memory palace. Like my index cards were the beginning of more thoughtful remembering things and retrieving them at my leisure.

Until next blog,
sarah

To be or not to be a beekeper that is the question...

Dear reader,


usual is boring. So it would be interesting to keep bees. Unlike with other pets, which only cost money, you can use the honey and wax and even sell it. Also they're quite independent animals. Surely you've got to check if they've got enough food and water. But that's nothing compared to say guinea pigs with a cage, which needs to be cleaned weekly and is in need of hay, straw and litter by the kilo or like a cat with a cat toilet, which needs cleaning daily and it's not like a dog, which needs to go for a walk a couple of times a day either. In books I read that taking care of the bees takes time of about 10 hours over a year. If I compare that to my guinea pigs: cleaning the cage takes about 10 minutes, if I hurry, more often it's more like 20 minutes to half an hour once a week. Even with 10 minutes a week, if I add this up for a month, it's 40 minutes per month and that's just cleaning the cage.

There's a beekeeper there that offers what he's calling godparenting. The bees are in your garden and there's a godparent/experienced beekeeper coming over to take care of them. One can also be taught how to take care of the bees and the honey is definitely for you to keep.

It's of course also important to test for bee toxin allergy. I'm not allergic. So that's how far I am already now. And what now? Should I call the beekeeper or not? That phone call is the only thing standing between the bees and me. Okay and a visit from a beekeeper to check if the bees can be kept here and where. I'm not quite sure yet. I don't dare calling the beekeeper yet. Or maybe all I want is a bit of attention with an unusual hobby. The news alone of me maybe getting bees is quite exiting for a lot of people.

Until next blog,
sarah