Tweet
For the latest news from Scotland see our ScotNews feed at:
http://www.electricscotland.com/
Electric Scotland News
That is some flood in Texas... I know we have some of our visitors from that State so hope you are all well with you and your families and of course it's moving into adjoining States. One hour down the road where I live in Canada they had flooding in Windsor. We've also got increasing wild fires with thousands being evacuated. Then of course major floods in Asia so it seem problems all over the world right now.
Brexit talks are now continuing with some weird requests from the EU. They insist they want to know how much the UK will pay in the divorce bill but of course that also means we need to know what we will get in exchange. So you can't exclude trade negotiations but the EU insist they can which is really daft.
I watched a short interview with Sir James Dyson which I've put a link to in our news feature below and I hope you'll take the time to watch it.
Beth has sent in the 2 part September issue of her Family Tree and in it I'm told there is now a third edition of the Scottish Clans & Family Encyclopedia with a lot more information on Scottish names. The link provided in it didn't work but hopefully they might fix it shortly.
Scottish News from this weeks newspapers
Note that this is a selection and more can be read in our ScotNews feed on our index page where we list news from the past 1-2 weeks. I am partly doing this to build an archive of modern news from and about Scotland as all the newsletters are archived and also indexed on Google and other search engines. I might also add that in newspapers such as the Guardian, Scotsman, Courier, etc. 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.
Sir James Dyson
Talking about his business and Brexit
Watch this at:
http://uk.reuters.com/video/2017/08/...e=MOST+POPULAR
Amazon pledge to slash Whole Foods prices hits UK grocers
Shares in British supermarkets dipped this morning after US giant Amazon said it would slash prices at its newly acquired Whole Foods grocery chain. I note also this is being discussed in Canada where they also think the main grocery chains will need to change.
Read more at:
http://www.scotsman.com/business/com...cers-1-4541916
GERS: An Inconvenient Truth
The pro-independence spin-machine has been in over-drive trying to prevent people understanding what they show us.
Read more at:
http://chokkablog.blogspot.ca/2017/0...ent-truth.html
Professor Murphy and Deckchairs
I see Professor Richard Murphy has been offering more of his ineffably obtuse observations on the Scottish Government's GERS figures.
Read more at:
http://chokkablog.blogspot.ca/2017/0...-has-been.html
Hands-free farming project to harvest its first crop
The end is in sight for a project designed to plant, tend and harvest a crop with no help from a human hand or foot which has used only drones and autonomous vehicles
Read more at:
http://www.scotsman.com/business/com...crop-1-4541875
Queensferry crossing could last 150 years
The new £1.35bn Queensferry Crossing could still be operating in 150 years, according to its technical director.
Read more at:
http://www.bbc.com/news/uk-scotland-41036412
School counselling support patchy
More than 250,000 children in Scotland have no access to school-based counselling services, a BBC investigation has discovered.
Read more at:
http://www.bbc.com/news/uk-scotland-...itics-40959463
Shona Robison under pressure over missed NHS targets
Nicola Sturgeon is facing renewed calls to replace Shona Robison as Health Secretary after new figures showed a series of key NHS waiting times targets have been missed.
Read more at:
http://www.scotsman.com/news/shona-r...gets-1-4545371
Pension deficit soars to £62bn across biggest listed firms
New evidence of the challenge facing the pensions industry has emerged today in a report revealing that the deficit of the UK’s biggest 350 listed companies rocketed last year.
Read more at:
http://www.scotsman.com/business/com...irms-1-4545038
Nicola Sturgeon aide named new Scotland-US ambassador
Joni Smith will take over as Scottish affairs counsellor to North America after the time of previous incumbent Donnie Jack in the role ended amid reports of a row over how to promote Scotland in the vital overseas market.
Read more at:
http://www.scotsman.com/news/politic...ador-1-4545836
Could Amazon swallow up Facebook and Google?
First Craigslist and Gumtree came for newspapers, then Facebook and Google came for TV and radio, then Amazon came for them
Read more at:
http://www.scotsman.com/business/com...ogle-1-4545073
Houston, New Orleans and the lessons of Katrina
As with New Orleans, it is the poorest in Houston who are suffering the most
Read more at:
https://capx.co/houston-new-orleans-...ons-of-katrina
Electric Canadian
Video about camping, canoeing and fishing in Northern Ontario which I thought you might enjoy.
I added it to the foot of our Tourism page at http://www.electriccanadian.com/transport/tourism.htm
Musical Canada
A Monthly Review and Magazine which I stumbled across and you can read this at:
http://www.electriccanadian.com/life...cal_canada.htm
Great Lakes and Atlantic Canal and Power Company, Limited
Proposed Great Lakes to Ocean $500,000,000 Waterway Improvement and $200,000,000 Hydraulic Development (1919) (pdf) which you can read at: http://www.electriccanadian.com/tran...esatlantic.pdf
Conrad Black
I've always had a lot of time for Conrad Black and so as he writes from Canada on a number of issues of interest from around the world I'm intending to include links to his writings for you to view.
What Russia Can Do for America
http://www.conradmblack.com/1325/wha...do-for-america
John A MacDonald
https://twitter.com/ConradMBlack?t=1...=244+272699405
The Canadian Government's Lack of Imagination
http://www.conradmblack.com/1326/the...of-imagination
Ryan and McConnell Need to Get on Board With Trump
http://www.conradmblack.com/1327/rya...ard-with-trump
Electric Scotland
An Economical History of the Hebrides and Highlands of Scotland
By John Walker D.D., in two volumes (1808)
The following Work was the result of six journeys made into the Highlands and Hebrides, from the year 1760, to the year 1786, during which, a greater extent of these distant parts of the kingdom was surveyed, than what had probably ever been traversed by any former traveler. Two of these journeys were particularly extensive; each of them having been continued from the month of May till late in December. In the year 1764, the Author received a commission, from the General Assembly of the Church of Scotland, to enquire into the state of religion in the Highland countries; into the distribution of his Majesty’s bounty, granted for the religious instruction of the inhabitants; and to point out the districts where the erection of new parishes might be judged most necessary and expedient. He at the same time received a commission from his Majesty’s Commissioners on the Annexed Estates, to examine the natural history of these countries, their population, and the state of their agriculture, manufactures, and fisheries. In the year 1771 he received a similar commission from those two respectable bodies, in order to extend his survey over those parts of the country which he had not formerly visited. One report on the business Of the General Assembly was Communicated in the year 1765, and another in the year 1772; when both were inserted in the Records of the Assembly. His report to the Annexed Board formed a large folio volume, which remained for some time in possession of the Board, but was afterwards sent to London, and of which no exact copy was retained. This volume has since disappeared, and, even after much enquiry to recover if; has been given up as lost.
The present performance contains all that was observed on the above journies, and whatever has since occurred concerning the agricultural and economical history of the Hebrides and Highlands. This part of the national territory, considerable as it is, has been in all times past, comparatively, but of small advantage to the public. And when we reflect that it affords many hundreds of miles of sea coast, the most spacious and secure harbours, extensive fisheries, much land capable of cultivation, and is inhabited by a virtuous and hardy race of people, it must be admitted to be a source of national prosperity that has hitherto been inexcusably neglected.
The agriculture of these countries appears to have undergone but little improvement since the era that domestic cattle and the cultivation of grain were first introduced; which happened probably in the third or fourth century. Any alterations for the better have taken place only within the last fifty years; and among these, the introduction of potatoes and of white oats seems to be the most valuable. The inhabitants, by their remote and insular situation, remained long almost a separate people from the rest of their countrymen. Their difficult access to the more cultivated parts of Scotland, rendered communication infrequent, and has kept them strangers to the improvements that have been made in the southern parts of the kingdom. They have, from this cause, been left far behind the rest of their fellow-subjects with respect to the arts, and especially in the art of agriculture.
Any account to be delivered of the agriculture and agrestic economy of the Highlands and Islands, must, in one respect, be widely different from such a history of any other district or county in Britain. It was natural to suppose, what now appears by the agricultural surveys, that there are few counties in the kingdom from which others may not learn something useful in husbandry. Beneficial practices in agriculture were formerly more confined than at present; but they are still slow in their progress. They are often limited, and for a long time, to a spot, or a particular district, by want of communication. To render them universally known, is a happy consequence of these surveys. Each county in Britain has now access to know the practice of all the others. Every individual farmer may have the opportunity of reaping benefit from the experience and prudent management of his brethren through the whole kingdom. But while he and his county thus receive instruction, they are likewise capable of making a return in kind to others.
The case, however, is quite different with the inhabitants of the Highlands and Islands. They stand much in need of instruction in the cultivation of their country, and have little to communicate, that can be useful to the more cultivated parts of the kingdom. The practice of farmers in England or Scotland, three or four hundred years ago, would but little edify their successors in the present times. The skillful cultivators in Scotland and England, have therefore nothing to expect from this quarter. On the contrary, it is to them that the inhabitants of these remote countries must be indebted for their skill and proficiency in agriculture.
It is not, therefore, to be expected, that the practice in these unimproved countries can afford much that is useful, or that requires to be adopted in places where cultivation has made considerable progress. Yet the improvements suggested in this treatise for the melioration of the Highlands and Islands, may deserve attention in all places where there is a similarity of soil and of climate. Some of these improvements may deserve notice in almost every part of the three kingdoms. But most of them are peculiarly applicable to the north of Ireland, and to all the districts in Scotland and England that are elevated more than 500 or 600 feet above the level of the sea.
The subject proposed in this treatise is indeed extensive, and consists of many different branches. But before entering on a particular consideration of the state of agriculture in the Highland countries, it may be proper to take a general view of their soil, their climate, and the nature of their inhabitants; as on these the operations and success of husbandry must everywhere entirely depend.
Read this account at: http://www.electricscotland.com/busi...onomichist.htm
The Scots of Jefferson County, Mississippi
By Don MM Simonton
You can read this at: http://www.electricscotland.com/hist...soncountry.htm
Other MacIntyres
Added a wee story of Bob McIntyre which you can read at: http://www.electricscotland.com/webc...macintyres.htm
So Few
The Immortal Record of the Royal Air Force by David Masters (1942) and also added several other books on the RAF.
You can read these at: http://www.electricscotland.com/hist...treg/sofew.htm
Geographical and Statistical Description of Scotland
Containing A General Survey of that Kingdom, Its Climate, Mountains, Lakes, Rivers, Products, Population, Manufactures, Commerce, Religion, Literature, Government, Revenue, History, A Description of Every Countyby James Playfair in 2 volumes in pdf format. (1819).
Added links to these volumes at the foot of the page at:
http://www.electricscotland.com/webc...l_accounts.htm
Beth's Newfangled Family Tree
Added section 1 & 2 of the September 2017 issue which you can read at: http://www.electricscotland.com/bnft/index.htm
A Tour through the Highlands of Scotland and the Hebride Isles in 1786
By John Knox
This being an old text you'll find the letter s written as an f but despite this is still a good read and you can to this at:
http://www.electricscotland.com/book...ghscotland.pdf
War of the Three Kings:
Scottish History Documentary in 2 parts.
You can watch this at:
http://www.electricscotland.org/show...y-Documentary)
An Earnest Appeal to the Free Church of Scotland on the Subjects of Economics
By The Rev. Thomas Chalmers, D. D. (1847) which you can read at:
http://www.electricscotland.com/bibl...est_appeal.htm
The Story
I was browsing through our Community site and found the Poetry & Stories forum. I noted one story had over 20,000 views so thought I'd just give you a link to read it. It is a seniors story based in Canada.
The Robe: http://www.electricscotland.org/show.../3749-The-Robe by Tom Dow.
And that's it for this week and I hope you all have a great weekend.
Alastair
http://www.electricscotland.com/
Electric Scotland News
That is some flood in Texas... I know we have some of our visitors from that State so hope you are all well with you and your families and of course it's moving into adjoining States. One hour down the road where I live in Canada they had flooding in Windsor. We've also got increasing wild fires with thousands being evacuated. Then of course major floods in Asia so it seem problems all over the world right now.
Brexit talks are now continuing with some weird requests from the EU. They insist they want to know how much the UK will pay in the divorce bill but of course that also means we need to know what we will get in exchange. So you can't exclude trade negotiations but the EU insist they can which is really daft.
I watched a short interview with Sir James Dyson which I've put a link to in our news feature below and I hope you'll take the time to watch it.
Beth has sent in the 2 part September issue of her Family Tree and in it I'm told there is now a third edition of the Scottish Clans & Family Encyclopedia with a lot more information on Scottish names. The link provided in it didn't work but hopefully they might fix it shortly.
Scottish News from this weeks newspapers
Note that this is a selection and more can be read in our ScotNews feed on our index page where we list news from the past 1-2 weeks. I am partly doing this to build an archive of modern news from and about Scotland as all the newsletters are archived and also indexed on Google and other search engines. I might also add that in newspapers such as the Guardian, Scotsman, Courier, etc. 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.
Sir James Dyson
Talking about his business and Brexit
Watch this at:
http://uk.reuters.com/video/2017/08/...e=MOST+POPULAR
Amazon pledge to slash Whole Foods prices hits UK grocers
Shares in British supermarkets dipped this morning after US giant Amazon said it would slash prices at its newly acquired Whole Foods grocery chain. I note also this is being discussed in Canada where they also think the main grocery chains will need to change.
Read more at:
http://www.scotsman.com/business/com...cers-1-4541916
GERS: An Inconvenient Truth
The pro-independence spin-machine has been in over-drive trying to prevent people understanding what they show us.
Read more at:
http://chokkablog.blogspot.ca/2017/0...ent-truth.html
Professor Murphy and Deckchairs
I see Professor Richard Murphy has been offering more of his ineffably obtuse observations on the Scottish Government's GERS figures.
Read more at:
http://chokkablog.blogspot.ca/2017/0...-has-been.html
Hands-free farming project to harvest its first crop
The end is in sight for a project designed to plant, tend and harvest a crop with no help from a human hand or foot which has used only drones and autonomous vehicles
Read more at:
http://www.scotsman.com/business/com...crop-1-4541875
Queensferry crossing could last 150 years
The new £1.35bn Queensferry Crossing could still be operating in 150 years, according to its technical director.
Read more at:
http://www.bbc.com/news/uk-scotland-41036412
School counselling support patchy
More than 250,000 children in Scotland have no access to school-based counselling services, a BBC investigation has discovered.
Read more at:
http://www.bbc.com/news/uk-scotland-...itics-40959463
Shona Robison under pressure over missed NHS targets
Nicola Sturgeon is facing renewed calls to replace Shona Robison as Health Secretary after new figures showed a series of key NHS waiting times targets have been missed.
Read more at:
http://www.scotsman.com/news/shona-r...gets-1-4545371
Pension deficit soars to £62bn across biggest listed firms
New evidence of the challenge facing the pensions industry has emerged today in a report revealing that the deficit of the UK’s biggest 350 listed companies rocketed last year.
Read more at:
http://www.scotsman.com/business/com...irms-1-4545038
Nicola Sturgeon aide named new Scotland-US ambassador
Joni Smith will take over as Scottish affairs counsellor to North America after the time of previous incumbent Donnie Jack in the role ended amid reports of a row over how to promote Scotland in the vital overseas market.
Read more at:
http://www.scotsman.com/news/politic...ador-1-4545836
Could Amazon swallow up Facebook and Google?
First Craigslist and Gumtree came for newspapers, then Facebook and Google came for TV and radio, then Amazon came for them
Read more at:
http://www.scotsman.com/business/com...ogle-1-4545073
Houston, New Orleans and the lessons of Katrina
As with New Orleans, it is the poorest in Houston who are suffering the most
Read more at:
https://capx.co/houston-new-orleans-...ons-of-katrina
Electric Canadian
Video about camping, canoeing and fishing in Northern Ontario which I thought you might enjoy.
I added it to the foot of our Tourism page at http://www.electriccanadian.com/transport/tourism.htm
Musical Canada
A Monthly Review and Magazine which I stumbled across and you can read this at:
http://www.electriccanadian.com/life...cal_canada.htm
Great Lakes and Atlantic Canal and Power Company, Limited
Proposed Great Lakes to Ocean $500,000,000 Waterway Improvement and $200,000,000 Hydraulic Development (1919) (pdf) which you can read at: http://www.electriccanadian.com/tran...esatlantic.pdf
Conrad Black
I've always had a lot of time for Conrad Black and so as he writes from Canada on a number of issues of interest from around the world I'm intending to include links to his writings for you to view.
What Russia Can Do for America
http://www.conradmblack.com/1325/wha...do-for-america
John A MacDonald
https://twitter.com/ConradMBlack?t=1...=244+272699405
The Canadian Government's Lack of Imagination
http://www.conradmblack.com/1326/the...of-imagination
Ryan and McConnell Need to Get on Board With Trump
http://www.conradmblack.com/1327/rya...ard-with-trump
Electric Scotland
An Economical History of the Hebrides and Highlands of Scotland
By John Walker D.D., in two volumes (1808)
The following Work was the result of six journeys made into the Highlands and Hebrides, from the year 1760, to the year 1786, during which, a greater extent of these distant parts of the kingdom was surveyed, than what had probably ever been traversed by any former traveler. Two of these journeys were particularly extensive; each of them having been continued from the month of May till late in December. In the year 1764, the Author received a commission, from the General Assembly of the Church of Scotland, to enquire into the state of religion in the Highland countries; into the distribution of his Majesty’s bounty, granted for the religious instruction of the inhabitants; and to point out the districts where the erection of new parishes might be judged most necessary and expedient. He at the same time received a commission from his Majesty’s Commissioners on the Annexed Estates, to examine the natural history of these countries, their population, and the state of their agriculture, manufactures, and fisheries. In the year 1771 he received a similar commission from those two respectable bodies, in order to extend his survey over those parts of the country which he had not formerly visited. One report on the business Of the General Assembly was Communicated in the year 1765, and another in the year 1772; when both were inserted in the Records of the Assembly. His report to the Annexed Board formed a large folio volume, which remained for some time in possession of the Board, but was afterwards sent to London, and of which no exact copy was retained. This volume has since disappeared, and, even after much enquiry to recover if; has been given up as lost.
The present performance contains all that was observed on the above journies, and whatever has since occurred concerning the agricultural and economical history of the Hebrides and Highlands. This part of the national territory, considerable as it is, has been in all times past, comparatively, but of small advantage to the public. And when we reflect that it affords many hundreds of miles of sea coast, the most spacious and secure harbours, extensive fisheries, much land capable of cultivation, and is inhabited by a virtuous and hardy race of people, it must be admitted to be a source of national prosperity that has hitherto been inexcusably neglected.
The agriculture of these countries appears to have undergone but little improvement since the era that domestic cattle and the cultivation of grain were first introduced; which happened probably in the third or fourth century. Any alterations for the better have taken place only within the last fifty years; and among these, the introduction of potatoes and of white oats seems to be the most valuable. The inhabitants, by their remote and insular situation, remained long almost a separate people from the rest of their countrymen. Their difficult access to the more cultivated parts of Scotland, rendered communication infrequent, and has kept them strangers to the improvements that have been made in the southern parts of the kingdom. They have, from this cause, been left far behind the rest of their fellow-subjects with respect to the arts, and especially in the art of agriculture.
Any account to be delivered of the agriculture and agrestic economy of the Highlands and Islands, must, in one respect, be widely different from such a history of any other district or county in Britain. It was natural to suppose, what now appears by the agricultural surveys, that there are few counties in the kingdom from which others may not learn something useful in husbandry. Beneficial practices in agriculture were formerly more confined than at present; but they are still slow in their progress. They are often limited, and for a long time, to a spot, or a particular district, by want of communication. To render them universally known, is a happy consequence of these surveys. Each county in Britain has now access to know the practice of all the others. Every individual farmer may have the opportunity of reaping benefit from the experience and prudent management of his brethren through the whole kingdom. But while he and his county thus receive instruction, they are likewise capable of making a return in kind to others.
The case, however, is quite different with the inhabitants of the Highlands and Islands. They stand much in need of instruction in the cultivation of their country, and have little to communicate, that can be useful to the more cultivated parts of the kingdom. The practice of farmers in England or Scotland, three or four hundred years ago, would but little edify their successors in the present times. The skillful cultivators in Scotland and England, have therefore nothing to expect from this quarter. On the contrary, it is to them that the inhabitants of these remote countries must be indebted for their skill and proficiency in agriculture.
It is not, therefore, to be expected, that the practice in these unimproved countries can afford much that is useful, or that requires to be adopted in places where cultivation has made considerable progress. Yet the improvements suggested in this treatise for the melioration of the Highlands and Islands, may deserve attention in all places where there is a similarity of soil and of climate. Some of these improvements may deserve notice in almost every part of the three kingdoms. But most of them are peculiarly applicable to the north of Ireland, and to all the districts in Scotland and England that are elevated more than 500 or 600 feet above the level of the sea.
The subject proposed in this treatise is indeed extensive, and consists of many different branches. But before entering on a particular consideration of the state of agriculture in the Highland countries, it may be proper to take a general view of their soil, their climate, and the nature of their inhabitants; as on these the operations and success of husbandry must everywhere entirely depend.
Read this account at: http://www.electricscotland.com/busi...onomichist.htm
The Scots of Jefferson County, Mississippi
By Don MM Simonton
You can read this at: http://www.electricscotland.com/hist...soncountry.htm
Other MacIntyres
Added a wee story of Bob McIntyre which you can read at: http://www.electricscotland.com/webc...macintyres.htm
So Few
The Immortal Record of the Royal Air Force by David Masters (1942) and also added several other books on the RAF.
You can read these at: http://www.electricscotland.com/hist...treg/sofew.htm
Geographical and Statistical Description of Scotland
Containing A General Survey of that Kingdom, Its Climate, Mountains, Lakes, Rivers, Products, Population, Manufactures, Commerce, Religion, Literature, Government, Revenue, History, A Description of Every Countyby James Playfair in 2 volumes in pdf format. (1819).
Added links to these volumes at the foot of the page at:
http://www.electricscotland.com/webc...l_accounts.htm
Beth's Newfangled Family Tree
Added section 1 & 2 of the September 2017 issue which you can read at: http://www.electricscotland.com/bnft/index.htm
A Tour through the Highlands of Scotland and the Hebride Isles in 1786
By John Knox
This being an old text you'll find the letter s written as an f but despite this is still a good read and you can to this at:
http://www.electricscotland.com/book...ghscotland.pdf
War of the Three Kings:
Scottish History Documentary in 2 parts.
You can watch this at:
http://www.electricscotland.org/show...y-Documentary)
An Earnest Appeal to the Free Church of Scotland on the Subjects of Economics
By The Rev. Thomas Chalmers, D. D. (1847) which you can read at:
http://www.electricscotland.com/bibl...est_appeal.htm
The Story
I was browsing through our Community site and found the Poetry & Stories forum. I noted one story had over 20,000 views so thought I'd just give you a link to read it. It is a seniors story based in Canada.
The Robe: http://www.electricscotland.org/show.../3749-The-Robe by Tom Dow.
And that's it for this week and I hope you all have a great weekend.
Alastair
Comment