Silversea Water Cooler: Welcome!

Yum! Simple dinner planned tonight - burgers on the grill. Off to NY City tomorrow for the weekend. Dinner cruise for the 4th - hoping for some good fireworks viewing!

Well done Spins, nice piccy ... looking forward to more! :)

JP! i so envy you the fireworks ....... I adore them and get insufficient!

Jeff

I am probably just getting old .... but has the thread about "spirits" on SS been airbrushed away?

Jeff

I am probably just getting old .... but has the thread about "spirits" on SS been airbrushed away?

 

Jeff

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=2223532

I must get those eyes tested!

Jeff

I must get those eyes tested!

 

Jeff

I had to look at all your past posts to find it Jeff. Not an easy quest. :)

test photo upload...this is unga island

Appreciate the great visual posting by Candy. It's a super winner!! Nice picture. Now we know that you can accomplish this task. Below are my notes for others who want to do such sharing and had seen an early posting of tips. We'll be expect lots of nice pictures from your upcoming Baltics/St. Petersburg adventure. Is this island/picture from the Alaska area near the Aleutian Islands?

For posting larger photos to these boards, your FIRST STEP is pick an outside web source that will store or “host” your pictures to be posted. Cruise Critic does not have the space to do larger pictures on their site. You can check such places as photobucket.com, imageshack.com, photoshow.com, flickr.com, picasa.google.com etc. I’ve used photobucket.com and have been pleased with how they upload, etc. SECOND, you need to make an export of your picture in a size such as around 1000 pixel wide by about 700 to your desktop of your computer. That’s the approximate size that I use for this purpose. If you make your file too big for posting, then it slows the process and takes long to upload, etc. THIRD, you use this outside web host to which you upload these different pictures sitting on your desktop. FOURTH, after uploading each picture, you will make a copy of that imbedded address in your file for future posting purposes. It will have have the square parentheses or bracket symbols before and after the capital letter IMG at the start and end of this location on your photo storage site.

Then as you want to post each different picture, you would, FIFTH STEP, copy and paste that imbedded address file for each picture as a part of your message on the CC Boards. In my files, I also have brief written description of each picture and have them grouped by the different city or country locations. With this imbedded file address, the reader on these boards doesn’t have to check on anything or paste to their web browser. It just pops up showing the picture. Does this help? Let us know how it works out and/or any added questions. It will hopefully pop up as these couple of pictures do below. You can preview your post to see if it's working OK before doing the actual post to these CC boards.

THANKS! Enjoy! Terry in Ohio

From our Jan. 25-Feb. 20, 2015, Amazon River-Caribbean combo sailing over 26 days that started in Barbados, here is the link below to that live/blog. Lots of great visuals from this amazing Brazil river and these various Caribbean Islands (Dutch ABC's, St. Barts, Dominica, Grenada, etc.) that we experienced. Check it out at:

http://www.boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=2157696

Now at 24,745 views for these postings.

Thanks Terry.

Easy to do this from home.

But I have to tell you I crashed my computer with over 6k of photos and they are not in any order for me to go thru.

So not sure how to post from my suitcase.

How to upload to iPad.

Not spend hours on internet.

Want my photos in the Cloud not clogging up the meager memory I have.

So I have every good intention, but the machine may preclude my posting.

Spins,

I do so hope you keep your piccies and other memories on a separate hard drive from your computer. I feel that piccies are so precious that all are backed up on several drives.

Are you saying your drive is now dud? If so do not despair yet - there are utilities that will look at drives and check what can be saved. Then you buy the utility that will do the recovery.

Jeff

And I encourage anyone to look up unga island.

A settlement full of melancholy as it falls into ruin.

It isn't that old, but a present day abandoned village.

I have many photographs of the buildings as they are now, in a state of collapse.

Others have photographed and witnessed this evocative site. Nature is reclaiming what belongs to her.

Jeff not sure what to do.

Will get PhD computer son to look at laptop.

I am left with iPad and memory cards.

So will see.

Laptop is dinosaur.

Jeff not sure what to do. Will get PhD computer son to look at laptop. I am left with iPad and memory cards. So will see. Laptop is dinosaur.

Great plan, Candy, to talk with your smart, tech-savvy son. PLUS, get into the 21st Century with a new laptop. Personally, I have had great success with Apple MacBook laptops. There are "cheaper" computer available, but Apple is very "user-friendly" and has some great training options through their stores, etc. That's worth money in saving your time and sanity.

YES to Jeff and agree strongly on considering your "back-up" options. I have several back-ups, including two portable units that I switch back-and-forth to an off-site bank safety deposit box. Computers are getting better with newer solid-state flash drives, but "things" can happen. Need to protect what is of value!!

THANKS! Enjoy! Terry in Ohio

Did a June 7-19, 2011, cruise from Barcelona that had stops in Villefranche, ports near Pisa and Rome, Naples, Kotor, Venice and Dubrovnik. Dozens of nice visuals with key highlights, tips, comments, etc. We are now at 201,236 views for this live/blog re-cap, including much on wonderful Barcelona. Check these postings and added info at:

http://www.boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=1426474

Jeff not sure what to do.

Will get PhD computer son to look at laptop.

I am left with iPad and memory cards.

So will see.

 

Laptop is dinosaur.

Hi spins .... if you give a little more detail ..... might be able tp help if son is unable.

I have such a squint about data I have three NAS boxes and three external drives which are all mirored. I guess I am really quite scared of getting to that age when we're not traveling but looking back. I keep one in a firesafe and another at Seaide ie our other UK proeprty.

My desktop went just before we left for Singapore, but apart from a few emails all data was stored on external USB drives so apart form the panic I continued reasonably seamlessly.

Although I agree with Terry that Apples are easy to use I wouldn't go for one. Terry may have gone for Apple - speculation - because it is nearly always the very first natural choice for those interested in image manipulation and graphics etc - it is really the industry box for those with those interests - but that might not be your first interest. Not everyone around you when away will be able to step in and help you if you need help and this will be a new thing to learn when learning new things might not be what you want to do. Being away and needing help from "normal" users mandates the industry spec ie what use to be called "IBM Compatible" with Windows on it. That would be my very strong alternative recomendation .... sorry to disagree with Terry. Go for mainstream andf rely on MS compatible software.

I had already bought a Microsft Surface Pro 3 as soon as they came out as back up to my desktop and the great thing about that is that it is as powerful as any current top end desk-top but is a very very small and thin and light but perhaps a bit expensive portable laptop. I have all my Corel and Photoshop software on it and had intended to use it for a bit of art but like all good intentions I haven't.

It has a solid state drive so is blisteringly fast. It has a docking station into which your large screen and USB and keyboard and mice are permanently connected and you just lift it out of it's dock attach a cover that is also a keyboard and you take it with you when you go away. So basically your desktop is also your laptop. The were expensive but seem to be cheaper now. I'm using it now.

Anyway if you need help - post detail and I'm sure some of us will stumble through and attempt to offer suggestions.

Hope you are now happy you have the name stuff on your ticket sorted. For what it's worth for future - I understand the panic - but the chances of you having problems with a simple letter error as yours is almost zero. My name on my passport is Jeffrey and my tickets always say Jeff for example and I never have any problems at all.

On the Muse front, for some of us "origianals" ie when they were two then three then a four ship fleet - and it does rather represent a strategic final message to us ie increase fleet volume plus the general down market stuff ie all-inclusive means that for many of us they are telling us that we are really no longer their chosen market. I sent a courtesy note to M a couple of days ago wishing him luck with his new baby and was suprised to get a personal note back from him yesterday ... he is clearly excited and I am genuinely pleased for him but feel sad at the loss wifey and I feel. A sort of bereavement.

Jeff

Thanks Terry and Jeff for computer input.

Since I have been the route of iPad and iPhone, doubt I will consider an apple.

I now have an android phone and like it very much.

I still have this iPad, an old netbook and of course the hp with the crash.

So it remains to be seen what a future purchase will involve.

PhD son usually wants to be consulted first as to any purchase of anything electronic or resembling anything with memory or sensors.

His feelings are hurt if not. He is a self proclaimed nerd and proud of it.

I also admit to an external hard drive with all my CDs on it( gift from then future son in law who spent days creating it, I won't say if there were better ways to spend the time) a seagate with 1 TB, a sandisk with 64 gigs and memory slot and another external drive.

Happy Independence Day!

As a resident of the colonies, thank you Mysty for your wishes.

May it be happy and safe.

...... and the same Best Wishes to all our escapees for a lovely 4th. :)

I often wonder on this day, what might have been different today if it hadn't happened? What would be different about America, .....and of the UK? ,What about the rest of the World?

It is a fascinating thought.

:)

Jeff

Jeff,

I do recall your saying that last July 4th...

On another front, what is going to happen with Greece??

Jeff,

I do recall your saying that last July 4th...

 

On another front, what is going to happen with Greece??

What a good memory!

Greece. I have always been fascinated by the topic of unintended consequences of disparate and apparently unrelated converging trends. It is the shameful consequences of having the cushion provided by the Euro to gratuitous profligacy. Either way this is going to be terrible for the Greek urban people in particular but all Greeks generally.

In a historical perspective, Greece suffered terribly under Germany in WW2, but emerged independently. Now a short time later they were offered the drug of unlimited loans and credit essentially by Germany without restrictions or ever showing the slightest ability to repay, which they blew on living beyond their means. And the dealers now want their cash back.

Who do you blame? The addict or the dealer?

Jeff

Jeff,

I do recall your saying that last July 4th...

 

On another front, what is going to happen with Greece??

It's the butterfly effect - The scientific theory that a single occurence, no matter how small, can change the course of the universe forever. In this case, Greece is the butterfly.

It's the butterfly effect - The scientific theory that a single occurence, no matter how small, can change the course of the universe forever. In this case, Greece is the butterfly.

Sadly .... more in this case an elephant rather than a butterfly effect ...but your sentiments are spot on.

Today's ode to all things Hellenic ... apart from the wine which was of course Rioja. Not an elegant meal but it was lovely sitting in the garden with wifey and some brochettes and salad, pitta etc.

Your meal looks wonderful Jeff! Have the temperatures cooled enough to enjoy the garden again? And of course you are right that the butterfly is in fact more of an elephant. I just hope the rest of us do not get trampled! Canada may be slipping into another recession period with the oil issue. We certainly might be in trouble if the rest of the world starts to circle the drain.

Mossie,

Thanks .... but it is just rustic stuff.

This issue is a catastrophe for Greece whatever way the vote goes. In plain English they are voting on accepting an offer from their creditor that is no longer on the table that few of them understand.

To your question directly. With the global financial issues of a few years ago, most governments increased the need for banks to increase their asset base and decrease exposure. In Europe the central banks have been buying up Greek debt (gilts) to insulate individual banks to a degree. I don't know about Canada. In fact I don't know anything about anything if truth be told. :rolleyes:

But generally, the world turmoil of a few years ago has in a bizarre way helped prevent a much more major catastrphe now by improving bank liquidity, reducing speculative exposures and by absorbing debt like Greece's cetrally and spreading it over a wider and therefore thinner base if you get my clumsy drift.

However with respect to the Greek refereundum I think the citizens of Greece will conclude that the question is basically do you wish to continue with the pretece that you are prepared to pay the debt some time or other and take a bit of pain now - and in fact kick the ball into the future politicians grass - or do you wish to fess up and state honestly that you will never pay. The need £50bn over the next few years. The last loan which had "defaulted" from the ECB was only so they could make the payment to the IMF. In other words they were asking for an extension of one loan to pay another loan whilst stating they wanted not to repay the loan they were requesting.

The questions this calls are terrible long-reaching questions. The EU was an idea to stop the reoccurance of conflict. The largest perpatrators of conflict over the last century - Germany - has been the leader of the solution. Could they not simply promise to stop invading other countries?

Secondly if the EU was intended to reduce unrest in the EU what will happen when there is rioting on Greeks streets as a result of indeptedness to largely Germany? Will not the EU be seen as a total failure. The drug dealers of unfettered indebtedness?

Another question is ... is the ECB and IMF basically a disguised foreign aid programme of non-returnable loans rather than a process of genuine improvement development loans? If so - when did democratic countries vote for that?

And if we see more of the sad spectacle of innocent Greek pensioners rummaging through rubbish bins in Athens so they can eat, is this a good result of the EU experiment?

And how can you sustain a society where more than 50% of young people are unempoyed and relying on the reducing pensions of their grandparents to live and eat? Those pensions have been reduced by up to 60% and with a reversion to non-EU currency will devalue drastically overnight. Pensiones will revery to a third of their oncome but be supporting whole families.

Next week there is going to be no food in hospitals, no medications in pharmacists ... no money in the banks ... oh I could go on ... this is sadly outside all of us ordinary people's control but it isn't going to end well for the Greeks.

Jeff

aplogies for uncorrected typos .....