{"id":2148,"date":"2008-04-06T06:30:38","date_gmt":"2008-04-06T11:30:38","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.shotinthedark.info\/wp\/?p=2148"},"modified":"2008-04-06T13:08:57","modified_gmt":"2008-04-06T18:08:57","slug":"if-its-nae-scots-its-crap","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.shotinthedark.info\/wp\/?p=2148","title":{"rendered":"If It&#8217;s Nae Scots, It&#8217;s Crap"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Happy Tartan Day, all you Scottish-Americans.<\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/www.blackwatchsoccer.com\/images\/sc-stand.gif\" \/><\/p>\n<p>It&#8217;s a good day to observe all of Scots culture that we in America have to be proud of.<\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/www.thewhiskystore.de\/dist\/laphroai\/images\/laphr7400_2.jpg\" \/><\/p>\n<p>No, no no.  It goes way beyond that.  (Although perfecting the art of distilling spirits is no mean feat).<\/p>\n<p>No, there&#8217;s the whole Edinburgh Renaissance&#8230;:<\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/objects.erih.net\/biography\/33_watt_james.jpg\" \/><\/p>\n<p>&#8230;of whom James Watt was the most famous result. The <a href=\"http:\/\/www.scotlandhistory.net\/enlightenment.html\">Edinburgh Renaissance<\/a> was a flowering of intellectual, scientific, artistic, engineering and political thought which was, according to <a href=\"http:\/\/www.amazon.com\/Birth-Modern-World-Society-1815-1830\/dp\/0060922826\">Paul Johnson<\/a>, behind much of what we regard as &#8220;modern&#8221; today; everything from the <a href=\"http:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Macadam\">macadam road<\/a> to <a href=\"http:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Trousers\">trousers<\/a> to yellow-pigmented paint&#8230;:<\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/www.book530.com\/paintingpic\/070810\/b\/11875317927968.jpg\" \/><\/p>\n<p>&#8230;to the very means to the industrial revolution itself, found their practical application among Scots inventors.  These were largely self-educated men who simultaneously mastered science, humanities and the arts at a time when they were regarded as inseparable (which is something the modern American academy would do well to re-learn).  All of their stories &#8211; Watt, MacAdam, Turner, the whole amazing crew &#8211; are worth reading and learning from.<\/p>\n<p>And when all the intellectual stuff wears you out, let&#8217;s not forget that when called upon, Scotland also does the music that inflames the savage beast&#8230;:<\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/www.simpleminds.org.uk\/band0183.jpg\" \/><\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/www.drummerworld.com\/pics\/drum\/dpa14\/markbrzezicki7.jpg\" \/><\/p>\n<p>Well, no, not them, <em>per se<\/em>, although I&#8217;m nothing if not a yuuuuge fan of both.  No, I&#8217;m talking about the traditional music Scots play to get the good guys into the mood to thump the bad guys&#8230;:<br \/>\n<img decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/sites.scran.ac.uk\/jmhenderson\/web\/collection\/pipes\/pi\/pipersmall.jpg\" \/><\/p>\n<p>&#8230;which has led <a href=\"http:\/\/news.bbc.co.uk\/2\/low\/uk_news\/scotland\/3760177.stm\">Scots as they kicked ass for freedom<\/a> around the world, from <a href=\"http:\/\/www.pegasusarchive.org\/normandy\/bill_millin.htm\">Bill Millin<\/a> leading the commandos at Sword Bearch&#8230;<\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/www.bbc.co.uk\/devon\/news\/images\/piper_painting.jpg\" \/><\/p>\n<p>&#8230;to today&#8230;<br \/>\n<img decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/www.electricscotland.com\/kids\/bleh\/mycountry_files\/image004.jpg\" \/><\/p>\n<p>&#8230;all the way back to the founding of democracy &#8211; including <a href=\"http:\/\/www.amazon.com\/Americas-Founding-Secret-Scottish-Enlightenment\/dp\/0742522806\">the many Scots who helped found <em>our <\/em>democracy<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>Congrats, Scottish-Americans!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Happy Tartan Day, all you Scottish-Americans. It&#8217;s a good day to observe all of Scots culture that we in America have to be proud of. No, no no. It goes way beyond that. (Although perfecting the art of distilling spirits is no mean feat). No, there&#8217;s the whole Edinburgh Renaissance&#8230;: &#8230;of whom James Watt was [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[23],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2148","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-geekery"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.shotinthedark.info\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2148","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.shotinthedark.info\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.shotinthedark.info\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.shotinthedark.info\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.shotinthedark.info\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=2148"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"http:\/\/www.shotinthedark.info\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2148\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.shotinthedark.info\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=2148"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.shotinthedark.info\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=2148"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.shotinthedark.info\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=2148"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}