You’ll perhaps recall that when I finally got around to reading Arthur Arnold Dietz’s book, Mad Rush For Gold In Frozen North, I was a little bemused to discover it was a pretty obvious fake (at least in parts) given its widely accepted status as one of the classics of Gold Rush memoirs. My original … Continue reading Mad Rush For Gold In Frozen North: Supplement
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Sidlaws: Dunsinane to Gask
Dunsinane Hill (NO 214316, 310m) Black Hill (NO 219319, 360m) King’s Seat (NO 230330, 377m) Buttergask Hill (NO 230340, 307m) Lintrose Hill (NO 234343, 325m) Gask Hill (NO 238344, 358m) 16 kilometres 610 metres ascent So, I found myself uncommitted this morning, and decided to have a wander through the Sidlaw Hills. I was undaunted … Continue reading Sidlaws: Dunsinane to Gask
Converging Rainbows
A familiar pair of primary and secondary rainbows is always concentric, and the outer rainbow has its colours in the reverse order from the primary. But these two have their colours in the same order, and are converging to meet on the horizon. What’s going on there? I was walking home from work a couple … Continue reading Converging Rainbows
Pennycook et al.: On the reception and detection of pseudo-profound bullshit
This from the November 2015 issue of Judgment And Decision Making. Here are links to the original paper (pdf) and its supplementary tables (pdf). The authors seek to find a preliminary answer to the questions, “Are people able to detect blatant bullshit? Who is most likely to fall prey to bullshit and why?” Their study … Continue reading Pennycook et al.: On the reception and detection of pseudo-profound bullshit
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Arthur Arnold Dietz: Mad Rush For Gold In Frozen North
Good title, eh? (And yes, I’ve written it correctly, with no articles—it does seem as if the author telegraphed the title to his publishers.) In 1914, when he published this memoir of the Klondike Gold Rush, Dietz was a physical director at the YMCA in Los Angeles, as well as being a “playground director” in … Continue reading Arthur Arnold Dietz: Mad Rush For Gold In Frozen North
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Wherefore
ˈhwɛəfə(r) Wherefore: Why There are several ways of misquoting Shakespeare. One is to misquote Shakespeare without knowing it’s Shakespeare at all. Most people who use the phrase “to gild the lily” probably fall into that category, unaware of the original version. King John Act 4, Scene 2: SALISBURY: […] To gild refinèd gold, to paint … Continue reading Wherefore
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Angela Gannon & George Geddes: St Kilda – The Last and Outermost Isle
Angela Gannon and George Geddes were archaeologists with the (now-defunct) Royal Commission on the Ancient and Historical Monuments of Scotland. Both have worked on the islands of St Kilda (Geddes lived there for six months), so they’re well qualified to write this book. St Kilda is that island group you can never quite see on … Continue reading Angela Gannon & George Geddes: St Kilda – The Last and Outermost Isle
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Snowclone
ˈsnəʊkləʊn Snowclone: “A multi-use, customizable, instantly recognizable, time-worn, quoted or misquoted phrase or sentence that can be used in an entirely open array of different jokey variants by lazy journalists and writers” (Pullum, 2003) That definition undoubtedly requires explanation. Geoffrey Pullum, in my quote above, was appealing for a word to fit his definition. He … Continue reading Snowclone
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Simon Ingram: Between The Sunset And The Sea
This one’s something I read earlier this year, posted now as a Christmas recommendation for anyone who knows a hillwalker. It’s the sort of book that has something for anyone who is even vaguely interested in British hills. It is subtitled A View of 16 British Mountains. The sixteen mountains are: Beinn Dearg (the one … Continue reading Simon Ingram: Between The Sunset And The Sea
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Skiapod
ˈskaɪəpɒd Skiapod or Sciapod: A mythological human with a single leg and large foot, used to provide shade in tropical regions The existence of skiapods was common knowledge in Classical times—they are mentioned by Aristophanes in his play The Birds, and by Pliny the Elder in his Natural History, in which the are described as … Continue reading Skiapod
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