Skua

Australia is so ridiculously huge that even the relatively tiny fraction that's amenable to crops is still one of the world's biggest. Only 4% of its land is arable and that still means it has the 10th largest arable area of any country (ten times more arable land than Taiwan has any kind of land)

I'm learning Gàidhlig and have a speaking exam coming up, so I'm practicing with a friend on the same course on Saturday. Sunday I'm being way less productive and getting together with some friends for lunch and a session of Victoria 2. I'm kinda anxious to get out of the house for a bit too, as weather and illness have kept me stuck indoors for a while

Frankly I think we should call up the International Phonetic Association and tell them that you've developed a better transcription system than their alphabet

I'm a Scottish man that likes whisky, haggis, and beer and I actually do own and wear (at the right occasions) a kilt. Unfortunately I balance it out by having an accent from a different part of the country to the one that adds about a dozen extra syllables to "purple burglar alarm"

They aren't trying to force "social security" on us, it's an article primarily aimed at an American audience using the term Americans will be familiar with in the headline. The article body calls it the Department for Work and Pensions

My username is a bird that steals fish. I'm not sure how I'm going to get on the good side of one, but I guess I'd better get used to either seafood or hunger

Use the Australian football league one neat.afl and hope that nobody notices the L that the Taliban have inflicted on the rest of us

If you like hiking, Walk Highlands is a stellar resource. Pick a region, sort by difficulty, get a step-by-step guide with photos and a map. Don't push your limits unless you're very experienced; our hills aren't big, but the weather can turn fast and in some regions (especially Skye, which is popular with tourists) the ground can be treacherous.

Edinburgh is a great city with a lot of history and fantastic architecture. Glasgow is the better base for trips into the Highlands and has more modern artistic stuff going on. If you're looking at Skye, you may want to consider Lewis & Harris instead, as it's a similar experience with far fewer people.

If you're near the Fife area, the boat trip out to the Isle of May is a great day out. Short ride from Anstruther to an island that is a seabird reserve these days, puffins and cormorants everywhere. Also get a fish & chips in Anstruther on the way back, it's some of the best going.

Depending on when you're going, the crannog centre by Loch Tay is worth a trip. They're currently rebuilding after a fire destroyed the original. It was/will be a reconstruction of a type of iron age home built over the water of the loch. If you're going up that way already, also stop by Iain Burnett's and get a chocolate tasting flight; he sells chocolate to the likes of the royals and I can believe it with how it tastes. The whole Loch Tay area has some fantastic hill climbs too. I did Ben Lawers last autumn, had a lovely day out.

My doubt is more over his "zombie" status than the medium in which his story is told! Shrike was made a zombie by technological means rather than magic or disease, so he doesn't fit in that regard. In terms of what it makes him - implacable, near-indestructible, seemingly inhuman, and in appearance a dead man wearing some funny armour - he fits the bill well.

Can I count Shrike from the Mortal Engines books? Shrike was fantastic

No luck, unfortunately. It appears that little to no fermentation took place; I still just have some water sweetened with honey. There has been a lot of heavy rain recently, so I suppose it's quite possible that too much wild yeast had been washed off by that

I have some bad news for you about the environmental effects of burning lots of oil