October 2009 Recap and Poll Results [GlasgowUniPhoto.com]
Happy Halloween!
First things first, the results of October’s poll on the nicest building at Glasgow University. From the very beginning of the poll to the bitter end, the Boyd Orr Building led the way, until, at the very last moment, the brand new Fraser Building ran past to a glorious victory, deservedly so. Below you’ll find the Top Ten results of the poll. I personally assumed the Wolfson Medical School Building would have been higher on the list, but No. 7 isn’t too bad.
To celebrate the Fraser Building’s victory in the poll I will feature the building for all of next week, starting Monday. In waiting for that, you can go ahead and cast your vote in November’s poll on finding out which is the UGLIEST building at the University of Glasgow. Below are thumbnail links to all the photos from the month of October.
![October 4th: C is for... Chapel [ABC Sundae]](http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2518/3977575331_b443588bf7_s.jpg)
![October 18th: D is for... Deadline [ABC Sundae]](http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2489/4022893257_a85e70b9f0_s.jpg)
Happy Halloween!
I had originally planned to post a picture of the Zombie Walk around campus today, but due to my ridiculously bizarre sleeping pattern, I missed it in favour of the evening’s Halloween party. So, instead, I’ve posted a picture of a mock-up I made for the Politics Society, a Halloween-version of the University crest. (It’s shiny because it’s laminated.) I spend so much work on it that I think I’ll create one for Christmas and Easter too, just for fun. Happy Halloween!
By the way, it’s the last day to vote in this month’s poll (on the right hand side of the page there) on deciding which is the nicest building around the University of Glasgow campus, so do it now! Happy Halloween!
[Poll #5: What is the Nicest Building at Glasgow University?]
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© 2009 GlasgowUniPhoto.com
I <3 VD at the GUU?
I saw this a while back on Great George Street and took this photo, but lost it for a while on in my expanding photo archives until now. Every now and then something like this pops up and I do a double take at the ridiculousness of it. VD? As is Venereal Disease? At the GUU? Right…
The fact that we have two student unions results in frequent mischief and having fun at the expense of the other. Slagging the other Union off is pretty much a must for many, a part of the competitive nature of the loving relationship. Which is why I laughed my butt of at this one, assuming it was someone having fun at the expense of the GUU.
My favourite joke about the GUU so far is “You can’t spell The Hive without H-I-V.” Know any good ones about either one of the Unions?
By the way, apparently VD refers to a band called Vendor Defender who played a free gig at the Debates Chamber at the Glasgow University Union a month ago. Nothing to do with venereal diseases.
2 days left to vote in this month’s poll (on the right hand side of the page there) on deciding which is the nicest building around the University of Glasgow campus, so you have until Saturday night to cast your vote if you haven’t already! Oh, and Halloween is coming, hope you have your costume figured out already.
[Poll #5: What is the Nicest Building at Glasgow University?]
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© 2009 GlasgowUniPhoto.com
Tennent’s On Tap
Tennent’s, Scotland’s best-selling lager, the liquid bread, the lifeline of many students, and the reason why every now and then Glasgow smells like yeast. Basically, the cheapest (drinkable) beer you can find on a student budget, except maybe something from Lidl. It’s also the primary and cheapest beer drank and sold at all of the University’s unions. It’s brewed at Wellpark Brewery in the East End of Glasgow, so if the winds are just right, you can smell the distinct smell of yeast which the brewing process emits, all the way to the West End.
This particular tap is from the Hetherington Research Club.
3 days left to vote in this month’s poll (on the right hand side of the page there) on deciding which is the nicest building around the University of Glasgow campus, so hop to it and cast your vote if you haven’t already!
[Poll #5: What is the Nicest Building at Glasgow University?]
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© 2009 GlasgowUniPhoto.com
Spiral Staircase
The refurbished Level 3 annexe at the Library has a wealth of photography opportunities, and I’ve been spending a substantial amount of time there recently, so here’s one more. This is the spiral staircase next to the new glass wall in the annexe, leading from the (now open) café on Level 3 to the annexe above (which was refurbished a year ago).
With a lot of essays due in the next month, it might be time for another Library Week soon, methinks.
4 days left to vote in this month’s poll (on the right hand side of the page there) on deciding which is the nicest building around the University of Glasgow campus, so you have until Saturday night to cast your vote if you haven’t already! Oh, and Halloween is coming, hope you have your costume figured out already.
[Poll #5: What is the Nicest Building at Glasgow University?]
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© 2009 GlasgowUniPhoto.com
A Snake, a Pyramid, and a Star
I have absolutely no idea what this is supposed to signify. Update below. The above relief is located right next to the main entrance of the newer wing of the Kelvin Building, which houses the Department of Physics and Astronomy. Maybe someone in that department could fill me in on the significance of this quite intriguing design? It’s not the only curiosity of the Kelvin Building, as hidden in plain sight within is something which just blew my mind. I’ll feature what I mean as soon as I manage to pull some strings.
***UPDATE***
Thanks to a friend of mine, I’ve been told the symbol is the logo of the Astronomy and Astrophysics Group. The logo probably dates all the way back to the first observatory back in 1757, although the oldest picture apparently dates back to the second observatory in Dowanhill in 1850.
The snake is probably Ouroboros, the pyramid might be the triangle of measurement with Freemason connections, and the star could be the star of the heavens, as the logo is attached to the Astronomy Department. This is not a absolutely definitive answer but unless someone contradicts the information I was given, I’m satisfied with this answer. (Thanks Edward!)
There are only 5 more days left to vote in this month’s poll (on the right hand side of the page there) on which is the nicest building at Glasgow University, so you have until Saturday night to cast your vote if you haven’t already!
[Poll #5: What is the Nicest Building at Glasgow University?]
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© 2009 GlasgowUniPhoto.com
Study Pods
One of the notable new features of the refurbished Level 3 Annexe of the Glasgow University Library are the three study pods in the middle of the new area and six study booths on the sides. Clearly designed to enhance group work, with power sockets for plugging your laptops in, as well as TV’s to plug your laptops into at the booths, it’s good to see that they’re already being put to good use. Well, not in the photo above, which was taken really late at night when most people had already headed home or to the pub.
There are only 6 more days left to vote in this month’s poll (on the right hand side of the page there) on which is the nicest building at Glasgow University, which at the time of writing is tied between the Boyd Orr Building and the Fraser Building. You have until Saturday night to cast your vote if you haven’t already!
[Poll #5: What is the Nicest Building at Glasgow University?]
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© 2009 GlasgowUniPhoto.com
Chopped Down
If University Gardens seems to have become a bit more spacious recently, it’s because one of the trees between the entrance and the exit posts to University Gardens was chopped down last week. I’ve noticed that there is a lot of renovation and rejuvenation activity going on campus right now, with trees being cut down, a new coat of paint being applied to the fence which runs all along the south side of University Avenue from the Bower Building to Pearce Lodge, scaffolding being put up on Hillhead Street, Great George Street and Lilybank Terrace, and grass being cut all over campus. It’s living, breathing campus.
[Poll #5: What is the Nicest Building at Glasgow University?]
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© 2009 GlasgowUniPhoto.com
Bower Building Fire, 8 Years Ago
On October 24th 2001, 8 years ago today, the Bower Building was gutted by a fire just 4 months after the building had celebrated its 100 year anniversary. The fire destroyed the entire inside and roof of the building, mercifully leaving the façade unscathed. The building, which used to contain “two large teaching laboratories, an herbarium on two floors with a small library, a museum occupying three floors, a 300-seat lecture room, staff offices and a workshop” were rebuilt at a cost of £10.8 million and reopened in three years after the fire in November 2004. The botany museum which was destroyed in the fire contained manuscripts by Charles Darwin, together with a large number of samples from his expeditions. The building is mainly taken up by the Biochemistry & Molecular Biology Department and faculty offices.
I was going to mention that on Google’s satellite maps the Bower Building is shown as a construction zone while it was being refitted and I was going to link to it. Interestingly, the maps for Glasgow have been renewed and are shinier than ever. Here, take a look for yourself. You can also see that the Frasier Building is finished and the Hetherington Building which contains the Language Centre is being extended, but the north side of the Library is shown pre-refurbishment. Oh, the new version of the maps have some buildings and services mentioned, but most of them are completely in the wrong places. Case in point, the QMU is in the wrong place, the GUU is listed at “The Universal Bar & Restaurant”, and the University Library is tagged as being a few block north of its actual location, up Hillhead Street. Any other mistakes I missed?
You can find some photos and an article on the fire on the BBC News website from October 2001. More “On This Day” entries can be found on Glasgow University Story website at universitystory.gla.ac.uk maintained by the Archive Services. Information also from University Story site.
[Poll #5: What is the Nicest Building at Glasgow University?]
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© 2009 GlasgowUniPhoto.com
You Can Make A Difference
The charitable societies and organizations and groups at Glasgow University held a Day of Student Activism today at Qudos in the Queen Margaret Union. The groups involved were GU Amnesty International, STAR, Glasgow University Climate Action, GU Stop Aids Campaign, People & Planet, Student Volunteers Abroad, Fair Trade and C-Card.
There is a very dedicated group of people working for these charitable organizations around campus, organizing successful fundraisers and other events throughout the academic year. Unfortunately they have their work cut out for them in gathering further interest in the wider student body. All manner of student activism, be it charitable or political, is still the past time of a small but resilient minority at the University of Glasgow, which is really a shame.
[Poll #5: What is the Nicest Building at Glasgow University?]
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© 2009 GlasgowUniPhoto.com
The Biggest Thesaurus In The World
The world’s largest thesaurus will be officially launched today by the English Language Department at the University of Glasgow. Officially entitled ‘Historical Thesaurus Of The Oxford English Dictionary’, the collection was no small undertaking, having taken scores of staff, postgraduates, Ph.D students and volunteers 44 (!!) years to complete.
Here’s the money quote from the University press release:
The grand ambition was to map almost every word in the 20-volume Oxford English Dictionary on to a vast classification structure where words with similar meaning are grouped together and listed in chronological order from the oldest (c700 A.D.) to the most recent.
The awe-inspiring completed work contains nearly 800,000 meanings, organised into more than 236,000 categories and subcategories collected together in 4,500 pages in two volumes.
There is a launch party for the Thesaurus on campus today for all those involved with the project, which I assume is an insane amount of people, or a small group of very dedicated people. There is also a basic online version of the Thesaurus which you can have a play with.
And yes, you will be able to order it from Amazon, for a bit over £200. I wonder how big of a market this will have. (I want one, just to find a few workds that have died out and start using them again.)
Here are some further articles on the subject:
World’s largest thesaurus debuts [BBC News]
Thesaurus 45 years in the making finally on sale [Telegraph]
The Most Gigantal, Behemothian Thesaurus In The World [NPR]
[Poll #5: What is the Nicest Building at Glasgow University?]
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© 2009 GlasgowUniPhoto.com
SRC Election Day
More colour on campus! The Students’ Representative Council held elections all day today to elect 2 First Year General Representatives, 1 International Students’ Officer, and 5 General Representatives. The above collage is made up of some of the campaigning that took place today on the hill between University Avenue and the Library. Congratulations to everyone who got elected today, and better luck next time to those who missed out this time!
Voter turnout was up from the last elections, which is always a good thing! The results and the breakdown of them can be found here.
[Poll #5: What is the Nicest Building at Glasgow University?]
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© 2009 GlasgowUniPhoto.com
Principal’s Lodging
At the southern end of The Square sits a large house with a garden in the back. This house has a new occupant this year, as the post of Principal of Glasgow University switched hands at the beginning of the 2009/2010 academic year. The new Principal of the University of Glasgow is Anton Muscatelli, a graduate of Glasgow University. In addition to graduating from Glasgow University he has been a Lecturer, a Senior Lecturer, a Professor of Political Economy, Dean of the Faculty of Social Sciences, and Vice-Principal at the University, before spending the past few years as the Principal of Heriot-Watt University in Edinburgh.
I guess the new principal doesn’t really need a tour of the University.
[Poll #5: What is the Nicest Building at Glasgow University?]
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© 2009 GlasgowUniPhoto.com
Research Club
I’ve gone and joined the Hetherington Research Club, also known as the Postgraduate’s Club. Why am I, a second year student a member of this student union/research club/secret society? Because it’s also for mature students and staff. Mature student basically means anyone over the age of 21 at the start of their current course who doesn’t really feel completely at home amongst 17/18 year olds. The club also has food served until late and a well stocked bar, as well as newspapers from around the world. Sold.
I’ve posted about the Research Club before, click here for all the posts on the subject. You can find out more about the Club on the University website.
[Poll #5: What is the Nicest Building at Glasgow University?]
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© 2009 GlasgowUniPhoto.com
D is for… Deadline [ABC Sundae]
![D is for... Deadline [ABC Sundae]](http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2489/4022893257_a85e70b9f0.jpg)
One of the less enjoyable aspects of University are essay deadlines. Yes, you know about them beforehand. Yes, writing essays is an integral part of your University career, especially in Social Sciences. Yes, the closer you get to the deadline the more stressed out you get. And yes, you will feel oh so fantastic once you’ve handed in your essay 20 minutes before the deadline. Welcome to University.
What I’m trying to say that I have a Politics essay due tomorrow comparing Aristotle and Machiavelli in relation to political life. Hence the Red Bull. =)
[Poll #5: What is the Nicest Building at Glasgow University?]
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© 2009 GlasgowUniPhoto.com
John McIntyre Building
This is one of the oddest buildings on campus, architecturally speaking. Well, in my opinion it’s one of the oddest ones, mainly because it doesn’t seem to stick to a regular mould of architectural building. Nothing major, just it’s a bit of a maze inside, with many levels between levels and what not.
The John McIntyre Building used to accommodate the Glasgow University Union from its inception late in the 19th century, then the Queen Margaret Union moved in after the GUU moved to their own building down the road. Currently it houses the offices of the Students’ Representative Council (SRC), Glasgow University Student Television (GUST), the Glasgow University Guardian, and SubCity, the student-run radio station of the University. It also contains a big empty space where the John Smith’s Bookshop used to be until it moved to the Fraser Building at the beginning of this academic year.
I took this photo from right next to the spot where I took yesterday’s photo. Helps to have a camera with a 20x optical zoom.
[Poll #5: What is the Nicest Building at Glasgow University?]
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© 2009 GlasgowUniPhoto.com
On A Cloudy Autumn Day
As I mentioned yesterday, I was up on the 12th floor of the University Library taking some pictures of the Main Building and its surrounding area. The little windows on the side of the tall tower of the Library offer a very limited view out of them, hence the slight fuzziness of the picture. I was trying to blend three different exposures taken without the aid of a tripod.
The round building in the bottom right corner is a part of the Hunterian Art Gallery and the Mackintosh House is right behind that. The John McIntyre Building is just between the Main Building and the little green patch with the autumn trees.
[Poll #5: What is the Nicest Building at Glasgow University?]
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© 2009 GlasgowUniPhoto.com
Welcome to Special Collections
Up on the 12th floor of the University Library is the Special Collections section of the Library, which houses an “internationally significant collection of manuscripts and printed works” (Wikipedia). The display case in the foyer, seen in the photo above, contains a changing exhibition of rare materials. At the moment it contains Eighteenth Century books.
I’ve been meaning to pop by upstairs for the longest time, just to check it out. I finally made it up there today while looking for a good spot to take a photo of the Main Building from high up. (I’ll post one of those pictures tomorrow.) You can find more information about the Special Collections on their website at The University of Glasgow Library’s blog has its own section on the Special Collections.
[Poll #5: What is the Nicest Building at Glasgow University?]
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© 2009 GlasgowUniPhoto.com
Welcome to Garscube
Standing on top of an old tree, the above man of steel (with a hula hoop?) welcomes visitors to the West of Scotland Science Park and the Garscube Sports Complex up on Maryhill Road, a 45 minute walk from the University. (They say 45 minutes, but who in their right mind would want to travel the entire distance on foot when there are buses that go on Maryhill Road?)
What bothers me is that I swear I’ve seen a very similar looking statue somewhere around campus or the University student halls but I just can’t figure out where. I’ve only been up to Garscube once in total so I’m not just remembering this same statue twice. Any ideas?
[Poll #5: What is the Nicest Building at Glasgow University?]
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© 2009 GlasgowUniPhoto.com
Autumn Yellow
Thought I’d somehow highlight the autumn trees outside the Library and the Fraser Building and this is what came out of that. I don’t know about you, but I kinda like the way the library looks in this photo.
Speaking of which, don’t forget to take part in this month’s poll on ‘What is the Nicest Building at Glasgow University?’ You can find the poll on the sidebar just to the left there, or you can go to the Polls page.
[Poll #5: What is the Nicest Building at Glasgow University?]
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© 2009 GlasgowUniPhoto.com
Protesting Outside The Recruitment Office
Last Friday the Glasgow University Stop The War group and the Glasgow University Left Society descended upon the Army/Navy/Air Force Recruitment Offices in the city centre, which is a change from the usual chants occurring on campus. The rhetoric was still the same, although the focus this time was on getting the troops out of Afghanistan. The placards were still the same as back in February. One significant change was the Barack Obama had joined their list of “terrorists” in their chants, alongside George W. Bush, Gordon Brown, Donald Rumsfeld, and Hamid Karzai. Note that the protest was held on the same day that Obama won the Nobel Peace Prize. Oops.
I was down there for some shopping and decided to snap a few photos, for my own collections and for the Glasgow University Guardian. (My photos didn’t make the cut this time.)
Oh, as per their posted Office Hours, one of the Recruitment offices had closed half an hour before the protestors showed up, and the other had shut it’s doors just minutes before. The protestors applauded themselves for “successfully shutting down the recruitment offices”. Oops.
[Poll #5: What is the Nicest Building at Glasgow University?]
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© 2009 GlasgowUniPhoto.com
Archaeology Field Trip to Kilmartin Glen
From early morning until the evening, I spent my Saturday on an Archaeology Field Trip to Kilmartin Glen, in the west of Scotland, (Wikipedia), as a part of the Archaeology 1A course which I’m taking as my “fun” course. (With “fun” we mean I’m only doing Level 1 and only need to pass to get the required 20+20 credits, in addition to my 2 Level 2 courses.)
I really need to get out of Glasgow more often, the scenery in the West of Scotland was beautiful, especially at 9, 10am in the morning when the sun was up and the clouds were low on the hills. Mercifully, as we spend the entire day outside, it didn’t really rain. Well, except for the time we were climbing up the Dunadd Hillfort, because the rocky climb wasn’t fun enough without rain and mud.
I took a bunch of pictures on the trip, so I’ll update this post with a link when I’ve managed to upload the best of them on Flickr.
[Poll #5: What is the Nicest Building at Glasgow University?]
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© 2009 GlasgowUniPhoto.com
Hockey
About a 45 minute walk away from Gilmorehill and the main Univeristy campus lies the West of Scotland Science Park and the Garscube Sports Complex. And the catered Wolfson Hall student halls. And the Veterinary School.
I was up at the Garscube Sports Complex this week to take some pictures of the hockey matches for the Glasgow University Guardian, our University newspaper. Well, I was up there to attempt to learn how to take pictures of sports events with my semi-pro camera, hoping maybe one day a few of my photos will be used for the newspaper. Shooting sports matches is a lot harder than one would think. I need a better camera.
Sorry for the slight delay in posting Saturday’s photo, I was off on an Archaeology fieldtrip all day.
[Poll #5: What is the Nicest Building at Glasgow University?]
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© 2009 GlasgowUniPhoto.com
What’s Going On Here?
Good news and bad news! The good news is that it seems as if the eyesore patch of land between the Adam Smith Building, the Library and University Gardens will finally be attended to. I walked past yesterday and they were clearing the entire plot of land, hopefully to possibly maybe build a shiny new building there or something. (Please please please no more barracks!)
The bad news is that everyone in the Adam Smith Building, who have just either spent the summer listening to construction on the annexe part of the University Library (outside/inside), or are suffering the last of the drilling during tutorials like I am, will now have to listen to more and more construction sounds. Yippee.
Well, that is if they’re building something there. It’s one of the more unsightly spots around campus, mercifully tucked away behind buildings, out of the public’s eye. I’ll keep you posted on what’s going on there, if anything.
[Poll #5: What is the Nicest Building at Glasgow University?]
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© 2009 GlasgowUniPhoto.com
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