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The Scottish Register of Tartans
- arethuza 8y agoAs a Scot, I was slightly surprised to see that this is actually an official Scottish Government service! Edit: I should have guessed by the domain.
- peteretep 8y agoAs much as a lot of tartan-lore is revisionist, selling pretty cloth to credulous tourists and Americans-craving-heritage is big business.
- 7000skeletons 8y agoFun fact, the majority of the "tourist trap" shops you see dotted up and down the Royal Mile in Edinburgh are actually owned by the same family. Who are originally from India, I think. The whole thing's pretty hilarious.
- fyfy18 8y agoI’m surprised Scotland doesn’t have its own TLD.
- cbowal 8y agoThey do - .scot! https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/.scot https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/.scot
- daleharvey 8y agoIt does, I was actually surprised .scot existed but noticed an advert for it the other day
- sanat 8y agoThis was on the 99 Percent Invisible episode this week. A great episode about tartans. https://99percentinvisible.org/episode/plaid-articles-of-interest-2/ https://99percentinvisible.org/episode/plaid-articles-of-int...
- karnivol 8y agoFunny thing, there are registered tartans for Mars exploration and Earth preservation activities.
- omnibrain 8y agoAnd Clan MacDuck: https://www.tartanregister.gov.uk/tartanDetails?ref=2412 https://www.tartanregister.gov.uk/tartanDetails?ref=2412
- ggm 8y agoThe good thing about this, is it puts tartans into a modern IPR context and sheds the Walter Scott fake history. It's no different to burberry trademarking it's red flash check. All the clan/sept/hunting/dress stuff is a giant fantasy of post Regency construction. Harris Tweed on the other hand, is much more a "thing" and deserves its restricted mark for heritage reasons. Cornish sailors knitting patterns next!
- arethuza 8y agoYeah - a lot of traditions were "revived" (i.e. invented) for the visit of King George IV to Scotland: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Visit_of_King_George_IV_to_Scotland https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Visit_of_King_George_IV_to_Sco... Which is ironic given the almost ethnic cleaning levels of treatment given to Highlanders and their culture following the '45 and the later Clearances: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Culloden#Aftermath https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Culloden#Aftermath https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Highland_Clearances https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Highland_Clearances
- teh_klev 8y agoHere's a map showing the occupation of Scotland by the British Army after the '45. It's quite incredible: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1AldSMUTTjTtqxQp1kDhjRKqjXNpbffSZ/view https://drive.google.com/file/d/1AldSMUTTjTtqxQp1kDhjRKqjXNp...
- arethuza 8y agoThe number of towns that start with "Fort" is a bit of a give away (although some of these were from earlier rebellions) - places like Fort George are pretty impressive and well worth visiting (and it's still an Army base): https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fort_George,_Highland https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fort_George,_Highland
- jpindar 8y agoIt might be interesting to see a map of the world with all the places named "Fort" or the equivalent highlighted.
- pulisse 8y agoOut of curiosity I checked out the "New Tartans" page. The most recent item is: https://www.tartanregister.gov.uk/tartanDetails?ref=12260 https://www.tartanregister.gov.uk/tartanDetails?ref=12260 which, sadly, seems to have been registered on behalf of a white supremacist cult.
- peteretep 8y agoDunno why you're getting downvoted, seems factual: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Asatru_Folk_Assembly https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Asatru_Folk_Assembly
- jstanley 8y agoWhy is that sad? It's a good thing that anybody can register a tartan regardless of whether they are "desirable".
- daleharvey 8y agoThe fact that white supremist cults exist is saddening for a lot of people, especially when having to share space / be reminded of them. Interesting usage of the air quotes you have there.
- otabdeveloper1 8y agoIf it was a black supremacist cult, would that have been OK?
- dang 8y agoCould you please stop posting unsubstantive comments to Hacker News?
- talmir 8y agoAs an Icelandic man that loves his ancestry and the viking themes and styles accompanying that I just have this to say: Right wing kheads, stop using our legacy and legends as a vehicle for your ked up beliefs! Vikings and norse people were not pure, they assimilated whatever culture they came into contact with, including blood, as they spread across europe. Seriously, go make up your own weird ass religion to cling your racist beliefs to. It worked for scientology! I hate the fact that I have to think twice about getting a line from a viking script tattooed on my arm because it might be thought of as right wing.
- orthur_b 8y agoThat is a weird way of paying by credit card they have: In order for the customer to make a payment by credit/debit card we need: 1) the card number 2) the card expiry date; 3) the issue number if Maestro; 4) the last 3 digits of the card security number (on the reverse of the credit card); 5) the cardholder's name and initials as displayed on the card; and 6) the cardholder's address. Please note that all of these details are essential. Please also provide your reference (NRS/TR/Tartan Name). Please telephone +44 (0)131 535 1395 to make payment by credit card. https://www.tartanregister.gov.uk/fees https://www.tartanregister.gov.uk/fees
- teh_klev 8y agoWhat seems weird about those details? Seems to cover all the things you need to make a payment over the phone.
- oytis 8y agoIsn't paying with credit card over phone weird enough? Anyone eavesdropping on the phone line gets full access to your card details, not to say that the person on the other side of the line gets it. Normally I would expect an https-protected webform of a trusted payment processor.
- murph-almighty 8y agoI agree that this practice is pretty insecure but this is pretty common. I've paid for pizza delivery like this before because a lot of local places won't give their drivers a card reader.
- bovermyer 8y agoAre you sure this is as uncommon as you suggest?
- oytis 8y agoI have seen it only once so far when one minor German publisher asked me to send the same details per snail-mail. Luckily they also had other options. I can't really know how common it is in UK, never been there, but I would definitely be surprised.
- mlmartin 8y agoThe Debian GNU/Linux distribution has it's own tartan too, the interesting detail being it contains morse code: https://wiki.debian.org/Tartan https://wiki.debian.org/Tartan https://www.tartanregister.gov.uk/tartandetails?ref=5936 https://www.tartanregister.gov.uk/tartandetails?ref=5936 "This is the tartan of The Debian Project: an association of individuals who work together to create a free operating system that is called Debian GNU/Linux, or simply Debian for short. In 2007 Debian held its eighth annual gathering of developers from all over the world in Edinburgh, and the tartan was designed to celebrate that fact. The colours are references to various logos: Reds for the Debian swirl, Blue for Captain Blue-Eyes (the old Debian logo), and Yellow, Black & White for Tux, the Linux logo. If the image is rotated 180 degrees, the White can be seen to be arranged so as to spell out DEBIAN in Morse code (with a correct 1:3 ratio for dots to dashes, and for the pauses in and between letters)."
- tempodox 8y agoI was just about to remark that we should have tartans for programming languages.
- eorge_g 8y agoCompaq Computers have a tartan too: "Designed by Bill Alexander 1987, promoted by Eyedea Creative Consultancy Ltd for the Compaq Computer Co, an American compay which set up business in Scotland." https://www.tartanregister.gov.uk/tartanDetails?ref=726 https://www.tartanregister.gov.uk/tartanDetails?ref=726
- xvedejas 8y agoAbout a year ago I discovered that California has its own tartan pattern. Unfortunately I was unable to find any manufacturer which currently makes a flannel shirt in this pattern. It's a shame, the pattern is quite nice, but it's unclear to me whether it's ever used anywhere.
- labster 8y agoMost of the designs in the registry are not currently made, but you can order a small run of fabric for handmade clothes. It would be more yardage than for just one shirt though.
- Balgair 8y agoTartans are always a great example of how computer science and algorithms got their start: fabrics. From the Jenner Loom on up, there has been a long relationship with textiles. Some fun and semi-related tartan sites: The list of US State Tartans: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_U.S._state_tartans https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_U.S._state_tartans A Tartan warp sequence generator: http://www.weddslist.com/cgi-bin/tartans/pg.pl?source=sts#result http://www.weddslist.com/cgi-bin/tartans/pg.pl?source=sts#re... The above site is pretty neat! They have a GIANT list of recognized tartans, with the warp sequences. In addition, you can input your own warp sequence. Though I can't find evidence of the warp sequence being used as a messaging platform, it's not hard to envision. Take some message, convert it to hexadecimal (or some other method), put it in the weft, and viola! A 'secret' message: http://www.weddslist.com/cgi-bin/tartans/tartan.pl?col(g)=008000&col(c)=008080&col(f)=800040&col(k)=000000&warp=g10(c6f6)k10&ptrn=d1 http://www.weddslist.com/cgi-bin/tartans/tartan.pl?col(g)=00...