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.
Looks like a cracking day out. Such a varied collection of cool stuff, and the odd Lovecraft reference never goes a miss!!.
ReplyDeleteI'm sure there's a TED talk that would explain how I went into the place wanting to see Lovecraft references everywhere.
DeleteOf course, now that the RPG generation has grown up, ex gamers are in positions of authority, and clearly they are dropping hints for geeks everywhere. It's a good thing.
An interesting trip, I don’t visit enough museums.
ReplyDeleteThanks George. No, me neither, and as a kid I used to find these trips fascinating. I have been meaning to get to the natural history museum or the army museum in London before 'social' history takes over and we lose the military history flavour and meaning completely.
DeleteAren't there small yellow tentacles in your plate, on the last picture ?? :D
ReplyDeleteOh no Phil ...you're right!
DeleteTo late Darren IMHO social history has got to the National Army Museum first! We went last year during our trip to Salute and its now in a very nice building but has been dumbed down.
ReplyDeleteNoooooooo! Say it isn't so.
DeleteThey'll be trying to ban wargaming next...
Probably already have, your that old you don't realise it :)
ReplyDeleteWe're simply the rebellion against the evil empire...wait, isn't that Games Workshop ;)
Delete