chocolate manufacturing
I’m about to embark on a new career. Chocolate Factory Tour Guide.
Yes, just in time for Easter, I am joining a team of guides conducting school tours through a factory founded in 1906. Stations on the tour will include Chocology, history of the factory, visits to the active factory manufacturing lines and a stop at a special candy shop with discount prices.
Can you say ‘Creme Eggs?’
How does a museum stay current with what a society values and collects? Many have chosen to imbed a Contemporary Culture gallery within their walls. Recently an exhibit of contemporary art opened that spans two museums and has an on-the-street presence as well.
There was a bit of a Dr. Seuss feel to the exhibit and it was wonderful that the artist/author was encouraging photography of his work. (all photo source : Lorie Pierce)
The street installation was located in the lobby of an upscale men’s clothing store. Named ‘Gumhead’, the artwork is composed of a large ceramic head that visitors are encouraged to cover with chewed gum.
Personally, I added an orange starfish to his cheek. Can you locate it?
Of all the specimens and artifacts in the museum, my favourites are the gorgeous coiled ammonites.
ammonite photo source : Lorie Pierce
Take a look at the beautiful everyday applications this elegant design inspires.
Rebecca Asquith lamp
hightech washbasin
Louis Comfort design Tiffany Lamp photo source : morsemuseum.org
crated dinosaur photo source : Lorie Pierce
There is a brand new dinosaur, as yet unnamed, ready to make its appearance at our museum. It’s sitting in this crate, ready to be released on January 24th.
Anticipation is building visitor interest and many are planning a return trip to see the event.
amphorae photo source : Lorie Pierce
There are an incredible number of distinctive artifact shapes. An amphora seems like an improbable shape for a container for those of us used to flat bottom cans, bottles and boxes. Yet these were the common containers for wine, oils an other traded commodities in the ancient Mediterranean region. They even held hordes of coins.
horde of tetradrachma in amphora photo source : Lorie Pierce
Upon seeing this display, one young girl announced to her family that she had found buried treasure.
shark jaws photo : Lorie Pierce
Last year, I visited the new aquarium in my city 24 times (or roughly once every two weeks) thanks to a birthday gift of a yearly pass. It was an interesting exercise to visit an attraction so often, but at different times and with varied crowds of others. I took upwards of 1500 images and videos of the aquarium dwellers including staff cleaning the larger tanks from the inside.
There seemed to be something new to see every time. My favourite moments were when the octopus was moving (only 3 of the 24 visits), when cleaners were in the shark tank (2 visits), when the baby cuttlefish were born, when the sea dragons were being fed (one visit) and new bamboo sharks emerged from their egg case (2 visits).
A favourite activity was listening in on the expressions of children seeing live sharks, rays, sea turtles and sawfish for the first time.
Why is this animal named Parksosaurus?
Dinosaurs get their names from the places their remains are found, in honour of a person (often a funding patron) who supported the excavation, and in description of aspects of their appearance and behaviour.
The latest Palaeo Quiz centres on how specific dinosaurs were named.
Participants are given three plausible explanations for the dinosaur’s name and have to choose the correct one.
In pretesting this activity, one high school co-op student told me that if she does not know the answer, she chooses the longest one. So I have made sure that my false choices are as long, or longer, than the truthful one.
This quiz will be used during our disco night aimed at the 19 to 30 year old crowd.
Burgess Shale toys website shopping source : rom.on.ca
Only a very few of the items that are sold in the museum’s gift shop are replicas of artifacts for view in the museum. These plastic toys are one of those rare items for purchase which are scientifically accurate reproductions, taken from the reconstruction of fossils in the invertebrate palaeontology collection. Unfortunately the description for the toys found on the museum website is not accurate.
One of these Cambrian animals is mislabeled as another one that is much better known. Can you tell which one? The mistake is akin to identifying a poodle as a Great Dane.
screen shot of ROM Egyptologist Gayle Gibson source : rom.on.ca
http://www.rom.on.ca/en/blog/introducing-nefret-mut-0
It’s great to realize that we can use modern technologies to learn more about ancient people and how they lived. A recent investigation of the hieroglyphics on this 3,000 year old mummy case have revealed the name of the deceased.
Nefret-Mut which means ‘the beautiful one of the Goddess Mut’
From torontoist.com
Researchers have revealed the real name of a ROM mummy that has been commonly known as “Justine.” Last week, Toronto Egyptologist Gayle Gibson discovered that the mummy was called Nefret-Mut, which means “beautiful one of the goddess Mut.” Gibson says that according to the messy hieroglyphics on what is believed to be her coffin, Nefret-Mut was a chantress at the Temple of Amun-Re. According to Gibson, Nefret-Mut lived around 945 B.C. during the rule of King Shesonq I. The mummy was excavated in 1905 to 1906 by egyptologist Eduoard Naville before being acquired by the ROM’s first curator Charles Trick Currelly, and is currently on display at THEMUSEUM in Kitchener.
acanthodian illustration by Danielle Dufault
Amateur fossil hunters have added significantly to Palaeontology through donations of important fossils. The earliest nearly complete fossil of a fish was recently excavated in a quarry near Ft. Erie, Ontario. Dated at 425 million years old, this specimen helps fill in the picture of early vertebrates as they changed from jawless to jawed.
The amateurs had been looking for eurypterids in the Bertie Formation dolostone that had already been quarried for 100 years. Densely packed and fine-grained, this is an area of exceptional preservation. If the non-mineralized eurypterids (sea scorpions) could be preserved, then other Silurian marine animals were expected. But in all that time, no one had found a fish.
Fortunately the fossil hunters understood they had found an important specimen and contacted the experts. Now the fish is classified (Nerepisacanthus) and registered in the museum collection. Hooray for the amateurs.
museumtalkarchive 