CrestFest Colquhoun (Scottish)
Originally uploaded by Jake Sutton.
I now have some mad family heritage wrapped around my whole forearm.
Check my tattoo set on Flickr for more pics.
The best part is I can now say I have more tattoos than my wife! 
Archive for the 'Albainn Gu Brath' CategoryPage 2 of 2
I’ve said it a million times before: The Scots, the Irish, and all other Celtic types are basically the same, but now I have new evidence specific to my own family:
The Colquhouns originated in Ireland. In the early thirteenth century the founder of the clan, Humphrey Kilpatrick, was granted a charter for the barony of Colquhoun on the western bank of Loch Lomond.
Cool.
Slainte to all my Kilpatrick cousins!
Boy hailed for air safety gadget
A Scots schoolboy has been praised by airport bosses after inventing a gadget which could help prevent plane crashes.
Daryn Murray’s Aircraft Debris Protector warns pilots of dangerous material lying on runways before they prepare to land.
And check out that high Scottish fashion! (A Carson Kressley joke would probably be grossly inapproriate…)
I have mentioned kettlebells in this space previously. I first learned of them because one of my favorite boxers, Kostya Tszyu (who is getting geared up to fight Ricky Hatton in June), is a spokesman for an Australian firm that pushes the peculiar lumps of iron. Since the kettlebells have been experiencing an odd spike on the buzz-o-meter lately, I was interested to read this myth-busting article: Kettlebells : An Antidote to the Hype
The author makes several salient points. I, of course, will focus on the most trivial among them:
Kettlebells are Russian
No, they are not. In fact, they originated in the Highlands of Scotland. A popular pastime in the Highlands in winter is the sport of curling. This was originally played using birch brooms and round stones on frozen lakes and river mouths. In freezing temperatures, picking up a round stone covered in frost in the midwinter gloom can be a tricky proposition. Therefore, a cast iron handle was attached to the stones to make then easier to handle. Highland and Cumberland wrestlers then began using the stones during the spring as a training tool (one among many) for the Highland Games. The handle made it easy to pick up for pressing motions, so why not?
This is not a reason not to use kettlebells, but more of a hype-busting exercise. If you want to be an “authentic� kettlebeller, then learn to play the bagpipes and wear your kilt with pride.
That’s the best reason I’ve heard so far to get me some kettlebells!
Of course, I also have to come to terms with the fact that curling originated in the land of my ancestors.
But then again, so did golf…
The Parting Glass: An Annotated Pogues Lyrics Page
The Pogues in general and Shane MacGowan in particular garnered a (not entirely undeserved) reputation as a bunch of drunken paddies, and the songs sounded like that’s what they were. Heck, I suspect that many of us were drawn to the band for that reason. Yet on closer inspection, the songs — both in terms of the music and the lyrics — are full of historical, literary, and political references not normally found in popular music, and I found that picking up the references added another level of enjoyment to the music. Songs that make you drink and think… a tough combination that the Pogues pulled off magnicifently.
Hell yes!
Of course, it’s all a bit sour for me now that I’ve seen If I Should Fall From Grace: The Shane MacGowan Story, in which Master Shane demonstrates himself to be a sad sot waiting around to die.
…
Also, I just thought I’d point out that St. Patrick was born in Scotland (Ha! Albainn gu brath!) to a Romano-British father and a (probably) Gaulish mother. His first exposure to Ireland was when he taken as a slave by Irish raiders in his teens, and it was this experience that galvanized his religious conviction.
Then there are the snakes… When it is said that Patrick drove out the snakes, it most likely refers to his work converting the Celtic people of Ireland to Christianity, thus “driving out” those dastardly druids and whatever other forms of paganism were previously enjoyed.
Good stuff.
And really, I’m not hatin’ on my Irish brethren. One love, y’all.
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