Fitheach

Ceud Mìle Fàilte

Thank you for dropping-by, I hope you enjoy your visit. The main content is to be found in the blog, where I discuss everything and anything, but, topics including: photography, nature, technology, food, movies, music, politics, and life in the Highlands of Scotland, make regular appearances.

I commonly write reviews of movies (or films, if you prefer). Some movie reviews are short, others will be discussed in more detail. The scope covered will be mainly mainstream English language movies from the 1930s until the present day.

About me

My name is Iain MacDonald, and I live in the Highlands of Scotland (although I have lived elsewhere in the past). I use Fitheach as my online pseudonym, on this website, on Mastodon, and on Matrix. I am a big fan of Free & Open Source Software, which I use both professionally and at home.

Computing and technology tend to infuse themselves into my other interests, as once you learn some skills in one area it is convenient to use them to solve problems in other spheres.

When not tinkering with computers, I am likely to be found repairing things because living in the countryside you learn to be resourceful.

Of course, man doesn't live by SSH tunnels and kerosene vapour burners alone, so, food, as a subject, makes regular appearances, too.

My latest Life articles

My most recent ramblings can be found in the Life section.

My latest Mastodon posts

Mastodon is a microblogging app that is part of the decentralised web known as The Fediverse. See this article for more details.

Fitheach

Wed, 02 Sep 2026 19:26:24 +0000

To-night's movie is going to be:
Devil Girl from Mars (1954)

This is a British-made movie, the making of which was probably inspired by the 1950s craze for alien abduction/invasion movies in the US.

Plot: Mars had a gender war, and all the men were killed. The Devil Girl has come to Earth to abduct some men to re-populate Mars.

The best bit is the Devil Girl crash lands in MY part of Scotland. Yay!

Full review coming, unless I get abducted. 😃

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Wed, 02 Sep 2026 12:46:43 +0000

I was out this morning, purchasing a new-to-me trailer. On my return home, with the new purchase, I stopped briefly beside Loch Tarff (I'd forgotten to attach my temporary number plate).

Oh! My goodness! The midgies were horrendous. They descended on me within a few seconds of getting out of the car. I was attaching the temporary plate with packing tape. The midgies were so numerous they were sticking to the tape.

Someone needs to erect midgie health warning signs.

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Tue, 01 Sep 2026 09:50:42 +0000

It's come to this!

I've just boosted a post about a book entitled "The High Road", by Ken Lussey. The author's website includes the logo shown below.

To think, I'm living in a time when human creativity has to be positively identified as such.

Will we have to move to a situation where we have certificating authorities to confirm things are human made, rather like The Soil Association does for organic produce? I think that will become necessary.

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Mon, 31 Aug 2026 09:14:04 +0000

This post shows the same fungus in their horse's hoof shape.

mstdn.io/@fitheach/10929751635

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Mon, 31 Aug 2026 08:49:05 +0000

Spuing
Fomes fomentarius
Tinder or horse's hoof fungus

These are the largest examples I've encountered of this fungus, the lower ones were much bigger than dinner plates (about 50cm across).

The first English common name comes from their use as natural fire lighters (nothing to do with a dating website). The fungus also grows in a shape resembling a horse's hoof.

This fungus was growing on a very large, long-dead beech tree.

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Sun, 30 Aug 2026 17:53:01 +0000

There were many actors who had illustrious movie and film careers before appearing on Star Trek (#TOS). They came as both guest stars and regulars. There were also those who went on to great things after making an appearance on TOS.

One of my favourite such connections was made by the actor Elisha Cook Jr. In Trek, he had a memorable role as Kirk's attorney in "Court Martial".

26 years earlier Cook had a major role in "The Maltese Falcon" (1941) as Wilmer.

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