Douglas Murray, a white, gay, British writer sets forth his thesis that just as certain movements reach victory a new fervent rhetoric cranks up within that movement to make their particular issue seem even more pressing and dire. He devotes chapters specifically to gays, women, race and trans.

 

Gays became news beyond anything newsworthy with multiple stories out of all proportion to their importance and relevance mostly pertaining to coming out stories by celebrities or even reflecting on their coming out stories. While cancel culture persecutes anything that might smack of homophobia. He relates story about going to a private screening of a movie about voluntary conversion therapy (gay to straight) which had to move to another secret venue that would not be picketed. While cancel culture punishes the Daily Mail for asking a gay couple who announce they are expecting a child how they will do it.

 

In reviewing the LGBT movement he points out that gay activism sabotages itself by acting out queer culture on the street thus making spectacle for ridicule. Lesbians and Gays have nothing in common with each other he states and both are suspicious of bisexuals. And the transgender faction is so contentious it contradicts the premises of the other three. He ends the section with an interesting insight about how gay men will always be unsettling to straight culture because they understand exactly how their partner feels in a sexual act. Both what it means to penetrate and what it means to be penetrated. They know too much.

 

He then notes that identity politics comes out of Marxist thought. How the need to deconstruct society in search of oppressive sources has led to the deconstruction of meaning in academic institutions where every societal premise has been shown to be a social construct. Once meaning has been destroyed then the scholars proceed to create new ones. He sights Peggy McIntosh’s article White Privilege for introducing this new lens and the concept of intersectionality. He comments that what had before been a given such as race and sex were now said to be social constructs and what was given to be fluid was now considered to be immutable such as sexuality.

 

The chapter on women examine situations where the assumption of oppression is challenged by examples of women who are clearly in powerful positions in the work force but are using a victim framing to denounce the patriarchy and simultaneously bond and bolster themselves. He also gives examples of women using their considerable sexual powers and their bodies to embarrass TV talk show hosts including Jane Fonda and Drew Barrymore. Incidents that we would never tolerate coming from a man. This chapter does not offer much more than these anecdotes in the way of serious sociological analysis.

 

University studies are transformed into political bunkers rather than institutions for the pursuit of truth. These academic deconstruction of social concepts are so full of obfuscation in bad and unclear writing that meaning is not readily extracted from these scholarly papers. Hoaxes were written to satirize this development. Samples given: The Conceptual Penis As A Social Construct. Human Reactions To Rape Culture and Queer Performativity At Urban Dog Parks In Portland, Oregon. While courses are mandated to examine white privilege.

 

Meanwhile there is no price to pay for wielding accusations of racism, sexism, homophobia and transphobia unfairly. This is harrowingly described in his chapter on race where the incident at Evergreen College is told about how an angry group of students basically terrorize a white male professor mostly for being white and trying to create space for dialogue. Even when police are summoned it is impossible for them to intervene. This kind of incident had also happened at Yale where students who are yelling and recording with their phones everything a professor is saying while declaring that this white teacher is racist. These incidents reflect the empowerment of students to take down anything that isn’t to their liking.

 

He also covers issues of cultural appropriation and whether or not actors who do not fit the profile of the characters they play should be allowed to play them and whether writers of fiction should be allowed to create characters that do not align with their own race or heritage. I still think in film and television which is a very visual product consumed by the masses we should strive to have representation of minorities and minority stories, but yes writers should be allowed to create characters of any sort. These are not attempts to be overtly racist. HIs point being that everything about our culture has now become politicized. And reading about these squabbles makes me angry. Yes it is too easy to pick on people these days and it is bringing out the worse in humanity when critics spend their days looking for mistakes like cultural blood hounds.

 

A chapter on technology does not discuss this empowerment but shows how arbiters of content are seriously biased towards a Silicon Valley morality. If you google Asian couples you get Asian couples (heterosexual). If you google Black couples you get all Black couples, but If you google white couple you get half white couples and half mixed race couples. Author concludes that Silicon Valley feels white couples need to expand their diversity. As for diversity of workforce Asians make up 35% of Silicon Valley workforce, but no one seems to feel this overrepresentation needs to be corrected.

 

The chapter on trans is used to demonstrate how far the appetite for the next civil rights movement has driven the liberal Left and cancel culture. If we were really interested in the idea that a person’s body might not match their gender identity we would focus on intersex people he says and establish compassion for those who were born with genitals that are non conforming. Rather than exclusively on the rights of those who wish to create different ones for no scientifically clear reason. Here too detranstion stories are told along with the trans affirmative therapy being used with children and some of the more alarmingly cavalier quotes by trans affirming doctors. Plus the reckless comments that got angry feminists cancelled for life and the mild one that got Germaine Greer cancelled.

 

Though it could be argued that a conservative white man even a gay one isn’t really in the position to comment on the validity of complaints about misogyny, race and transgenderism, the details with which he has taken to illustrate his points does deserve a look. Some of the examples he has given are so over the top they seem to be aberrations to what we normally think of as our culture and seem randomly chosen, but begin to have a pattern of their own. It is through the looking glass to the other side of the liberal narrative, but not in a inflammatory way as I would expect if it were from a Right wing tract.

 

He comments on how the idea of intersectionality is now considered to be the pinnacle of identity politics and is presented as some sort of master key to all oppression. Yet in actual practice it just creates a hierarchy of victimhood. Intersection doesn’t connect it deranges, he says. Instead of unification the intersectionality holds people in relationship to each other that pits each identity against each other. I can see how he can say this. I also arrived at the same conclusion about the divisiveness of identity politics. In conclusion he says that the search for social justice through intersectionality and identify politics is a complete waste of time and will neither bring us together nor get us to any sort of truth. It is just a way to sustain a perpetual cycle of victimhood and rage fighting for the same meager scraps on the floor as Son of Baldwin (an activist I follow) said the other day about the LGBT community. He offers some solutions including asking the question “compared to what?” when something is pronounced racist, homophobic etc. and ask where we might be going with this. Ask if we can become more generous in giving people the benefit of the doubt which seems to be only possible in person. And most of all depoliticize our lives. What is missing here though is some deeper insights outside of his own status quo bubble. It is more a map of current landmine clusters.

 

It was a good exercise to have my liberal narrative around women and race challenged. His book is so relentlessly showcasing some very bad behavior of these overblown cultural discussions that it had a salacious gossipy flavor to it. His mention of the earlier book The Coddling of the American Mind takes me to my next read. At which point I can see that he has used it and some of the stories in it to have his own horse to flog.

Commissioned to work with SALT Research collections, artist Refik Anadol employed machine learning algorithms to search and sort relations among 1,700,000 documents. Interactions of the multidimensional data found in the archives are, in turn, translated into an immersive media installation. Archive Dreaming, which is presented as part of The Uses of Art: Final Exhibition with the support of the Culture Programme of the European Union, is user-driven; however, when idle, the installation "dreams" of unexpected correlations among documents. The resulting high-dimensional data and interactions are translated into an architectural immersive space.

Shortly after receiving the commission, Anadol was a resident artist for Google's Artists and Machine Intelligence Program where he closely collaborated with Mike Tyka and explored cutting-edge developments in the field of machine intelligence in an environment that brings together artists and engineers. Developed during this residency, his intervention Archive Dreaming transforms the gallery space on floor -1 at SALT Galata into an all-encompassing environment that intertwines history with the contemporary, and challenges immutable concepts of the archive, while destabilizing archive-related questions with machine learning algorithms.

In this project, a temporary immersive architectural space is created as a canvas with light and data applied as materials. This radical effort to deconstruct the framework of an illusory space will transgress the normal boundaries of the viewing experience of a library and the conventional flat cinema projection screen, into a three dimensional kinetic and architectonic space of an archive visualized with machine learning algorithms. By training a neural network with images of 1,700,000 documents at SALT Research the main idea is to create an immersive installation with architectural intelligence to reframe memory, history and culture in museum perception for 21st century through the lens of machine intelligence.

SALT is grateful to Google's Artists and Machine Intelligence program, and Doğuş Technology, ŠKODA, Volkswagen Doğuş Finansman for supporting Archive Dreaming.

Location : SALT Gatala, Istanbul, Turkey

Exhibition Dates : April 20 - June 11

6 Meters Wide Circular Architectural Installation

4 Channel Video, 8 Channel Audio

Custom Software, Media Server, Table for UI Interaction

For more information:

refikanadol.com/works/archive-dreaming/

Commissioned to work with SALT Research collections, artist Refik Anadol employed machine learning algorithms to search and sort relations among 1,700,000 documents. Interactions of the multidimensional data found in the archives are, in turn, translated into an immersive media installation. Archive Dreaming, which is presented as part of The Uses of Art: Final Exhibition with the support of the Culture Programme of the European Union, is user-driven; however, when idle, the installation "dreams" of unexpected correlations among documents. The resulting high-dimensional data and interactions are translated into an architectural immersive space.

Shortly after receiving the commission, Anadol was a resident artist for Google's Artists and Machine Intelligence Program where he closely collaborated with Mike Tyka and explored cutting-edge developments in the field of machine intelligence in an environment that brings together artists and engineers. Developed during this residency, his intervention Archive Dreaming transforms the gallery space on floor -1 at SALT Galata into an all-encompassing environment that intertwines history with the contemporary, and challenges immutable concepts of the archive, while destabilizing archive-related questions with machine learning algorithms.

In this project, a temporary immersive architectural space is created as a canvas with light and data applied as materials. This radical effort to deconstruct the framework of an illusory space will transgress the normal boundaries of the viewing experience of a library and the conventional flat cinema projection screen, into a three dimensional kinetic and architectonic space of an archive visualized with machine learning algorithms. By training a neural network with images of 1,700,000 documents at SALT Research the main idea is to create an immersive installation with architectural intelligence to reframe memory, history and culture in museum perception for 21st century through the lens of machine intelligence.

SALT is grateful to Google's Artists and Machine Intelligence program, and Doğuş Technology, ŠKODA, Volkswagen Doğuş Finansman for supporting Archive Dreaming.

Location : SALT Gatala, Istanbul, Turkey

Exhibition Dates : April 20 - June 11

6 Meters Wide Circular Architectural Installation

4 Channel Video, 8 Channel Audio

Custom Software, Media Server, Table for UI Interaction

For more information:

refikanadol.com/works/archive-dreaming/

"In this great struggle, we defend the cause of God and Religion.

 

The Abolition spirit is undeniably atheistic.

 

The demon which erected its throne upon the guillotine in the days of Robespierre and Marat, which abolished the Sabbath and worshipped reason in the person of a harlot, yet survives to work other horrors, of which those of the French Revolution are but the type. Among a people so generally religious as the American, a disguise must be worn; but it is the same old threadbare disguise of the advocacy of human rights. . . .

 

This spirit of atheism, which knows no God who tolerates evil, no Bible which sanctions law, and no conscience that can be bound by oaths and covenants, has selected us for its victims, and slavery for its issue. Its banner-cry rings out already upon the air — "liberty, equality, fraternity," which simply interpreted mean bondage, confiscation and massacre. With its tricolor waving in the breeze,—it waits to inaugurate its reign of terror.

 

To the South the high position is assigned of defending, before all nations, the cause of all religion and of all truth.

 

In this trust, we are resisting the power which wars against constitutions and laws and compacts, against Sabbaths and sanctuaries, against the family, the State, and the Church; which blasphemously invades the prerogatives of God, and rebukes the Most High for the errors of his administration; which, if it cannot snatch the reign of empire from his grasp, will lay the universe in ruins at his feet. Is it possible that we shall decline the onset?

 

This argument, then, which sweeps over the entire circle of our relations, touches the four cardinal points of duty to ourselves, to our slaves, to the world, and to Almighty God. It establishes the nature and solemnity of our present trust, to preserve and transmit our existing system of domestic servitude, with the right, unchallenged by man, to go and root itself wherever Providence and nature may carry it. This trust we will discharge in the face of the worst possible peril. Though war be the aggregation of all evils, yet should the madness of the hour appeal to the arbitration of the sword, we will not shrink even from the baptism of fire. If modern crusaders stand in serried ranks upon some plain of Esdraelon, there shall we be in defence of our trust. Not till the last man has fallen behind the last rampart, shall it drop from our hands; and then only in surrender to the God who gave it."

 

~ Benjamin Morgan Palmer, "Thanksgiving Sermon", November 29, 1860

 

Benjamin Morgan Palmer (January 25, 1818 – May 25, 1902), an orator and Presbyterian theologian, was the first moderator of the Presbyterian Church in the Confederate States of America. As pastor of the First Presbyterian Church of New Orleans, his Thanksgiving sermon in 1860 had a great influence in leading Louisiana to join the Confederate States of America.

 

He pastored the First Presbyterian Church in Savannah, Georgia, from 1841 to 1842. He was called to First Presbyterian in Columbia, the South Carolina capital, a post that he held from 1843 to 1855. He also taught in the Columbia Seminary, his alma mater from 1853 to 1856, while he was pastoring in Columbia. In 1856, he accepted the pastorate of First Presbyterian in New Orleans, his terminal position which he held for forty-six years.

 

In the Thanksgiving sermon coming just days after the election of Abraham Lincoln as U.S. president, Palmer defended slavery and endorsed secession. This was just days before South Carolina became the first of the eleven states to secede from the Union established under the United States Constitution.

 

When federal troops invaded New Orleans and military rule was imposed under General Benjamin Franklin Butler of Massachusetts, Palmer sent his wife and children to her father's plantation in South Carolina.

 

Palmer's writings include a life of the eminent Presbyterian minister and Columbia Seminary theologian James Henley Thornwell (1812–1862).

 

Obituary appearing in The Interior:

"The decease of Dr. Palmer of New Orleans is like a change in the landscape of the South. As far as it is possible for one man in the space of a lifetime to be a part of the fixed order of things, Dr. Palmer has become identified like some old-time landmark with his denomination, his city and his section of the nation.

 

He was one of that class of men who are incapable of change; what he was as he came to the maturity of manhood he remained until death.

 

It is doubtless true that the world would be unfortunate if all its strong men should crystallize in that adamantine way, but living in a time that suffers little lack of impulses to progress, we ought to thank God that he still scatters through the churches some immovable men to hinder and obstruct headlong haste.

 

. . . THE INTERIOR clearly recognizes that Dr. Palmer served God and his generation as a symbol of the immutability of the great essentials of our religion. His faithful witness to Jesus Christ in the word of his preaching and the example of his ministry gave him such power in New Orleans as few of the Lord's ambassadors have ever wielded in any age of the church.

 

. . . He was born in Charleston, S.C. in 1818 and had been over leading churches in Savannah and Columbia before he went to the First Presbyterian church of New Orleans in 1856. His pastoral term there covered fifty-six consecutive years. He retained excellent vigor and still preached powerfully despite his great age, and his life might have been prolonged still for several years if he had not suffered injury beneath a street car which ran him down in the streets of New Orleans a few weeks ago. He did not die from the direct effects of that accident, but the shock seemed so to weaken his vital powers that fatal disease soon supervened."

[Excerpted from The Interior, Volume 33, Number 1671, June 5, 1902, page 734.]

London bows beneath his gaze, the empire’s heart beating in measured precision. Sir Cedric stands above it all—not as a relic of the past, but as its unyielding architect. The skyline shifts, ages pass, yet the immutable truth remains: power belongs to those with the will to seize and hold it.

 

“Men are born, empires are built, but only the strong endure.”

NORTH WALL—The Martyrdom of Michael Servetus

Detail: Right Panel of the Triptych

 

Below is a transcript of the essay written on the torso:

 

Blessed be the heresy of the rich and the Jew. Because of them, the Inquisition was a thriving enterprise. As souls were saved by purification of fire, their confiscated possessions served to increase the coffers of Faith. It was a simple barter and consummate bargain. To give up so little to gain so much…if there is life everlasting. If not, the wager weighs heavily against the accused. He does, in fact, lose everything. I am the benefactor of the actual, that reality determined by the we. I gratify the desires of that reality and am nourished by the many, by those who believe, by those whose needs will never outlast my own. I am their servant and their master. Desire of my desire, blood of my blood, we serve the same illusion. I am greed. If I can have more, why then should I take less?… That is my mantra. Do you think that I take pleasure in the smell of burning flesh, cries of agony, and the pleading of children? Think again. These theatricals play to the crowd and though I glean great wealth and patronage for the miter, neither pleasure nor pain is my advocacy…profit, only profit, is the name of the game. By professing the ignominy of the accumulation, the miter has gathered untold wealth into its bourn. How clever is greed! By projecting onto others that which it seeks, purity is retained. Through projected guilt, Faith is cast brightly on a Manichaean scrim…condemnation and confiscation has maintained its horned symbolism of brilliance and truth. What a plethora of metaphors are woven into Faith’s fabric of investments. My profits have been manifold. I have frightened people out of their wealth with tales of hell’s eternity. Tetzel defrauded rich and poor alike with his sale of indulgences. I have gained title to estates of land and riches by promising intercession. My inventions of threat and reward based on colorful fictions and fantastical prophecy garner immeasurable wealth. My business acumen is legendary… I am greed, the great accumulator, left hand of Faith. Some said, some have said, and some will say that the Inquisition was devised simply to rob people…that it was the goods that were the heretics… Not so. They have not appreciated the elegance of the transaction. It was inspired…a glowing expression of human entelechy. It encapsulated human isness, an exposition of pure metaphor. Nothing is omitted from the equation…nothing is purged. For six centuries it reigned, ending, finally, in ashes and embarrassment…and of course, a miter full of stolen riches. I, greed, have proven myself irrefragable. I am omnipotent and omnipresent… I am greed, the left hand of Faith. Consider Faith’s promise: two lives for one. Is this not proffered by Faith’s left hand while Faith’s right hand, balled into a fist, threatens “or else”? With this Manichaean unwinnable unlosable unprovable fear-driven superstitious gamble, reality becomes an endless repetition of conflict and conceit… And always there is greed and always I will prevail. The Inquisition was one of my more flamboyant alliances with Faith and fear… We were a magnificent trinity… We continue to extort and prey on the ignorance and guilt of the true believer but the drama and pageantry have been forfeited to less colorful Fraud. Heretics like Servetus have served their moment…they are outmoded and serve no gain. They are worth less than the faggots that set them ablaze in spirals of screaming smoke and oily flames. True martyrs are hard to come by and serve no worthy purchase anyway… I am become cynical and peevish; nothing seems the price. Faith still hawks the after-life…a numbing of the now by promising something more…always more. Fear stalks the globe. Nothing has changed except the bidding can go no further…we have reached the end game… Repeat has become absurd, signifying nothing… If Faith exists only on this planet, what is its value? Our species is so careless of…itself; through what lens does it view its worth? On what scale does it weigh its redundancy? Because I am greed, the left hand of Faith; it is I who deal with matters of accumulation…I employ seduction rather than force for my persuasion… I rely on promise and premise for Faith’s illusion…a reward for investment and belief…a symbiotic union with fear in the passionate embrace of Faith. See how ardently we have enfolded Servetus…God is love. Being the pragmatic appendage of Faith, I do not concern myself with metaphysics and am perplexed by three letter words such as Art and God and War… All three involve gain and loss; but to what end? (another three letter word that tends to puzzle and confuse) Mankind has faith in art, faith in gods, and faith in war. All three exist for him upon a balanced plinth, or a stage on which he acts out his whims and fantasies, or a mirror in which he attempts to conjoin mismatched features and appendages from the gods and demons he has created in his own image. The plinth is balanced precariously, the stage is dimly lit, and the mirror is distorted. What he is and who he thinks he is is astigmatic—and herein lies Faith’s gains and Reason’s losses. Faith profits only through repeat and the stifling of questions. Questions tip the balance of the plinth, illuminate and drag onto the center-stage the dark and secret corners and clarify the cloudy distortions in the mirror… Greed sanctifies the suffocation of questions and glorifies the immutable answers of Faith. Michael Servetus was a poor businessman. He invested his life in abstractions of trifling concern to average consumers. He was destroyed not because of his hair-splitting treatises on the Trinity but for his direct challenge to the authority of John Calvin and, indirectly, the binary control of the masses by Faith’s collusion of Protestant and Catholic similitudes. For good reason John Calvin was referred to as the Protestant Pope of Geneva… The Inquisition’s acquisition of wealth and property enriched the coffers of Faith at the expense of reason. In every endeavor when Faith wins Reason loses. Servetus was a threat to the commercial enterprise of Christianity—whether Catholic or Protestant. Any reason-based metaphor is a threat to Faith, all questions are seen as transgressions, all injustice in the name of Faith is acceptable to the faithful… Consider Faith’s worldly dwellings: Who would begrudge the burning of a few heretics for the grounding of such splendor? Consider the number of souls Faith’s cathedrals and churches, and temples, and mosques have sheltered and comforted. The saving of souls has always been about the accumulation of wealth. This is not cynicism—it is necessity… If it is God’s will. I, the left hand of Faith, am Faith’s reflection in religion’s silvered mirror. Faith serves greed and greed serves Faith. We are a marvelous Janus of configuration…a juggernaut of human frailty. Michael Servetus is no way singular or exceptional to my purpose except for the threat he posed to the exceptionalism of John Calvin. If Servetus had escaped the flames through logic within Faith’s certitudes, Calvin’s “papacy” would have devolved into chaos. This dereliction of principles was avoided within the flames and scattered within his ashes. He lives now in legend, an accidental martyr of little worth to greed and the broad pursuits of religious ambition and wealth… Faith is passionate, employing greed and fear in its full armed embrace. Fortified by the multitude, Faith prevails. The shattering cymbals of answers outscores the tentative notes and scattered rhythms of questions. We are deafened by certitudes and glib apostrophe. The future stretches out before us, a direction imperative, imperial in its destination. How surefooted the multitude as they tramp forward in the footprints of ancient prophecies and propaganda. Reason is greed’s enemy; its questions are logical and transparent… Questions such as “How can you want more when so many have less?” are inconvenient to Faith’s inventions of righteousness. Consider greed’s employment of belief and superstition in art and culture. Consider its employment of iconography and scrolls of calligraphy, its statues and paintings and monuments, its music both sacred and profane. Consider art. Is this not, too, a belief wherein Faith belies Reason…or tries to? Think of the artist and his caste of sycophants and opportunists that seduce the multitudes. There exists the stench of religion and corruption within the ateliers and galleries of creation. Greed is pernicious—it cannibalizes its own… Art like God like War has always relied on greed and fear and faith for its presence and viability within the culture. It depends on concepts of hierarchy and levels of applied value that are not intrinsic to human need…art, like god, like war, does service to the materiality of the elite rather than to essential needs of the community. The upper levels of a hierarchy profit from such abstract determinations of value. Tangibility is required. Apostrophe is required. Transaction is required. And, above all, recognition is required…iconographic cognizance…winners vs losers. History. Humankind’s obsession with death—absence—is the creator of metaphor which separates our species from the eidos of nature…and against one another…country against country, group against group, brother against brother, lover against lover, artist against artist, belief against belief… Actuality is expanded or contracted to fit the procrustean inventions of metaphor. From these beds, gods and infinities are created in man’s image and after lifes of heaven and hell to transfer wealth from one true believer to another in supplication of fear and all its attendant metaphors of reward and punishment… Mankind’s fear of death is his reflection in the pool of Narcissus and it is this obsession that gives mankind its Manichaen entelechy. “I believe I am other!” is the passionate cry of mankind…non-acceptance, love/hate, conflict, invention, hypocrisy…deception. War, Art, God—three three letter words that define, attract, and repel—all based on metaphors of mortality: Nature versus religion/Isness versus belief/Presence versus absence. Belief requires absence…or the threat of absence…or the promise of absence. Belief requires investment, the willingness to bargain and wager, win or lose, with no sense of reward…or punishment. Consider war. Without the narcissistic love of the warrior, it won’t exist, nor art without the narcissistic love of the artist, nor god without the narcissistic reflection of the priest. It is when these three words are capitalized that greed’s grasp is employed as the left hand of Faith. The business of War, the business of Art…God’s business. With his hands of fear and greed, Faith embraced the passion of Michael Servetus… He became enamored of worldly ambition and the capitalization of god. In the end he was cannibalized by the flames of desire. He gambled more than he was prepared to lose… Narcissism in its purist state requires no audience…desires no audience…rejects audience. It simply is and within the structures and strictures of the mirrored Isness speaks the truths of poets and mystics… “The pride of the peacock is the glory of God.”…illustrates Blake’s disdain of audience…and of greed. Enveloped in the purity of his narcissism, he simply ignored us. Still, did he not hunger after more? Ever more? Greed does not restrain itself to material distinctions… He, too, sought the capitalization of Faith… And what of art? Its capitalization reverses my intent… Only the solitary profits, only the individual who responds deeply within the silence of the bourn… Only through the hunger for more do I serve Faith…the buying and selling of product…the acculturation of the audience into metaphors of gratification…art vs Art.

 

STUDIO SECTION 2009-2012—DOROTHY LAUGHING was completed during the artist's seventy-ninth year. It is a work that requires an exhibition space forty feet by forty feet for optimal viewing. Altogether there are nineteen 8’ x 4’ articulated wood panels and seven free-standing sculptures. The extensive writing that appears on the articulated wood panels is transcribed in its entirety beneath the photographs of the panel on which written.

 

TERMINUS: Studio Section 1981-1983 was the first of the studio sections created by Robert Cremean. About the second, he wrote: “With TERMINUS II: Studio Section 1985-1990 began a flow of work receptive to everything I am, enfolding me in Process.” No longer did he make individual pieces, a collection of which would then be exhibited for sale in a gallery. He chose thereafter to continue the precedent established with the filling of his studio with work that was all of a piece, a studio section. It was the utilizing the entire space of the studio for the creating of whatever he wished, to experiment, to use panels mounted to the walls almost as canvases. He wrote: “I began to use the Wall as a separate voice in the work, setting it back rather like a Greek chorus for witness and commentary on the action within the sculpture which fronts it: cast shadows, interconnections of line, color, content, etc.” The “walls” became spaces whereon he recorded his thoughts, wrote essays, made images in bas-relief and in three dimension. Combined with three dimensional sculptures placed in front of these wall panels and within the center space bounded by the four walls of the studio, these large bodies of work, named studio sections, continued to be created even with the change of studios. There are the familiar four actual walls; the endless experimentation continues. With the exception of only one, its parts dispersed by a collector, all of the studio sections to the present are housed in the permanent collections of various museums.

 

The creation of studio sections rather than individual pieces came about during the early 1980s and was the result of the artist vowing, after many very successful one-person gallery shows, never again to place his work in a commercial gallery. All of his work presently is either in private or public collections.

a little knowledge can go a long way

 

a lot of professionals are crackpots

 

a man can't know what it is to be a mother

 

a name means a lot just by itself

 

a positive attitude means all the difference in the world

 

a relaxed man is not necessarily a better man

 

a sense of timing is the mark of genius

 

a sincere effort is all you can ask

 

a single event can have infinitely many interpretations

 

a solid home base builds a sense of self

 

a strong sense of duty imprisons you

 

absolute submission can be a form of freedom

 

abstraction is a type of decadence

 

abuse of power comes as no surprise

 

action causes more trouble than thought

 

alienation produces eccentrics or revolutionaries

 

all things are delicately interconnected

 

ambition is just as dangerous as complacency

 

ambivalence can ruin your life

 

an elite is inevitable

 

anger or hate can be a useful motivating force

 

animalism is perfectly healthy

 

any surplus is immoral

 

anything is a legitimate area of investigation

 

artificial desires are despoiling the earth

 

at times inactivity is preferable to mindless functioning

 

at times your unconsciousness is truer than your conscious mind

 

automation is deadly

 

awful punishment awaits really bad people

 

bad intentions can yield good results

 

being alone with yourself is increasingly unpopular

 

being happy is more important than anything else

 

being judgmental is a sign of life

 

being sure of yourself means you're a fool

 

believing in rebirth is the same as admitting defeat

 

boredom makes you do crazy things

 

calm is more conductive to creativity than is anxiety

 

categorizing fear is calming

 

change is valuable when the oppressed become tyrants

 

chasing the new is dangerous to society

 

children are the most cruel of all

 

children are the hope of the future

 

class action is a nice idea with no substance

 

class structure is as artificial as plastic

 

confusing yourself is a way to stay honest

 

crime against property is relatively unimportant

 

decadence can be an end in itself

 

decency is a relative thing

 

dependence can be a meal ticket

 

description is more important than metaphor

 

deviants are sacrificed to increase group solidarity

 

disgust is the appropriate response to most situations

 

disorganization is a kind of anesthesia

 

don't place to much trust in experts

 

drama often obscures the real issues

 

dreaming while awake is a frightening contradiction

 

dying and coming back gives you considerable perspective

 

dying should be as easy as falling off a log

 

eating too much is criminal

 

elaboration is a form of pollution

 

emotional responses ar as valuable as intellectual responses

 

enjoy yourself because you can't change anything anyway

 

ensure that your life stays in flux

 

even your family can betray you

 

every achievement requires a sacrifice

 

everyone's work is equally important

 

everything that's interesting is new

 

exceptional people deserve special concessions

 

expiring for love is beautiful but stupid

 

expressing anger is necessary

 

extreme behavior has its basis in pathological psychology

 

extreme self-consciousness leads to perversion

 

faithfulness is a social not a biological law

 

fake or real indifference is a powerful personal weapon

 

fathers often use too much force

 

fear is the greatest incapacitator

 

freedom is a luxury not a necessity

 

giving free rein to your emotions is an honest way to live

 

go all out in romance and let the chips fall where they may

 

going with the flow is soothing but risky

 

good deeds eventually are rewarded

 

government is a burden on the people

 

grass roots agitation is the only hope

 

guilt and self-laceration are indulgences

 

habitual contempt doesn't reflect a finer sensibility

 

hiding your emotions is despicable

 

holding back protects your vital energies

 

humanism is obsolete

 

humor is a release

 

ideals are replaced by conventional goals at a certain age

 

if you aren't political your personal life should be exemplary

 

if you can't leave your mark give up

 

if you have many desires your life will be interesting

 

if you live simply there is nothing to worry about

 

ignoring enemies is the best way to fight

 

illness is a state of mind

 

imposing order is man's vocation for chaos is hell

 

in some instances it's better to die than to continue

 

inheritance must be abolished

 

it can be helpful to keep going no matter what

 

it is heroic to try to stop time

 

it is man's fate to outsmart himself

 

it is a gift to the world not to have babies

 

it's better to be a good person than a famous person

 

it's better to be lonely than to be with inferior people

 

it's better to be naive than jaded

 

it's better to study the living fact than to analyze history

 

it's crucial to have an active fantasy life

 

it's good to give extra money to charity

 

it's important to stay clean on all levels

 

it's just an accident that your parents are your parents

 

it's not good to hold too many absolutes

 

it's not good to operate on credit

 

it's vital to live in harmony with nature

 

just believing something can make it happen

 

keep something in reserve for emergencies

 

killing is unavoidable but nothing to be proud of

 

knowing yourself lets you understand others

 

knowledge should be advanced at all costs

 

labor is a life-destroying activity

 

lack of charisma can be fatal

 

leisure time is a gigantic smoke screen

 

listen when your body talks

 

looking back is the first sign of aging and decay

 

loving animals is a substitute activity

 

low expectations are good protection

 

manual labor can be refreshing and wholesome

 

men are not monogamous by nature

 

moderation kills the spirit

 

money creates taste

 

monomania is a prerequisite of success

 

morals are for little people

 

most people are not fit to rule themselves

 

mostly you should mind your own business

 

mothers shouldn't make too many sacrifices

 

much was decided before you were born

 

murder has its sexual side

 

myth can make reality more intelligible

 

noise can be hostile

 

nothing upsets the balance of good and evil

 

occasionally principles are more valuable than people

 

offer very little information about yourself

 

often you should act like you are sexless

 

old friends are better left in the past

 

opacity is an irresistible challenge

 

pain can be a very positive thing

 

people are boring unless they are extremists

 

people are nuts if they think they are important

 

people are responsible for what they do unless they are insane

 

people who don't work with their hands are parasites

 

people who go crazy are too sensitive

 

people won't behave if they have nothing to lose

 

physical culture is second best

 

planning for the future is escapism

 

playing it safe can cause a lot of damage in the long run

 

politics is used for personal gain

 

potential counts for nothing until it's realized

 

private property created crime

 

pursuing pleasure for the sake of pleasure will ruin you

 

push yourself to the limit as often as possible

 

raise boys and girls the same way

 

random mating is good for debunking sex myths

 

rechanneling destructive impulses is a sign of maturity

 

recluses always get weak

 

redistributing wealth is imperative

 

relativity is no boon to mankind

 

religion causes as many problems as it solves

 

remember you always have freedom of choice

 

repetition is the best way to learn

 

resolutions serve to ease our conscience

 

revolution begins with changes in the individual

 

romantic love was invented to manipulate women

 

routine is a link with the past

 

routine small excesses are worse than then the occasional debauch

 

sacrificing yourself for a bad cause is not a moral act

 

salvation can't be bought and sold

 

self-awareness can be crippling

 

self-contempt can do more harm than good

 

selfishness is the most basic motivation

 

selflessness is the highest achievement

 

separatism is the way to a new beginning

 

sex differences are here to stay

 

sin is a means of social control

 

slipping into madness is good for the sake of comparison

 

sloppy thinking gets worse over time

 

solitude is enriching

 

sometimes science advances faster than it should

 

sometimes things seem to happen of their own accord

 

spending too much time on self-improvement is antisocial

 

starvation is nature's way

 

stasis is a dream state

 

sterilization is a weapon of the rulers

 

strong emotional attachment stems from basic insecurity

 

stupid people shouldn't breed

 

survival of the fittest applies to men and animals

 

symbols are more meaningful than things themselves

 

taking a strong stand publicizes the opposite position

 

talking is used to hide one's inability to act

 

teasing people sexually can have ugly consequences

 

technology will make or break us

 

the cruelest disappointment is when you let yourself down

 

the desire to reproduce is a death wish

 

the family is living on borrowed time

 

the idea of revolution is an adolescent fantasy

 

the idea of transcendence is used to obscure oppression

 

the idiosyncratic has lost its authority

 

the most profound things are inexpressible

 

the mundane is to be cherished

 

the new is nothing but a restatement of the old

 

the only way to be pure is to stay by yourself

 

the sum of your actions determines what you are

 

the unattainable is invariable attractive

 

the world operates according to discoverable laws

 

there are too few immutable truths today

 

there's nothing except what you sense

 

there's nothing redeeming in toil

 

thinking too much can only cause problems

 

threatening someone sexually is a horrible act

 

timidity is laughable

 

to disagree presupposes moral integrity

 

to volunteer is reactionary

 

torture is barbaric

 

trading a life for a life is fair enough

 

true freedom is frightful

 

unique things must be the most valuable

 

unquestioning love demonstrates largesse of spirit

 

using force to stop force is absurd

 

violence is permissible even desirable occasionally

 

war is a purification rite

 

we must make sacrifices to maintain our quality of life

 

when something terrible happens people wake up

 

wishing things away is not effective

 

with perseverance you can discover any truth

 

words tend to be inadequate

 

worrying can help you prepare

 

you are a victim of the rules you live by

 

you are guileless in your dreams

 

you are responsible for constituting the meaning of things

 

you are the past present and future

 

you can live on through your descendants

 

you can't expect people to be something they're not

 

you can't fool others if you're fooling yourself

 

you don't know what's what until you support yourself

 

you have to hurt others to be extraordinary

 

you must be intimate with a token few

 

you must disagree with authority figures

 

you must have one grand passion

 

you must know where you stop and the world begins

 

you can understand someone of your sex only

 

you owe the world not the other way around

 

you should study as much as possible

 

your actions ae pointless if no one notices

 

your oldest fears are the worst ones

  

Jenny Holzer - truisms

Not much later than 6am, in the magical light of a dewy morning, thai life emerging from the darkness of the night, once again, immutably...

A Royal Ark Mariner Apron. They meet at the Grand Lodge in Hamilton, Ontario.

 

The story of this degree contains events before, during and after the Biblical Flood. The apron and emblems of this degree are easily recognizable by the ark and rainbow motif, although the degree itself claims the original apron to have been made of unfinished lambskin.

 

The historic prerequisite to be made a Royal Ark Mason is to be a Mark Master Mason, however, the degree has no connection symbolically or otherwise to the Mark degree.

 

A brother is said to be "Elevated" to the Degree of Royal Ark Mariner.

 

Earlier in AMD history, this Degree was conferred in separate Royal Ark Mariner Lodges which were “moored” to a Council of the Allied Masonic Degrees. There are still a few surviving RAM Lodges moored to Councils, but warrants are no longer issued for new RAM Lodges. Other than those remaining Lodges, the Degree, if worked today, is worked directly by the Council upon their own AMD members.

 

In Canada, it is conferred by a Council of Royal & Select Masters (Cryptic Masons), bringing the number of Degrees worked by R&SM in that country to four (the third being Super Excellent Master.)

 

Overseas, RAM Lodges are moored to Lodges of Mark Masters which work under a separate Grand Lodge of Mark Master Masons. The existence of Mark Grand Lodges is another fascinating study, worthy of its own lengthy discussion.

 

It is fascinating to me that this Fraternity of Royal Ark Mariners exists worldwide, while being administered by three very different bodies of Masonry.

 

The Principal Officers of a Lodge of Royal Ark Mariners represent Noah, and two of his sons: Shem, and Japheth, and the Lodge room is made to represent the Ark of Safety. Indeed, our Brethren of the nineteenth century considered Noah to be one of the Grand Masters of Masonry. (Do you?) He is a celebrated Builder, and a man of integrity in the face of great opposition (if not a little bit of a drunkard.) Indeed, the early brethren of our Craft did not hesitate to trace the line of Masonry even back to Adam in the Garden of Eden, who was the first to build an Altar (of unhewn stone, the Rough Ashlar), and the first man to don an apron (though his was of fig leaves.) While it is ridiculous to think that Modern Freemasonry was known to Adam or Noah, there is something inherently true in the idea that Masonry is heir to the fruits of the greatest and noblest accomplishment of a more primitive generation of man. The Royal Ark Mariner degree is special because it embodies this speculative reference to far antiquity, which if taken literally, implies that all of humanity was saved from the great flood by a Grand Master Mason.

 

The Ark and the Anchor are symbols to which our attention is drawn, seemingly at random, in the Lecture of the Master Mason Degree. This proves the antiquity of their Masonic significance. I will now diverge from the subject of the Royal Ark Mariners in particular in order to quote at great length about "The Ark and Anchor," from "Freemasory, its Symbolism, Religious Nature, and Law of Perfection, by Brother Chalmers I. Paton (Past-Master, No. 393, England)" printed in 1873. If it doesn't suit you, please look past the Christian references present in this piece, as I believe the point being made regarding Salvation (Deliverance) and Trust are equally applicable to all of us who depend upon the Great Architect:

 

CHAPTER LX.

MASONIC SYMBOLS.—THE ARK AND THE ANCHOR.

 

THE Ark and the Anchor sometimes represented separately, and sometimes conjointly, are symbolic of the safety and the sure hope of him who puts his trust in God, and walks in the way of God's Commandments. Tossed on a tempestuous sea of troubles, and exposed to many dangers in his earthly life, a good man is still preserved in safety, as Noah and his family were preserved in the ark, when it floated on the waters of the deluge, and all the rest of mankind perished. The ark refers our thoughts to this great historic fact, but at the same time leads us to think of that which even it symbolised or typified. As Noah and his family were saved in the ark, from the destruction which overwhelmed the multitudes of the unbelieving and ungodly, so all who put their trust in God are saved, whatever the dangers which beset them, and the storms which thicken around them. We read in the Epistle to the Hebrews, that "By faith Noah, being warned of God of things not seen as yet, moved with fear, prepared an ark to the saving of his house; by the which he condemned the world, and became heir of the righteousness which is by faith" (Heb. xi. 7). Even so, every believer, listening to the voice of God, and yielding a willing obedience, finds an ark of refuge ready, an ark which he does not need to prepare as Noah did, but in which he is in perfect safety.

 

The anchor may be regarded as securing the ark from danger amidst the storms of life. Or by itself it may be accounted as a symbol of the security of a good man who puts his trust in God. And thus the figure of the anchor is used in Scripture, to represent the perfect security of the believer's hope. "Which hope we have as an anchor of the soul, both sure and steadfast, and which entereth into that within the vail" (Heb. vi. 19).

 

The Anchor and the Ark remind us both of the dangers to which we are exposed, and of the refuge which we may find from them. They encourage us to choose and persevere in a right course, all dangers notwithstanding, and they assure us that if we do so, all shall be well. We shall not be overwhelmed in the surging billows; we shall not be driven from our place to be the sport of winds, and to be dashed by them to destruction; but we shall weather every storm, and find ourselves after all in a haven of peace and rest. It is a terrible picture of human life which is presented to us by the ark on the shoreless waters of the deluge; but we are comforted and encouraged by the thought of the safety in which it was preserved, till it rested on the mountains of Ararat, and its inmates went forth to enter on possession of the regenerated earth. Amidst the storm, a well-built and well-appointed ship rides securely at anchor in a good harbour, and we are encouraged to confidence of perfect security, as knowing how good both our anchor and our harbour are. But let us see to it that all is right, that ours is indeed a well-built and well-appointed ship, and our anchor is that which is "sure and steadfast."

 

The very significant symbol now under our consideration, is therefore far from being merely intended to remind us of the deliverance of Noah and his family, the progenitors of the whole existing human race, from the deluge which overwhelmed the old world, and swept away the workers of iniquity, but still more to suggest to our thoughts those great truths which were typified even in Noah's ark itself, and in the salvation accomplished by it. "For Christ also hath once suffered for sins, the just for the unjust," says the Apostle Peter, "that He might bring us to God, being put to death in the flesh but quickened by the Spirit. By which also lie went and preached unto the spirits in prison; which sometimes were disobedient, when once the long-suffering of God waited in the days of Noah, while the ark was a-preparing, wherein few, that is, eight souls, were saved by water. The like figure whereunto even baptism doth also now save us (not the putting away of the filth of the flesh, but the answer of a good conscience toward God), by the resurrection of Jesus Christ: Who is gone into heaven, and is on the right hand of God; angels and authorities and powers being made subject unto Him" (1 Pet. iii. 18-22).

 

Traditions of the flood are common throughout the world, and are found in the earliest records of ancient times, mingling with the other legends of all the mythologies, and with the accounts which different nations have received of their origin. These traditions have been sought out and compared with great diligence by learned authors; for they afford an important argument in favour of the unity of the human race, and of the truth of the Bible. We find the ark figured in the ancient monuments of Egypt; and we find in many other of the most ancient sculptures, and on coins or medals of various countries, not uncertain evidence of the prevalence of the tradition of the flood, and of the preservation of Noah and his family.

 

The ark fitly symbolises the means of salvation. The flood rages around, but within the ark there is no danger. The perfect safety of those who seek refuge in it, is still further symbolised by the anchor. The ark is not represented as floating wildly, at the mercy of the winds and waves, but as secured by its anchor. And thus the believer has hope, "as an anchor of the soul, both sure and steadfast, and which entereth into that within the vail; whither the forerunner is for us entered, even Jesus, made an high priest for ever after the order of Melchisedec" (Heb. vi. 19-20). That hope cannot fail; disappointment is impossible; for it is a hope resting on the promise—nay, upon the oath of God; for "God," says the author of the Epistle to the Hebrews, "willing more abundantly to shew unto the heirs of promise the immutability of His counsel, confirmed it by an oath: That by two immutable things, in which it wns impossible for God to lie, we might have a strong consolation, who have fled for refuge to lay hold upon the hope set before us" (Heb. vi. 17-18).

 

He is safe who puts his trust in the Lord. The fiery deluge of wrath shall sweep away the workers of iniquity; perdition awaits them; but the believer is free from danger. No billow shall overwhelm the ark in which he has taken refuge; and it cannot be wrecked by any storm.

 

There are many organisations and Orders which form part of the widespread fraternity of Freemasonry, each having its own structure and terminology. Collectively these may be referred to as Masonic bodies.

 

The basic unit of Freemasonry is the Masonic Lodge, which alone can "make" (initiate) a Freemason. Such lodges are controlled by a Grand Lodge with national or regional authority for all lodges within its territory. A masonic lodge confers the three masonic degrees of Entered Apprentice, Fellowcraft (or Fellow Craft), and Master Mason.[1]

 

Whilst there is no degree in Freemasonry higher than that of Master Mason, there are additional degrees that are offered only to those who are Master Masons. Most of these are controlled by their own "Grand" bodies (independent from the Grand Lodge).

 

The degree of the Holy Royal Arch is of great antiquity, and has a special importance in many masonic systems, including those of all three of the oldest 'Constitutions' (masonic authorities), namely the Grand Lodges of England, Scotland, and Ireland, in all of which it is considered (by varying constitutional definitions) to be the completion of the mainstream masonic structure.[2][3] The United Grand Lodge of England (which has no direct authority over other Grand Lodges, but as the world's oldest Grand Lodge, has a historical influence in terms of regularity and practice) defines "pure, ancient Freemasonry" as consisting of the three degrees of Entered Apprentice, Fellowcraft, and Master Mason, plus the supreme Order of the Holy Royal Arch.[4]

 

A number of other organisations, most of which are known as 'masonic', or have a title identifying themselves as masonic, require candidates for membership to be a Master Mason in "good standing" (subscriptions paid, and not under any form of discipline). In some countries, notably the United States of America, the Scottish Rite and the York Rite are the two principal routes available. In other countries, notably England, Scotland, Ireland, and many of the countries of the Commonwealth, a large number of 'stand-alone' Orders and Degrees exist, without the umbrella organisation of a 'rite'.[5] Some of these masonic bodies use numbers as an informal way of referring to or identifying the degrees they confer, but the most important and therefore "highest" degree is always the third, or Degree of Master Mason. These other masonic bodies (sometimes known as 'additional degrees' or 'side degrees') are optional pursuits for those who wish to take their masonic membership and activity beyond the three degrees of Entered Apprentice, Fellowcraft and Master Mason.

 

In some countries, notably the United States of America, there are also organizations affiliated with Freemasonry which admit both Master Masons and non-Masons who have some relation to a Master Mason, such as the Order of the Eastern Star, International Order of Job's Daughters (Job's Daughters International) and the Order of the Amaranth. Still other affiliated organizations like the Order of DeMolay and the International Order of the Rainbow for Girls admit non-Masons and have no requirement that an applicant be related to a Master Mason. These associated organisations for non-masons are only rarely encountered in European Freemasonry.

Falls of Shin is a waterfall on the River Shin, in northern Scotland, near the villages of Bonar Bridge and Lairg.

 

Falls of Shin had a popular visitor centre, managed as part of Balnagown Estates, a company owned by former Harrods boss Mohamed Al-Fayed. This included a restaurant, a branch of Harrods, and a waxwork model of Al-Fayed. The visitor centre was destroyed by a fire in May 2013. Balnagown Estates have since been working with the Kyle of Sutherland Development Trust to develop a new visitor attraction. In May 2017, the new visitor centre opened following the successful construction carried out by William Gray Construction. The opening event was dubbed "Celebra-Shin". The cafe is currently operated by Mac & Wild- a company created by Andy Waugh and Calum MacKinnon with 2 restaurants in London and Falls of Shin being their third.

 

The Falls of Shin were dynamited to improve the salmon access.

 

Aside from the Salmon Viewing Platform, the site also comprises a Mini Golf Course, Woodland Walks and a large Children's Playpark.

 

The Highlands is a historical region of Scotland. Culturally, the Highlands and the Lowlands diverged from the Late Middle Ages into the modern period, when Lowland Scots language replaced Scottish Gaelic throughout most of the Lowlands. The term is also used for the area north and west of the Highland Boundary Fault, although the exact boundaries are not clearly defined, particularly to the east. The Great Glen divides the Grampian Mountains to the southeast from the Northwest Highlands. The Scottish Gaelic name of A' Ghàidhealtachd literally means "the place of the Gaels" and traditionally, from a Gaelic-speaking point of view, includes both the Western Isles and the Highlands.

 

The area is very sparsely populated, with many mountain ranges dominating the region, and includes the highest mountain in the British Isles, Ben Nevis. During the 18th and early 19th centuries the population of the Highlands rose to around 300,000, but from c. 1841 and for the next 160 years, the natural increase in population was exceeded by emigration (mostly to Canada, the United States, Australia and New Zealand, and migration to the industrial cities of Scotland and England.) and passim  The area is now one of the most sparsely populated in Europe. At 9.1/km2 (24/sq mi) in 2012, the population density in the Highlands and Islands is less than one seventh of Scotland's as a whole.

 

The Highland Council is the administrative body for much of the Highlands, with its administrative centre at Inverness. However, the Highlands also includes parts of the council areas of Aberdeenshire, Angus, Argyll and Bute, Moray, North Ayrshire, Perth and Kinross, Stirling and West Dunbartonshire.

 

The Scottish Highlands is the only area in the British Isles to have the taiga biome as it features concentrated populations of Scots pine forest: see Caledonian Forest. It is the most mountainous part of the United Kingdom.

 

Between the 15th century and the mid-20th century, the area differed from most of the Lowlands in terms of language. In Scottish Gaelic, the region is known as the Gàidhealtachd, because it was traditionally the Gaelic-speaking part of Scotland, although the language is now largely confined to The Hebrides. The terms are sometimes used interchangeably but have different meanings in their respective languages. Scottish English (in its Highland form) is the predominant language of the area today, though Highland English has been influenced by Gaelic speech to a significant extent. Historically, the "Highland line" distinguished the two Scottish cultures. While the Highland line broadly followed the geography of the Grampians in the south, it continued in the north, cutting off the north-eastern areas, that is Eastern Caithness, Orkney and Shetland, from the more Gaelic Highlands and Hebrides.

 

Historically, the major social unit of the Highlands was the clan. Scottish kings, particularly James VI, saw clans as a challenge to their authority; the Highlands was seen by many as a lawless region. The Scots of the Lowlands viewed the Highlanders as backward and more "Irish". The Highlands were seen as the overspill of Gaelic Ireland. They made this distinction by separating Germanic "Scots" English and the Gaelic by renaming it "Erse" a play on Eire. Following the Union of the Crowns, James VI had the military strength to back up any attempts to impose some control. The result was, in 1609, the Statutes of Iona which started the process of integrating clan leaders into Scottish society. The gradual changes continued into the 19th century, as clan chiefs thought of themselves less as patriarchal leaders of their people and more as commercial landlords. The first effect on the clansmen who were their tenants was the change to rents being payable in money rather than in kind. Later, rents were increased as Highland landowners sought to increase their income. This was followed, mostly in the period 1760–1850, by agricultural improvement that often (particularly in the Western Highlands) involved clearance of the population to make way for large scale sheep farms. Displaced tenants were set up in crofting communities in the process. The crofts were intended not to provide all the needs of their occupiers; they were expected to work in other industries such as kelping and fishing. Crofters came to rely substantially on seasonal migrant work, particularly in the Lowlands. This gave impetus to the learning of English, which was seen by many rural Gaelic speakers to be the essential "language of work".

 

Older historiography attributes the collapse of the clan system to the aftermath of the Jacobite risings. This is now thought less influential by historians. Following the Jacobite rising of 1745 the British government enacted a series of laws to try to suppress the clan system, including bans on the bearing of arms and the wearing of tartan, and limitations on the activities of the Scottish Episcopal Church. Most of this legislation was repealed by the end of the 18th century as the Jacobite threat subsided. There was soon a rehabilitation of Highland culture. Tartan was adopted for Highland regiments in the British Army, which poor Highlanders joined in large numbers in the era of the Revolutionary and Napoleonic Wars (1790–1815). Tartan had largely been abandoned by the ordinary people of the region, but in the 1820s, tartan and the kilt were adopted by members of the social elite, not just in Scotland, but across Europe. The international craze for tartan, and for idealising a romanticised Highlands, was set off by the Ossian cycle, and further popularised by the works of Walter Scott. His "staging" of the visit of King George IV to Scotland in 1822 and the king's wearing of tartan resulted in a massive upsurge in demand for kilts and tartans that could not be met by the Scottish woollen industry. Individual clan tartans were largely designated in this period and they became a major symbol of Scottish identity. This "Highlandism", by which all of Scotland was identified with the culture of the Highlands, was cemented by Queen Victoria's interest in the country, her adoption of Balmoral as a major royal retreat, and her interest in "tartenry".

 

Recurrent famine affected the Highlands for much of its history, with significant instances as late as 1817 in the Eastern Highlands and the early 1850s in the West.  Over the 18th century, the region had developed a trade of black cattle into Lowland markets, and this was balanced by imports of meal into the area. There was a critical reliance on this trade to provide sufficient food, and it is seen as an essential prerequisite for the population growth that started in the 18th century. Most of the Highlands, particularly in the North and West was short of the arable land that was essential for the mixed, run rig based, communal farming that existed before agricultural improvement was introduced into the region.[a] Between the 1760s and the 1830s there was a substantial trade in unlicensed whisky that had been distilled in the Highlands. Lowland distillers (who were not able to avoid the heavy taxation of this product) complained that Highland whisky made up more than half the market. The development of the cattle trade is taken as evidence that the pre-improvement Highlands was not an immutable system, but did exploit the economic opportunities that came its way.  The illicit whisky trade demonstrates the entrepreneurial ability of the peasant classes. 

 

Agricultural improvement reached the Highlands mostly over the period 1760 to 1850. Agricultural advisors, factors, land surveyors and others educated in the thinking of Adam Smith were keen to put into practice the new ideas taught in Scottish universities.  Highland landowners, many of whom were burdened with chronic debts, were generally receptive to the advice they offered and keen to increase the income from their land.  In the East and South the resulting change was similar to that in the Lowlands, with the creation of larger farms with single tenants, enclosure of the old run rig fields, introduction of new crops (such as turnips), land drainage and, as a consequence of all this, eviction, as part of the Highland clearances, of many tenants and cottars. Some of those cleared found employment on the new, larger farms, others moved to the accessible towns of the Lowlands.

 

In the West and North, evicted tenants were usually given tenancies in newly created crofting communities, while their former holdings were converted into large sheep farms. Sheep farmers could pay substantially higher rents than the run rig farmers and were much less prone to falling into arrears. Each croft was limited in size so that the tenants would have to find work elsewhere. The major alternatives were fishing and the kelp industry. Landlords took control of the kelp shores, deducting the wages earned by their tenants from the rent due and retaining the large profits that could be earned at the high prices paid for the processed product during the Napoleonic wars.

 

When the Napoleonic wars finished in 1815, the Highland industries were affected by the return to a peacetime economy. The price of black cattle fell, nearly halving between 1810 and the 1830s. Kelp prices had peaked in 1810, but reduced from £9 a ton in 1823 to £3 13s 4d a ton in 1828. Wool prices were also badly affected.  This worsened the financial problems of debt-encumbered landlords. Then, in 1846, potato blight arrived in the Highlands, wiping out the essential subsistence crop for the overcrowded crofting communities. As the famine struck, the government made clear to landlords that it was their responsibility to provide famine relief for their tenants. The result of the economic downturn had been that a large proportion of Highland estates were sold in the first half of the 19th century. T M Devine points out that in the region most affected by the potato famine, by 1846, 70 per cent of the landowners were new purchasers who had not owned Highland property before 1800. More landlords were obliged to sell due to the cost of famine relief. Those who were protected from the worst of the crisis were those with extensive rental income from sheep farms.  Government loans were made available for drainage works, road building and other improvements and many crofters became temporary migrants – taking work in the Lowlands. When the potato famine ceased in 1856, this established a pattern of more extensive working away from the Highlands.

 

The unequal concentration of land ownership remained an emotional and controversial subject, of enormous importance to the Highland economy, and eventually became a cornerstone of liberal radicalism. The poor crofters were politically powerless, and many of them turned to religion. They embraced the popularly oriented, fervently evangelical Presbyterian revival after 1800. Most joined the breakaway "Free Church" after 1843. This evangelical movement was led by lay preachers who themselves came from the lower strata, and whose preaching was implicitly critical of the established order. The religious change energised the crofters and separated them from the landlords; it helped prepare them for their successful and violent challenge to the landlords in the 1880s through the Highland Land League. Violence erupted, starting on the Isle of Skye, when Highland landlords cleared their lands for sheep and deer parks. It was quietened when the government stepped in, passing the Crofters' Holdings (Scotland) Act, 1886 to reduce rents, guarantee fixity of tenure, and break up large estates to provide crofts for the homeless. This contrasted with the Irish Land War underway at the same time, where the Irish were intensely politicised through roots in Irish nationalism, while political dimensions were limited. In 1885 three Independent Crofter candidates were elected to Parliament, which listened to their pleas. The results included explicit security for the Scottish smallholders in the "crofting counties"; the legal right to bequeath tenancies to descendants; and the creation of a Crofting Commission. The Crofters as a political movement faded away by 1892, and the Liberal Party gained their votes.

 

Today, the Highlands are the largest of Scotland's whisky producing regions; the relevant area runs from Orkney to the Isle of Arran in the south and includes the northern isles and much of Inner and Outer Hebrides, Argyll, Stirlingshire, Arran, as well as sections of Perthshire and Aberdeenshire. (Other sources treat The Islands, except Islay, as a separate whisky producing region.) This massive area has over 30 distilleries, or 47 when the Islands sub-region is included in the count. According to one source, the top five are The Macallan, Glenfiddich, Aberlour, Glenfarclas and Balvenie. While Speyside is geographically within the Highlands, that region is specified as distinct in terms of whisky productions. Speyside single malt whiskies are produced by about 50 distilleries.

 

According to Visit Scotland, Highlands whisky is "fruity, sweet, spicy, malty". Another review states that Northern Highlands single malt is "sweet and full-bodied", the Eastern Highlands and Southern Highlands whiskies tend to be "lighter in texture" while the distilleries in the Western Highlands produce single malts with a "much peatier influence".

 

The Scottish Reformation achieved partial success in the Highlands. Roman Catholicism remained strong in some areas, owing to remote locations and the efforts of Franciscan missionaries from Ireland, who regularly came to celebrate Mass. There remain significant Catholic strongholds within the Highlands and Islands such as Moidart and Morar on the mainland and South Uist and Barra in the southern Outer Hebrides. The remoteness of the region and the lack of a Gaelic-speaking clergy undermined the missionary efforts of the established church. The later 18th century saw somewhat greater success, owing to the efforts of the SSPCK missionaries and to the disruption of traditional society after the Battle of Culloden in 1746. In the 19th century, the evangelical Free Churches, which were more accepting of Gaelic language and culture, grew rapidly, appealing much more strongly than did the established church.

 

For the most part, however, the Highlands are considered predominantly Protestant, belonging to the Church of Scotland. In contrast to the Catholic southern islands, the northern Outer Hebrides islands (Lewis, Harris and North Uist) have an exceptionally high proportion of their population belonging to the Protestant Free Church of Scotland or the Free Presbyterian Church of Scotland. The Outer Hebrides have been described as the last bastion of Calvinism in Britain and the Sabbath remains widely observed. Inverness and the surrounding area has a majority Protestant population, with most locals belonging to either The Kirk or the Free Church of Scotland. The church maintains a noticeable presence within the area, with church attendance notably higher than in other parts of Scotland. Religion continues to play an important role in Highland culture, with Sabbath observance still widely practised, particularly in the Hebrides.

 

In traditional Scottish geography, the Highlands refers to that part of Scotland north-west of the Highland Boundary Fault, which crosses mainland Scotland in a near-straight line from Helensburgh to Stonehaven. However the flat coastal lands that occupy parts of the counties of Nairnshire, Morayshire, Banffshire and Aberdeenshire are often excluded as they do not share the distinctive geographical and cultural features of the rest of the Highlands. The north-east of Caithness, as well as Orkney and Shetland, are also often excluded from the Highlands, although the Hebrides are usually included. The Highland area, as so defined, differed from the Lowlands in language and tradition, having preserved Gaelic speech and customs centuries after the anglicisation of the latter; this led to a growing perception of a divide, with the cultural distinction between Highlander and Lowlander first noted towards the end of the 14th century. In Aberdeenshire, the boundary between the Highlands and the Lowlands is not well defined. There is a stone beside the A93 road near the village of Dinnet on Royal Deeside which states 'You are now in the Highlands', although there are areas of Highland character to the east of this point.

 

A much wider definition of the Highlands is that used by the Scotch whisky industry. Highland single malts are produced at distilleries north of an imaginary line between Dundee and Greenock, thus including all of Aberdeenshire and Angus.

 

Inverness is regarded as the Capital of the Highlands, although less so in the Highland parts of Aberdeenshire, Angus, Perthshire and Stirlingshire which look more to Aberdeen, Dundee, Perth, and Stirling as their commercial centres.

 

The Highland Council area, created as one of the local government regions of Scotland, has been a unitary council area since 1996. The council area excludes a large area of the southern and eastern Highlands, and the Western Isles, but includes Caithness. Highlands is sometimes used, however, as a name for the council area, as in the former Highlands and Islands Fire and Rescue Service. Northern is also used to refer to the area, as in the former Northern Constabulary. These former bodies both covered the Highland council area and the island council areas of Orkney, Shetland and the Western Isles.

 

Much of the Highlands area overlaps the Highlands and Islands area. An electoral region called Highlands and Islands is used in elections to the Scottish Parliament: this area includes Orkney and Shetland, as well as the Highland Council local government area, the Western Isles and most of the Argyll and Bute and Moray local government areas. Highlands and Islands has, however, different meanings in different contexts. It means Highland (the local government area), Orkney, Shetland, and the Western Isles in Highlands and Islands Fire and Rescue Service. Northern, as in Northern Constabulary, refers to the same area as that covered by the fire and rescue service.

 

There have been trackways from the Lowlands to the Highlands since prehistoric times. Many traverse the Mounth, a spur of mountainous land that extends from the higher inland range to the North Sea slightly north of Stonehaven. The most well-known and historically important trackways are the Causey Mounth, Elsick Mounth, Cryne Corse Mounth and Cairnamounth.

 

Although most of the Highlands is geographically on the British mainland, it is somewhat less accessible than the rest of Britain; thus most UK couriers categorise it separately, alongside Northern Ireland, the Isle of Man, and other offshore islands. They thus charge additional fees for delivery to the Highlands, or exclude the area entirely. While the physical remoteness from the largest population centres inevitably leads to higher transit cost, there is confusion and consternation over the scale of the fees charged and the effectiveness of their communication, and the use of the word Mainland in their justification. Since the charges are often based on postcode areas, many far less remote areas, including some which are traditionally considered part of the lowlands, are also subject to these charges. Royal Mail is the only delivery network bound by a Universal Service Obligation to charge a uniform tariff across the UK. This, however, applies only to mail items and not larger packages which are dealt with by its Parcelforce division.

 

The Highlands lie to the north and west of the Highland Boundary Fault, which runs from Arran to Stonehaven. This part of Scotland is largely composed of ancient rocks from the Cambrian and Precambrian periods which were uplifted during the later Caledonian Orogeny. Smaller formations of Lewisian gneiss in the northwest are up to 3 billion years old. The overlying rocks of the Torridon Sandstone form mountains in the Torridon Hills such as Liathach and Beinn Eighe in Wester Ross.

 

These foundations are interspersed with many igneous intrusions of a more recent age, the remnants of which have formed mountain massifs such as the Cairngorms and the Cuillin of Skye. A significant exception to the above are the fossil-bearing beds of Old Red Sandstone found principally along the Moray Firth coast and partially down the Highland Boundary Fault. The Jurassic beds found in isolated locations on Skye and Applecross reflect the complex underlying geology. They are the original source of much North Sea oil. The Great Glen is formed along a transform fault which divides the Grampian Mountains to the southeast from the Northwest Highlands.

 

The entire region was covered by ice sheets during the Pleistocene ice ages, save perhaps for a few nunataks. The complex geomorphology includes incised valleys and lochs carved by the action of mountain streams and ice, and a topography of irregularly distributed mountains whose summits have similar heights above sea-level, but whose bases depend upon the amount of denudation to which the plateau has been subjected in various places.

Climate

 

The region is much warmer than other areas at similar latitudes (such as Kamchatka in Russia, or Labrador in Canada) because of the Gulf Stream making it cool, damp and temperate. The Köppen climate classification is "Cfb" at low altitudes, then becoming "Cfc", "Dfc" and "ET" at higher altitudes.

 

Places of interest

An Teallach

Aonach Mòr (Nevis Range ski centre)

Arrochar Alps

Balmoral Castle

Balquhidder

Battlefield of Culloden

Beinn Alligin

Beinn Eighe

Ben Cruachan hydro-electric power station

Ben Lomond

Ben Macdui (second highest mountain in Scotland and UK)

Ben Nevis (highest mountain in Scotland and UK)

Cairngorms National Park

Cairngorm Ski centre near Aviemore

Cairngorm Mountains

Caledonian Canal

Cape Wrath

Carrick Castle

Castle Stalker

Castle Tioram

Chanonry Point

Conic Hill

Culloden Moor

Dunadd

Duart Castle

Durness

Eilean Donan

Fingal's Cave (Staffa)

Fort George

Glen Coe

Glen Etive

Glen Kinglas

Glen Lyon

Glen Orchy

Glenshee Ski Centre

Glen Shiel

Glen Spean

Glenfinnan (and its railway station and viaduct)

Grampian Mountains

Hebrides

Highland Folk Museum – The first open-air museum in the UK.

Highland Wildlife Park

Inveraray Castle

Inveraray Jail

Inverness Castle

Inverewe Garden

Iona Abbey

Isle of Staffa

Kilchurn Castle

Kilmartin Glen

Liathach

Lecht Ski Centre

Loch Alsh

Loch Ard

Loch Awe

Loch Assynt

Loch Earn

Loch Etive

Loch Fyne

Loch Goil

Loch Katrine

Loch Leven

Loch Linnhe

Loch Lochy

Loch Lomond

Loch Lomond and the Trossachs National Park

Loch Lubnaig

Loch Maree

Loch Morar

Loch Morlich

Loch Ness

Loch Nevis

Loch Rannoch

Loch Tay

Lochranza

Luss

Meall a' Bhuiridh (Glencoe Ski Centre)

Scottish Sea Life Sanctuary at Loch Creran

Rannoch Moor

Red Cuillin

Rest and Be Thankful stretch of A83

River Carron, Wester Ross

River Spey

River Tay

Ross and Cromarty

Smoo Cave

Stob Coire a' Chàirn

Stac Polly

Strathspey Railway

Sutherland

Tor Castle

Torridon Hills

Urquhart Castle

West Highland Line (scenic railway)

West Highland Way (Long-distance footpath)

Wester Ross

Wander through pleasant mixed woodland down to the Skelbo burn

 

Families love the variety in Skelbo, from dipping for mini beasts in the wildlife pond beside the car park to hunting out the chainsaw-carved woodland creatures along the trail. It's a fun forest full of interesting twists and turns, open views and fascinating features, including the remains of an iron age broch and some impressive drystone walls.

 

Wander down to Skelbo Burn, listening for birdsong and spying sculptured carvings among the pines, before returning past the remains of a 200-year old broch.

 

Firm gravel surface with uneven and occasionally muddy sections. One long fairly steep slope. Includes some steps and a narrow bridge.

  

The Highlands is a historical region of Scotland. Culturally, the Highlands and the Lowlands diverged from the Late Middle Ages into the modern period, when Lowland Scots language replaced Scottish Gaelic throughout most of the Lowlands. The term is also used for the area north and west of the Highland Boundary Fault, although the exact boundaries are not clearly defined, particularly to the east. The Great Glen divides the Grampian Mountains to the southeast from the Northwest Highlands. The Scottish Gaelic name of A' Ghàidhealtachd literally means "the place of the Gaels" and traditionally, from a Gaelic-speaking point of view, includes both the Western Isles and the Highlands.

 

The area is very sparsely populated, with many mountain ranges dominating the region, and includes the highest mountain in the British Isles, Ben Nevis. During the 18th and early 19th centuries the population of the Highlands rose to around 300,000, but from c. 1841 and for the next 160 years, the natural increase in population was exceeded by emigration (mostly to Canada, the United States, Australia and New Zealand, and migration to the industrial cities of Scotland and England.) and passim  The area is now one of the most sparsely populated in Europe. At 9.1/km2 (24/sq mi) in 2012, the population density in the Highlands and Islands is less than one seventh of Scotland's as a whole.

 

The Highland Council is the administrative body for much of the Highlands, with its administrative centre at Inverness. However, the Highlands also includes parts of the council areas of Aberdeenshire, Angus, Argyll and Bute, Moray, North Ayrshire, Perth and Kinross, Stirling and West Dunbartonshire.

 

The Scottish Highlands is the only area in the British Isles to have the taiga biome as it features concentrated populations of Scots pine forest: see Caledonian Forest. It is the most mountainous part of the United Kingdom.

 

Between the 15th century and the mid-20th century, the area differed from most of the Lowlands in terms of language. In Scottish Gaelic, the region is known as the Gàidhealtachd, because it was traditionally the Gaelic-speaking part of Scotland, although the language is now largely confined to The Hebrides. The terms are sometimes used interchangeably but have different meanings in their respective languages. Scottish English (in its Highland form) is the predominant language of the area today, though Highland English has been influenced by Gaelic speech to a significant extent. Historically, the "Highland line" distinguished the two Scottish cultures. While the Highland line broadly followed the geography of the Grampians in the south, it continued in the north, cutting off the north-eastern areas, that is Eastern Caithness, Orkney and Shetland, from the more Gaelic Highlands and Hebrides.

 

Historically, the major social unit of the Highlands was the clan. Scottish kings, particularly James VI, saw clans as a challenge to their authority; the Highlands was seen by many as a lawless region. The Scots of the Lowlands viewed the Highlanders as backward and more "Irish". The Highlands were seen as the overspill of Gaelic Ireland. They made this distinction by separating Germanic "Scots" English and the Gaelic by renaming it "Erse" a play on Eire. Following the Union of the Crowns, James VI had the military strength to back up any attempts to impose some control. The result was, in 1609, the Statutes of Iona which started the process of integrating clan leaders into Scottish society. The gradual changes continued into the 19th century, as clan chiefs thought of themselves less as patriarchal leaders of their people and more as commercial landlords. The first effect on the clansmen who were their tenants was the change to rents being payable in money rather than in kind. Later, rents were increased as Highland landowners sought to increase their income. This was followed, mostly in the period 1760–1850, by agricultural improvement that often (particularly in the Western Highlands) involved clearance of the population to make way for large scale sheep farms. Displaced tenants were set up in crofting communities in the process. The crofts were intended not to provide all the needs of their occupiers; they were expected to work in other industries such as kelping and fishing. Crofters came to rely substantially on seasonal migrant work, particularly in the Lowlands. This gave impetus to the learning of English, which was seen by many rural Gaelic speakers to be the essential "language of work".

 

Older historiography attributes the collapse of the clan system to the aftermath of the Jacobite risings. This is now thought less influential by historians. Following the Jacobite rising of 1745 the British government enacted a series of laws to try to suppress the clan system, including bans on the bearing of arms and the wearing of tartan, and limitations on the activities of the Scottish Episcopal Church. Most of this legislation was repealed by the end of the 18th century as the Jacobite threat subsided. There was soon a rehabilitation of Highland culture. Tartan was adopted for Highland regiments in the British Army, which poor Highlanders joined in large numbers in the era of the Revolutionary and Napoleonic Wars (1790–1815). Tartan had largely been abandoned by the ordinary people of the region, but in the 1820s, tartan and the kilt were adopted by members of the social elite, not just in Scotland, but across Europe. The international craze for tartan, and for idealising a romanticised Highlands, was set off by the Ossian cycle, and further popularised by the works of Walter Scott. His "staging" of the visit of King George IV to Scotland in 1822 and the king's wearing of tartan resulted in a massive upsurge in demand for kilts and tartans that could not be met by the Scottish woollen industry. Individual clan tartans were largely designated in this period and they became a major symbol of Scottish identity. This "Highlandism", by which all of Scotland was identified with the culture of the Highlands, was cemented by Queen Victoria's interest in the country, her adoption of Balmoral as a major royal retreat, and her interest in "tartenry".

 

Recurrent famine affected the Highlands for much of its history, with significant instances as late as 1817 in the Eastern Highlands and the early 1850s in the West.  Over the 18th century, the region had developed a trade of black cattle into Lowland markets, and this was balanced by imports of meal into the area. There was a critical reliance on this trade to provide sufficient food, and it is seen as an essential prerequisite for the population growth that started in the 18th century. Most of the Highlands, particularly in the North and West was short of the arable land that was essential for the mixed, run rig based, communal farming that existed before agricultural improvement was introduced into the region.[a] Between the 1760s and the 1830s there was a substantial trade in unlicensed whisky that had been distilled in the Highlands. Lowland distillers (who were not able to avoid the heavy taxation of this product) complained that Highland whisky made up more than half the market. The development of the cattle trade is taken as evidence that the pre-improvement Highlands was not an immutable system, but did exploit the economic opportunities that came its way.  The illicit whisky trade demonstrates the entrepreneurial ability of the peasant classes. 

 

Agricultural improvement reached the Highlands mostly over the period 1760 to 1850. Agricultural advisors, factors, land surveyors and others educated in the thinking of Adam Smith were keen to put into practice the new ideas taught in Scottish universities.  Highland landowners, many of whom were burdened with chronic debts, were generally receptive to the advice they offered and keen to increase the income from their land.  In the East and South the resulting change was similar to that in the Lowlands, with the creation of larger farms with single tenants, enclosure of the old run rig fields, introduction of new crops (such as turnips), land drainage and, as a consequence of all this, eviction, as part of the Highland clearances, of many tenants and cottars. Some of those cleared found employment on the new, larger farms, others moved to the accessible towns of the Lowlands.

 

In the West and North, evicted tenants were usually given tenancies in newly created crofting communities, while their former holdings were converted into large sheep farms. Sheep farmers could pay substantially higher rents than the run rig farmers and were much less prone to falling into arrears. Each croft was limited in size so that the tenants would have to find work elsewhere. The major alternatives were fishing and the kelp industry. Landlords took control of the kelp shores, deducting the wages earned by their tenants from the rent due and retaining the large profits that could be earned at the high prices paid for the processed product during the Napoleonic wars.

 

When the Napoleonic wars finished in 1815, the Highland industries were affected by the return to a peacetime economy. The price of black cattle fell, nearly halving between 1810 and the 1830s. Kelp prices had peaked in 1810, but reduced from £9 a ton in 1823 to £3 13s 4d a ton in 1828. Wool prices were also badly affected.  This worsened the financial problems of debt-encumbered landlords. Then, in 1846, potato blight arrived in the Highlands, wiping out the essential subsistence crop for the overcrowded crofting communities. As the famine struck, the government made clear to landlords that it was their responsibility to provide famine relief for their tenants. The result of the economic downturn had been that a large proportion of Highland estates were sold in the first half of the 19th century. T M Devine points out that in the region most affected by the potato famine, by 1846, 70 per cent of the landowners were new purchasers who had not owned Highland property before 1800. More landlords were obliged to sell due to the cost of famine relief. Those who were protected from the worst of the crisis were those with extensive rental income from sheep farms.  Government loans were made available for drainage works, road building and other improvements and many crofters became temporary migrants – taking work in the Lowlands. When the potato famine ceased in 1856, this established a pattern of more extensive working away from the Highlands.

 

The unequal concentration of land ownership remained an emotional and controversial subject, of enormous importance to the Highland economy, and eventually became a cornerstone of liberal radicalism. The poor crofters were politically powerless, and many of them turned to religion. They embraced the popularly oriented, fervently evangelical Presbyterian revival after 1800. Most joined the breakaway "Free Church" after 1843. This evangelical movement was led by lay preachers who themselves came from the lower strata, and whose preaching was implicitly critical of the established order. The religious change energised the crofters and separated them from the landlords; it helped prepare them for their successful and violent challenge to the landlords in the 1880s through the Highland Land League. Violence erupted, starting on the Isle of Skye, when Highland landlords cleared their lands for sheep and deer parks. It was quietened when the government stepped in, passing the Crofters' Holdings (Scotland) Act, 1886 to reduce rents, guarantee fixity of tenure, and break up large estates to provide crofts for the homeless. This contrasted with the Irish Land War underway at the same time, where the Irish were intensely politicised through roots in Irish nationalism, while political dimensions were limited. In 1885 three Independent Crofter candidates were elected to Parliament, which listened to their pleas. The results included explicit security for the Scottish smallholders in the "crofting counties"; the legal right to bequeath tenancies to descendants; and the creation of a Crofting Commission. The Crofters as a political movement faded away by 1892, and the Liberal Party gained their votes.

 

Today, the Highlands are the largest of Scotland's whisky producing regions; the relevant area runs from Orkney to the Isle of Arran in the south and includes the northern isles and much of Inner and Outer Hebrides, Argyll, Stirlingshire, Arran, as well as sections of Perthshire and Aberdeenshire. (Other sources treat The Islands, except Islay, as a separate whisky producing region.) This massive area has over 30 distilleries, or 47 when the Islands sub-region is included in the count. According to one source, the top five are The Macallan, Glenfiddich, Aberlour, Glenfarclas and Balvenie. While Speyside is geographically within the Highlands, that region is specified as distinct in terms of whisky productions. Speyside single malt whiskies are produced by about 50 distilleries.

 

According to Visit Scotland, Highlands whisky is "fruity, sweet, spicy, malty". Another review states that Northern Highlands single malt is "sweet and full-bodied", the Eastern Highlands and Southern Highlands whiskies tend to be "lighter in texture" while the distilleries in the Western Highlands produce single malts with a "much peatier influence".

 

The Scottish Reformation achieved partial success in the Highlands. Roman Catholicism remained strong in some areas, owing to remote locations and the efforts of Franciscan missionaries from Ireland, who regularly came to celebrate Mass. There remain significant Catholic strongholds within the Highlands and Islands such as Moidart and Morar on the mainland and South Uist and Barra in the southern Outer Hebrides. The remoteness of the region and the lack of a Gaelic-speaking clergy undermined the missionary efforts of the established church. The later 18th century saw somewhat greater success, owing to the efforts of the SSPCK missionaries and to the disruption of traditional society after the Battle of Culloden in 1746. In the 19th century, the evangelical Free Churches, which were more accepting of Gaelic language and culture, grew rapidly, appealing much more strongly than did the established church.

 

For the most part, however, the Highlands are considered predominantly Protestant, belonging to the Church of Scotland. In contrast to the Catholic southern islands, the northern Outer Hebrides islands (Lewis, Harris and North Uist) have an exceptionally high proportion of their population belonging to the Protestant Free Church of Scotland or the Free Presbyterian Church of Scotland. The Outer Hebrides have been described as the last bastion of Calvinism in Britain and the Sabbath remains widely observed. Inverness and the surrounding area has a majority Protestant population, with most locals belonging to either The Kirk or the Free Church of Scotland. The church maintains a noticeable presence within the area, with church attendance notably higher than in other parts of Scotland. Religion continues to play an important role in Highland culture, with Sabbath observance still widely practised, particularly in the Hebrides.

 

In traditional Scottish geography, the Highlands refers to that part of Scotland north-west of the Highland Boundary Fault, which crosses mainland Scotland in a near-straight line from Helensburgh to Stonehaven. However the flat coastal lands that occupy parts of the counties of Nairnshire, Morayshire, Banffshire and Aberdeenshire are often excluded as they do not share the distinctive geographical and cultural features of the rest of the Highlands. The north-east of Caithness, as well as Orkney and Shetland, are also often excluded from the Highlands, although the Hebrides are usually included. The Highland area, as so defined, differed from the Lowlands in language and tradition, having preserved Gaelic speech and customs centuries after the anglicisation of the latter; this led to a growing perception of a divide, with the cultural distinction between Highlander and Lowlander first noted towards the end of the 14th century. In Aberdeenshire, the boundary between the Highlands and the Lowlands is not well defined. There is a stone beside the A93 road near the village of Dinnet on Royal Deeside which states 'You are now in the Highlands', although there are areas of Highland character to the east of this point.

 

A much wider definition of the Highlands is that used by the Scotch whisky industry. Highland single malts are produced at distilleries north of an imaginary line between Dundee and Greenock, thus including all of Aberdeenshire and Angus.

 

Inverness is regarded as the Capital of the Highlands, although less so in the Highland parts of Aberdeenshire, Angus, Perthshire and Stirlingshire which look more to Aberdeen, Dundee, Perth, and Stirling as their commercial centres.

 

The Highland Council area, created as one of the local government regions of Scotland, has been a unitary council area since 1996. The council area excludes a large area of the southern and eastern Highlands, and the Western Isles, but includes Caithness. Highlands is sometimes used, however, as a name for the council area, as in the former Highlands and Islands Fire and Rescue Service. Northern is also used to refer to the area, as in the former Northern Constabulary. These former bodies both covered the Highland council area and the island council areas of Orkney, Shetland and the Western Isles.

 

Much of the Highlands area overlaps the Highlands and Islands area. An electoral region called Highlands and Islands is used in elections to the Scottish Parliament: this area includes Orkney and Shetland, as well as the Highland Council local government area, the Western Isles and most of the Argyll and Bute and Moray local government areas. Highlands and Islands has, however, different meanings in different contexts. It means Highland (the local government area), Orkney, Shetland, and the Western Isles in Highlands and Islands Fire and Rescue Service. Northern, as in Northern Constabulary, refers to the same area as that covered by the fire and rescue service.

 

There have been trackways from the Lowlands to the Highlands since prehistoric times. Many traverse the Mounth, a spur of mountainous land that extends from the higher inland range to the North Sea slightly north of Stonehaven. The most well-known and historically important trackways are the Causey Mounth, Elsick Mounth, Cryne Corse Mounth and Cairnamounth.

 

Although most of the Highlands is geographically on the British mainland, it is somewhat less accessible than the rest of Britain; thus most UK couriers categorise it separately, alongside Northern Ireland, the Isle of Man, and other offshore islands. They thus charge additional fees for delivery to the Highlands, or exclude the area entirely. While the physical remoteness from the largest population centres inevitably leads to higher transit cost, there is confusion and consternation over the scale of the fees charged and the effectiveness of their communication, and the use of the word Mainland in their justification. Since the charges are often based on postcode areas, many far less remote areas, including some which are traditionally considered part of the lowlands, are also subject to these charges. Royal Mail is the only delivery network bound by a Universal Service Obligation to charge a uniform tariff across the UK. This, however, applies only to mail items and not larger packages which are dealt with by its Parcelforce division.

 

The Highlands lie to the north and west of the Highland Boundary Fault, which runs from Arran to Stonehaven. This part of Scotland is largely composed of ancient rocks from the Cambrian and Precambrian periods which were uplifted during the later Caledonian Orogeny. Smaller formations of Lewisian gneiss in the northwest are up to 3 billion years old. The overlying rocks of the Torridon Sandstone form mountains in the Torridon Hills such as Liathach and Beinn Eighe in Wester Ross.

 

These foundations are interspersed with many igneous intrusions of a more recent age, the remnants of which have formed mountain massifs such as the Cairngorms and the Cuillin of Skye. A significant exception to the above are the fossil-bearing beds of Old Red Sandstone found principally along the Moray Firth coast and partially down the Highland Boundary Fault. The Jurassic beds found in isolated locations on Skye and Applecross reflect the complex underlying geology. They are the original source of much North Sea oil. The Great Glen is formed along a transform fault which divides the Grampian Mountains to the southeast from the Northwest Highlands.

 

The entire region was covered by ice sheets during the Pleistocene ice ages, save perhaps for a few nunataks. The complex geomorphology includes incised valleys and lochs carved by the action of mountain streams and ice, and a topography of irregularly distributed mountains whose summits have similar heights above sea-level, but whose bases depend upon the amount of denudation to which the plateau has been subjected in various places.

Climate

 

The region is much warmer than other areas at similar latitudes (such as Kamchatka in Russia, or Labrador in Canada) because of the Gulf Stream making it cool, damp and temperate. The Köppen climate classification is "Cfb" at low altitudes, then becoming "Cfc", "Dfc" and "ET" at higher altitudes.

 

Places of interest

An Teallach

Aonach Mòr (Nevis Range ski centre)

Arrochar Alps

Balmoral Castle

Balquhidder

Battlefield of Culloden

Beinn Alligin

Beinn Eighe

Ben Cruachan hydro-electric power station

Ben Lomond

Ben Macdui (second highest mountain in Scotland and UK)

Ben Nevis (highest mountain in Scotland and UK)

Cairngorms National Park

Cairngorm Ski centre near Aviemore

Cairngorm Mountains

Caledonian Canal

Cape Wrath

Carrick Castle

Castle Stalker

Castle Tioram

Chanonry Point

Conic Hill

Culloden Moor

Dunadd

Duart Castle

Durness

Eilean Donan

Fingal's Cave (Staffa)

Fort George

Glen Coe

Glen Etive

Glen Kinglas

Glen Lyon

Glen Orchy

Glenshee Ski Centre

Glen Shiel

Glen Spean

Glenfinnan (and its railway station and viaduct)

Grampian Mountains

Hebrides

Highland Folk Museum – The first open-air museum in the UK.

Highland Wildlife Park

Inveraray Castle

Inveraray Jail

Inverness Castle

Inverewe Garden

Iona Abbey

Isle of Staffa

Kilchurn Castle

Kilmartin Glen

Liathach

Lecht Ski Centre

Loch Alsh

Loch Ard

Loch Awe

Loch Assynt

Loch Earn

Loch Etive

Loch Fyne

Loch Goil

Loch Katrine

Loch Leven

Loch Linnhe

Loch Lochy

Loch Lomond

Loch Lomond and the Trossachs National Park

Loch Lubnaig

Loch Maree

Loch Morar

Loch Morlich

Loch Ness

Loch Nevis

Loch Rannoch

Loch Tay

Lochranza

Luss

Meall a' Bhuiridh (Glencoe Ski Centre)

Scottish Sea Life Sanctuary at Loch Creran

Rannoch Moor

Red Cuillin

Rest and Be Thankful stretch of A83

River Carron, Wester Ross

River Spey

River Tay

Ross and Cromarty

Smoo Cave

Stob Coire a' Chàirn

Stac Polly

Strathspey Railway

Sutherland

Tor Castle

Torridon Hills

Urquhart Castle

West Highland Line (scenic railway)

West Highland Way (Long-distance footpath)

Wester Ross

The ring represents God's unchanging love

For our day out in Venice, Mike and I made our way from the bus stop at Piazzale Roma to Piazza San Marco. After taking in the views from the piazza, we visited the Doge's Palace (Palazzo Ducale).

 

We entered through the Porta del Frumento on the south side of the palace and proceeded through the central courtyard to the palace's Institutional Chambers (Le Sale Istituzionali). After ascending via the Golden Staircase, we began our self-guided tour in the Square Atrium (Atrio Quadrato) on the second floor.

 

The highlight of the small atrium is this ceiling fresco by Tintoretto, which depicts Doge Girolamo Priùli with the symbols of his office, accompanied by allegorical figures of Justice and Peace.

 

An informational placard provided more details on the palace's Institutional Chambers; I've transcribed the description below:

 

Le Sale Istituzionali (Institutional Chambers)

Here begins the long series of Institutional Chambers within the palace, those rooms which housed the highest levels of a political and administrative system that was the object of widespread admiration for centuries. The very immutability of the system was amazing: without any written constitution as such, it was efficient enough to last over time and guarantee social peace. After the mid-1300s, the city was entirely free from riot or rebellion, and no one questioned the rights and abilities which enabled the city's aristocracy to monopolize management of the State; in fact, the regime symbolized by the Lion of St. Mark enjoyed extraordinary popular support and skillfully nurtured the myth of itself.

 

These chambers housed not only all the main organs of government within the Republic -- from the Great Council, to the Senate and the more restricted Full Council -- but also the most important bodies for the administration of justice, from the Council of Ten to the three Councils of Forty.

 

In each of the rooms, the decoration is always a thoroughly planned celebration of the virtues of the State and the functions of government to be performed there.

 

Nova aterrada estiuenca al Tritón, un restaurant senzill i molt popular que porta dècades oferint una cuina marinera i territorial empordanesa de perfil casolà, que és un clàssic recurrent en les nostres estades per la zona. Un cop al menjador, després de prendre un aperitiu a la terrassa exterior, vam compartir quatre plats escollits de la carta entre les seves especialitats i unes postres, oferint-nos tot plegat uns resultats tan bons com esperats i completant un altre destacable àpat en aquesta casa de gestió familiar que porta dècades immutable. Llarga vida!

 

El que més ens va agradar: l’anguila (fumada i en suquet), els musclos, els calamars

El que menys ens va agradar: tot ho vam trobar molt correcte

El que recomanem: és un bon lloc on gaudir de la cuina marinera i territorial empordanesa en la seva vessant més popular

 

Satisfacció: @@@+

 

Tritón

Carretera de Palafrugell a Torroella, s/n

17257 Gualta (Baix Empordà-Girona)

Telèfon: 972 75 70 38

 

Tanca diumenges i Gener. Obre pels matins per esmorzars de forquilla.

Slayer

Alcatraz - Milano

19 Giugno 2013

 

Tom Araya

Kerry King

Jeff Hanneman

Dave Lombardo

 

© Mairo Cinquetti

 

© All rights reserved. Do not use my photos without my written permission. If you would like to buy or use this photo PLEASE message me or email me at mairo.cinquetti@gmail.com

 

Immagine protetta da copyright © Mairo Cinquetti.

Tutti i diritti sono riservati. L'immagine non può essere usata in nessun caso senza autorizzazione scritta dell'autore.

Per contatti: mairo.cinquetti@gmail.com

 

From the opening squeals of the guitars of Kerry King and Jeff Hanneman and the punishing breakaway attack of Dave Lombardo's drums on "Flesh Storm" it's clear from the first thirty seconds the thrash metal titans have returned to pummel listeners with a raging onslaught of new music guaranteed to lay waste to MP3 players, car stereo speakers and whatever else gets in their way.

Christ Illusion marks the long-awaited return of the legendary Slayer. Its first record in five years and its first record in fifteen years with the original band line-up, Christ Illusion is a cacophony of brutality. A soundtrack for the post-Apocalypse. Steeped in scorching riffs and a litany of menacing tracks/tirades on religion and violence, Slayer forges ahead on its devastating path of aural destruction with ten new songs, each charged with the electric hostility for which Slayer is renowned.

Of the record Kerry King is ecstatic: "I love it. I really like God Hates Us All and I think that's the best record we've done in my opinion since Seasons In The Abyss, and I like this better than that one. I think it's a more complete record, I think sonically it better: all the performances are awesome. I think this one is more intense not because we're trying to do 'Reign In Blood: The Sequel,' it's just that's where our writing is taking us now."

Songs like the "Flesh Storm," "Eyes of the Insane," "Skeleton Christ," "Jihad" and the first single, "Cult" showcase the band at its most blazing intensity. The sonic excitement of speed, propelled by King, Hanneman and Lombardo and lead by the immutable roar of Tom Araya provoke the listener with Slayer's trademark fascination with terror, violence and religion.

For as long as Slayer has been making records it has been surrounded by controversy.

Since the band recorded its first album, "Show No Mercy," Slayer has been plagued with accusations of Satanism, fascism, racism and so on. Christ Illusion gives no quarter to critics who would mindlessly attack the band for, what the Germans call, "der Reiz des Unbekannten" (meaning "the attraction of the unknown"). A lyric fascination with violence and terror which guitarist King enthusiastically describes this way: "When I was I kid I would see a horror movie over a love story. Being shocked, being in an environment that's not reality might be frightening but is cool nonetheless. With a lot of our songs we put people in that place. It doesn't bother me because I enjoy it. It could easily be programming from all the fucking news channels."

Slayer is often assailed for its subject matter, though the band is unrepentant. " According to Araya, "Violence, darkness... So much of my inspiration comes from news articles or pictures and just start describing the images. Television- A&E, the History Channel, Court TV, Documentaries."

The singer continues, "With this record, as far as a theme: there is none. That's just our favorite subject matter. The common thread is death. I think that's just a common thread in general: we all share death, and we all share it at different times in different ways, but it's the one thing that we all have in common. We all die. It's how we live that makes us different."

Beyond being controversial Slayer is an exceptional force in music, highly praised for its trailblazing style of fast, heavy and aggressive music yet bristling with melody. The much-heralded return of Dave Lombardo to the drummer's throne will leave fans gasping for breath as he clobbers the listener on song after song.

Commenting on Lombardo's return to the fold, King notes, "Not to say the shine's worn off, but it's old news to us. I think the thing the kids are going to get into, besides just being the first Slayer album in five years, is that Dave's on it. When he came back he wasn't a member, he just came back to do a couple of tours and people started asking back then 'Is he gonna hang around?' And I would tell them that was up to Dave. But I could tell that Dave was having a killer time." King confided. "So it was just a matter of time before he said, 'Yeah, let's do it!' But it's great. And now that he's got a new Slayer album that he's played on, I think he's going to get some more enjoyment out of playing. He takes pride in everything he does and it's awesome to have him back with us."

Having the original members record their first album together in fifteen years is certainly newsworthy but the lasting might of the band and its continued popularity is an achievement few can boast. For each of the members, the band is resolute. There is no other band like Slayer.

"The staying power behind Slayer is that we've stuck to our guns," Says Araya. "Integrity... that would be number one. A lot of it has to do with the fact that we've stuck to what we do best. And the fact that we've been together as a band for so long. Ten years with Dave; another ten without Dave; and now Dave's back. It has a lot to do with compromise, that's just the way it has to be. You have to be able to compromise and give and take and that has a lot to do with why we're still together and a force to be reckoned with. I've learned that without each other, Slayer wouldn't exist, and that the whole is greater than its parts."

Kerry King is far more succinct. "Slayer to me is the coolest band on the planet. There is a timeless quality to Slayer. It's cool, but I can't explain it. It's our life."

Slayer has created one mesmerizing record after the next, has influenced many of today's most successful bands, including Slipknot, Sepultura, Killswitch Engage, and continues to earn new generations of fans, while staying true to its ceaselessly devoted followers. Slayer's legacy is cemented in music forever and the band remains undaunted in its directive to make punishing, aggressive and exciting music. With Christ Illusion the band marks its territory. Slayer has exceeded itself far beyond thrash metal to become an unstoppable juggernaut without equal.

Tom Araya sums it up: "I think the best thing is the band's longevity and the fact that we haven't bowed to anyone. That we were able to make a record like Reign In Blood, which, to us, was just another record, but to others, was something very special, it's had such an impact. People will remember it for a long time, and it's all because we did things our way, we didn't bow down to anyone. We didn't compromise. We stuck to being who we are."

St Fillans is a village in Perthshire in the central highlands of Scotland, in the council area of Perth and Kinross. The village lies at the eastern end of Loch Earn, 5 miles (8 km) west of Comrie on the A85 road, at the point where the River Earn leaves the loch. St Fillans was a small clachan in the 18th century, known as Port of Lochearn, or Meikleport. In 1817 it was renamed St Fillans by Lord Gwydyr, the husband of Clementina Drummond, heiress to the Drummond Estate.

 

The pre-Reformation church, St Fillan's Chapel, whose kirkyard is the traditional burial place of the Stewarts of Ardvorlich, lies to the south of the River Earn, between St Fillans and the Iron Age Pictish hill fort of Dundurn. It is believed that the Irish missionary Saint Fillan lived on this hill. Not far from the foot of the hill is the Allt Ghoinean burn which is claimed to be the Gonan or Monan of Sir Walter Scott's poem The Lady of the Lake:

 

There is a large hydro-electric power station in St Fillans, fed from a dam at Loch Lednock high above the village. The power station, which forms part of the Breadalbane Hydro-Electric Scheme, is not visible within St Fillans as it is underground and was hewn from solid rock. The golf course at St Fillans was created in 1903 by Willie Auchterlonie.

 

The section of the River Earn from St Fillans down to Comrie, along with much of the surrounding countryside, is designated as a national scenic area (NSA). It is one of 40 such areas in Scotland, which are defined to identify areas of exceptional scenery and to ensure its protection by restricting certain forms of development. The River Earn (Comrie to St Fillans) NSA covers 12 square miles (3,108 ha) in total.

 

The village became the scene of controversy in November 2005 when a housing development was halted to avoid killing the fairies who allegedly lived under a rock on the proposed site. After some negotiation, the new housing estate was redesigned so that the rock in question was preserved, in a small park in the centre of the estate.

 

On the A85 just to the east of St Fillans lies the St Fillans Dragon and the St Fillans Toad.

 

The Highlands is a historical region of Scotland. Culturally, the Highlands and the Lowlands diverged from the Late Middle Ages into the modern period, when Lowland Scots language replaced Scottish Gaelic throughout most of the Lowlands. The term is also used for the area north and west of the Highland Boundary Fault, although the exact boundaries are not clearly defined, particularly to the east. The Great Glen divides the Grampian Mountains to the southeast from the Northwest Highlands. The Scottish Gaelic name of A' Ghàidhealtachd literally means "the place of the Gaels" and traditionally, from a Gaelic-speaking point of view, includes both the Western Isles and the Highlands.

 

The area is very sparsely populated, with many mountain ranges dominating the region, and includes the highest mountain in the British Isles, Ben Nevis. During the 18th and early 19th centuries the population of the Highlands rose to around 300,000, but from c. 1841 and for the next 160 years, the natural increase in population was exceeded by emigration (mostly to Canada, the United States, Australia and New Zealand, and migration to the industrial cities of Scotland and England.) and passim  The area is now one of the most sparsely populated in Europe. At 9.1/km2 (24/sq mi) in 2012, the population density in the Highlands and Islands is less than one seventh of Scotland's as a whole.

 

The Highland Council is the administrative body for much of the Highlands, with its administrative centre at Inverness. However, the Highlands also includes parts of the council areas of Aberdeenshire, Angus, Argyll and Bute, Moray, North Ayrshire, Perth and Kinross, Stirling and West Dunbartonshire.

 

The Scottish Highlands is the only area in the British Isles to have the taiga biome as it features concentrated populations of Scots pine forest: see Caledonian Forest. It is the most mountainous part of the United Kingdom.

 

Between the 15th century and the mid-20th century, the area differed from most of the Lowlands in terms of language. In Scottish Gaelic, the region is known as the Gàidhealtachd, because it was traditionally the Gaelic-speaking part of Scotland, although the language is now largely confined to The Hebrides. The terms are sometimes used interchangeably but have different meanings in their respective languages. Scottish English (in its Highland form) is the predominant language of the area today, though Highland English has been influenced by Gaelic speech to a significant extent. Historically, the "Highland line" distinguished the two Scottish cultures. While the Highland line broadly followed the geography of the Grampians in the south, it continued in the north, cutting off the north-eastern areas, that is Eastern Caithness, Orkney and Shetland, from the more Gaelic Highlands and Hebrides.

 

Historically, the major social unit of the Highlands was the clan. Scottish kings, particularly James VI, saw clans as a challenge to their authority; the Highlands was seen by many as a lawless region. The Scots of the Lowlands viewed the Highlanders as backward and more "Irish". The Highlands were seen as the overspill of Gaelic Ireland. They made this distinction by separating Germanic "Scots" English and the Gaelic by renaming it "Erse" a play on Eire. Following the Union of the Crowns, James VI had the military strength to back up any attempts to impose some control. The result was, in 1609, the Statutes of Iona which started the process of integrating clan leaders into Scottish society. The gradual changes continued into the 19th century, as clan chiefs thought of themselves less as patriarchal leaders of their people and more as commercial landlords. The first effect on the clansmen who were their tenants was the change to rents being payable in money rather than in kind. Later, rents were increased as Highland landowners sought to increase their income. This was followed, mostly in the period 1760–1850, by agricultural improvement that often (particularly in the Western Highlands) involved clearance of the population to make way for large scale sheep farms. Displaced tenants were set up in crofting communities in the process. The crofts were intended not to provide all the needs of their occupiers; they were expected to work in other industries such as kelping and fishing. Crofters came to rely substantially on seasonal migrant work, particularly in the Lowlands. This gave impetus to the learning of English, which was seen by many rural Gaelic speakers to be the essential "language of work".

 

Older historiography attributes the collapse of the clan system to the aftermath of the Jacobite risings. This is now thought less influential by historians. Following the Jacobite rising of 1745 the British government enacted a series of laws to try to suppress the clan system, including bans on the bearing of arms and the wearing of tartan, and limitations on the activities of the Scottish Episcopal Church. Most of this legislation was repealed by the end of the 18th century as the Jacobite threat subsided. There was soon a rehabilitation of Highland culture. Tartan was adopted for Highland regiments in the British Army, which poor Highlanders joined in large numbers in the era of the Revolutionary and Napoleonic Wars (1790–1815). Tartan had largely been abandoned by the ordinary people of the region, but in the 1820s, tartan and the kilt were adopted by members of the social elite, not just in Scotland, but across Europe. The international craze for tartan, and for idealising a romanticised Highlands, was set off by the Ossian cycle, and further popularised by the works of Walter Scott. His "staging" of the visit of King George IV to Scotland in 1822 and the king's wearing of tartan resulted in a massive upsurge in demand for kilts and tartans that could not be met by the Scottish woollen industry. Individual clan tartans were largely designated in this period and they became a major symbol of Scottish identity. This "Highlandism", by which all of Scotland was identified with the culture of the Highlands, was cemented by Queen Victoria's interest in the country, her adoption of Balmoral as a major royal retreat, and her interest in "tartenry".

 

Recurrent famine affected the Highlands for much of its history, with significant instances as late as 1817 in the Eastern Highlands and the early 1850s in the West.  Over the 18th century, the region had developed a trade of black cattle into Lowland markets, and this was balanced by imports of meal into the area. There was a critical reliance on this trade to provide sufficient food, and it is seen as an essential prerequisite for the population growth that started in the 18th century. Most of the Highlands, particularly in the North and West was short of the arable land that was essential for the mixed, run rig based, communal farming that existed before agricultural improvement was introduced into the region.[a] Between the 1760s and the 1830s there was a substantial trade in unlicensed whisky that had been distilled in the Highlands. Lowland distillers (who were not able to avoid the heavy taxation of this product) complained that Highland whisky made up more than half the market. The development of the cattle trade is taken as evidence that the pre-improvement Highlands was not an immutable system, but did exploit the economic opportunities that came its way.  The illicit whisky trade demonstrates the entrepreneurial ability of the peasant classes. 

 

Agricultural improvement reached the Highlands mostly over the period 1760 to 1850. Agricultural advisors, factors, land surveyors and others educated in the thinking of Adam Smith were keen to put into practice the new ideas taught in Scottish universities.  Highland landowners, many of whom were burdened with chronic debts, were generally receptive to the advice they offered and keen to increase the income from their land.  In the East and South the resulting change was similar to that in the Lowlands, with the creation of larger farms with single tenants, enclosure of the old run rig fields, introduction of new crops (such as turnips), land drainage and, as a consequence of all this, eviction, as part of the Highland clearances, of many tenants and cottars. Some of those cleared found employment on the new, larger farms, others moved to the accessible towns of the Lowlands.

 

In the West and North, evicted tenants were usually given tenancies in newly created crofting communities, while their former holdings were converted into large sheep farms. Sheep farmers could pay substantially higher rents than the run rig farmers and were much less prone to falling into arrears. Each croft was limited in size so that the tenants would have to find work elsewhere. The major alternatives were fishing and the kelp industry. Landlords took control of the kelp shores, deducting the wages earned by their tenants from the rent due and retaining the large profits that could be earned at the high prices paid for the processed product during the Napoleonic wars.

 

When the Napoleonic wars finished in 1815, the Highland industries were affected by the return to a peacetime economy. The price of black cattle fell, nearly halving between 1810 and the 1830s. Kelp prices had peaked in 1810, but reduced from £9 a ton in 1823 to £3 13s 4d a ton in 1828. Wool prices were also badly affected.  This worsened the financial problems of debt-encumbered landlords. Then, in 1846, potato blight arrived in the Highlands, wiping out the essential subsistence crop for the overcrowded crofting communities. As the famine struck, the government made clear to landlords that it was their responsibility to provide famine relief for their tenants. The result of the economic downturn had been that a large proportion of Highland estates were sold in the first half of the 19th century. T M Devine points out that in the region most affected by the potato famine, by 1846, 70 per cent of the landowners were new purchasers who had not owned Highland property before 1800. More landlords were obliged to sell due to the cost of famine relief. Those who were protected from the worst of the crisis were those with extensive rental income from sheep farms.  Government loans were made available for drainage works, road building and other improvements and many crofters became temporary migrants – taking work in the Lowlands. When the potato famine ceased in 1856, this established a pattern of more extensive working away from the Highlands.

 

The unequal concentration of land ownership remained an emotional and controversial subject, of enormous importance to the Highland economy, and eventually became a cornerstone of liberal radicalism. The poor crofters were politically powerless, and many of them turned to religion. They embraced the popularly oriented, fervently evangelical Presbyterian revival after 1800. Most joined the breakaway "Free Church" after 1843. This evangelical movement was led by lay preachers who themselves came from the lower strata, and whose preaching was implicitly critical of the established order. The religious change energised the crofters and separated them from the landlords; it helped prepare them for their successful and violent challenge to the landlords in the 1880s through the Highland Land League. Violence erupted, starting on the Isle of Skye, when Highland landlords cleared their lands for sheep and deer parks. It was quietened when the government stepped in, passing the Crofters' Holdings (Scotland) Act, 1886 to reduce rents, guarantee fixity of tenure, and break up large estates to provide crofts for the homeless. This contrasted with the Irish Land War underway at the same time, where the Irish were intensely politicised through roots in Irish nationalism, while political dimensions were limited. In 1885 three Independent Crofter candidates were elected to Parliament, which listened to their pleas. The results included explicit security for the Scottish smallholders in the "crofting counties"; the legal right to bequeath tenancies to descendants; and the creation of a Crofting Commission. The Crofters as a political movement faded away by 1892, and the Liberal Party gained their votes.

 

Today, the Highlands are the largest of Scotland's whisky producing regions; the relevant area runs from Orkney to the Isle of Arran in the south and includes the northern isles and much of Inner and Outer Hebrides, Argyll, Stirlingshire, Arran, as well as sections of Perthshire and Aberdeenshire. (Other sources treat The Islands, except Islay, as a separate whisky producing region.) This massive area has over 30 distilleries, or 47 when the Islands sub-region is included in the count. According to one source, the top five are The Macallan, Glenfiddich, Aberlour, Glenfarclas and Balvenie. While Speyside is geographically within the Highlands, that region is specified as distinct in terms of whisky productions. Speyside single malt whiskies are produced by about 50 distilleries.

 

According to Visit Scotland, Highlands whisky is "fruity, sweet, spicy, malty". Another review states that Northern Highlands single malt is "sweet and full-bodied", the Eastern Highlands and Southern Highlands whiskies tend to be "lighter in texture" while the distilleries in the Western Highlands produce single malts with a "much peatier influence".

 

The Scottish Reformation achieved partial success in the Highlands. Roman Catholicism remained strong in some areas, owing to remote locations and the efforts of Franciscan missionaries from Ireland, who regularly came to celebrate Mass. There remain significant Catholic strongholds within the Highlands and Islands such as Moidart and Morar on the mainland and South Uist and Barra in the southern Outer Hebrides. The remoteness of the region and the lack of a Gaelic-speaking clergy undermined the missionary efforts of the established church. The later 18th century saw somewhat greater success, owing to the efforts of the SSPCK missionaries and to the disruption of traditional society after the Battle of Culloden in 1746. In the 19th century, the evangelical Free Churches, which were more accepting of Gaelic language and culture, grew rapidly, appealing much more strongly than did the established church.

 

For the most part, however, the Highlands are considered predominantly Protestant, belonging to the Church of Scotland. In contrast to the Catholic southern islands, the northern Outer Hebrides islands (Lewis, Harris and North Uist) have an exceptionally high proportion of their population belonging to the Protestant Free Church of Scotland or the Free Presbyterian Church of Scotland. The Outer Hebrides have been described as the last bastion of Calvinism in Britain and the Sabbath remains widely observed. Inverness and the surrounding area has a majority Protestant population, with most locals belonging to either The Kirk or the Free Church of Scotland. The church maintains a noticeable presence within the area, with church attendance notably higher than in other parts of Scotland. Religion continues to play an important role in Highland culture, with Sabbath observance still widely practised, particularly in the Hebrides.

 

In traditional Scottish geography, the Highlands refers to that part of Scotland north-west of the Highland Boundary Fault, which crosses mainland Scotland in a near-straight line from Helensburgh to Stonehaven. However the flat coastal lands that occupy parts of the counties of Nairnshire, Morayshire, Banffshire and Aberdeenshire are often excluded as they do not share the distinctive geographical and cultural features of the rest of the Highlands. The north-east of Caithness, as well as Orkney and Shetland, are also often excluded from the Highlands, although the Hebrides are usually included. The Highland area, as so defined, differed from the Lowlands in language and tradition, having preserved Gaelic speech and customs centuries after the anglicisation of the latter; this led to a growing perception of a divide, with the cultural distinction between Highlander and Lowlander first noted towards the end of the 14th century. In Aberdeenshire, the boundary between the Highlands and the Lowlands is not well defined. There is a stone beside the A93 road near the village of Dinnet on Royal Deeside which states 'You are now in the Highlands', although there are areas of Highland character to the east of this point.

 

A much wider definition of the Highlands is that used by the Scotch whisky industry. Highland single malts are produced at distilleries north of an imaginary line between Dundee and Greenock, thus including all of Aberdeenshire and Angus.

 

Inverness is regarded as the Capital of the Highlands, although less so in the Highland parts of Aberdeenshire, Angus, Perthshire and Stirlingshire which look more to Aberdeen, Dundee, Perth, and Stirling as their commercial centres.

 

The Highland Council area, created as one of the local government regions of Scotland, has been a unitary council area since 1996. The council area excludes a large area of the southern and eastern Highlands, and the Western Isles, but includes Caithness. Highlands is sometimes used, however, as a name for the council area, as in the former Highlands and Islands Fire and Rescue Service. Northern is also used to refer to the area, as in the former Northern Constabulary. These former bodies both covered the Highland council area and the island council areas of Orkney, Shetland and the Western Isles.

 

Much of the Highlands area overlaps the Highlands and Islands area. An electoral region called Highlands and Islands is used in elections to the Scottish Parliament: this area includes Orkney and Shetland, as well as the Highland Council local government area, the Western Isles and most of the Argyll and Bute and Moray local government areas. Highlands and Islands has, however, different meanings in different contexts. It means Highland (the local government area), Orkney, Shetland, and the Western Isles in Highlands and Islands Fire and Rescue Service. Northern, as in Northern Constabulary, refers to the same area as that covered by the fire and rescue service.

 

There have been trackways from the Lowlands to the Highlands since prehistoric times. Many traverse the Mounth, a spur of mountainous land that extends from the higher inland range to the North Sea slightly north of Stonehaven. The most well-known and historically important trackways are the Causey Mounth, Elsick Mounth, Cryne Corse Mounth and Cairnamounth.

 

Although most of the Highlands is geographically on the British mainland, it is somewhat less accessible than the rest of Britain; thus most UK couriers categorise it separately, alongside Northern Ireland, the Isle of Man, and other offshore islands. They thus charge additional fees for delivery to the Highlands, or exclude the area entirely. While the physical remoteness from the largest population centres inevitably leads to higher transit cost, there is confusion and consternation over the scale of the fees charged and the effectiveness of their communication, and the use of the word Mainland in their justification. Since the charges are often based on postcode areas, many far less remote areas, including some which are traditionally considered part of the lowlands, are also subject to these charges. Royal Mail is the only delivery network bound by a Universal Service Obligation to charge a uniform tariff across the UK. This, however, applies only to mail items and not larger packages which are dealt with by its Parcelforce division.

 

The Highlands lie to the north and west of the Highland Boundary Fault, which runs from Arran to Stonehaven. This part of Scotland is largely composed of ancient rocks from the Cambrian and Precambrian periods which were uplifted during the later Caledonian Orogeny. Smaller formations of Lewisian gneiss in the northwest are up to 3 billion years old. The overlying rocks of the Torridon Sandstone form mountains in the Torridon Hills such as Liathach and Beinn Eighe in Wester Ross.

 

These foundations are interspersed with many igneous intrusions of a more recent age, the remnants of which have formed mountain massifs such as the Cairngorms and the Cuillin of Skye. A significant exception to the above are the fossil-bearing beds of Old Red Sandstone found principally along the Moray Firth coast and partially down the Highland Boundary Fault. The Jurassic beds found in isolated locations on Skye and Applecross reflect the complex underlying geology. They are the original source of much North Sea oil. The Great Glen is formed along a transform fault which divides the Grampian Mountains to the southeast from the Northwest Highlands.

 

The entire region was covered by ice sheets during the Pleistocene ice ages, save perhaps for a few nunataks. The complex geomorphology includes incised valleys and lochs carved by the action of mountain streams and ice, and a topography of irregularly distributed mountains whose summits have similar heights above sea-level, but whose bases depend upon the amount of denudation to which the plateau has been subjected in various places.

Climate

 

The region is much warmer than other areas at similar latitudes (such as Kamchatka in Russia, or Labrador in Canada) because of the Gulf Stream making it cool, damp and temperate. The Köppen climate classification is "Cfb" at low altitudes, then becoming "Cfc", "Dfc" and "ET" at higher altitudes.

 

Places of interest

An Teallach

Aonach Mòr (Nevis Range ski centre)

Arrochar Alps

Balmoral Castle

Balquhidder

Battlefield of Culloden

Beinn Alligin

Beinn Eighe

Ben Cruachan hydro-electric power station

Ben Lomond

Ben Macdui (second highest mountain in Scotland and UK)

Ben Nevis (highest mountain in Scotland and UK)

Cairngorms National Park

Cairngorm Ski centre near Aviemore

Cairngorm Mountains

Caledonian Canal

Cape Wrath

Carrick Castle

Castle Stalker

Castle Tioram

Chanonry Point

Conic Hill

Culloden Moor

Dunadd

Duart Castle

Durness

Eilean Donan

Fingal's Cave (Staffa)

Fort George

Glen Coe

Glen Etive

Glen Kinglas

Glen Lyon

Glen Orchy

Glenshee Ski Centre

Glen Shiel

Glen Spean

Glenfinnan (and its railway station and viaduct)

Grampian Mountains

Hebrides

Highland Folk Museum – The first open-air museum in the UK.

Highland Wildlife Park

Inveraray Castle

Inveraray Jail

Inverness Castle

Inverewe Garden

Iona Abbey

Isle of Staffa

Kilchurn Castle

Kilmartin Glen

Liathach

Lecht Ski Centre

Loch Alsh

Loch Ard

Loch Awe

Loch Assynt

Loch Earn

Loch Etive

Loch Fyne

Loch Goil

Loch Katrine

Loch Leven

Loch Linnhe

Loch Lochy

Loch Lomond

Loch Lomond and the Trossachs National Park

Loch Lubnaig

Loch Maree

Loch Morar

Loch Morlich

Loch Ness

Loch Nevis

Loch Rannoch

Loch Tay

Lochranza

Luss

Meall a' Bhuiridh (Glencoe Ski Centre)

Scottish Sea Life Sanctuary at Loch Creran

Rannoch Moor

Red Cuillin

Rest and Be Thankful stretch of A83

River Carron, Wester Ross

River Spey

River Tay

Ross and Cromarty

Smoo Cave

Stob Coire a' Chàirn

Stac Polly

Strathspey Railway

Sutherland

Tor Castle

Torridon Hills

Urquhart Castle

West Highland Line (scenic railway)

West Highland Way (Long-distance footpath)

Wester Ross

So alert but so hungry that he or she waited for me to finish taking my shots and then began eating! A treat for me too.

 

The official state bird of Florida is oddly enough, the northern mockingbird. It has extraordinary vocal abilities and can sing up to 200 songs, including the songs of other birds, insect and amphibian sounds, even an occasional mechanical noise. The northern mockingbird is also the state bird of Texas, Arkansas, Tennessee and Mississippi.

 

Mockingbirds are a group of New World passerine birds from the Mimidae family. They are best known for the habit of some species mimicking the songs of other birds and the sounds of insects and amphibians, often loudly and in rapid succession. There are about 17 species in three genera. These do not appear to form a monophyletic lineage: Mimus and Nesomimus are quite closely related; their closest living relatives appear to be some thrashers, such as the Sage Thrasher. Melanotis is more distinct and seems to represent a very ancient basal lineage of Mimidae.

 

When the survey voyage of HMS Beagle visited the Galápagos Islands in September to October 1835, the naturalist Charles Darwin noticed that the mockingbirds Mimus thenca differed from island to island, and were closely allied in appearance to mockingbirds on the South American mainland. Nearly a year later when writing up his notes on the return voyage he speculated that this, together with what he had been told about Galápagos tortoises, could undermine the doctrine of stability of species. This was his first recorded expression of his doubts about species being immutable which led to him being convinced about the transmutation of species and hence evolution.

 

Beautyberries have ripened to a glorious rich purple. Waiting for birds to feast on them in the days to come. Tart. Delicious albeit to animals or the few humans who cook them into jam. This gorgeous shrub has clusters of glorious magenta berries at regular intervals along the stem. For weeks now, I have been watching the gradual transition from clusters of tiny pink and white flowers to tiny green round dots, to full-sized green berries. And now to a beautiful magenta!

 

The berries provide important winter food for wildlife. Wild turkeys, bluebirds, robins, yellow bellied sapsuckers, myrtle warblers, cardinals, catbirds, mockingbirds, brown thrashers, quail, towhees and other birds rely on the berries as an energy source. Mockingbirds may establish, and protect, a territory around specific plants. The berries also nourish raccoons and gray squirrels during lean winter months.

 

The roots and leaves were used medicinally by American Indians to make a tea for use in sweat baths to treat fever, rheumatism, and malaria. Root tea was also used for treating dysentery and colic.

 

Beautyberry, Callicarpa, Lamiaceae

For more see my set, Luscious Leaves, Fruits and Seeds and Exotic fruits and spices.

 

Biscayne Park FL

www.susanfordcollins.com

 

Ayurveda, the oldest extant definer of the principles of health for entire forms of life, had a brilliant, almost divine beginniing. Even the very particles of the universe have been teachers for the one critically inspired to know. The portals of truth have been thrown open before the sincere and accomplished votary of knowledge possessed of the intellects 'pregnant with truth'. The seers had direct realization of biomedical sciences by meditating on the immutable aspects of creation. It is as though at the feet of the actinic brilliance of Savita-the generator of life (sun); of the bases of creation demostrably realized in the forms of the creator (Brahma), the preserver (Visnu) and the annihilator (Siva) of the meaningful imagery of the new Babe (Kartikeya) mothered by six fires and the virtuous power of the whole and undivided divinity of the Word (Saraswati) could the Esis, the seers of truth, about the imperishable foundation of Ayerveda.

Ellipsis Welcome - portal.theellipsis.exchange/welcome/?afmc=SNiB98ONX5lf0cR... Blockchain Ecosystem = BE

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WHY CHOOSE CROWDPOINT

CrowdPoint has a singular purpose: Defend and deliver dividends to you, the Human Identity. Since the beginning of time Humans have driven commerce, it started as bartering, advanced to precious metals, paper scripts and tender and now it is digital. While the Human Identity has been exploited since the beginning of time, the scale in which it is happening today is unfathomable to the average person. At CrowdPoint, we are doing the right thing, we are a trusted agent in an untrusted world working as silent professionals for you.

HOW IS CROWDPOINT DIFFERENT FROM OTHER BLOCKCHAIN TECHNOLOGIES

We built our own. We understand the importance of commerce. That is why CrowdPoint is helping to move beyond the purely speculative aspects of using Cryptography. CrowdPoint leverages the power of the Crowd to compress time to the point of efficiency. CrowdPoint provides Wall Street-like capabilities using Main Street practicality enabling our customers to leapfrog beyond large slow-moving enterprise organizations. Our first goal is to free the Human identity from its current online shackles to return value back to where global eCommerce originates: YOU. Our Digital Platforms, when combined with Big Data continuous lead generation, create an interconnected Blockchain Ecosystem where the Consumer always wins.

WHY OUR CLIENTS CHOOSE US?

CrowdPoint’s Blockchain enables our partners more efficient access to continuous Ideal Customer Profiles. Additionally our sharing economy A.I. models ensure all members in our Blockchain Ecosystem enjoy lower cost of entry. We also follow a theory of constraints approach to optimizing the supply chain constraints. Together, CrowdPoint's Big Data Powers our Customer's eCommerce initiative providing continuous leads. Those leads convert and new customers are onboarded into the Blockchain as Decentralized IDs and their buying decisions are stored as Non Fungible Tokens (NFTs). CrowdPoint is changing the Blockchain Cryptography discussion by driving business optimization and delivering a more effective eCommerce with less volatility.

Decentralized

No Central Authority

Members don't have to put trust in a central authority. • No single point of failure. • Less censorship

Transparency

Safeguards Truth

Stored information cannot be altered without recording the changes made.

Immutability

Unchangeable Simplicity

Efficient irreversible ledger for ground truth. All transactions are stored forever.

 

Blockchain Ecosystem = BE

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#BlockchainEcosystem #Energy #Materials #Industrials #ConsumerDiscretionary #ConsumerStaples #Healthcare #Financials #InfomationTechnology #CommunicationServices #Utilities #RealEstate #SeanBrehm #MarleneBrehm #ValindaLWood

 

Moses, from whose loins I sprung,

Lit by a lamp in his blood

Ten immutable rules, a moon

For mutable lampless men.

 

The blonde, the bronze, the ruddy,

With the same heaving blood,

Keep tide to the moon of Moses.

Then why do they sneer at me?

from www.thethinkingtraveller.com/

 

Puglia is famous for many things: trulli, orecchiette pasta, glorious sandy beaches and the pizzica to name a few, but nothing is quite as Puglia-defining as the >60 million olive trees that carpet the region, from the north to the south.

 

The sheer number of trees is amazing, but so, in many cases, are their size and age. Called ulivi secolari (literally centuries-old olive trees), you will come across large numbers of ancient trees with knotted, gnarled, robust trunks that have been twisted into grotesque shapes by a mix of time, wind, sun and man’s hand. They give an impression of wizened sagacity, seen-it-all tiredness and a patient acceptance of the immutability of time.

" At the very end of all things, like in the first beginning, No one knows

Everything is about to be written.

 

So, slowly, the vail of illusion fades out.

 

Thoughts and memories mix up, an immutable dance of time, space, shadow and light, and in the core of vacuity, the invisible world rebirth.

 

The world that never was. "

   

Teaser for a short movie I'm working on for months now on my personal free time.

Still a lot of work to do...

Hope to release a Final cut on the fall 2011

 

After so many hours working on it, just sharing some of the shots ! Hope you will like the mood of the "invisible"

 

Adobe After Effects CS5

Particular 2.1

RG Colorista II

5D Mark II

The priceless support from Somepling

Ten thousand cups of Coffee

 

EDIT __11/27/2011__:

 

The LandEscape Project should have been online via vimeo on 11/11/2011... But unfortunately I'm unable to keep this date as a release for the final cut.

I'm really sorry and disapointed too but the last three months have been very very complicated to manage with big changes in my life.

 

I'm still working on the project (and on other stuff) & three new screenshots have been added to my flickr gallery.

 

Once again I'm really sorry to be unable to keep my schedule. Life is tricky sometimes...

 

Thanks to all of you for your positives comments and supports. I'm going back to work now...

 

Bests

 

J.H.K 11/2011

 

Watch this video on Vimeo. Video created by John H. King.

5/1/11 cblog "I BELIEVE !" (SO DO I) MESSAGE BY SHEILA SCHULLER,CRYSTAL CATHEDRAL, 11a...[if this message gets cut off, go to cblogs.posterous.com/5111-i-believe-message-by-sheila-sch... ]

[sheila schuller, after chilean miner interview] .

m: " ..best life possible ..series..believe in the god who believes in u..ten commandment message..dusting off...haven't been taught in a while..I was a teenager when dad preached on these..did it sound exciting ? Actually, it became a positive, "Thou shall, thou can..." rather than the negative, so I heard..& thought maybe if I follow..maybe god gave..maybe to spare me from heartache, from pain from hurting self or others, that's how I heard the 10 comm as a teen. And have lived my life accordingly to the best of my ability..has my life been perfect..no, anybody can google my name and see not perfect , but. ..as close as what I remember as a teen being taught by my father, first, developing positive rship..as dad says vertical with God..l,,first four commandments..then the rest are horizontal..rshp with others..forms a cross..the ten comms were very imp to god.. ..one recurring theme of god..obey my comms ..obey & be blessed, ignore & problems [not always, sometimes persecution comes from obeying god, that's a jewish fallacy] ..have no other gods before me..don't compete, no other gods, ...if u do that, no matter what happens, can live best life pssble, god wants to be #1 in your life, ...who is ths god ? So many books, theol tomes, ..not all agree, well let's look at the word, God wants to be in a loving intim rshp with u, he loves u, here is god with moses,,..bush that is burning but not burning,,that's right..fire in middle of bush, but not being consumed, that got moses attention, wouldn't it get yours ? I'm here. Wow..god will do things to get your attention, it was obviously god's nly god, moses knew it was god, god spoke thru the bush, this is what he said "I am the god of abraham isaac jacob,..hav heard the cry of my people..." god acknwldges..god wants to lead moses out, lead us out of bondage, moses says "who me ?" Do I stutter ? Not qualifed,,u got the wrong guy, many feel inadeq unworthy, but god blvd in moses, & god created u for divine purposes as well, moses said believe in me,,will lead..who will I say u r, moses asks, here's what god says, "I am, who I am" that's who god is, that is..I am, god is I am, that simple, look at those words "I am" what they mean, God is self-existing, nobody created god, he created everything else, beware of distinction btw creator & created, u & me the created, we r not the creator, anythng we create is created from something god created..god, the great "I am" tempting to worship created v creator.."I am" ..immutable, no permutations, same... was is will be...never ceased being loving being all powerful , ..he is always the same, never changes, always existed, will always exist, god is real, exists, alive, he loves u, loves his creation, has a plan for u , just as he did for moses, like to say "have no other gods bf me"..re-phrase "believe in the god who believes in u"..this god did rescue..there back on mt sinai, why did god do ten plagues, not one ? I learned they were necc to demonstrate god's power, all these plagues, sppsdly protected by their frog god, fly god, etc, but here come the plagues, they discover god is real true and only powerful god, god delivers from plagues, from red sea, yet even when they see all this, when moses goes up to top of mt sinai, comes back down they had built a golden calf, false gods kept creeping back in, god said don't have any other gods but me, god knew those gods couldn't help them..god knew they were being misled, today, constantly self-examining,..golden calf in your life..one calf I have is "success"..important, but don't let it become a god in your life,,another calf I have to tip is "pleasing others"..I love to please others but did I please god, ..maybe for u it is intelligence, beauty, acquisitions,, tip it over, how..if false god, how can this mislead me,, if I want to be successful, make choices,..maybe have fulfilled god's plan for my life..if haven't pleased god, haven't fulflled god's plan for my life..god wants your life to be full, but starts w making him first & foremost, god believes in u even when u don't believe in him...he loves u, he created u....sometimes circumstances...but but..how can he love me..is god there, does god care, close with story from my dad re daniel foley (?) .belief not just a feeling, ..its a choice..to believe even when there's no reason to believe..have had to do it from time to time..daniel foley ? Poley ? His son became chaplain in ww2..navy, ship lost,,son died,, when poley received news his son was lost he cried to god.."why god, how could u let this happen?" This christian leader's faith was rocked...he made a choice..with no feeling, but he said it..."I believe, I believe, I believe...in god"...still didn't feel anything, but made the declaration,...next day again..day after day..didn't feel it..but finally after many times the spark returned..believe that god loves me..can u make that declaration today ? Maybe u don't feel it ? Just say..I believe ! I believe in god I believe god loves me!

  

Supreme Power

Franklin Roosevelt vs. the Supreme Court

April 14, 2010, 12:00pm – 1:00pm

 

To watch the event, click here: www.americanprogress.org//events/2010/04/supreme.html

 

Scholars are asking the same questions about the role of the Supreme Court today as they were back in President Franklin D. Roosevelt’s time when he tried to expand the Supreme Court and stack it with his supporters: “Was it the judge’s role to essentially pass on the wisdom of economic legislation? Or was it the judges’ role to essentially … let Congress do what it felt needed to be done to advance the general welfare?” Author Jeff Shesol posed these questions at a CAP event last Wednesday about his new book Supreme Power: Franklin Roosevelt vs. The Supreme Court. Shesol was joined by Dahlia Lithwick, senior editor at Slate, on a panel moderated by John Halpin, Senior Fellow at CAP.

 

Halpin summarized the book as a three-act drama of the stability of democracy itself. “One is a decades-long ideological battle between competing world views about government, the economy, and the Constitution,” he said, “the second is how this ideological battle plays out politically in relation to the Court in the 1930s. And then there’s the third act that’s a little more implied, which is what’s the long-term legacy of this battle, both ideologically and politically for the New Deal and for…debates about the Court and jurisprudence throughout the 20th century,” Halpin explained.

 

The Supreme Court shot down each item on President Roosevelt’s New Deal agenda beginning in 1935. The impoverished social and economic situation meant that violent revolution was a real threat in the United States by late 1936 and early 1937. President Roosevelt was looking for a solution that was “constitutional, and that was quick and that would be effective,” Shesol said. Nowhere in the Constitution does it mandate the number of seats on the Supreme Court, so President Roosevelt decided to expand the Court to 15 judges and pack it with liberals. His plan failed, split the Democratic Party, and transformed the American constitutional landscape.

 

“When we think about the Court-packing plan we have an idea that the Court was way out of line. That it was striking down good, good laws,” Lithwick said. “No, these were well-intentioned laws, but…it’s not the case…they were horrified by the really very quick…one after another churning out legislation,” she explained.

 

But by 1936, “the Court has covered the constitutional landscape and has knocked down not only laws that were sloppily drafted, but laws that were exceedingly carefully drafted,” Shesol said. The Court decided with sweeping opinions to “pre-emptively overrule any such legislation in the future” so President Roosevelt came to believe that no matter how legislation was drafted, it was the justices themselves who would prevent the advance of anything he tried to do, Shesol added.

 

President Roosevelt thought the Constitution “was a very flexible instrument” and that the doctrines used to strike down the New Deal were obsolete, Shesol explained. Yet it’s evident in the conservative justices’ letters that they “believe [President] Roosevelt is centralizing power in his own hands” and both the Court and [President] Roosevelt viewed this constitutional argument as one about the survival of democracy and believed that a dictatorship would rise out of the ashes of failure, Shesol said.

 

The competing ideologies of constitutional formalism versus the notion of an elastic, living constitution have as much of an effect on legislative decisions today as they did in President Roosevelt’s day. Lithwick described the book as “manna from heaven” because of its timeliness in the current discussion of “jurisprudential theories and originalism” evolving around President Barack Obama’s decision to criticize the Supreme Court’s Citizens United ruling in his State of the Union address. “Eighty percent of the public hated the Citizens United decision,” she said. Clearly, the Court is “way out of whack” with public opinion.

 

Even today’s linguistic framework for conversations about the Supreme Court and presidential powers have not evolved much from the 1930s. Organic law and theories of evolution are still used to defend the living Constitution argument, versus constitutional formalism’s “language about how the constitution is set in stone, how it’s sort of oracular, and how it’s divine and this notion that the constitution is the secular Ten Commandments, it’s immutable, it doesn’t change,” Lithwick said.

 

There is a “perfect alignment between one’s economic views and one’s constitutional views in this way,” Shesol added. “If you believed that reform was essential…you tended to see the necessity to have the constitution … evolve with our understanding of contemporary realities. If you were pretty comfortable with the established order…you tended to be drawn to a kind of jurisprudence…that really had no room for these wild social experiments,” he said.

 

The prevailing Court model right now is to be an umpire with “the language of constraint” and do as little as possible so that you don’t appear to support more presidential power, Lithwick lamented. “We happen to be in a sort of trough right now in history where to talk about the idea that the Constitution seeks to protect minorities or seeks to protect the underprivileged is to look reckless,” she said. It has also become somewhat taboo to challenge the finite nature of the Constitution and insist that it’s a living document that should fit the times.

 

Conservatives have dominated the conversation on the Constitution for the last couple of decades, and we need to hear progressives assert their points of view, Shesol said. “What [President] Roosevelt understood and what he constantly reiterated is that this argument between these two notions of the Constitution goes back to the nation’s founding…and so [President] Roosevelt made this argument with a sense of supreme self-confidence that he was true to the intentions of the founders,” Shesol continued, “And we have somehow—on the progressive side—allowed the conservatives…to get away with the argument that the founders were universally in favor of smaller, weaker government, and state’s rights and so forth…and [President] Roosevelt didn’t believe that. I don’t imagine President Obama believes it either but it would be useful thing to hear him say forcefully.”

 

The two moments in time are very similar, but the key difference is that now we don’t have “a full-fledged coherent” progressive view of the Constitution, Lithwick said. This is a much more “one-sided view of the Constitution…but this is a moment where the president has decided to take on the Court” with Citizens United, she explained. Yet his argument against the decision has been a pragmatic one—that this decision can open up our elections to foreign interests—rather than a constitutional argument, despite the fact that he’s a constitutional professor.

 

“[President] Roosevelt was defending a whole set of policies that saved the country, that saved capitalism, created a modern social welfare system and renewed the concept of equal opportunity,” Halpin said. “Perhaps part of the problem today is that the issues outside of, say, the health bill, don’t seem as pressing.”

  

Featured Speakers:

Jeff Shesol, author, Supreme Power

Dahlia Lithwick, senior editor, Slate

 

Moderated by:

John Halpin, Senior Fellow, Center for American Progress

  

PHOTO CREDIT:

Ralph Alswang

Photographer

202-487-5025

ralph@ralphphoto.com

www.ralphphoto.com

Loch Assynt is a freshwater loch in Sutherland, Scotland, 8 kilometres (5.0 mi) north-east of Lochinver.

 

Situated in a spectacular setting between the heights of Canisp, Quinag, and Beinn Uidhe [cy], it receives the outflow from Lochs Awe, Loch Maol a' Choire [gd], and Loch Leitir Easaidh. It discharges into the sea at Loch Inver, via the river Inver. The general trend of the loch is west-northwest and east-southeast, while the western end bends sharply at Loch Assynt lodge to the southwest.

 

The loch is 9.65 kilometres (6 mi) long, and about 1.5 kilometres (1 mi) in maximum breadth. The total area is approximately 800 hectares (1,980 acres) and its drainage basin is over 111 square kilometres (43 sq mi). The total volume of the loch is approximately 250 million cubic metres (9 billion cubic feet) and the maximum depth is 86 metres (282 feet).

 

There is excellent fishing for trout, sea-trout, and salmon. Ardvreck Castle, once held by the MacLeods and Mackenzies, occupies a promontory on the north shore, west of Inchnadamph.

 

The elevation of the loch's surface above sea level varies with the levels of rainfall but has been measured as 65.55 metres (215.1 ft).

 

Whispered amongst the locals of Inchnadamph, the area surrounding the castle, legend tells of MacLeod's lost daughter, Eimhir, and her continued presence at Loch Assynt. Instead of jumping to her death, they believe Eimhir plunged into the caverns of the loch and, hiding from the devil to whom she was promised, made a new home beneath the water's surface, becoming the elusive 'mermaid of Assynt'.

 

The locals also use this legend to account for natural changes in the landscape. When the loch's water rise above their normal levels, legend tells that these are Eimhir's tears mourning her life lost on the land. Some even claim to have sighted her weeping on the rocks, her body now transformed into half woman, half sea creature. Some contest her form, instead calling her Selkie, the Nordic mythological figure of the sea, who must first shed tears into the water in order to become visible again to the human eye.

 

The legend also accounts for the geology of Inchnadamph. Clootie, infuriated by the broken promise of marriage summoned meteoric rocks from Chaos to obliterate Inchnadamph and MacLeod's kingdom. It is thought that this legend bears some relationship with the scientific findings that indicate north west Scotland was struck by an object from space around 1.2 billion years ago. Geologists from Aberdeen university described the event; "[a] massive impact would have melted rocks and thrown up an enormous cloud of vapour that scattered material over a large part of the region around Ullapool. The crater was rapidly buried by sandstone which helped to preserve the evidence."[6]

 

These legends are invoked to offer some mythical explanation for the unique geological and topographical character of Inchnadamph. Another version of the tale of the mermaid of Assynt relates to the creation of the Moine Thrust belt. Some believe Clootie's rage produced a tectonic rumbling from the earths core, resulting in the thrust westwards of the European plate, which is understood by geologists to account for the Moine Thrust belt.

 

The Highlands is a historical region of Scotland. Culturally, the Highlands and the Lowlands diverged from the Late Middle Ages into the modern period, when Lowland Scots language replaced Scottish Gaelic throughout most of the Lowlands. The term is also used for the area north and west of the Highland Boundary Fault, although the exact boundaries are not clearly defined, particularly to the east. The Great Glen divides the Grampian Mountains to the southeast from the Northwest Highlands. The Scottish Gaelic name of A' Ghàidhealtachd literally means "the place of the Gaels" and traditionally, from a Gaelic-speaking point of view, includes both the Western Isles and the Highlands.

 

The area is very sparsely populated, with many mountain ranges dominating the region, and includes the highest mountain in the British Isles, Ben Nevis. During the 18th and early 19th centuries the population of the Highlands rose to around 300,000, but from c. 1841 and for the next 160 years, the natural increase in population was exceeded by emigration (mostly to Canada, the United States, Australia and New Zealand, and migration to the industrial cities of Scotland and England.) and passim  The area is now one of the most sparsely populated in Europe. At 9.1/km2 (24/sq mi) in 2012, the population density in the Highlands and Islands is less than one seventh of Scotland's as a whole.

 

The Highland Council is the administrative body for much of the Highlands, with its administrative centre at Inverness. However, the Highlands also includes parts of the council areas of Aberdeenshire, Angus, Argyll and Bute, Moray, North Ayrshire, Perth and Kinross, Stirling and West Dunbartonshire.

 

The Scottish Highlands is the only area in the British Isles to have the taiga biome as it features concentrated populations of Scots pine forest: see Caledonian Forest. It is the most mountainous part of the United Kingdom.

 

Between the 15th century and the mid-20th century, the area differed from most of the Lowlands in terms of language. In Scottish Gaelic, the region is known as the Gàidhealtachd, because it was traditionally the Gaelic-speaking part of Scotland, although the language is now largely confined to The Hebrides. The terms are sometimes used interchangeably but have different meanings in their respective languages. Scottish English (in its Highland form) is the predominant language of the area today, though Highland English has been influenced by Gaelic speech to a significant extent. Historically, the "Highland line" distinguished the two Scottish cultures. While the Highland line broadly followed the geography of the Grampians in the south, it continued in the north, cutting off the north-eastern areas, that is Eastern Caithness, Orkney and Shetland, from the more Gaelic Highlands and Hebrides.

 

Historically, the major social unit of the Highlands was the clan. Scottish kings, particularly James VI, saw clans as a challenge to their authority; the Highlands was seen by many as a lawless region. The Scots of the Lowlands viewed the Highlanders as backward and more "Irish". The Highlands were seen as the overspill of Gaelic Ireland. They made this distinction by separating Germanic "Scots" English and the Gaelic by renaming it "Erse" a play on Eire. Following the Union of the Crowns, James VI had the military strength to back up any attempts to impose some control. The result was, in 1609, the Statutes of Iona which started the process of integrating clan leaders into Scottish society. The gradual changes continued into the 19th century, as clan chiefs thought of themselves less as patriarchal leaders of their people and more as commercial landlords. The first effect on the clansmen who were their tenants was the change to rents being payable in money rather than in kind. Later, rents were increased as Highland landowners sought to increase their income. This was followed, mostly in the period 1760–1850, by agricultural improvement that often (particularly in the Western Highlands) involved clearance of the population to make way for large scale sheep farms. Displaced tenants were set up in crofting communities in the process. The crofts were intended not to provide all the needs of their occupiers; they were expected to work in other industries such as kelping and fishing. Crofters came to rely substantially on seasonal migrant work, particularly in the Lowlands. This gave impetus to the learning of English, which was seen by many rural Gaelic speakers to be the essential "language of work".

 

Older historiography attributes the collapse of the clan system to the aftermath of the Jacobite risings. This is now thought less influential by historians. Following the Jacobite rising of 1745 the British government enacted a series of laws to try to suppress the clan system, including bans on the bearing of arms and the wearing of tartan, and limitations on the activities of the Scottish Episcopal Church. Most of this legislation was repealed by the end of the 18th century as the Jacobite threat subsided. There was soon a rehabilitation of Highland culture. Tartan was adopted for Highland regiments in the British Army, which poor Highlanders joined in large numbers in the era of the Revolutionary and Napoleonic Wars (1790–1815). Tartan had largely been abandoned by the ordinary people of the region, but in the 1820s, tartan and the kilt were adopted by members of the social elite, not just in Scotland, but across Europe. The international craze for tartan, and for idealising a romanticised Highlands, was set off by the Ossian cycle, and further popularised by the works of Walter Scott. His "staging" of the visit of King George IV to Scotland in 1822 and the king's wearing of tartan resulted in a massive upsurge in demand for kilts and tartans that could not be met by the Scottish woollen industry. Individual clan tartans were largely designated in this period and they became a major symbol of Scottish identity. This "Highlandism", by which all of Scotland was identified with the culture of the Highlands, was cemented by Queen Victoria's interest in the country, her adoption of Balmoral as a major royal retreat, and her interest in "tartenry".

 

Recurrent famine affected the Highlands for much of its history, with significant instances as late as 1817 in the Eastern Highlands and the early 1850s in the West.  Over the 18th century, the region had developed a trade of black cattle into Lowland markets, and this was balanced by imports of meal into the area. There was a critical reliance on this trade to provide sufficient food, and it is seen as an essential prerequisite for the population growth that started in the 18th century. Most of the Highlands, particularly in the North and West was short of the arable land that was essential for the mixed, run rig based, communal farming that existed before agricultural improvement was introduced into the region.[a] Between the 1760s and the 1830s there was a substantial trade in unlicensed whisky that had been distilled in the Highlands. Lowland distillers (who were not able to avoid the heavy taxation of this product) complained that Highland whisky made up more than half the market. The development of the cattle trade is taken as evidence that the pre-improvement Highlands was not an immutable system, but did exploit the economic opportunities that came its way.  The illicit whisky trade demonstrates the entrepreneurial ability of the peasant classes. 

 

Agricultural improvement reached the Highlands mostly over the period 1760 to 1850. Agricultural advisors, factors, land surveyors and others educated in the thinking of Adam Smith were keen to put into practice the new ideas taught in Scottish universities.  Highland landowners, many of whom were burdened with chronic debts, were generally receptive to the advice they offered and keen to increase the income from their land.  In the East and South the resulting change was similar to that in the Lowlands, with the creation of larger farms with single tenants, enclosure of the old run rig fields, introduction of new crops (such as turnips), land drainage and, as a consequence of all this, eviction, as part of the Highland clearances, of many tenants and cottars. Some of those cleared found employment on the new, larger farms, others moved to the accessible towns of the Lowlands.

 

In the West and North, evicted tenants were usually given tenancies in newly created crofting communities, while their former holdings were converted into large sheep farms. Sheep farmers could pay substantially higher rents than the run rig farmers and were much less prone to falling into arrears. Each croft was limited in size so that the tenants would have to find work elsewhere. The major alternatives were fishing and the kelp industry. Landlords took control of the kelp shores, deducting the wages earned by their tenants from the rent due and retaining the large profits that could be earned at the high prices paid for the processed product during the Napoleonic wars.

 

When the Napoleonic wars finished in 1815, the Highland industries were affected by the return to a peacetime economy. The price of black cattle fell, nearly halving between 1810 and the 1830s. Kelp prices had peaked in 1810, but reduced from £9 a ton in 1823 to £3 13s 4d a ton in 1828. Wool prices were also badly affected.  This worsened the financial problems of debt-encumbered landlords. Then, in 1846, potato blight arrived in the Highlands, wiping out the essential subsistence crop for the overcrowded crofting communities. As the famine struck, the government made clear to landlords that it was their responsibility to provide famine relief for their tenants. The result of the economic downturn had been that a large proportion of Highland estates were sold in the first half of the 19th century. T M Devine points out that in the region most affected by the potato famine, by 1846, 70 per cent of the landowners were new purchasers who had not owned Highland property before 1800. More landlords were obliged to sell due to the cost of famine relief. Those who were protected from the worst of the crisis were those with extensive rental income from sheep farms.  Government loans were made available for drainage works, road building and other improvements and many crofters became temporary migrants – taking work in the Lowlands. When the potato famine ceased in 1856, this established a pattern of more extensive working away from the Highlands.

 

The unequal concentration of land ownership remained an emotional and controversial subject, of enormous importance to the Highland economy, and eventually became a cornerstone of liberal radicalism. The poor crofters were politically powerless, and many of them turned to religion. They embraced the popularly oriented, fervently evangelical Presbyterian revival after 1800. Most joined the breakaway "Free Church" after 1843. This evangelical movement was led by lay preachers who themselves came from the lower strata, and whose preaching was implicitly critical of the established order. The religious change energised the crofters and separated them from the landlords; it helped prepare them for their successful and violent challenge to the landlords in the 1880s through the Highland Land League. Violence erupted, starting on the Isle of Skye, when Highland landlords cleared their lands for sheep and deer parks. It was quietened when the government stepped in, passing the Crofters' Holdings (Scotland) Act, 1886 to reduce rents, guarantee fixity of tenure, and break up large estates to provide crofts for the homeless. This contrasted with the Irish Land War underway at the same time, where the Irish were intensely politicised through roots in Irish nationalism, while political dimensions were limited. In 1885 three Independent Crofter candidates were elected to Parliament, which listened to their pleas. The results included explicit security for the Scottish smallholders in the "crofting counties"; the legal right to bequeath tenancies to descendants; and the creation of a Crofting Commission. The Crofters as a political movement faded away by 1892, and the Liberal Party gained their votes.

 

Today, the Highlands are the largest of Scotland's whisky producing regions; the relevant area runs from Orkney to the Isle of Arran in the south and includes the northern isles and much of Inner and Outer Hebrides, Argyll, Stirlingshire, Arran, as well as sections of Perthshire and Aberdeenshire. (Other sources treat The Islands, except Islay, as a separate whisky producing region.) This massive area has over 30 distilleries, or 47 when the Islands sub-region is included in the count. According to one source, the top five are The Macallan, Glenfiddich, Aberlour, Glenfarclas and Balvenie. While Speyside is geographically within the Highlands, that region is specified as distinct in terms of whisky productions. Speyside single malt whiskies are produced by about 50 distilleries.

 

According to Visit Scotland, Highlands whisky is "fruity, sweet, spicy, malty". Another review states that Northern Highlands single malt is "sweet and full-bodied", the Eastern Highlands and Southern Highlands whiskies tend to be "lighter in texture" while the distilleries in the Western Highlands produce single malts with a "much peatier influence".

 

The Scottish Reformation achieved partial success in the Highlands. Roman Catholicism remained strong in some areas, owing to remote locations and the efforts of Franciscan missionaries from Ireland, who regularly came to celebrate Mass. There remain significant Catholic strongholds within the Highlands and Islands such as Moidart and Morar on the mainland and South Uist and Barra in the southern Outer Hebrides. The remoteness of the region and the lack of a Gaelic-speaking clergy undermined the missionary efforts of the established church. The later 18th century saw somewhat greater success, owing to the efforts of the SSPCK missionaries and to the disruption of traditional society after the Battle of Culloden in 1746. In the 19th century, the evangelical Free Churches, which were more accepting of Gaelic language and culture, grew rapidly, appealing much more strongly than did the established church.

 

For the most part, however, the Highlands are considered predominantly Protestant, belonging to the Church of Scotland. In contrast to the Catholic southern islands, the northern Outer Hebrides islands (Lewis, Harris and North Uist) have an exceptionally high proportion of their population belonging to the Protestant Free Church of Scotland or the Free Presbyterian Church of Scotland. The Outer Hebrides have been described as the last bastion of Calvinism in Britain and the Sabbath remains widely observed. Inverness and the surrounding area has a majority Protestant population, with most locals belonging to either The Kirk or the Free Church of Scotland. The church maintains a noticeable presence within the area, with church attendance notably higher than in other parts of Scotland. Religion continues to play an important role in Highland culture, with Sabbath observance still widely practised, particularly in the Hebrides.

 

In traditional Scottish geography, the Highlands refers to that part of Scotland north-west of the Highland Boundary Fault, which crosses mainland Scotland in a near-straight line from Helensburgh to Stonehaven. However the flat coastal lands that occupy parts of the counties of Nairnshire, Morayshire, Banffshire and Aberdeenshire are often excluded as they do not share the distinctive geographical and cultural features of the rest of the Highlands. The north-east of Caithness, as well as Orkney and Shetland, are also often excluded from the Highlands, although the Hebrides are usually included. The Highland area, as so defined, differed from the Lowlands in language and tradition, having preserved Gaelic speech and customs centuries after the anglicisation of the latter; this led to a growing perception of a divide, with the cultural distinction between Highlander and Lowlander first noted towards the end of the 14th century. In Aberdeenshire, the boundary between the Highlands and the Lowlands is not well defined. There is a stone beside the A93 road near the village of Dinnet on Royal Deeside which states 'You are now in the Highlands', although there are areas of Highland character to the east of this point.

 

A much wider definition of the Highlands is that used by the Scotch whisky industry. Highland single malts are produced at distilleries north of an imaginary line between Dundee and Greenock, thus including all of Aberdeenshire and Angus.

 

Inverness is regarded as the Capital of the Highlands, although less so in the Highland parts of Aberdeenshire, Angus, Perthshire and Stirlingshire which look more to Aberdeen, Dundee, Perth, and Stirling as their commercial centres.

 

The Highland Council area, created as one of the local government regions of Scotland, has been a unitary council area since 1996. The council area excludes a large area of the southern and eastern Highlands, and the Western Isles, but includes Caithness. Highlands is sometimes used, however, as a name for the council area, as in the former Highlands and Islands Fire and Rescue Service. Northern is also used to refer to the area, as in the former Northern Constabulary. These former bodies both covered the Highland council area and the island council areas of Orkney, Shetland and the Western Isles.

 

Much of the Highlands area overlaps the Highlands and Islands area. An electoral region called Highlands and Islands is used in elections to the Scottish Parliament: this area includes Orkney and Shetland, as well as the Highland Council local government area, the Western Isles and most of the Argyll and Bute and Moray local government areas. Highlands and Islands has, however, different meanings in different contexts. It means Highland (the local government area), Orkney, Shetland, and the Western Isles in Highlands and Islands Fire and Rescue Service. Northern, as in Northern Constabulary, refers to the same area as that covered by the fire and rescue service.

 

There have been trackways from the Lowlands to the Highlands since prehistoric times. Many traverse the Mounth, a spur of mountainous land that extends from the higher inland range to the North Sea slightly north of Stonehaven. The most well-known and historically important trackways are the Causey Mounth, Elsick Mounth, Cryne Corse Mounth and Cairnamounth.

 

Although most of the Highlands is geographically on the British mainland, it is somewhat less accessible than the rest of Britain; thus most UK couriers categorise it separately, alongside Northern Ireland, the Isle of Man, and other offshore islands. They thus charge additional fees for delivery to the Highlands, or exclude the area entirely. While the physical remoteness from the largest population centres inevitably leads to higher transit cost, there is confusion and consternation over the scale of the fees charged and the effectiveness of their communication, and the use of the word Mainland in their justification. Since the charges are often based on postcode areas, many far less remote areas, including some which are traditionally considered part of the lowlands, are also subject to these charges. Royal Mail is the only delivery network bound by a Universal Service Obligation to charge a uniform tariff across the UK. This, however, applies only to mail items and not larger packages which are dealt with by its Parcelforce division.

 

The Highlands lie to the north and west of the Highland Boundary Fault, which runs from Arran to Stonehaven. This part of Scotland is largely composed of ancient rocks from the Cambrian and Precambrian periods which were uplifted during the later Caledonian Orogeny. Smaller formations of Lewisian gneiss in the northwest are up to 3 billion years old. The overlying rocks of the Torridon Sandstone form mountains in the Torridon Hills such as Liathach and Beinn Eighe in Wester Ross.

 

These foundations are interspersed with many igneous intrusions of a more recent age, the remnants of which have formed mountain massifs such as the Cairngorms and the Cuillin of Skye. A significant exception to the above are the fossil-bearing beds of Old Red Sandstone found principally along the Moray Firth coast and partially down the Highland Boundary Fault. The Jurassic beds found in isolated locations on Skye and Applecross reflect the complex underlying geology. They are the original source of much North Sea oil. The Great Glen is formed along a transform fault which divides the Grampian Mountains to the southeast from the Northwest Highlands.

 

The entire region was covered by ice sheets during the Pleistocene ice ages, save perhaps for a few nunataks. The complex geomorphology includes incised valleys and lochs carved by the action of mountain streams and ice, and a topography of irregularly distributed mountains whose summits have similar heights above sea-level, but whose bases depend upon the amount of denudation to which the plateau has been subjected in various places.

Climate

 

The region is much warmer than other areas at similar latitudes (such as Kamchatka in Russia, or Labrador in Canada) because of the Gulf Stream making it cool, damp and temperate. The Köppen climate classification is "Cfb" at low altitudes, then becoming "Cfc", "Dfc" and "ET" at higher altitudes.

 

Places of interest

An Teallach

Aonach Mòr (Nevis Range ski centre)

Arrochar Alps

Balmoral Castle

Balquhidder

Battlefield of Culloden

Beinn Alligin

Beinn Eighe

Ben Cruachan hydro-electric power station

Ben Lomond

Ben Macdui (second highest mountain in Scotland and UK)

Ben Nevis (highest mountain in Scotland and UK)

Cairngorms National Park

Cairngorm Ski centre near Aviemore

Cairngorm Mountains

Caledonian Canal

Cape Wrath

Carrick Castle

Castle Stalker

Castle Tioram

Chanonry Point

Conic Hill

Culloden Moor

Dunadd

Duart Castle

Durness

Eilean Donan

Fingal's Cave (Staffa)

Fort George

Glen Coe

Glen Etive

Glen Kinglas

Glen Lyon

Glen Orchy

Glenshee Ski Centre

Glen Shiel

Glen Spean

Glenfinnan (and its railway station and viaduct)

Grampian Mountains

Hebrides

Highland Folk Museum – The first open-air museum in the UK.

Highland Wildlife Park

Inveraray Castle

Inveraray Jail

Inverness Castle

Inverewe Garden

Iona Abbey

Isle of Staffa

Kilchurn Castle

Kilmartin Glen

Liathach

Lecht Ski Centre

Loch Alsh

Loch Ard

Loch Awe

Loch Assynt

Loch Earn

Loch Etive

Loch Fyne

Loch Goil

Loch Katrine

Loch Leven

Loch Linnhe

Loch Lochy

Loch Lomond

Loch Lomond and the Trossachs National Park

Loch Lubnaig

Loch Maree

Loch Morar

Loch Morlich

Loch Ness

Loch Nevis

Loch Rannoch

Loch Tay

Lochranza

Luss

Meall a' Bhuiridh (Glencoe Ski Centre)

Scottish Sea Life Sanctuary at Loch Creran

Rannoch Moor

Red Cuillin

Rest and Be Thankful stretch of A83

River Carron, Wester Ross

River Spey

River Tay

Ross and Cromarty

Smoo Cave

Stob Coire a' Chàirn

Stac Polly

Strathspey Railway

Sutherland

Tor Castle

Torridon Hills

Urquhart Castle

West Highland Line (scenic railway)

West Highland Way (Long-distance footpath)

Wester Ross

Ode To Wine

 

Day-colored wine,

night-colored wine,

wine with purple feet

or wine with topaz blood,

wine,

starry child

of earth,

wine, smooth

as a golden sword,

soft

as lascivious velvet,

wine, spiral-seashelled

and full of wonder,

amorous,

marine;

never has one goblet contained you,

one song, one man,

you are choral, gregarious,

at the least, you must be shared.

At times

you feed on mortal

memories;

your wave carries us

from tomb to tomb,

stonecutter of icy sepulchers,

and we weep

transitory tears;

your

glorious

spring dress

is different,

blood rises through the shoots,

wind incites the day,

nothing is left

of your immutable soul.

Wine

stirs the spring, happiness

bursts through the earth like a plant,

walls crumble,

and rocky cliffs,

chasms close,

as song is born.

A jug of wine, and thou beside me

in the wilderness,

sang the ancient poet.

Let the wine pitcher

add to the kiss of love its own.

 

My darling, suddenly

the line of your hip

becomes the brimming curve

of the wine goblet,

your breast is the grape cluster,

your nipples are the grapes,

the gleam of spirits lights your hair,

and your navel is a chaste seal

stamped on the vessel of your belly,

your love an inexhaustible

cascade of wine,

light that illuminates my senses,

the earthly splendor of life.

 

But you are more than love,

the fiery kiss,

the heat of fire,

more than the wine of life;

you are

the community of man,

translucency,

chorus of discipline,

abundance of flowers.

I like on the table,

when we're speaking,

the light of a bottle

of intelligent wine.

Drink it,

and remember in every

drop of gold,

in every topaz glass,

in every purple ladle,

that autumn labored

to fill the vessel with wine;

and in the ritual of his office,

let the simple man remember

to think of the soil and of his duty,

to propagate the canticle of the wine.

 

Pablo Neruda

Duncansby Head is the most northeasterly part of both the Scottish and British mainlands, slightly northeast of John o' Groats. It lies approximately 20 km (12 mi) east-southeast of Dunnet Head, the northernmost point of both the Scottish and British mainlands. Duncansby Head is located in Caithness, Highland, in north-eastern Scotland. The headland juts into the North Sea, with the Pentland Firth to its north and west and the Moray Firth to its south.

 

The point is marked by Duncansby Head Lighthouse, built by David Alan Stevenson in 1924.

 

A minor public road leads from John o' Groats to Duncansby Head, which makes Duncansby Head the farthest point by road from Land's End.

 

The Duncansby Head Site of Special Scientific Interest includes the 6.5-kilometre (4-mile) stretch of coast south to Skirza Head. It includes the Duncansby Stacks, prominent sea stacks just off the coast.

 

In 2016, it was reported in The Sunday Post newspaper that scientists from the Atomic Weapons Establishment in Aldemarston had proposed a nuclear weapon test on the Stacks of Duncansby in 1953, but that the prevailing wet weather was too much for contemporary electronics and the idea was shelved

 

The Highlands is a historical region of Scotland. Culturally, the Highlands and the Lowlands diverged from the Late Middle Ages into the modern period, when Lowland Scots language replaced Scottish Gaelic throughout most of the Lowlands. The term is also used for the area north and west of the Highland Boundary Fault, although the exact boundaries are not clearly defined, particularly to the east. The Great Glen divides the Grampian Mountains to the southeast from the Northwest Highlands. The Scottish Gaelic name of A' Ghàidhealtachd literally means "the place of the Gaels" and traditionally, from a Gaelic-speaking point of view, includes both the Western Isles and the Highlands.

 

The area is very sparsely populated, with many mountain ranges dominating the region, and includes the highest mountain in the British Isles, Ben Nevis. During the 18th and early 19th centuries the population of the Highlands rose to around 300,000, but from c. 1841 and for the next 160 years, the natural increase in population was exceeded by emigration (mostly to Canada, the United States, Australia and New Zealand, and migration to the industrial cities of Scotland and England.) and passim  The area is now one of the most sparsely populated in Europe. At 9.1/km2 (24/sq mi) in 2012, the population density in the Highlands and Islands is less than one seventh of Scotland's as a whole.

 

The Highland Council is the administrative body for much of the Highlands, with its administrative centre at Inverness. However, the Highlands also includes parts of the council areas of Aberdeenshire, Angus, Argyll and Bute, Moray, North Ayrshire, Perth and Kinross, Stirling and West Dunbartonshire.

 

The Scottish Highlands is the only area in the British Isles to have the taiga biome as it features concentrated populations of Scots pine forest: see Caledonian Forest. It is the most mountainous part of the United Kingdom.

 

Between the 15th century and the mid-20th century, the area differed from most of the Lowlands in terms of language. In Scottish Gaelic, the region is known as the Gàidhealtachd, because it was traditionally the Gaelic-speaking part of Scotland, although the language is now largely confined to The Hebrides. The terms are sometimes used interchangeably but have different meanings in their respective languages. Scottish English (in its Highland form) is the predominant language of the area today, though Highland English has been influenced by Gaelic speech to a significant extent. Historically, the "Highland line" distinguished the two Scottish cultures. While the Highland line broadly followed the geography of the Grampians in the south, it continued in the north, cutting off the north-eastern areas, that is Eastern Caithness, Orkney and Shetland, from the more Gaelic Highlands and Hebrides.

 

Historically, the major social unit of the Highlands was the clan. Scottish kings, particularly James VI, saw clans as a challenge to their authority; the Highlands was seen by many as a lawless region. The Scots of the Lowlands viewed the Highlanders as backward and more "Irish". The Highlands were seen as the overspill of Gaelic Ireland. They made this distinction by separating Germanic "Scots" English and the Gaelic by renaming it "Erse" a play on Eire. Following the Union of the Crowns, James VI had the military strength to back up any attempts to impose some control. The result was, in 1609, the Statutes of Iona which started the process of integrating clan leaders into Scottish society. The gradual changes continued into the 19th century, as clan chiefs thought of themselves less as patriarchal leaders of their people and more as commercial landlords. The first effect on the clansmen who were their tenants was the change to rents being payable in money rather than in kind. Later, rents were increased as Highland landowners sought to increase their income. This was followed, mostly in the period 1760–1850, by agricultural improvement that often (particularly in the Western Highlands) involved clearance of the population to make way for large scale sheep farms. Displaced tenants were set up in crofting communities in the process. The crofts were intended not to provide all the needs of their occupiers; they were expected to work in other industries such as kelping and fishing. Crofters came to rely substantially on seasonal migrant work, particularly in the Lowlands. This gave impetus to the learning of English, which was seen by many rural Gaelic speakers to be the essential "language of work".

 

Older historiography attributes the collapse of the clan system to the aftermath of the Jacobite risings. This is now thought less influential by historians. Following the Jacobite rising of 1745 the British government enacted a series of laws to try to suppress the clan system, including bans on the bearing of arms and the wearing of tartan, and limitations on the activities of the Scottish Episcopal Church. Most of this legislation was repealed by the end of the 18th century as the Jacobite threat subsided. There was soon a rehabilitation of Highland culture. Tartan was adopted for Highland regiments in the British Army, which poor Highlanders joined in large numbers in the era of the Revolutionary and Napoleonic Wars (1790–1815). Tartan had largely been abandoned by the ordinary people of the region, but in the 1820s, tartan and the kilt were adopted by members of the social elite, not just in Scotland, but across Europe. The international craze for tartan, and for idealising a romanticised Highlands, was set off by the Ossian cycle, and further popularised by the works of Walter Scott. His "staging" of the visit of King George IV to Scotland in 1822 and the king's wearing of tartan resulted in a massive upsurge in demand for kilts and tartans that could not be met by the Scottish woollen industry. Individual clan tartans were largely designated in this period and they became a major symbol of Scottish identity. This "Highlandism", by which all of Scotland was identified with the culture of the Highlands, was cemented by Queen Victoria's interest in the country, her adoption of Balmoral as a major royal retreat, and her interest in "tartenry".

 

Recurrent famine affected the Highlands for much of its history, with significant instances as late as 1817 in the Eastern Highlands and the early 1850s in the West.  Over the 18th century, the region had developed a trade of black cattle into Lowland markets, and this was balanced by imports of meal into the area. There was a critical reliance on this trade to provide sufficient food, and it is seen as an essential prerequisite for the population growth that started in the 18th century. Most of the Highlands, particularly in the North and West was short of the arable land that was essential for the mixed, run rig based, communal farming that existed before agricultural improvement was introduced into the region.[a] Between the 1760s and the 1830s there was a substantial trade in unlicensed whisky that had been distilled in the Highlands. Lowland distillers (who were not able to avoid the heavy taxation of this product) complained that Highland whisky made up more than half the market. The development of the cattle trade is taken as evidence that the pre-improvement Highlands was not an immutable system, but did exploit the economic opportunities that came its way.  The illicit whisky trade demonstrates the entrepreneurial ability of the peasant classes. 

 

Agricultural improvement reached the Highlands mostly over the period 1760 to 1850. Agricultural advisors, factors, land surveyors and others educated in the thinking of Adam Smith were keen to put into practice the new ideas taught in Scottish universities.  Highland landowners, many of whom were burdened with chronic debts, were generally receptive to the advice they offered and keen to increase the income from their land.  In the East and South the resulting change was similar to that in the Lowlands, with the creation of larger farms with single tenants, enclosure of the old run rig fields, introduction of new crops (such as turnips), land drainage and, as a consequence of all this, eviction, as part of the Highland clearances, of many tenants and cottars. Some of those cleared found employment on the new, larger farms, others moved to the accessible towns of the Lowlands.

 

In the West and North, evicted tenants were usually given tenancies in newly created crofting communities, while their former holdings were converted into large sheep farms. Sheep farmers could pay substantially higher rents than the run rig farmers and were much less prone to falling into arrears. Each croft was limited in size so that the tenants would have to find work elsewhere. The major alternatives were fishing and the kelp industry. Landlords took control of the kelp shores, deducting the wages earned by their tenants from the rent due and retaining the large profits that could be earned at the high prices paid for the processed product during the Napoleonic wars.

 

When the Napoleonic wars finished in 1815, the Highland industries were affected by the return to a peacetime economy. The price of black cattle fell, nearly halving between 1810 and the 1830s. Kelp prices had peaked in 1810, but reduced from £9 a ton in 1823 to £3 13s 4d a ton in 1828. Wool prices were also badly affected.  This worsened the financial problems of debt-encumbered landlords. Then, in 1846, potato blight arrived in the Highlands, wiping out the essential subsistence crop for the overcrowded crofting communities. As the famine struck, the government made clear to landlords that it was their responsibility to provide famine relief for their tenants. The result of the economic downturn had been that a large proportion of Highland estates were sold in the first half of the 19th century. T M Devine points out that in the region most affected by the potato famine, by 1846, 70 per cent of the landowners were new purchasers who had not owned Highland property before 1800. More landlords were obliged to sell due to the cost of famine relief. Those who were protected from the worst of the crisis were those with extensive rental income from sheep farms.  Government loans were made available for drainage works, road building and other improvements and many crofters became temporary migrants – taking work in the Lowlands. When the potato famine ceased in 1856, this established a pattern of more extensive working away from the Highlands.

 

The unequal concentration of land ownership remained an emotional and controversial subject, of enormous importance to the Highland economy, and eventually became a cornerstone of liberal radicalism. The poor crofters were politically powerless, and many of them turned to religion. They embraced the popularly oriented, fervently evangelical Presbyterian revival after 1800. Most joined the breakaway "Free Church" after 1843. This evangelical movement was led by lay preachers who themselves came from the lower strata, and whose preaching was implicitly critical of the established order. The religious change energised the crofters and separated them from the landlords; it helped prepare them for their successful and violent challenge to the landlords in the 1880s through the Highland Land League. Violence erupted, starting on the Isle of Skye, when Highland landlords cleared their lands for sheep and deer parks. It was quietened when the government stepped in, passing the Crofters' Holdings (Scotland) Act, 1886 to reduce rents, guarantee fixity of tenure, and break up large estates to provide crofts for the homeless. This contrasted with the Irish Land War underway at the same time, where the Irish were intensely politicised through roots in Irish nationalism, while political dimensions were limited. In 1885 three Independent Crofter candidates were elected to Parliament, which listened to their pleas. The results included explicit security for the Scottish smallholders in the "crofting counties"; the legal right to bequeath tenancies to descendants; and the creation of a Crofting Commission. The Crofters as a political movement faded away by 1892, and the Liberal Party gained their votes.

 

Today, the Highlands are the largest of Scotland's whisky producing regions; the relevant area runs from Orkney to the Isle of Arran in the south and includes the northern isles and much of Inner and Outer Hebrides, Argyll, Stirlingshire, Arran, as well as sections of Perthshire and Aberdeenshire. (Other sources treat The Islands, except Islay, as a separate whisky producing region.) This massive area has over 30 distilleries, or 47 when the Islands sub-region is included in the count. According to one source, the top five are The Macallan, Glenfiddich, Aberlour, Glenfarclas and Balvenie. While Speyside is geographically within the Highlands, that region is specified as distinct in terms of whisky productions. Speyside single malt whiskies are produced by about 50 distilleries.

 

According to Visit Scotland, Highlands whisky is "fruity, sweet, spicy, malty". Another review states that Northern Highlands single malt is "sweet and full-bodied", the Eastern Highlands and Southern Highlands whiskies tend to be "lighter in texture" while the distilleries in the Western Highlands produce single malts with a "much peatier influence".

 

The Scottish Reformation achieved partial success in the Highlands. Roman Catholicism remained strong in some areas, owing to remote locations and the efforts of Franciscan missionaries from Ireland, who regularly came to celebrate Mass. There remain significant Catholic strongholds within the Highlands and Islands such as Moidart and Morar on the mainland and South Uist and Barra in the southern Outer Hebrides. The remoteness of the region and the lack of a Gaelic-speaking clergy undermined the missionary efforts of the established church. The later 18th century saw somewhat greater success, owing to the efforts of the SSPCK missionaries and to the disruption of traditional society after the Battle of Culloden in 1746. In the 19th century, the evangelical Free Churches, which were more accepting of Gaelic language and culture, grew rapidly, appealing much more strongly than did the established church.

 

For the most part, however, the Highlands are considered predominantly Protestant, belonging to the Church of Scotland. In contrast to the Catholic southern islands, the northern Outer Hebrides islands (Lewis, Harris and North Uist) have an exceptionally high proportion of their population belonging to the Protestant Free Church of Scotland or the Free Presbyterian Church of Scotland. The Outer Hebrides have been described as the last bastion of Calvinism in Britain and the Sabbath remains widely observed. Inverness and the surrounding area has a majority Protestant population, with most locals belonging to either The Kirk or the Free Church of Scotland. The church maintains a noticeable presence within the area, with church attendance notably higher than in other parts of Scotland. Religion continues to play an important role in Highland culture, with Sabbath observance still widely practised, particularly in the Hebrides.

 

In traditional Scottish geography, the Highlands refers to that part of Scotland north-west of the Highland Boundary Fault, which crosses mainland Scotland in a near-straight line from Helensburgh to Stonehaven. However the flat coastal lands that occupy parts of the counties of Nairnshire, Morayshire, Banffshire and Aberdeenshire are often excluded as they do not share the distinctive geographical and cultural features of the rest of the Highlands. The north-east of Caithness, as well as Orkney and Shetland, are also often excluded from the Highlands, although the Hebrides are usually included. The Highland area, as so defined, differed from the Lowlands in language and tradition, having preserved Gaelic speech and customs centuries after the anglicisation of the latter; this led to a growing perception of a divide, with the cultural distinction between Highlander and Lowlander first noted towards the end of the 14th century. In Aberdeenshire, the boundary between the Highlands and the Lowlands is not well defined. There is a stone beside the A93 road near the village of Dinnet on Royal Deeside which states 'You are now in the Highlands', although there are areas of Highland character to the east of this point.

 

A much wider definition of the Highlands is that used by the Scotch whisky industry. Highland single malts are produced at distilleries north of an imaginary line between Dundee and Greenock, thus including all of Aberdeenshire and Angus.

 

Inverness is regarded as the Capital of the Highlands, although less so in the Highland parts of Aberdeenshire, Angus, Perthshire and Stirlingshire which look more to Aberdeen, Dundee, Perth, and Stirling as their commercial centres.

 

The Highland Council area, created as one of the local government regions of Scotland, has been a unitary council area since 1996. The council area excludes a large area of the southern and eastern Highlands, and the Western Isles, but includes Caithness. Highlands is sometimes used, however, as a name for the council area, as in the former Highlands and Islands Fire and Rescue Service. Northern is also used to refer to the area, as in the former Northern Constabulary. These former bodies both covered the Highland council area and the island council areas of Orkney, Shetland and the Western Isles.

 

Much of the Highlands area overlaps the Highlands and Islands area. An electoral region called Highlands and Islands is used in elections to the Scottish Parliament: this area includes Orkney and Shetland, as well as the Highland Council local government area, the Western Isles and most of the Argyll and Bute and Moray local government areas. Highlands and Islands has, however, different meanings in different contexts. It means Highland (the local government area), Orkney, Shetland, and the Western Isles in Highlands and Islands Fire and Rescue Service. Northern, as in Northern Constabulary, refers to the same area as that covered by the fire and rescue service.

 

There have been trackways from the Lowlands to the Highlands since prehistoric times. Many traverse the Mounth, a spur of mountainous land that extends from the higher inland range to the North Sea slightly north of Stonehaven. The most well-known and historically important trackways are the Causey Mounth, Elsick Mounth, Cryne Corse Mounth and Cairnamounth.

 

Although most of the Highlands is geographically on the British mainland, it is somewhat less accessible than the rest of Britain; thus most UK couriers categorise it separately, alongside Northern Ireland, the Isle of Man, and other offshore islands. They thus charge additional fees for delivery to the Highlands, or exclude the area entirely. While the physical remoteness from the largest population centres inevitably leads to higher transit cost, there is confusion and consternation over the scale of the fees charged and the effectiveness of their communication, and the use of the word Mainland in their justification. Since the charges are often based on postcode areas, many far less remote areas, including some which are traditionally considered part of the lowlands, are also subject to these charges. Royal Mail is the only delivery network bound by a Universal Service Obligation to charge a uniform tariff across the UK. This, however, applies only to mail items and not larger packages which are dealt with by its Parcelforce division.

 

The Highlands lie to the north and west of the Highland Boundary Fault, which runs from Arran to Stonehaven. This part of Scotland is largely composed of ancient rocks from the Cambrian and Precambrian periods which were uplifted during the later Caledonian Orogeny. Smaller formations of Lewisian gneiss in the northwest are up to 3 billion years old. The overlying rocks of the Torridon Sandstone form mountains in the Torridon Hills such as Liathach and Beinn Eighe in Wester Ross.

 

These foundations are interspersed with many igneous intrusions of a more recent age, the remnants of which have formed mountain massifs such as the Cairngorms and the Cuillin of Skye. A significant exception to the above are the fossil-bearing beds of Old Red Sandstone found principally along the Moray Firth coast and partially down the Highland Boundary Fault. The Jurassic beds found in isolated locations on Skye and Applecross reflect the complex underlying geology. They are the original source of much North Sea oil. The Great Glen is formed along a transform fault which divides the Grampian Mountains to the southeast from the Northwest Highlands.

 

The entire region was covered by ice sheets during the Pleistocene ice ages, save perhaps for a few nunataks. The complex geomorphology includes incised valleys and lochs carved by the action of mountain streams and ice, and a topography of irregularly distributed mountains whose summits have similar heights above sea-level, but whose bases depend upon the amount of denudation to which the plateau has been subjected in various places.

Climate

 

The region is much warmer than other areas at similar latitudes (such as Kamchatka in Russia, or Labrador in Canada) because of the Gulf Stream making it cool, damp and temperate. The Köppen climate classification is "Cfb" at low altitudes, then becoming "Cfc", "Dfc" and "ET" at higher altitudes.

 

Places of interest

An Teallach

Aonach Mòr (Nevis Range ski centre)

Arrochar Alps

Balmoral Castle

Balquhidder

Battlefield of Culloden

Beinn Alligin

Beinn Eighe

Ben Cruachan hydro-electric power station

Ben Lomond

Ben Macdui (second highest mountain in Scotland and UK)

Ben Nevis (highest mountain in Scotland and UK)

Cairngorms National Park

Cairngorm Ski centre near Aviemore

Cairngorm Mountains

Caledonian Canal

Cape Wrath

Carrick Castle

Castle Stalker

Castle Tioram

Chanonry Point

Conic Hill

Culloden Moor

Dunadd

Duart Castle

Durness

Eilean Donan

Fingal's Cave (Staffa)

Fort George

Glen Coe

Glen Etive

Glen Kinglas

Glen Lyon

Glen Orchy

Glenshee Ski Centre

Glen Shiel

Glen Spean

Glenfinnan (and its railway station and viaduct)

Grampian Mountains

Hebrides

Highland Folk Museum – The first open-air museum in the UK.

Highland Wildlife Park

Inveraray Castle

Inveraray Jail

Inverness Castle

Inverewe Garden

Iona Abbey

Isle of Staffa

Kilchurn Castle

Kilmartin Glen

Liathach

Lecht Ski Centre

Loch Alsh

Loch Ard

Loch Awe

Loch Assynt

Loch Earn

Loch Etive

Loch Fyne

Loch Goil

Loch Katrine

Loch Leven

Loch Linnhe

Loch Lochy

Loch Lomond

Loch Lomond and the Trossachs National Park

Loch Lubnaig

Loch Maree

Loch Morar

Loch Morlich

Loch Ness

Loch Nevis

Loch Rannoch

Loch Tay

Lochranza

Luss

Meall a' Bhuiridh (Glencoe Ski Centre)

Scottish Sea Life Sanctuary at Loch Creran

Rannoch Moor

Red Cuillin

Rest and Be Thankful stretch of A83

River Carron, Wester Ross

River Spey

River Tay

Ross and Cromarty

Smoo Cave

Stob Coire a' Chàirn

Stac Polly

Strathspey Railway

Sutherland

Tor Castle

Torridon Hills

Urquhart Castle

West Highland Line (scenic railway)

West Highland Way (Long-distance footpath)

Wester Ross

Supreme Power

Franklin Roosevelt vs. the Supreme Court

April 14, 2010, 12:00pm – 1:00pm

 

To watch the event, click here: www.americanprogress.org//events/2010/04/supreme.html

 

Scholars are asking the same questions about the role of the Supreme Court today as they were back in President Franklin D. Roosevelt’s time when he tried to expand the Supreme Court and stack it with his supporters: “Was it the judge’s role to essentially pass on the wisdom of economic legislation? Or was it the judges’ role to essentially … let Congress do what it felt needed to be done to advance the general welfare?” Author Jeff Shesol posed these questions at a CAP event last Wednesday about his new book Supreme Power: Franklin Roosevelt vs. The Supreme Court. Shesol was joined by Dahlia Lithwick, senior editor at Slate, on a panel moderated by John Halpin, Senior Fellow at CAP.

 

Halpin summarized the book as a three-act drama of the stability of democracy itself. “One is a decades-long ideological battle between competing world views about government, the economy, and the Constitution,” he said, “the second is how this ideological battle plays out politically in relation to the Court in the 1930s. And then there’s the third act that’s a little more implied, which is what’s the long-term legacy of this battle, both ideologically and politically for the New Deal and for…debates about the Court and jurisprudence throughout the 20th century,” Halpin explained.

 

The Supreme Court shot down each item on President Roosevelt’s New Deal agenda beginning in 1935. The impoverished social and economic situation meant that violent revolution was a real threat in the United States by late 1936 and early 1937. President Roosevelt was looking for a solution that was “constitutional, and that was quick and that would be effective,” Shesol said. Nowhere in the Constitution does it mandate the number of seats on the Supreme Court, so President Roosevelt decided to expand the Court to 15 judges and pack it with liberals. His plan failed, split the Democratic Party, and transformed the American constitutional landscape.

 

“When we think about the Court-packing plan we have an idea that the Court was way out of line. That it was striking down good, good laws,” Lithwick said. “No, these were well-intentioned laws, but…it’s not the case…they were horrified by the really very quick…one after another churning out legislation,” she explained.

 

But by 1936, “the Court has covered the constitutional landscape and has knocked down not only laws that were sloppily drafted, but laws that were exceedingly carefully drafted,” Shesol said. The Court decided with sweeping opinions to “pre-emptively overrule any such legislation in the future” so President Roosevelt came to believe that no matter how legislation was drafted, it was the justices themselves who would prevent the advance of anything he tried to do, Shesol added.

 

President Roosevelt thought the Constitution “was a very flexible instrument” and that the doctrines used to strike down the New Deal were obsolete, Shesol explained. Yet it’s evident in the conservative justices’ letters that they “believe [President] Roosevelt is centralizing power in his own hands” and both the Court and [President] Roosevelt viewed this constitutional argument as one about the survival of democracy and believed that a dictatorship would rise out of the ashes of failure, Shesol said.

 

The competing ideologies of constitutional formalism versus the notion of an elastic, living constitution have as much of an effect on legislative decisions today as they did in President Roosevelt’s day. Lithwick described the book as “manna from heaven” because of its timeliness in the current discussion of “jurisprudential theories and originalism” evolving around President Barack Obama’s decision to criticize the Supreme Court’s Citizens United ruling in his State of the Union address. “Eighty percent of the public hated the Citizens United decision,” she said. Clearly, the Court is “way out of whack” with public opinion.

 

Even today’s linguistic framework for conversations about the Supreme Court and presidential powers have not evolved much from the 1930s. Organic law and theories of evolution are still used to defend the living Constitution argument, versus constitutional formalism’s “language about how the constitution is set in stone, how it’s sort of oracular, and how it’s divine and this notion that the constitution is the secular Ten Commandments, it’s immutable, it doesn’t change,” Lithwick said.

 

There is a “perfect alignment between one’s economic views and one’s constitutional views in this way,” Shesol added. “If you believed that reform was essential…you tended to see the necessity to have the constitution … evolve with our understanding of contemporary realities. If you were pretty comfortable with the established order…you tended to be drawn to a kind of jurisprudence…that really had no room for these wild social experiments,” he said.

 

The prevailing Court model right now is to be an umpire with “the language of constraint” and do as little as possible so that you don’t appear to support more presidential power, Lithwick lamented. “We happen to be in a sort of trough right now in history where to talk about the idea that the Constitution seeks to protect minorities or seeks to protect the underprivileged is to look reckless,” she said. It has also become somewhat taboo to challenge the finite nature of the Constitution and insist that it’s a living document that should fit the times.

 

Conservatives have dominated the conversation on the Constitution for the last couple of decades, and we need to hear progressives assert their points of view, Shesol said. “What [President] Roosevelt understood and what he constantly reiterated is that this argument between these two notions of the Constitution goes back to the nation’s founding…and so [President] Roosevelt made this argument with a sense of supreme self-confidence that he was true to the intentions of the founders,” Shesol continued, “And we have somehow—on the progressive side—allowed the conservatives…to get away with the argument that the founders were universally in favor of smaller, weaker government, and state’s rights and so forth…and [President] Roosevelt didn’t believe that. I don’t imagine President Obama believes it either but it would be useful thing to hear him say forcefully.”

 

The two moments in time are very similar, but the key difference is that now we don’t have “a full-fledged coherent” progressive view of the Constitution, Lithwick said. This is a much more “one-sided view of the Constitution…but this is a moment where the president has decided to take on the Court” with Citizens United, she explained. Yet his argument against the decision has been a pragmatic one—that this decision can open up our elections to foreign interests—rather than a constitutional argument, despite the fact that he’s a constitutional professor.

 

“[President] Roosevelt was defending a whole set of policies that saved the country, that saved capitalism, created a modern social welfare system and renewed the concept of equal opportunity,” Halpin said. “Perhaps part of the problem today is that the issues outside of, say, the health bill, don’t seem as pressing.”

  

Featured Speakers:

Jeff Shesol, author, Supreme Power

Dahlia Lithwick, senior editor, Slate

 

Moderated by:

John Halpin, Senior Fellow, Center for American Progress

  

PHOTO CREDIT:

Ralph Alswang

Photographer

202-487-5025

ralph@ralphphoto.com

www.ralphphoto.com

We have a snowy winter here in Russia...

 

Once, many years ago, we had a street cleaner whose name was Ignatich. He was one of those people whose age is difficult to determine. He can be recognized from afar by a shaggy beard and mustache. He wore the same clothes in the winter and summer: cap with ear-flaps, striped vest, valenki and quilted jacket that never was buttoned up even in the dead of winter. Lacking education, he could argue long about world politics or tell you about the dialectic of Hegel and Kant, sitting in his back room and eating immutable "bullheads in a tomato sauce."

He was building ice-hills and often gave us candies when we were kids.

The MOC representing the moment while Ignatich has a break for a smoking. (not propaganda)

From www.artic.edu/artexplorer/search.php?tab=2&resource=272:

 

A study of van Gogh's visually and psychologically powerful landscape of a small, enclosed park near his home.

 

In February 1888, Vincent van Gogh left Paris for Arles, in southern France, hoping that the warm climate would renew his art. Installed in a small residence known as the Yellow House, van Gogh soon began to envision "The Studio of the South," an artists' cooperative whose presiding genius would be Paul Gauguin, whom he had met the previous November. Gauguin did go to Arles that October—supported by Vincent's brother Theo, an art dealer—but the high-strung temperaments of both artists made prolonged cohabitation difficult. After nine weeks, van Gogh suffered a breakdown and mutilated his own left ear, prompting Gauguin's return to Paris.

 

In anticipation of Gauguin's arrival in Arles, van Gogh embarked on a number of paintings intended for Gauguin's bedroom. Four of these works depict the Poet's Garden, a small, enclosed public park directly in front of the Yellow House. "I have tried to distill in the decoration . . . the immutable character of this country," van Gogh wrote to Gauguin, noting further that he had sought to picture the motif "in such a way that one is put in mind of the old poet from these parts (or rather from Avignon), Petrarch, and of the new poet from these parts—Paul Gauguin."

 

The view is unprepossessing, but van Gogh infused the park's unkempt grass and trees with great vitality by means of repetitive brush strokes and thick impasto, especially in the chrome-yellow sky and scraggly foliage. Prominent in this teeming, autumnal tapestry are a compact, round bush and a "weeping" tree (van Gogh's own characterization); their contrasting forms evoke the psychological tension between resolve and release. At the left, we glimpse the purplish tower of the church of St. Trophime, the only reminder of the bustling town beyond the garden walls.

 

An analysis of the artist's painting of an Arles garden, including its emotional and symbolic meaning for van Gogh.

 

On February 20, 1888, van Gogh arrived in the southern Provençal town of Arles, France. With the financial help of his brother Theo, he was able to rent, furnish, and ultimately move into the Yellow House in September. Van Gogh's second-floor bedroom looked directly over Place Lamartine, a small public park that served as a lush oasis amidst the active town of Arles. This painting depicts the garden's southeast section as confirmed by the appearance of the pale blue-purple belfry of the medieval church of Sainte Trophîme just visible past the foliage in the background.

 

In a letter written around mid–September, van Gogh states that he has just created a painting of "a corner of a garden with a weeping tree, grass, round clipped cedar shrubs and an oleander bushthere is a citron sky over everything, and also the colors have the richness and intensity of autumn." This serene, sunny landscape was the first of a four-painting series destined as a décoration—a series of linked pictures—for the bedroom Gauguin would occupy in the Yellow House. With Gauguin's bedroom as its destination, this series enabled van Gogh to engage in an ongoing dialogue with his potential collaborator. In their letters the two artists exchanged ideas, questions, and artistic philosophies; the Poet's Garden paintings became visual manifestations of the letters' words.

 

The garden's vitality, from its unkempt grass to its thriving trees, is conveyed by van Gogh's repetitive brushstrokes and his use of thick impasto. Seasons appear to change before our eyes from the lush greens of summer to the crisp deep golds of fall. The "citron" sky consists of layered horizontal strokes of yellow and lime, giving the sky both solidity and vibrancy. Rather than focusing on the optical effect of juxtaposed complementary colors, here van Gogh seems to be more interested in the total effect of a more limited range of colors.

 

By calling the painting The Poet's Garden, van Gogh intentionally linked the image to the 14th-century poets Francesco Petrarch (1304–1374) and Giovanni Boccaccio (1313–1375), about whom he had been reading in a recently published article on Italian Renaissance literature. Van Gogh's thoughts dwelt on Petrarch because he recalled that the poet had lived in nearby Avignon. As the artist wrote, "What I wanted was to paint the garden in such a way that one would think of the old poet from here (or rather from Avignon), Petrarch, and at the same time of the new poet living here—Paul Gauguin" In other words, van Gogh hoped that his artistic partnership with Gauguin would parallel the passionate, spiritual, and intellectual mentor-student relationship shared by the earlier poets. Van Gogh envisioned himself as Boccaccio, tutored by the older poet-artist, Gauguin.

 

Further symbolic associations may be found in van Gogh's inclusion of the oleander bush, the scraggly limbs of the weeping tree, and the upright cypress tree. Van Gogh attached meaning to the painting based on personal and conventional symbols: for him, the oleander bush was symbolic of Boccaccio and of hope that the new collaboration of the two painters would be fruitful; the "weeping" tree expressed mourning and loss; while the cypress was a symbol of death and immortality. Such symbolic imagery conveys van Gogh's doubts and fears that Gauguin would not come to Arles, and that they would never realize the dream of a Studio of the South. His fears, however, were allayed as the new poet (Gauguin) arrived in Arles to stay in his own bedroom overlooking Place Lamartine's Poet's Garden approximately one month later.

Tain is a royal burgh and parish in the County of Ross, in the Highlands of Scotland.

 

The name derives from the nearby River Tain, the name of which comes from an Indo-European root meaning 'flow'. The Gaelic name, Baile Dubhthaich, means 'Duthac's town', after a local saint also known as Duthus.

 

Tain was granted its first royal charter in 1066, making it Scotland's oldest royal burgh, commemorated in 1966 with the opening of the Rose Garden by Queen Elizabeth, the Queen Mother. The 1066 charter, granted by King Malcolm III, confirmed Tain as a sanctuary, where people could claim the protection of the church, and an immunity, in which resident merchants and traders were exempt from certain taxes.

 

Little is known of earlier history although the town owed much of its importance to Duthac. He was an early Christian figure, perhaps 8th or 9th century, whose shrine had become so important by 1066 that it resulted in the royal charter. The ruined chapel near the mouth of the river was said to have been built on the site of his birth. Duthac became an official saint in 1419 and by the late Middle Ages his shrine was an important place of pilgrimage in Scotland. King James IV came at least once a year throughout his reign to achieve both spiritual and political aims.

 

A leading landowning family of the area, the Clan Munro, provided political and religious figures to the town, including the dissenter the Rev. John Munro of Tain (died ca. 1630).

 

The early Duthac Chapel was the centre of a sanctuary. Fugitives were by tradition given sanctuary in several square miles marked by boundary stones. During the First War of Scottish Independence, Robert the Bruce sent his wife and daughter to the sanctuary for safety. The sanctuary was violated and they were captured by forces loyal to William II, Earl of Ross who handed them over to Edward I of England.

 

Tain railway station is on the Far North Line. The station is unmanned; in its heyday it had 30 staff. The station was opened by the Highland Railway on 1 January 1864. From 1 January 1923, the station was owned by the London Midland and Scottish Railway. Then in 1948 the British railways were nationalised as British Railways. After the railways were privatised, the station was served by ScotRail.

 

Notable buildings in the town include Tain Tolbooth and St Duthus Collegiate Church. The town also has a local history museum, Tain Through Time, and the Glenmorangie distillery.

 

Tain has two primary schools; Craighill (274 pupils as of April 2011) and Knockbreck (just under 120 pupils as of April 2011). There is also a secondary school, Tain Royal Academy, with 590 pupils as of January 2017.

 

With conflict looming in the 1930s, an aerodrome large enough for bombers was built next to the town on low alluvial land known as the Fendom bordering the Dornoch Firth.[11] It was home to British, Czech (311 Sqn) and Polish airmen during the Second World War.

 

It was abandoned as a flying location after the war and converted to a bombing range for the Fleet Air Arm. In 1939 RAF Lossiemouth opened and was used until 1946 when the airfield was transferred to the Admiralty and becoming Royal Naval Air Station (RNAS) Lossiemouth then returning to the RAF in 1972 as an RAF airfield and the Tain range reverted to the RAF. Large parts of the original aerodrome were returned to civilian use after the Second World War and some are still accessible.

 

Tain Golf Club offers a Championship length links golf course. Overlooking the Dornoch Firth, the course was first designed by Old Tom Morris in 1890.

 

Tain is represented in the Scottish Football Association affiliated North Caledonian Football League by senior football club St Duthus Football Club during the regular football season.

 

The Gizzen Briggs are sandbars at the entrance to the Dornoch Firth, and with the right wind, they can be heard at low tide. The so-called "million dollar view" to the north-west of Tain, accessible via the A836 westward towards Bonar Bridge and then the B9176 Struie Road, gives a panoramic view of Dornoch Firth and Sutherland.

 

Five important castles are in the vicinity – Carbisdale Castle, built for the Dowager Duchess of Sutherland and now a youth hostel; Skibo Castle, once home of the industrialist Andrew Carnegie and now a hotel; Dunrobin Castle, ancestral seat of the Duke of Sutherland (castle and gardens open to the public); Balnagown Castle, ancestral seat of the Clan Ross, restored and owned by Mohammed Al Fayed; and Ballone Castle, restored by the owners of a local crafts business.

 

Highland Fine Cheeses, run by Ruaridh Stone (the brother of Liberal Democrat MP Jamie Stone), have a factory at Blarliath Farm, Tain.

 

Just outside Hill of Fearn near Tain lies the site of the medieval Fearn Abbey.

 

Tain was a parliamentary burgh, combined with Dingwall, Dornoch, Kirkwall and Wick in the Northern Burghs constituency of the House of Commons of the Parliament of Great Britain from 1708 to 1801 and of the Parliament of the United Kingdom from 1801 to 1918. The constituency was a district of burghs known also as Tain Burghs until 1832, and then as Wick Burghs. It was represented by one Member of Parliament (MP). In 1918 the constituency was abolished, and Tain was merged into Ross and Cromarty.

 

Notable people

Saint Duthac (1000–1065), 11th century saint

Sir John Fraser (1885–1947), surgeon

Peter Fraser (1884–1950), 24th prime minister of New Zealand, was born in Hill of Fearn, near Tain.

George MacKenzie (1886–1957), president of the Institute of Banking, 1941–45

Rev John Munro of Tain, 17th-century religious dissenter, was a minister here.

David Robertson (born 1962), former Free Church of Scotland moderator and Christian commentator, grew up in Portmahomack.

Elizabeth Ness MacBean Ross (1878–1915), physician who was raised here and attended Tain Royal Academy.

John Ross (1726–1800), merchant during the American Revolution

Walter Ross Taylor (1805–1896), served as Moderator of the General Assembly to the Free Church of Scotland in 1884.

Professor Thomas Summers West (1927–2010), an internationally acclaimed analytical chemist, went to school at Tain Royal Academy.

 

The Highlands is a historical region of Scotland. Culturally, the Highlands and the Lowlands diverged from the Late Middle Ages into the modern period, when Lowland Scots language replaced Scottish Gaelic throughout most of the Lowlands. The term is also used for the area north and west of the Highland Boundary Fault, although the exact boundaries are not clearly defined, particularly to the east. The Great Glen divides the Grampian Mountains to the southeast from the Northwest Highlands. The Scottish Gaelic name of A' Ghàidhealtachd literally means "the place of the Gaels" and traditionally, from a Gaelic-speaking point of view, includes both the Western Isles and the Highlands.

 

The area is very sparsely populated, with many mountain ranges dominating the region, and includes the highest mountain in the British Isles, Ben Nevis. During the 18th and early 19th centuries the population of the Highlands rose to around 300,000, but from c. 1841 and for the next 160 years, the natural increase in population was exceeded by emigration (mostly to Canada, the United States, Australia and New Zealand, and migration to the industrial cities of Scotland and England.) and passim  The area is now one of the most sparsely populated in Europe. At 9.1/km2 (24/sq mi) in 2012, the population density in the Highlands and Islands is less than one seventh of Scotland's as a whole.

 

The Highland Council is the administrative body for much of the Highlands, with its administrative centre at Inverness. However, the Highlands also includes parts of the council areas of Aberdeenshire, Angus, Argyll and Bute, Moray, North Ayrshire, Perth and Kinross, Stirling and West Dunbartonshire.

 

The Scottish Highlands is the only area in the British Isles to have the taiga biome as it features concentrated populations of Scots pine forest: see Caledonian Forest. It is the most mountainous part of the United Kingdom.

 

Between the 15th century and the mid-20th century, the area differed from most of the Lowlands in terms of language. In Scottish Gaelic, the region is known as the Gàidhealtachd, because it was traditionally the Gaelic-speaking part of Scotland, although the language is now largely confined to The Hebrides. The terms are sometimes used interchangeably but have different meanings in their respective languages. Scottish English (in its Highland form) is the predominant language of the area today, though Highland English has been influenced by Gaelic speech to a significant extent. Historically, the "Highland line" distinguished the two Scottish cultures. While the Highland line broadly followed the geography of the Grampians in the south, it continued in the north, cutting off the north-eastern areas, that is Eastern Caithness, Orkney and Shetland, from the more Gaelic Highlands and Hebrides.

 

Historically, the major social unit of the Highlands was the clan. Scottish kings, particularly James VI, saw clans as a challenge to their authority; the Highlands was seen by many as a lawless region. The Scots of the Lowlands viewed the Highlanders as backward and more "Irish". The Highlands were seen as the overspill of Gaelic Ireland. They made this distinction by separating Germanic "Scots" English and the Gaelic by renaming it "Erse" a play on Eire. Following the Union of the Crowns, James VI had the military strength to back up any attempts to impose some control. The result was, in 1609, the Statutes of Iona which started the process of integrating clan leaders into Scottish society. The gradual changes continued into the 19th century, as clan chiefs thought of themselves less as patriarchal leaders of their people and more as commercial landlords. The first effect on the clansmen who were their tenants was the change to rents being payable in money rather than in kind. Later, rents were increased as Highland landowners sought to increase their income. This was followed, mostly in the period 1760–1850, by agricultural improvement that often (particularly in the Western Highlands) involved clearance of the population to make way for large scale sheep farms. Displaced tenants were set up in crofting communities in the process. The crofts were intended not to provide all the needs of their occupiers; they were expected to work in other industries such as kelping and fishing. Crofters came to rely substantially on seasonal migrant work, particularly in the Lowlands. This gave impetus to the learning of English, which was seen by many rural Gaelic speakers to be the essential "language of work".

 

Older historiography attributes the collapse of the clan system to the aftermath of the Jacobite risings. This is now thought less influential by historians. Following the Jacobite rising of 1745 the British government enacted a series of laws to try to suppress the clan system, including bans on the bearing of arms and the wearing of tartan, and limitations on the activities of the Scottish Episcopal Church. Most of this legislation was repealed by the end of the 18th century as the Jacobite threat subsided. There was soon a rehabilitation of Highland culture. Tartan was adopted for Highland regiments in the British Army, which poor Highlanders joined in large numbers in the era of the Revolutionary and Napoleonic Wars (1790–1815). Tartan had largely been abandoned by the ordinary people of the region, but in the 1820s, tartan and the kilt were adopted by members of the social elite, not just in Scotland, but across Europe. The international craze for tartan, and for idealising a romanticised Highlands, was set off by the Ossian cycle, and further popularised by the works of Walter Scott. His "staging" of the visit of King George IV to Scotland in 1822 and the king's wearing of tartan resulted in a massive upsurge in demand for kilts and tartans that could not be met by the Scottish woollen industry. Individual clan tartans were largely designated in this period and they became a major symbol of Scottish identity. This "Highlandism", by which all of Scotland was identified with the culture of the Highlands, was cemented by Queen Victoria's interest in the country, her adoption of Balmoral as a major royal retreat, and her interest in "tartenry".

 

Recurrent famine affected the Highlands for much of its history, with significant instances as late as 1817 in the Eastern Highlands and the early 1850s in the West.  Over the 18th century, the region had developed a trade of black cattle into Lowland markets, and this was balanced by imports of meal into the area. There was a critical reliance on this trade to provide sufficient food, and it is seen as an essential prerequisite for the population growth that started in the 18th century. Most of the Highlands, particularly in the North and West was short of the arable land that was essential for the mixed, run rig based, communal farming that existed before agricultural improvement was introduced into the region.[a] Between the 1760s and the 1830s there was a substantial trade in unlicensed whisky that had been distilled in the Highlands. Lowland distillers (who were not able to avoid the heavy taxation of this product) complained that Highland whisky made up more than half the market. The development of the cattle trade is taken as evidence that the pre-improvement Highlands was not an immutable system, but did exploit the economic opportunities that came its way.  The illicit whisky trade demonstrates the entrepreneurial ability of the peasant classes. 

 

Agricultural improvement reached the Highlands mostly over the period 1760 to 1850. Agricultural advisors, factors, land surveyors and others educated in the thinking of Adam Smith were keen to put into practice the new ideas taught in Scottish universities.  Highland landowners, many of whom were burdened with chronic debts, were generally receptive to the advice they offered and keen to increase the income from their land.  In the East and South the resulting change was similar to that in the Lowlands, with the creation of larger farms with single tenants, enclosure of the old run rig fields, introduction of new crops (such as turnips), land drainage and, as a consequence of all this, eviction, as part of the Highland clearances, of many tenants and cottars. Some of those cleared found employment on the new, larger farms, others moved to the accessible towns of the Lowlands.

 

In the West and North, evicted tenants were usually given tenancies in newly created crofting communities, while their former holdings were converted into large sheep farms. Sheep farmers could pay substantially higher rents than the run rig farmers and were much less prone to falling into arrears. Each croft was limited in size so that the tenants would have to find work elsewhere. The major alternatives were fishing and the kelp industry. Landlords took control of the kelp shores, deducting the wages earned by their tenants from the rent due and retaining the large profits that could be earned at the high prices paid for the processed product during the Napoleonic wars.

 

When the Napoleonic wars finished in 1815, the Highland industries were affected by the return to a peacetime economy. The price of black cattle fell, nearly halving between 1810 and the 1830s. Kelp prices had peaked in 1810, but reduced from £9 a ton in 1823 to £3 13s 4d a ton in 1828. Wool prices were also badly affected.  This worsened the financial problems of debt-encumbered landlords. Then, in 1846, potato blight arrived in the Highlands, wiping out the essential subsistence crop for the overcrowded crofting communities. As the famine struck, the government made clear to landlords that it was their responsibility to provide famine relief for their tenants. The result of the economic downturn had been that a large proportion of Highland estates were sold in the first half of the 19th century. T M Devine points out that in the region most affected by the potato famine, by 1846, 70 per cent of the landowners were new purchasers who had not owned Highland property before 1800. More landlords were obliged to sell due to the cost of famine relief. Those who were protected from the worst of the crisis were those with extensive rental income from sheep farms.  Government loans were made available for drainage works, road building and other improvements and many crofters became temporary migrants – taking work in the Lowlands. When the potato famine ceased in 1856, this established a pattern of more extensive working away from the Highlands.

 

The unequal concentration of land ownership remained an emotional and controversial subject, of enormous importance to the Highland economy, and eventually became a cornerstone of liberal radicalism. The poor crofters were politically powerless, and many of them turned to religion. They embraced the popularly oriented, fervently evangelical Presbyterian revival after 1800. Most joined the breakaway "Free Church" after 1843. This evangelical movement was led by lay preachers who themselves came from the lower strata, and whose preaching was implicitly critical of the established order. The religious change energised the crofters and separated them from the landlords; it helped prepare them for their successful and violent challenge to the landlords in the 1880s through the Highland Land League. Violence erupted, starting on the Isle of Skye, when Highland landlords cleared their lands for sheep and deer parks. It was quietened when the government stepped in, passing the Crofters' Holdings (Scotland) Act, 1886 to reduce rents, guarantee fixity of tenure, and break up large estates to provide crofts for the homeless. This contrasted with the Irish Land War underway at the same time, where the Irish were intensely politicised through roots in Irish nationalism, while political dimensions were limited. In 1885 three Independent Crofter candidates were elected to Parliament, which listened to their pleas. The results included explicit security for the Scottish smallholders in the "crofting counties"; the legal right to bequeath tenancies to descendants; and the creation of a Crofting Commission. The Crofters as a political movement faded away by 1892, and the Liberal Party gained their votes.

 

Today, the Highlands are the largest of Scotland's whisky producing regions; the relevant area runs from Orkney to the Isle of Arran in the south and includes the northern isles and much of Inner and Outer Hebrides, Argyll, Stirlingshire, Arran, as well as sections of Perthshire and Aberdeenshire. (Other sources treat The Islands, except Islay, as a separate whisky producing region.) This massive area has over 30 distilleries, or 47 when the Islands sub-region is included in the count. According to one source, the top five are The Macallan, Glenfiddich, Aberlour, Glenfarclas and Balvenie. While Speyside is geographically within the Highlands, that region is specified as distinct in terms of whisky productions. Speyside single malt whiskies are produced by about 50 distilleries.

 

According to Visit Scotland, Highlands whisky is "fruity, sweet, spicy, malty". Another review states that Northern Highlands single malt is "sweet and full-bodied", the Eastern Highlands and Southern Highlands whiskies tend to be "lighter in texture" while the distilleries in the Western Highlands produce single malts with a "much peatier influence".

 

The Scottish Reformation achieved partial success in the Highlands. Roman Catholicism remained strong in some areas, owing to remote locations and the efforts of Franciscan missionaries from Ireland, who regularly came to celebrate Mass. There remain significant Catholic strongholds within the Highlands and Islands such as Moidart and Morar on the mainland and South Uist and Barra in the southern Outer Hebrides. The remoteness of the region and the lack of a Gaelic-speaking clergy undermined the missionary efforts of the established church. The later 18th century saw somewhat greater success, owing to the efforts of the SSPCK missionaries and to the disruption of traditional society after the Battle of Culloden in 1746. In the 19th century, the evangelical Free Churches, which were more accepting of Gaelic language and culture, grew rapidly, appealing much more strongly than did the established church.

 

For the most part, however, the Highlands are considered predominantly Protestant, belonging to the Church of Scotland. In contrast to the Catholic southern islands, the northern Outer Hebrides islands (Lewis, Harris and North Uist) have an exceptionally high proportion of their population belonging to the Protestant Free Church of Scotland or the Free Presbyterian Church of Scotland. The Outer Hebrides have been described as the last bastion of Calvinism in Britain and the Sabbath remains widely observed. Inverness and the surrounding area has a majority Protestant population, with most locals belonging to either The Kirk or the Free Church of Scotland. The church maintains a noticeable presence within the area, with church attendance notably higher than in other parts of Scotland. Religion continues to play an important role in Highland culture, with Sabbath observance still widely practised, particularly in the Hebrides.

 

In traditional Scottish geography, the Highlands refers to that part of Scotland north-west of the Highland Boundary Fault, which crosses mainland Scotland in a near-straight line from Helensburgh to Stonehaven. However the flat coastal lands that occupy parts of the counties of Nairnshire, Morayshire, Banffshire and Aberdeenshire are often excluded as they do not share the distinctive geographical and cultural features of the rest of the Highlands. The north-east of Caithness, as well as Orkney and Shetland, are also often excluded from the Highlands, although the Hebrides are usually included. The Highland area, as so defined, differed from the Lowlands in language and tradition, having preserved Gaelic speech and customs centuries after the anglicisation of the latter; this led to a growing perception of a divide, with the cultural distinction between Highlander and Lowlander first noted towards the end of the 14th century. In Aberdeenshire, the boundary between the Highlands and the Lowlands is not well defined. There is a stone beside the A93 road near the village of Dinnet on Royal Deeside which states 'You are now in the Highlands', although there are areas of Highland character to the east of this point.

 

A much wider definition of the Highlands is that used by the Scotch whisky industry. Highland single malts are produced at distilleries north of an imaginary line between Dundee and Greenock, thus including all of Aberdeenshire and Angus.

 

Inverness is regarded as the Capital of the Highlands, although less so in the Highland parts of Aberdeenshire, Angus, Perthshire and Stirlingshire which look more to Aberdeen, Dundee, Perth, and Stirling as their commercial centres.

 

The Highland Council area, created as one of the local government regions of Scotland, has been a unitary council area since 1996. The council area excludes a large area of the southern and eastern Highlands, and the Western Isles, but includes Caithness. Highlands is sometimes used, however, as a name for the council area, as in the former Highlands and Islands Fire and Rescue Service. Northern is also used to refer to the area, as in the former Northern Constabulary. These former bodies both covered the Highland council area and the island council areas of Orkney, Shetland and the Western Isles.

 

Much of the Highlands area overlaps the Highlands and Islands area. An electoral region called Highlands and Islands is used in elections to the Scottish Parliament: this area includes Orkney and Shetland, as well as the Highland Council local government area, the Western Isles and most of the Argyll and Bute and Moray local government areas. Highlands and Islands has, however, different meanings in different contexts. It means Highland (the local government area), Orkney, Shetland, and the Western Isles in Highlands and Islands Fire and Rescue Service. Northern, as in Northern Constabulary, refers to the same area as that covered by the fire and rescue service.

 

There have been trackways from the Lowlands to the Highlands since prehistoric times. Many traverse the Mounth, a spur of mountainous land that extends from the higher inland range to the North Sea slightly north of Stonehaven. The most well-known and historically important trackways are the Causey Mounth, Elsick Mounth, Cryne Corse Mounth and Cairnamounth.

 

Although most of the Highlands is geographically on the British mainland, it is somewhat less accessible than the rest of Britain; thus most UK couriers categorise it separately, alongside Northern Ireland, the Isle of Man, and other offshore islands. They thus charge additional fees for delivery to the Highlands, or exclude the area entirely. While the physical remoteness from the largest population centres inevitably leads to higher transit cost, there is confusion and consternation over the scale of the fees charged and the effectiveness of their communication, and the use of the word Mainland in their justification. Since the charges are often based on postcode areas, many far less remote areas, including some which are traditionally considered part of the lowlands, are also subject to these charges. Royal Mail is the only delivery network bound by a Universal Service Obligation to charge a uniform tariff across the UK. This, however, applies only to mail items and not larger packages which are dealt with by its Parcelforce division.

 

The Highlands lie to the north and west of the Highland Boundary Fault, which runs from Arran to Stonehaven. This part of Scotland is largely composed of ancient rocks from the Cambrian and Precambrian periods which were uplifted during the later Caledonian Orogeny. Smaller formations of Lewisian gneiss in the northwest are up to 3 billion years old. The overlying rocks of the Torridon Sandstone form mountains in the Torridon Hills such as Liathach and Beinn Eighe in Wester Ross.

 

These foundations are interspersed with many igneous intrusions of a more recent age, the remnants of which have formed mountain massifs such as the Cairngorms and the Cuillin of Skye. A significant exception to the above are the fossil-bearing beds of Old Red Sandstone found principally along the Moray Firth coast and partially down the Highland Boundary Fault. The Jurassic beds found in isolated locations on Skye and Applecross reflect the complex underlying geology. They are the original source of much North Sea oil. The Great Glen is formed along a transform fault which divides the Grampian Mountains to the southeast from the Northwest Highlands.

 

The entire region was covered by ice sheets during the Pleistocene ice ages, save perhaps for a few nunataks. The complex geomorphology includes incised valleys and lochs carved by the action of mountain streams and ice, and a topography of irregularly distributed mountains whose summits have similar heights above sea-level, but whose bases depend upon the amount of denudation to which the plateau has been subjected in various places.

Climate

 

The region is much warmer than other areas at similar latitudes (such as Kamchatka in Russia, or Labrador in Canada) because of the Gulf Stream making it cool, damp and temperate. The Köppen climate classification is "Cfb" at low altitudes, then becoming "Cfc", "Dfc" and "ET" at higher altitudes.

 

Places of interest

An Teallach

Aonach Mòr (Nevis Range ski centre)

Arrochar Alps

Balmoral Castle

Balquhidder

Battlefield of Culloden

Beinn Alligin

Beinn Eighe

Ben Cruachan hydro-electric power station

Ben Lomond

Ben Macdui (second highest mountain in Scotland and UK)

Ben Nevis (highest mountain in Scotland and UK)

Cairngorms National Park

Cairngorm Ski centre near Aviemore

Cairngorm Mountains

Caledonian Canal

Cape Wrath

Carrick Castle

Castle Stalker

Castle Tioram

Chanonry Point

Conic Hill

Culloden Moor

Dunadd

Duart Castle

Durness

Eilean Donan

Fingal's Cave (Staffa)

Fort George

Glen Coe

Glen Etive

Glen Kinglas

Glen Lyon

Glen Orchy

Glenshee Ski Centre

Glen Shiel

Glen Spean

Glenfinnan (and its railway station and viaduct)

Grampian Mountains

Hebrides

Highland Folk Museum – The first open-air museum in the UK.

Highland Wildlife Park

Inveraray Castle

Inveraray Jail

Inverness Castle

Inverewe Garden

Iona Abbey

Isle of Staffa

Kilchurn Castle

Kilmartin Glen

Liathach

Lecht Ski Centre

Loch Alsh

Loch Ard

Loch Awe

Loch Assynt

Loch Earn

Loch Etive

Loch Fyne

Loch Goil

Loch Katrine

Loch Leven

Loch Linnhe

Loch Lochy

Loch Lomond

Loch Lomond and the Trossachs National Park

Loch Lubnaig

Loch Maree

Loch Morar

Loch Morlich

Loch Ness

Loch Nevis

Loch Rannoch

Loch Tay

Lochranza

Luss

Meall a' Bhuiridh (Glencoe Ski Centre)

Scottish Sea Life Sanctuary at Loch Creran

Rannoch Moor

Red Cuillin

Rest and Be Thankful stretch of A83

River Carron, Wester Ross

River Spey

River Tay

Ross and Cromarty

Smoo Cave

Stob Coire a' Chàirn

Stac Polly

Strathspey Railway

Sutherland

Tor Castle

Torridon Hills

Urquhart Castle

West Highland Line (scenic railway)

West Highland Way (Long-distance footpath)

Wester Ross

Supreme Power

Franklin Roosevelt vs. the Supreme Court

April 14, 2010, 12:00pm – 1:00pm

 

To watch the event, click here: www.americanprogress.org//events/2010/04/supreme.html

 

Scholars are asking the same questions about the role of the Supreme Court today as they were back in President Franklin D. Roosevelt’s time when he tried to expand the Supreme Court and stack it with his supporters: “Was it the judge’s role to essentially pass on the wisdom of economic legislation? Or was it the judges’ role to essentially … let Congress do what it felt needed to be done to advance the general welfare?” Author Jeff Shesol posed these questions at a CAP event last Wednesday about his new book Supreme Power: Franklin Roosevelt vs. The Supreme Court. Shesol was joined by Dahlia Lithwick, senior editor at Slate, on a panel moderated by John Halpin, Senior Fellow at CAP.

 

Halpin summarized the book as a three-act drama of the stability of democracy itself. “One is a decades-long ideological battle between competing world views about government, the economy, and the Constitution,” he said, “the second is how this ideological battle plays out politically in relation to the Court in the 1930s. And then there’s the third act that’s a little more implied, which is what’s the long-term legacy of this battle, both ideologically and politically for the New Deal and for…debates about the Court and jurisprudence throughout the 20th century,” Halpin explained.

 

The Supreme Court shot down each item on President Roosevelt’s New Deal agenda beginning in 1935. The impoverished social and economic situation meant that violent revolution was a real threat in the United States by late 1936 and early 1937. President Roosevelt was looking for a solution that was “constitutional, and that was quick and that would be effective,” Shesol said. Nowhere in the Constitution does it mandate the number of seats on the Supreme Court, so President Roosevelt decided to expand the Court to 15 judges and pack it with liberals. His plan failed, split the Democratic Party, and transformed the American constitutional landscape.

 

“When we think about the Court-packing plan we have an idea that the Court was way out of line. That it was striking down good, good laws,” Lithwick said. “No, these were well-intentioned laws, but…it’s not the case…they were horrified by the really very quick…one after another churning out legislation,” she explained.

 

But by 1936, “the Court has covered the constitutional landscape and has knocked down not only laws that were sloppily drafted, but laws that were exceedingly carefully drafted,” Shesol said. The Court decided with sweeping opinions to “pre-emptively overrule any such legislation in the future” so President Roosevelt came to believe that no matter how legislation was drafted, it was the justices themselves who would prevent the advance of anything he tried to do, Shesol added.

 

President Roosevelt thought the Constitution “was a very flexible instrument” and that the doctrines used to strike down the New Deal were obsolete, Shesol explained. Yet it’s evident in the conservative justices’ letters that they “believe [President] Roosevelt is centralizing power in his own hands” and both the Court and [President] Roosevelt viewed this constitutional argument as one about the survival of democracy and believed that a dictatorship would rise out of the ashes of failure, Shesol said.

 

The competing ideologies of constitutional formalism versus the notion of an elastic, living constitution have as much of an effect on legislative decisions today as they did in President Roosevelt’s day. Lithwick described the book as “manna from heaven” because of its timeliness in the current discussion of “jurisprudential theories and originalism” evolving around President Barack Obama’s decision to criticize the Supreme Court’s Citizens United ruling in his State of the Union address. “Eighty percent of the public hated the Citizens United decision,” she said. Clearly, the Court is “way out of whack” with public opinion.

 

Even today’s linguistic framework for conversations about the Supreme Court and presidential powers have not evolved much from the 1930s. Organic law and theories of evolution are still used to defend the living Constitution argument, versus constitutional formalism’s “language about how the constitution is set in stone, how it’s sort of oracular, and how it’s divine and this notion that the constitution is the secular Ten Commandments, it’s immutable, it doesn’t change,” Lithwick said.

 

There is a “perfect alignment between one’s economic views and one’s constitutional views in this way,” Shesol added. “If you believed that reform was essential…you tended to see the necessity to have the constitution … evolve with our understanding of contemporary realities. If you were pretty comfortable with the established order…you tended to be drawn to a kind of jurisprudence…that really had no room for these wild social experiments,” he said.

 

The prevailing Court model right now is to be an umpire with “the language of constraint” and do as little as possible so that you don’t appear to support more presidential power, Lithwick lamented. “We happen to be in a sort of trough right now in history where to talk about the idea that the Constitution seeks to protect minorities or seeks to protect the underprivileged is to look reckless,” she said. It has also become somewhat taboo to challenge the finite nature of the Constitution and insist that it’s a living document that should fit the times.

 

Conservatives have dominated the conversation on the Constitution for the last couple of decades, and we need to hear progressives assert their points of view, Shesol said. “What [President] Roosevelt understood and what he constantly reiterated is that this argument between these two notions of the Constitution goes back to the nation’s founding…and so [President] Roosevelt made this argument with a sense of supreme self-confidence that he was true to the intentions of the founders,” Shesol continued, “And we have somehow—on the progressive side—allowed the conservatives…to get away with the argument that the founders were universally in favor of smaller, weaker government, and state’s rights and so forth…and [President] Roosevelt didn’t believe that. I don’t imagine President Obama believes it either but it would be useful thing to hear him say forcefully.”

 

The two moments in time are very similar, but the key difference is that now we don’t have “a full-fledged coherent” progressive view of the Constitution, Lithwick said. This is a much more “one-sided view of the Constitution…but this is a moment where the president has decided to take on the Court” with Citizens United, she explained. Yet his argument against the decision has been a pragmatic one—that this decision can open up our elections to foreign interests—rather than a constitutional argument, despite the fact that he’s a constitutional professor.

 

“[President] Roosevelt was defending a whole set of policies that saved the country, that saved capitalism, created a modern social welfare system and renewed the concept of equal opportunity,” Halpin said. “Perhaps part of the problem today is that the issues outside of, say, the health bill, don’t seem as pressing.”

  

Featured Speakers:

Jeff Shesol, author, Supreme Power

Dahlia Lithwick, senior editor, Slate

 

Moderated by:

John Halpin, Senior Fellow, Center for American Progress

  

PHOTO CREDIT:

Ralph Alswang

Photographer

202-487-5025

ralph@ralphphoto.com

www.ralphphoto.com

by: Flaming Lotus Girls

from: San Francisco, CA

year: 2017

 

Suspended 20 feet above the Playa, NOETICA looks solid and imposing. The artwork evokes universal themes and flows from one portion of the sculpture to another. Upon nearing, it becomes clear that the piece is in sinuous and seductive motion, and that the movements are interconnected from cube to cube; just as ideas, originally thought of as fixed and immutable, become fluid and linked with cooperation and communication. Viewers participate in creating this movement, and interact with the piece by working together to move the smaller joystick, causing the larger piece to move in a similar fashion. Coordinated movement is rewarded with fire and lighting effects. At night, poofers dance in the sky as golden images move on the playa surface below.

URL: m.facebook.com/Flaminglotusgirls/ Contact: info@flaminglotus.com

Supreme Power

Franklin Roosevelt vs. the Supreme Court

April 14, 2010, 12:00pm – 1:00pm

 

To watch the event, click here: www.americanprogress.org//events/2010/04/supreme.html

 

Scholars are asking the same questions about the role of the Supreme Court today as they were back in President Franklin D. Roosevelt’s time when he tried to expand the Supreme Court and stack it with his supporters: “Was it the judge’s role to essentially pass on the wisdom of economic legislation? Or was it the judges’ role to essentially … let Congress do what it felt needed to be done to advance the general welfare?” Author Jeff Shesol posed these questions at a CAP event last Wednesday about his new book Supreme Power: Franklin Roosevelt vs. The Supreme Court. Shesol was joined by Dahlia Lithwick, senior editor at Slate, on a panel moderated by John Halpin, Senior Fellow at CAP.

 

Halpin summarized the book as a three-act drama of the stability of democracy itself. “One is a decades-long ideological battle between competing world views about government, the economy, and the Constitution,” he said, “the second is how this ideological battle plays out politically in relation to the Court in the 1930s. And then there’s the third act that’s a little more implied, which is what’s the long-term legacy of this battle, both ideologically and politically for the New Deal and for…debates about the Court and jurisprudence throughout the 20th century,” Halpin explained.

 

The Supreme Court shot down each item on President Roosevelt’s New Deal agenda beginning in 1935. The impoverished social and economic situation meant that violent revolution was a real threat in the United States by late 1936 and early 1937. President Roosevelt was looking for a solution that was “constitutional, and that was quick and that would be effective,” Shesol said. Nowhere in the Constitution does it mandate the number of seats on the Supreme Court, so President Roosevelt decided to expand the Court to 15 judges and pack it with liberals. His plan failed, split the Democratic Party, and transformed the American constitutional landscape.

 

“When we think about the Court-packing plan we have an idea that the Court was way out of line. That it was striking down good, good laws,” Lithwick said. “No, these were well-intentioned laws, but…it’s not the case…they were horrified by the really very quick…one after another churning out legislation,” she explained.

 

But by 1936, “the Court has covered the constitutional landscape and has knocked down not only laws that were sloppily drafted, but laws that were exceedingly carefully drafted,” Shesol said. The Court decided with sweeping opinions to “pre-emptively overrule any such legislation in the future” so President Roosevelt came to believe that no matter how legislation was drafted, it was the justices themselves who would prevent the advance of anything he tried to do, Shesol added.

 

President Roosevelt thought the Constitution “was a very flexible instrument” and that the doctrines used to strike down the New Deal were obsolete, Shesol explained. Yet it’s evident in the conservative justices’ letters that they “believe [President] Roosevelt is centralizing power in his own hands” and both the Court and [President] Roosevelt viewed this constitutional argument as one about the survival of democracy and believed that a dictatorship would rise out of the ashes of failure, Shesol said.

 

The competing ideologies of constitutional formalism versus the notion of an elastic, living constitution have as much of an effect on legislative decisions today as they did in President Roosevelt’s day. Lithwick described the book as “manna from heaven” because of its timeliness in the current discussion of “jurisprudential theories and originalism” evolving around President Barack Obama’s decision to criticize the Supreme Court’s Citizens United ruling in his State of the Union address. “Eighty percent of the public hated the Citizens United decision,” she said. Clearly, the Court is “way out of whack” with public opinion.

 

Even today’s linguistic framework for conversations about the Supreme Court and presidential powers have not evolved much from the 1930s. Organic law and theories of evolution are still used to defend the living Constitution argument, versus constitutional formalism’s “language about how the constitution is set in stone, how it’s sort of oracular, and how it’s divine and this notion that the constitution is the secular Ten Commandments, it’s immutable, it doesn’t change,” Lithwick said.

 

There is a “perfect alignment between one’s economic views and one’s constitutional views in this way,” Shesol added. “If you believed that reform was essential…you tended to see the necessity to have the constitution … evolve with our understanding of contemporary realities. If you were pretty comfortable with the established order…you tended to be drawn to a kind of jurisprudence…that really had no room for these wild social experiments,” he said.

 

The prevailing Court model right now is to be an umpire with “the language of constraint” and do as little as possible so that you don’t appear to support more presidential power, Lithwick lamented. “We happen to be in a sort of trough right now in history where to talk about the idea that the Constitution seeks to protect minorities or seeks to protect the underprivileged is to look reckless,” she said. It has also become somewhat taboo to challenge the finite nature of the Constitution and insist that it’s a living document that should fit the times.

 

Conservatives have dominated the conversation on the Constitution for the last couple of decades, and we need to hear progressives assert their points of view, Shesol said. “What [President] Roosevelt understood and what he constantly reiterated is that this argument between these two notions of the Constitution goes back to the nation’s founding…and so [President] Roosevelt made this argument with a sense of supreme self-confidence that he was true to the intentions of the founders,” Shesol continued, “And we have somehow—on the progressive side—allowed the conservatives…to get away with the argument that the founders were universally in favor of smaller, weaker government, and state’s rights and so forth…and [President] Roosevelt didn’t believe that. I don’t imagine President Obama believes it either but it would be useful thing to hear him say forcefully.”

 

The two moments in time are very similar, but the key difference is that now we don’t have “a full-fledged coherent” progressive view of the Constitution, Lithwick said. This is a much more “one-sided view of the Constitution…but this is a moment where the president has decided to take on the Court” with Citizens United, she explained. Yet his argument against the decision has been a pragmatic one—that this decision can open up our elections to foreign interests—rather than a constitutional argument, despite the fact that he’s a constitutional professor.

 

“[President] Roosevelt was defending a whole set of policies that saved the country, that saved capitalism, created a modern social welfare system and renewed the concept of equal opportunity,” Halpin said. “Perhaps part of the problem today is that the issues outside of, say, the health bill, don’t seem as pressing.”

  

Featured Speakers:

Jeff Shesol, author, Supreme Power

Dahlia Lithwick, senior editor, Slate

 

Moderated by:

John Halpin, Senior Fellow, Center for American Progress

  

PHOTO CREDIT:

Ralph Alswang

Photographer

202-487-5025

ralph@ralphphoto.com

www.ralphphoto.com

The mute swan (Cygnus olor) is a species of swan and a member of the waterfowl family Anatidae. It is native to much of Eurosiberia, and (as a rare winter visitor) the far north of Africa. It is an introduced species in North America, home to the largest populations outside of its native range, with additional smaller introductions in Australasia and southern Africa. The name "mute" derives from it being less vocal than other swan species. Measuring 125 to 160 cm (49 to 63 in) in length, this large swan is wholly white in plumage with an orange beak bordered with black. It is recognizable by its pronounced knob atop the beak, which is larger in males.

 

Taxonomy

The mute swan was first formally described by the German naturalist Johann Friedrich Gmelin as Anas olor in 1789 and was transferred by Johann Matthäus Bechstein to the new genus Cygnus in 1803. Both cygnus and olor mean "swan" in Latin; cygnus is a variant form of cycnus, borrowing from Greek κύκνος kyknos, a word of the same meaning.

 

Despite its Eurasian origin, its closest relatives are the black swan of Australia and the black-necked swan of South America, not the other Northern Hemisphere swans of the genus Cygnus. The species is monotypic, with no living subspecies.

 

Evolution

Mute swan subfossils, 6,000 years old, have been found in post-glacial peat beds of East Anglia, Great Britain. They have been recorded from Ireland east to Portugal and Italy, and from France, 13,000 BP (Desbrosse and Mourer-Chauvire 1972–1973). Cygnus olor bergmanni, a paleosub species which differed only in size from the living bird, is known from fossils found in Azerbaijan. A related paleospecies recorded from fossils and subfossils is the Giant swan, Cygnus falconeri, a flightless species which lived on the islands of Malta and Sicily during the Middle Pleistocene.

 

Fossils of swan ancestors more distantly allied to the mute swan have been found in four U.S. states: California, Arizona, Idaho and Oregon. The timeline runs from the Miocene to the late Pleistocene or 10,000 BP. The latest find was in Anza Borrego Desert, a state park in California. Fossils from the Pleistocene include Cygnus paloregonus from Fossil Lake, Oregon, Froman's Ferry, Idaho, and Arizona, referred to by Howard in The Waterfowl of the World as "probably the mute type swan".

 

Description

Adults of this large swan typically range from 140 to 160 cm (55 to 63 in) long, although can range in extreme cases from 125 to 170 cm (49 to 67 in), with a 200 to 240 cm (79 to 94 in) wingspan. Males are larger than females and have a larger knob on their bill. On average, this is the second largest waterfowl species after the trumpeter swan, although male mute swans can easily match or even exceed a male trumpeter in mass. Among standard measurements of the mute swan, the wing chord measures 53–62.3 cm (20.9–24.5 in), the tarsus is 10–11.8 cm (3.9–4.6 in) and the bill is 6.9–9 cm (2.7–3.5 in). The plumage is white, while the legs are dark grey. The beak of the mute swan is bright orange, with black around the nostrils and a black nail.

 

The mute swan is one of the heaviest extant flying birds. In several studies from Great Britain, males (known as cobs) were found to average from about 10.6 to 11.87 kg (23.4 to 26.2 lb), with a weight range of 9.2–14.3 kg (20–32 lb) while the slightly smaller females (known as pens) averaged about 8.5 to 9.67 kg (18.7 to 21.3 lb), with a weight range of 7.6–10.6 kg (17–23 lb). While the top normal weight for a big cob is roughly 15 kg (33 lb), one unusually big Polish cob weighed almost 23 kg (51 lb) and this counts as the largest weight ever verified for a flying bird, although it has been questioned whether this heavyweight could still take flight.

 

Young birds, called cygnets, are not the bright white of mature adults, and their bill is dull greyish-black, not orange, for the first year. The down may range from pure white to grey to buff, with grey/buff the most common. The white cygnets have a leucistic gene. Cygnets grow quickly, reaching a size close to their adult size in approximately three months after hatching. Cygnets typically retain their grey feathers until they are at least one year old, with the down on their wings having been replaced by flight feathers earlier that year.

 

All mute swans are white at maturity, though the feathers (particularly on the head and neck) are often stained orange-brown by iron and tannins in the water.

 

Polish swan

The colour morph C. o. morpha immutabilis (immūtābilis is Latin for "immutable, unchangeable, unalterable"), also known as the "Polish swan", has pinkish (not dark grey) legs and dull white cygnets; as with white domestic geese, it is found only in populations with a history of domestication. Polish swans carry a copy of a gene responsible for leucism.

 

Behaviour

Mute swans nest on large mounds that they build with waterside vegetation in shallow water on islands in the middle or at the very edge of a lake. They are monogamous and often reuse the same nest each year, restoring or rebuilding it as needed. Male and female swans share the care of the nest, and once the cygnets are fledged it is not uncommon to see whole families looking for food. They feed on a wide range of vegetation, both submerged aquatic plants which they reach with their long necks, and by grazing on land. The food commonly includes agricultural crop plants such as oilseed rape and wheat, and feeding flocks in the winter may cause significant crop damage, often as much through trampling with their large webbed feet, as through direct consumption. It will also feed on small proportions of aquatic insects, fish and frogs.

 

Unlike black swans, mute swans are usually strongly territorial with just a single pair on smaller lakes, though in a few locations where a large area of suitable feeding habitat is found, they can be colonial. The largest colonies have over 100 pairs, such as at the colony at Abbotsbury Swannery in southern England, and at the southern tip of Öland Island, Ottenby Preserve, in the coastal waters of the Baltic Sea, and can have nests spaced as little as 2 m (7 ft) apart. Non-mated juveniles up to 3–4 years old commonly form larger flocks, which can total several hundred birds, often at regular traditional sites. A notable flock of non-breeding birds is found on the River Tweed estuary at Berwick-upon-Tweed in northeastern England, with a maximum count of 787 birds. A large population exists near the Swan Lifeline Station in Windsor and lives on the Thames in the shadow of Windsor Castle. Once the adults are mated they seek out their territories and often live close to ducks and gulls, which may take advantage of the swan's ability to reach deep water weeds, which tend to spread out on the water surface.

 

The mute swan is less vocal than the noisy whooper and Bewick's swans; they do, however, make a variety of sounds, often described as "grunting, hoarse whistling, and snorting noises." During a courtship display, mute swans utter a rhythmic song. The song helps synchronize the movements of their heads and necks. It could technically be employed to distinguish a bonded couple from two dating swans, as the rhythm of the song typically fails to match the pace of the head movements of two dating swans. Mute swans usually hiss at competitors or intruders trying to enter their territory.[30] The most familiar sound associated with mute swans is the vibrant throbbing of the wings in flight which is unique to the species and can be heard from a range of 1 to 2 km (0.6 to 1 mi), indicating its value as a contact sound between birds in flight. Cygnets are especially vocal and communicate through a variety of whistling and chirping sounds when content, as well as a harsh squawking noise when distressed or lost.

  

Nesting in spring, Cologne, Germany

Mute swans can be very aggressive in defence of their nests and are highly protective of their mate and offspring. Most defensive acts from a mute swan begin with a loud hiss and, if this is not sufficient to drive off the predator or intruder, are followed by a physical attack. Swans attack by striking at the threat with bony spurs in their wings, accompanied by biting with their large bill, while smaller waterbirds such as ducks are normally grabbed with the swan's bill and dragged or thrown clear of the swan and its offspring. Swans will kill intruders into their territory, both other swans, and geese and ducks, by drowning, climbing onto and pecking the back of the head and forcing the other bird underwater.

 

The wings of the swan are very powerful, though not strong enough to break an adult man's leg, as is commonly misquoted. Large waterfowl, such as Canada geese, (more likely out of competition than in response to potential predation) may be aggressively driven off, and mute swans regularly attack people who enter their territory.

 

The cob is responsible for defending the cygnets while on the water, and will sometimes attack small watercraft, such as canoes, that it feels are a threat to its young. The cob will additionally try to chase the predator out of his family territory and will keep animals such as foxes and raptors at bay. In New York (outside its native range), the most common predators of cygnets are common snapping turtles. Healthy adults are rarely preyed upon, though canids such as coyotes, felids such as lynx, and bears can pose a threat to infirm ones (healthy adults can usually swim away from danger and nest defence is usually successful.) and there are a few cases of healthy adults falling prey to the golden eagles. In England, there has been an increased rate of attacks on swans by out-of-control dogs, especially in parks where the birds are less territorial. This is considered criminal in British law, and the birds are placed under the highest protection due to their association with the monarch. Mute swans will readily attack dogs to protect themselves and their cygnets from an attack, and an adult swan is capable of overwhelming and drowning even large dog breeds.

 

The familiar pose with the neck curved back and wings half raised, known as busking, is a threat display. Both feet are paddled in unison during this display, resulting in more jerky movement. The swans may also use the busking posture for wind-assisted transportation over several hundred meters, so-called windsurfing.

 

Like other swans, mute swans are known for their ability to grieve for a lost or dead mate or cygnet. Swans will go through a mourning process, and in the case of the loss of their mate, may either stay where their counterpart lived or fly off to join a flock. Should one of the pair die while there are cygnets present, the remaining parent will take up their partner's duties in raising the clutch.

 

Breeding

Mute swans lay from 4 to 10 eggs. The female broods for around 36 days, with cygnets normally hatching between May and July. The young swans do not achieve the ability to fly before about 120 to 150 days old. This limits the distribution of the species at the northern edge of its range as the cygnets need to learn to fly before the ponds and lakes freeze over.

 

Distribution and habitat

The mute swan is found naturally mainly in temperate areas of Europe then across the Palearctic as far east as Primorsky Krai, near Sidemi.

 

It is partially migratory throughout northern latitudes in Europe and Asia, as far south as North Africa and the Mediterranean. It is known and recorded to have nested in Iceland and is a vagrant in that area as well as in Bermuda, according to the UN Environment Programme chart of international status chart of bird species, which places it in 70 countries, breeding in 49 countries, and vagrant in 16 countries.[citation needed] While most of the current population in Japan is introduced, mute swans are depicted on scrolls more than 1,000 years old, and wild birds from the mainland Asian population still occur rarely in winter. Natural migrants to Japan usually occur along with whooper and sometimes Bewick's swans.[citation needed]

 

The mute swan is protected in most of its range, but this has not prevented illegal hunting and poaching. It is often kept in captivity outside its natural range, as a decoration for parks and ponds, and escapes have happened. The descendants of such birds have become naturalised in the eastern United States and Great Lakes, much as the Canada goose has done in Europe.

 

World population

Mute swans with cygnets in Wolvercote, Oxfordshire

The total native population of mute swans is about 500,000 birds at the end of the breeding season (adults plus young), of which up to 350,000 are in Russia. The largest single breeding concentration is 11,000 pairs in the Volga Delta.

 

The population in the United Kingdom is about 22,000 birds as of the 2006–2007 winter, a slight decline from the peak of about 26,000–27,000 birds in 1990. This includes about 5,300 breeding pairs, the remainder being immatures. Other significant populations in Europe include 6,800–8,300 breeding pairs in Germany, 4,500 pairs in Denmark, 4,000–4,200 pairs in Poland, 3,000–4,000 pairs in the Netherlands, about 2,500 pairs in Ireland, and 1,200–1,700 pairs in Ukraine.

 

For many centuries, mute swans in Great Britain were domesticated for food, with individuals being marked by nicks on their webs (feet) or beaks to indicate ownership. These marks were registered with the Crown and a Royal Swanherd was appointed. Any birds not so marked became Crown property, hence the swan becoming known as the "Royal Bird". This domestication saved the mute swan from extirpation through overhunting in Great Britain.

 

Populations in Western Europe were largely exterminated by hunting pressure in the 13th–19th centuries, except for semi-domesticated birds maintained as poultry by large landowners. Better protection in the late 19th and early 20th centuries allowed the species to expand and return to most or all of their former range. More recently in the period from about 1960 up to the early 1980s, numbers declined significantly again in many areas in England, primarily due to lead poisoning from birds swallowing lead shots from shooting and discarded fishing weights made from lead. After lead weights and shots were mostly replaced by other less toxic alternatives, mute swan numbers increased again rapidly.

 

Introduced populations

Since being introduced into North America, the mute swan has increased greatly in number to the extent that it is considered an invasive species there. Populations introduced into other areas remain small, with around 200 in Japan, fewer than 200 in New Zealand and Australia, and about 120 in South Africa.

 

North America

The mute swan was introduced to North America in the late 19th century. Recently, it has been widely viewed as an invasive species because of its rapidly increasing numbers and its adverse effects on other waterfowl and native ecosystems. For example, a study of population sizes in the lower Great Lakes from 1971 to 2000 found that mute swan numbers were increasing at an average rate of at least 10% per year, doubling the population every seven to eight years. Several studies have concluded that mute swans severely reduce the densities of submerged vegetation where they occur.

 

In 2003, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service proposed to "minimize environmental damages attributed to Mute Swans" by reducing their numbers in the Atlantic Flyway to pre-1986 levels, a 67% reduction at the time. According to a report published in the Federal Register of 2003 the proposal was supported by all thirteen state wildlife agencies which submitted comments, as well as by 43 bird conservation, wildlife conservation and wildlife management organisations. Ten animal rights organisations and the vast majority of comments from individuals were opposed. At this time mute swans were protected under the Migratory Bird Treaty Act due to a court order, but in 2005 the United States Department of the Interior officially declared them a non-native, unprotected species. Mute swans are protected in some areas of the U.S. by local laws, for example, in Connecticut.

 

The status of the mute swan as an introduced species in North America is disputed by the interest group "Save the Mute Swans". They assert that mute swans are native to the region and therefore deserving of protection. They claim that mute swans had origins in Russia and cite historical sightings and fossil records. These claims have been rejected as specious by the U.S. Department of the Interior.

 

Oceania

The mute swan had absolute protection in New Zealand under the Wildlife Act 1953, but this was changed in June 2010 to a lower level of protection. It still has protection, but is now allowed to be killed or held in captivity at the discretion of the Minister of Conservation.

 

A small feral population exists in the vicinity of Perth, Australia; however, it is believed to number less than 100 individuals.

 

In popular culture

The mute swan has been the national bird of Denmark since 1984. Before that, the skylark was considered Denmark's national bird (since 1960).

 

The fairy tale "The Ugly Duckling" by Hans Christian Andersen tells the story of a cygnet ostracised by his fellow barnyard fowl because of his perceived unattractiveness. To his delight (and to the surprise of others), he matures into a graceful swan, the most beautiful bird of all.

 

Today, the British Monarch retains the right to ownership of all unmarked mute swans in open water, but King Charles III exercises his ownership only on certain stretches of the Thames and its surrounding tributaries. This ownership is shared with the Vintners' and Dyers' Companies, who were granted rights of ownership by the Crown in the 15th century.

 

The mute swans in the moat at the Bishops Palace at Wells Cathedral in Wells, England have for centuries been trained to ring bells via strings attached to them to beg for food. Two swans are still able to ring for lunch.

 

The pair of swans in the Boston Public Garden are named Romeo and Juliet after the Shakespearean couple; however, it was found that both of them are females

Michigamme, Michigan

Marquette County

When historians of art apply the term “sacred” to any and every work that has a religious subject, they overlook the fact that art is essentially form. An art cannot be called sacred solely because its subjects derive from spiritual truths; its formal language must also derive from the same source. This is by no means the case with a religious art like that of the Renaissance or Baroque periods, which, as far as style is concerned, in no way differs from the fundamentally profane art of those periods; neither its subjects, which, in a wholly outward and so to speak literary manner, it takes from religion, nor the devotional feelings with which it is often permeated, nor even the nobility of soul which sometimes finds expression in it, suffice to confer on it a truly sacred character. No art merits the epithet sacred unless its very forms reflect the spiritual vision characteristic of a particular religion.

 

Every form “vehicles” a particular quality of being. The religious subject of a work of art can be merely superimposed on a form, in which case it lacks any relation to the formal “language” of the work, as is demonstrated by Christian art since the Renaissance. Such productions are merely profane works of art with a religious theme.

 

On the other hand, there is no sacred art which is profane in form, for there is a rigorous analogy between form and spirit. A spiritual vision necessarily finds its expression in a particular formal language. If this language has been forgotten—with the result that a socalled sacred art draws its forms from absolutely any kind of profane art—it means that a spiritual vision of things no longer exists.

 

It would be meaningless to seek to excuse the protean style of a religious art, or its indefinite and ill-defined character, on the grounds of the universality of dogma or the freedom of the spirit. Granted that spirituality in itself is independent of forms, this in no way implies that it can be expressed and transmitted by any and every kind of form. Through its qualitative essence, form has a place in the sensible order analogous to that of truth in the intellectual order; this is the significance of the Greek notion of eidos.

 

Just as a mental form, such as a dogma or a doctrine, can be an adequate, albeit limited, reflection of a Divine Truth, so a sensible form can retrace a truth or a reality which transcends both the plane of sensible forms and the plane of thought. Every sacred art is therefore founded on a science of forms, or in other words, on the symbolism inherent in forms.

 

It must be borne in mind that a sacred symbol is not merely a conventional sign; it manifests its archetype by virtue of a certain ontological law.

As Ananda Coomaraswamy has observed, a sacred symbol is, in a sense, that which it expresses. For this very reason, traditional symbolism is never devoid of beauty. In the terms of a spiritual vision of the world, the beauty of an object is nothing other than the transparency of its existential envelopes. An art worthy of the name is beautiful because it is true.

 

It is neither possible nor necessary that every artist or craftsman engaged in sacred art be conscious of the Divine Law inherent in forms; he will only know certain aspects of it, or certain applications that arise within the limits of the rules of his craft. These rules will enable him to paint an icon, to fashion a sacred vessel, or to practice calligraphy in a liturgically valid manner, without it being necessary for him to know the ultimate significance of the symbols he is working with. It is tradition that transmits the sacred models and the working rules, and thereby guarantees the spiritual validity of the forms.

 

Tradition possesses a secret power which is communicated to an entire civilization and determines even those arts and crafts whose immediate objects include nothing particularly sacred.

 

This power creates the style of a traditional civilization. A style—something that cannot be imitated from the outside—is perpetuated without difficulty, in a quasi-organic manner, by the sole power of the spirit by which it is animated.

 

One of the most tenacious of modern prejudices is the one that opposes the impersonal and objective rules of an art for fear that they might stifle creative genius. In reality, there is no traditional work—one governed by immutable principles—which does not give sensible expression to creative joy in the soul; modern individualism, on the other hand, has produced, apart from a few works of genius which are nevertheless spiritually barren, all the ugliness—the endless and hopeless ugliness—of the forms that fill the “ordinary life” of our time.

 

One of the fundamental conditions of happiness is to know that everything one does has an eternal meaning; but who at the present time can still conceive of a civilization in which all its vital aspects are developed “in the likeness of Heaven”? In a theocentric society, the humblest activity participates in this heavenly benediction.

 

The ultimate objective of sacred art is not to evoke feelings or communicate impressions; it is a symbol, and as such it employs simple and primordial means. It cannot in any case be anything more than allusive, its real object being ineffable. It is of angelic origin, because its models reflect supra-formal realities. By recapitulating the creation—the “Divine art”—in parables, it demonstrates the symbolical nature of the world, and so liberates the human spirit from its attachment to crude and ephemeral “facts”.

 

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Titus Burckhardt: The Universality of Sacred Art

 

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Icon: The vision of St. Eulogius

 

The theme of this icon is drawn from the sayings of the Desert Fathers, intended for the spiritual edification of monks. It illustrates the story of the vision of Eulogius of Alexandria. During a service, he saw angels distributing gold, silver, and bronze coins to the monks according to their degree of asceticism; the negligent were given nothing.

In the foreground, two holy abbots who are doubtless Sergius of Radonezh and Cyril of Belozersk bow down before a bowl containing offerings of bread. Their blessing prefigures the Eucharist, evoked by the Virgin and Child—an image of the Incarnation aligned with the altar, a promise of the Sacrifice and Resurrection.

C’était un vieux solitaire, un de ces vieux sans âge. Vieux dès sa retraite et durant les décennies qui suivirent, sans qu'il ne changea plus.

 

Il ne parlait jamais a personne a croire qu il avait même oublié le prénom de tous ses proches, que jamais ils n’entendirent les nommer. Un vieux qui tous les jours du reste de sa vie se mettait en route, dodelinant dune prothèse de hanche à l'autre. Il marchait sur l'ancien chemin muletier et disparaissait chaque fois au premier virage Mais tout le monde savait ou il allait. Sur son lopin de terre, un endroit qui sent la nostalgie, un lieu ou le temps s'est arrêté. Mais personne ne savait ce qu il y faisait, sur cette friche abandonnée.

 

Il s’asseyait tous les jours au même endroit, sur la même pierre. Sous le plus beau de ses oliviers. Celui qui semblait avoir reçu tous les bienfaits de la nature, même encore jeune, Il était déjà majestueux, et forçait le respect.

 

C’était l'olivier le plus productif, donnant les plus beaux fruits. Pourtant le seul dont le vieux n'en ramassa jamais un seul, redonnant a la terre ce qu'elle avait produit, de plus beau, pour un cycle perpétuel. Étrangement il ne l'avait jamais taillé. Ne pouvant se résoudre a lui couper les bras. Mais ce qu'il craignait par dessus tout c'était cet aspect mort avant la repousse, il n'aurait pu le vivre.

 

Le rituel était immuable, pourtant aucun jour ne se ressemblait. Durant les longues heures assis sous sa protection, il l'attendait puis l'écoutait. Le moindre souffle de vent, se muait en souffle de vie. Le bruissement de ses feuilles se métamorphosait en chuchotement, parfois des cris ou des pitreries. Les jours de grâce, il lui parlait vraiment, alors on aurait pu surprendre le vieil homme, lui répondre. Le vieux silencieux parlait donc, mais seulement à son Dieu.

 

L'hiver il y avait des jours de colère et des bourrasques de rage. Qu'ils se pardonnaient, au printemps, à la plus belle époque de la floraison. Les milliers de petites fleurs blanches, l'habillaient de ses habits de noce. Le vent jouait sa plus belle mélodie, il chantait la vie. Les petites étoiles, finissaient par joncher le sol, alors il était sur un nuage parmi les cieux, au paradis, ensemble.

Les jours les plus durs étaient ceux de l’été, lorsque la chaleur était suffocante, pas un brin d'air pas un mot, seulement le silence et le vide de l'attente. Alors on pouvait voir des gouttelettes couler le long de ses joues, et tomber à terre, pour se mêler à ses racines.

 

Après des années, d'attente, ils se rejoignirent pour toujours. Les cendres de mon grand père, furent rependues, au pied de l'Olivier, qu'il avait planté avec son fils, parti bien trop jeune. Ils continuent encore aujourd'hui à se nourrir l'un de l'autre. Cet arbre généalogique qui prend racine sur ma terre, est aujourd'hui le lieu de halte des randonneurs sur le chemin des moulins. C'est sous sa protection qu'a été mis un banc et une table, où les promeneurs qui savent écouter, peuvent entendre leur histoire.

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He was an old loner, one of those ageless old men. Old from the moment he retired and for decades afterward, he never changed.

 

He never spoke to anyone, as if he had even forgotten the first names of all his loved ones, whom they never heard called. An old man who, every day for the rest of his life, set out on a journey, swaying from one hip replacement to the next. He walked along the old mule track and disappeared around the first bend. But everyone knew where he was going. To his plot of land, a place that smacks of nostalgia, a place where time has stood still. But no one knew what he was doing there, on this abandoned wasteland.

 

He sat every day in the same spot, on the same stone. Under the most beautiful of his olive trees. He who seemed to have received all of nature's blessings, even while still young, was already majestic and commanded respect.

 

It was the most productive olive tree, yielding the most beautiful fruit. Yet it was the only one from which the old man never picked a single one, giving back to the earth what it had produced, the most beautiful, for a perpetual cycle. Strangely, he had never pruned it. Unable to bring himself to cut off its arms. But what he feared above all was that dead appearance before regrowth; he would not have been able to (re)live it.

 

The ritual was immutable, yet no two days were alike. During the long hours sitting under her protection, he waited for her and then listened. The slightest breath of wind turned into a breath of life. The rustling of his leaves metamorphosed into whispers, sometimes cries or antics. On days of grace, he truly spoke to her, then one could have surprised the old man, answered him. The silent old man spoke, then, but only to his God.

 

In winter, there were days of anger and gusts of rage. They were forgiven, in spring, at the most beautiful time of bloom. The thousands of small white flowers dressed him in his wedding attire. The wind played its most beautiful melody, it sang of life. The small stars ended up strewn across the ground, then he was on a cloud among the precious, in paradise, together.

 

The hardest days were those of summer, when the heat was stifling, not a breath of air, not a word, only silence and the emptiness of waiting. Then you could see droplets running down her cheeks, falling to the ground, to mingle with her roots.

 

After years of waiting, they were reunited forever. My grandfather's ashes were spread at the foot of the olive tree he had planted with his son, who had passed away far too young. They continue to nourish each other to this day. This family tree, which takes root on my land, is now a stopping place for hikers on the path to the mills. It is under its protection that a bench and a table were placed, where walkers who know how to listen can hear their story.

Falls of Shin is a waterfall on the River Shin, in northern Scotland, near the villages of Bonar Bridge and Lairg.

 

Falls of Shin had a popular visitor centre, managed as part of Balnagown Estates, a company owned by former Harrods boss Mohamed Al-Fayed. This included a restaurant, a branch of Harrods, and a waxwork model of Al-Fayed. The visitor centre was destroyed by a fire in May 2013. Balnagown Estates have since been working with the Kyle of Sutherland Development Trust to develop a new visitor attraction. In May 2017, the new visitor centre opened following the successful construction carried out by William Gray Construction. The opening event was dubbed "Celebra-Shin". The cafe is currently operated by Mac & Wild- a company created by Andy Waugh and Calum MacKinnon with 2 restaurants in London and Falls of Shin being their third.

 

The Falls of Shin were dynamited to improve the salmon access.

 

Aside from the Salmon Viewing Platform, the site also comprises a Mini Golf Course, Woodland Walks and a large Children's Playpark.

 

The Highlands is a historical region of Scotland. Culturally, the Highlands and the Lowlands diverged from the Late Middle Ages into the modern period, when Lowland Scots language replaced Scottish Gaelic throughout most of the Lowlands. The term is also used for the area north and west of the Highland Boundary Fault, although the exact boundaries are not clearly defined, particularly to the east. The Great Glen divides the Grampian Mountains to the southeast from the Northwest Highlands. The Scottish Gaelic name of A' Ghàidhealtachd literally means "the place of the Gaels" and traditionally, from a Gaelic-speaking point of view, includes both the Western Isles and the Highlands.

 

The area is very sparsely populated, with many mountain ranges dominating the region, and includes the highest mountain in the British Isles, Ben Nevis. During the 18th and early 19th centuries the population of the Highlands rose to around 300,000, but from c. 1841 and for the next 160 years, the natural increase in population was exceeded by emigration (mostly to Canada, the United States, Australia and New Zealand, and migration to the industrial cities of Scotland and England.) and passim  The area is now one of the most sparsely populated in Europe. At 9.1/km2 (24/sq mi) in 2012, the population density in the Highlands and Islands is less than one seventh of Scotland's as a whole.

 

The Highland Council is the administrative body for much of the Highlands, with its administrative centre at Inverness. However, the Highlands also includes parts of the council areas of Aberdeenshire, Angus, Argyll and Bute, Moray, North Ayrshire, Perth and Kinross, Stirling and West Dunbartonshire.

 

The Scottish Highlands is the only area in the British Isles to have the taiga biome as it features concentrated populations of Scots pine forest: see Caledonian Forest. It is the most mountainous part of the United Kingdom.

 

Between the 15th century and the mid-20th century, the area differed from most of the Lowlands in terms of language. In Scottish Gaelic, the region is known as the Gàidhealtachd, because it was traditionally the Gaelic-speaking part of Scotland, although the language is now largely confined to The Hebrides. The terms are sometimes used interchangeably but have different meanings in their respective languages. Scottish English (in its Highland form) is the predominant language of the area today, though Highland English has been influenced by Gaelic speech to a significant extent. Historically, the "Highland line" distinguished the two Scottish cultures. While the Highland line broadly followed the geography of the Grampians in the south, it continued in the north, cutting off the north-eastern areas, that is Eastern Caithness, Orkney and Shetland, from the more Gaelic Highlands and Hebrides.

 

Historically, the major social unit of the Highlands was the clan. Scottish kings, particularly James VI, saw clans as a challenge to their authority; the Highlands was seen by many as a lawless region. The Scots of the Lowlands viewed the Highlanders as backward and more "Irish". The Highlands were seen as the overspill of Gaelic Ireland. They made this distinction by separating Germanic "Scots" English and the Gaelic by renaming it "Erse" a play on Eire. Following the Union of the Crowns, James VI had the military strength to back up any attempts to impose some control. The result was, in 1609, the Statutes of Iona which started the process of integrating clan leaders into Scottish society. The gradual changes continued into the 19th century, as clan chiefs thought of themselves less as patriarchal leaders of their people and more as commercial landlords. The first effect on the clansmen who were their tenants was the change to rents being payable in money rather than in kind. Later, rents were increased as Highland landowners sought to increase their income. This was followed, mostly in the period 1760–1850, by agricultural improvement that often (particularly in the Western Highlands) involved clearance of the population to make way for large scale sheep farms. Displaced tenants were set up in crofting communities in the process. The crofts were intended not to provide all the needs of their occupiers; they were expected to work in other industries such as kelping and fishing. Crofters came to rely substantially on seasonal migrant work, particularly in the Lowlands. This gave impetus to the learning of English, which was seen by many rural Gaelic speakers to be the essential "language of work".

 

Older historiography attributes the collapse of the clan system to the aftermath of the Jacobite risings. This is now thought less influential by historians. Following the Jacobite rising of 1745 the British government enacted a series of laws to try to suppress the clan system, including bans on the bearing of arms and the wearing of tartan, and limitations on the activities of the Scottish Episcopal Church. Most of this legislation was repealed by the end of the 18th century as the Jacobite threat subsided. There was soon a rehabilitation of Highland culture. Tartan was adopted for Highland regiments in the British Army, which poor Highlanders joined in large numbers in the era of the Revolutionary and Napoleonic Wars (1790–1815). Tartan had largely been abandoned by the ordinary people of the region, but in the 1820s, tartan and the kilt were adopted by members of the social elite, not just in Scotland, but across Europe. The international craze for tartan, and for idealising a romanticised Highlands, was set off by the Ossian cycle, and further popularised by the works of Walter Scott. His "staging" of the visit of King George IV to Scotland in 1822 and the king's wearing of tartan resulted in a massive upsurge in demand for kilts and tartans that could not be met by the Scottish woollen industry. Individual clan tartans were largely designated in this period and they became a major symbol of Scottish identity. This "Highlandism", by which all of Scotland was identified with the culture of the Highlands, was cemented by Queen Victoria's interest in the country, her adoption of Balmoral as a major royal retreat, and her interest in "tartenry".

 

Recurrent famine affected the Highlands for much of its history, with significant instances as late as 1817 in the Eastern Highlands and the early 1850s in the West.  Over the 18th century, the region had developed a trade of black cattle into Lowland markets, and this was balanced by imports of meal into the area. There was a critical reliance on this trade to provide sufficient food, and it is seen as an essential prerequisite for the population growth that started in the 18th century. Most of the Highlands, particularly in the North and West was short of the arable land that was essential for the mixed, run rig based, communal farming that existed before agricultural improvement was introduced into the region.[a] Between the 1760s and the 1830s there was a substantial trade in unlicensed whisky that had been distilled in the Highlands. Lowland distillers (who were not able to avoid the heavy taxation of this product) complained that Highland whisky made up more than half the market. The development of the cattle trade is taken as evidence that the pre-improvement Highlands was not an immutable system, but did exploit the economic opportunities that came its way.  The illicit whisky trade demonstrates the entrepreneurial ability of the peasant classes. 

 

Agricultural improvement reached the Highlands mostly over the period 1760 to 1850. Agricultural advisors, factors, land surveyors and others educated in the thinking of Adam Smith were keen to put into practice the new ideas taught in Scottish universities.  Highland landowners, many of whom were burdened with chronic debts, were generally receptive to the advice they offered and keen to increase the income from their land.  In the East and South the resulting change was similar to that in the Lowlands, with the creation of larger farms with single tenants, enclosure of the old run rig fields, introduction of new crops (such as turnips), land drainage and, as a consequence of all this, eviction, as part of the Highland clearances, of many tenants and cottars. Some of those cleared found employment on the new, larger farms, others moved to the accessible towns of the Lowlands.

 

In the West and North, evicted tenants were usually given tenancies in newly created crofting communities, while their former holdings were converted into large sheep farms. Sheep farmers could pay substantially higher rents than the run rig farmers and were much less prone to falling into arrears. Each croft was limited in size so that the tenants would have to find work elsewhere. The major alternatives were fishing and the kelp industry. Landlords took control of the kelp shores, deducting the wages earned by their tenants from the rent due and retaining the large profits that could be earned at the high prices paid for the processed product during the Napoleonic wars.

 

When the Napoleonic wars finished in 1815, the Highland industries were affected by the return to a peacetime economy. The price of black cattle fell, nearly halving between 1810 and the 1830s. Kelp prices had peaked in 1810, but reduced from £9 a ton in 1823 to £3 13s 4d a ton in 1828. Wool prices were also badly affected.  This worsened the financial problems of debt-encumbered landlords. Then, in 1846, potato blight arrived in the Highlands, wiping out the essential subsistence crop for the overcrowded crofting communities. As the famine struck, the government made clear to landlords that it was their responsibility to provide famine relief for their tenants. The result of the economic downturn had been that a large proportion of Highland estates were sold in the first half of the 19th century. T M Devine points out that in the region most affected by the potato famine, by 1846, 70 per cent of the landowners were new purchasers who had not owned Highland property before 1800. More landlords were obliged to sell due to the cost of famine relief. Those who were protected from the worst of the crisis were those with extensive rental income from sheep farms.  Government loans were made available for drainage works, road building and other improvements and many crofters became temporary migrants – taking work in the Lowlands. When the potato famine ceased in 1856, this established a pattern of more extensive working away from the Highlands.

 

The unequal concentration of land ownership remained an emotional and controversial subject, of enormous importance to the Highland economy, and eventually became a cornerstone of liberal radicalism. The poor crofters were politically powerless, and many of them turned to religion. They embraced the popularly oriented, fervently evangelical Presbyterian revival after 1800. Most joined the breakaway "Free Church" after 1843. This evangelical movement was led by lay preachers who themselves came from the lower strata, and whose preaching was implicitly critical of the established order. The religious change energised the crofters and separated them from the landlords; it helped prepare them for their successful and violent challenge to the landlords in the 1880s through the Highland Land League. Violence erupted, starting on the Isle of Skye, when Highland landlords cleared their lands for sheep and deer parks. It was quietened when the government stepped in, passing the Crofters' Holdings (Scotland) Act, 1886 to reduce rents, guarantee fixity of tenure, and break up large estates to provide crofts for the homeless. This contrasted with the Irish Land War underway at the same time, where the Irish were intensely politicised through roots in Irish nationalism, while political dimensions were limited. In 1885 three Independent Crofter candidates were elected to Parliament, which listened to their pleas. The results included explicit security for the Scottish smallholders in the "crofting counties"; the legal right to bequeath tenancies to descendants; and the creation of a Crofting Commission. The Crofters as a political movement faded away by 1892, and the Liberal Party gained their votes.

 

Today, the Highlands are the largest of Scotland's whisky producing regions; the relevant area runs from Orkney to the Isle of Arran in the south and includes the northern isles and much of Inner and Outer Hebrides, Argyll, Stirlingshire, Arran, as well as sections of Perthshire and Aberdeenshire. (Other sources treat The Islands, except Islay, as a separate whisky producing region.) This massive area has over 30 distilleries, or 47 when the Islands sub-region is included in the count. According to one source, the top five are The Macallan, Glenfiddich, Aberlour, Glenfarclas and Balvenie. While Speyside is geographically within the Highlands, that region is specified as distinct in terms of whisky productions. Speyside single malt whiskies are produced by about 50 distilleries.

 

According to Visit Scotland, Highlands whisky is "fruity, sweet, spicy, malty". Another review states that Northern Highlands single malt is "sweet and full-bodied", the Eastern Highlands and Southern Highlands whiskies tend to be "lighter in texture" while the distilleries in the Western Highlands produce single malts with a "much peatier influence".

 

The Scottish Reformation achieved partial success in the Highlands. Roman Catholicism remained strong in some areas, owing to remote locations and the efforts of Franciscan missionaries from Ireland, who regularly came to celebrate Mass. There remain significant Catholic strongholds within the Highlands and Islands such as Moidart and Morar on the mainland and South Uist and Barra in the southern Outer Hebrides. The remoteness of the region and the lack of a Gaelic-speaking clergy undermined the missionary efforts of the established church. The later 18th century saw somewhat greater success, owing to the efforts of the SSPCK missionaries and to the disruption of traditional society after the Battle of Culloden in 1746. In the 19th century, the evangelical Free Churches, which were more accepting of Gaelic language and culture, grew rapidly, appealing much more strongly than did the established church.

 

For the most part, however, the Highlands are considered predominantly Protestant, belonging to the Church of Scotland. In contrast to the Catholic southern islands, the northern Outer Hebrides islands (Lewis, Harris and North Uist) have an exceptionally high proportion of their population belonging to the Protestant Free Church of Scotland or the Free Presbyterian Church of Scotland. The Outer Hebrides have been described as the last bastion of Calvinism in Britain and the Sabbath remains widely observed. Inverness and the surrounding area has a majority Protestant population, with most locals belonging to either The Kirk or the Free Church of Scotland. The church maintains a noticeable presence within the area, with church attendance notably higher than in other parts of Scotland. Religion continues to play an important role in Highland culture, with Sabbath observance still widely practised, particularly in the Hebrides.

 

In traditional Scottish geography, the Highlands refers to that part of Scotland north-west of the Highland Boundary Fault, which crosses mainland Scotland in a near-straight line from Helensburgh to Stonehaven. However the flat coastal lands that occupy parts of the counties of Nairnshire, Morayshire, Banffshire and Aberdeenshire are often excluded as they do not share the distinctive geographical and cultural features of the rest of the Highlands. The north-east of Caithness, as well as Orkney and Shetland, are also often excluded from the Highlands, although the Hebrides are usually included. The Highland area, as so defined, differed from the Lowlands in language and tradition, having preserved Gaelic speech and customs centuries after the anglicisation of the latter; this led to a growing perception of a divide, with the cultural distinction between Highlander and Lowlander first noted towards the end of the 14th century. In Aberdeenshire, the boundary between the Highlands and the Lowlands is not well defined. There is a stone beside the A93 road near the village of Dinnet on Royal Deeside which states 'You are now in the Highlands', although there are areas of Highland character to the east of this point.

 

A much wider definition of the Highlands is that used by the Scotch whisky industry. Highland single malts are produced at distilleries north of an imaginary line between Dundee and Greenock, thus including all of Aberdeenshire and Angus.

 

Inverness is regarded as the Capital of the Highlands, although less so in the Highland parts of Aberdeenshire, Angus, Perthshire and Stirlingshire which look more to Aberdeen, Dundee, Perth, and Stirling as their commercial centres.

 

The Highland Council area, created as one of the local government regions of Scotland, has been a unitary council area since 1996. The council area excludes a large area of the southern and eastern Highlands, and the Western Isles, but includes Caithness. Highlands is sometimes used, however, as a name for the council area, as in the former Highlands and Islands Fire and Rescue Service. Northern is also used to refer to the area, as in the former Northern Constabulary. These former bodies both covered the Highland council area and the island council areas of Orkney, Shetland and the Western Isles.

 

Much of the Highlands area overlaps the Highlands and Islands area. An electoral region called Highlands and Islands is used in elections to the Scottish Parliament: this area includes Orkney and Shetland, as well as the Highland Council local government area, the Western Isles and most of the Argyll and Bute and Moray local government areas. Highlands and Islands has, however, different meanings in different contexts. It means Highland (the local government area), Orkney, Shetland, and the Western Isles in Highlands and Islands Fire and Rescue Service. Northern, as in Northern Constabulary, refers to the same area as that covered by the fire and rescue service.

 

There have been trackways from the Lowlands to the Highlands since prehistoric times. Many traverse the Mounth, a spur of mountainous land that extends from the higher inland range to the North Sea slightly north of Stonehaven. The most well-known and historically important trackways are the Causey Mounth, Elsick Mounth, Cryne Corse Mounth and Cairnamounth.

 

Although most of the Highlands is geographically on the British mainland, it is somewhat less accessible than the rest of Britain; thus most UK couriers categorise it separately, alongside Northern Ireland, the Isle of Man, and other offshore islands. They thus charge additional fees for delivery to the Highlands, or exclude the area entirely. While the physical remoteness from the largest population centres inevitably leads to higher transit cost, there is confusion and consternation over the scale of the fees charged and the effectiveness of their communication, and the use of the word Mainland in their justification. Since the charges are often based on postcode areas, many far less remote areas, including some which are traditionally considered part of the lowlands, are also subject to these charges. Royal Mail is the only delivery network bound by a Universal Service Obligation to charge a uniform tariff across the UK. This, however, applies only to mail items and not larger packages which are dealt with by its Parcelforce division.

 

The Highlands lie to the north and west of the Highland Boundary Fault, which runs from Arran to Stonehaven. This part of Scotland is largely composed of ancient rocks from the Cambrian and Precambrian periods which were uplifted during the later Caledonian Orogeny. Smaller formations of Lewisian gneiss in the northwest are up to 3 billion years old. The overlying rocks of the Torridon Sandstone form mountains in the Torridon Hills such as Liathach and Beinn Eighe in Wester Ross.

 

These foundations are interspersed with many igneous intrusions of a more recent age, the remnants of which have formed mountain massifs such as the Cairngorms and the Cuillin of Skye. A significant exception to the above are the fossil-bearing beds of Old Red Sandstone found principally along the Moray Firth coast and partially down the Highland Boundary Fault. The Jurassic beds found in isolated locations on Skye and Applecross reflect the complex underlying geology. They are the original source of much North Sea oil. The Great Glen is formed along a transform fault which divides the Grampian Mountains to the southeast from the Northwest Highlands.

 

The entire region was covered by ice sheets during the Pleistocene ice ages, save perhaps for a few nunataks. The complex geomorphology includes incised valleys and lochs carved by the action of mountain streams and ice, and a topography of irregularly distributed mountains whose summits have similar heights above sea-level, but whose bases depend upon the amount of denudation to which the plateau has been subjected in various places.

Climate

 

The region is much warmer than other areas at similar latitudes (such as Kamchatka in Russia, or Labrador in Canada) because of the Gulf Stream making it cool, damp and temperate. The Köppen climate classification is "Cfb" at low altitudes, then becoming "Cfc", "Dfc" and "ET" at higher altitudes.

 

Places of interest

An Teallach

Aonach Mòr (Nevis Range ski centre)

Arrochar Alps

Balmoral Castle

Balquhidder

Battlefield of Culloden

Beinn Alligin

Beinn Eighe

Ben Cruachan hydro-electric power station

Ben Lomond

Ben Macdui (second highest mountain in Scotland and UK)

Ben Nevis (highest mountain in Scotland and UK)

Cairngorms National Park

Cairngorm Ski centre near Aviemore

Cairngorm Mountains

Caledonian Canal

Cape Wrath

Carrick Castle

Castle Stalker

Castle Tioram

Chanonry Point

Conic Hill

Culloden Moor

Dunadd

Duart Castle

Durness

Eilean Donan

Fingal's Cave (Staffa)

Fort George

Glen Coe

Glen Etive

Glen Kinglas

Glen Lyon

Glen Orchy

Glenshee Ski Centre

Glen Shiel

Glen Spean

Glenfinnan (and its railway station and viaduct)

Grampian Mountains

Hebrides

Highland Folk Museum – The first open-air museum in the UK.

Highland Wildlife Park

Inveraray Castle

Inveraray Jail

Inverness Castle

Inverewe Garden

Iona Abbey

Isle of Staffa

Kilchurn Castle

Kilmartin Glen

Liathach

Lecht Ski Centre

Loch Alsh

Loch Ard

Loch Awe

Loch Assynt

Loch Earn

Loch Etive

Loch Fyne

Loch Goil

Loch Katrine

Loch Leven

Loch Linnhe

Loch Lochy

Loch Lomond

Loch Lomond and the Trossachs National Park

Loch Lubnaig

Loch Maree

Loch Morar

Loch Morlich

Loch Ness

Loch Nevis

Loch Rannoch

Loch Tay

Lochranza

Luss

Meall a' Bhuiridh (Glencoe Ski Centre)

Scottish Sea Life Sanctuary at Loch Creran

Rannoch Moor

Red Cuillin

Rest and Be Thankful stretch of A83

River Carron, Wester Ross

River Spey

River Tay

Ross and Cromarty

Smoo Cave

Stob Coire a' Chàirn

Stac Polly

Strathspey Railway

Sutherland

Tor Castle

Torridon Hills

Urquhart Castle

West Highland Line (scenic railway)

West Highland Way (Long-distance footpath)

Wester Ross

Nikon D800E & Nikon AF-S Zoom Nikkor 14-24mm f/2.8G ED AF Lens photos of my HDR Hero's Journey Mythology LA Gallery photos taken with a Nikon D800E & Nikon AF-S Zoom Nikkor 14-24mm f/2.8G ED AF Lens! If I keep this up I may create a black hole! See the full-seize photos here:

www.flickr.com/photos/herosjourneymythology45surf/sets/72...

 

dx4/dt=ic & 45SURF Hero's Journey Mythology Photography (31 photos)

From press release: "Theoretical Physicist hosts Hero's Journey Mythology Photography Gallery Show in Honor of Moving Dimensions Theory Physics Research." Ph.D physicist and photographer Dr. E signs all of his fine art with dx4/dt=ic -- the foundational equation for Moving Dimensions Theory, which stipulates that the fourth dimension is expanding relative to the three spatial dimensions at the rate of c--the velocity of light. His Princeton advisor, the late J.A. Wheeler, wrote "More intellectual curiosity, versatility and yen for physics than Elliot McGucken's I have never seen in any senior or graduate student," and Dr. E's award-winning artificial retina dissertation, titled Multiple Unit Artificial Retina Chipset to Aid the Visually Impaired and Enhanced CMOS Phototransistors is now helping the blind see. Though seemingly disparate pursuits, all three endeavors--the photography, retinal prosthesis, and MDT are united in light. For MDT stipulates that photons surf the fourth expanding dimension on their way to exciting electrons in our our retinas or camera chips. The Hero's Journey Mythology motif derives from the heroic pursuit of truth and beauty, calling the viewer to adventure--to turn up Beethoven's Eroica and join the fellowship. When Dr. E's Princeton mentor J.A. Wheeler passed away, the National Post wrote, "At 96, he had been the last notable figure from the Heroic Age of Physics lingering among us. . . the student of Bohr, teacher of Feynman, and close colleague of Einstein. . . Wheeler was as much philosopher-poet as scientist, seizing on Einsteinian relativity early . . . He was ready to believe in the new world before most physicists. . ." And so it is that in honor of the noble Wheeler and all the heroes of yore, the Hero's Journey Mythology Photography seeks to remind us that the heroic age has not yet passed, that it is everywhere we look, should we only look towards the immutable ideals which mark both nature's sublime beauty and the imperishable soul. Words alone can do little to honor those who came before, but only action in the service of truth and beauty--serving those who come hence--can truly honor those heroic spirits of all ages. — in Malibu, CA.

  

Los Angeles Gallery Show! Dr. Elliot McGucken's Fine Art Photography! Dr. E's Legendary Malibu & Socal HDR Photography!

 

Some photos of my fine art photography hanging in the gallery for all my flickr fans! Thanks for the 120,000,000+ views y'all!

 

Setting up in a gallery was fun! It did not seem like work. :) I even got to drive to Home Depot & buy lumber (pine), hammers, nails, and a saw! I added a few dozen feet of new wooden strips to hang all the Hero's Journey Mythology photography--white strips and grey strips--cut them, nailed them up, and painted them so that we could fit all my fine art photography in the gallery! I told them I have even more on flickr if they want more photos--haha. :)

 

Some photographs are 13"x19" metallic prints on Kodak metallic paper mounted on 18"x24" matts in wood frames with 2.5" black, wood-grain borders, set behind anti-reflective, UV protective, museum glass! Awesome--everyone asks "why didn't you put these behind glass" because the anti-reflective museum glass is so clear! Other fine art photographs are 24" x 36" printed on canvas wraps, or 24" x 36" printed on canvas and front-mounted to plexiglass / acryllic (I love these! Great for HDR)! And the finest ones are 40" x 60" laser-printed on Fuji-crystal archival paper, front mounted to UV-protective acryllic / plexiglass, with a solid aluminum backing for durablity! Heavy, but nice! :) Also have a couple huge 40"x70" (the motorcycle in Venice and Corvette on the PCH) printed straight on a sheet of metal! Some were printed on Canon, some on Epson, and others on a laser printer so expensive it doesn't even have a name. :) I saw it in downtown LA--it was HUGE!

 

This is my first gallery show, and the funny thing is that while setting it up and adding all the carpentry/new wood strips, I shot more photography than usual, getting up every day at 5 AM to shoot the sunrise at around 6:30-6:45 AM. The Journey Never Ends! As Malibu faces South, the sun rises over the water this time of year, and sets over it too! So it keeps me busy as I hate missing the awesomely magical December cirrus cloud sunrises & sunsets, some of which you see hanging in the gallery, with many, many more to come!

 

Well, all the best on your epic hero's journey! The gallery is just below Bel Air Camera in Westwood, and if you ever want to meet up, drop me a line! :)

 

Happy Holidays & Best on Your Epic Hero's Journey!

 

P.S. (Some folks have asked me when I am going to have a goddess gallery show--soon! :)

Supreme Power

Franklin Roosevelt vs. the Supreme Court

April 14, 2010, 12:00pm – 1:00pm

 

To watch the event, click here: www.americanprogress.org//events/2010/04/supreme.html

 

Scholars are asking the same questions about the role of the Supreme Court today as they were back in President Franklin D. Roosevelt’s time when he tried to expand the Supreme Court and stack it with his supporters: “Was it the judge’s role to essentially pass on the wisdom of economic legislation? Or was it the judges’ role to essentially … let Congress do what it felt needed to be done to advance the general welfare?” Author Jeff Shesol posed these questions at a CAP event last Wednesday about his new book Supreme Power: Franklin Roosevelt vs. The Supreme Court. Shesol was joined by Dahlia Lithwick, senior editor at Slate, on a panel moderated by John Halpin, Senior Fellow at CAP.

 

Halpin summarized the book as a three-act drama of the stability of democracy itself. “One is a decades-long ideological battle between competing world views about government, the economy, and the Constitution,” he said, “the second is how this ideological battle plays out politically in relation to the Court in the 1930s. And then there’s the third act that’s a little more implied, which is what’s the long-term legacy of this battle, both ideologically and politically for the New Deal and for…debates about the Court and jurisprudence throughout the 20th century,” Halpin explained.

 

The Supreme Court shot down each item on President Roosevelt’s New Deal agenda beginning in 1935. The impoverished social and economic situation meant that violent revolution was a real threat in the United States by late 1936 and early 1937. President Roosevelt was looking for a solution that was “constitutional, and that was quick and that would be effective,” Shesol said. Nowhere in the Constitution does it mandate the number of seats on the Supreme Court, so President Roosevelt decided to expand the Court to 15 judges and pack it with liberals. His plan failed, split the Democratic Party, and transformed the American constitutional landscape.

 

“When we think about the Court-packing plan we have an idea that the Court was way out of line. That it was striking down good, good laws,” Lithwick said. “No, these were well-intentioned laws, but…it’s not the case…they were horrified by the really very quick…one after another churning out legislation,” she explained.

 

But by 1936, “the Court has covered the constitutional landscape and has knocked down not only laws that were sloppily drafted, but laws that were exceedingly carefully drafted,” Shesol said. The Court decided with sweeping opinions to “pre-emptively overrule any such legislation in the future” so President Roosevelt came to believe that no matter how legislation was drafted, it was the justices themselves who would prevent the advance of anything he tried to do, Shesol added.

 

President Roosevelt thought the Constitution “was a very flexible instrument” and that the doctrines used to strike down the New Deal were obsolete, Shesol explained. Yet it’s evident in the conservative justices’ letters that they “believe [President] Roosevelt is centralizing power in his own hands” and both the Court and [President] Roosevelt viewed this constitutional argument as one about the survival of democracy and believed that a dictatorship would rise out of the ashes of failure, Shesol said.

 

The competing ideologies of constitutional formalism versus the notion of an elastic, living constitution have as much of an effect on legislative decisions today as they did in President Roosevelt’s day. Lithwick described the book as “manna from heaven” because of its timeliness in the current discussion of “jurisprudential theories and originalism” evolving around President Barack Obama’s decision to criticize the Supreme Court’s Citizens United ruling in his State of the Union address. “Eighty percent of the public hated the Citizens United decision,” she said. Clearly, the Court is “way out of whack” with public opinion.

 

Even today’s linguistic framework for conversations about the Supreme Court and presidential powers have not evolved much from the 1930s. Organic law and theories of evolution are still used to defend the living Constitution argument, versus constitutional formalism’s “language about how the constitution is set in stone, how it’s sort of oracular, and how it’s divine and this notion that the constitution is the secular Ten Commandments, it’s immutable, it doesn’t change,” Lithwick said.

 

There is a “perfect alignment between one’s economic views and one’s constitutional views in this way,” Shesol added. “If you believed that reform was essential…you tended to see the necessity to have the constitution … evolve with our understanding of contemporary realities. If you were pretty comfortable with the established order…you tended to be drawn to a kind of jurisprudence…that really had no room for these wild social experiments,” he said.

 

The prevailing Court model right now is to be an umpire with “the language of constraint” and do as little as possible so that you don’t appear to support more presidential power, Lithwick lamented. “We happen to be in a sort of trough right now in history where to talk about the idea that the Constitution seeks to protect minorities or seeks to protect the underprivileged is to look reckless,” she said. It has also become somewhat taboo to challenge the finite nature of the Constitution and insist that it’s a living document that should fit the times.

 

Conservatives have dominated the conversation on the Constitution for the last couple of decades, and we need to hear progressives assert their points of view, Shesol said. “What [President] Roosevelt understood and what he constantly reiterated is that this argument between these two notions of the Constitution goes back to the nation’s founding…and so [President] Roosevelt made this argument with a sense of supreme self-confidence that he was true to the intentions of the founders,” Shesol continued, “And we have somehow—on the progressive side—allowed the conservatives…to get away with the argument that the founders were universally in favor of smaller, weaker government, and state’s rights and so forth…and [President] Roosevelt didn’t believe that. I don’t imagine President Obama believes it either but it would be useful thing to hear him say forcefully.”

 

The two moments in time are very similar, but the key difference is that now we don’t have “a full-fledged coherent” progressive view of the Constitution, Lithwick said. This is a much more “one-sided view of the Constitution…but this is a moment where the president has decided to take on the Court” with Citizens United, she explained. Yet his argument against the decision has been a pragmatic one—that this decision can open up our elections to foreign interests—rather than a constitutional argument, despite the fact that he’s a constitutional professor.

 

“[President] Roosevelt was defending a whole set of policies that saved the country, that saved capitalism, created a modern social welfare system and renewed the concept of equal opportunity,” Halpin said. “Perhaps part of the problem today is that the issues outside of, say, the health bill, don’t seem as pressing.”

  

Featured Speakers:

Jeff Shesol, author, Supreme Power

Dahlia Lithwick, senior editor, Slate

 

Moderated by:

John Halpin, Senior Fellow, Center for American Progress

  

PHOTO CREDIT:

Ralph Alswang

Photographer

202-487-5025

ralph@ralphphoto.com

www.ralphphoto.com

Slayer

Alcatraz - Milano

19 Giugno 2013

 

Tom Araya

Kerry King

Jeff Hanneman

Dave Lombardo

 

© Mairo Cinquetti

 

© All rights reserved. Do not use my photos without my written permission. If you would like to buy or use this photo PLEASE message me or email me at mairo.cinquetti@gmail.com

 

Immagine protetta da copyright © Mairo Cinquetti.

Tutti i diritti sono riservati. L'immagine non può essere usata in nessun caso senza autorizzazione scritta dell'autore.

Per contatti: mairo.cinquetti@gmail.com

 

From the opening squeals of the guitars of Kerry King and Jeff Hanneman and the punishing breakaway attack of Dave Lombardo's drums on "Flesh Storm" it's clear from the first thirty seconds the thrash metal titans have returned to pummel listeners with a raging onslaught of new music guaranteed to lay waste to MP3 players, car stereo speakers and whatever else gets in their way.

Christ Illusion marks the long-awaited return of the legendary Slayer. Its first record in five years and its first record in fifteen years with the original band line-up, Christ Illusion is a cacophony of brutality. A soundtrack for the post-Apocalypse. Steeped in scorching riffs and a litany of menacing tracks/tirades on religion and violence, Slayer forges ahead on its devastating path of aural destruction with ten new songs, each charged with the electric hostility for which Slayer is renowned.

Of the record Kerry King is ecstatic: "I love it. I really like God Hates Us All and I think that's the best record we've done in my opinion since Seasons In The Abyss, and I like this better than that one. I think it's a more complete record, I think sonically it better: all the performances are awesome. I think this one is more intense not because we're trying to do 'Reign In Blood: The Sequel,' it's just that's where our writing is taking us now."

Songs like the "Flesh Storm," "Eyes of the Insane," "Skeleton Christ," "Jihad" and the first single, "Cult" showcase the band at its most blazing intensity. The sonic excitement of speed, propelled by King, Hanneman and Lombardo and lead by the immutable roar of Tom Araya provoke the listener with Slayer's trademark fascination with terror, violence and religion.

For as long as Slayer has been making records it has been surrounded by controversy.

Since the band recorded its first album, "Show No Mercy," Slayer has been plagued with accusations of Satanism, fascism, racism and so on. Christ Illusion gives no quarter to critics who would mindlessly attack the band for, what the Germans call, "der Reiz des Unbekannten" (meaning "the attraction of the unknown"). A lyric fascination with violence and terror which guitarist King enthusiastically describes this way: "When I was I kid I would see a horror movie over a love story. Being shocked, being in an environment that's not reality might be frightening but is cool nonetheless. With a lot of our songs we put people in that place. It doesn't bother me because I enjoy it. It could easily be programming from all the fucking news channels."

Slayer is often assailed for its subject matter, though the band is unrepentant. " According to Araya, "Violence, darkness... So much of my inspiration comes from news articles or pictures and just start describing the images. Television- A&E, the History Channel, Court TV, Documentaries."

The singer continues, "With this record, as far as a theme: there is none. That's just our favorite subject matter. The common thread is death. I think that's just a common thread in general: we all share death, and we all share it at different times in different ways, but it's the one thing that we all have in common. We all die. It's how we live that makes us different."

Beyond being controversial Slayer is an exceptional force in music, highly praised for its trailblazing style of fast, heavy and aggressive music yet bristling with melody. The much-heralded return of Dave Lombardo to the drummer's throne will leave fans gasping for breath as he clobbers the listener on song after song.

Commenting on Lombardo's return to the fold, King notes, "Not to say the shine's worn off, but it's old news to us. I think the thing the kids are going to get into, besides just being the first Slayer album in five years, is that Dave's on it. When he came back he wasn't a member, he just came back to do a couple of tours and people started asking back then 'Is he gonna hang around?' And I would tell them that was up to Dave. But I could tell that Dave was having a killer time." King confided. "So it was just a matter of time before he said, 'Yeah, let's do it!' But it's great. And now that he's got a new Slayer album that he's played on, I think he's going to get some more enjoyment out of playing. He takes pride in everything he does and it's awesome to have him back with us."

Having the original members record their first album together in fifteen years is certainly newsworthy but the lasting might of the band and its continued popularity is an achievement few can boast. For each of the members, the band is resolute. There is no other band like Slayer.

"The staying power behind Slayer is that we've stuck to our guns," Says Araya. "Integrity... that would be number one. A lot of it has to do with the fact that we've stuck to what we do best. And the fact that we've been together as a band for so long. Ten years with Dave; another ten without Dave; and now Dave's back. It has a lot to do with compromise, that's just the way it has to be. You have to be able to compromise and give and take and that has a lot to do with why we're still together and a force to be reckoned with. I've learned that without each other, Slayer wouldn't exist, and that the whole is greater than its parts."

Kerry King is far more succinct. "Slayer to me is the coolest band on the planet. There is a timeless quality to Slayer. It's cool, but I can't explain it. It's our life."

Slayer has created one mesmerizing record after the next, has influenced many of today's most successful bands, including Slipknot, Sepultura, Killswitch Engage, and continues to earn new generations of fans, while staying true to its ceaselessly devoted followers. Slayer's legacy is cemented in music forever and the band remains undaunted in its directive to make punishing, aggressive and exciting music. With Christ Illusion the band marks its territory. Slayer has exceeded itself far beyond thrash metal to become an unstoppable juggernaut without equal.

Tom Araya sums it up: "I think the best thing is the band's longevity and the fact that we haven't bowed to anyone. That we were able to make a record like Reign In Blood, which, to us, was just another record, but to others, was something very special, it's had such an impact. People will remember it for a long time, and it's all because we did things our way, we didn't bow down to anyone. We didn't compromise. We stuck to being who we are."

Falls of Shin is a waterfall on the River Shin, in northern Scotland, near the villages of Bonar Bridge and Lairg.

 

Falls of Shin had a popular visitor centre, managed as part of Balnagown Estates, a company owned by former Harrods boss Mohamed Al-Fayed. This included a restaurant, a branch of Harrods, and a waxwork model of Al-Fayed. The visitor centre was destroyed by a fire in May 2013. Balnagown Estates have since been working with the Kyle of Sutherland Development Trust to develop a new visitor attraction. In May 2017, the new visitor centre opened following the successful construction carried out by William Gray Construction. The opening event was dubbed "Celebra-Shin". The cafe is currently operated by Mac & Wild- a company created by Andy Waugh and Calum MacKinnon with 2 restaurants in London and Falls of Shin being their third.

 

The Falls of Shin were dynamited to improve the salmon access.

 

Aside from the Salmon Viewing Platform, the site also comprises a Mini Golf Course, Woodland Walks and a large Children's Playpark.

 

The Highlands is a historical region of Scotland. Culturally, the Highlands and the Lowlands diverged from the Late Middle Ages into the modern period, when Lowland Scots language replaced Scottish Gaelic throughout most of the Lowlands. The term is also used for the area north and west of the Highland Boundary Fault, although the exact boundaries are not clearly defined, particularly to the east. The Great Glen divides the Grampian Mountains to the southeast from the Northwest Highlands. The Scottish Gaelic name of A' Ghàidhealtachd literally means "the place of the Gaels" and traditionally, from a Gaelic-speaking point of view, includes both the Western Isles and the Highlands.

 

The area is very sparsely populated, with many mountain ranges dominating the region, and includes the highest mountain in the British Isles, Ben Nevis. During the 18th and early 19th centuries the population of the Highlands rose to around 300,000, but from c. 1841 and for the next 160 years, the natural increase in population was exceeded by emigration (mostly to Canada, the United States, Australia and New Zealand, and migration to the industrial cities of Scotland and England.) and passim  The area is now one of the most sparsely populated in Europe. At 9.1/km2 (24/sq mi) in 2012, the population density in the Highlands and Islands is less than one seventh of Scotland's as a whole.

 

The Highland Council is the administrative body for much of the Highlands, with its administrative centre at Inverness. However, the Highlands also includes parts of the council areas of Aberdeenshire, Angus, Argyll and Bute, Moray, North Ayrshire, Perth and Kinross, Stirling and West Dunbartonshire.

 

The Scottish Highlands is the only area in the British Isles to have the taiga biome as it features concentrated populations of Scots pine forest: see Caledonian Forest. It is the most mountainous part of the United Kingdom.

 

Between the 15th century and the mid-20th century, the area differed from most of the Lowlands in terms of language. In Scottish Gaelic, the region is known as the Gàidhealtachd, because it was traditionally the Gaelic-speaking part of Scotland, although the language is now largely confined to The Hebrides. The terms are sometimes used interchangeably but have different meanings in their respective languages. Scottish English (in its Highland form) is the predominant language of the area today, though Highland English has been influenced by Gaelic speech to a significant extent. Historically, the "Highland line" distinguished the two Scottish cultures. While the Highland line broadly followed the geography of the Grampians in the south, it continued in the north, cutting off the north-eastern areas, that is Eastern Caithness, Orkney and Shetland, from the more Gaelic Highlands and Hebrides.

 

Historically, the major social unit of the Highlands was the clan. Scottish kings, particularly James VI, saw clans as a challenge to their authority; the Highlands was seen by many as a lawless region. The Scots of the Lowlands viewed the Highlanders as backward and more "Irish". The Highlands were seen as the overspill of Gaelic Ireland. They made this distinction by separating Germanic "Scots" English and the Gaelic by renaming it "Erse" a play on Eire. Following the Union of the Crowns, James VI had the military strength to back up any attempts to impose some control. The result was, in 1609, the Statutes of Iona which started the process of integrating clan leaders into Scottish society. The gradual changes continued into the 19th century, as clan chiefs thought of themselves less as patriarchal leaders of their people and more as commercial landlords. The first effect on the clansmen who were their tenants was the change to rents being payable in money rather than in kind. Later, rents were increased as Highland landowners sought to increase their income. This was followed, mostly in the period 1760–1850, by agricultural improvement that often (particularly in the Western Highlands) involved clearance of the population to make way for large scale sheep farms. Displaced tenants were set up in crofting communities in the process. The crofts were intended not to provide all the needs of their occupiers; they were expected to work in other industries such as kelping and fishing. Crofters came to rely substantially on seasonal migrant work, particularly in the Lowlands. This gave impetus to the learning of English, which was seen by many rural Gaelic speakers to be the essential "language of work".

 

Older historiography attributes the collapse of the clan system to the aftermath of the Jacobite risings. This is now thought less influential by historians. Following the Jacobite rising of 1745 the British government enacted a series of laws to try to suppress the clan system, including bans on the bearing of arms and the wearing of tartan, and limitations on the activities of the Scottish Episcopal Church. Most of this legislation was repealed by the end of the 18th century as the Jacobite threat subsided. There was soon a rehabilitation of Highland culture. Tartan was adopted for Highland regiments in the British Army, which poor Highlanders joined in large numbers in the era of the Revolutionary and Napoleonic Wars (1790–1815). Tartan had largely been abandoned by the ordinary people of the region, but in the 1820s, tartan and the kilt were adopted by members of the social elite, not just in Scotland, but across Europe. The international craze for tartan, and for idealising a romanticised Highlands, was set off by the Ossian cycle, and further popularised by the works of Walter Scott. His "staging" of the visit of King George IV to Scotland in 1822 and the king's wearing of tartan resulted in a massive upsurge in demand for kilts and tartans that could not be met by the Scottish woollen industry. Individual clan tartans were largely designated in this period and they became a major symbol of Scottish identity. This "Highlandism", by which all of Scotland was identified with the culture of the Highlands, was cemented by Queen Victoria's interest in the country, her adoption of Balmoral as a major royal retreat, and her interest in "tartenry".

 

Recurrent famine affected the Highlands for much of its history, with significant instances as late as 1817 in the Eastern Highlands and the early 1850s in the West.  Over the 18th century, the region had developed a trade of black cattle into Lowland markets, and this was balanced by imports of meal into the area. There was a critical reliance on this trade to provide sufficient food, and it is seen as an essential prerequisite for the population growth that started in the 18th century. Most of the Highlands, particularly in the North and West was short of the arable land that was essential for the mixed, run rig based, communal farming that existed before agricultural improvement was introduced into the region.[a] Between the 1760s and the 1830s there was a substantial trade in unlicensed whisky that had been distilled in the Highlands. Lowland distillers (who were not able to avoid the heavy taxation of this product) complained that Highland whisky made up more than half the market. The development of the cattle trade is taken as evidence that the pre-improvement Highlands was not an immutable system, but did exploit the economic opportunities that came its way.  The illicit whisky trade demonstrates the entrepreneurial ability of the peasant classes. 

 

Agricultural improvement reached the Highlands mostly over the period 1760 to 1850. Agricultural advisors, factors, land surveyors and others educated in the thinking of Adam Smith were keen to put into practice the new ideas taught in Scottish universities.  Highland landowners, many of whom were burdened with chronic debts, were generally receptive to the advice they offered and keen to increase the income from their land.  In the East and South the resulting change was similar to that in the Lowlands, with the creation of larger farms with single tenants, enclosure of the old run rig fields, introduction of new crops (such as turnips), land drainage and, as a consequence of all this, eviction, as part of the Highland clearances, of many tenants and cottars. Some of those cleared found employment on the new, larger farms, others moved to the accessible towns of the Lowlands.

 

In the West and North, evicted tenants were usually given tenancies in newly created crofting communities, while their former holdings were converted into large sheep farms. Sheep farmers could pay substantially higher rents than the run rig farmers and were much less prone to falling into arrears. Each croft was limited in size so that the tenants would have to find work elsewhere. The major alternatives were fishing and the kelp industry. Landlords took control of the kelp shores, deducting the wages earned by their tenants from the rent due and retaining the large profits that could be earned at the high prices paid for the processed product during the Napoleonic wars.

 

When the Napoleonic wars finished in 1815, the Highland industries were affected by the return to a peacetime economy. The price of black cattle fell, nearly halving between 1810 and the 1830s. Kelp prices had peaked in 1810, but reduced from £9 a ton in 1823 to £3 13s 4d a ton in 1828. Wool prices were also badly affected.  This worsened the financial problems of debt-encumbered landlords. Then, in 1846, potato blight arrived in the Highlands, wiping out the essential subsistence crop for the overcrowded crofting communities. As the famine struck, the government made clear to landlords that it was their responsibility to provide famine relief for their tenants. The result of the economic downturn had been that a large proportion of Highland estates were sold in the first half of the 19th century. T M Devine points out that in the region most affected by the potato famine, by 1846, 70 per cent of the landowners were new purchasers who had not owned Highland property before 1800. More landlords were obliged to sell due to the cost of famine relief. Those who were protected from the worst of the crisis were those with extensive rental income from sheep farms.  Government loans were made available for drainage works, road building and other improvements and many crofters became temporary migrants – taking work in the Lowlands. When the potato famine ceased in 1856, this established a pattern of more extensive working away from the Highlands.

 

The unequal concentration of land ownership remained an emotional and controversial subject, of enormous importance to the Highland economy, and eventually became a cornerstone of liberal radicalism. The poor crofters were politically powerless, and many of them turned to religion. They embraced the popularly oriented, fervently evangelical Presbyterian revival after 1800. Most joined the breakaway "Free Church" after 1843. This evangelical movement was led by lay preachers who themselves came from the lower strata, and whose preaching was implicitly critical of the established order. The religious change energised the crofters and separated them from the landlords; it helped prepare them for their successful and violent challenge to the landlords in the 1880s through the Highland Land League. Violence erupted, starting on the Isle of Skye, when Highland landlords cleared their lands for sheep and deer parks. It was quietened when the government stepped in, passing the Crofters' Holdings (Scotland) Act, 1886 to reduce rents, guarantee fixity of tenure, and break up large estates to provide crofts for the homeless. This contrasted with the Irish Land War underway at the same time, where the Irish were intensely politicised through roots in Irish nationalism, while political dimensions were limited. In 1885 three Independent Crofter candidates were elected to Parliament, which listened to their pleas. The results included explicit security for the Scottish smallholders in the "crofting counties"; the legal right to bequeath tenancies to descendants; and the creation of a Crofting Commission. The Crofters as a political movement faded away by 1892, and the Liberal Party gained their votes.

 

Today, the Highlands are the largest of Scotland's whisky producing regions; the relevant area runs from Orkney to the Isle of Arran in the south and includes the northern isles and much of Inner and Outer Hebrides, Argyll, Stirlingshire, Arran, as well as sections of Perthshire and Aberdeenshire. (Other sources treat The Islands, except Islay, as a separate whisky producing region.) This massive area has over 30 distilleries, or 47 when the Islands sub-region is included in the count. According to one source, the top five are The Macallan, Glenfiddich, Aberlour, Glenfarclas and Balvenie. While Speyside is geographically within the Highlands, that region is specified as distinct in terms of whisky productions. Speyside single malt whiskies are produced by about 50 distilleries.

 

According to Visit Scotland, Highlands whisky is "fruity, sweet, spicy, malty". Another review states that Northern Highlands single malt is "sweet and full-bodied", the Eastern Highlands and Southern Highlands whiskies tend to be "lighter in texture" while the distilleries in the Western Highlands produce single malts with a "much peatier influence".

 

The Scottish Reformation achieved partial success in the Highlands. Roman Catholicism remained strong in some areas, owing to remote locations and the efforts of Franciscan missionaries from Ireland, who regularly came to celebrate Mass. There remain significant Catholic strongholds within the Highlands and Islands such as Moidart and Morar on the mainland and South Uist and Barra in the southern Outer Hebrides. The remoteness of the region and the lack of a Gaelic-speaking clergy undermined the missionary efforts of the established church. The later 18th century saw somewhat greater success, owing to the efforts of the SSPCK missionaries and to the disruption of traditional society after the Battle of Culloden in 1746. In the 19th century, the evangelical Free Churches, which were more accepting of Gaelic language and culture, grew rapidly, appealing much more strongly than did the established church.

 

For the most part, however, the Highlands are considered predominantly Protestant, belonging to the Church of Scotland. In contrast to the Catholic southern islands, the northern Outer Hebrides islands (Lewis, Harris and North Uist) have an exceptionally high proportion of their population belonging to the Protestant Free Church of Scotland or the Free Presbyterian Church of Scotland. The Outer Hebrides have been described as the last bastion of Calvinism in Britain and the Sabbath remains widely observed. Inverness and the surrounding area has a majority Protestant population, with most locals belonging to either The Kirk or the Free Church of Scotland. The church maintains a noticeable presence within the area, with church attendance notably higher than in other parts of Scotland. Religion continues to play an important role in Highland culture, with Sabbath observance still widely practised, particularly in the Hebrides.

 

In traditional Scottish geography, the Highlands refers to that part of Scotland north-west of the Highland Boundary Fault, which crosses mainland Scotland in a near-straight line from Helensburgh to Stonehaven. However the flat coastal lands that occupy parts of the counties of Nairnshire, Morayshire, Banffshire and Aberdeenshire are often excluded as they do not share the distinctive geographical and cultural features of the rest of the Highlands. The north-east of Caithness, as well as Orkney and Shetland, are also often excluded from the Highlands, although the Hebrides are usually included. The Highland area, as so defined, differed from the Lowlands in language and tradition, having preserved Gaelic speech and customs centuries after the anglicisation of the latter; this led to a growing perception of a divide, with the cultural distinction between Highlander and Lowlander first noted towards the end of the 14th century. In Aberdeenshire, the boundary between the Highlands and the Lowlands is not well defined. There is a stone beside the A93 road near the village of Dinnet on Royal Deeside which states 'You are now in the Highlands', although there are areas of Highland character to the east of this point.

 

A much wider definition of the Highlands is that used by the Scotch whisky industry. Highland single malts are produced at distilleries north of an imaginary line between Dundee and Greenock, thus including all of Aberdeenshire and Angus.

 

Inverness is regarded as the Capital of the Highlands, although less so in the Highland parts of Aberdeenshire, Angus, Perthshire and Stirlingshire which look more to Aberdeen, Dundee, Perth, and Stirling as their commercial centres.

 

The Highland Council area, created as one of the local government regions of Scotland, has been a unitary council area since 1996. The council area excludes a large area of the southern and eastern Highlands, and the Western Isles, but includes Caithness. Highlands is sometimes used, however, as a name for the council area, as in the former Highlands and Islands Fire and Rescue Service. Northern is also used to refer to the area, as in the former Northern Constabulary. These former bodies both covered the Highland council area and the island council areas of Orkney, Shetland and the Western Isles.

 

Much of the Highlands area overlaps the Highlands and Islands area. An electoral region called Highlands and Islands is used in elections to the Scottish Parliament: this area includes Orkney and Shetland, as well as the Highland Council local government area, the Western Isles and most of the Argyll and Bute and Moray local government areas. Highlands and Islands has, however, different meanings in different contexts. It means Highland (the local government area), Orkney, Shetland, and the Western Isles in Highlands and Islands Fire and Rescue Service. Northern, as in Northern Constabulary, refers to the same area as that covered by the fire and rescue service.

 

There have been trackways from the Lowlands to the Highlands since prehistoric times. Many traverse the Mounth, a spur of mountainous land that extends from the higher inland range to the North Sea slightly north of Stonehaven. The most well-known and historically important trackways are the Causey Mounth, Elsick Mounth, Cryne Corse Mounth and Cairnamounth.

 

Although most of the Highlands is geographically on the British mainland, it is somewhat less accessible than the rest of Britain; thus most UK couriers categorise it separately, alongside Northern Ireland, the Isle of Man, and other offshore islands. They thus charge additional fees for delivery to the Highlands, or exclude the area entirely. While the physical remoteness from the largest population centres inevitably leads to higher transit cost, there is confusion and consternation over the scale of the fees charged and the effectiveness of their communication, and the use of the word Mainland in their justification. Since the charges are often based on postcode areas, many far less remote areas, including some which are traditionally considered part of the lowlands, are also subject to these charges. Royal Mail is the only delivery network bound by a Universal Service Obligation to charge a uniform tariff across the UK. This, however, applies only to mail items and not larger packages which are dealt with by its Parcelforce division.

 

The Highlands lie to the north and west of the Highland Boundary Fault, which runs from Arran to Stonehaven. This part of Scotland is largely composed of ancient rocks from the Cambrian and Precambrian periods which were uplifted during the later Caledonian Orogeny. Smaller formations of Lewisian gneiss in the northwest are up to 3 billion years old. The overlying rocks of the Torridon Sandstone form mountains in the Torridon Hills such as Liathach and Beinn Eighe in Wester Ross.

 

These foundations are interspersed with many igneous intrusions of a more recent age, the remnants of which have formed mountain massifs such as the Cairngorms and the Cuillin of Skye. A significant exception to the above are the fossil-bearing beds of Old Red Sandstone found principally along the Moray Firth coast and partially down the Highland Boundary Fault. The Jurassic beds found in isolated locations on Skye and Applecross reflect the complex underlying geology. They are the original source of much North Sea oil. The Great Glen is formed along a transform fault which divides the Grampian Mountains to the southeast from the Northwest Highlands.

 

The entire region was covered by ice sheets during the Pleistocene ice ages, save perhaps for a few nunataks. The complex geomorphology includes incised valleys and lochs carved by the action of mountain streams and ice, and a topography of irregularly distributed mountains whose summits have similar heights above sea-level, but whose bases depend upon the amount of denudation to which the plateau has been subjected in various places.

Climate

 

The region is much warmer than other areas at similar latitudes (such as Kamchatka in Russia, or Labrador in Canada) because of the Gulf Stream making it cool, damp and temperate. The Köppen climate classification is "Cfb" at low altitudes, then becoming "Cfc", "Dfc" and "ET" at higher altitudes.

 

Places of interest

An Teallach

Aonach Mòr (Nevis Range ski centre)

Arrochar Alps

Balmoral Castle

Balquhidder

Battlefield of Culloden

Beinn Alligin

Beinn Eighe

Ben Cruachan hydro-electric power station

Ben Lomond

Ben Macdui (second highest mountain in Scotland and UK)

Ben Nevis (highest mountain in Scotland and UK)

Cairngorms National Park

Cairngorm Ski centre near Aviemore

Cairngorm Mountains

Caledonian Canal

Cape Wrath

Carrick Castle

Castle Stalker

Castle Tioram

Chanonry Point

Conic Hill

Culloden Moor

Dunadd

Duart Castle

Durness

Eilean Donan

Fingal's Cave (Staffa)

Fort George

Glen Coe

Glen Etive

Glen Kinglas

Glen Lyon

Glen Orchy

Glenshee Ski Centre

Glen Shiel

Glen Spean

Glenfinnan (and its railway station and viaduct)

Grampian Mountains

Hebrides

Highland Folk Museum – The first open-air museum in the UK.

Highland Wildlife Park

Inveraray Castle

Inveraray Jail

Inverness Castle

Inverewe Garden

Iona Abbey

Isle of Staffa

Kilchurn Castle

Kilmartin Glen

Liathach

Lecht Ski Centre

Loch Alsh

Loch Ard

Loch Awe

Loch Assynt

Loch Earn

Loch Etive

Loch Fyne

Loch Goil

Loch Katrine

Loch Leven

Loch Linnhe

Loch Lochy

Loch Lomond

Loch Lomond and the Trossachs National Park

Loch Lubnaig

Loch Maree

Loch Morar

Loch Morlich

Loch Ness

Loch Nevis

Loch Rannoch

Loch Tay

Lochranza

Luss

Meall a' Bhuiridh (Glencoe Ski Centre)

Scottish Sea Life Sanctuary at Loch Creran

Rannoch Moor

Red Cuillin

Rest and Be Thankful stretch of A83

River Carron, Wester Ross

River Spey

River Tay

Ross and Cromarty

Smoo Cave

Stob Coire a' Chàirn

Stac Polly

Strathspey Railway

Sutherland

Tor Castle

Torridon Hills

Urquhart Castle

West Highland Line (scenic railway)

West Highland Way (Long-distance footpath)

Wester Ross

St Fillans is a village in Perthshire in the central highlands of Scotland, in the council area of Perth and Kinross. The village lies at the eastern end of Loch Earn, 5 miles (8 km) west of Comrie on the A85 road, at the point where the River Earn leaves the loch. St Fillans was a small clachan in the 18th century, known as Port of Lochearn, or Meikleport. In 1817 it was renamed St Fillans by Lord Gwydyr, the husband of Clementina Drummond, heiress to the Drummond Estate.

 

The pre-Reformation church, St Fillan's Chapel, whose kirkyard is the traditional burial place of the Stewarts of Ardvorlich, lies to the south of the River Earn, between St Fillans and the Iron Age Pictish hill fort of Dundurn. It is believed that the Irish missionary Saint Fillan lived on this hill. Not far from the foot of the hill is the Allt Ghoinean burn which is claimed to be the Gonan or Monan of Sir Walter Scott's poem The Lady of the Lake:

 

There is a large hydro-electric power station in St Fillans, fed from a dam at Loch Lednock high above the village. The power station, which forms part of the Breadalbane Hydro-Electric Scheme, is not visible within St Fillans as it is underground and was hewn from solid rock. The golf course at St Fillans was created in 1903 by Willie Auchterlonie.

 

The section of the River Earn from St Fillans down to Comrie, along with much of the surrounding countryside, is designated as a national scenic area (NSA). It is one of 40 such areas in Scotland, which are defined to identify areas of exceptional scenery and to ensure its protection by restricting certain forms of development. The River Earn (Comrie to St Fillans) NSA covers 12 square miles (3,108 ha) in total.

 

The village became the scene of controversy in November 2005 when a housing development was halted to avoid killing the fairies who allegedly lived under a rock on the proposed site. After some negotiation, the new housing estate was redesigned so that the rock in question was preserved, in a small park in the centre of the estate.

 

On the A85 just to the east of St Fillans lies the St Fillans Dragon and the St Fillans Toad.

 

The Highlands is a historical region of Scotland. Culturally, the Highlands and the Lowlands diverged from the Late Middle Ages into the modern period, when Lowland Scots language replaced Scottish Gaelic throughout most of the Lowlands. The term is also used for the area north and west of the Highland Boundary Fault, although the exact boundaries are not clearly defined, particularly to the east. The Great Glen divides the Grampian Mountains to the southeast from the Northwest Highlands. The Scottish Gaelic name of A' Ghàidhealtachd literally means "the place of the Gaels" and traditionally, from a Gaelic-speaking point of view, includes both the Western Isles and the Highlands.

 

The area is very sparsely populated, with many mountain ranges dominating the region, and includes the highest mountain in the British Isles, Ben Nevis. During the 18th and early 19th centuries the population of the Highlands rose to around 300,000, but from c. 1841 and for the next 160 years, the natural increase in population was exceeded by emigration (mostly to Canada, the United States, Australia and New Zealand, and migration to the industrial cities of Scotland and England.) and passim  The area is now one of the most sparsely populated in Europe. At 9.1/km2 (24/sq mi) in 2012, the population density in the Highlands and Islands is less than one seventh of Scotland's as a whole.

 

The Highland Council is the administrative body for much of the Highlands, with its administrative centre at Inverness. However, the Highlands also includes parts of the council areas of Aberdeenshire, Angus, Argyll and Bute, Moray, North Ayrshire, Perth and Kinross, Stirling and West Dunbartonshire.

 

The Scottish Highlands is the only area in the British Isles to have the taiga biome as it features concentrated populations of Scots pine forest: see Caledonian Forest. It is the most mountainous part of the United Kingdom.

 

Between the 15th century and the mid-20th century, the area differed from most of the Lowlands in terms of language. In Scottish Gaelic, the region is known as the Gàidhealtachd, because it was traditionally the Gaelic-speaking part of Scotland, although the language is now largely confined to The Hebrides. The terms are sometimes used interchangeably but have different meanings in their respective languages. Scottish English (in its Highland form) is the predominant language of the area today, though Highland English has been influenced by Gaelic speech to a significant extent. Historically, the "Highland line" distinguished the two Scottish cultures. While the Highland line broadly followed the geography of the Grampians in the south, it continued in the north, cutting off the north-eastern areas, that is Eastern Caithness, Orkney and Shetland, from the more Gaelic Highlands and Hebrides.

 

Historically, the major social unit of the Highlands was the clan. Scottish kings, particularly James VI, saw clans as a challenge to their authority; the Highlands was seen by many as a lawless region. The Scots of the Lowlands viewed the Highlanders as backward and more "Irish". The Highlands were seen as the overspill of Gaelic Ireland. They made this distinction by separating Germanic "Scots" English and the Gaelic by renaming it "Erse" a play on Eire. Following the Union of the Crowns, James VI had the military strength to back up any attempts to impose some control. The result was, in 1609, the Statutes of Iona which started the process of integrating clan leaders into Scottish society. The gradual changes continued into the 19th century, as clan chiefs thought of themselves less as patriarchal leaders of their people and more as commercial landlords. The first effect on the clansmen who were their tenants was the change to rents being payable in money rather than in kind. Later, rents were increased as Highland landowners sought to increase their income. This was followed, mostly in the period 1760–1850, by agricultural improvement that often (particularly in the Western Highlands) involved clearance of the population to make way for large scale sheep farms. Displaced tenants were set up in crofting communities in the process. The crofts were intended not to provide all the needs of their occupiers; they were expected to work in other industries such as kelping and fishing. Crofters came to rely substantially on seasonal migrant work, particularly in the Lowlands. This gave impetus to the learning of English, which was seen by many rural Gaelic speakers to be the essential "language of work".

 

Older historiography attributes the collapse of the clan system to the aftermath of the Jacobite risings. This is now thought less influential by historians. Following the Jacobite rising of 1745 the British government enacted a series of laws to try to suppress the clan system, including bans on the bearing of arms and the wearing of tartan, and limitations on the activities of the Scottish Episcopal Church. Most of this legislation was repealed by the end of the 18th century as the Jacobite threat subsided. There was soon a rehabilitation of Highland culture. Tartan was adopted for Highland regiments in the British Army, which poor Highlanders joined in large numbers in the era of the Revolutionary and Napoleonic Wars (1790–1815). Tartan had largely been abandoned by the ordinary people of the region, but in the 1820s, tartan and the kilt were adopted by members of the social elite, not just in Scotland, but across Europe. The international craze for tartan, and for idealising a romanticised Highlands, was set off by the Ossian cycle, and further popularised by the works of Walter Scott. His "staging" of the visit of King George IV to Scotland in 1822 and the king's wearing of tartan resulted in a massive upsurge in demand for kilts and tartans that could not be met by the Scottish woollen industry. Individual clan tartans were largely designated in this period and they became a major symbol of Scottish identity. This "Highlandism", by which all of Scotland was identified with the culture of the Highlands, was cemented by Queen Victoria's interest in the country, her adoption of Balmoral as a major royal retreat, and her interest in "tartenry".

 

Recurrent famine affected the Highlands for much of its history, with significant instances as late as 1817 in the Eastern Highlands and the early 1850s in the West.  Over the 18th century, the region had developed a trade of black cattle into Lowland markets, and this was balanced by imports of meal into the area. There was a critical reliance on this trade to provide sufficient food, and it is seen as an essential prerequisite for the population growth that started in the 18th century. Most of the Highlands, particularly in the North and West was short of the arable land that was essential for the mixed, run rig based, communal farming that existed before agricultural improvement was introduced into the region.[a] Between the 1760s and the 1830s there was a substantial trade in unlicensed whisky that had been distilled in the Highlands. Lowland distillers (who were not able to avoid the heavy taxation of this product) complained that Highland whisky made up more than half the market. The development of the cattle trade is taken as evidence that the pre-improvement Highlands was not an immutable system, but did exploit the economic opportunities that came its way.  The illicit whisky trade demonstrates the entrepreneurial ability of the peasant classes. 

 

Agricultural improvement reached the Highlands mostly over the period 1760 to 1850. Agricultural advisors, factors, land surveyors and others educated in the thinking of Adam Smith were keen to put into practice the new ideas taught in Scottish universities.  Highland landowners, many of whom were burdened with chronic debts, were generally receptive to the advice they offered and keen to increase the income from their land.  In the East and South the resulting change was similar to that in the Lowlands, with the creation of larger farms with single tenants, enclosure of the old run rig fields, introduction of new crops (such as turnips), land drainage and, as a consequence of all this, eviction, as part of the Highland clearances, of many tenants and cottars. Some of those cleared found employment on the new, larger farms, others moved to the accessible towns of the Lowlands.

 

In the West and North, evicted tenants were usually given tenancies in newly created crofting communities, while their former holdings were converted into large sheep farms. Sheep farmers could pay substantially higher rents than the run rig farmers and were much less prone to falling into arrears. Each croft was limited in size so that the tenants would have to find work elsewhere. The major alternatives were fishing and the kelp industry. Landlords took control of the kelp shores, deducting the wages earned by their tenants from the rent due and retaining the large profits that could be earned at the high prices paid for the processed product during the Napoleonic wars.

 

When the Napoleonic wars finished in 1815, the Highland industries were affected by the return to a peacetime economy. The price of black cattle fell, nearly halving between 1810 and the 1830s. Kelp prices had peaked in 1810, but reduced from £9 a ton in 1823 to £3 13s 4d a ton in 1828. Wool prices were also badly affected.  This worsened the financial problems of debt-encumbered landlords. Then, in 1846, potato blight arrived in the Highlands, wiping out the essential subsistence crop for the overcrowded crofting communities. As the famine struck, the government made clear to landlords that it was their responsibility to provide famine relief for their tenants. The result of the economic downturn had been that a large proportion of Highland estates were sold in the first half of the 19th century. T M Devine points out that in the region most affected by the potato famine, by 1846, 70 per cent of the landowners were new purchasers who had not owned Highland property before 1800. More landlords were obliged to sell due to the cost of famine relief. Those who were protected from the worst of the crisis were those with extensive rental income from sheep farms.  Government loans were made available for drainage works, road building and other improvements and many crofters became temporary migrants – taking work in the Lowlands. When the potato famine ceased in 1856, this established a pattern of more extensive working away from the Highlands.

 

The unequal concentration of land ownership remained an emotional and controversial subject, of enormous importance to the Highland economy, and eventually became a cornerstone of liberal radicalism. The poor crofters were politically powerless, and many of them turned to religion. They embraced the popularly oriented, fervently evangelical Presbyterian revival after 1800. Most joined the breakaway "Free Church" after 1843. This evangelical movement was led by lay preachers who themselves came from the lower strata, and whose preaching was implicitly critical of the established order. The religious change energised the crofters and separated them from the landlords; it helped prepare them for their successful and violent challenge to the landlords in the 1880s through the Highland Land League. Violence erupted, starting on the Isle of Skye, when Highland landlords cleared their lands for sheep and deer parks. It was quietened when the government stepped in, passing the Crofters' Holdings (Scotland) Act, 1886 to reduce rents, guarantee fixity of tenure, and break up large estates to provide crofts for the homeless. This contrasted with the Irish Land War underway at the same time, where the Irish were intensely politicised through roots in Irish nationalism, while political dimensions were limited. In 1885 three Independent Crofter candidates were elected to Parliament, which listened to their pleas. The results included explicit security for the Scottish smallholders in the "crofting counties"; the legal right to bequeath tenancies to descendants; and the creation of a Crofting Commission. The Crofters as a political movement faded away by 1892, and the Liberal Party gained their votes.

 

Today, the Highlands are the largest of Scotland's whisky producing regions; the relevant area runs from Orkney to the Isle of Arran in the south and includes the northern isles and much of Inner and Outer Hebrides, Argyll, Stirlingshire, Arran, as well as sections of Perthshire and Aberdeenshire. (Other sources treat The Islands, except Islay, as a separate whisky producing region.) This massive area has over 30 distilleries, or 47 when the Islands sub-region is included in the count. According to one source, the top five are The Macallan, Glenfiddich, Aberlour, Glenfarclas and Balvenie. While Speyside is geographically within the Highlands, that region is specified as distinct in terms of whisky productions. Speyside single malt whiskies are produced by about 50 distilleries.

 

According to Visit Scotland, Highlands whisky is "fruity, sweet, spicy, malty". Another review states that Northern Highlands single malt is "sweet and full-bodied", the Eastern Highlands and Southern Highlands whiskies tend to be "lighter in texture" while the distilleries in the Western Highlands produce single malts with a "much peatier influence".

 

The Scottish Reformation achieved partial success in the Highlands. Roman Catholicism remained strong in some areas, owing to remote locations and the efforts of Franciscan missionaries from Ireland, who regularly came to celebrate Mass. There remain significant Catholic strongholds within the Highlands and Islands such as Moidart and Morar on the mainland and South Uist and Barra in the southern Outer Hebrides. The remoteness of the region and the lack of a Gaelic-speaking clergy undermined the missionary efforts of the established church. The later 18th century saw somewhat greater success, owing to the efforts of the SSPCK missionaries and to the disruption of traditional society after the Battle of Culloden in 1746. In the 19th century, the evangelical Free Churches, which were more accepting of Gaelic language and culture, grew rapidly, appealing much more strongly than did the established church.

 

For the most part, however, the Highlands are considered predominantly Protestant, belonging to the Church of Scotland. In contrast to the Catholic southern islands, the northern Outer Hebrides islands (Lewis, Harris and North Uist) have an exceptionally high proportion of their population belonging to the Protestant Free Church of Scotland or the Free Presbyterian Church of Scotland. The Outer Hebrides have been described as the last bastion of Calvinism in Britain and the Sabbath remains widely observed. Inverness and the surrounding area has a majority Protestant population, with most locals belonging to either The Kirk or the Free Church of Scotland. The church maintains a noticeable presence within the area, with church attendance notably higher than in other parts of Scotland. Religion continues to play an important role in Highland culture, with Sabbath observance still widely practised, particularly in the Hebrides.

 

In traditional Scottish geography, the Highlands refers to that part of Scotland north-west of the Highland Boundary Fault, which crosses mainland Scotland in a near-straight line from Helensburgh to Stonehaven. However the flat coastal lands that occupy parts of the counties of Nairnshire, Morayshire, Banffshire and Aberdeenshire are often excluded as they do not share the distinctive geographical and cultural features of the rest of the Highlands. The north-east of Caithness, as well as Orkney and Shetland, are also often excluded from the Highlands, although the Hebrides are usually included. The Highland area, as so defined, differed from the Lowlands in language and tradition, having preserved Gaelic speech and customs centuries after the anglicisation of the latter; this led to a growing perception of a divide, with the cultural distinction between Highlander and Lowlander first noted towards the end of the 14th century. In Aberdeenshire, the boundary between the Highlands and the Lowlands is not well defined. There is a stone beside the A93 road near the village of Dinnet on Royal Deeside which states 'You are now in the Highlands', although there are areas of Highland character to the east of this point.

 

A much wider definition of the Highlands is that used by the Scotch whisky industry. Highland single malts are produced at distilleries north of an imaginary line between Dundee and Greenock, thus including all of Aberdeenshire and Angus.

 

Inverness is regarded as the Capital of the Highlands, although less so in the Highland parts of Aberdeenshire, Angus, Perthshire and Stirlingshire which look more to Aberdeen, Dundee, Perth, and Stirling as their commercial centres.

 

The Highland Council area, created as one of the local government regions of Scotland, has been a unitary council area since 1996. The council area excludes a large area of the southern and eastern Highlands, and the Western Isles, but includes Caithness. Highlands is sometimes used, however, as a name for the council area, as in the former Highlands and Islands Fire and Rescue Service. Northern is also used to refer to the area, as in the former Northern Constabulary. These former bodies both covered the Highland council area and the island council areas of Orkney, Shetland and the Western Isles.

 

Much of the Highlands area overlaps the Highlands and Islands area. An electoral region called Highlands and Islands is used in elections to the Scottish Parliament: this area includes Orkney and Shetland, as well as the Highland Council local government area, the Western Isles and most of the Argyll and Bute and Moray local government areas. Highlands and Islands has, however, different meanings in different contexts. It means Highland (the local government area), Orkney, Shetland, and the Western Isles in Highlands and Islands Fire and Rescue Service. Northern, as in Northern Constabulary, refers to the same area as that covered by the fire and rescue service.

 

There have been trackways from the Lowlands to the Highlands since prehistoric times. Many traverse the Mounth, a spur of mountainous land that extends from the higher inland range to the North Sea slightly north of Stonehaven. The most well-known and historically important trackways are the Causey Mounth, Elsick Mounth, Cryne Corse Mounth and Cairnamounth.

 

Although most of the Highlands is geographically on the British mainland, it is somewhat less accessible than the rest of Britain; thus most UK couriers categorise it separately, alongside Northern Ireland, the Isle of Man, and other offshore islands. They thus charge additional fees for delivery to the Highlands, or exclude the area entirely. While the physical remoteness from the largest population centres inevitably leads to higher transit cost, there is confusion and consternation over the scale of the fees charged and the effectiveness of their communication, and the use of the word Mainland in their justification. Since the charges are often based on postcode areas, many far less remote areas, including some which are traditionally considered part of the lowlands, are also subject to these charges. Royal Mail is the only delivery network bound by a Universal Service Obligation to charge a uniform tariff across the UK. This, however, applies only to mail items and not larger packages which are dealt with by its Parcelforce division.

 

The Highlands lie to the north and west of the Highland Boundary Fault, which runs from Arran to Stonehaven. This part of Scotland is largely composed of ancient rocks from the Cambrian and Precambrian periods which were uplifted during the later Caledonian Orogeny. Smaller formations of Lewisian gneiss in the northwest are up to 3 billion years old. The overlying rocks of the Torridon Sandstone form mountains in the Torridon Hills such as Liathach and Beinn Eighe in Wester Ross.

 

These foundations are interspersed with many igneous intrusions of a more recent age, the remnants of which have formed mountain massifs such as the Cairngorms and the Cuillin of Skye. A significant exception to the above are the fossil-bearing beds of Old Red Sandstone found principally along the Moray Firth coast and partially down the Highland Boundary Fault. The Jurassic beds found in isolated locations on Skye and Applecross reflect the complex underlying geology. They are the original source of much North Sea oil. The Great Glen is formed along a transform fault which divides the Grampian Mountains to the southeast from the Northwest Highlands.

 

The entire region was covered by ice sheets during the Pleistocene ice ages, save perhaps for a few nunataks. The complex geomorphology includes incised valleys and lochs carved by the action of mountain streams and ice, and a topography of irregularly distributed mountains whose summits have similar heights above sea-level, but whose bases depend upon the amount of denudation to which the plateau has been subjected in various places.

Climate

 

The region is much warmer than other areas at similar latitudes (such as Kamchatka in Russia, or Labrador in Canada) because of the Gulf Stream making it cool, damp and temperate. The Köppen climate classification is "Cfb" at low altitudes, then becoming "Cfc", "Dfc" and "ET" at higher altitudes.

 

Places of interest

An Teallach

Aonach Mòr (Nevis Range ski centre)

Arrochar Alps

Balmoral Castle

Balquhidder

Battlefield of Culloden

Beinn Alligin

Beinn Eighe

Ben Cruachan hydro-electric power station

Ben Lomond

Ben Macdui (second highest mountain in Scotland and UK)

Ben Nevis (highest mountain in Scotland and UK)

Cairngorms National Park

Cairngorm Ski centre near Aviemore

Cairngorm Mountains

Caledonian Canal

Cape Wrath

Carrick Castle

Castle Stalker

Castle Tioram

Chanonry Point

Conic Hill

Culloden Moor

Dunadd

Duart Castle

Durness

Eilean Donan

Fingal's Cave (Staffa)

Fort George

Glen Coe

Glen Etive

Glen Kinglas

Glen Lyon

Glen Orchy

Glenshee Ski Centre

Glen Shiel

Glen Spean

Glenfinnan (and its railway station and viaduct)

Grampian Mountains

Hebrides

Highland Folk Museum – The first open-air museum in the UK.

Highland Wildlife Park

Inveraray Castle

Inveraray Jail

Inverness Castle

Inverewe Garden

Iona Abbey

Isle of Staffa

Kilchurn Castle

Kilmartin Glen

Liathach

Lecht Ski Centre

Loch Alsh

Loch Ard

Loch Awe

Loch Assynt

Loch Earn

Loch Etive

Loch Fyne

Loch Goil

Loch Katrine

Loch Leven

Loch Linnhe

Loch Lochy

Loch Lomond

Loch Lomond and the Trossachs National Park

Loch Lubnaig

Loch Maree

Loch Morar

Loch Morlich

Loch Ness

Loch Nevis

Loch Rannoch

Loch Tay

Lochranza

Luss

Meall a' Bhuiridh (Glencoe Ski Centre)

Scottish Sea Life Sanctuary at Loch Creran

Rannoch Moor

Red Cuillin

Rest and Be Thankful stretch of A83

River Carron, Wester Ross

River Spey

River Tay

Ross and Cromarty

Smoo Cave

Stob Coire a' Chàirn

Stac Polly

Strathspey Railway

Sutherland

Tor Castle

Torridon Hills

Urquhart Castle

West Highland Line (scenic railway)

West Highland Way (Long-distance footpath)

Wester Ross

Supreme Power

Franklin Roosevelt vs. the Supreme Court

April 14, 2010, 12:00pm – 1:00pm

 

To watch the event, click here: www.americanprogress.org//events/2010/04/supreme.html

 

Scholars are asking the same questions about the role of the Supreme Court today as they were back in President Franklin D. Roosevelt’s time when he tried to expand the Supreme Court and stack it with his supporters: “Was it the judge’s role to essentially pass on the wisdom of economic legislation? Or was it the judges’ role to essentially … let Congress do what it felt needed to be done to advance the general welfare?” Author Jeff Shesol posed these questions at a CAP event last Wednesday about his new book Supreme Power: Franklin Roosevelt vs. The Supreme Court. Shesol was joined by Dahlia Lithwick, senior editor at Slate, on a panel moderated by John Halpin, Senior Fellow at CAP.

 

Halpin summarized the book as a three-act drama of the stability of democracy itself. “One is a decades-long ideological battle between competing world views about government, the economy, and the Constitution,” he said, “the second is how this ideological battle plays out politically in relation to the Court in the 1930s. And then there’s the third act that’s a little more implied, which is what’s the long-term legacy of this battle, both ideologically and politically for the New Deal and for…debates about the Court and jurisprudence throughout the 20th century,” Halpin explained.

 

The Supreme Court shot down each item on President Roosevelt’s New Deal agenda beginning in 1935. The impoverished social and economic situation meant that violent revolution was a real threat in the United States by late 1936 and early 1937. President Roosevelt was looking for a solution that was “constitutional, and that was quick and that would be effective,” Shesol said. Nowhere in the Constitution does it mandate the number of seats on the Supreme Court, so President Roosevelt decided to expand the Court to 15 judges and pack it with liberals. His plan failed, split the Democratic Party, and transformed the American constitutional landscape.

 

“When we think about the Court-packing plan we have an idea that the Court was way out of line. That it was striking down good, good laws,” Lithwick said. “No, these were well-intentioned laws, but…it’s not the case…they were horrified by the really very quick…one after another churning out legislation,” she explained.

 

But by 1936, “the Court has covered the constitutional landscape and has knocked down not only laws that were sloppily drafted, but laws that were exceedingly carefully drafted,” Shesol said. The Court decided with sweeping opinions to “pre-emptively overrule any such legislation in the future” so President Roosevelt came to believe that no matter how legislation was drafted, it was the justices themselves who would prevent the advance of anything he tried to do, Shesol added.

 

President Roosevelt thought the Constitution “was a very flexible instrument” and that the doctrines used to strike down the New Deal were obsolete, Shesol explained. Yet it’s evident in the conservative justices’ letters that they “believe [President] Roosevelt is centralizing power in his own hands” and both the Court and [President] Roosevelt viewed this constitutional argument as one about the survival of democracy and believed that a dictatorship would rise out of the ashes of failure, Shesol said.

 

The competing ideologies of constitutional formalism versus the notion of an elastic, living constitution have as much of an effect on legislative decisions today as they did in President Roosevelt’s day. Lithwick described the book as “manna from heaven” because of its timeliness in the current discussion of “jurisprudential theories and originalism” evolving around President Barack Obama’s decision to criticize the Supreme Court’s Citizens United ruling in his State of the Union address. “Eighty percent of the public hated the Citizens United decision,” she said. Clearly, the Court is “way out of whack” with public opinion.

 

Even today’s linguistic framework for conversations about the Supreme Court and presidential powers have not evolved much from the 1930s. Organic law and theories of evolution are still used to defend the living Constitution argument, versus constitutional formalism’s “language about how the constitution is set in stone, how it’s sort of oracular, and how it’s divine and this notion that the constitution is the secular Ten Commandments, it’s immutable, it doesn’t change,” Lithwick said.

 

There is a “perfect alignment between one’s economic views and one’s constitutional views in this way,” Shesol added. “If you believed that reform was essential…you tended to see the necessity to have the constitution … evolve with our understanding of contemporary realities. If you were pretty comfortable with the established order…you tended to be drawn to a kind of jurisprudence…that really had no room for these wild social experiments,” he said.

 

The prevailing Court model right now is to be an umpire with “the language of constraint” and do as little as possible so that you don’t appear to support more presidential power, Lithwick lamented. “We happen to be in a sort of trough right now in history where to talk about the idea that the Constitution seeks to protect minorities or seeks to protect the underprivileged is to look reckless,” she said. It has also become somewhat taboo to challenge the finite nature of the Constitution and insist that it’s a living document that should fit the times.

 

Conservatives have dominated the conversation on the Constitution for the last couple of decades, and we need to hear progressives assert their points of view, Shesol said. “What [President] Roosevelt understood and what he constantly reiterated is that this argument between these two notions of the Constitution goes back to the nation’s founding…and so [President] Roosevelt made this argument with a sense of supreme self-confidence that he was true to the intentions of the founders,” Shesol continued, “And we have somehow—on the progressive side—allowed the conservatives…to get away with the argument that the founders were universally in favor of smaller, weaker government, and state’s rights and so forth…and [President] Roosevelt didn’t believe that. I don’t imagine President Obama believes it either but it would be useful thing to hear him say forcefully.”

 

The two moments in time are very similar, but the key difference is that now we don’t have “a full-fledged coherent” progressive view of the Constitution, Lithwick said. This is a much more “one-sided view of the Constitution…but this is a moment where the president has decided to take on the Court” with Citizens United, she explained. Yet his argument against the decision has been a pragmatic one—that this decision can open up our elections to foreign interests—rather than a constitutional argument, despite the fact that he’s a constitutional professor.

 

“[President] Roosevelt was defending a whole set of policies that saved the country, that saved capitalism, created a modern social welfare system and renewed the concept of equal opportunity,” Halpin said. “Perhaps part of the problem today is that the issues outside of, say, the health bill, don’t seem as pressing.”

  

Featured Speakers:

Jeff Shesol, author, Supreme Power

Dahlia Lithwick, senior editor, Slate

 

Moderated by:

John Halpin, Senior Fellow, Center for American Progress

  

PHOTO CREDIT:

Ralph Alswang

Photographer

202-487-5025

ralph@ralphphoto.com

www.ralphphoto.com

The mute swan (Cygnus olor) is a species of swan and a member of the waterfowl family Anatidae. It is native to much of Eurosiberia, and (as a rare winter visitor) the far north of Africa. It is an introduced species in North America, home to the largest populations outside of its native range, with additional smaller introductions in Australasia and southern Africa. The name "mute" derives from it being less vocal than other swan species. Measuring 125 to 160 cm (49 to 63 in) in length, this large swan is wholly white in plumage with an orange beak bordered with black. It is recognizable by its pronounced knob atop the beak, which is larger in males.

 

Taxonomy

The mute swan was first formally described by the German naturalist Johann Friedrich Gmelin as Anas olor in 1789 and was transferred by Johann Matthäus Bechstein to the new genus Cygnus in 1803. Both cygnus and olor mean "swan" in Latin; cygnus is a variant form of cycnus, borrowing from Greek κύκνος kyknos, a word of the same meaning.

 

Despite its Eurasian origin, its closest relatives are the black swan of Australia and the black-necked swan of South America, not the other Northern Hemisphere swans of the genus Cygnus. The species is monotypic, with no living subspecies.

 

Evolution

Mute swan subfossils, 6,000 years old, have been found in post-glacial peat beds of East Anglia, Great Britain. They have been recorded from Ireland east to Portugal and Italy, and from France, 13,000 BP (Desbrosse and Mourer-Chauvire 1972–1973). Cygnus olor bergmanni, a paleosub species which differed only in size from the living bird, is known from fossils found in Azerbaijan. A related paleospecies recorded from fossils and subfossils is the Giant swan, Cygnus falconeri, a flightless species which lived on the islands of Malta and Sicily during the Middle Pleistocene.

 

Fossils of swan ancestors more distantly allied to the mute swan have been found in four U.S. states: California, Arizona, Idaho and Oregon. The timeline runs from the Miocene to the late Pleistocene or 10,000 BP. The latest find was in Anza Borrego Desert, a state park in California. Fossils from the Pleistocene include Cygnus paloregonus from Fossil Lake, Oregon, Froman's Ferry, Idaho, and Arizona, referred to by Howard in The Waterfowl of the World as "probably the mute type swan".

 

Description

Adults of this large swan typically range from 140 to 160 cm (55 to 63 in) long, although can range in extreme cases from 125 to 170 cm (49 to 67 in), with a 200 to 240 cm (79 to 94 in) wingspan. Males are larger than females and have a larger knob on their bill. On average, this is the second largest waterfowl species after the trumpeter swan, although male mute swans can easily match or even exceed a male trumpeter in mass. Among standard measurements of the mute swan, the wing chord measures 53–62.3 cm (20.9–24.5 in), the tarsus is 10–11.8 cm (3.9–4.6 in) and the bill is 6.9–9 cm (2.7–3.5 in). The plumage is white, while the legs are dark grey. The beak of the mute swan is bright orange, with black around the nostrils and a black nail.

 

The mute swan is one of the heaviest extant flying birds. In several studies from Great Britain, males (known as cobs) were found to average from about 10.6 to 11.87 kg (23.4 to 26.2 lb), with a weight range of 9.2–14.3 kg (20–32 lb) while the slightly smaller females (known as pens) averaged about 8.5 to 9.67 kg (18.7 to 21.3 lb), with a weight range of 7.6–10.6 kg (17–23 lb). While the top normal weight for a big cob is roughly 15 kg (33 lb), one unusually big Polish cob weighed almost 23 kg (51 lb) and this counts as the largest weight ever verified for a flying bird, although it has been questioned whether this heavyweight could still take flight.

 

Young birds, called cygnets, are not the bright white of mature adults, and their bill is dull greyish-black, not orange, for the first year. The down may range from pure white to grey to buff, with grey/buff the most common. The white cygnets have a leucistic gene. Cygnets grow quickly, reaching a size close to their adult size in approximately three months after hatching. Cygnets typically retain their grey feathers until they are at least one year old, with the down on their wings having been replaced by flight feathers earlier that year.

 

All mute swans are white at maturity, though the feathers (particularly on the head and neck) are often stained orange-brown by iron and tannins in the water.

 

Polish swan

The colour morph C. o. morpha immutabilis (immūtābilis is Latin for "immutable, unchangeable, unalterable"), also known as the "Polish swan", has pinkish (not dark grey) legs and dull white cygnets; as with white domestic geese, it is found only in populations with a history of domestication. Polish swans carry a copy of a gene responsible for leucism.

 

Behaviour

Mute swans nest on large mounds that they build with waterside vegetation in shallow water on islands in the middle or at the very edge of a lake. They are monogamous and often reuse the same nest each year, restoring or rebuilding it as needed. Male and female swans share the care of the nest, and once the cygnets are fledged it is not uncommon to see whole families looking for food. They feed on a wide range of vegetation, both submerged aquatic plants which they reach with their long necks, and by grazing on land. The food commonly includes agricultural crop plants such as oilseed rape and wheat, and feeding flocks in the winter may cause significant crop damage, often as much through trampling with their large webbed feet, as through direct consumption. It will also feed on small proportions of aquatic insects, fish and frogs.

 

Unlike black swans, mute swans are usually strongly territorial with just a single pair on smaller lakes, though in a few locations where a large area of suitable feeding habitat is found, they can be colonial. The largest colonies have over 100 pairs, such as at the colony at Abbotsbury Swannery in southern England, and at the southern tip of Öland Island, Ottenby Preserve, in the coastal waters of the Baltic Sea, and can have nests spaced as little as 2 m (7 ft) apart. Non-mated juveniles up to 3–4 years old commonly form larger flocks, which can total several hundred birds, often at regular traditional sites. A notable flock of non-breeding birds is found on the River Tweed estuary at Berwick-upon-Tweed in northeastern England, with a maximum count of 787 birds. A large population exists near the Swan Lifeline Station in Windsor and lives on the Thames in the shadow of Windsor Castle. Once the adults are mated they seek out their territories and often live close to ducks and gulls, which may take advantage of the swan's ability to reach deep water weeds, which tend to spread out on the water surface.

 

The mute swan is less vocal than the noisy whooper and Bewick's swans; they do, however, make a variety of sounds, often described as "grunting, hoarse whistling, and snorting noises." During a courtship display, mute swans utter a rhythmic song. The song helps synchronize the movements of their heads and necks. It could technically be employed to distinguish a bonded couple from two dating swans, as the rhythm of the song typically fails to match the pace of the head movements of two dating swans. Mute swans usually hiss at competitors or intruders trying to enter their territory.[30] The most familiar sound associated with mute swans is the vibrant throbbing of the wings in flight which is unique to the species and can be heard from a range of 1 to 2 km (0.6 to 1 mi), indicating its value as a contact sound between birds in flight. Cygnets are especially vocal and communicate through a variety of whistling and chirping sounds when content, as well as a harsh squawking noise when distressed or lost.

  

Nesting in spring, Cologne, Germany

Mute swans can be very aggressive in defence of their nests and are highly protective of their mate and offspring. Most defensive acts from a mute swan begin with a loud hiss and, if this is not sufficient to drive off the predator or intruder, are followed by a physical attack. Swans attack by striking at the threat with bony spurs in their wings, accompanied by biting with their large bill, while smaller waterbirds such as ducks are normally grabbed with the swan's bill and dragged or thrown clear of the swan and its offspring. Swans will kill intruders into their territory, both other swans, and geese and ducks, by drowning, climbing onto and pecking the back of the head and forcing the other bird underwater.

 

The wings of the swan are very powerful, though not strong enough to break an adult man's leg, as is commonly misquoted. Large waterfowl, such as Canada geese, (more likely out of competition than in response to potential predation) may be aggressively driven off, and mute swans regularly attack people who enter their territory.

 

The cob is responsible for defending the cygnets while on the water, and will sometimes attack small watercraft, such as canoes, that it feels are a threat to its young. The cob will additionally try to chase the predator out of his family territory and will keep animals such as foxes and raptors at bay. In New York (outside its native range), the most common predators of cygnets are common snapping turtles. Healthy adults are rarely preyed upon, though canids such as coyotes, felids such as lynx, and bears can pose a threat to infirm ones (healthy adults can usually swim away from danger and nest defence is usually successful.) and there are a few cases of healthy adults falling prey to the golden eagles. In England, there has been an increased rate of attacks on swans by out-of-control dogs, especially in parks where the birds are less territorial. This is considered criminal in British law, and the birds are placed under the highest protection due to their association with the monarch. Mute swans will readily attack dogs to protect themselves and their cygnets from an attack, and an adult swan is capable of overwhelming and drowning even large dog breeds.

 

The familiar pose with the neck curved back and wings half raised, known as busking, is a threat display. Both feet are paddled in unison during this display, resulting in more jerky movement. The swans may also use the busking posture for wind-assisted transportation over several hundred meters, so-called windsurfing.

 

Like other swans, mute swans are known for their ability to grieve for a lost or dead mate or cygnet. Swans will go through a mourning process, and in the case of the loss of their mate, may either stay where their counterpart lived or fly off to join a flock. Should one of the pair die while there are cygnets present, the remaining parent will take up their partner's duties in raising the clutch.

 

Breeding

Mute swans lay from 4 to 10 eggs. The female broods for around 36 days, with cygnets normally hatching between May and July. The young swans do not achieve the ability to fly before about 120 to 150 days old. This limits the distribution of the species at the northern edge of its range as the cygnets need to learn to fly before the ponds and lakes freeze over.

 

Distribution and habitat

The mute swan is found naturally mainly in temperate areas of Europe then across the Palearctic as far east as Primorsky Krai, near Sidemi.

 

It is partially migratory throughout northern latitudes in Europe and Asia, as far south as North Africa and the Mediterranean. It is known and recorded to have nested in Iceland and is a vagrant in that area as well as in Bermuda, according to the UN Environment Programme chart of international status chart of bird species, which places it in 70 countries, breeding in 49 countries, and vagrant in 16 countries.[citation needed] While most of the current population in Japan is introduced, mute swans are depicted on scrolls more than 1,000 years old, and wild birds from the mainland Asian population still occur rarely in winter. Natural migrants to Japan usually occur along with whooper and sometimes Bewick's swans.[citation needed]

 

The mute swan is protected in most of its range, but this has not prevented illegal hunting and poaching. It is often kept in captivity outside its natural range, as a decoration for parks and ponds, and escapes have happened. The descendants of such birds have become naturalised in the eastern United States and Great Lakes, much as the Canada goose has done in Europe.

 

World population

Mute swans with cygnets in Wolvercote, Oxfordshire

The total native population of mute swans is about 500,000 birds at the end of the breeding season (adults plus young), of which up to 350,000 are in Russia. The largest single breeding concentration is 11,000 pairs in the Volga Delta.

 

The population in the United Kingdom is about 22,000 birds as of the 2006–2007 winter, a slight decline from the peak of about 26,000–27,000 birds in 1990. This includes about 5,300 breeding pairs, the remainder being immatures. Other significant populations in Europe include 6,800–8,300 breeding pairs in Germany, 4,500 pairs in Denmark, 4,000–4,200 pairs in Poland, 3,000–4,000 pairs in the Netherlands, about 2,500 pairs in Ireland, and 1,200–1,700 pairs in Ukraine.

 

For many centuries, mute swans in Great Britain were domesticated for food, with individuals being marked by nicks on their webs (feet) or beaks to indicate ownership. These marks were registered with the Crown and a Royal Swanherd was appointed. Any birds not so marked became Crown property, hence the swan becoming known as the "Royal Bird". This domestication saved the mute swan from extirpation through overhunting in Great Britain.

 

Populations in Western Europe were largely exterminated by hunting pressure in the 13th–19th centuries, except for semi-domesticated birds maintained as poultry by large landowners. Better protection in the late 19th and early 20th centuries allowed the species to expand and return to most or all of their former range. More recently in the period from about 1960 up to the early 1980s, numbers declined significantly again in many areas in England, primarily due to lead poisoning from birds swallowing lead shots from shooting and discarded fishing weights made from lead. After lead weights and shots were mostly replaced by other less toxic alternatives, mute swan numbers increased again rapidly.

 

Introduced populations

Since being introduced into North America, the mute swan has increased greatly in number to the extent that it is considered an invasive species there. Populations introduced into other areas remain small, with around 200 in Japan, fewer than 200 in New Zealand and Australia, and about 120 in South Africa.

 

North America

The mute swan was introduced to North America in the late 19th century. Recently, it has been widely viewed as an invasive species because of its rapidly increasing numbers and its adverse effects on other waterfowl and native ecosystems. For example, a study of population sizes in the lower Great Lakes from 1971 to 2000 found that mute swan numbers were increasing at an average rate of at least 10% per year, doubling the population every seven to eight years. Several studies have concluded that mute swans severely reduce the densities of submerged vegetation where they occur.

 

In 2003, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service proposed to "minimize environmental damages attributed to Mute Swans" by reducing their numbers in the Atlantic Flyway to pre-1986 levels, a 67% reduction at the time. According to a report published in the Federal Register of 2003 the proposal was supported by all thirteen state wildlife agencies which submitted comments, as well as by 43 bird conservation, wildlife conservation and wildlife management organisations. Ten animal rights organisations and the vast majority of comments from individuals were opposed. At this time mute swans were protected under the Migratory Bird Treaty Act due to a court order, but in 2005 the United States Department of the Interior officially declared them a non-native, unprotected species. Mute swans are protected in some areas of the U.S. by local laws, for example, in Connecticut.

 

The status of the mute swan as an introduced species in North America is disputed by the interest group "Save the Mute Swans". They assert that mute swans are native to the region and therefore deserving of protection. They claim that mute swans had origins in Russia and cite historical sightings and fossil records. These claims have been rejected as specious by the U.S. Department of the Interior.

 

Oceania

The mute swan had absolute protection in New Zealand under the Wildlife Act 1953, but this was changed in June 2010 to a lower level of protection. It still has protection, but is now allowed to be killed or held in captivity at the discretion of the Minister of Conservation.

 

A small feral population exists in the vicinity of Perth, Australia; however, it is believed to number less than 100 individuals.

 

In popular culture

The mute swan has been the national bird of Denmark since 1984. Before that, the skylark was considered Denmark's national bird (since 1960).

 

The fairy tale "The Ugly Duckling" by Hans Christian Andersen tells the story of a cygnet ostracised by his fellow barnyard fowl because of his perceived unattractiveness. To his delight (and to the surprise of others), he matures into a graceful swan, the most beautiful bird of all.

 

Today, the British Monarch retains the right to ownership of all unmarked mute swans in open water, but King Charles III exercises his ownership only on certain stretches of the Thames and its surrounding tributaries. This ownership is shared with the Vintners' and Dyers' Companies, who were granted rights of ownership by the Crown in the 15th century.

 

The mute swans in the moat at the Bishops Palace at Wells Cathedral in Wells, England have for centuries been trained to ring bells via strings attached to them to beg for food. Two swans are still able to ring for lunch.

 

The pair of swans in the Boston Public Garden are named Romeo and Juliet after the Shakespearean couple; however, it was found that both of them are females

Commissioned to work with SALT Research collections, artist Refik Anadol employed machine learning algorithms to search and sort relations among 1,700,000 documents. Interactions of the multidimensional data found in the archives are, in turn, translated into an immersive media installation. Archive Dreaming, which is presented as part of The Uses of Art: Final Exhibition with the support of the Culture Programme of the European Union, is user-driven; however, when idle, the installation "dreams" of unexpected correlations among documents. The resulting high-dimensional data and interactions are translated into an architectural immersive space.

Shortly after receiving the commission, Anadol was a resident artist for Google's Artists and Machine Intelligence Program where he closely collaborated with Mike Tyka and explored cutting-edge developments in the field of machine intelligence in an environment that brings together artists and engineers. Developed during this residency, his intervention Archive Dreaming transforms the gallery space on floor -1 at SALT Galata into an all-encompassing environment that intertwines history with the contemporary, and challenges immutable concepts of the archive, while destabilizing archive-related questions with machine learning algorithms.

In this project, a temporary immersive architectural space is created as a canvas with light and data applied as materials. This radical effort to deconstruct the framework of an illusory space will transgress the normal boundaries of the viewing experience of a library and the conventional flat cinema projection screen, into a three dimensional kinetic and architectonic space of an archive visualized with machine learning algorithms. By training a neural network with images of 1,700,000 documents at SALT Research the main idea is to create an immersive installation with architectural intelligence to reframe memory, history and culture in museum perception for 21st century through the lens of machine intelligence.

SALT is grateful to Google's Artists and Machine Intelligence program, and Doğuş Technology, ŠKODA, Volkswagen Doğuş Finansman for supporting Archive Dreaming.

Location : SALT Gatala, Istanbul, Turkey

Exhibition Dates : April 20 - June 11

6 Meters Wide Circular Architectural Installation

4 Channel Video, 8 Channel Audio

Custom Software, Media Server, Table for UI Interaction

For more information:

refikanadol.com/works/archive-dreaming/

Niki's Oasis Restaurant & Jazz Bar 138 Bree Street Newtown Cultural Precinct Johannesburg South Africa with Simnikiwe Sondlo and Bushy Dubazana Jazz Band with the Immutable Themba Fassie