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POPSHoly Loch Scotland The Holy Loch (Scottish Gaelic "An Loch Sianta/Seunta") is a sea loch in Argyll and Bute, Scotland. Open to the Firth of Clyde at its eastern end, the loch is approximately one mile wide and between two and three miles long, varying with the tide. The town of Dunoon on the Cowal peninsula lies on the shores of the Clyde just to the south of the loch, and houses continue round the villages of Kirn, Hunter's Quay at the point with the landing slip for Western Ferries, Ardnadam and past Lazaretto Point, the village of Sandbank, with open countryside at the end of the loch, then on the northern shore Kilmun, and at Strone Point the village of Strone continues round to the western shore of the Clyde, almost joining Blairmore on Loch Long. from wikipedia.org
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POPSClans: backbone to Scotland's culture "The succession of the clan chief in the Celtic tradition was decided by the system of "tanistry", an ancient law that brought members of the ruling elite together to choose the next heir. This system ensured that a strong leader was always chosen, but inevitably led to conflict and fracturing of some clans. When Malcolm III became King in 1058 he adopted the English Feudal system and also changed the language of court from Gaelic to English. To some extent this was the start of the intensification of the struggle between Lowland Scotland and Highland Scotland that was to reach its zenith in Culloden."
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POPSA whole Scottish way of life is under threat Pictures of Aberdeen dock from the late 19th century are astonishing for the size and number of fish landed: table-sized halibut lie stretched out in rows interspersed with huge cod, skate and ling. But conflict boiled behind these scenes of plenty. Scots who caught their fish mainly by hook and line fought to keep the new-fangled English steam trawlers out of their waters, forcing a Royal Commission of Inquiry to investigate their complaints. Ultimately, they lost the argument and the more-efficient - and destructive - trawlers were embraced by the Scots. If they had prevailed and the trawlers were kept out, perhaps the state of Scottish fisheries and marine life would be different today. Scientists estimate that only a tenth of the level of table-fish in 1900 remains in the seas around Scotland today. Some large species have all but disappeared, such as angel sharks and the once "common" skate.
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POPSKing of fish threatened
Surveys of the numbers of salmon going out to sea and returning have been carried out on the North Esk since 1964 by Fisheries Research Services staff. Scientists have noted a "marked upward trend in marine mortality rate over the period in which monitoring was carried out" (see graph). And the new study by Professor Chris Todd of thousands of grilse - young salmon which have spent a single winter at sea - found that over the last ten years, the average weight of the fish fell by 11 to 14 per cent. Prof Todd, a marine ecologist at St Andrews University who was speaking at an Atlantic Salmon Trust conference on the fate of salmon at sea in Edinburgh yesterday, told The Scotsman: "Our analyses indicate that this is closely linked to ocean climate warming in the north-east Atlantic. Probably we are seeing the effects of a lack of feeding for salmon at sea, arising from temperature-driven shifts in the distribution of the plankton communities upon which salmon depend.
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POPSAn end to man's destruction of the 'web of life' "Scottish waters are home to colonies containing more than five million seabirds, nearly half the total in the European Union. More than a third of the world's grey seals live in Scotland and it is home to 29 species of whales and dolphins, including the world's most northerly bottlenose dolphin population, in the Moray Firth. Scottish sea lochs, such as Loch Sween and Loch Etive, are a unique environment within the EU, with the likes of maerl beds, reefs of flameshells and horse mussels, communities of northern sea fans and coldwater corals. The sea contributes an astonishing amount to our livelihoods: the value of its "ecosystem services" - food production and the flows of nutrients, material and energy - has been put at £14 billion. In more concrete terms, some £370 million worth of fish were landed by Scottish boats in 2006, while Scotland accounts for 90 per cent of the UK's farmed fish, with a "farm gate" value of £300 million."
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POPSGreat Kilt History "The Great Kilt was made from wool, often grown on one's own sheep. It could take a year for someone to shear and spin enough wool to make one kilt. The yarn would then be taken to the local weaver to weave into cloth. Looms of the time wove a piece of cloth 27" wide and up to 30" wide. And, like today, cloth is easiest to handle if it doesn't get to be too much of it. Today when you by cloth it comes on a bolt. The thinner the cloth, the more that is on the bolt; the thicker the cloth, the less is on the bolt. A finely made silk may have 30 yards on the bolt, but once folded and wrapped, it would constitute about 8" thick by 21"-30" long."
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POPSStrange Art? How odd. And they get $300 apiece for them. I wonder if business is good or not.
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