Skua

It's honestly kind of wild to not pick France in general, they're amazing at trains

If I wasn't being mean about my boss beforehand, I would most definitely start being mean after he subjected me to a polygraph about it

I was greatly surprised when I learned that the country is named after the tree and not the other way around

"Scotland" is very literal. It's the land of the Scots

In Scottish Gaelic - never the language of the whole area of the modern day country and a very small minority nowadays, but nonetheless a language that is uniquely Scottish and very influential on our history - it's Alba. This one is kind of interesting, because it originally meant the entire island of Great Britain. "Scotland" in Scottish Gaelic therefore sort of means "Scotland, England, and Wales"

I have a personal suspicion - while recognising that I am by no means an expert on the topic and have no real evidence - that that origin story is a reflection of the Proto-Indo-European migrations as viewed through a lens of contact with Rome. The PIE homeland was roughly modern day Ukraine. When Romans show up in Britain and talk to the locals, their empire would have been the first society to have some knowledge of that area that Britons or Gaels had met in... well, forever. If they successfully described the area of the PIE homeland, a Roman with a good knowledge of the geography of the empire and its surroundings during the period of Roman arrival in the isles would say that they were describing Scythia

Oh, that is quite interesting. I'd hazard a guess it's somewhere east of the mountains, so probably somewhere around Perth?

Yeah, I totally agree on the food situation unfortunately. There's a Ghanaian lady that shows up at a farmer's market near-ish me once a month and I love getting her jollof rice. I mostly just accept that if I want something out of the ordinary for this place, I need to make it myself

That's totally fair! I am Scottish myself and don't know a lot about Canada's geography beyond "big", "often cold", and "lots of forest", so I have no idea if those Scottish place names are concentrated in specific areas, not to mention what the chances of both versions being interesting to visit. Banff is probably the first example that comes to mind, but the Canadian one isn't in BC and the Scottish one is just a pretty little seaside town in Aberdeenshire so not exactly a destination in its own right unless you're already nearby

Though, every time I go to the Highlands I'm struck by just how very much it looks like BC....just a wee bit more wee....

You may already know this, but the Scottish highlands actually were formed when Canada and Britain collided! The wrong side of Canada, but still

Regardless, I hope you're enjoying being here

Nutomic thinks that trans people are a bourgeois conspiracy, so I maybe wouldn't let them off the hook that easily

Seeing as Scotland and Canada share a lot of place names, what's your favourite place that you've been to both the Scottish and Canadian versions of? (Nova Scotia does not count)

He addresses that directly. He says that there's absolutely no point in telling competitors to take fewer risks if risky behaviour is faster, so you need to regulate for safety

God that scene burns itself into your brain

Probably. The lettering is also not consistent and the shadows are going in the wrong direction