AMNH – Philippines

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One thing I was especially interested in seeing at the AMNH was if they had a display for the Philippines in the Culture Halls, and how accurate and up-to-date that would be. I didn’t find it in the Stout Hall of Asian Peoples, where I would have expected it, but rather in the Margaret Mead Hall of Pacific Peoples, near Indonesia.

The display is a bit small, and looks like it hasn’t been updated any time recently. Mostly a smattering of artifacts, crafts, and old photos. As with most of these amusingly archaic Culture Halls, the general impression depicted is that the Philippines is a land of exotic tribal savages. Photos of the exhibit:

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AMNH

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Yesterday was spent at the American Natural History Museum in New York — my first visit. Being acquainted with the sciences, I was much more interested in the AMNH as a classic historical landmark than as a museum; I was there for the novelty of old, unrenovated displays and their quaint, outdated views of the world. Nonetheless, the museum proved a source of fascinations both historical and scientific, and I had great fun snapping photos of halls and display cases, old and new, and of tourists, signage, and my lovely wife as well.

The full AMNH photoset is here. Some highlights:

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Panorama - Hall of African Mammals

Panorama - Fossil Hall

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NJ Thanksgiving 2007

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We spent Thanksgiving with Amy’s family at her grandma’s house, with a dinner of broccoli soup and shrimp cocktail and mashed potatoes and turnips and sweet potatoes and creamed onions and of course a rather large roast turkey (dark meat for me), followed by apple, cherry, and pumpkin pies. I also recall vegging out in front of the TV alternating between the Hitchcock Marathon on AMC and the Ghost Hunters marathon on Sci-Fi, both of which were lulz-tastic. Here are some photos, which may occasionally include my brother-in-law Bob. (Full photoset here.)

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Banahaw in US News

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My Byline Happy Thanksgiving! Be sure to open up this week’s U.S. News and World Report to page 60, where you’ll find my article “The Draw of a ‘Holy Mountain,'” on Mount Banahaw in the Philippines, part of a larger series on Sacred Places.

I’ve never actually been to the “pilgrimage” parts of Banahaw myself, (though my family does have history in Majayjay) so I asked family and friends who’d gone on trips with the Rizalistas, looked around Pinoy weblogs and photos for travelers who had been on pilgrimages, and tried to order Fr. Gorospe’s book “Banahaw: Conversations with a Pilgrim to the Power Mountain.” (The book was, unfortunately, out of stock at Alibris and would not have arrived in time for deadline, but I gleaned enough from excerpts to provide sufficient material.) The article has been edited down for space, but if you’re at all interested, you can read the original, longer draft here.

MARC.jpg

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MARC.jpg Looking into a MARC train at Baltimore Penn Station. This brings back memories.

(MARC.jpg uploaded by brownpau.)

WP-DC13 and Cellphones for Soldiers

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WP-DC13 Cell Phones for Soldiers

I recently ordered a WP-DC13 camera housing (above left) so I can bring my SD1000 diving next time I’m in the Philippines. When it arrived, the Amazon box included a little plastic sleeve marked “Cellphones for Soldiers” (above right), an interesting little project started by a pair of teenagers to recycle people’s old cellphones by donating them to military personnel in need of phones to contact loved ones back home. Putting aside questions of war and Iraq, I’m wondering if this doesn’t have security implications — soldiers calling family via prepaid cards in the Middle East?

Note from reading the FAQ that most of the cellphones donated don’t actually go to soldiers since they’re not GSM, and instead are sold to a recycler who pays for prepaid cards to send to the soldiers.

As for the housing, it looks great and fits the camera well, but I still need to take it on two test dives in the bathtub sometime — one “unmanned” safety dive without a camera and one “manned” dive with the camera. Then we’ll see how it works. With photos of me in the tub! Bet you’re looking forward to that, eh?

Corn and Magazine

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Spotted yesterday while lining up at Whole Foods: someone appears to have decided he didn’t want this ear of corn anymore, so he stuffed it in the InStyle magazine rack. Classy.

Corn and Magazines