What I’ve been reading this week, 25 October 2019

Animal society on the move, the mountaineer’s Google Doodle, and you are fine without advice and suggestions.

Environment and nature

Country diary: a whole animal society is on the move – a great Country Diary from TGO editor Carey Davies.

Glacial rivers absorb carbon faster than rainforests, scientists find – this is interesting. ‘During high melt periods, glacial river water will absorb 40 times as much carbon as the Amazon rainforest.’

Long-distance hiking and the outdoors

Winners and losers – news from David Lintern on his OWPG certificates.

Return to the Cairngorms – Chris Townsend enjoys an autumnal wild camp beneath the Shelter Stone Crag.

Dare to do – an update from Inaki on the Continental Divide Trail.

Wanda Rutkiewicz: the mountaineer’s Google Doodle – ‘Like many elite alpinists, Wanda wasn’t a natural leader. She was single-minded, ambitious, determined and something of a loner. The Google Doodle celebrated the 41st anniversary of her ascent of Everest in 1978.’

Mountain safety: clocks go back and torches come out – a timely reminder from Mountaineering Scotland. Time to check those batteries – and always carry a spare torch too.

The BMC and Vertebrate Publishing team up to send free books to school libraries – a great initiative from my future publisher.

Miscellaneous

You are fine without advice and suggestions – real talk from Austin Kleon. ‘You are fine without advice and suggestions. Start playing.’

Is your book ready for beta readers yet? – a good post from Belinda Pollard on a subject new writers often struggle with.

Six reasons why iOS 13 and Catalina are so buggy – macOS 10.15 Catalina is sounding like an absolutely disastrous release. Personally speaking, I haven’t seen a compelling reason to upgrade since El Capitan 10.11. What the Mac community needs right now is stability. ‘Any bugs that are minor or unusual enough to survive this early scrutiny may persist forever.’

We have the tools and technology to work less and live better – ‘Today’s discussions about the future of work quickly end up in fanciful predictions of total automation. More likely, there will continue to be new and varied jobs to fill a five-day work week.’

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