Scilly has been inhabited since the Neolithic. Its history has been one of subsistence living until the early 20th century (people lived from what they could get from the land or the sea). Farming and fishing continue today, but the main industry now is tourism.
It is likely that until relatively recent times the Isles were much larger with many of them joined into one island, named Ennor. Rising sea levels flooded the central plain around 400–500 AD, forming the current islands.
Evidence for the older large island includes:
Offshore, midway between Land's End and the Isles of Scilly, is the supposed location of the mythical lost land of Lyonesse, referred to in Arthurian literature.
Scilly has been identified as the place of exile of two heretical 4th century bishops, Instantius and Tiberianus, who were followers of Priscillian.
The Isles of Scilly form an archipelago of five populated islands and many other small rocky islets (around 140 in total) lying 45 km (28 mi) off Land's End. They are all composed of granite of early Permian age.
The position of the islands causes great contrasts. The warming effect of the sea means they rarely have frost or snow. This allows local farmers to grow flowers earlier than would grow on mainland Britain. The chief agricultural product is cut flowers, mostly daffodils.
Exposure to Atlantic winds means that spectacular winter gales lash the islands from time to time. This is reflected in the landscape. On Tresco, the lush sub-tropical Tresco Abbey Gardens shelter on the southern end of the island, but the low heather and bare rock get the wind on the exposed northern end.
Calluna
Calluna vulgaris (heather) is the sole species in the genus Calluna in the family Ericaceae.
It is a low-growing perennial shrub growing to tall, or rarely to . It is found widely in Europe and Asia Minor on acidic soils in open sunny situations and in moderate shade.
Heather is the dominant plant on most heaths and moorland in Europe, and in some bog vegetation and acidic pine and oak woodland. It is tolerant of grazing and regenerates following occasional burning. It is often managed in nature reserves and grouse moors by sheep or cattle grazing, and also by light burning.
The flowers emerge in late summer; in wild plants these are normally mauve, but white-flowered plants also occur occasionally.
Heather is an important food source for various sheep and deer which can graze the tips of the plants when snow covers low growing vegetation. Willow Grouse and Red Grouse feed on the young shoots and seeds of this plant. Both adults and larvae of the Heather Beetle "Lochmaea suturalis" feed on it, and can cause damage. The larvae of a number of Lepidoptera species also feed on the plant.
Heather honey is a highly valued product in moorland and heathland areas, with many beehives being moved there in late summer. It has a strong taste, and an unusual texture. It is thixotropic, being a jelly until stirred, when it becomes a syrup (like other honey), but then sets again to a jelly. This makes the extraction of the honey from the comb difficult, and it is therefore often sold as comb honey.
Heather is seen as iconic of Scotland, where the plant grows widely. When poems like "Bonnie Auld Scotland" speak of "fragrant hills of purple heather', when the hero of "Kidnapped" flees through the heather, when heather and Scotland are linked in the same sentence, the heather talked about is "Calluna vulgaris".
Piperales
Piperales is a botanical name for an order of flowering plants. It necessarily includes the family Piperaceae but otherwise has been treated variously over time. Well-known plants which may be included in this order include black pepper, kava, lizard's tail, birthwort, and wild ginger.
Piperaceae
The Piperaceae, also known as the pepper family, is a large family of flowering plants. The group contains roughly 3,610 currently accepted species in five genera. The vast majority of peppers can be found within the two main genera: "Piper" (2000 species) and "Peperomia" (1600 species).
Carson Cistulli
Carson Cistulli is a poet and a journalist. He was born on December 23, 1979 in New Hampshire. He writes about himself and life. One important part of his life is baseball. Another important part of his life are books. He really likes the French poet Arthur Rimbaud and the American philosopher Ralph Waldo Emerson. He is also a radio host.
Carson started writing when he was a child. He read a lot of poetry when he was away from home at a boarding school called Milton Academy. One of his favorite poets was Kenneth Koch. When he grew up he went to school at Columbia University in New York City, the school where Kenneth was a teacher. When talking to a newspaper Carson said that he was "delighted" to study with Kenneth. Carson said, "if you’re a musician and your favorite musician is Bob Dylan you can’t just show up at Bob Dylan’s house. You can’t just [meet and talk to] Bob Dylan. The poetry world is like that. [Sometimes you can meet and talk to famous poets.]"
Eastern wallaroo
The eastern wallaroo ("Macropus robustus") sometimes called the, common wallaroo, the red wallaroo, or just wallaroo lives on the sides of the Great Dividing Range. This runs for more than 3,000 km along the eastern and south-eastern coast of Australia. There are four subspecies of Eastern Wallaroo:
Chrysler Town &amp; Country
Chrysler Town & Country is a family minivan made by Chrysler. It was first sold in 1990. This vehicle is a luxury variant for Dodge Grand Caravan, the Volkswagen Routan and Chrysler Grand Voyager. The design has been changed several times.
Marjoram
Marjoram ("Origanum majorana", Lamiaceae) is a somewhat cold-sensitive perennial herb or undershrub with sweet pine and citrus flavours. In some middle-eastern countries, marjoram is synonymous with oregano, and there the names sweet marjoram and knotted marjoram are used to distinguish it from other plants.
Sidewise Award for Alternate History
The Sidewise Awards for Alternate History were established in 1995. These awards are for the best alternate history stories and novels of the year.
The awards are named after the 1934 short story "Sidewise in Time" by Murray Leinster. In the story, a strange storm makes parts of the Earth exchange places with similar places from other timelines.
Steven H Silver, Evelyn C. Leeper, and Robert B. Schmunk created the award. The number of judges has changed in different years. There have been three to eight judges, including judges in the UK and South Africa.
There are two Sideways awards. The Short-Form award is for writing that is shorter than 60,000 words. The Long-Form award may be for writing that is longer than 60,000 words. This can include a novel or a complete series of novels. The judges may also give a Special Achievement Award, but this is not required every year. Special Achievement awards are for writing that was published befor1995. The awards are given each year, usually at Worldcon.
Gardner Dozois
Gardner Raymond Dozois (July 23, 1947 – May 27, 2018) was an American science fiction writer and editor. He was editor of "Asimov's Science Fiction" magazine from 1984 to 2004. He won several Hugo and Nebula awards. He won as an editor and as a writer of short fiction.
Dozois was born on July 23, 1947 in Salem, Massachusetts. He was in the Army from 1966 to 1969 as a journalist. He then moved to New York City to work as a science fiction editor. Dozois said that one reason he started reading fiction was to escape from his isolated home town.
In 2004, Dozois was badly injured in a traffic accident while going home in a taxi from a Philadelphia Phillies game. He missed Worldcon for the first time in many years because of the accident. He did make a full recovery. On July 6, 2007, Dozois had a planned heart surgery. A week later, he experienced problems and had another operation to put in a defibrillator.