For the past thousand years, the human history of the North Sea has been played out on a stage constructed largely of herring. I’ve written about Helen Czerski before, when I reviewed her first book, Storm In A Teacup (2017). At that time I mentioned that she is a physicist with a speciality in oceanography. … Continue reading Helen Czerski: Blue Machine
Ochils: Daiglen Circuit
Ben Ever (NN 983001, 622m)Ben Cleuch (NN 903006, 721m)The Law (NN 910996, 638m) 11.2 kilometres810 metres of ascent Another in my series of Ochils circuits, in which I trace a new outward route, but return by reversing the outward route of a previous walk. This one retraces my route over The Law, which was the … Continue reading Ochils: Daiglen Circuit
RealSpace Models 1/96 Apollo Block II Command/Service Module (Again): Part 2
Last time, I was about to embark on applying the bright chrome finish to the Command Module. This went on over a coat of Xtreme Metal’s Black Base, and turned out looking pretty good. Deceptively so, as it turned out. There were some nice specular metallic reflections: I set it aside to cure for a … Continue reading RealSpace Models 1/96 Apollo Block II Command/Service Module (Again): Part 2
How Apollo Left Earth (And Returned): Part 1
This is the fifth in my occasional series of posts about the orbits followed by the Apollo spacecraft as they departed from (and returned to) the Earth. It’s a companion to, and expansion of, my old post “How Apollo Got To The Moon”, informed by a more recent series of posts that culminated in my … Continue reading How Apollo Left Earth (And Returned): Part 1
Sidlaws: The Classic ABC Circuit
Auchterhouse Hill (NO 354397, 424m)Balkello Hill (NO 361394, 397m)Craigowl Hill (NO 377400, 455m) 7.8 kilometres365m of ascent For complicated reasons that need not detain us here, The Oikofuge hasn’t been getting out much of late, to the extent that I had to miss this year’s rendezvous of the Crow Craigies Climbing Party. But as I … Continue reading Sidlaws: The Classic ABC Circuit
Keuschnigg et al.: The Plateauing of Cognitive Ability Among Top Earners
How long before you find out if you’re really good, or you’re really lucky? Cole Trickle, Days of Thunder (1990) Is Elon Musk a genius or an idiot? Michael Hiltzik, Los Angeles Times, 7 November 2022 These two quotations, one from a movie character played by Tom Cruise, the other from a newspaper business columnist, … Continue reading Keuschnigg et al.: The Plateauing of Cognitive Ability Among Top Earners
Orkney: Part 2
I finished my previous post about our Orkney trip with a photograph of the salvaged propeller of HMS Hampshire, which sits in the forecourt of the Scapa Flow Museum on Hoy. The Hampshire wreck actually lies on the seabed some distance from Hoy and Scapa Flow—between Marwick Head and Brough Head, on the Atlantic coast … Continue reading Orkney: Part 2
Orkney: Part 1
The advent of a new scheduled flight between Dundee and the Orkney Islands, off the north coast of Scotland, seemed like too good an opportunity to miss, and the Boon Companion and I booked seats shortly after the flights began in April. The route goes pretty much straight north from Dundee, and we had a … Continue reading Orkney: Part 1
RealSpace Models 1/96 Apollo Block II Command/Service Module (Again): Part 1
Those of you who’ve been following my build logs for a very long time will recall that I’ve built this model before, back in 2016, when I started assembling the Revell 1/96 Saturn V—which I completed three years later, putting the finishing touches to the last component just a few days before the 50th anniversary of … Continue reading RealSpace Models 1/96 Apollo Block II Command/Service Module (Again): Part 1
Isobel Wylie Hutchison: Peak Beyond Peak
I am quite clear in my own mind that I’d set my face in the right direction, though I don’t pretend to know why I should be destined to visit Greenland any more than Timbuctoo. Maybe I’m not, and I shall be able to visit Timbuctoo another day, for one journey leads naturally to another. … Continue reading Isobel Wylie Hutchison: Peak Beyond Peak