Saying Goodbye to the Galleries

I took some time today to go through the galleries to say goodbye.  Snapped quite a few photos too.


I threw together a slide show of some of the sillier things.

Visit to the MSI part 2

Here I am, the first cripple on the moon. Bonus points to Chip for suggesting the cane needed to be in the photo and placing it so well.

Here I am fascinated by the Apollo 8
command module.  Chip has managed to clone himself in the background.

Tom demonstrates his usual driving method.

Midway through I decided I needed a wheelchair, especially since we had walked to the museum and were going to have to walk home.  They left me in front of the oncoming train.  (Actually, there was an older lady also in a wheelchair who looked utterly scandalized when we took this photo.  Seriously, lady, if I have to use the damn thing, you can be sure I'm going to joke about it.)

Later in the trip, we arranged for someone to bust out the passenger window of Chip's car and steal some of his stuff, just so his Chicago experience would be authentic. We are excellent hosts.

Visit to the MSI part 1

Our friend Chip was in town last week. Tom and I took him to the Museum of Science and Industry.

They have a captured German U-Boat as part of their collection. This thing to the right is from the lead-in to that exhibit. The dude on the left looks very pouty about having his ship sunk.

Further on, you can see the boarding party that took the sub. My cane

was an essential part of this mission.

It's a really big gun.

The Aurora 7 Mercury capsule (Scott Carpenter's ship).  Damn those things were tiny.  Also, they had lots of switches.

Breaking News: New Evidence the Moon Is Made of Cheese

Why else would astronauts have to leave mousetraps near the LM pads? TEACH THE CONTROVERSY!!!!

What happens in Vegas stays in Vegas...

So, the Luxor casino, hotel, etc. in Las Vegas decided to abandon their Egyptian theme, or at least the "museum" part of it a few years ago.  I don't pretend to understand why.  I managed to visit the place once before the decision and there was much hilarity.
I did not, however, pay the admission fee to see their "museum/reproduction of the tomb of Tutankhamun" because a) I'm cheap and b) I figured the odds of being thrown out for being snarky were fairly high.
Apparently, the contents of the Tut tomb imitation are now in the possession of the Las Vegas Natural History Museum.
I'm not sure how I feel about this.  In some ways, it's awesome to make these types of objects more accessible to the general public.  But they aren't authentic.  I'm not sure how carefully the original objects were reproduced.  I'm not sure how well curated the exhibit itself was at the Luxor is is now.  While providing access to objects is important, providing accurate information is at least as, if not more, important.  As it is, I figure we'll go have a peek next time we visit my family in Vegas.  I do find it curious that while the various stories stress the "care" with which the objects were recreated, I can find no reference to consultation with an Egyptologist for the exhibit.

Some news articles about the new exhibit:
Las Vegas Sun
KTNV
Las Vegas Review Journal

Mummy Facial Reconstruction

Here is a wonderful video of digital facial reconstruction of Meresamun, a temple singer during the Third Intermediate Period in ancient Egypt. Based on the style of coffin and other information, Meresamun's lifetime has been pegged to around 800 BC.

The facial reconstruction itself is based on the high quality CT scans done at the University of Chicago Hospitals in preparation for the special exhibit The Life of Meresamun at the Oriental Institute.

Anyone in the Chicago area should really try to pay a visit. Those outside the Chicago area, please take a look at the links, the OI website is a wonderful resource.