Thanks for this great summary, TC. May I be so bold as to recommend Arthur Herman's "How the Scots Invented the Modern World," which outlines the history of the Scots' movement of their values, sensibilities, organizational priorities and most importantly, their viewpoint and downright cussedness to the West, Australia, and Southern Asia…
Thanks for this great summary, TC. May I be so bold as to recommend Arthur Herman's "How the Scots Invented the Modern World," which outlines the history of the Scots' movement of their values, sensibilities, organizational priorities and most importantly, their viewpoint and downright cussedness to the West, Australia, and Southern Asia in the areas colonized by the Brits. My own ancestors are from areas north of Durham and Newcastle and Tyrone County, Northern Ireland, who moved along due to famine, unemployment and religious differences. I attribute much of their "cussedness" to their lifelong lack of sunlight.
Many of us New Englanders are also feisty independent cusses...descended from the mentally tough holders from the "Borders" (the Scottish/English borderlands north of York & Durham, and the Welsh Border towns of Ludlow, Chester, Penrith, etc.). My own forebears hail from the East Anglia and Northern Yorkshire areas.
Looking at the globe, it appears that northern Ireland would have been 300-400 miles north of the latitude of Seattle, where I lived from conception to 4 and 7-8. There probably was significantly less sunlight in those places than in Seattle, which is known for being quite dreary at least half the year. Also, that 300-400 miles north would have left them with less vitamin D than even Seattleites have. I have several problems that are probably due to having gestated and lived those early years in Seattle, and the dearth of D, including terrible baby teeth (my adult teeth have been much better), and being mildly on the spectrum, both of which may be precipitated or aggravated by insufficient D. (Rule of thumb: if your shadow is longer than you are, the rays that catalyze production of D are being filtered out by the atmosphere.) So that cussedness--a wonderfully expressive word--may well be due ultimately to lack of D.
Seattle is the cloudiest major city in the lower 48, according to the Seattle Times, with 226 cloudy days per year. It is not by any stretch the rainiest, though. Inches of rain, in the high 30s, is very close to Wash. DC (where I lived for 23 years), and is not that much compared to Central Park's 50 inches/year. But Seattle rain comes down as drizzle much of the time, whereas it often pours in DC.
Thanks for this great summary, TC. May I be so bold as to recommend Arthur Herman's "How the Scots Invented the Modern World," which outlines the history of the Scots' movement of their values, sensibilities, organizational priorities and most importantly, their viewpoint and downright cussedness to the West, Australia, and Southern Asia in the areas colonized by the Brits. My own ancestors are from areas north of Durham and Newcastle and Tyrone County, Northern Ireland, who moved along due to famine, unemployment and religious differences. I attribute much of their "cussedness" to their lifelong lack of sunlight.
Yes, I have read that book. The influence of the Scots and the Irish across the world is really remarkable.
Many of us New Englanders are also feisty independent cusses...descended from the mentally tough holders from the "Borders" (the Scottish/English borderlands north of York & Durham, and the Welsh Border towns of Ludlow, Chester, Penrith, etc.). My own forebears hail from the East Anglia and Northern Yorkshire areas.
Yes, the Borderers are part of this. They also moved to Ulster Plantation and then on to America.
Maybe part of the cussedness of some New Englanders is due to some pretty cussed weather in large parts of the region.
Looking at the globe, it appears that northern Ireland would have been 300-400 miles north of the latitude of Seattle, where I lived from conception to 4 and 7-8. There probably was significantly less sunlight in those places than in Seattle, which is known for being quite dreary at least half the year. Also, that 300-400 miles north would have left them with less vitamin D than even Seattleites have. I have several problems that are probably due to having gestated and lived those early years in Seattle, and the dearth of D, including terrible baby teeth (my adult teeth have been much better), and being mildly on the spectrum, both of which may be precipitated or aggravated by insufficient D. (Rule of thumb: if your shadow is longer than you are, the rays that catalyze production of D are being filtered out by the atmosphere.) So that cussedness--a wonderfully expressive word--may well be due ultimately to lack of D.
And they also get a lot of cloudiness and rain from the Gulf Stream.
Seattle is the cloudiest major city in the lower 48, according to the Seattle Times, with 226 cloudy days per year. It is not by any stretch the rainiest, though. Inches of rain, in the high 30s, is very close to Wash. DC (where I lived for 23 years), and is not that much compared to Central Park's 50 inches/year. But Seattle rain comes down as drizzle much of the time, whereas it often pours in DC.