Scotland popped up twice in my reading this morning. First, as you in the UK probably know, a team of forensic experts at the University of Dundee has recreated the face of J.S. Bach from “a bronze cast of his skull and documents from the time.” Joerg Hansen, Director of the Bachhaus Eisenach, where the face will go on display, told the BBC “that some people had suggested the face looks Scottish….” This whole thing is pretty cool, but I must say that to me the face looks like the mugshot of just another indicted Republican congressman. The Lewisburg Concertos.

Second, when I opened this site, I was welcomed by an especially graceful lede: “Since there’s not much more to do in Scotland than golf, get rained on and listen to bagpipes, you might as well delve into the fine art of single-malt Scotch tasting while you’re there.” Great advice, but the writer left out the money hoarding and haggis eating. Sufficient info, though, to help me make the decision that I will take walking sticks on the Challenge, after all—mashie-niblicks, I think. And ear plugs, of course.