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Electric Scotland News
Terrible wild fires in Hawaii and Yellowknife in Canada.
I have friends and acquaintances in both places and hope they are all safe. Certainly the wild fires in Canada have broken all historical records and have adversely affected all parts of Canada as well as in the USA and Europe. Also I note other wild fires in Spain, Portugal and Greece with record temperatures all over the world.
I do wonder why more fire breaks aren't created given the sheer volume of fires some countries are experiencing. I have been watching a couple of YouTube channels on off grid living in Portugal and note it is mandatory that people with land there must clear the bush on their homesteads by law.
-------
I've become very interested in the work of Canadian Jordan Peterson whom the University system is trying to discipline. He has created an app called "Essay" which helps people write better and is also working on creating his Peterson Academy where people can get a university MA degree for only four thousand US dollars.
I've added some new videos to our page about him where you can learn more at: http://www.electriccanadian.com/life...aterson%20.htm
-------
I did an update on my Alastair's Viewing on YouTube page where I've removed a few links and added a few which reflects my developing interests. You can view this page which contains some 80 links at: https://www.electricscotland.com/lifestyle/youtube.htm
Scottish News from this weeks newspapers
I am partly doing this to build an archive of modern news from and about Scotland and world news stories that can affect Scotland and as all the newsletters are archived and also indexed on search engines it becomes a good resource. I might also add that in a number of newspapers you will find many comments which can be just as interesting as the news story itself and of course you can also add your own comments if you wish which I do myself from time to time. Here is what caught my eye this week...
Lisa’s words today validate all the rumors circulating these days
Canada's beloved nightly news anchor and burgeoning business woman Lisa made headlines after revealing her new CBD line on Live TV last week. Pharmaceutical companies were outraged saying they will be filing a lawsuit against LaFlamme and CTV for violating their contract and undercutting their prices.
Read more at:
https://obviousstars.com/surely-not-gone
Prince George left confused and annoyed after learning important lesson at school
The future King seems to enjoy his lessons at Lambrook School but his father revealed his eldest son's frustration when he learned about the environment through a litter-picking activity.
Read more at:
https://www.dailyrecord.co.uk/entert...noyed-30619601
MyHeritage Releases PhotoDater
Great news: date estimation for historical photos is finally here, and is available exclusively on MyHeritage! I’m delighted to announce the release of PhotoDater, a groundbreaking, free new feature that estimates the year a photo was taken using AI technology.
Read more at:
https://blog.myheritage.com/2023/08/...os-were-taken/
Lessons learned review into census problems
Scotland's census is to be subject to a "lessons learned" review, after struggling to achieve its target participation. The survey, usually held every 10 years, is an important tool for policymakers - but had a lower return rate than in other parts of the UK.
Read more at:
https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-scotland-66503594
Central Edinburgh on a Saturday night is a dystopian nightmare
I HAD the great misfortune of being in central Edinburgh last Saturday night.
Read more at:
https://thinkscotland.org/2023/08/ce...ian-nightmare/
How popular is your baby name in Scotland?
Find out using this interactive tool. A fascinating website allows you to input any name and see how its popularity in Scotland has changed over the years and you could spend hours just messing around on it.
Read more at:
https://www.dailyrecord.co.uk/scotla...-name-30696631
The lovely Scottish town home to best chocolate truffle on the planet
If you're looking for a holiday destination in Scotland, the lovely Perthshire town of Pitlochry is a must-visit if you like scenic walks and delicious chocolate.
Read more at:
https://www.dailyrecord.co.uk/scotla...-best-30707000
GERS 2023: uptick in oil revenues narrows the budget deficit
These statistics form the backdrop to a key battleground in the constitutional debate, particularly when it is focussed on the fiscal sustainability of an independent Scotland and what different choices Scotland could make in terms of taxation and spending.
Read more at:
https://sceptical.scot/2023/08/gers-...udget-deficit/
Canada excluded as China loosens group travel bans
Canada has been left out as China lifted a restrictions on group tours to multiple countries, including the US and the UK.
Read more at:
https://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-66525073
The case for heat pumps
There's a lot of negative press around heat pumps, perhaps unsurprisingly given how expensive they are compared to gas boilers. The key to changing that is to scale up production and rollout to the same levels as other European countries, including the chilly Nordic countries where this new tech is so popular.
Read more at:
https://capx.co/britains-heating-rev...e-to-scale-up/
Sir Michael Parkinson: Chat show host dies aged 88
His TV career spanned seven decades, and he interviewed the world's biggest stars on his long-running chat show.
Read more at:
https://www.bbc.com/news/entertainment-arts-66411604
Footage shows the wildfire threatening a Canadian city
Race to evacuate city as blaze approaches
Read more at:
https://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-66526554
The farmers boosting crops with electricity
Electrical horticulture is on the horizon, as farmers search for ways to boost productivity without harming the environment. Could we all be enjoying electrified vegetables soon?
Read more at:
https://www.bbc.com/future/article/2...th-electricity
Electric Canadian
Charles G. D. Roberts, a Maker of Canadian Literature
By James Cappon (1923) (pdf)
You can read about him at:
http://www.electriccanadian.com/life...erts00robe.pdf
Back to Blighty
Battle stories recorded by Captain A. J. Dawson. Illustrations by Captain Bruce Bairnsfather, published for the Bystander (1917) (pdf)
You can read these atz:
http://www.electriccanadian.com/forc...00dawsuoft.pdf
The Drama of the Forests
Romance and Adventure by Arthur Heming (1921)
You can read this book at:
http://www.electriccanadian.com/life...hus-heming.htm
Old and New McGill
By J. Murray Gibbon
You can read this book at:
http://www.electriccanadian.com/lifestyle/mcgill.htm
Thoughts on a Sunday Morning - the 13th day of August 2023 - Friend or Foe
By the Rev. Nola Crewe
You can watch this at:
http://www.electricscotland.org/foru...-friend-or-foe
Electric Scotland
The Whole Proceedings before the Presbytery of Dumbarton and Synod of Glasgow and Ayr
In the Case of the Rev. John M'Leod Campbell, Minister of Row, including the libel, Answers to the Libel, Evidence, and Speeches. (1831) (pdf)
You can read this interesting case at:
https://electricscotland.com/bible/w...ings00camp.pdf
William Holmes McGuffey and his Readers
By Harvey G. Winnigh, LL.D., D.E.D. (1936) (pdf). Added this book in pdf format to the foot of our page about him at:
https://electricscotland.com/history...s-mcguffey.htm
The Works of Allan Ramsay
With Life of the Author by George Chalmers; An essay on his genius and writings by Lord Woodhouselee; and an appendix relative to his life and posthumous reputation in three volumes (1853). Added this to the foot of our page about him at:
https://electricscotland.com/history...msay_allan.htm
Your Problems and Mine in the Guidance of Youth
A Case book for Teachers and Parents by J. K. Stableton, Doctor of Pedagogy, Author of "Diary of a Western Schoolmaster". (1922)
You can read this fascinating book at:
https://electricscotland.com/education/Stableton.htm
Hugo Reid
Hugo enjoyed the leisurely life of a gentleman rancher and literary dilettante
You can learn about him at:
https://electricscotland.com/history/america/Scotch%20Paisano%20in%20Old%20Los%20Angeles]%20PREFACE.pdf
Further Illustrations of the Practical Operation of the Scotch System of Management of the Poor.
By W. P. Alison, Professor of the Institutes of Medicine in the University of Edinburgh. Read before the Statistical Society of London, 15th November 1841. (pdf)
You can read this article at:
https://electricscotland.com/lifesty...hsystepoor.pdf
Story
Bits about Books by William Canton
EVERY now and then one opens a book the genius of which seems to paralyse one’s right hand for all further endeavour; it is only once or twice in a lifetime that we open one which seems to make our hearts stand still. I do not know how otherwise than in this latter phrase to indicate without extravagance the feeling with which I have read “Margaret Ogilvy.” As I now attempt to say something about it, I perceive how completely beyond all criticism, beyond everything indeed except sympathy and wonder at its courage, its simple sincerity, its beauty, is this story the mother and her son. For here the love is laid so bare that it is too personal, almost too sacred a thing to admit of comment of any kind. And yet one cannot but think that, notwithstanding all its intimate individuality, the story is not that of one man and one woman but a story belonging to all time—that this proud and passionate affection has long waited for some such consummate declaration, that in these pages all the mother-love and all the filial devotion the world has known attain fruition. One sees how fatally easy it would have been to repel and estrange the reader. One solitary moment of self-consciousness, a single glimpse of insincerity, or vanity, or conceit, one “tear of sensibility,” and we should have dropped the book in revolt. But from cover to cover the deep love and pride and delight are flawless; we read on, wondering, crying, laughing, and crying and laughing in a breath, till we come to that quaint prenatal recollection which in old age will be the son’s last memory—the picture of his mother as “a little girl in a magenta frock and a white pinafore.... singing to herself, and carrying her father’s dinner in a flagon.”
Long before these lines are published much will have been written about the book, and most of my readers will probably have seen it. That fact deters me from touching in detail on many passages which I should have been glad to quote. Against one, in which he tells how, to wean his mother from her stony sorrow at his brother’s death, he would stand on his head in the bed, his feet against the wall, and then cry excitedly: “Are you laughing, mother?” I have jotted the words “Our Lady’s Jongleur,” for it recalled to my mind the mediaeval legend of the poor tumbler, turned monk in his old age, who because he could neither sing nor preach, sculpture nor paint, like his more gifted brethren, bethought him to honour “Our Lady” by his tumbler’s feats, and how when some prying babbler summoned the scandalised community they found that the Virgin had descended from her pedestal and was wiping her “poor fool’s” heated brows.
This is a book that Scotland in particular will treasure. It will be precious to all men, but it is a bit of Scotland; an epitome of Scottish character, of Scottish faith and fortitude, of the gaiety, sweetness, frugality, and love of a Scottish home which might have been called humble but for the pride and glory of its love. Margaret Ogilvy’s heart was full of a mother’s ambition, she could “have done fine” to have been the mother of many notable men: this book will give her the love of many sons, of whom the least notable will not love her least.
You can read this book at a link at the foot of our page about J. M. Barrie at:
https://electricscotland.com/history...rrie_james.htm
END.
Weekend is almost here and hope it's a good one for you.
Alastair
Terrible wild fires in Hawaii and Yellowknife in Canada.
I have friends and acquaintances in both places and hope they are all safe. Certainly the wild fires in Canada have broken all historical records and have adversely affected all parts of Canada as well as in the USA and Europe. Also I note other wild fires in Spain, Portugal and Greece with record temperatures all over the world.
I do wonder why more fire breaks aren't created given the sheer volume of fires some countries are experiencing. I have been watching a couple of YouTube channels on off grid living in Portugal and note it is mandatory that people with land there must clear the bush on their homesteads by law.
-------
I've become very interested in the work of Canadian Jordan Peterson whom the University system is trying to discipline. He has created an app called "Essay" which helps people write better and is also working on creating his Peterson Academy where people can get a university MA degree for only four thousand US dollars.
I've added some new videos to our page about him where you can learn more at: http://www.electriccanadian.com/life...aterson%20.htm
-------
I did an update on my Alastair's Viewing on YouTube page where I've removed a few links and added a few which reflects my developing interests. You can view this page which contains some 80 links at: https://www.electricscotland.com/lifestyle/youtube.htm
Scottish News from this weeks newspapers
I am partly doing this to build an archive of modern news from and about Scotland and world news stories that can affect Scotland and as all the newsletters are archived and also indexed on search engines it becomes a good resource. I might also add that in a number of newspapers you will find many comments which can be just as interesting as the news story itself and of course you can also add your own comments if you wish which I do myself from time to time. Here is what caught my eye this week...
Lisa’s words today validate all the rumors circulating these days
Canada's beloved nightly news anchor and burgeoning business woman Lisa made headlines after revealing her new CBD line on Live TV last week. Pharmaceutical companies were outraged saying they will be filing a lawsuit against LaFlamme and CTV for violating their contract and undercutting their prices.
Read more at:
https://obviousstars.com/surely-not-gone
Prince George left confused and annoyed after learning important lesson at school
The future King seems to enjoy his lessons at Lambrook School but his father revealed his eldest son's frustration when he learned about the environment through a litter-picking activity.
Read more at:
https://www.dailyrecord.co.uk/entert...noyed-30619601
MyHeritage Releases PhotoDater
Great news: date estimation for historical photos is finally here, and is available exclusively on MyHeritage! I’m delighted to announce the release of PhotoDater, a groundbreaking, free new feature that estimates the year a photo was taken using AI technology.
Read more at:
https://blog.myheritage.com/2023/08/...os-were-taken/
Lessons learned review into census problems
Scotland's census is to be subject to a "lessons learned" review, after struggling to achieve its target participation. The survey, usually held every 10 years, is an important tool for policymakers - but had a lower return rate than in other parts of the UK.
Read more at:
https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-scotland-66503594
Central Edinburgh on a Saturday night is a dystopian nightmare
I HAD the great misfortune of being in central Edinburgh last Saturday night.
Read more at:
https://thinkscotland.org/2023/08/ce...ian-nightmare/
How popular is your baby name in Scotland?
Find out using this interactive tool. A fascinating website allows you to input any name and see how its popularity in Scotland has changed over the years and you could spend hours just messing around on it.
Read more at:
https://www.dailyrecord.co.uk/scotla...-name-30696631
The lovely Scottish town home to best chocolate truffle on the planet
If you're looking for a holiday destination in Scotland, the lovely Perthshire town of Pitlochry is a must-visit if you like scenic walks and delicious chocolate.
Read more at:
https://www.dailyrecord.co.uk/scotla...-best-30707000
GERS 2023: uptick in oil revenues narrows the budget deficit
These statistics form the backdrop to a key battleground in the constitutional debate, particularly when it is focussed on the fiscal sustainability of an independent Scotland and what different choices Scotland could make in terms of taxation and spending.
Read more at:
https://sceptical.scot/2023/08/gers-...udget-deficit/
Canada excluded as China loosens group travel bans
Canada has been left out as China lifted a restrictions on group tours to multiple countries, including the US and the UK.
Read more at:
https://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-66525073
The case for heat pumps
There's a lot of negative press around heat pumps, perhaps unsurprisingly given how expensive they are compared to gas boilers. The key to changing that is to scale up production and rollout to the same levels as other European countries, including the chilly Nordic countries where this new tech is so popular.
Read more at:
https://capx.co/britains-heating-rev...e-to-scale-up/
Sir Michael Parkinson: Chat show host dies aged 88
His TV career spanned seven decades, and he interviewed the world's biggest stars on his long-running chat show.
Read more at:
https://www.bbc.com/news/entertainment-arts-66411604
Footage shows the wildfire threatening a Canadian city
Race to evacuate city as blaze approaches
Read more at:
https://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-66526554
The farmers boosting crops with electricity
Electrical horticulture is on the horizon, as farmers search for ways to boost productivity without harming the environment. Could we all be enjoying electrified vegetables soon?
Read more at:
https://www.bbc.com/future/article/2...th-electricity
Electric Canadian
Charles G. D. Roberts, a Maker of Canadian Literature
By James Cappon (1923) (pdf)
You can read about him at:
http://www.electriccanadian.com/life...erts00robe.pdf
Back to Blighty
Battle stories recorded by Captain A. J. Dawson. Illustrations by Captain Bruce Bairnsfather, published for the Bystander (1917) (pdf)
You can read these atz:
http://www.electriccanadian.com/forc...00dawsuoft.pdf
The Drama of the Forests
Romance and Adventure by Arthur Heming (1921)
You can read this book at:
http://www.electriccanadian.com/life...hus-heming.htm
Old and New McGill
By J. Murray Gibbon
You can read this book at:
http://www.electriccanadian.com/lifestyle/mcgill.htm
Thoughts on a Sunday Morning - the 13th day of August 2023 - Friend or Foe
By the Rev. Nola Crewe
You can watch this at:
http://www.electricscotland.org/foru...-friend-or-foe
Electric Scotland
The Whole Proceedings before the Presbytery of Dumbarton and Synod of Glasgow and Ayr
In the Case of the Rev. John M'Leod Campbell, Minister of Row, including the libel, Answers to the Libel, Evidence, and Speeches. (1831) (pdf)
You can read this interesting case at:
https://electricscotland.com/bible/w...ings00camp.pdf
William Holmes McGuffey and his Readers
By Harvey G. Winnigh, LL.D., D.E.D. (1936) (pdf). Added this book in pdf format to the foot of our page about him at:
https://electricscotland.com/history...s-mcguffey.htm
The Works of Allan Ramsay
With Life of the Author by George Chalmers; An essay on his genius and writings by Lord Woodhouselee; and an appendix relative to his life and posthumous reputation in three volumes (1853). Added this to the foot of our page about him at:
https://electricscotland.com/history...msay_allan.htm
Your Problems and Mine in the Guidance of Youth
A Case book for Teachers and Parents by J. K. Stableton, Doctor of Pedagogy, Author of "Diary of a Western Schoolmaster". (1922)
You can read this fascinating book at:
https://electricscotland.com/education/Stableton.htm
Hugo Reid
Hugo enjoyed the leisurely life of a gentleman rancher and literary dilettante
You can learn about him at:
https://electricscotland.com/history/america/Scotch%20Paisano%20in%20Old%20Los%20Angeles]%20PREFACE.pdf
Further Illustrations of the Practical Operation of the Scotch System of Management of the Poor.
By W. P. Alison, Professor of the Institutes of Medicine in the University of Edinburgh. Read before the Statistical Society of London, 15th November 1841. (pdf)
You can read this article at:
https://electricscotland.com/lifesty...hsystepoor.pdf
Story
Bits about Books by William Canton
From the 1997 edition of Good Words edited by Donald MacLeod
EVERY now and then one opens a book the genius of which seems to paralyse one’s right hand for all further endeavour; it is only once or twice in a lifetime that we open one which seems to make our hearts stand still. I do not know how otherwise than in this latter phrase to indicate without extravagance the feeling with which I have read “Margaret Ogilvy.” As I now attempt to say something about it, I perceive how completely beyond all criticism, beyond everything indeed except sympathy and wonder at its courage, its simple sincerity, its beauty, is this story the mother and her son. For here the love is laid so bare that it is too personal, almost too sacred a thing to admit of comment of any kind. And yet one cannot but think that, notwithstanding all its intimate individuality, the story is not that of one man and one woman but a story belonging to all time—that this proud and passionate affection has long waited for some such consummate declaration, that in these pages all the mother-love and all the filial devotion the world has known attain fruition. One sees how fatally easy it would have been to repel and estrange the reader. One solitary moment of self-consciousness, a single glimpse of insincerity, or vanity, or conceit, one “tear of sensibility,” and we should have dropped the book in revolt. But from cover to cover the deep love and pride and delight are flawless; we read on, wondering, crying, laughing, and crying and laughing in a breath, till we come to that quaint prenatal recollection which in old age will be the son’s last memory—the picture of his mother as “a little girl in a magenta frock and a white pinafore.... singing to herself, and carrying her father’s dinner in a flagon.”
Long before these lines are published much will have been written about the book, and most of my readers will probably have seen it. That fact deters me from touching in detail on many passages which I should have been glad to quote. Against one, in which he tells how, to wean his mother from her stony sorrow at his brother’s death, he would stand on his head in the bed, his feet against the wall, and then cry excitedly: “Are you laughing, mother?” I have jotted the words “Our Lady’s Jongleur,” for it recalled to my mind the mediaeval legend of the poor tumbler, turned monk in his old age, who because he could neither sing nor preach, sculpture nor paint, like his more gifted brethren, bethought him to honour “Our Lady” by his tumbler’s feats, and how when some prying babbler summoned the scandalised community they found that the Virgin had descended from her pedestal and was wiping her “poor fool’s” heated brows.
This is a book that Scotland in particular will treasure. It will be precious to all men, but it is a bit of Scotland; an epitome of Scottish character, of Scottish faith and fortitude, of the gaiety, sweetness, frugality, and love of a Scottish home which might have been called humble but for the pride and glory of its love. Margaret Ogilvy’s heart was full of a mother’s ambition, she could “have done fine” to have been the mother of many notable men: this book will give her the love of many sons, of whom the least notable will not love her least.
You can read this book at a link at the foot of our page about J. M. Barrie at:
https://electricscotland.com/history...rrie_james.htm
END.
Weekend is almost here and hope it's a good one for you.
Alastair