Grant Hutchison's Blog, page 6

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

[With apologies to those who caught a glimpse of this last week, because of a scheduling error.] 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 … 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 →

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 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 →

Pageantry

ˈpædʒəntrɪ / ˈpeɪdʒəntrɪ pageantry: 1) splendid display, gorgeous spectacular show; 2) empty or specious display, show without substance What pageantry, what feats, what shows,What minstrelsy, and pretty din,The regent made in MytileneTo greet the king. William Shakespeare, Pericles, Prince of Tyre Act V, Scene II The coronation of King Charles III got me thinking about … Continue reading Pageantry →

The Solar System’s Place In The Milky Way: Part 1

When I wrote recently about the pole stars of other planets, I was aware of one thing my sky maps didn’t show—the rotation poles of our galaxy. They weren’t really relevant to that discussion, but I’m now prompted to write a bit about the Milky Way galaxy, and our relationship to it, because I’ve just … Continue reading The Solar System’s Place In The Milky Way: Part 1 →

Translating Street Names Into Gaelic

My own mental image that best gets to the nature of translation involves picturing each language as a fixed set of stepping-stones in a stream. Suppose you are translating from Burmese to Welsh. A Burmese utterance is a pathway from one place to another via the [Burmese] stones. They seem to be located in convenient …