Weekly Photo Challenge: (Manchester) Containers

1. John Rylands Library, Manchester.  Like many other libraries and museums, the JRL is a container of preserved knowledge, transcending through time.

John Rylands

2. Manchester Cathedral I see places of worship as containers of hope, faith, belief and unity, as well as sorrow, pain and misery.

Manchester Cathedral

3. University of Manchester Universities are also containers of hope, beliefs, sorrow and pain. But the difference between them and places of worship is that universities are containers of empirical evidence.

UoM

4. Old Trafford – the home of Manchester United FC Old Trafford is a container of legacy, expectations, dreams, disappointment, anger, history and one of the greatest group of sportsmen.

Old Trafford

In response to the Daily Post’s Weekly Photo Challenge: Containers

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Weekly Photo Challenge: Letters

Haven’t we, as a species, come a long way when it comes to language and writing? The top two pictures are of ancient hieroglyphic letters written thousands of years ago. It fascinating to know that way back then, people have figured out a way to ‘outsource’ their thoughts, and thus improve their memories. Writing gave them (and us) another means of communication and a way to preserve our wisdom for the next generation.

The fact that these items are preserved in a museum and that no one uses hieroglyphics nowadays to communicate shows how much society has changed. Books are also slowly being replaced by electronic books (e-books), letters and fax by emails and text messages. I wonder how many more years we have to wait until we see books on museums?

 

Check out this page for more posts about LETTERS

 

Manchester Science Festival 2013 photo gallery

BRAINS: Mind as Matter:

Gigantic Graphene model:

Ice Lab:

Eye & I:

Let’s do an experiment

Where the experiment took place

Squisjy brain

Squishy brain 2

Information about the research

Threatening or what?!

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Brian Bits:

Drilling a hole in the skull

Glass models of the brain

Seizures and paralysis

Fruit fly quest

Seeing is believing

stained parts of the brain through the lens

Research on Alzheimer’s Disease

Human brain model

Brains of a pig, a rat and a mouse

PIg’s brain Dissection:

Is it?

Brains for the next group of participants

As if anyone would nick it, eh?!

Brains

more brains

Me, inspecting a pig’s brain

slicing

Half a brain

Done!

Safety firts!

Goggles

Gigantic Graphene Model and Ice Lab: Manchester Science Festival, ’13

Last week, I managed to brave the weather to join the fun at Manchester’s Museum of Science and Industry (MOSI). One of the coolest parts of this year’s Science Festival is  Aravind Vijayaraghavan’s idea of building a huge model of graphene, with the help of museum visitors such as myself. Graphene- a material stronger than steel, more flexible than rubber and more conductive than rubber, is discovered in Manchester by Andre Geim and Kostya Novoselov. Both scientists were awarded the Nobel Prize in Physicsin 2010 for their discovery of the said material. Here’s how we created the gigantic model:

First, we were given a template and pieces of plastic tubes and ‘joints’:

We then assemble the parts to resemble the template:

We then gave our finished ‘bit’ of the model to the people in charge, who then gave them to the people who built the model outdoor:

I never got to see the finished product, but doing my bit was a lot of fun!

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Next up, I visited the Ice Lab exhibition, which is also in the same museum. This exhibition, which runs until 6 January 2014, shows the architecture and different research that are being conducted in Antartica. Visitors can learn about how the buildings and research facilities are made and what considerations are taken when planning and building them. It also gives the visitors the chance to experience the sounds and other sensations that one might experience in Antartica. Here are some pictures:

Iceberg Living Station:

 

Bharati Larsemann Hills:

 

If you haven’t yet, make sure to check out Ice lab and other exhibitions at the Museum of Science and Industry at Manchester! Click here to visit their website: www.mosi.org.uk

Weekly Photo Challenge: Foreign (WARNING: EXPLICIT CONTENT. 18 and over only)

WARNING: EXPLICIT CONTENT. CLOSE THIS PAGE/TAB IF YOU ARE UNDER THE AGE OF 18 NOW!!!!!!!

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As the dailypost page said, ‘foreign’ can be applied to “things outside of or different from your normal environment”. When I’ve read that the theme for this week’s photo challenge is ‘foreign’, I immediately thought of Amsterdam’s Sexmuseum, which my girlfriend and I visited last year. To me, the museum embodies ‘foreign’ in many ways. For one, it is outside the country in which I live in. Also, the idea of having a museum which, in a way, celebrates sex seems out-of-this-world to me. I was raised in a Catholic community and I am now working in the (primary) education sector- both of which restrict, if not forbid, any mention of sex, let alone in an in-your-face manner in which the Sexmuseum does. In addition, this post completely steers away from my blog’s theme.

It is amazing to see how much people still stay clear of publicly showing interest in, and openly discussing the topic of sex.

Autumn snaps

Having had a busy and stressful few weeks, I felt like I needed a bit of a break to recharge my ‘batteries’. This morning, I’ve decided to get out of the house and walk around Salford Quays (Manchester, England), dragging my partner along.  Since the sun decided to show up today- which is extremely rare here in Manchester, the full colours of Autumn are in display. Needless to say, today was one of the best opportunities to take some photos. Here are some of mine:

Erie Basin:

Let’s take a closer look at those trees:

Here’s my partner, taking a photo of her shoes (for Instagram? You bet!):

The Lowry footbridge, a.k.a. The Millennuim Bridge:

The sun’s rays beaming directly on the Imperial War Museum North:

Salford Quays Basin:

BBC Studios and MediaCityUK:

Seeing these Autumn colours made me feel ready to take on the challenges of the following weeks!

Bug Art: Manchester Museum’s Big Saturday

Since I was a kid, I was always fascinated with science. As I got older, one of my wishes was to work in a museum because I’ve always thought that museum workers are really clever and they know all about science. Today, thanks to the British Science Association, I had the opportunity to fulfill my dream, even for just a very short time. Along with other volunteers, I helped set-up a stall that aimed to explain the process of pollination to children. We also gave the kids the chance to make their own bees to take home.

This is the model bee that one of our colleagues made for us and the kids to copy:

Looking at the picture below, we aimed to explain pollination through the use of visual aids. The flowers of the left contained little soft balls that represented the pollens. The bee takes them to a different flower for pollination or to its beehive (which is where the bee is sitting):

These are my colleagues in action:

Look at all the people having fun:

There were also some other exhibitions and activities during the day. Here are the pictures of some of the insects on display:

But I guess the best part of the Big Saturday is the maggot painting. Maggots were placed into trays with paper and paint and were guided by the one painting either by brush or by torching them. (Any reader who can explain this better please comment, as I have only caught a glimpse of this).

These are the maggots:

And here are some of the paintings. Can you see the maggots?

For more info about Manchester Museum’s upcoming events, visit: http://events.manchester.ac.uk/calendar/tag:manchester_museum/

My 2011 in pictures

I spent the first hours of 2011 with my partner, our family and friends.

A few weeks later, my partner celebrated her birthday again, with friends and family…

In April, me and my friends played a benefit gig for the people suffering Aplastic Anemia, which sadly was the cause of why one of our friends is no longer with us.

The gig was a success as it raised quite a bit of money and the people seemed to have had a good time.

We also said goodbye to two of our friends who moved to Den Haag. These guys warmed our hearts with their generosity, whilst inspiring us at the same time with their continuing success in their lives.

Dr. North is a magician on the grill

One of the prettiest moms-to-be I’ve seen:

I visited Pistyll Rhaeadr falls in North Wales during the spring. This place was breath-taking. I didn’t realise that there is such a lovely view in Wales!

A milestone has been reached by my partner in 2011. After 3 years of hard work and dedication, she graduated with flying colours!

I then went back home to the Philippines for a while with my partner. One of the first things we did was watch basketball- courtside! This game between UST and Ateneo was a really good one.

We visited Singapore, the tidiest and one of the most friendly cities I have ever visited…

Look at this for food choices:

And of course, we shopped at Bugis Street:

We then went to Boracay, Philippines, the greatest, most beautiful and relaxing beach I have ever been into…

When we got back to the UK, we moved to Manchester in preparation for the start of my Master’s Degree. Manchester is amazing. The city feels so alive and vibrant. I love how multi-cultural the city is. I also like how the buildings look.

This is a bonus: Old Trafford Stadium, the home of Manchester United Football Club:

Made new friends in uni…

Friends visited me for my birthday…

Remember our friends who moved to Den Haag? We visited them just before Christmas, and look, they have a baby! Thanks again for letting us stay at your place…

We then visited Amsterdam. Most of the pictures we took may offend people so, these are the only ones I will show you…

PS. Thanks, honey for the birthday gift!

My girlfriend and I spent Christmas at our place with our families. Our parents ended up cooking everything and doing everything for us, which was great! Family times are the best times!

Lastly, we had a meal at Wagamama on New Year’s Eve. We decided against cooking and staying in because that’s what we have always done for the past few years.

All in all, 2011 was a fantastic year for me. This is the reason why I do not have a New Year’s resolution this year. I think all I have to do is carry on what I have done. Here’s to another year of awesomeness!!!