Thematic Photographic 87: "On The Road" v.5.0 - I See Naked People

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"They Don't Even Know They're Naked"
Washington, DC - April 1999 (Click to embiggen)

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Somewhere near the National Mall in Washington, DC is this monument to... I don't know what. Or maybe it's not a monument. Sometimes a building is just a building. But it does make me chuckle that full frontal nudity is carved in granite just down the road from the place where certain members of Congress try to legislate morality. Which in my thinking is a fool's errand. It can't be done. You can't legislate morality into people. You can make immoral things illegal. But that will accomplish only one of two things. It will make the people who do these immoral things into criminals, or it will make people stop engaging in the behavior because it's illegal, but not because it's immoral. Either way, you've not changed the morality of the individual, or the public at large, one tiny bit. And frankly, given the questionable ethics of many of our elected representatives I'm not sure they're so very upstanding as to dictate morality to the rest of us.

But they have some cool buildings to look at don't they?

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Thematic Photographic 75: "Travel" v.2.0 - National Treasure

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"The United States National Museum (Now the Arts And Industries Building)"
Washington, DC - April 1999 (Click to embiggen)

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High on the list of "educational destinations" -- especially among parents of school-aged children -- is The Smithsonian Institute in Washington, DC. Its beginnings are something of an enigma, since the trust that established it was bequeathed to the US by British born James Smithson who, by all reports, had no ties to the United States of any kind. In magnificently typical Washington fashion, it took seven years to decide whether or not to even accept the bequest, and another eight before ground would be broken for it.

This photo is of a later addition to the original "Castle". After the Centennial Exposition in Philadelphia in 1876, many of its exhibits were donated to the Smithsonian, and an entirely new building was commissioned to house them. The building bore the name United States National Museum from its opening in 1881 until 1910 when larger exhibits began to move out into their own spaces. At that time, the building was renamed the Arts & Industries Building. From 1974 to 1976 the building was closed for renovation, then reopened with the exhibit: "1876: A Centennial Exhibition" featuring many of the same exhibits housed in the building originally.

What goes around comes around, yeah?

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Pic A Theme #17: "Statues & Monuments" - 10.8.2009

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"The Wall"
Washington, DC - April 1999 (Click to embiggen)

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Pic A Theme #17: "Statues & Monuments" - 10.6.2009

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"Second Division Memorial"
Washington, DC - April 1999 (Click to embiggen)

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Pic A Theme #17: "Statues & Monuments" - 10.1.2009

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"In The Beginning"
Washington, DC - April 1999 (Click to embiggen)

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Thursday Challenge #43: "Art"

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"National Museum of African Art"
Washington, DC - April 1999 (Click to embiggen)
Next Week's Challenge: "Golden"

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Thematic Photographic 56: "Aviation" v.7.0

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"The Eagle Has Landed"
Washington, DC - April, 1999 (Click to embiggen)

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Since I'm finishing up the week with Aviation "firsts" it seems only fitting to close things out with the first time a human footprint was left on a naturally occurring celestial body other than Earth. This is (obviously) a replica of the Apollo 11 Lunar Landing Module that carried Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin to the surface of the moon. (The third member of the crew, Michael Collins, drew the short straw and remained in lunar orbit aboard Command Module.) While there is known recording to back him up, Neil Armstrong solemnly swears that what he actually said as he put that first bootprint on the lunar surface was: "One small step for a man, one giant leap for mankind." All of the recorded versions leave out the article "a", but the quote makes much more sense with it in there. So I'm going to take Neil's word for it.

Even though I didn't hear it that way at the time.

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Thematic Photographic 56: "Aviation" v.6.0

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"Lockheed F-80 Shooting Star"
Washington, DC - April, 1999 (Click to embiggen)

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Though it was fielded too late to join the Second World War, the Lockheed F-80 Shooting star did make its production debut in 1945. In addition to being the first production jet fighter built in the US, the F-80 was also among the few -- and first -- aircraft used by the Air Force and adapted for carrier use by the Navy. (This kind of crossover can be problematic given the design constraints for carrier-based aircraft).

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Thematic Photographic 56: "Aviation" v.5.0

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"Messerschmitt Me 262"
Washington, DC - April, 1999 (Click to embiggen)

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Though there's a lot of discussion about who actually built the first jet fighter, there's no argument about the first jet fighter to actually see action. The German Luftwaffe claims the title with the Messerschmitt Me 262 Schwalbe ("Swallow", which may or may not have something to do with the less polite nickname given to it by Allied pilots). Though its impact on the outcome of the war was essentially negligible, it did change the face of military aviation. Retired by the Luftwaffe at the end of WWII, the fighter was used by the Czechoslovakian Air Force until 1957.

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Thematic Photographic 56: "Aviation" v.4.0

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"Escadrille Lafayette (Probably)"
Washington, DC - April, 1999 (Click to embiggen)

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Rewinding again, this time not so far as the Wright Brothers, but not terribly long after them. I can't see enough of this plane to tell if it's a Nieuport 28 or Spad S-XIII, but I deduce that it's one of these. I further suspect it's either an original or replica of one of the fighters from WWI's Escadrille Lafayette. If you look closely, you'll see the emblem of the US Army Air Corps (the forebear of the US Air Force which didn't split off from the Army until 1947. Escadrille Lafayette was made up of American aircrews, flying French-built aircraft for the ... French during WWI. The squadron predated the US entry into the war by a couple of years, and was initially named Escadrille Americaine. But the Germans too issue with that since the US was officially "neutral", so the squadron was renamed for the French General that served with the American Continental Army during the American Revolution. This wouldn't be the last time American pilots would fly with a foreign air force. Americans would later serve during the Battle of Britain in 1940, this time flying with England's RAF.

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The World in Black & White: 7.4.2009

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"Too Long A Soldier"
Washington, DC - April 1998 (Click to embiggen)
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Thematic Photographic 56: "Aviation" v.3.0

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"Unidentified Flying Object, National Air and Space Museum"
Washington, DC - April, 1999 (Click to embiggen)

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One of the more worthwhile places to visit in Washington, DC is the National Air and Space Museum. In yesterday's Thematic entry I featured the beginning of aviation as we know it courtesy of that very museum. But it also features some fanciful designs that may or may not have ever made it into production. This is one of those. Any of you airplane buffs out there know what this is? From this angle I can't tell enough about it to identify it, but it sure looks racy enough.

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Thematic Photographic 56: "Aviation" v.2.0

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"Wright Flyer, National Air and Space Museum"
Washington, DC - April, 1999 (Click to embiggen)

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This aircraft is near to my heart, as it is to the heart of any North Carolinian or Ohioan. (Both states have a part in this bit of history.) This is the airplane that started it all. In fact, it wasn't even called an "airplane". It was -- and is -- known simply as the "Wright Flyer", and its maiden flight could have been surpassed by a Brett Favre forward pass. (Well, before he hurt his elbow anyway.) On December 17th, 1903 at Kitty Hawk on North Carolina's Outer Banks, Orville Wright piloted the Flyer for a whopping 40 yards in a flight that lasted all of 12 seconds. Not even long enough to finish the bag of pretzels. Most amazing of all? Total expenditures for development and construction came in at under $1000. Even adjusted for 106 years of inflation, you'll never see a better return on investment than that. I wonder if anyone at Grumman is taking notes.

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Two4Tuesday #18: "Historic/Futuristic"

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"Evolution of Destruction"
Washington, DC - April 1999 (Click to embiggen)
Voting for this theme closes 7.7.2009

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Watery Wednesday #10: Reflections on Washington, DC

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"Not All of Washington Stinks"
Washington, DC - April 1998 (Click to embiggen)

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This may or may not be part of the big reflecting pool between the Washington Monument and the Lincoln Memorial. It doesn't really look like it, but for some reason my memory wants to say that's where I was when I took this shot.

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Thematic Photographic 13: Watery v.4.0

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"White House"
Washington, DC - April 1998 (Click to embiggen)

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"Boat House"
Raleigh, NC - November 1999 (Click to embiggen)

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Continuing the sub-theme of dichotomies that I seem to have established this week, I give you America's most famous address, and one that most of the world has never heard of.

I understand the current tenant's lease is up on this home in a few months, and we've gotten to applications for the next lease. The board will be meeting in November to approve one of them.

Meanwhile, a few hundred miles to the south, this boat rental shop quietly goes about its business at Shelley Lake oblivious to the battle for rights to claim that "other" house. The park that includes this oversized pond is one of the nicer green spaces within the city of Raleigh proper.

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Thematic Photographic 11: Poignant v.1.0

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"The Order Of Battle Is Written In The Shadows Of A Hard Black Line" (Pat Benatar, "Too Long A Soldier" © 1988)
Washington, DC - August 2008 (Click to embiggen)

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This week's Thematic Photographic prompt is "Poignant". Initially I thought that would be a pretty tough challenge. Then I remembered that "poignant" doesn't necessarily mean sad. Really! I looked it up!

poign·ant adj.
1. keenly distressing to the feelings: poignant regret.
2. keen or strong in mental appeal: a subject of poignant interest.
3. affecting or moving the emotions: a poignant scene.

With that in mind, the possibilities opened up considerably. But no sooner did this epiphany strike me than I remembered this shot from a trip to Washington DC 10 years ago. I don't know whose name she was looking for, but I hope she found some peace along with it.

Some go to The Wall looking for a name, some go looking for closure. I went looking for an answer I didn't find.

Thirty years later have we learned a damn thing?edible latex panties girls rubber leather licking slick wet lesbian asian amateur milf horny housewives mother theresa

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