How was your Thanksgiving dinner last month? If it was anything like mine, then it was fantastic! We did it right (as usual). We had turkey, mashed potatoes, oyster dressing, cranberry sauce, and a lot more good stuff. It was so good that I wish I could have captured that meal and enjoyed it over and over again. Well there is a guy who kind of did that. Sort of, but not really. I mean, it wasn’t his meal. It wasn’t even a turkey. It was a ham, and it wasn’t even his. He did capture it though. He captured it using 3D laser scanning services.
Let me explain what I am talking about. Some of you look kind of confused. A man scanned a ham that wasn’t his. Why would anybody want to scan another’s ham? Good question. Talk about a ‘mystery meat’. It turns out that this ham is the oldest ham known to man. I guess that makes it worthy of a scan? I always thought bad hams go into the trash can. Apparently not. Under certain conditions, they go from trash to treasure. Anyways, the guy’s name is Bernard Means. He is a professor at Virginia Commonwealth University who teaches Anthropology. The ham belongs to the Isles of Wight County Museum. Professor Means decided to scan the old ham. Why? Apparently he did it just because he can. The ham was mention in Ripley’s Believe it or Not, and dates back to the turn of the 20th century. That is an old ham for sure. The original owner of the ham was P.D. Gwaltney Jr.’s. It apparently was his favorite ham.
Why did Mr. Gwaltney not eat his ham is a story yet untold. Or at least it is a story that hasn’t been told to me. Someone out there may know why his dinner ended up as a museum piece. I am sure that there are lot of kids at the dinner table who would gladly give up their meatloaf to the museum, but that is a different topic for another day. I guess the cool thing about this ham is that it has been preserved so well. Now that it is getting the attention of 3D laser scanning services, it is now likely to crystalized in the digital world forever. If you think that this Is giving too much attention to a piece of old meat, wait till you hear about the ‘ham cam”. Apparently people can view the ham online 24 hours 7 days a week online. When I heard that, I realized that this has gone way too far. If I were in charge, I would have said eat it or chuck it. No need to occupy museum space for someone’s leftovers.
It’s kind of crazy news, I know. But this is not a unique event. There is also the world’s oldest peanut out there getting some attention too. I guess it means that people are bored or just running out of things to do with 3D laser scanning services.