Don't Whistle While you Work

[Will Gilmore]

My father is in the hospital for a stroke. He was having a great deal of trouble speaking and finding words. The speech therapist came in to evaluate him and discover he also had trouble recognizing things to the right. He was effectively blind to things on the right. His eyes worked perfectly, his brain just wasn't processing the right side of the image his eyes beheld. It is very interesting that the brain processes different quadrants or areas of what we see in different areas of the brain.
Anyhow, the therapist also asked him to whistle. He did poorly and said, "I'm not a very good whistler." The therapist responded, "I thought you were a sailor. Aren't sailors supposed to be good whistles?"
The Old Man replied, "Oh no. Whistling is verboten on a boat."
I never knew this. It is in the books on sailors' superstitions and I guess that was one I just hadn't read before.
We briefly discussed why that might be, but everything was, of course, pure speculation. The Old Man just shrugged. He seemed to be able to shrug with no problem. That was hopeful.
I was wondering if it was because a bosun's whistle was used to signal certain events on board and the ban on whistling was an effort to avoid confusion.
What I just read was that it might anger the Wind. That could be, but I also read that the cook and the youngest were allowed to whistle, but no one else. The cook was allowed a lot of leeway and of he was whistling he wasn't eating. I would also imagine the youngest might be considered the greatest risk of going overboard and you would know he had when the whistling stopped.

What do you think?

By the way, the Old Man is greatly improved and is not down South at an intensive rehab facility.

-Will (Dragonfly)

 

[jon hansen]

never heard that one. the big one one the lakes was never start a voyage on a friday. if the vessel was ready to go to start the season on a friday there would be some reason given and we would leave 12:01 sat am.

 

[jon hansen]

hope your dad recovers quickly Will

 

[Will Gilmore]

never start a voyage on a friday.

I've heard that one too. I read somewhere that a ship's captain who lost his ship would be punished by giving him another ship who's name was changed, launched on a friday and his maiden voyage was to start on a Friday. I don't believe anyone would give that captain a ship and never having heard of a ship named Friday, I don't believe it ever happened. It's a good threat, I suppose.

hope your dad recovers quickly Will

Thanks Jon. Things are looking very well.

-Will (Dragonfly)

 

[Roland5048]

God speed to your dad, Will. Anyway, I had heard that one about whistling on a boat but had to Google it for a reminder. Here it is as I remember. Go to #4. https://www.boaterexam.com/blog/2011/07/boater-superstitions.aspx

 

[Will Gilmore]

Yes, that's what I read. Singing or whistling into the wind. However, any whistling was forbidden, singing shanties was encouraged.

I always like the one about women being bad luck unless unclothed. How many times do you suppose that happened, outside of a pirate ship? More often these days .

We sold our schooner to a charter company in Clearwater. The next time We passed her sailing through Clearwater Pass she had three women sunning on the foredeck. They all sat up and waved at us. They were all topless. We dubbed her "the Orgy Boat" after that.

-Will (Dragonfly)

 

[jssailem]

Sorry to hear about your Dad. You and your family are in our prayers.

I always thought that sailing on Friday or Saturday was bad because Fridays would mean you missed the best Pub night. Grog and loose women!!!
Then Saturday meant the crew would be hung over so you couldn’t leave then..
But Sunday meant you could sneak away before Landlubber church ministers could tell you the evils of your ways on Friday...
Besides, What better church could there be then to fill your sails and sail out on the high seas....

 

[dlochner]

Will, sorry to hear about your father. The brain is a fascinating and complex organ that we know a lot about and very little at the same time.

From your description, the stroke was on the left side of the brain and fairly extensive. The left side controls the right side of the body and vice versa. Basic language function, recognizing words and recalling words are located on the left side. The particular areas involved are likely Broca's Area and Wernicke's Area, this would account for his difficulty with word finding and speech production. The Occipital lobe is located at the back of the brain and is the visual processing center. Anything in the right visual field would be processed by the left occipital lobe.

BTW, the right brain/left brain personality myths are just that folklore, there is no scientific evidence that lateralization has much of anything to do with personality.

 

[RoyS]

Will, I can tell you are the type of person that is interested in anything and everything. You will never be bored. Hope your dad recovers.

 

[Justin_NSA]

Glad your father is on the mend Will. Sounds like he is alert. I lost my dad about 10 years ago.

Most tales are based on some facts, like spitting in the wind and stepping on Superman's Cape, but I've not heard these before.

 

[Will Gilmore]

Dlochner, thanks so much for both your concern and your explanation. The neurologist at LRH is, I think, top notch. He described the stroke as a medium sized stroke. He is impressed and surprised by how fast the Old Man is recovering.
Your explanation of the reverse structure of control is what I understand to be true. However, I had been under the impression it wasn't true for the eyes. An archer must determine which is his dominant eye when sighting and I thought it tended to be the opposite from the archer's dominant hand.

BTW, the right brain/left brain personality myths are just that folklore, there is no scientific evidence that lateralization has much of anything to do with personality.

This may also be true, but if left handed/ right handed-ness is indicative of dominant thinking process, logical vs abstractive thinking then I can't see that not having an effect on personality. I am left-handed, but I am also a middle child raised by a man who put a lot of emphasis on Eastern philosophy and questioning authority. Who knows which has a measurable effect on my personality. Most assuredly, all of it. There are clearly both nature and nurture forces at work.
There is an interesting study reported on in a book called "The Brain" in which they discovered a reversal of roles between the left and right side of the brain within the narrative Japanese population and the rest of the World. Interesting enough. It wasn't true for native Japanese raised in the West.

If I were to enter the medical profession, neurology sounds the most interesting.

-Will (Dragonfly)

 

[dlochner]

This may also be true, but if left handed/ right handed-ness is indicative of dominant thinking process, logical vs abstractive thinking then I can't see that not having an effect on personality.

This is the myth upon which the personality theory is based.

 

[Will Gilmore]

This is the myth upon which the personality theory is based.

The myth being that the hemispheres are not divided into logical and abstract or there isn't a dominant side? [Edit: for thinking, not handedness]

-Will (Dragonfly)

 

[dlochner]

The myth being that the hemispheres are not divided into logical and abstract or there isn't a dominant side? [Edit: for thinking, not handedness]

-Will (Dragonfly)

Well, years ago we thought that it might be as simple as that. There is obviously handedness, but that doesn't appear to be related to thinking styles. There is also some degree of specialization of the hemispheres and lobes. We know that by looking at lesions and brain injuries. As you are seeing in your father, damage to left side and to either Broca's or Wernicke's area produces problems with speech production and recognition. But this is only part of the story, a bigger part is how the areas of the brain are connected and communicate with each other.

When I was in grad school ~30 years ago we thought seeing CT scans and MRIs of the brain and brain damage was hot stuff. Neuroscience has gone well beyond that now due to improved technology. Now the neuroscience folks are looking at real-time processing in the brain and looking at connections between different areas of the brain and doing comparative studies between normal and abnormal brains, for example the difference between children diagnosed with ADHD and those who aren't.

For the popular press and the general population, it is impossible to keep abreast of the latest developments. Almost anything you read about brain functioning that is not published in an academic journal is probably 10-15 years old. It takes that long for new insights to be verified, published, confirmed, and then interpreted for a lay audience. Then it takes forever for outdated ideas to vanish. If you are going to read about neuroscience, the first thing you should read is the publication date for the material you are reading.

From time to time, I'm called upon to evaluate children who have had brain injuries, so I try to keep abreast of at least the trends in neuroscience, that's a challenge in and of itself. Some findings from neuroscience have withstood the test of time, broadly speaking the front parts of the brain control behavior and actions, the back half controls perception and sensation. Left side of the brain controls the right side of the body and vice versa. The top side of the brain controls the lower part of the body and vice versa.

Two of the hot areas of research are the functional relationships and connections between different brain areas and the role of "white matter" in the brain, i.e, non-cortical brain cells and regions. Old school thinking was that white matter was mostly structural, that may not be the case.

Alright, so this is far removed from sailing and whistling up the wind.

 

[ObiQuiet]

I'll bet it started as a ruse to quiet an annoyning shipmate. Then it became a superstition.

(It's bad luck to be superstitious, by the way.)

 

[Will Gilmore]

(It's bad luck to be superstitious, by the way.)

I read that sailors wouldn't learn to swim because it was bad luck to prepare for disaster, preparing for bad luck invited bad luck and a sailor learning to swim was preparing for desaster and therefore inviting bad luck.
Could that be why big boats seem to sink where little boats make it across the ocean without incident? Or is it just there are more big boats trying to cross oceans?

--Will (Dragonfly)

 

[ObiQuiet]

Could that be why big boats seem to sink where little boats make it across the ocean without incident?

I misdoubt luck, though it is a useful concept for probabilites that are too hard to analyse, with many external variables:
* Smaller boats tend to stay out of heavier weather, and travel fewer miles.
* Larger boats have deeper draft, but also stronger hulls
* Larger boats have larger pumps, but the situations those pumps have to deal with are larger too

 

[Will Gilmore]

I misdoubt luck, though it is a useful concept for probabilites that are too hard to analyse, with many external variables

Luck is just that which happens without predictable cause. An atheist friend of mine argued that there was no "agorithm of life", my term during a discussion about the nature of the Universe. He argued that life was a result of chance, another term for luck, therefore, no algorithm.
If it benefits us, it's good luck, if it takes from us, it's bad luck.
Superstition, on the other hand, is the assignment of intent to an otherwise, impersonal set of events. The practice of antropomorphizing elements of our world may actually be built into our DNA. We have to be taught not to do it.
As a kid, I use to read a lot about sharks. Statistically, most shark attacks happen in 3' of water. Is that where the sharks hang out or is that what most swimmers hang out? It was once thought that smoking prevented Alzheimer's because statistically, smokers didn't get Alzheimer's disease. Reviewing the population samples, it became clear that smoking prevented Alzheimer's by killing you before Alzheimer's did.


-Will (Dragonfly)

 

[jssailem]

Luck is when you put $ 20 down on the craps table and then roll a 7.

 

[Kermit]

Yes, that's what I read. Singing or whistling into the wind. However, any whistling was forbidden, singing shanties was encouraged.

I always like the one about women being bad luck unless unclothed. How many times do you suppose that happened, outside of a pirate ship? More often these days .

We sold our schooner to a charter company in Clearwater. The next time We passed her sailing through Clearwater Pass she had three women sunning on the foredeck. They all sat up and waved at us. They were all topless. We dubbed her "the Orgy Boat" after that.

-Will (Dragonfly)

Sounds you should have kept the boat. ;-)