National Park Service video, and of course, featuring some stunning time-lapse photography.
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In 90 seconds, National Parks stuff you should see in Washington, D.C.
January 27, 2013
1 Comment | 
Geography - Physical, Geography - Political, History, National Parks, Travel | Tagged: geography, History, National Park Service, Travel, Washington D.C. | 
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Posted by Ed Darrell
Millard Canyon, Utah — not named for Millard Fillmore
January 14, 2013
Caption from the NPS crew at Canyonlands National Park: View from the Maze: Millard Canyon’s winter mood. We are looking north. Note how the heat from the east to southeast facing cliffs has melted the snow below – even in this ultra-frigid time. Taking a break under a southeast facing cliff is a good way to warm up while on a Canyonlands hike. (GC) (via Facebook)
In a state where they once named the proposed state capital “Fillmore,” and the county in which that town sat, “Millard,” to try to curry favor with President Millard Fillmore for the state’s petition to gain statehood, one might logically think that a spectacular desert canyon not far away called Millard Canyon might also be named in honor of our 13th president.
Location map, Canyonlands National Park, image from Wikipedia
Not so, in this case. According to John W. van Cott’s Utah Place Names (University of Utah Press, 1990):
MILLARD CANYON (Garfield County) originates at French Springs southeast of Hans Flat. The canyon drains north northeast into the Green River at Queen Anne Bottom. According to Baker, “They learned later that they had misunderstood this name; instead of honoring a president, it was named for an undistinguished `Miller’ who did nothing more than leave this small, mistaken mark on the map” (Baker, Pearl. Robbers Roost Recollections. Logan, UT: Utah State University Press, 1976, p. 33). The name was even misspelled Millard.
Millard Fillmore is off the hook on this one.
Garfield County, Utah, was named after President James Garfield.
So, who was this “Miller” guy?
(Post inspired by image from the Canyonlands NP Facebook site; temperature at the time of the photo was near 0°F.)
More:
- Obama Asked to Make a Momument (foxnews.com)
- Clinging to the Sky (nomadicinspiration.wordpress.com)
- Ashley Korenblat responds to the controversy surrounding the OIA Greater Canyonlands letter (sagebrushcoalition.com)
- Why You Might Want To Consider A Full Frame Fisheye Lens Even If You Have A Crop Sensor Camera (iphotoyou.wordpress.com)
1 Comment | Geography - Physical, geology, Millard Fillmore, National Parks, Travel, Utah | Tagged: Canyonlands National Park, geography, geology, Millard Fillmore, photography, Travel, Utah | Permalink
Posted by Ed Darrell
Light pollution-free area, near Little Snake River, Colorado
December 12, 2012Take a look at this sunset shot:
Sunset on BLM land near the Little Snake River, in northwest Colorado. Photo by Shannon Diszmang, via Royal Gorge National Recreation Area.
Note from America’s Great Outdoors blog:
Earlier this year, the Royal Gorge Recreation Area staff had a photo contest on their Facebook page and here is one of the great photos that was submitted. Here’s what photographer, Shannon Diszmang, had to say about it.
“This is BLM land in Northwest Colorado (Little Snake River district). I fell in love with this place. The red haze in this photo is the smoke coming from the wildfires on the west coast at the time. This is one of the lowest light pollution spots in our state which makes star gazing the absolute best.”
So, if you’re nearby, and you want a good place to look at the Geminid meteor shower tonight, odds are high there will be little light pollution here. If there aren’t many clouds, you’re in luck.
More:
- New Earth at night images reveal global light pollution problem (phys.org)
- U.S. Light Pollution Captured in Stunning New Satellite Images (Video) (ecorazzi.com)
- Colorado: Snowmaking impacts Snake River flows (summitcountyvoice.com)
- Light Pollution May Actually Help Some Migratory Birds (treehugger.com)
P.S.: The stunningly beautiful photo above is NOT the winner of the photo contest(!). BLM wrote in a November press release:
CAÑON CITY, Colo. – Today the BLM Royal Gorge Field Office announced the winners of its BLM-sponsored photo contest. The two winners were decided by the public via the RGFO’s Facebook page: one winner is based on the most “likes” and the other is based on the most “shares.” Only those “likes” and “shares” that originated from the Royal Gorge Facebook page were tallied towards a winner.
Chris Nelson’s photo was the most “liked” and is a scenic shot taken from Chaffee County Road 175 between Cañon City and Salida. Nelson’s photo received 64 “likes.”
The most “shared” photo was submitted by David Madone and portrayed several deer in an alfalfa field near Cañon City. Madone’s photo received 20 shares.
Both photos will be featured on the RGFO’s Facebook page throughout November and may be featured in future BLM Colorado publications and social media sites.
The photo contest began Oct. 2 and ended Nov. 4 with more than 60 photos submitted. All the photos that were entered into the contest may be viewed via the “Photo Contest” album on the RGFO’s Facebook page: http://www.facebook.com/BLMRoyalGorge
Yeah, were I you, I’d go see what the winners looked like.
4 Comments | Astronomy, Bureau of Land Management (BLM), Geography - Physical, Outdoor Recreation, photography, Public Lands, Travel | Tagged: Astronomy, BLM, Bureau of Land Management, Colorado, geography, Outdoor Recreation, photography, Travel | Permalink
Posted by Ed Darrell
Twain aboard ship – 1896 photo, 1897 etching
December 1, 2012One of my favorite images of Mark Twain I found several years ago. It’s a photograph of Twain, with a genuine smile of some contentment, seated in a deck chair on a ship, feet on the rail, gazing out to sea.
Correspondent J. A. Higginbotham tracked down the origin of the photograph through the Gutenberg Project, and found a nice etching from the photograph at twainquotes.com, with sleuthing by Barbara Schmidt, the curator of that site.
Here’s the photo, from the Gutenberg Project’s version of the 1898 American Publishing Company edition of Following the Equator:
Mark Twain, aboard ship in 1896. Photo by Walter G. Chase, of Boston. This photo provided the frontispiece for the 1898 American Publishing Company edition of Following the Equator.
Who was Walter Chase? So far as I have found, he was a Boston-based photographer.
Samuel L. Clemens, the man behind Mark Twain, undertook a world-wide speaking tour, to restore his fortune after bankruptcy, and to take his mind off the death of his daughter Susy, in August 1896. At the same time, there was demand for newspaper columns and books on travel. The resulting book, Following the Equator in the U.S., ended the series of travelogues Twain wrote. Columns and the book covered his and his family’s adventures in 1896 and 1897; this photo must have originated in late 1896, in the early part of the tour. We know from Chapter 1 that the land part of the trip, by train, “westward out of New York,” took 40 days. Twain wrote that it took seven days to get to Hawaii. We might be safe in saying the photograph shows him gazing at the Pacific.
Without knowing more, we might be tantalized by the prospect that Chase accompanied Twain on much of this tour, and took other photographs. Twain wrote about games played among the travelers aboard ship, with notes indicating a key player was someone named “Chase.” We have a photo of Twain posing for a sculptor in Vienna, from this trip. Somewhere, there may be a trunk of photographs . . .
According to Barbara Schmidt’s sleuthing, William Henry Warren Bicknell created the etching from the photograph, for the 1899 uniform edition of Following the Equator. Bicknell was one of several illustrators used, including Boy Scout founder Daniel Beard.
W. H. W. Bicknell’s etching from the 1896 Walter G. Chase photograph of Mark Twain, aboard a ship in the Pacific Ocean.
Schmidt uses a colored version of the etching on her website’s own frontispiece. No doubt she describes it in more detail, but I have not found that description.
A color version of an etching of Mark Twain, based on Chase’s 1896 photograph. Image via twainquotes.com, Barbara Schmidt’s site.
A fitting way to end a day of commemorating Mark Twain’s birthday, to discover the origins of one of my favorite images of the man.
New question: With the exception of the color image, each version includes Twain’s autograph, “Be good & you will be lonesome,” with his signature. Was this an autograph done solely for the book, or was it an autograph to the publisher, editor, or photographer?
Tip of the old scrub brush to correspondent J. A. Higginbotham.
More:
- Birthday of Twain and Churchill: Happy Whiskey and Cigar Day 2012! (timpanogos.wordpress.com)
- Break Out the Jumping Frogs for Mark Twain’s 177th Birthday (writingfromtheedgeoffantasy.wordpress.com)
- Ready for November 30? Humidor set? Liquor stocked? (timpanogos.wordpress.com)
- Celebrating Mark Twain (flawedcreations.wordpress.com)
- On This Day In 1835, Mark Twain is Born (rememberinghistory.wordpress.com)
- The Twain of My Exisitence (urtheinspiration.wordpress.com)
- 177 years of Mark Twain (neatorama.com)
- Mark Twain’s pit stop in city (thehindu.com)
- Whatever happened to Dan Beard’s illustrations of Twain’s Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur’s Court?
Mark Twain (Photo credit: Wikipedia) – Another, earlier image of Twain, origins to sleuth down!
2 Comments | Books, History, Literature, Mark Twain, photography, Travel | Tagged: Barbara Schmidt, Books, Following the Equator, Gutenberg Project, History, Literature, Mark Twain, photography, Travel, Twainquotes.com | Permalink
Posted by Ed Darrell
Americans love George Washington’s nose
November 19, 2012Looked at a lot of statues and busts in the past year. One of the things that intrigues me is the way people interact with sculpture, particularly the ways and places people touch sculpture.
At Mount Vernon, Americans have a fondness for George Washington’s nose:
Avard Fairbanks‘ very large bust of George Washington invites touching by visitors at the Mount Vernon Visitors Center; people touch his nose. Photo by Ed Darrell; use allowed with attribution, some rights reserved.
Other copies of the bust exist around the country, by Utah sculptor Avard Fairbanks. If I’m correct on the provenance, this one was placed at Salt Lake International Airport for the nation’s bicentennial, then was obtained by George Washington University (one of my alma maters, by the way), and was loaned by GWU to the Ladies of Mount Vernon. (No wonder the thing looked so familiar to me . . . it’s been following me around for years. I wonder when it gets to Texas, or upstate New York.)
Bust of George Washington on the campus of George Washington University — same one? (Photo credit: Wikipedia)
Displayed at the main entrance to the visitors center at Mt. Vernon, the bust is at a level that people can touch it, and they do.
It’s fun to watch people who stop to look at the bust. Almost inevitably they look a bit awed by it. Then, if they take a minute, they look it up and down, and put out their hand to touch George’s nose.
Almost as if they consider George Washington a good luck charm, and a touch of his nose might rub some luck off onto them. It’s rubbing the nose shiny, an interesting way Americans pay tribute to our first president.
More:
- Eleanor Roosevelt’s hands, at Millard Fillmore’s Bathtub
- Raising a Toast With George Washington’s Beer (history.com)
- NBC Developing George Washington Drama From David Seidler & Levinson/Fontana (m.deadline.com)
- Drawing By 10-Year-Old George Washington Found? (history.com)
The bust is quite imposing; people who pause to study it, however, overcome their reticence, and reach out to touch the First President.
6 Comments | Art, George Washington, History, Teaching American History Grant, Travel | Tagged: Art, Avard Fairbanks, George Washington, History, Mount Vernon, Sculpture, Teaching American History Grant, Travel | Permalink
Posted by Ed Darrell
Utah’s Mount Timpanogos, no PhotoShop needed
November 16, 2012Here’s a good demonstration of why you don’t need PhotoShop, but a decent camera and a steady hand instead.
Utah’s Mt. Timpanogos in snow, by Craig Clyde, 2012 (rights probably reserved). Click for larger version.
Craig Clyde took this photo of Utah Valley‘s Mt. Timpanogos, probably from Saratoga Springs, on the west side of Utah Lake, after one of the first snows of 2012. (This area had a few farm fields when I grew up there.) It’s a great photo for several reasons.
It’s a formerly unusual view, there being so few people on the west side of the lake until recent development. It pictures all of Timpanogos, with American Fork Canyon on the left, Mahogany Mountain, Big Baldy, and Provo Canyon on the right. It’s an afternoon shot, you can tell from the angle of the sun (the mountain runs on a north-south axis), and the darkness on the lower mountains may be caused by the Sun’s setting behind the mountain range on the west side of the lake. Timpanogos in white, in the afternoon sunshine, is one of the greatest images of a mountain you’ll ever see.
Tip of the old scrub brush to Craig Clyde. Mr. Clyde and I attended high school together — haven’t seen him in more than 30 years; not sure, but I don’t think he’s the same Craig Clyde in the movie business.
More:
- Links to more shots of Timpanogos, at Millard Fillmore’s Bathtub
- UtahLake.gov
1 Comment | Geography - Physical, geology, Nature, photography, Travel, Utah | Tagged: American Fork Canyon, Craig Clyde, geography, geology, Mount Timpanogos, Mt. Timpanogos, Nature, photography, Provo Canyon, Travel, Utah Valley | Permalink
Posted by Ed Darrell
Flash mob Carmina Burana
November 13, 2012Oh, the standards on flash mobs just keep getting pushed higher and higher.
Beethoven‘s “Ode to Joy” chorus? Easy Sunday-afternoon-in-the-plaza piece.
Carl Orff‘s Carmina Burana? Sure, it scores on the cool side; but a performance is really a little more demanding than Beethoven’s most whistlable tune, isn’t it?
Is this in Vienna? In a train station? It features the Volksoper Vienna. And once again, we get the wonderfully comical entrance of the actual tympani, without which Carmina would be impossible, no?
Details, in German:
SolistInnen, Chor, Orchester der Volksoper Wien boten im April Fahrgästen und Passanten eine besondere Performance. Die KünstlerInnen lösten sich aus der Menschenmenge – eine “Passantin” begann, weitere “PassantInnen” – sowie als ÖBB-MitarbeiterInnen verkleidete KünstlerInnen – setzten nach und nach ein.: 558,438
http://www.volksoper.at
http://www.ppmzweinull.com/ppmzweinull2.html
What’s next? Will someone do a Carmina while actually roasting a swan, and offer slices of the poor bird?
Okay, here’s one I’d like to see: Aaron Copeland’s Rodeo, complete with Agnes Demille choreography. Is there time for someone to get it put together for the Fort Worth Fat Stock Show and Rodeo? The Houston Stock Show? Wouldn’t it look grand in Grand Central Station?
More:
- ‘Carmina Burana’: Orff’s Vibrant Cantata Intertwined with Nazi Debate (wqxr.org)
- Review | Kansas City Ballet’s ‘Carmina Burana’ (kansascity.com)
- A Visceral Tour de Force: Carmina Burana at Carnegie Hall (city-journal.org)
- Muti, CSO Kick Off Season With Free Millennium Park Concert (chicagoist.com)
- Phillips Phunny: “Star Wars” Orchestra Flash Mob (y98.cbslocal.com)
- The Classical Beat | ‘Carmina Burana’ launches ballet’s season (kansascity.com)
- Social studies teachers, note that Carmina Burana comes out of 1934, that period when Europe was preparing to come apart in World War again, and the U.S. was struggling with the Great Depression; not sure how to fit it in to your world history or U.S. history curriculum, but the students likely will not forget it.
2 Comments | Humor, Music, Travel | Tagged: Carl Orff, Carmina Burana, Flash Mob, Humor, Music, Travel, Volksoper Vienna | Permalink
Posted by Ed Darrell
Sometimes beauty is in the timing . . . Capitol Reef National Park
November 8, 2012Long-time Scout friend Hal Rosen said he caught some good photos here, too — but none at this precise moment:
Temple of the Sun, Capitol Reef NP, photo by Mike Saemisch, October 29, 2012
First you must get to Capitol Reef National Park, in Utah — one of Utah’s unfairly large number of five National Parks. Then you take your “high-clearance vehicle” (not necessarily 4-wheel drive) out on the dirt roads in Cathedral Valley, and you hope for a crystal blue sky like this one. Then you happen to get there just as the sun is right at the peak of the formation . . .
You had to be there. Mike Saemisch was there just over a week ago, on October 29, 2012, and fortunately caught this photograph with the Sun as part of a sparkling spire on a sandstone formation known as the Temple of the Sun.
Digital photography changes the way one tours these places. Fortunately. Take the kids, and make sure they find it on a map so they can use your trip as fodder for their 9th grade geography class.
More:
- See Hal’s photos here, at his blog. He’s also got posts on Bryce Canyon NP and Kodachrome Basin State Park, with Grosvenor Arch, named after the father of our old friend Gil Grosvenor. Kodachrome, alas, is a thing of the past, killed by digital photography. Be sure to take a good digital camera and a clear memory chip when you go, to honor the name of the place, and the Grosvenors (of National Geographic Society fame). Kathryn and I spent great night as one of only two groups camping in Kodachrome Basin, near the height of tourist season in August, in the 1980s. We got there in a Chrysler Cordoba; better to use at least an SUV.
- Capitol Reef Rock Art (regehr.org)
- Canyons upon Canyons – Capital Reef National Park, UT (travelpod.com)
- A sudden breakdown in southern Utah (sfgate.com)
- The Big Picture: A Road Somewhere (motortrend.com)
- Picture a Day #286 – Highway 95 Adventure (jmnaszady.wordpress.com)
- Photos from Brian M, who did not have a high-clearance vehicle, but could still get 11 miles into this drive
- A different angle, at a different time, by Scott Jarvie: “A 3.5hr timelapse taken late on a cloudy night at the Temple of the Moon with the Temple of the Sun in the background. March 17, 2012.”
Leave a Comment » | Geography - Physical, geology, National Parks, Natural history, Outdoor Recreation, photography, Travel, Utah | Tagged: Capitol Reef National Park, geography, geology, Kodachrome Basin State Park, Outdoor Recreation, photography, Travel, Utah | Permalink
Posted by Ed Darrell
Wish we were there: Sequoia and Kings Canyon National Parks
November 6, 2012You got the Tweet?
Miter Basin, Sequoia and Kings Canyon National Parks, California; photo by Kristin Glover, NPS (public domain)
Photo from NPS employee Kristin Glover, at Miter Basin.
We should go see for ourselves, no?
If you go today, vote before you go. This is one of the areas to be opened to energy exploration — oil and gas drilling or other mining — under Mitt Romney’s “energy plan” and the GOP National Platform.
More:
- Sequoia and Kings Canyon National Parks, NPS site
- Sequoia National Park Turns 122 (theepochtimes.com)
- Giant Sequoias — Safe at Last? (sierraclub.typepad.com)
- California ‘Big Trees’ Focus of Campus Colloquium (gantdaily.com)
- 1 of 2 hikers missing in Sierra Nevada found safe (sfgate.com)
- Protecting One of Earth’s Greatest Treasures (ecowatch.org)
- Search Efforts Suspended for Missing Hiker Larry Conn at Kings Canyon National Park (yubanet.com)
Leave a Comment » | Geography - Physical, geology, National Parks, Natural history, Nature, photography, Travel | Tagged: environment, geography, National Parks, Natural history, Nature, Outdoor Recreation, photography, Sequoia & Kings Canyon NPs, Travel | Permalink
Posted by Ed Darrell
Jefferson Memorial from above
October 27, 2012Must be rare to get such a reflection of the sky in a calm Tidal Basin pool; from the Department of Interior‘s Instagram:
From Interior’s Instagram: Last night we posted an aerial photo of the #Washington #Monument, which everyone seems to really enjoy. So we are keeping it going today with a #photo of the #Jefferson #Memorial. #NationalMall #DC
One commenter noted the photo almost makes it appear that the Jefferson Memorial is floating in the clouds.
There are more than 300 units in the National Parks System. In the past two days we’ve had two spectacular photos from almost the same place, two memorials about a half-mile apart. How many thousands of great photos are possible from all of these properties? NPS’s job, caring for all of that stuff, is monumental.
12 Comments | Architecture, History, photography, Travel | Tagged: Architecture, Department of Interior, History, Jefferson Memorial, photography, Travel, Washington D.C. | Permalink
Posted by Ed Darrell
Friday Photo: Washington Monument from the top down
October 26, 2012U.S. Department of Interior, on Instagram:
Interior’s Instagram caption: It’s not every day you see the #Washington #Monument from this angle. #dc #mall #bestofteday
For me, additional security in Washington, D.C., has stolen much of the fun, joy and awe of the Washington Monument — compounded by the damage from the 2011 Virginia earthquake.
Before September 2011, the Washington Monument was open until midnight in summer months. Tourists head off for dinner and hotels at before 6:00 p.m. — the tourist lines disappear, and especially after 10:00 p.m. on most nights, one could, or one and the three or four visiting friends you had could, without waiting catch the elevator to the top for an absolutely matchless view of Washington D.C. at night.
Spy on the White House; spot the tourists dangling feet in the Reflecting Pool at the Lincoln Memorial; see the light in the Capitol Dome indicating Congress in session, and gloat that you were in recreational mode instead. See a couple kissing on the steps of the Jefferson Memorial, thinking no one would see them. Watch the arc of U.S. Airways airplanes coming down the Potomac River corridor, panicking anyone in the USA Today building who happened to look out and look down on an aircraft passing by, and almost hear the screams from the non-frequent DCA fliers as the plane banked sharply at low level to line up with the runway at National Airport (it will never be Reagan to true aviation buffs, who still miss the controllers who gave us confidence in that thrill ride).
For the Fourth of July, the National Park Service (NPS) used to conduct a lottery to select a tiny handful of professional photographers to shoot the fireworks, one of the best displays on Earth. The fireworks shoot from near the Lincoln Memorial. Does NPS do that any more?
Then walk down the stairway, past the hundreds of carved memorial stones, gifts of Americans who wished to honor George Washington by contributing some large, expensive rock to the interior of the obelisk rising Pharaoh-style out of the swamp near the Tidal Basin. Notice the color line shift that marked the Know-Nothing Party control of the group building the monument — the original American Tea Party austerity group, who stopped construction for 20 years just to prove they could impose austerity on those ‘spendthrifts’ who wished to build a monument to a man, even without any public money, and even though they controlled the commission only from 1855 to 1858 (the Civil War intervened).
The Washington Monument, all 555 feet, 5 1/8 inches of it, is closed now. When I visited last, in June, damage from the earthquake was still being assessed, and to protect the monument and the public, no access to the interior was allowed. Around the base, the 50 U.S. flags still fly 24 hours each day; but the paths to the monument now have blockades to stop any unauthorized truck, perhaps laden with explosives, and the public benches sat empty where we used to meet small-town Americans awed by the thing, and foreign tourists in awe of America.
The caption from Interior begs more explanation. Why don’t we see this view? The Washington Mall — that expanse of grass and, now, museums between the U.S. Capitol on the east end and the Potomac-side Lincoln Memorial on the west — graces pilots’ air charts as a civilian no-fly zone. After too many small-plane pilots gave the FAA fits, and somebody parked one on the lawn of the White House, FAA banned all flights over the mall, except by police or other official aircraft. Pragmatically it’s the D.C. cops and Marine One helicopters who might be able to capture this view.
How did Interior get the shot? The Instagram doesn’t explain. Perhaps it was part of the work to repair and restore the monument from the earthquake.
This picture highlights some interesting things. You can see wear and discoloration of the stone, from weather. Discoloration is not consistent; you can see how the windows at the top alter the even flow of water. Acid rain causes the stone to turn gray, then black; the monument is light only from a couple of scrubbings (though, contrary to climate denialist and GOP claims, Clean Air Act control of acid rain reduces the damage since 1972). Some of the discoloration may be from copper solutions washed off the window frames by the rain.
If you look closely, you can see one of the cracks caused by the earthquake. At the peak rests a tiny pyramid of aluminum, undistinguishable from the limestone. Aluminum? Yes — while the metal is a very common element around the Earth, refining it out of ore was difficult, commercially impossible in the 1880s when the Monument was completed. As a last tribute to Washington, builders capped it with what was then one of the most precious metals on Earth, aluminum. Soon after, the advent of mass quantities of generated electricity made aluminum refining commercially viable; today we make disposable drink cans out of what was once the most precious metal on Earth, when purified. One may ponder how George Washington would consider such technological changes in the nation where he hoped every citizen might have a “vine and fig tree,” first to cap his monument with aluminum, and then make millions of tons of the stuff to throw away. We are an industrial society to an extent Washington did not, perhaps could not anticipate. Would he approve?
About a quarter of the way up from the base, you see the color of the limestone changed, as I noted earlier. All the stone on the face of the monument came from the same quarry; however, during the cessation of construction during the rule of the Know Nothings on the monument commission, rock from the quarry continued to come out, to be used in other projects. By the time construction on the monument was restarted, rock quarrying pulled out limestone of a slightly darker, more reddish color. Builders decided to continue with the color variation rather than pull down the stone already stacked. The Washington monument thus becomes a memorial not only to Washington, but also to the politics he futilely hoped would not affect our nation’s government, even non-governmental commissions working around and about the government. That color line preserves in stone some of the political errors of the mid-19th century. It remains unclear whether anyone ever learned a beneficial lesson from those times.
At the base you see patterns of stone unrecognized at ground level (are those white stripes the benches to wait in line to get up to the top?). Around the monument a phalanx of 50 U.S. flags, which fly constantly (except in hurricanes), and you can see the lights that illuminate the flags and the monument at night. Flying into Washington, D.C., at night, becomes one of the great vistas of the world, pierced by the shining white spire of the Washington Monument against a black sky (or dark blue, better), and the panorama of great public buildings, also lighted limestone.
Under local and federal zoning rules, skyscrapers are not allowed in that core area, to preserve the buena vista.
And finally, in the photo you can see fewer than a dozen people, colored dots at the base of the structure. Are they looking up?
More:
- NPS site on the Washington Monument
- Enchanted Learning site on the Monument, with features for classroom teachers and students
- Framingham contractor to fix Washington Monument (metrowestdailynews.com)
- A year after quake, Washington Monument still under repair (cnn.com)
- Repairing the Washington Monument, 124 Years After It Opened (mentalfloss.com)
- Exploring Washington’s Monuments – My Homecoming (asnycnowradio.wordpress.com)
- Tutor Perini wins Washington Monument repair contract (uk.reuters.com)
Leave a Comment » | George Washington, History, Know-Nothing Party, Landmarks, National Parks, photography, Politics, Travel, White House | Tagged: George Washington, History, Landmarks, Monuments, photography, Tourism, Travel, Washington D.C., Washington Monument | Permalink
Posted by Ed Darrell
Endangered western forests: The Yellowstone
October 10, 2012Additional CO2 and warmer weather will help plants, the climate change denialists say. That’s not what we see, however. Turns out CO2 helps weeds, and warmer weather helps destructive species, more than it helps the stuff we need and want in the wild.
For example, the white-bark pine, Pinus albicaulis:
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From American Forests:
With increasingly warm winters at high elevations in the West, a predator that has stalked forests for decades has gained the upper hand. It is mountain pine blister rust, an invasive fungus. Combined with mountain pine beetles, which kill hundreds of thousands of trees per year in the Greater Yellowstone Area (GYA), the environmental health of the Rocky Mountains and neighboring regions is in danger. To make matters worse, the species most susceptible to these two threats, the whitebark pine, is also the most vital to ecosystem stability, essential to the survival of more than 190 plant and animal species in Yellowstone alone.
First debuted at SXSW Eco, this video tells the story of our endangered western forests and how American Forests and the Greater Yellowstone Coordinating Committee are working toward their restoration and protection for future generations.
Learn more: http://www.americanforests.org/what-we-do/endangered-western-forests/
More:
- Wyoming study delves into pine’s impact on grizzlies (billingsgazette.com)
- Exxon Facing New Lawsuit over Yellowstone Spill (insurancejournal.com)
- Matt Martin: Wildlife surprises abound at Yellowstone (goerie.com)
- Exxon Hit With New Lawsuit Over Yellowstone Spill (insurancejournal.com)
- Oce Collaborates with Michelin to Help Preserve a National Treasure (prnewswire.com)
Whitebark Pine (Photo credit: Wikipedia)
Whitebark Pine, cones and needle cluster (Photo credit: Wikipedia)
Whitebark pine’s distinctive, almost-black cone. (Photo: Wikipedia)
Leave a Comment » | Climate change, climate_change, CO2, Environment, Environmental protection, Forestry, Global warming, Travel, trees, Yellowstone | Tagged: American Forests, Climate change, CO2, Conservation, Environmental protection, Forestry, Global warming, Science, Travel and Tourism, Yellowstone National Park | Permalink
Posted by Ed Darrell
Autumn in Glacier National Park?
October 5, 2012No, this is not an archives photo — it’s autumn, in Glacier National Park. Photo from sometime in the past week.
View from Wild Goose Island Overlook in Glacier National Park; NPS photo
From the Interior Department Tumblr, America’s Great Outdoors:
The popular overlook at Wild Goose Island in Glacier National Park has a different look this week with fresh snow on the trees and mountains. Fall has definitely arrived!
More:
- Continental U.S. glaciers receding (cbsnews.com)
- Quota filled, wolf season closes outside Glacier (billingsgazette.com)
- Update from Easton Glacier: Climate Crocks on Ice (climatecrocks.com)
- Glacier National Park Losing Its Ice (drudge.com)
When I was in Glacier N.P., there was a lot of this stuff at higher elevations. I don’t recall seeing it anywhere else. An odd plant. “Beargrass (Xerophyllum tenax) in Glacier National Park, Montana, USA. Original caption: In addition to a host of various wildflowers, Beargrass, a lily native to Glacier, blooms in abundance along the Iceberg Lake trail. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)”
Leave a Comment » | National Parks, Travel | Tagged: Autumn, Glacier National Park, Travel, Travel and Tourism | Permalink
Posted by Ed Darrell
Nightfall, video essay on Los Angeles
September 26, 2012You wondered how anyone could ever fall in love with the modern megalopolis that is Los Angeles?
Along comes Colin Rich with this video ode, visual poetry to an essential chunk of America. Oh, yeah, it’s got lots of time-lapse. Notice how the photography turns simple airplanes into something akin to shooting stars, and notice how even an ugly old radio tower crowded with microwave and digital communication antennae turn into things of grace, if not beauty:
More information from Colin Rich:
Music: M83, “Echoes of Mine” off of ‘Hurry Up, We’re Dreaming.’ Available from Mute Records, EMI Music
Download the song/album here here: itunes.apple.com/us/album/midnight-cityCinematography, Direction, and Editing by: Colin Rich: facebook.com/colinrich1
Produced by Pacific Star Productions pacstarpro.comA big thanks to Matthews MSE (msegrip.com) especially to Bob Kulesh, Tyler & Ed Phillips for their generous support and patience of this lengthy endeavor. Most of the linear motion control shots were captured using their FloatCam DC Slider, a wonderful piece of engineering for the time lapse world.
‘Nightfall’ is a three minute tour of light through the City of Angels.
I shot “Nightfall” in an attempt to capture Los Angeles as it transitioned from day to night. As you probably know, LA is an expansive city so shooting it from many different angles was critical. Usually I was able to capture just one shot per day with a lot of driving, exploring, and scouting in between but the times sitting in traffic or a “sketchy” neighborhood often lead to new adventures and interesting places.
Nightfall in particular is my favorite time to shoot time lapse. Capturing the transition from day to night while looking back at the city as the purple shadow of Earth envelopes the eastern skyline and the warm distant twinkling halogen lights spark to life and give the fading sun a run for her money- this will never grow old or boring to me.
In this piece, it was important to me for the shots to both capture and accentuate the movement of light through the day and night and the use of multiple motion control techniques allowed me to do so.
I hope you enjoy watching it as much as I enjoyed creating it.
An English translation of the lyrics-
“It is late. I am looking for my other home, taking an unfamiliar path: a small trail near the factories and the city, cutting through the forest. I can barely see nature when suddenly, night falls. I am engulfed by a world of silence, yet I am not afraid. I fall asleep for a few minutes at the most, and when I wake up, the sun is there and the forest is shining with a bright light.
I recognize this forest. It is not an ordinary forest, it is a forest of memories. My memories. The white and noisy river, my adolescence. The tall trees, the men I have loved. The birds in flight, and in the distance, my lost father.
My memories aren’t memories anymore. They are there, with me, dancing and embracing, singing and smiling at me.
I look at my hands. I caress my face, and I am 20 years old. And I love like I have never loved before.”
Surely this film can be used, at least for a bell ringer or warmup, in geography classes.
Leave a Comment » | Geography - Economic, Geography - Physical, photography, Time-lapse photography, Travel, Video and film | Tagged: Travel Geography | Permalink
Posted by Ed Darrell
El Grito de Dolores, September 16 (2012 edition)
September 16, 2012No, Cinco de Mayo is not Mexico’s “Independence Day.”
It’s amazing what is not available on video for use in the classroom.
Texas kids have to study the “Grito de Dolores” in the 7th grade – the “Cry from Dolores” in one translation, or the “Cry of Pain” in another (puns in Spanish! Do kids get it?). Father Miguel Hidalgo y Castillo made the speech on September 16, 1810, upon the news that Spanish authorities had learned of his conspiracy to revolt for independence. The revolution had been planned for December 8, but Hidalgo decided it had to start early.
This date is celebrated in Mexico as Independence Day. Traditionally the President of Mexico issues an update on the Grito, after the original bell that Father Hidalgo used is rung, near midnight.
Hidalgo himself was captured by the Spanish in 1811, and executed.
Statue of Father Hidalgo in Dolores, Mexico.
It’s a great story. It’s a good speech, what little we have of it (Hidalgo used no text, and we work from remembered versions).
It’s important to Texas history, too — it’s difficult to imagine Tejians getting independence from Spain in quite the same way they won it from Mexico.
Why isn’t there a good 10- to 15-minute video on the thing for classroom use? Get a good actor to do the speech, it could be a hit. Where is the video when we need it?
Update from 2008: Glimmerings of hope on the video front: Amateur videos on YouTube provide some of the sense of what goes on in modern celebrations.
And, see this re-enactment from Monterrey:
Update from 2009: The Library of Congress’s Wise Guide for September features the history of the day:
The Grito de Dolores (“Cry of/from Dolores”) was the battle cry of the Mexican War of Independence, uttered on September 16, 1810, by Miguel Hidalgo y Costilla, a Roman Catholic priest from the small town of Dolores, near Guanajuato, Mexico.
“My Children, a new dispensation comes to us today…Will you free yourselves? Will you recover the lands stolen 300 years ago from your forefathers by the hated Spaniards? We must act at once.”
Although many mistakenly attribute the Cinco de Mayo holiday as the celebration of Mexican independence, Sept. 16 was the day the enthusiastic Indian and mestizo congregation of Hidalgo’s small Dolores parish church took up arms and began their fight for freedom against Spain.
“Touring Turn-of-the-Century America: Photographs from the Detroit Publishing Company, 1880-1920” has a rich collection of photographs of Mexico. To view these pictures, search the collection on “Mexico.”
Portals to the World contains selective links providing authoritative, in-depth information about the nations and other areas of the world. Resources on Mexico include information on the country’s history, religion, culture and society to name a few.
September is also a notable month for Hispanic culture with the celebration of Hispanic Heritage Month Sept 15 – Oct. 15. Sept. 15 is significant because it is the anniversary of independence for Latin American countries Costa Rica, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras and Nicaragua. In addition to Mexico’s independence day on Sept. 16, Chile recognizes its independence day Sept.18. Also, Columbus Day or Día de la Raza, which is Oct. 12, falls within this 30-day period.
The theme for the 2009 Hispanic Heritage Month was “Embracing the Fierce Urgency of Now!” To coincide with the celebration, the Library and several partners present a website honoring Hispanic culture and people. [Nice idea, calling it “Heritage Month” instead of “History Month;” maybe we can change February to “Black Heritage Month,” and study Hispanic and black history every day.]
![Viva la república! Viva el Cura Hidalgo! Una página de Gloria, TITLE TRANSLATION: Long live the republic! Long live Father Hidalgo! A page of glory. Between 1890 and 1913. Prints and Photographs Division. Reproduction Information: Reproduction Nos.: LC-USZ62-98851 (b&w film copy neg.), LC-DIG-ppmsc-04595 (digital file from original, recto), LC-DIG-ppmsc-04596 (digital file from original, verso); Call No.: PGA - Vanegas, no. 123 (C size) [P&P] Catalog Record: http://hdl.loc.gov/loc.pnp/ppmsc.04595](http://www.loc.gov/wiseguide/sept09/images/Mexican_A.jpg)
![A street in Guanajuato, Mexico. Between 1880 and 1897. Prints and Photographs Division. Reproduction Information: Reproduction No.: LC-D418-8481 (b&w glass neg.); Call No.: LC-D418-8481 <P&P>[P&P] Catalog Record: http://hdl.loc.gov/loc.pnp/det.4a27131](http://www.loc.gov/wiseguide/sept09/images/Mexican_B.jpg)
Specifically on the Grito de Dolores, see the Library of Congress’s American Memory Project:
Cry of Dolores
My Children, a new dispensation comes to us today…Will you free yourselves? Will you recover the lands stolen three hundred years ago from your forefathers by the hated Spaniards? We must act at once.Cry of Dolores, attributed to Father Miguel Hidalgo y Costilla, September 16, 1810.
The [National] Palace from the Cathedral, city of Mexico,
William Henry Jackson, photographer,
between 1880 and 1897.
Touring Turn-of-the-Century America: Photographs from the Detroit Publishing Company, 1880-1920Early on the morning of September 16, 1810, Father Miguel Hidalgo y Costilla summoned the largely Indian and mestizo congregation of his small Dolores parish church and urged them to take up arms and fight for Mexico’s independence from Spain. His El Grito de Dolores, or Cry of Dolores, which was spoken—not written—is commemorated on September 16 as Mexican Independence Day.
Father Hidalgo was born into a moderately wealthy family in the city of Guanajuato, northwest of Mexico City, in 1753. He attended the Jesuit College of San Francisco Javier, received a bachelor’s degree from the University of Mexico in 1774, and was ordained into the priesthood in 1778. He soon earned the enmity of the authorities, however, by openly challenging both church doctrine and aspects of Spanish rule by developing Mexican agriculture and industry.
In 1803, Hidalgo accepted the curacy of the small parish of Dolores, not far from his native city of Guanajuato. Between 1803 and 1810, he directed most of his energy to improving the economic prospects of his parishioners. He also joined the Academia Literaria, a committee seeking Mexico’s independence from Spain.
Guanajuato, Mexico,
William Henry Jackson, photographer,
between 1880 and 1897.
Touring Turn-of-the-Century America: Photographs from the Detroit Publishing Company, 1880-1920In September 1810, Spanish authorities learned of the group’s plot to incite a rebellion. On September 13, they searched the home of Emeterio González in the city of Queretaro where they found a large supply of weapons and ammunition. Warned of his impending arrest, Hidalgo preempted authorities by issuing the El Grito de Dolores on the morning of September 16. Attracting enthusiastic support from the Indian and mestizo population, he and his band of supporters moved toward the town of San Miguel.
The rebel army encountered its first serious resistance at Guanajuato. After a fierce battle that took the lives of more than 500 Spaniards and 2,200 Indians, the rebels won the city. By October, the rebel army, now 80,000 strong, was close to taking Mexico City. Hidalgo, fearful of unleashing the army on the capital city, hesitated, then retreated to the north. He was captured in Texas, then still a part of the Spanish empire, and executed by firing squad on July 31, 1811. After ten more years of fighting, a weakened and divided Mexico finally won independence from Spain with the signing of the Treaty of Córdoba on August 24, 1821.
Learn more about Mexico:
- View the Huexotzinco Codex, one of the Top Treasures in the Library of Congress’ American Treasures online exhibition. The codex is an eight-sheet document on amatl,a pre-European paper made from tree bark in Mesoamerica. It is part of the testimony in a legal case against representatives of Spain’s colonial government in Mexico and dates to 1531, ten years after Mexico’s defeat.
- Touring Turn-of-the-Century America: Photographs from the Detroit Publishing Company, 1880-1920 has a rich collection of photographs of Mexico, many of them by noted photographer William Henry Jackson. To view these pictures, search the collection on Mexico.
- Search the collection Taking the Long View: Panoramic Photographs, 1851-1991 on Mexico to find panoramic photographs.
- Read the Today in History feature on the Mexican holiday Cinco de Mayo, which celebrates Mexico’s defeat of French troops at the town of Puebla in 1862. This event is also widely celebrated by Latinos in the U.S.
- With over 8,000 items, The South Texas Border, 1900-1920: Photographs from the Robert Runyon Collection is a unique visual resource documenting the Lower Rio Grande Valley during the early 1900s. Search the collection on terms such as weddings to gain insight into turn-of-the-century border culture.
Resources, other material:
- Hispanic Heritage Month.gov, from the Library of Congress, National Gallery of Art, National Endowment for the Humanities and several other federal agencies and institutions
- News of celebrations, at the University of Texas-El Paso, Stockton, California (see photographs at that site), San Francisco, Yuma, Houston Chronicle, Los Angeles Time
- To locate resources for the study of Mexico and its history, search the Handbook of Latin American Studies, an online bibliography of works selected and annotated by scholars of Latin American history and culture, or visit the Hispanic Reading Room, which also offers a portal for online information on Mexico.
Even More (2012):
- ‘El Grito’ significant for Texans (mysanantonio.com)
- West Side parade, festival to commemorate Mexican independence (mysanantonio.com)
- Times Past: Mexican struggle was brutal (sanluisobispo.com)
Share this bit of history: Tweet about it, note it on your Facebook page, or spread the word some other way.
8 Comments | Education, Famous quotes, Freedom - Political, Government, History, History audio sources, History images, Mexican War, Mexico, Politics, Texas, Texas history, Travel, Turning Points, Video and film | Tagged: Education, El Grito de Dolores, Famous quotes, Father Hidalgo, freedom, Government, History, History images, Mexican Independence, Mexican War, Miguel Hidalgo y Costilla, Politics, September 16, Texas history, Travel | Permalink
Posted by Ed Darrell
Millard Fillmore's Bathtub 