Saturday 19 January 2019

Le Duc on the Road XII - The Ulster Museum

Time has been in critically short supply since Christmas, due to not-so-hostile takeovers at work and the need for many presentations and political b.s., as senior managers reach for their silencers.

That said, there's always time to help no.2 daughter with her engineering project, related to museum 'interactives' that will develop the short attention span of the younger kidz.



Hence, a trip to the Ulster Museum was in the offing, in order to see 'what is' before she she designs 'what could be'.

(Apparently this is all part of her scientific & engineering development plan to be the third woman on Mars. Why not the first? Well, she has decided, after reading 'the Martian', that the first two trips would be far too dangerous. 'But we went to the moon in the 60s?' I retort. 'Yeah, yeah, 'course we did...' she responds in her cynical Generation Z monotone murmur...).


To the pics...(expect sarcasm...oh yes, and lots of H.P. Lovecraft Cthulhu references...).

 A Deinonychus guards the door. (Ok so the kids call them 'Raptors these days).


 
 A 1588 siege gun built for Philip II's intended invasion of England, found amongst the wreckage of two armada ships that floundered off the Irish coast.

 A Triceratops lurks in his glass cabinet.

 A pale faced doughboy looks on...


Artifacts from the 36th Ulster / 10th Irish mustering in 1914.


 Dragons...or perhaps Cthulhu inspired 'Shantaks' lurk in the lobby...

I agree.

First miniatures of the day. Vickers MG teams.


 Henry Joy McCracken's death mask and favourite jacket, consigned to the wastebasket of history along with the 1798 rebellion and concept of the United Irishmen...though see Guy Beiner's 'Year of the French' for a reaffirmation of how folklore has more substance to it than much accepted history.


 Cannon for the kidz...


 Right - apparently this was on a bowl or spoon. The last thing I would want to see when eating my porridge would be this bloke!



 Swords and bolts. Mostly 9th to 12th century.

 A few Viking artifacts, though I reckon Ragnar would have got his ass kicked if he'd come to Ulster ;)


 Celtic artifacts from the Emain Macha region - Seat of the High King in early pre Christian times.

 Fragment of an Egyptian statue. Now how did they carve this? (cue Alien technology proponents...)

 Grave goods from Takabuti's sarcophagus. The Egyptian Mummy of Takabuti has been in the museum for decades, though I note they have changed the text on the glass. It used to mention the Necronomicon. Now granted, there was an Egyptian Book of the Dead, but the Necronomicon was a fictional book created by H.P.Lovecraft. (cue hate mail).

Irish spearhead...and I don't mean the rules.



 Lead 'artifacts' outlining the dangers of lead poisoning. So lead figures are dangerous? Depends how well they're painted mate.

 Not Cthulhu inspired...but plenty of tentacles.

 Defintely Cthulhu inspired...wait, I sense a theme coming.

 Scary? No, an elephant's skull.

 T.Rex in plastic.
Clearly, non-euclidian geometry.

Proof of evolution...or something.

Shantaks getting closer.

I can't look away from it...I can't...!

More non-euclidian wierdness.

 Now this piece is locked away...and I don't know why...oooo


Ok, so I lied about the Shantaks

Remnants of the wreck of the Girona around the time of the Spanish Armada

Remnants of my lunch around the time of lunchtime.