I Love Scran

Get Ahead. Get a Comedy Large Head.

2006-11-01T16:27:00.000Z

A man with a comedy large head fails to entertain an audience

How could the audience fail to be entertained by this?

"A man with a comedy large head and an oversize toothbrush fails to entertain an audience."

www.scran.ac.uk/000-000-041-406

Copyright: The Scotsman Publications Limited

Buddha, But Not As You Know Him

2006-10-30T11:25:00.000Z

Isn't this a bit scary? It's the Buddha, but not as you know him. This is the fasting Buddha.

At the age of 19, Siddhartha went outside his palace and saw "the four sights": an old man, a sick man, a corpse and an ascetic (one who practised extreme self-discipline and abstention). This sight moved him to leave his luxurious lifestyle seek a way out of the inevitable sufferings of the world. He tried various methods and eventually practised asceticism, reducing himself to a state of emaciation. This is how he is depicted in this statue.

Buddha later decided that the "Middle Way", a moderate lifestyle of meditation and moral behaviour, was a better path to Nirvana. Phew.

"Schist head of the fasting Buddha"

www.scran.ac.uk/000-000-656-849-C

Copyright: The Trustees of the British Museum

Spank - So Good They Blogged It Twice

2006-08-22T13:21:00.000Z

This is one of my very fave images on Scran. Not only does it show a very attractive farmer (Kate's boyfriend, in fact) but it also is a "Scran-whack" - ie, the only search result which comes up when you search for a particular word. And what is the word? "Spank"
:-) Scran it up, people!

Shepherd John MacKenzie grasps a lamb

www.scran.ac.uk/000-000-201-425-C

Copyright: Hulton Getty

Giant Headed Pony

2006-08-10T14:51:00.000Z

Little tiny pony, great big head. Cute, but also slightly unnerving.

"Wild Pony On The Island Of South Uist In The Western Isles"

www.scran.ac.uk/000-000-134-828-C

Copyright: Adam Elder

Bannocks/Drop Scones/Scotch Pancakes

2006-07-31T13:59:00.000Z

Mmmm...they look so good!

"Home-Made Bannocks With Jam"

www.scran.ac.uk/000-000-035-056-C

Copyright: Carney and Lyall Productions Ltd

Scary Mask Boy (Girl?)

2006-07-25T08:47:00.000Z

I'm sure it's all perfectly harmless.

"Young person with the Leicestershire Youth Arts in a performance at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe"

www.scran.ac.uk/000-000-135-194-C

Copyright: Gerry McCann

Teddy Bear, Teddy Bear, Say Your Prayers

2006-07-19T08:48:00.000Z

Has Teddy Bear noticed the corpse he's saying his prayers with?!

"Teddy Bear, Teddy Bear 04: Teddy Bear says his prayers"

www.scran.ac.uk/000-000-625-328-C

Copyright: Scran / Sheila Elder

I Want This

2006-07-14T15:30:00.000Z

This key ring is a wee magnetic climbing bottle-opening man.

1) You stick him on your fridge and he looks like he's climbing it with your keys hanging off his bum. You don't lose your keys because they're on the fridge door.

2) You open bottles with him (he's handily on the fridge door) and his wee magnetic hand holds on to the bottle top for you.

""Jimmy" key ring and bottle opener by black+blum"

www.scran.ac.uk/000-000-625-455-C

Copyright: Scran/Edward Martin

One Posh Bogey

2006-07-12T12:47:00.000Z

Was this OK in 1932? Maid in posh house whips bulldog into pulling priveleged child around in bogey shocker. Take note: this is how the other half live.

Amateur film: Jeen Family Film No 3

www.scran.ac.uk/000-000-590-815-C

Copyright: Jeen Family

That's You 70 Million Years Ago, That Is

2006-07-05T13:52:00.000Z

Coelacanths: these fish were thought to have been extinct for 70 million years until people started hauling them up in nets in the Indian Ocean in the last century. These fish have remained unchanged for all that time. They are lobe-finned fish, only four species of which survive (as far as we know), but it's these lobe fins on similar fish which The Scientists think gave rise to the limbs of land animals.

"Cast of a Coelacanth, Latimeria chalumnae"

www.scran.ac.uk/000-000-621-146-C

Copyright: University of Aberdeen Zoology Museum

Moustachioso

2006-07-05T11:19:00.000Z

Two images today. Were these lads having a competition to see who could grow the daftest moutsache?

"Dr Walford Bodie 1869 - 1939, Electrical Wizard of the North"

www.scran.ac.uk/000-000-563-201-C

Copyright: Dianne Sutherland

"Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, 1859 - 1930, Creator of Sherlock Homes"

www.scran.ac.uk/000-000-563-223-C

Copyright: Dianne Sutherland

Man With No Trousers On

2006-07-03T09:12:00.000Z

You don't see that every day. Note can of Tennents finest lager in the bin.

"A Man On The Shetland Islands"

www.scran.ac.uk/000-000-135-300-C

Copyright: Tom Kidd

Cattle Evolution

2006-06-29T12:51:00.000Z

Erm, any suggestions?

"Cattle Evolution"

www.scran.ac.uk/000-000-624-482

Copyright: Oxford Designers and Illustrators

Way To Eat

2006-06-29T09:59:00.001Z

Man, they knew how to eat in the 19th century. On the 6th March 1891, Dundee's Lord Provost Mathewson gave a civic dinner at the Queen's Hotel. Among the twelve courses listed on the menu: turtle soup, lobster cutlets, sweetbreads a la financiere and sorbet au champagne. Oh, and I don't know what fried smelts are but they sound magic...

"The Queen's Hotel Menu Card"

www.scran.ac.uk/000-000-525-564-C

Copyright: Dundee Central Library, Local Studies Collection

Blacking Up

2006-06-28T13:37:00.000Z

Today's little gem is a theatrical one. This image of David Kemp playing the title role in "Othello" at Wilkie House Theatre in 1964 illustrates the now less-than-PC practice of blacking up to play the famous Moor of Venice.

"David Kemp as Othello"

www.scran.ac.uk/000-000-537-458-C

Copyright: The Scotsman Publications Ltd

Ready, Steady, Scranwhack!

2006-06-27T12:05:00.000Z

My oh my, where to start? 340, 000 resources to choose from - I'd better pick something good to get this blog off to a decent start...

It can't be anything less than a Scranwhack.

"But what is a Scranwhack?" I hear you plead. You may have heard of Googlewhacking? You may even have tried it. Very nice, darling, but it's so 2002.

It's time to embrace Scranwhacking.

Scranwhacking is the sarced art of finding a single word search term which produces a single record result from the Scran database. Let's get you started with the original and best Scranwhack:

"John MacKenzie grasps a lamb"

www.scran.ac.uk/000-000-201-425-C

Copyright: Hulton Getty

The Scranwhack search term for this record is "spank". Beautiful.

Whack Scran for this record now